Game Play (24 page)

"So, in my
despair, I shouted into the streets, I cursed Scartaris at the top of my
lungs." Her fingers rubbed the
S
-scar on her forehead. She mumbled her
words. "So he cursed me back.

"The people
gathered and found me. They grabbed my arms and pinned them behind me, then
they carried me to one of the blacksmiths' shops. I couldn't break free because
there were so many. You saw them. They held me down by an anvil in the dark. I
was screaming and I could hardly breathe. I hurt myself trying to struggle.

"They took a
hot iron and branded this on my forehead. Then they dunked my head in the water
and left me there on the floor." She drew a deep breath and closed her
eyes.

"They were
people I knew! They were
―
" her voice hitched, "my
brother and my husband!"

She leaned against
a stone wall on which had been painted an ochre sunrise shedding light over
lush forest terrain and bountiful fields surrounding the reborn city of Taire.
The paint had faded, dusted with an oily smear.

"This is
supposed to mark me as the lowliest character in Scartaris's domain. I am to be
taunted, played with, and, worst of all, ignored. He casts aside and breaks
everything I cared for
―
Scartaris must be laughing as he watches
me try to pick up the pieces."

Mindar trembled
with passion. Her hands clutched at the hilt of her rippled sword as if she
wanted to damage something. She fought to bring control over herself again.

"Scartaris
sent a demon watcher to make sure that I see no peace. The Cailee. It hides in
the shadows, watches my thoughts to learn how it may inflict the most pain on
me."

Bryl looked at the
shadows of the alleys, widening his eyes. Delrael frowned. "What is the
Cailee?"

Mindar straightened
and began to walk down the street, leading her horse. Delrael could see nothing
but the back of her head as she answered.

"The Cailee
becomes tangible only at night. It looks like a shadow, featureless and black,
in the form of a human. But on the ends of its hands are hooked silver claws,
sharp enough to rend
―
" Her shoulders bunched and rippled.
"The characters here are all so helpless now, so helpless."

Mindar swallowed.
"The Cailee shadows me, follows me, waiting until I'm not watching
―
and then it slaughters!"

She whirled with
such anger that her horse skittered two steps sideways. The
S
-scar on her
forehead seemed to throb with a light of its own.

She dropped her
voice to a quiet longing tone. "One night the Cailee slit open my husband.
And Cithany. And left them to bleed onto the floor of our home. For no other
reason than that it would hurt
me
."

Delrael felt his
heart pounding, thinking again of Tallin and how the Anteds had killed him.
Mindar slashed at the air in her passion.

"For that, I'm
going to destroy Scartaris. No matter what it takes. If you have a way, then I
will join your quest." Her gaze flicked from Delrael to the others.
Delrael felt the heat behind those eyes.

"We have a
way," he answered.

"
I
have a
way, too," Journeyman said.

"We'll need
all the help we can get," Delrael said. He held out his hand to her.
Something inside of him felt uneasy about Mindar, but he could understand her
anger and her obsession. She struck him like a true comrade, someone who had
felt the same wounds. He felt close to her.

She flashed a
smile, sharp and dangerous, and grasped Delrael's hand.

"My friends,
together we can defeat Scartaris."

Mindar stiffened
and turned pale. Her eyes widened, flicking back and forth as if to see
something from the corner of her eyes. "What have I done? I called you my
friends
!"

She grabbed the
horse and set off down a side street. The mare's hooves made loud noises that
echoed against the buildings. "You are in grave danger
―
follow me! It's almost sundown. The Cailee will come soon."

She didn't speak.
She didn't have to. Deep shadows slanted across the street. The sky turned
orange as the sun sank behind the knife-edge of the Spectre Mountains, dappling
the stone walls.

Mindar brought them
to a wide, squat building and opened the iron front gates. She stopped and held
the horse's head in her hands. She rubbed the gray mare behind the ears.

"There now,
you take care of yourself." She released the horse and clapped her hands.
"Go on!" She turned it around and gave it a light kick with her boot.
The mare trotted away through the streets.

"Won't the
Cailee get your horse in the middle of the night?" Bryl asked.

Mindar flashed her
hard smile again. "No. A horse is not like the people of Taire
―
she can defend herself. And she can run. She knows where to hide. Besides,
horses are much too valuable for hauling supplies to Scartaris's armies.

"This building
here is one of the old storehouses." She led them inside. The windows were
narrow, and the air smelled musty and empty. Dust filtered into angled shafts
of light across the floor.

"Taire
couldn't raise all its own crops, of course. Sometimes we bought food from the
farming villages in the mountain foothills. The half-breeds used magic to
replenish our supplies of meats and grains. Mostly it's all been used up by
now."

Their footsteps
echoed across the floor in the empty building. Mindar led them down an open
staircase to the basement, cool and dry beneath the ground. Several chambers
had been hollowed out. Mindar took them to the door of one.

"I set this up
for myself a while ago, when I thought someday I might have to make a stand
against the people of Taire. It's well defended and well supplied."

Inside, the room
was windowless. Boxes of provisions and drinking water in sealed casks were
piled against the wall. Bryl found candles in one of the boxes and took them
out.

"The door is
secure. It's heavy wood
―
and we don't have much wood here. It
should keep us safe against the Cailee."

Mindar stood up
straight, as if something had twisted inside her. She looked frightened and
sweating, even more than before. "I forgot to lock the upstairs gate! Be
ready to let me in when I come back down!"

Before they could
say anything, she squeezed out through the half-shut door. Delrael heard her
boots skipping up the stairs, then quick footfalls across the floor above. He
looked at Vailret, who shrugged and shook his head.

And then they heard
an outcry from above. "Cailee! Stay away!" They heard a clang of iron
as the gates slammed, and then a loud crash of torn metal clattering to the
floor. "Get out!"

A sharp sound rang
out as metal struck stone. Delrael pictured Mindar swinging with her rippled
sword, and then he heard frantic steps charging down the stairs.

"Get
ready!" Delrael said. Vailret stood with him by the door, waiting to push
it shut.

Mindar ran for
them, holding the sword in one hand, her whip coiled at her hip. She leaped
down the last three stairs. Her boots skittered on the floor, and her dark
braid flipped back and forth.

"Close the
door behind me! Close the door!"

As she ducked
inside, Delrael saw an oily black silhouette creep down the stairs. moving dark
and humanlike, but completely without features. A solid black mass that looked
like a hole, a cut-out in the shape of a human character, gliding down the
stairs, smooth and fast.

On the ends of each
finger were gleaming, knifelike claws.

"Close the
door!" Mindar cried.

Delrael shoved his
shoulder against the door, and it thumped against the jamb. Mindar scrabbled
with her hands and pulled the solid wooden crossbeam over the supports.

An instant later
they heard a howl as something massive struck the other side of the door.
Delrael still had his shoulder against it and felt the wood vibrate.

With another roar,
the Cailee struck the door again. Then Delrael heard sharp, splintering sounds
of silver claws ripping open the wood.

Chapter 14:

THE WOMAN CURSED BY
SCARTARIS

"The
Outsiders put their characters through a crucible, forging us with their games,
tempering us with agonies or pleasures. Some characters are destroyed by this
testing. Others come through it galvanized and stronger than before."

―
Stilvess Peacemaker.

The Cailee
attacked again.

The door thudded as
the monster slammed against the wood, then screeching claws skittered up and
down the jamb.

Bryl whimpered.

"That's more
than just a
shadow
," Delrael said.

"Who knows
what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" Journeyman said.

Mindar looked at
them. The flickering candlelight washed over her face, shining with the sweat
of her effort, her fear. The air felt hot and close around them. Delrael took a
drink from one of the water skins, but the liquid tasted warm and flat.

Mindar turned away
to stare at the door. She ran the braided end of the whip through her calloused
hands.

The Cailee struck
the door again.

"I've tried to
hunt it down in the streets," she whispered. "I went out at night
with my sword, but the Cailee always eluded me. It can vanish into any pool of
darkness, hide in any corner where the light doesn't fall. I challenged the
Cailee, but it chose to strike behind my back."

Her fingers clutched
at the whip, as if to use it as a garrote. "I ran through the streets.
Everything was dark, since no one lit lamps in their homes anymore. I found
that the Cailee had torn down the door to my own home.

"I didn't try
to be cautious. It wouldn't have done any good. When I pushed the torch into
the shadows of my house, I could sense the Cailee. I also smelled fresh blood.
When I came into the main room, I found
―
"Mindar choked on
her words.

Delrael stiffened
and wanted to go to her, comfort her. But he felt that she did not want any
comfort. She might be afraid it would weaken her.

"I found my
husband and my daughter. Even mindless, they still knew where home was. They
lived there. They were both slaughtered by the Cailee. It had thrown their
blood in all directions, like it was playing.

"They hadn't
put up any struggle, of course. Scartaris killed their minds long ago. I
suppose they didn't even feel any pain."

"Mindar..."
Delrael said.

"I ran outside
and found the Cailee. I slashed at it with my sword and scored a blow
―
then the Cailee tore at me with its silver claws, laying open my side. I fell
to the street with a mortal wound, bleeding for hours. But I couldn't die.

"When I woke
up at dawn, I had healed completely. And I found that the Cailee had also slain
my brother. The one who had helped brand my forehead."

On the other side
of the door, the Cailee ran one claw down the wood in a long, slow scratching
noise that made the skin crawl on Delrael's back. The Cailee seemed to be
mocking them.

Bryl's face looked
the color of sour milk in the dim candlelight. He kneaded his fingers around
the ruby Fire Stone. "If the Cailee gets in here, I'm going to blast
it."

Mindar looked at
the eight-sided stone with an expression of scorn on her face. Her eyes had a
dull despair to them, but suddenly her gaze focused.

"How did you
get that?" Her voice carried a sharp command, and she sprang to her feet.
"Where did you get Enrod's Fire Stone?"

Delrael stood up
beside Bryl. Everything fell into place for him as he remembered. Vailret
cleared his throat, but seemed reluctant to start explaining.

"Delrael..."
Mindar said, rolling the name around her mouth. "You're the ones who made
the Barrier River! Enrod said you cut us off!"

Vailret coughed and
turned away, as if avoiding her. "Enrod wasn't ... himself, I don't think.
He tried to destroy all the hexagons west of the Barrier River. But the
Deathspirits stopped him and cursed him to stay on the River until the end of
the Game. They took the Fire Stone away from him and gave it to us."

He lowered his
eyes. "Scartaris must have been manipulating Enrod, but the Deathspirits
didn't care about any reasons, only what he was trying to do."

Mindar sat back
down with slumped shoulders. She undid the braid in her hair and shook her head
to loosen the strands. She closed her dark eyes.

"That doesn't
surprise me. I know how upset Enrod was about your River.

He had found out
about Scartaris and how we'd all have to escape soon.
You
made our escape
impossible. You trapped us on the same side of the map with Scartaris."
She shrugged and ran her fingers through hair that hung long and dark, kinky
from the tight braid.