Black Knight (39 page)

Of course she’s handicapped now.

I see a stump where her left hand used to be.

“Well?” she says.

She’s waiting for me to kill Nordra. He’s waiting for me to kill him. He knows I’ve got him; he’s doesn’t move an inch. He knows if he does, I’ll break every bone in his neck.

“What do you want?” I ask Viper.

“Kill him and we’ll talk.”

“Let my friend go and I’ll kill him.”

Viper nicks Chad’s throat. A red line trickles onto his collar. Viper grins. “No,” she says.

Frantically, I try to think of a way to use Nordra’s life as a bargaining chip to save Chad. I find it difficult to think with all the blood that’s been spilled. Glancing toward Kyle, I see him kneeling in the ash, his hands wrapped around the pole I drove through his guts, a red circle growing across his shirt. The amount of blood he’s losing from his severed foot is worse. The light brown ash at the end of his stump is black. His eyes are closed; he’s in terrible pain.

My own wound is healing rapidly. I’ve stopped bleeding and feel only tenderness where Nordra stabbed me.

I turn back to Viper and make an offer.

“You don’t let Chad go and I’ll release Nordra,” I say. “You know he’s wanted to form an alliance with me from the start. Well, I’ll form one with him right now.” I shake Nordra. “Want to help me kill this bitch?”

He grunts. “It would be my pleasure.”

“You’re bluffing,” Viper says. “The instant you let go of him I slit your friend’s throat. Then he’s dead and you still have Nordra and me to deal with. But you kill him now and it’s down to you and me.”

I don’t like how she’s not worried about Sam.

Has she already been to the cave?

Are Marc and Li dead?

“Jessie,” Chad says calmly. “You have to let me go.”

“Shut up!” I snap at him before speaking to Viper. “All right, say I kill Nordra. How do I get my friend back?”

Viper speaks. “Simple. Kill him and back away from your weapons. That’s all you need to do.”

“What guarantee do I have you’ll let Chad go?”

She nicks his throat again. “None.”

Viper reeks of deception. I doubt she’s going to release Chad. She just wants Nordra dead. And the truth is, Nordra’s bad for both us. Killing him is the logical thing to do.

However, there could be a danger in walking away from my weapons. Viper has practiced telekinesis for years. Her skill has to be superior to my own. If it came to a psychic tug-of-war over the machetes, I’d lose.

I can see Chad thinking the same thing.

“You’re not giving up your weapons for me,” he says.

“I told you . . . ,” I begin.

“Don’t feel bad, Jessie,” he interrupts. “There’s no way I was ever going to leave this island alive.”

With that Chad twists against Viper, snarling like a wild animal in her grip, and she’s forced to slit his throat just to stop him from hurting her.

Which is exactly what he wanted her to do.

“No!” I cry.

Nordra sees I’m crushed. He reaches up with his hands and . . .

I snap his neck. I twist his head so far around he’s facing forward when I’m finished. Every cervical vertebrae in his neck cracks. He slumps to the ground, dead.

Viper drops Chad’s lifeless body and vanishes.

I can see her outline in the moonlight, though, and can follow her footsteps in the heavy ash. There’s no question of her destination. She’s heading for the cave.

I hurry to Kyle’s side. He’s still on his knees, the spear poking out both sides of his body. “I’m so sorry,” I moan.

“Not your fault,” he gasps. “I forgot about the ‘shit.’”

“Should we try to remove it? Can you heal fast enough?”

“I think it’s the only thing that’s keeping me from bleeding out.” He coughs weakly, spitting up blood. “I need to get back to the cave.”

“What’s in the cave?”

He peers at me through agony and smiles. “I didn’t want you guys to know, but I can read Tarora. The petroglyphs—I know what they say. And I know the water there, in the stream, has powerful healing properties.” He adds, “You must have noticed when you splashed it on Marc’s head, how his fever went down. That wasn’t a coincidence.”

“You should have told me. I would have had him drink it. It could have saved him.”

“He did drink it.”

“Well, I would have had him drink more,” I say.

Kyle nods, sweat pouring off his face. “When we first met, it was all an act from my side. I planned to kill you all. I thought I had to. I thought that’s what you had to do in this kind of place. I didn’t trust anyone.” He struggles to breathe. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“What didn’t you know?”

“How wonderful you are.”

I feel foolish how much his words mean to me. Sure, he’s on the verge of death and he’s telling me that all along he planned to kill me and my friends. I should feel nothing but scorn for him. And yet I understand. Because I had the identical thoughts—kill Kyle and Sam before they kill me. I doubt that anyone who’s been sent to the Field hasn’t thought the same.

Of course, it doesn’t mean I suddenly trust him.

Tearing off strips of his uniform, I make a crude tourniquet for his leg and then a bandage. The bleeding slows but doesn’t stop. The only way I can get him to the cave is to carry him. I tell him as much and he nods.

“It’s probably too late anyway,” he says with a sigh.

Slipping Nordra’s machete through the back of my belt, I heave Kyle into my arms. “There’s hope. Just don’t black out. Don’t go into shock.”

His eyes wander in the direction of Chad.

“He was a sweet kid,” Kyle says.

The sweetest. Tears roll over my cheeks.

But there’s no time for grief.

All I can do is keep moving forward and pray Marc’s alive.

The hike back to the cave is an ordeal. I move too fast, I jar Kyle and the spear stuck in him, and he cries out in pain. But when I move too slowly, I’m forced to watch the blood leaking from his body. I don’t even know how many quarts of blood the human body holds, but I keep thinking he’s got to run out soon.

Kyle’s conscious when we reach the cave.

We stop behind a boulder and peer around.

All six ghosts guard the entrance.

And they’re armed. They have made the impossible.

All six are equipped with bows and arrows.

“Ora swore there was nothing to make bows and arrows with,” I say.

Kyle speaks in a feeble voice. “They’re industrious critters. I’m not surprised they found a way.”

I study his pale face in the moonlight. His skin is as white as the moon. “Is that why you dragged their leader up here? Or was there another reason you never told us about?”

Kyle grins slyly. “To use the ghosts to kill you all?”

“Was that your reason?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing so dark, I’m afraid. I captured Jelanda because I know more about the ghosts than I let on. They can form a group mind only when close together and only when they’re next to their leader.”

“Like now.”

“Exactly. Look at them—for the first time they’re ready to fight. It’s ironic, though, at this moment they’re also vulnerable.” He struggles to breathe. “I dragged Jelanda here because I knew she was the key. I knew if I survived and had only the ghosts to contend with, she’d be my ticket off this island.”

“How so?”

“We can only imagine what a group mind’s like, but it’s probably safe to assume that what one feels, they all feel. Hold on to that idea. And keep in mind that Jelanda is the glue that keeps them linked together.”

“Are you saying the ghosts cannot survive without a witch for a leader?”

“That’s what my Lapra friends taught me. Don’t look surprised, I told you I have a foot in both worlds. It might be the reason the ghosts have survived for so long, I don’t know and I don’t care. What matters is that if you kill their leader while they’re fused as one mind . . .”

“You kill them all,” I finish.

“That’s it.”

I study the path of Viper’s footprints that we’ve followed back from the wall. They appear to sweep right past the ghosts and enter the cave. I share the information with Kyle, but he doesn’t seem surprised.

“She might have got here before the ghosts arrived,” he says. “They might not be able to see her while she’s invisible. What difference does it make? We knew she’d get to the cave before us.”

I slump low, the constant stress of worry I’ve felt in my chest all day swelling with each painful beat of my heart. I feel I’ve come so far only to fail those I care most about.

“It makes a lot of difference,” I say bitterly. “There’s no reason for Viper to keep Marc or Sam or Li alive.”

Kyle winces and I don’t know if it’s because of his wounds or my words. “You’re wrong. There’s not a chance in hell she’ll hurt Marc. Viper’s watched us, studied us. She saw you practically beg Nordra for Marc’s life. She knows you’re attached to him. He’s the only lever she’s got when it comes to you.”

“What does she need with a lever?”

Kyle shakes his head. “Jessie, for a smart girl you’re pretty dumb sometimes. Viper’s terrified of you. You cut off her hand. She saw you kill Nordra. She’ll do anything to avoid having to face you one-on-one. At least on an even playing field.” He pauses. “Marc’s her ace in the hole.”

“Almost worthless,” I mutter.

“Huh?”

“Just something a guy named Russ told me.”

Kyle stares at the spear sticking out his front. “To think, last week I was worried about how to choreograph my next video. Pretty hilarious if you think about it.” He wipes away the blood that continues to leak from his mouth. “I don’t want to rush you or anything but I need to get in that cave.”

I nod and study the organization of the ghosts’ defense. It’s pretty basic. Jelanda and another ghost are focused on the interior of the cave. The other four stand poised with arrows in their bows, facing outward. I can see only one way to approach without being seen.

I explain my plan to Kyle and he nods his approval. He’s closed his eyes again and is having trouble staying awake. I warn him again about going into shock and he just grunts and tells me to hurry.

The ghosts are looking everywhere but above. I retrace the first part of the path we took to the wall and then veer off and head straight up the side of the cinder cone before cutting back toward the cave. Soon I’m a hundred yards above the entrance, hugging the side of a very steep incline.

I know I can creep silently down to the entrance, without sliding off, but I worry about the ash I’ll knock loose before I reach my goal. The stuff is everywhere: in my hair, my eyes, my mouth, my nose. Bump it and a tiny cloud inevitably floats in the air. I’m not sure how intelligent the ghosts are, but if they’re suddenly hit with an avalanche of ash, I’m sure at least one of them will turn his or her eyes upward.

I have no course but to move slowly, to waste time, the one commodity I can’t afford to waste. Crawling down the cinder cone on all fours, I have to fight the temptation to just scream at the top of my lungs and drop in on them with my machete swinging. Yet if I do that, I know what they’ll do. Circle the leader, protect her at all costs. Hell, they’ve already formed a ring around Jelanda. All I’m hoping for is one clean shot at her brain.

Fifteen minutes later I’m in position, crouched above the entrance, peering down at the four ghosts guarding against a frontal attack. I can’t see Jelanda and her partner but I’m not surprised. Unless they’ve moved, they were so close to the opening, they should be directly beneath the stone ledge where I’m perched.

I’ve managed to stir up a handful of ash but none of the ghosts pays it any heed. But suddenly I have a more urgent problem.

I have to sneeze.

I try to stop it and fail. I let out a loud one.

All four of the ghosts start to turn. I don’t give them time to point their arrows at me. Pressing my palms flat on the ledge, I do a backflip over the edge and land cleanly on my feet less than five feet from Jelanda.

She blinks in shock. I smile.

“All of
you
are going to die,” I say as I step forward and cut off her head. Even before her skull hits the ground, the other five ghosts start to fall like puppets whose strings have been cut. In two seconds all six lie motionless on the ground.

I don’t waste any more time on them. Quickly, I check on Kyle, find he is still alive but slipping in and out of consciousness. Then I stride into the cave.

* * *

The cavern has changed since I was last here. The lava pools have risen and like a dozen campfires fed by a fresh supply of logs, they throw off continuous showers of sparks. More important, the hot springs bubble with renewed ferocity and the steam is so thick, I can’t see the rear of the cavern from the front. I can’t even find the walls and am forced to stalk forward at a cautious pace.

It’s at the back of the stone chamber where I find the last of my foes. Once again, Viper stands with a knife to the throat of a friend of mine—Sam. She doesn’t act so casual as she did with Chad, no surprise. Holding a witch instead of a human being in her hands is different and she knows Sam might break free at any second.

But I wonder if there isn’t more to Viper’s lack of confidence. I notice her hand trembling and a vein pulsing fast on her left temple. Her eyes are bloodshot, although the smell of sulfur inside the cavern is not strong.

A simple explanation would be to say Viper is exhausted.

Yet my intuition says no. Her weakness goes deeper.

Still, she holds the advantage. She’s cornered Sam with a knife and Li, as usual, stands helpless.

Yet Viper’s hold over me relies on Marc and she knows it. The bitch has shoved him into the stream and keeps a grip on him by pressing her bare foot to his head, wedging his skull in place with the help of a stone.

Since I splashed Marc’s face with the same water less than two hours ago, I know how cold it is and how fast he must be losing his body heat. He could be dead for all I can tell; his skin is icy blue.

“He’s still alive, barely,” Viper says, answering my unspoken thought.

Her voice is soft, somehow lonely, and it occurs to me that I’ve never seen her people. Perhaps Nordra killed them. Perhaps she killed them herself. Nothing would surprise me when it comes to Viper.