She nodded, and a tear finally spilled over, running down her cheek. I brushed it away with my thumb. “Deal,” she whispered, as I reached up to kiss her once more. “But, um…Ethan?”
“Yeah?”
“I think something is watching us.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Escape
Warily, I looked up, just as something bright fell from the ceiling, flashing briefly as it struck the ground a few yards away.
Puzzled, I released Kenzie and stood, squinting as I walked up to it. When I could see it clearly in the darkness, my heart stood still.
My swords. Or one of them, anyway. Standing up point first in the sand. Incredulous, I picked it up, wondering how it got here.
There was a familiar buzz on the wall overhead. Heart leaping, I looked up to see a pair of smug, glowing green eyes. Razor grinned down at me, his teeth a blue-white crescent in the darkness. One spindly arm still clutched my second blade.
“Found you!” he buzzed.
Kenzie gasped, and the gremlin cackled, tossing the sword down. It soared through the air in a graceful arc and landed hilt up at my feet. Scuttling along the wall, the gremlin launched himself at Kenzie, landing in her arms with a gleeful cry. “Found you!” he exclaimed again, as she quickly shushed him. He beamed but dropped his voice to a staticky whisper. “Found you! Razor help! See, see? Razor brought swords silly boy dropped.”
“Razor, are you all right?” Kenzie asked, holding him at arm’s length to look at him closely. One of his ears was torn, hanging limply at an angle, but other than that, he seemed okay. “That Forgotten threw you pretty hard,” she mused, touching the wounded ear. “Are you hurt?”
“Bad kitty!” growled Razor, shaking his head as if he was shooing off a fly. “Evil, sneaky, nasty kitty! Boy should cut its nose off, yes. Tie rock to tail and throw kitty in lake. Watch kitty sink, ha!”
“Seems like he’s fine,” I said, sheathing my second blade. Relief and hope spread through me. Now that I was armed again, the future looked a lot less bleak. We might actually make it out of here. “Razor, did you happen to see Keirran anywhere? Or Annwyl?”
Before he could answer, a shuffle of movement up top silenced us, and we pressed back into the wall, staring up at the lip. A moment later, the old woman’s voice floated down into the hole.
“Ethan Chase. The lady will see you now.”
Kenzie shivered and pressed close, gripping my hand, as the gleam of the cat-faery’s eyes appeared over the mouth of the pit. “Did you hear me, humans?” she called, sounding impatient. “When we lower the rungs, only the Chase boy is to come up. He will be escorted to the lady. Anyone who follows will be tossed back into the hole, without a ladder. So don’t try anything.”
Her wrinkled face split into an evil grin, and she disappeared. I turned to Kenzie.
“When I get up there,” I whispered, “can you and Razor give me a distraction?” I glanced at Razor, hiding in her long black hair, then back to the girl. “I only need a few seconds. Think you can do that?”
She looked pale but determined. “Sure,” she whispered. “No problem. Distractions are our specialty, right, Razor?”
The gremlin peeked out from the curtain of her hair and gave a quiet buzz. I brushed a strand from her eyes, trying to sound calm. “Wait until I’m almost at the very top,” I told her, untucking my shirt, pulling the hem over the sword hilts. “Then, do whatever you have to do. Nothing dangerous, just make sure they’re not looking at me when I come up. Also, here.” I pulled out a sword, sheath and all, and handed it to her. “In case this doesn’t go as planned. This will give you a fighting chance.”
“Ethan.”
I took her hand, fighting the urge to pull her close. “We’re getting out of here, right now.”
With a scraping sound, the ladder dropped into the pit. I squeezed Kenzie’s arm and stepped forward, walking across the sand to the opposite wall. I saw Todd huddled in the corner, his head buried in his knees, not even looking at the ladder, and clenched my fists. Dammit, what they did to you was unforgivable. Even if I can’t fix that, I’ll get you home, I swear. I’ll get all of us home.
My footsteps clunked loudly against the rungs as I started up, echoing my pounding heart.
Six steps from the top, I could see the hulking, three-armed Forgotten, yawning as it stared off into the distance.
Four steps from the top, I could see the old cat-faery and a pair of insect fey, one holding a coil of rope in its long talons. Another two guarded the entrance, floating a few inches above the ground.
Two steps from the top, Razor abruptly dropped onto the three-armed faery’s head.
“BAD KITTY!” he screeched at the top of his lungs, making everything in the room jump in shock. The three-armed Forgotten gave a bellow and slapped at the thing on his head, but Razor leaped off just in time, and the huge fey smacked its own skull with enough force to knock it back a step.
I drew my sword and leaped out of the pit, blade flashing. I cut through one spindly body, dodged the second as it slashed at me, and sliced through its neck. Both dissolved into mist, and I went for the old cat-faery, intending to cut that evil grin from her withered face. She hissed and leaped away, landing behind the two guards at the mouth of the tunnel.
“Stop him!” she spat, and the Forgotten closed in on me, including the huge three-armed faery, a club clutched in his third hand. I dodged the first swing, parried the vicious claw swipes, and was forced back. “You cannot escape, Ethan Chase!” the cat-fey called triumphantly, as I fought to avoid being surrounded. The club swished over my head and smashed into the wall, showering me with rock. “Give up, and we will take you to the lady. Your death might be a painless one if you surrender no—aaaaaagh!”
Her warning melted into a yowl of pain as Razor dropped behind her, grabbed her skinny tail, and chomped down hard. The cat-faery spun, clawing at him, and I lost them both as the three fey crowded in. Battling Forgotten, I saw Kenzie pull herself out of the pit, sword in hand. Her eyes gleamed as she stepped up behind the hulking faery and swung a vicious blow at the back of its knees. Bellowing in pain, the Forgotten stumbled, lurched backward, and toppled over. Kenzie dodged aside as the big faery dropped into the pit with a howl.
Slicing through the last two guards, I lunged to where the cat-thing was twisting and clawing the air behind her, trying to reach the gremlin doggedly clinging to her tail. She looked up as I came in, made one last attempt to flee, but my sword flashed down across her neck and she erupted into mist.
Panting, I lowered my sword, stumbling back as Razor blinked, grinning as what had been the cat-faery rippled over the ground and evaporated. “Bad kitty,” he buzzed, sounding smug as he looked up at me. “No more bad kitty. Ha!”
I smiled, turning to Kenzie, but then my heart seized up and I started to shout a warning.
The hulking Forgotten she had dropped into the pit had somehow clawed its way out again, looming behind her with its club raised. At the look on my face, she realized what was happening and started to turn, throwing up her arms, but the club swept down and I knew I would get there far too late.
And then…I don’t know what happened. A dark, featureless shadow sprang up, seemingly out of nowhere, between Kenzie and the huge Forgotten. A sword flashed, and the blow that probably would’ve crushed her skull hit her shoulder instead. The impact was still enough to knock her aside, and she crumpled against the wall, gasping in pain, as the shadow vanished as suddenly as it appeared.
Rage blinded me. Rushing forward, I leaped at the Forgotten with a scream, cutting at it viciously. It bellowed and swiped its club at my head, but I met the blow with my sword, severing the arm from its chest. Howling in pain, the faery resorted to pounding at me with its huge fists. I dodged back, snatching the fallen sword from the ground, and stepped up to meet the raging Forgotten. Ducking wild swings, I lunged past its guard and sank both blades into its chest with a snarl.
The Forgotten melted into fog, still bellowing curses. Without a second glance, I rushed through its dissolving form to the body on the far side of the wall. Kenzie was struggling upright, grimacing, one hand cradling her arm. Razor hopped up and down nearby, buzzing with alarm.
“Kenzie!” Reaching her, I took her arm and very gently felt along the limb, checking for lumps or broken bones. Miraculously everything seemed intact, despite the massive green bruise already starting to creep down her shoulder. Badge of courage, Guro would’ve called it. He would’ve been proud.
“Nothing’s broken,” I muttered in relief, and looked up at her. “Are you all right?”
She winced. “Well, considering today I have been stabbed, poked, pummeled and threatened with having my throat cut open, I guess I can’t complain.” Her brow furrowed, and she glanced around the cave. “Also, I thought there was… Did you see…?”
I nodded, remembering the shadow that had appeared, deflected the killing blow, and vanished just as suddenly. It had happened so fast; if Kenzie hadn’t mentioned it, too, I might’ve thought I was seeing things.
“Oh, good. I thought I was having some weird near-death hallucination or something.” Kenzie looked at the place the huge Forgotten had died and shuddered. “Any idea what just happened there?”
“No clue,” I muttered. “But it probably saved your life. That’s all I care about.”
“Maybe for you,” Kenzie said, wrinkling her nose. “But if I’m going to have some sort of shadowy guardian angel hanging around me, I kind of want to know why. In case I’m in the shower or something.”
“Kenzie?” A faint, familiar voice drifted from the darkness before I could answer. We both jumped and gazed around wildly. “Ethan? Are you up there?”
“Annwyl?” Kenzie looked around, as Razor hopped to her shoulder. “Where are you?”
“Here,” came the weak reply, as if muffled through the walls. I peered along the edge of the cave and saw a wooden door at the far corner of the room, nearly hidden in shadow. A thick wooden beam barred it shut. Hurrying over, we pushed the heavy beam out of the way and pulled on the door. It opened reluctantly, creaking in protest, and we stepped through.
Kenzie gasped. The room beyond was full of cages—bronze or copper by the looks of them—hanging from the ceiling by thick chains. They groaned as they swung back and forth, narrow, cylindrical cells that barely gave enough room to turn around. All of them were empty, save one.
Annwyl huddled down in one of the cages, her knees drawn to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. In the darkness of the room, lit only by a single flickering torch on the far wall, she looked pale and sick and miserable as she raised her head, her eyes going wide.
“Ethan,” she whispered in a trembling voice. “Kenzie. You’re here. How…how did you find me?”
“We’ll tell you later,” Kenzie said, looking furious as she gripped the bars separating them. Razor buzzed furiously and leaped to the top of the cage, rattling the frame. “Right now, we’re getting out of here. Where are the keys?”