Crusader

Chapter 36

Cyrus awoke to a long beam of light reaching across the dirt floor of the cave. He started to sit up and realized there was something on his arm; after a moment he acclimated to his surroundings and remembered why Aisling was lying across his body, her hair tickling his shoulder and her soft, steady breathing rising and falling against him. A forceful whinny behind him caused him to look over at Windrider, who glared at him accusingly. “I have no oats,” he said. “Maybe some grass.” A snort from the horse caused Aisling to stir, then sit up, allowing his arm to be free.

“Good morning,” she said, blinking the sleep from her eyes. She pushed the stray strands of white hair off her face, tucking them behind her in a ponytail that she made by tying her hair with a string. “Did you sleep well?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

“I did,” Cyrus said, trying to keep his expression carefully neutral, even as she let the blanket fall away from her chest, and the cold air became obvious. “Which is surprising, given that we’re in a somewhat sticky predicament.”

“Mmm,” she said, stretching. “Were you talking about our escape and flight from the scourge or what happened last night?” She lay back across his chest for a moment, teasing him with a gentle bite to the ribs that caused him to jerk in surprise. She sat back up and laughed, looking at him with undisguised mirth. “Still so sensitive. We’ll work on that.”

“You sure?” Cyrus asked. “I mean, what I said last night stands …”

“I heard you then,” she said coolly. “I’m a big girl. I told you what I wanted all along, and if what you want from me is just the thrilling realm of a physical relationship,” she swung a leg over him, climbed on top and straddled him over the blanket, “then I promise, I can thrill you more than those other ladies could.”

“Oh?” Cyrus said, leaning back on his arms. “As much as I’d love to test that assumption this morning, it’s going to have to wait. We need to get moving.”

“Couldn’t it wait just a little while?” she asked, teasing one of his chest hairs by twirling it on her finger. “It wouldn’t take long at all … at least for me. You might take a little longer, based on what I’ve seen so far.” Her face split with a wicked grin, her eyes shining even in the light of the faded fire, burnt down to embers.

“Later,” Cyrus said, and indicated for her to move. “I’m not immune to your charms, but I am possessed of a sense of self-preservation, and we have no idea how many of those things are out there nor where they are. We need to start hoofing it.” He looked to Windrider. “Literally, in your case.”

They dressed quietly, Cyrus eating some bread from his saddlebag, giving some to Aisling, and then feeding the rest to a semi-appreciative Windrider, who still seemed to be glaring at him. Once they were done, Cyrus started toward the entrance to the cave but felt a subtle tug on his arm. He looked back to see Aisling, shaking her head at him. “Let me look,” she said. “You’re absolutely terrible at any kind of stealth. You’ll give us away if they’re out there.”

He shrugged and stood back, extending his arm toward the entrance in invitation. Aisling crept to the side of the cave, hugged it, and seemed to blend into the shadows. He could see her move, slightly, every now and again, but only because he knew she was there and where to look. She crept to the entrance of the cave over the course of five minutes and looked out, avoiding the sunlight that was coming in. After a minute, she turned and slipped back toward him, taking another couple minutes to make it over to him.

“Nope,” she said, her voice hushed “this is bad.”

“Bad? Bad how?”

“They’re out there,” she said. “About eighty, by my count, in a line, moving through the ravine below us, just over the ledge that goes past our cave. If we go out, they’ll see us. We need to wait.”

“I don’t love that idea. What if they circle around and come check this place out? It’s not as though the entrance is well hidden.”

“Agreed,” she said. “I was thinking … how about the narrow passage at the back of the cave? It might lead to another exit.”

“And it might lead to us getting trapped in a tight space when they overrun us,” Cyrus said. “Plus, Windrider is gonna have a hell of a time fitting through there.”

“So you’d rather go the way that we know includes scouts for the enemy?” She shrugged expansively, her white hair highlighted by the darkness. “Have it your way.”

“No,” Cyrus said. “The other option is that we can sit here and wait for them. They may just pass by. Or,” he said with more of a smile, “we could fight. Though I’m not exactly sanguine about our odds, especially without a healer. Eighty of them is a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more.”

“So we wait?” She had her arms folded, looking at him with a sly expression, waiting to see what he said.

“Hell, no. I’m terrible at waiting.” He sighed. “To the narrow passage. We can at least take a look around.”

Despite a slight argument from Windrider in the form of resisting Cyrus’s attempts to pull him along gently by the reins, the horse did give in and follow. Aisling slipped into the narrow passage first, having to make little accommodation to enter, given her slight figure and short stature. “You want to go next?” Cyrus asked Windrider, who just stared at him. “Fine. I’ll do it.” He slid in, having to turn sideways to avoid an edge of rock that jutted out, but once past it, he found he could walk comfortably. Windrider followed, stepping over the obstruction, but the wide-bodied horse’s progress was slow, taking time and brushing against the walls of the passage. When it began to widen again, Cyrus checked and found a few places where the jagged rocks had broken the horse’s hide. “Sorry,” Cyrus said, patting Windrider’s neck. “But it looks superficial.”

“Cyrus,” Aisling hissed at him, a low noise that caught his attention. He trudged along the widening path of the cave, and realized for the first time that there was light ahead of them, coming from around a corner. Aisling was against the wall, he finally realized, blending with the shadows. He saw a dark blue hand beckon him forward, and he left Windrider’s reins behind, creeping up behind her. When he got close, she grasped him firmly, pushing him slowly against the wall, her arm across his chest. She held a single finger up to her mouth, then slid out from cover and inched around the corner.

Cyrus edged up and looked around. Ahead was a slight drop, some form of embankment. He frowned; the horse would have some difficulty getting down that. He froze and caught his breath. Aisling was creeping ahead, and something was moving below. Two somethings, he realized, with grey, pallid flesh, and jagged teeth, rounded heads. A long, thick tongue came out of one of their mouths as it appeared to say something to the scourge next to it, a high, throaty screech from deep within that sounded like nothing Cyrus had ever heard before.

Aisling jumped off the embankment just then, as Cyrus drew his sword, ready to join her. She hit both the creatures moments after reaching the ground, daggers sliding into the base of their necks, and both went limp without so much as a sound, falling from all fours to flat on the ground, overlarge tongues spread out on the dirt. Aisling looked back and beckoned him forward, and he grasped Windrider’s reins and began to gingerly make his way ahead. “Ais,” he whispered, “if there’s two, there’s more-maybe we should turn around.”

She either didn’t hear him or ignored him, going forward more quickly than he could stealthily catch her. He followed, cursing her silently the entire time, watching every step, the low light from ahead the only illumination since Aisling had put out their torch after they emerged from the narrow passage. The light grew brighter as they went around another corner, and Cyrus found himself on the edge of a large chamber, an enormous, roughly circular room that had a sequence of stones that leveled down to the floor, a few feet below the cave opening that Cyrus stood upon. Aisling had already descended, her feet moving so quietly that Cyrus couldn’t have heard them even if he hadn’t been awestruck by the sight before him.

In the center of the chamber was something very familiar; a portal, of exactly the same kind that dotted the landscape of Arkaria. Ovoid, standing lengthwise above the ground, like a door turned sideways, it was massive enough for ten people to walk through shoulder to shoulder, even if they were Cyrus’s size. His jaw fell open, and he stared at it; it glowed, the source of the light he had wondered at. Beyond it was another exit, a wider one, much larger than the tunnels they had just come from.

“Ais,” Cyrus said, keeping his voice low even though he saw no sign of the scourge, “we need to get out of here. What if there are more?”

She halted, but only after she had crossed the thirty or so steps to reach the portal. She ran a hand along the edge of it, as though she were feeling the runes carved along the side to make certain it was real. “Where do you think this leads?”

A dark glow came from within the portal, something like mist with light shining through it; like clouds with the sun behind them. “I don’t know,” Cyrus said, “every time I’ve gone through one of these things when it’s active like this, I’ve ended up in the realm of one of the gods.”

“Might be worth a look, don’t you think?” She looked at him, vaguely mischievous, and he suddenly found her deeply annoying.

“No,” he said, “it isn’t. We have somewhere else to be getting to, in case you forgot. There are enemies all around us-”

“Yes, they have this valley pretty well sewn shut at this point,” she said, letting her fingers trace the lines of one of the runes. What do you suppose our odds are of managing to slip through and get away from the hordes of these scourge that fill this place?”

“They’re good if we face them on open ground-” Cyrus began.

“They’re bad, because we’re outnumbered by a ridiculous amount and if we lose Windrider, we’re done.” She smiled again. “Now we have another option. Virtually certain death out there, or the possibility of death in here.” She gestured to the portal with a hand extending out to it, as though it were something she were revealing to him for the first time. “I know which one I pick.”

“We only go to the realms of gods when we know they’re not home,” Cyrus said, his voice rising. “If this leads into one of those places, it’s virtual suicide.”

“So is going out there,” Aisling said, and the smile faded from her face. “They’re hunting us and they will find us sooner or later if we stay out there. I know a hunter when I see one and those things are tracking us down. They’ll come, and they’ll overwhelm us and we’ll die a horrible death out here where no one will ever find our bodies.” She looked back to the portal. “If it’s down to that or being smashed by a god, I know which one I choose.” Before he could react, she turned, took one step away and looked back at him. “I guess you’ll just have to decide whether you’re willing to jump in front of a god’s hand for me.” Her smile twisted into something else, something sad, and she stepped into the portal and disappeared behind the misty light.