Forgotten (33 page)

The grip shifted, and Kaie’s back was slammed into a wall, the hand on his mouth moving down to pin him against it by the throat. He scrambled and clawed at it, but it was as solid as marble and holding him just enough that all he could manage was small painful gasps of air. The head connected to it leaned in close, great nostrils sucking in his scent. One brown eye darted back and forth, as if searching Kaie’s face for something. Then the scared lips turned up in a smile.

Silvertongue.

He thought he was safe, in the passes. But that was foolish. Dau warned him. Mola took his hair. There was only one reason. She would show the man where Judah and Henry lost her. She probably even realized Kaie would be the first down the stairs. She gave him to his nightmares.

A scream tore through him, dying against the pressure on his throat. Panic blinded him. The next few moments were nothing more than a mindless struggle to free himself from the abomination holding him. It was futile, just like before. Silvertongue leaned close again, one eye mocking. The monster’s lips pulled back from the jagged remnants of teeth, and Kaie’s whole body went stiff, preparing itself for the pain of the bite that was coming.

The lips touched his shoulder. Broken teeth brushed the skin.
Teasing.
And then…

Kaie’s eyes flew open as the pressure from his throat eased. His legs weren’t prepared to hold his weight so suddenly, and he slid down the wall. What happened?

Silvertongue was turned away from him. It wasn’t until Kaie hit the floor that he saw why.

There was someone else in the tunnel with them. He thought it was one of his soldiers, come to rescue him. But the brown skin wasn’t paint. A Huduku man wandered into Kaie’s nightmare just in time to win Silvertongue’s ire. The man as he collapsed to the ground with a sword through his throat.

Kaie pushed himself off the wall at an angle – not hard enough! –
and
caught Silvertongue in the back of the knees. The monster lurched forward and smacked into the opposite wall, head first.

Not hard enough to be knocked unconscious.

Damn.

Damn, damn.

No time to worry about it. Silvertongue wasn’t out, but the man was certainly reeling.

All he needed to do was call out. The soldiers were close. Only a few minutes passed since he first stepped off the stairs. They probably didn’t realize he was gone yet. If he shouted, someone would come running. He would be safe.
Safer.
The tunnels weren’t large
enough to effectively use his numbers against the fiend, but there would surely be enough to buy him time to run.

Kaie didn’t shout. It was stupid. He didn’t care.

His hands flew over the corpse between him and Silvertongue. There was no reason to think the man was carrying daggers like Mola’s. He never saw another Huduku wielding them. Still, Kaie wasted precious seconds poking fingers through the bright blue folds of the man’s shirt.

Silvertongue turned around.

His fingers brushed against a hardened leather handle.

The curved blade sliced through cloth as he pulled it free.

Flecks of blood flew from a cut on Silvertongue’s head, splattering across Kaie’s face.

Silvertongue lunged forward. Kaie shoved the dagger upward.

The metal slid through Silvertongue even easier than it did the cloth. It caught him in the belly and sliced up so fast Kaie almost lost his grip on the handle.

Silvertongue stumbled away from him. A low growl slithered out of Kaie’s aching throat, and he threw himself after the monster of his nightmares. He kept the knife buried in the man’s belly. He felt the blade scrape against bone and smiled. Then he twisted.

The sound that came out of his enemy was inhuman.

It was perfect.

He didn’t notice the people gathering around him until a hand dropped onto his shoulder and shook him. Kaie lashed out without a thought, swinging the dagger wide. He pulled up just short of slicing Judah open. The giant muttered a curse. He blinked, noticing the crowd pushing in for a glimpse at the scene in the tunnel. They were all muttering ‘Whore King.’ The words seemed to carry a different weight now. It seemed less like a friendly jest than reverence. It took him several seconds to realize it was because of the body crumpled beside him.

He laughed. If he knew all it took to win them completely was to kill Silvertongue, he would have started with that. He wiped the dagger off on the right leg of his pants and tucked it under his belt, offering Judah a nod of apology.

“Glad to see you’re still with us.”

“What the hell was he doing down here? Why would the Huduku tell the Fourth about the passes?” Judah asked low enough that the others wouldn’t hear.

The smell hit him again. It was still faint, but it hit him different this time. Instead of being one odor, he thought he caught two separate ones mixing together.
Rotten eggs.
That was most of it.
But underneath…
Food?
It smelled like a component from any number of the meals he set out for Gregor, the ones the people of Huduku were so fond of.

It clicked into place and came into focus.

Oil.

Why would Mola tell the
Urazians
about the passes?
Because she wanted all her enemies in them at the same time.
A time when her people would be safely out of the depths, making their way to whatever hiding place Dau thought would keep them safe. She was crazy, but she wouldn’t set Silvertongue on him just to make sure he was dead. She hated him enough for that, but a part of what drew him to her in the first place was that Mola was after things bigger than one life. Just like him.

No, Kaie’s hair was the bribe, and Silvertongue the insurance. She tried to kill him, but was slow enough for Henry and Judah to follow her to an entrance to the passes. Because Kaie was the only one capable of finding such an entrance on his own. She wanted as many pouring in after her as possible. And, just in case they moved too quickly and got too close to the last of the Huduku leaving the city, Mola arranged for Silvertongue to know of that same entrance. In doing so, she undoubtedly managed to reveal more than enough about the passes to convince the Fourth to pile into the depths. No doubt, she told them that’s where the Twelfth was hiding.

And the oil, the smell of rotten eggs, it was exactly what she intended; what the Huduku always intended. Maybe Dau never knew about it, or maybe the old woman just didn’t want
to reveal their last great trick. The people of the city were not going to let Huduku belong to the Urazin Empire. They were going to destroy it.

“We’ve got to move!”

He scrambled to his feet, using Judah to help him balance until his head stopped spinning. Kaie scanned the mass of faces swimming before him. They were all looking to him with expressions of confusion and fear, but he barely saw them. He was looking for two special ones.

He turned to Judah. “Where’s Peren?”

The giant wanted her. He hated it since the moment he first noticed it. Now, Kaie was grateful. The soldier was going to keep track of her. “Back by the stairs,” Judah answered. “I told her to wait there until I found out what the noise was.”

“We’ve got to get her.” Vaughan would be with her. “And we’ve got run.”

Judah hesitated for a moment,
then
nodded. The giant surged forward, using his massive arms to clear a path through the people milling about trying to get a glimpse of the fallen monster. Kaie heard him barking orders, and was aware of the soldiers behind them forming into much more cohesive units, but didn’t pay any attention to either. The important people were ahead of him.

Peren was right where Judah said. Vaughan was beside her. Kaie faltered for a second, shoving down his surge of relief. Vaughan was the one he needed. He wasn’t supposed to care about her.

He grabbed her wrist, telling himself it was the logical choice. Vaughan seemed loyal. Gregor taught him better. Peren made sure that her brother stayed in line. Kaie needed to be sure he was the one holding on to her from now on.

He didn’t offer them any explanation. They would figure it out soon. He just ran.

The world blurred. Stale, sour air slapped at him. His eyes burned. He saw nothing. It was amazing. Peren wasn’t even a weight on his arm. She matched him, stride for stride. He knew that, if he were healthy, he would easily outpace her. His legs were longer and they were
made
for running. Somehow, he forgot that. Kaie remembered now. His legs screamed and his lungs burned. The last two years fell away. The fury fell away. There was only the sound of their feet hitting the floor and their gasps for air.

It was free.

Kaie didn’t know if it was minutes or an hour, but his mad dash came to a sudden halt that nearly sent him straight into a wall. He’d given no thought to direction when he started running. He didn’t pay attention to the turn-offs or the stairs becoming less numerous. He didn’t even notice the lanterns growing more sporadic. Now, with walls on every side and nothing but a rickety ladder in front of him, Kaie realized the depths of his foolishness.

The others were on his heels, even Judah trusting that he knew where he was going. The giant was supposed to be the navigator. But there was no time to undo it. The Huduku could be lighting their fires any instant, and then it would be too late to escape.

With no other choice left to him, Kaie pushed Peren at the ladder. She climbed without a word of protest. He followed so close behind she almost stepped on his hands twice. He felt the brush of someone else’s fingers brushing against his ankles too. It wasn’t a long climb, but every rung seemed a small piece of eternity.

He couldn’t see what Peren was doing when she stopped climbing, but he felt the cool night air against his face when she opened the door. Another seven seconds, and he joined her up top.

Kaie stared up at the massive wall, startled by how close they were to it. It was close enough to brush his elbow up against the smooth surface. The end of the tunnel was exactly beneath the beginning of the wall. He didn’t expect that. The passes were supposed to go under the wall, opening up into the desert. He couldn’t figure out why this one stopped so close to freedom.

There were stairs nearby. They were just as steep as the ones below, but were a much longer climb. Kaie nudged Peren, pointing them out to her. She was breathing heavy, and the black dye from her hair was mixing with the paint and running down her face in rivers of sweat. It was obvious that she was exhausted, and wanted to stay where she’d fallen on the cobblestone street. But she nodded her understand, hoisted herself back to her feet, and started the climb.

Kaie waited just long enough for Vaughan to join them, ushering the small man ahead than began the ascent himself. The burn in his legs during the run was nothing compared to the climb. It was will that kept him moving, and nothing else. He stopped counting the seconds. He couldn’t spare the attention. He needed all his focus to tackle the step in front of him.
Then the one after that.

They stopped six times on the way up. Peren or Vaughan would simply sit down, and Kaie couldn’t bring himself to urge them up again without taking a rest himself. Judah and the rest of the soldiers seemed to be fairing slightly better, but even they took advantage of the breaks. He didn’t let them last long, though. Once he felt feeling returning to his legs, he forced them all up and moving again. It was just as much to get the numbness back as it was to get to safety.

It felt like days, but the sky was only beginning to lighten. Kaie’s head crested the top of the wall. The space up there seemed endless. It was wide enough for two carts to drive side by side. All along the length he could see small huts that served to house the guards. They were newer constructions, made out of wood and grey stone instead of the pale stuff of Huduku. He was too exhausted to do anything but slump down against the side of the nearest one. Peren dropped down beside him an instant later.

He passed out for a little while. The next thing he knew the whole of his small army was scattered about the space and Peren was shaking him gently.

Kaie knocked her hand away and rubbed at his face. The skin there was tingling, as if just waking from numbness. It was a strange sensation.

“What do we do now?” She asked him softly. He was absurdly grateful she was there. She was the only one who would be able to help and would know better than to share it. She wouldn’t like it. But Peren understood what survival cost.

“First, we get down,” he muttered. She made a face at the obvious statement. “Then we head to the bay.
You, me and Vaughan.
There are supposed to be fishing camps littered up and down the coast. There are nomadic tribes that stay at them from time to time, draw in a haul, and sell it at the Merchant’s Gate. If we’re really lucky, there’ll even be a boat waiting for us. If not, we’ll make one out of whatever gets left behind. Then we get out past the Chain.”

Her lips pursed into a thin line, and Kaie could almost hear the rebuke lurking behind them. Vaughan was the important one. The blonde man could keep a boat from sinking, or signal a ship passing by outside the Chain, or protect them from a thousand other eventualities Kaie couldn’t plan for. He needed her, too. Peren was necessary to keep Vaughan. No one else mattered.

“There’s going to be a ship out there,” he whispered before she could say anything. “We just have to get out there and survive another three or four days.
Five, at the most.”

Assuming
the crazy man
wasn’t lying about the timing of the ship coming for him. And that the ship wasn’t just part of the man’s lunacy. Either was possible, but Kaie believed the purple-eyed man.

“The Namer’s ship?”

“Not the Namers. It’s supposed to head back to Lindel. We might be able to negotiate another harbor, but if not that’s still worlds better than here.”

She didn’t ask how they would negotiate it, or even how he could be so sure. She just nodded. She was an amazing woman. He almost wished there was some way to undo all that was broken between them.

Every single muscle in his body screaming in protest, he lurched back to his feet and kicked Peren’s slumbering brother awake. Then he stumbled to the other side of the wall, hoping some magical means of descent would be waiting for him there.

His stomach heaved and his head spun wildly as he stared down at nothing but miles of empty space and crashing waves. The passes ended at the wall, because he led them to a place where the only thing on the other side was the bay. If there was a day to travel, they might make it around to the Merchant’s Gate where they could hurry back down more stairs and pile out into the desert beyond. Even the other side of the bay would be better. There would be more stairs, leading down to the docks. They would need to swim out from there, but it would be freedom. But he managed to take them to the one part of the wall that offered no way out.

Save one.

As his eyes grew used to the incredible distances, they picked out a strange form swinging back and forth along the wall. It was just on the other side of the guard post and about a quarter mile down. At first he thought it was nothing but a tightly packed flock of gulls. But the shape stayed more or less the same. Several of the gulls moved away at once, and he caught a flash of color. He knew what he was looking at.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Kaie’s startled jump nearly sent him tumbling off the wall. The giant was decent enough not to laugh. He didn’t ask the obvious question. “Yes.”

Judah nodded. They sent more than one soldier to their death, fetching that bright yellow dress. They were staring at what remained of the late Lady Autumnsong. There wasn’t much of her left. The gulls weren’t fighting over meat anymore. Now it was scraps of the dress causing the aerial battles. Soon it would be nothing more than bare bones. They were by the Villain’s Gate.

It wasn’t actually a gate. In practice, it functioned more like a chute. Criminals were chained by the wrists to the wall above, and by the ankles to some spot below. Then they were shoved into the Villain’s Gate, which flung them out just far enough that they wouldn’t be able cling to the wall before the chains around their arms jerked tight. After two or three weeks, they used the ones around the ankles to draw the corpse back into the city via a small hole down at street level. The whole wasn’t truly big enough for a fully-grown person to fit through, but it was plenty large enough for the remains. Rather than trying to cart a sack of bones and rotting flesh down the stairs, they simply brought it in below.

That meant the chains that attached to the wrists would need to be long enough to stretch all the way to the bottom of the wall. There would still be the fall into the bay, but it was a way down.

Kaie didn’t need to explain this to Judah. The giant was already moving, barking at the other soldiers on the wall to get up and form ranks. They fell in without a word of complaint or a missed step. Getting
his own
people sorted out wasn’t quite as seamless a process. Vaughan’s exhaustion was so palpable it made Kaie
feel
his own more acutely. He managed, though. They all managed.