The Master (35 page)

“But—”

“Eventually all the prisons will be discovered, and you will know where we are. Without your child's help, my people shall be hunted down by humans and goblins, and they will surely and finally die. If you have any compassion, any sense of justice, you will not participate in this genocide.”

“I wouldn't—”

“If you want to help, go.
Go!
”

The last of Qasim's words were drowned out by an enormous blast, and part of the cave's ceiling rained down around Zee, filling the air with choking dust. The goblins had blasted their way through the partially blocked tunnel. A flurry of darts flew everywhere, most lodging in Qasim's hide as he shielded her as best he could.

The giant cat reacted immediately, hurling its body at the goblins. Zee cried out as dozens of spears pierced the beast's flesh, running it through. The cat was thrown aside, and goblins fell on it, biting viciously.

“Go, girl,” Qasim said again, stepping into the goblins' path. “The end is near.”

Stunned, and not knowing what to say or believe, Zee spun around and hurried as best she could after Nyssa and Bysshe. Warm blood ran between her fingers and down her side.

Behind her, the air filled with an inhuman howling that shook the very stone of the cave and drowned out the goblins' screams: It was the war cry of a hobgoblin. Qasim, master of all hobgoblins, was making his last stand.

Zee said a prayer to the Goddess, whom as a child she had always been forbidden to worship, asking for something she had never thought she would request: that Qasim would not give his life in vain. That her child would be spared—for her sake and for Nick, but also because it might save the hobgoblins. Hobgoblins! Yet, she wished this with all her heart. Qasim looked to be a monster, but in the end he had turned out more compassionate than her own people.

Nick stopped dead in his tracks in the tunnel, as stunned as if he had been clubbed in the head or stabbed in the chest. “Zee?” he whispered. “Where are you? What happened?”

She didn't answer, she was elsewhere, but he knew that she was in trouble—bad trouble. He had to go to her. Now! But . . . Nick looked at the children around him. They were his responsibility, too. Most of the goblins had been left behind, probably all barbecued or shot, but that wasn't the only danger. Could he safely leave these defenseless children with the Pied Piper of Hamelin as their only guardian?

“You're forgetting Abrial and Nyssa,” Farrar said, as though reading his mind—which he probably was. It was an annoying trick that ghosts seemed to have. “Even if I was inclined to make off with these kiddies, your friends would find me—and be very ir ritated when they did. Go after your woman. I shall see the children safely away.”

As if to reinforce this command, the dragon appeared, backing into the room while being careful with its massive tail. Farrar blew a quick trill, parting the children so that the serpent had room to maneuver. There were a few weak goblin shouts and a flurry of arrows, which the dragon's scales turned away. Then two goblins leapt into the room, waving guns.

Nick lifted his rifle, but the dragon breathed an answer to the goblin's puny assault before he could even aim. Flaming lutins hurtled through the air and splattered against the wall. Their flesh was burnt away instantly, their skeletons melted by the heat.

“I can take it from here,” the dragon said, head whipping around. Nick swore it gave a toothy grin. “Go find your woman. She and Nyssa and Bysshe are being chased through the tunnels that lead back to Cadalach. It is too small for me to follow where they go. Qasim bought them some time, but Nyssa is in labor and Zee has been hurt. They need a healer. You must get to them.”

Qasim? Nick wanted to know about the hobgoblin and why he was supposedly helping the women—and why they were in a place where they needed help—but he didn't wait for more explanation. He turned in the direction from whence he had sensed Zee's mental call for help, and he ran as he had never run in his life.

Zee did her best to keep up with Nyssa and Bysshe—a not-so-difficult task, because Nyssa had gone into labor and her contractions slowed her to a stagger. Bysshe had her hands full just keeping her daughter upright and moving, so neither of them noticed as Zee began to lag behind.

Qasim had kept his word and somehow sealed the passage behind them. The goblins had tried blasting it open, but whatever the hobgoblin had done, the way had so far been closed off.

Truthfully, Zee wasn't worrying about the goblins anymore. She knew her bleeding was bad, and she was growing weak and dizzy. And inside, she knew something was wrong. Her child was hurting. She had to get back to the shian—back to Nick. He would save her and their baby. The desperate thought drove her, giving her some urgently needed energy.

Her world was going black, though. Her vision narrowed to the barest of tunnels, where she could see only the dimmest gleams of light. She knew the passage they were in now, knew it should be sparkling like diamonds lit by blue fire. She also knew that she should feel warm—but she did not. All the world was cold, an arctic wasteland lost in eternal night. And she was alone, so alone!

There was a constant ringing in her ears as well, as though a tuning fork was struck on her brain and left to vibrate. It filled her head with pain.

“I found Abrial!” Nyssa gasped. Her voice came from very far away. “They did it! The children are all together with Farrar and the dragon, and Abrial's on his way here with Zayn. Jack and Roman are meeting up with Cyra and Io. Lyris is already back at the shian. Everything is fine.”

Nyssa's footsteps faltered again as a contraction seized her. This time, her mother couldn't hold her up.

“Sit down before you fall down,” Bysshe instructed.

“Damn it! I am not having this baby in a damned goblin hole. I—Zee! Mother, what's wrong with Zee?”

What was wrong with Zee was that she had lost too much blood. The world tilted suddenly, and Zee fell into Bysshe's outstretched arms and was lowered gently to the floor. She was certain from her difficulty breathing that at least one rib had punctured her left lung.

“Zee, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?” Bysshe demanded, pushing Zee's sweater aside so she could see the wound. The healer's reaction wasn't good. She went totally still, and Zee could still see well enough to make out her stricken expression.

“Don't worry,” Zee said, trying to comfort her. What else could she say? There was nothing Bysshe could have done to help her, not with the goblins chasing them and her own daughter in labor. “Nick will know how to fix me. Qasim said so.”

“Don't talk,” Bysshe said, tearing off a piece of her shirt and wadding it against Zee's side. Zee knew it wasn't a good sign that she couldn't feel the pressure through her pain.

“Thomas says that Nick is already on his way,” Nyssa panted, bracing herself against the tunnel wall. Contractions wrung her body. “He felt Zee get hurt. . . . Damn it. . . . Nick left the dragon and Farrar a few minutes ago. . . . Hang on, Zee. . . . Nick and Zayn will both be here in a minute. They can fix anything.”

But a minute would be too late; Zee knew that. In spite of her brave words to Bysshe, she could already feel her spirit unwinding from her body and slipping away.

I'm sorry, Qasim.

And Nick, I love you. I only wish I told you when I had the chance.

Nick peeled off his leather shirt as he ran, no longer caring if the goblin salts in the air dried or tore his skin; for some reason he just couldn't breathe properly, and he felt terribly constricted in his chest. His left side was one long flame of pain, which caused him to remain hunched over. So, though driven by panic, an ancient Egyptian mummy could have run faster than he.

Still, he knew that he was heading in the right direction and that he was getting close. Zee's voice was fading, but Nick could feel her presence now, and it grew stronger with each staggering step he took.

Nick felt alienated from himself, freed from his old conscience yet chained to something new. He wondered if he would miss his old limited understanding of the world. Would he miss being an island unto himself? It wasn't that he had become a ruthless monster or suddenly believed that the ends always justified the means—although in this case they did. It was just that the rules of the universe had changed because the universe itself was different. He would kill or die to protect Zee—that was his new reality.

As if to test his resolve, a troll cross leapt in front of him. Nick never slowed. Ignoring the pain, he jumped for the armed monster and, making an educated guess about its anatomy based on its outward similarities to a human, he struck what should be a killing blow; he landed with a knee on the creature's chest, slamming it into the ground even as he used a sharp chop to the throat to crush its trachea. The windpipe collapsed with a sick, crunching sound. The wound didn't kill immediately, but Nick knew the troll wouldn't be getting up to follow.

The troll cross convulsed as Nick sprang to his feet, and it fired the gun it was carrying in its lower left hand. Fortunately, the shot went wide, and Nick was away before the dying creature could get off another blast.

Ears ringing, pain worse than ever, Nick ran on, feeling his way as much as seeing it, for his eyesight was dimming. “Zee, don't you die,” he gasped.

It took him a moment to notice that Abrial was suddenly running beside him, a supporting hand under his left arm that propelled Nick down the tunnel.

“Left,” Nick gasped.

“I know,” Abrial said. “Zee is with Nyssa, who's having our baby right now.” The nightdemon hesitated. “You can probably tell from the sympathetic pain, but Zee has broken several ribs that have punctured her left lung. She's bleeding heavily.”

Nick tried to run faster and found that he could. Abrial obliged him by keeping pace and holding more of his weight. Nick sensed that the nightdemon could have moved even faster, but he was deliberating slowing himself to stay with Nick.

“There is one other thing you should know,” Abrial warned. “Nyssa says that Zee found out that she is with child.”

“Zee's pregnant?”

“Yes.” Nick sensed Abrial wanted to say more, but left it at that. “Zayn is right behind us. He may be able to help you with Zee.”

Nick stared doggedly ahead, trying to understand what Abrial wasn't saying. But his brain refused to think of anything except the fact that there was only one more bend in the tunnel and then he would be with Zee.

And then he was there, looking down at his lover, who was as pale as salt, her eyes sunken in and her chest barely moving. Her clothes were drenched in bright red blood. More blood than anyone could lose and survive.

Nick stared, stunned. Zee was close to death. Only a few weak heartbeats away. How had this happened? She was supposed to be safe! If anyone was going to get hurt, it was supposed to have been him.

“I've done what I can,” Bysshe said, shifting away to make room for Nick. “The rest is up to you, boy. I just hope the bond is strong enough to save her.”

Zee dreamed that she dined at a feast on a table so long that she could not see the end of it. Every food she had ever imagined was there. But though she ate and ate, she was not sated, and it occurred to her that she was only dining on new hallucinations shaped like her old dreams.

The thought was painful, but it seemed right. Wherever she was, there would be no true succor or comfort to be had here.

One thing would make her hunger cease, and one thing alone: She had to fill herself with the thing that would never be depleted. Not meat, not a dream of freedom, but love—that was the only thing that was real and eternal. Only with this, would the void inside her finally be filled. Love— that was the world's most sumptuous dish. It was what she had always craved. And though she hadn't found in her family the kind of love to end her soul hunger, it didn't mean that all relationships would be as fruitless and unfulfilling.

But how to find that love now? She was so hungry—so tired and weak.

Fear, child. It is your fear that makes the void inside you and makes you weak. You must have faith that your future can change.

Fear. Yes, and she had clung to her fear even after she had seen the Goddess and she had been told that she was safe and could let herself love.

Yes, and now it's time to let the old wounds heal, to fill up your soul with what is good and nourishing.

Zee nodded weakly. But how?

First, child, you must pluck out every arrow that punctured your heart. Forgive the cruelties inflicted on you. Empty yourself of that poison and disappointment. Only then will the pain cease, and will you be able to believe that your future shall be different than your past.

Zee did what the Goddess asked. She reached inside herself and took hold of one of the arrows that had pierced her heart. She jerked it out and instantly felt a bit better. She held up the arrow. It had writing on it. The words said:
bad daughter.
That was from her mother. Zee threw it away and reached for another. This one also had writing on it. She recognized Luz's rough hand:
Half-breed traitor.

Zee threw that arrow aside as well, and felt stronger. After that she worked faster, not pausing to read what all the painful shafts said, just pulling them out and casting them away. But there was no way to move fast enough.

Nick stared at Zee, trying to understand the meaning of Bysshe's words through his growing despair.

Too late! I'm too late! Nothing can save her.

“Stop that!” Bysshe shook Nick and said gently, “It
isn't
too late. Her spirit is still here; I can see it. Nick! I know that your relationship has been difficult and that it is awfully soon for you to know your feelings, but you can still save her. All you have to do is search for her with love.”