The Midnight Sea (The Fourth Element #1) (17 page)

Chapter Twenty

T
he next days passed like a fever dream. I fell in and out of consciousness. Magi came, holding me down while they cauterized the stump with hot wax. I saw Ilyas’s face, swimming in the background, watching but not speaking. He looked sorrowful, but then he had looked the same while he cut my hand off.

They covered me with a blanket and still I shivered uncontrollably, teeth chattering. The pain was something to hold onto. A distraction from the loneliness and the fear of what was being done to Darius. For the first time in two years, I didn’t know.

I didn’t
know
.

Didn’t know if he was dead or alive. Where he was.
How
he was. Because he was bonded to Ilyas now. The cuff had only to be touching skin. Ilyas wore it on a chain around his neck.

I wished they would just kill me and get it over with. But I knew he didn’t want me dead. Just broken, like him.

Sometimes I still felt my hand. I would try to bring it to my face, to push the hair from my eyes, and I would see the stump, the circle of bone and scarred flesh. The skin at the edge was a lighter color, where it had been shielded from the sun. The sight made me retch.

They came and checked it twice each day, for infection, and I was too tired to fight them. So my mind settled into its own delirious routine. Fantasizing about what I would do to Ilyas if I ever managed to get out of here. And thinking of Darius—not the things we did as Water Dogs, but the time we spent when he was recovering in his bed. All the stories he told me. The late afternoon sun pooling on the wood floor, the soft rustle of the sheets as he shifted his weight.

That was when he told the bit about the mountains dreaming. I had laughed then, thinking he was teasing me, but his face was serious.

Darius closed the book. He took my hand, brought it to his lips, his eyes lit with an inner
fire.

“You are my island in the Midnight Sea, Nazafareen,” he said, pulling me into his
bed…

Well, he didn’t really say that. But it’s how I liked to remember it.

I dreamed about Tommas too. His easy smile. The way he sang to Myrri. If he hadn’t killed those Druj, he never would have been sold to the Water Dogs. He still would have been a slave, but he could have lived out his days on the merchant traders, filling their sails with wind.

If the Druj hadn’t killed my sister, I wouldn’t be here either.

Always the Druj.

My one consolation was that the Numerator was wrong when he said he would wipe my clan off the face of the earth. He had no idea who he was dealing with. At the first sign of danger, they would melt into the mountains and disappear. The Four-Legs Clan submitted to the King’s authority because they needed to trade with Tel Khalujah, but no ruler had ever subjugated my people by force.

They had tried, of course. For a thousand years. And none of those soldiers had left the Khusk Range alive. Warfare in high mountain passes is a very different beast from large armies clashing on an open plain, or siege tactics, as the Immortals were trained for.

And when one side is defending their homeland, their wives and children, it doesn’t matter how many armored bodies you throw at them. You will lose.

I knew this, and yet my heart grew cold when I thought of what was coming. How many would die before they realized they were under attack? The Four-Legs had been virtually left alone for two hundred years. When they saw the King’s soldiers, they would have no reason to view them as a threat. Until the spears started to fly…

Lying in that cell, I felt like a flea in the belly of an aurochs. Like I had been swallowed by some enormous animal that was slowly digesting me, even as it moved on to seek out its next meal. For I was just a speck, hardly worth the effort it took to devour.

What had Tommas given his life for? The satrap? The Prophet? The King? This great empire, tottering under the weight of its own corruption? We should run after the massacre in the dome. I had been a blind fool to believe that Ilyas could come back from the dark place he’d gone to. That the King could somehow set things to rights. And that belief had killed us.

Funny how we don’t miss something until it’s gone. A stupid yet universal truth. I’d taken my sister Ashraf for granted, and I’d taken Darius for granted. How many times had I longed for peace? Raged against the fact that I couldn’t be rid of him, not waking or sleeping? There were times—many times—when I would have given anything to have him out of my head for a single hour.

And now that he
was
gone—irrevocably, utterly gone—every minute seemed an eternity of emptiness. It almost made me understand what had driven Ilyas into the abyss. Almost. For now I would do anything to have Darius back.

Keys clanking. Cell door opening.

I turned my face from the light. If Ilyas was with the magi, I would get to him somehow. I only had one hand, but I could still rip his throat out with my teeth, if I could coax him near enough.

A hooded form bent over me. Soft hands touched my forehead. The smell of her, exotic, feminine. My eyes widened in surprise.

She pushed her hood back and I saw it was the King’s daēva.

She leaned in until that witchy eye was inches from mine. I tried to focus on the other, which was a clear, pure blue. Taken separately, her features were all too long or too sharp to be considered pretty. But when she turned her head suddenly, at some noise too faint for me to hear, her profile coalesced into something striking. Elegant.

“My name is Delilah,” she whispered. “I can get you out of here, but only if you take Darius with you. That is my offer.”

I sat up. The action made my head spin. “He’s alive?”

I didn’t even know how many days had passed. It could have been five, or six, or ten.

“Until tomorrow morning,” she said grimly. “Swear it. That you won’t leave him behind. He must be re-bonded, or they will track him through the cuff.”

“I swear. I would rather die.” My heart pounded. I felt an unfamiliar sensation in my chest, like a slowly expanding bubble. It took me a moment to realize what it was: hope.

She nodded once. “Come, we haven’t any time. The Water Dog captain is in his cell now. Can you walk?”

Ilyas
. The thought of him with Darius dragged me to my feet. Too fast. A sickening wave of vertigo washed over me. I felt my knees buckling and thoughtlessly reached out to steady myself. My stump banged into the stone wall and I stifled a scream.

“Why are you doing this?” I panted.

“He is my son,” she said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

I should have guessed. She and Darius looked nothing alike, but that blue eye…

“Does the King know?”

Delilah’s mouth twisted. “Why do you think he sentenced him to burn? He knew my feelings when I first saw Darius, though I tried to hide them. It has been twenty years since they took him from me, but I recognized him at once.”

“And the King would deliberately murder your child?” I asked, horrified.

“Darius has much of his father in him. It reminds Artaxeros of what he can never have. That while he may own my body, my heart belongs to another.” Delilah paused. “You saw Victor?”

“I saw him.”

“He was well?” Her voice caught.

“As well as you might expect,” I said carefully. “He got away from us.”

She closed her good eye. The other stared into the distance. Then her head jerked around, although again I heard nothing. “There is no time! Listen to me. Once we have him, you must go to a fishing village called Karon Komai. It is two days’ walk north of here, on the shores of the Midnight Sea. Victor arranged for a ship, the
Amestris
. Go find it. The captain will take you to Eskander.”

“How do you know this?” I demanded.

“He sent a message with the Purified. Victor had planned to come to Persepolae, to take me with him, but without the fire to break my bond with the King, I cannot leave. If you find him, tell him…Tell him I am fine.”

I nodded, thinking
Eskander
?
The young wolf
? I’d heard he was a bloodthirsty beast, a slaver and conqueror. But what choice did we have?

“I will carry your message if you carry mine,” I said. “To the Four-Legs Clan of the Khusk Range. Tell them war is coming. They must call in the khans and send the women and children to safety. Artaxeros the Second is no longer their King, but their enemy.”

“It will be done,” Delilah said without hesitation.

“What about the Immortals?” I whispered as we started down the corridor. My legs were still unsteady, but the thought of freedom gave me strength. “How do we get past them?”

“Leave that to me,” Delilah said.

We crept through the dungeons. My nerves sang with tension, and not only from fear of the guards. This was the woman who had tried to kill Darius as an infant rather than see him cuffed. Whose son had become her worst nightmare. A hunter of his own kind. And yet still she would risk everything to help him.

I knew I was only here because she needed someone to break the bond with Ilyas. If not for that, she would have left me to rot. And perhaps I deserved to.

Then we rounded a corner and I heard faint screams. Darius’s screams.

I bit back a cry and lurched forward. Delilah pushed me hard against the wall. She was slender as a willow, but she had no trouble holding me. Holy Father, I was weak.

“Not yet,” she hissed. “Follow at a short distance. Stay to the shadows.”

And then she was gone, walking swiftly toward the cell where Darius was being tortured.

I cursed under my breath and staggered after her. Even if I’d had my sword, I doubt I could have lifted it. The King must be holding her power. And if he was paying attention, he would know exactly where she was headed. What did this madwoman have in mind?

She paused ahead of me, taking out a small knife and slashing her palm open. Then she rubbed the blood over her face and neck, wiping red handprints on her sheer gown.

She rounded the corner and disappeared. A moment later I heard a shout.

I peeked around the corner. The twelve Immortals, all daēvas, still sat in their chairs. But there was a Numerator with them, the one who had come to my cell. And Ilyas. He had a sick look on his face, of guilt and pleasure and rage all mixed together. His fingers were twined through Darius’s cuff.
My
cuff
.

“The King is under siege in the audience chamber!” Delilah screamed. “There has been an attack on the palace! It’s overrun with Druj!”

The Immortals stirred like a kicked anthill, leaping to their feet.

“Go! Hurry!” Delilah screamed. “The King of Kings needs you!”

Ten of them dashed off the opposite way down the corridor, followed by the Numerator. But Ilyas remained. As did two of the Immortals.

My heart sank. Of course they were too disciplined to leave the prisoner completely unattended. And two might as well have been twenty. They were daēva. I couldn’t beat them on my best day, whole and rested, let alone in the condition I was now. Her ruse had failed.

But I wouldn’t let Ilyas have Darius either. Even if the Immortals cut me down, I would see him dead first.

I ran forward with my teeth bared. Ilyas turned, his face a picture of astonishment when he saw me. But he recovered quickly. Ilyas hadn’t survived so many battles because he was soft or hesitant. He pulled the knife from his belt, the one he had used on me, his heavy shoulders squaring.

“Seize her!” he yelled at the guards.

I looked into the cell and saw Darius. He was lying on the floor, soaked in sweat. From the pitch of his screams, I had expected the walls to be red with blood. But he seemed untouched, if a deathly grey color.

The sight drove me to new heights of rage. My vision narrowed to a tunnel, with only Ilyas at the end of it. I dimly saw one of the Immortals move to block my way and snarled like an animal. But it wasn’t me he grabbed.

It was Ilyas.

“The cuff!” Delilah cried.

The Immortal nodded curtly and ripped the chain from Ilyas’s neck in one movement. Then he tossed it to me.

I watched the cuff spin through the air, end over end. Without conscious thought, my left hand shot out and caught it. Pain lanced through my arm, searing through my shoulder and out the top of my head like a lightning bolt as I forced it onto the stump. My legs buckled again. From the metal circling my bruised flesh, but also from the sensation of Darius flooding back into me. A kind of bitter ecstasy.

Darius’s eyes flew open and locked with mine. He pushed himself up.

“Get back,” he grated.

Delilah grabbed me under the arms and dragged me down the corridor. The Immortals exchanged a glance and leapt out of the way. Ilyas stood frozen in front of the cell, his mouth working silently.

I felt power explode through the bond. The cell door groaned. Then it blew off its hinges, slamming Ilyas into the wall and pinning him underneath.

“Hurry!” Delilah yelled at Darius.

We could hear shouts, still distant but coming closer. It hadn’t taken the other Immortals long to figure out they’d been tricked. Darius looked longingly at Ilyas and I knew he wanted to lift the bars and kill him.

“There’s no time!” Delilah ran over. “She needs you! We must leave now, before they come!”

Darius’s head snapped around, his eyes running over me. When he saw the stump, they went dead. He strode over to me and lifted me in his right arm like I weighed no more than a kitten.

“Nazafareen,” he whispered.

I pressed my hand to his mouth. “Run,” I said.

Chapter Twenty-One

“
T
his way!”

Delilah dashed off down the corridor. Behind us, I could hear the clanking of spears, the thunder of dozens of boots on stone. The two Immortals who had helped us drew their swords, standing with their feet spread wide in a fighting stance, huge muscles flexed. I knew they would be cut down. That they were giving their lives so we could escape.

I started to make the sign of the flame, to pray to the Holy Father that he would speed their souls to the afterlife. But the gesture seemed empty. False. I let my hand fall, wrapping it around Darius’s neck instead. Feeling the damp, silky curls between my fingers.

I wondered if their human bonded were part of this resistance too. First the guards at Gorgon-e Gaz, then the Purified, now the Immortals. It must only be a small number or they would be in open rebellion. I wondered if Victor was their leader, or if it was someone else. I had so many questions for Delilah, questions that would probably never be answered.

She led us through the dungeons to a storeroom with wicker shields stacked against one wall. It had no windows, no way out, and I felt like a rat in a trap. Surely they would find us here in minutes …

Then she lifted the corner of a faded tapestry, ironically depicting the king in full regalia, to reveal a hidden door.

“A daēva architect designed the palace,” she said with a small smile. “It has many secret passageways, commissioned by Xeros the Great to sneak concubines into his chambers. The Queen was a jealous woman.”

“Where does it lead?” Darius asked.

He hadn’t asked her who she was, or why she was helping us. I wondered if he was afraid of the answer. If some part of him suspected.

“You can get nearly anywhere in the palace from here, but you’ll want the sewers that run under the baths. They will take you beyond the palace walls.” She studied him intently. “You are a tracker, are you not?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can find your own way out.”

She unlocked the secret door and turned to go.

“Wait,” Darius said.

Delilah paused in the archway. With her bloodstained gown and long, tangled black hair, she did look like a witch. Not Druj, but not human either.

“Come with us,” Darius said. “The King will know you betrayed him. He’ll kill you.”

Her mouth twisted in a bitter smile. “Yes, he will know. But he will not kill me. He hasn’t the courage.” She made a shooing motion. “Go! Will you have your cousins’ sacrifice be for nothing?”

Darius tore his eyes from Delilah and kicked the door open. Cool air brushed my skin. The narrow space beyond was pitch black. Darius strode inside, the tapestry falling into place behind him. He eased the door closed. I heard the lock turn on the other side.

His warm breath stirred my hair. It was the first time we had been truly alone since leaving Tel Khalujah.

“When the bond broke, I thought…” His voice was rough. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”

“Ilyas cut it off.” Memories flashed in the darkness. My own screams. The cracking of bone. The sudden void in my heart. I shuddered and pushed them back down.

Darius made a terrible sound, half growl, half moan. I felt the force of his anger and guilt, so strong it threatened to sweep him away.

“It’s not your fault,” I said firmly. “Just find us a way out of here. And you can put me down now. I can walk.”

He released a long breath. “Ilyas, I will chop into little tiny pieces, which I will feed to the buzzards. By the time I am done with him, he will curse the day Satrap Jaagos laid eyes on his barbarian mother. And if I ever find Victor again, I swear on all that is holy, I will make him pay too.”

I was starting to think Delilah was the only person in the entire empire, plus Bactria, who didn’t want Victor dead. Maybe it was best not to tell Darius that we needed him as an ally just yet.

“Add that Numerator to your list while you’re at it,” I said. “Can we go now?”

I held onto the back of his tunic as he led us through a series of twisting passageways, some so narrow we were forced to turn sideways to get through them. Cobwebs tickled my cheeks. From time to time, we heard voices on the other side of the wall. They sounded urgent, angry. I imagined the Immortals were tearing the palace apart looking for us.

Eventually, the way led down a steep flight of stairs. Rushing water echoed in the blackness.

“Can you swim?” Darius asked.

“No. Is there another way?”

“I don’t think so. There’s an aqueduct. It’s only half full.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” I snapped. “It will take me only twice the time to drown.”

I heard a strange sound. A sort of muffled wheezing.

“Are you laughing at me, Darius?” I demanded.

“Never. I’m just glad you’re the same sweet, docile creature you used to be.”

“Ilyas took my hand, not my wits.”

“Well, we’re a matched pair now,” Darius said. “I suppose arm wrestling is out of the question?”

I’d forgotten what a black sense of humor he had. It was one of the ways he coped. That, and excessive praying—a habit I planned to break him of at the earliest opportunity.

“I’m afraid so. Regular wrestling though…”

My breath caught as he cupped my face with his right hand.

“Even if I could be free, I would choose you,” he whispered.

Something inside me loosened. I’d been so afraid he would see me as I saw myself: maimed, broken. A creature worthy of pity, nothing more. But he still wanted me, very much. I could feel it.

I softened my lips for a kiss. The kiss I’d waited so long for. Instead, I was hoisted up like a sack of barley.

“Darius? What are you—”

“Hold me tight, Nazafareen. Don’t let go.”

I was opening my mouth to object when it filled with cold water. I spluttered and gasped as we were swept into the current. Darius pulled me against his chest. I disliked small spaces, and I disliked small spaces that were dark even more, and I
especially
disliked small spaces that were dark and filled nearly to the brim with icy water.

So every time I managed to suck in a breath, I used it to curse him as we rode the torrent that passed beneath the palace. The royal complex perched atop a high hill. I’m not sure how they managed to bring the water up, but gravity did the work in the other direction. The stone pipe twisted and turned. I was terrified that we would run into a grating or some other obstacle. Darius could break through it, but the Immortals would feel him working the power. It would be like lighting a signal beacon.

Finally, we popped out at the bank of a river. Darius helped me wade to shore. At least the dunking had washed some of my own filth away. I’d stopped smelling myself days ago, but I knew it couldn’t have been pleasant.

As we wrung out our clothes, I repeated what Delilah had told me about finding the ship. I would have to tell him who she was at some point. My daēva did not react well to keeping secrets. But I understood why she had left that burden to me. If Darius had known, he would never have left her behind, even if it cost him his own life.

We’d made it past the walls, but I could see the palace complex looming less than a league away. We had to keep moving. And the last thing I needed was for Darius to come unglued again.

“Victor?” he snarled, slicking a hand through his hair. “We’re supposed to meet
Victor
?”

“Yes,” I said. “If you have a better idea, spit it out.”

The sky in the east was starting to lighten. I felt dizzy for a moment. Partly because the ordeal of being swept through the aqueduct had used up the last of my strength. I’d still been recovering from the battle with the Druj when the Numerators gave me their beating, and then Ilyas…I had lost a lot of blood. The shock to my body—and mind—was severe. Only a few days had passed since he’d taken my hand. Days spent lying on a cold stone floor.

But that’s not what shook me the most. It was the thought that if Delilah hadn’t come, the Numerators would be leading Darius from his cell at this very moment. Leading him to their fire altar…

“How far is this village?” Darius demanded. “What’s the name?”

“Two days,” I said wearily. “It’s called Karon Komai. She said it’s on the shores of the Midnight Sea.”

“I’ll find it.” He looked me over. “Are you sure you can walk?”

“Yes,” I said, as my legs trembled and gave way, treacherous things.

Darius caught me and lifted me in his arms. I marveled at his strength. He too had been through terrible things in the dungeons, even if his torture had been inflicted with the cuff instead of knives and hot irons. But he had the ability to lock away his feelings and it served him now.

We headed north. The land beyond the river was forested with beech and oak, although their branches were bare. Darius ran in perfect silence, like a wraith. Through drowsy eyes I saw the red flash of a waxwing in the trees, heard the sweet warble of a wren. The winter woods seemed a peaceful place.

But I knew the Immortals would have trackers like Darius. Daēvas able to sense their quarry from a distance. And they would be mounted. Darius might be able to outrun a horse for a short sprint, but he couldn’t keep it up forever.

They were called the Immortals not because they lived a long time. Very few soldiers in the empire had the chance to grow old and fat, even with the bond. They were called the Immortals because their number was always exactly ten thousand. When one fell, he—for they were all male—was immediately replaced with another. Unlike the Water Dogs, their cuffs were made to be torn off in battle so that a daēva could be bonded again on the spot if the human of the pair was killed. In this way had Xeros and his line forged the largest empire the world had ever seen.

At midday, we stumbled across a road. It led north and would have made for much easier walking than the forest, but we couldn’t risk it. They had to realize we had escaped the palace by now. And Delilah knew exactly where we were going. She claimed that the King wouldn’t kill her, but would he torture her, as Ilyas had tortured Darius? The Numerator said most daēvas broke quickly.

I glanced at Darius. He had put me down to rest for a few minutes. His handsome face was tight with exhaustion. How long had Ilyas been going at him before we arrived? I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I knew he could go without food or sleep for days, but he had his limits, just like anyone.

“Show me your arm,” Darius said.

I pulled it tighter against my body. I didn’t like him looking at it.

“You can’t hide it from me, Nazafareen,” he said gently. “I know it pains you. We need to make sure it heals right.”

“There’s nothing you can do.”

“Just let me see.”

I showed him. His breath hissed through his teeth. Red lines were starting to radiate up my forearm. It throbbed against the cuff with every heartbeat.

“You need a magus,” he said.

I remembered the magi holding me down while they thrust my limb into a pot of hot wax.

“If a magus ever touches me again, I’ll kill him.”

“A midwife then. Someone who knows the healing arts.” He pounded a fist against his thigh. “I wish I knew how to help. There must be a way to use earth to knit the flesh, water to cleanse the blood…But they taught me only to destroy with it.”

“I’m fine for now,” I lied. “We just need to get to Karon Komai.”

Sun slanted through the trees, warming the carpet of pine needles. It wasn’t nearly as cold as the mountains, although that would change when night fell.

“Even if we do find this ship and it takes us across the Hellespont, do you really think we can trust Eskander?” he asked. “I have a bad feeling about this, Nazafareen.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But the enemy of one’s enemy…”

“Can turn out to be even worse,” Darius finished. He clutched his faravahar, thumb absently stroking the eagle wings. The gesture reminded me too much of Ilyas with Tommas’s cuff. I looked away.

“Eskander seeks to topple the empire,” he said.

“And would that truly be such a bad thing?”

“It depends on what he plans to replace it with.”

“He offers sanctuary to escaped daēvas,” I pointed out.

“But for what purpose?” Darius said, voicing my own doubts.

“It’s in his interest to divide us…them. Unless he breaks the Immortals, his cause is lost. Victor seems to trust him.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they were a mistake. So much for the new, discreet Nazafareen.

“And why should we trust Victor?” Darius demanded. “He and the other daēvas slaughtered those guards at the Barbican. You saw the bodies!”

I shrugged. “Every war has casualties.”

“And you used to fight for the other side.”

I stared at him. “What are you saying, Darius?”

He sighed. “Nothing. Only that we must be careful.” His eyes bored into me, that unsettling daēva gaze, like the eyes of a panther. “I trust you. No one else.”

I sighed and drew my knees to my chest. “Eskander holds Macydon and the Free Cities. The only other
north
is Neblis. We could try for the southern border, but the only thing on the other side of
that
is the Sayhad, and we’d have to cross the Salt Plain to get there. But if that is where you wish to go, I’ll follow.”

He was quiet for a moment. “The Sayhad. Isn’t that where Tijah comes from?”

“Yes.” It hurt to think of her.

“Did you see her…after?”

“No.” I felt an urge to defend my friend. “I’m sure Ilyas prevented her from visiting the cells. There’s nothing she could have done.”

Darius didn’t bother to deny this. But it did trouble me that Tijah had never come, if only to say goodbye. If it had been the other way around, no one could have stopped me. But she had her own ghosts to worry about, I reminded myself. Men just as evil as Ilyas.

Darius picked up a stick and started snapping it into tiny pieces. “If Victor hadn’t come back…hadn’t said those things—”

“Ilyas would have found another excuse to punish us. He was mad with grief.”

“Well, if Victor thinks to claim me, he can go to hell. I want nothing to do with him.” He hurled the stick into the undergrowth. “Nothing!”