Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) (23 page)

She gauged the width of it at the base of the
mountain. It was at its thinnest point here, but still wider than
she cared to wager her life on by jumping across. Her eyes slid up
the side of the mountain and spied a ledge a ways up. It led from a
point behind her off into the distance past the canyon. If she
could make it up onto it, she could go around that way.

Picking an area well away from the sudden
drop-off so that if she lost her grip and tumbled down she would
have a greater chance of surviving than she would if she tumbled
straight down into the pit of fiery liquid, she began to climb.

Handholds were scarce and Katya found herself
winding this way and that rather than finding a straight path to
the ledge, but eventually she did make it. She strained her aching
arms to haul herself up onto it and she lay panting for a few
minutes.

When she had caught her breath she stood and
she looked down over the side. She felt momentarily dizzy, she had
never been especially fond of heights, and looked farther out
rather than straight down. She followed the canyon’s path and saw
that it did indeed extend for quite a ways, branching out at two
sharp points closer to her and again another two farther away. In
fact, when she squinted her eyes at it, it sort of resembled a
star. She had to use her imagination to get the proportions right
as if she was looking at it from above, say from a flying dragon’s
point of view, but when she adjusted her image to account for that,
it was definitely star-shaped.

Once again, the vague information had come in
useful. Katya tilted her head in a silent acknowledgement of thanks
to whichever of the voices in Layna’s head had remembered that
little tid-bit.

She carefully picked her way along the narrow
ledge and breathed a sigh of relief when it widened. A large cave
mouth came into view, directly above the opening to the canyon. She
approached it cautiously, even though she had seen no signs of life
anywhere near here, she had no desire to be surprised into stepping
backwards off the cliff.

Her approach was greeted with nothing out of
the ordinary and she continued on into the dark cave, holding her
knives out in front of her and sacrificing more of the stone’s
power for a mage-light. As she got to the end of a narrow channel
where it appeared to open up, light suddenly assaulted her sight
and it illuminated a vast open chamber before her. And, lying in
the center, its head and tail wrapped around its body like a cat
was a dragon. A very large dragon. Katya had known that it would be
of impressive size, but her imagination had not given it justice.
Nor to the sheer beauty of the creature.

She crept closer quietly. Though she knew it
was in slumber and imprisoned, she couldn’t shake the feeling that
it was somehow aware of her presence. A shimmering dome surrounded
the creature, and Katya held a hand out to it.

As her fingertips brushed against the magical
barrier, she gasped and jumped backwards as the dragon’s eyes
suddenly flew open and fixated directly on her.

*

-
She’s there
.
- Nuko
interrupted the conversation Nathair had been having with his
advisor.

-
Who’s where?-
he asked him
irritability. At least if the dragon was going to pop thoughts into
his head he could do it when he wasn’t concentrating on something
else. And explain what he was talking about for god’s sake.

-
Your girl, she found my
body!
-
The excitement in Nuko’s mindself was palpable.
Nathair dismissed the advisor who had been in the middle of a
sentence and concentrated the significance. If Katya had found his
body that meant that the others would be implementing the rest of
their plan soon. He needed to talk to Katya and implement the rest
of his own.

He glanced out the window and saw that it
wasn’t even past midday yet. He had one last trip he needed to make
before his guests arrived, he was guessing either tomorrow or soon
after depending on their welcome at the Golden Girls. He had put
eyes on the place and so far they hadn’t made contact. Seeing as
how soon he would have more power than he had ever dreamed
possible, bothering with a war that wasn’t going as well as he
wanted it to was pointless anyway.

Once they were united with their body, no one
would dare challenge them. Everyone would convert to worship him
because he would
be
their god. He may have thought before
that simply transforming into the shape of one and wielding power
greater than he had imagined from the stone made him one, but soon
it would be a reality.

And the result of his journey this afternoon
would be such a satisfying slice of revenge. It had been quite a
task to find the location, but it would be worth the effort to be
able to have the little reunion. Plus, it was his leverage in case
anything went south.

The chore went smoothly and Nathair smiled as
he fingered the tiny box. He tucked it away in his pocket and
formulated his plan for the evening. Once nightfall rolled around,
Nathair took to his bed, something he had found himself looking
forward to lately.

Katya joined him, her countenance displaying
exhaustion and he expressed his concern.

“
Are you well?”

“
Just tired. I constantly feel as though I
am being watched…even though I moved to camp out farther away from
him, it still feels like his eyes are on me. It’s like he’s always
there.”

Nathair didn’t need to ask who she meant.
“Have you spoken to your friends? Are they coming soon? Maybe when
they’re there you’ll be able to relax a little.”

“
They are making the final preparations
now, and I need to finish up with mine here. If all goes well it
should hopefully be over soon. How are you doing?”

He had found himself sharing his everyday
activities with her. It wasn’t like she remembered them in the
morning anyway, and it made him happy. He sighed. “One thing after
another just seems to keep happening, just recently I lost two
whole units when the Treymaynians were able to remove the bracers
from the soldiers.” He noticed her look of anger and was reminded
of her hatred of the tools. There was something else there as well.
Was it…shame? He eyed her suspiciously. “You don’t know how
Treymayne got their hands on the information how to remove the
collar do you?” He was brought back to the memory of her helping
him remove his own, when he told her the secret of how to do
it…

She didn’t answer, but shifted her weight
uncomfortably.

Nathair closed his eyes against the anger.
It didn’t matter. Yes, it had been an annoyance, but in the end it
had proved to be an enjoyable evening. And really, the war was an
insignificant part in his play to power. A simple entertaining
appetizer before the main course. Besides, he could tell she was
feeling guilty, guilty for betraying him, and combined with her
anger over the use of the collar, she should be easy to sway.

“
They are going to put a collar on me,” he
reminded her, abandoning his usual separation of Nuko and himself
when he spoke with her to make sure the impact hit home. “It won’t
be necessary. I don’t want to join with the Sleeping God any more
than they want me to. No one should be subjected to that sort of
punishment. Please don’t let them collar me.”

“
I don’t want them to,” she nearly
whispered.

“
Please don’t, you remember what it’s
like. I don’t ever want to have my free will taken away like that.
I’ll do anything.” He begged her, using his most convincing
whine.

“
No,” she said, her voice growing stronger
and more decisive. “I won’t let them, they’ll just have to do it
without the use of the horrible thing.”

“
Thank you, Katya. I knew I could count on
you. But the collar they have is special, and requires a special
spell to unlock it. Will you unlock it for me?”

“
Yes.”

“
Good, this is the spell,” he recited it
to her, and gave her a command . “
Remember.”
Unlike the rest
of their conversations in the dream-world, when it was triggered
Katya would remember enough of this one to know how to remove the
collar.

Nathair was confident that she would.

CHAPTER 16

Dressed in their disguises, Katrina led the
two of them through the back alleyways to get to the Golden Girls.
Layna was surprised at the quiet when they entered. There were no
scantily clad women draped over any of the furniture, and they
weren’t immediately solicited when they entered.

“Some of the girls are following the army.
With the shortage of men in the city, only those who have sponsors
old enough or rich enough to have avoided joining the army can
afford to still be here. But don’t worry, all those who service the
palace are guaranteed to be here.”

“I wonder if Carolyn or Megan had any
high-end clients,” Layna mused out loud.

“Just so happens we do, why do you ask?”
Megan came strolling into the front lobby, looking like a queen.
Her hair was a perfect quaff on her head, her make-up in the high
fashion style of the day, and the gown she wore belied her status
as a glorified street-walker. Layna did not approve of the
life-style for herself, but could not judge those who chose it. Or
those who felt they had no other choice. Megan seemed to be making
the most of it.

“We have a favor to ask,” Gryffon answered
and Megan raised a dainty brow. She seemed to have grown a lot in
the past months. Madame Blanchet and Carolyn entered the room as
well and the younger girl broke into a smile.

“What kind of favor?” Megan spoke as Carolyn
hugged Layna.

Gryffon looked around, wary of listening
ears, and Madame Blanchet, picking up on his hesitation gestured to
her office. “Why don’t we speak privately.”

Once settled around her desk, Megan asked
with a tinge of impatience, “What is it?” Madame Blanchet gave her
a stern look and she pasted on a bored look of indifference, one
that Layna knew all too well from working around noble women.
Perhaps Megan was being groomed for a different sort of client
nowadays.

Gryffon spoke again. “We need to sneak into
the palace, as close to the King’s chambers as possible.”

All three of the women raised their eyebrows,
but none asked why. Layna supposed they were used to discretion in
their line of work, but they weren’t clients. She hoped that their
gratitude over having helped save one of their own would put as
much weight as they had been counting on.

“It just so happens that Megan here has her
first meeting with a new client in the palace tonight.”

“And it’s the King’s advisor,” Carolyn added
excitedly. Layna was moved by her immediate and unquestioning
investment in their mission. “Apparently the King decided to reward
him for his efforts with the war.”

“Yeah, can’t wait to meet the man,” Megan
rolled her eyes, but bit her lip at the warning glance Madame
Blanchet sent her.

“Do you think you’d be able to sneak two more
in with you through the guards? Maybe like back-up or
something?”

Carolyn giggled. “Oh sure, the guards are
used to all sorts of strange things when it comes to us. Before the
war, we probably could have even brought Gryffon in with us with no
questions asked.”

“But Gryffon does have to go,” Layna said,
confused. Realizing they had assumed she meant Katrina and her, she
added. “It’s Gryffon and I that need to get in, Katrina was just
helping us get around the city.”

“So this isn’t something for the project
you’re working on?” Madame Blanchet directed her question towards
Katrina and Layna was surprised the two knew one another, and that
Madame Blanchet apparently knew about her operation. She supposed
she shouldn’t have been though, Katrina always had been resourceful
and what better way to learn the city’s secrets than to hear them
from the Golden Girls. Lips were always looser in the bedroom, and
women were used as decoration at secret meetings, ignored and
forgotten, but always listening.

“Yes and no,” Katrina replied, obviously not
sure how much of what Layna had shared with her she should supply
for the woman, “it will ultimately benefit our situation, but it
isn’t anything I am part of. These are good people, though, I’ll
vouch for them and for the importance and integrity of their
mission.”

Madame Blanchet nodded slowly. “We have had
dealings with them in the past,” Katrina gave Layna a feigned
shocked expression and a look that said ‘you never told me you were
into that kind of thing!’ and Layna blushed. She shook her head
slightly at her and Katrina winked. Madame Blanchet went on, “and I
am inclined to trust them and want to help. However, the risk will
be not only to the reputation of this establishment, but more
importantly it will directly risk Megan. I will allow it, but only
if Megan agrees.”

Carolyn looked at her partner expectantly and
Megan nodded without hesitation. “Let’s do it.”

“When is your meeting?”

“Now.”

*

Katya paced the length of the cave entrance,
not willing to set foot inside of the main chamber. The piercing
eyes stared at her relentlessly and unblinkingly. It was unnerving.
She couldn’t tell if there was any sort of mental activity behind
it or if it was simply a reflex.

She knew that she should prepare the circle
inside the vast chamber where there would be more room for error,
but ultimately decided to do it in the hallway before it. That way,
she could work without being distracted by the eyes. They weren’t
the eyes like those of the Nathair dragon, which had seemed almost
human in the serpentine head, but rather an intense dark glaring
orb.

She arranged handfuls of pebbles in a circle.
The material of the shape wasn’t important and there was an
abundance of them here, so Katya thought it was appropriate. Then
she set about the laborious task of cleansing the area. She
continued on until she was sweating, wanting to make sure that more
than enough of the magic around here was useable for the inevitable
battle. And, having had the opportunity to see the dragon up close,
she wanted there to be plenty.