Calli froze at the sound of approaching footsteps. Her eyes scoured the passage around her, but she saw nowhere to hide within the narrow hallway. They could run, she thought, but which way? She couldn’t tell from the sounds whether they came from in front of or behind them.
She felt Danae’s hand touch her cheek and looked into his young face. True to his word, he spoke not a syllable, but pointed a small finger upward. She followed his gesture and saw the crossbeam rafters in the low ceiling.
Smiling in relief, she hoisted the child up and then, unused to lifting her own weight, struggled a little but managed, with Danae tugging mightily on her arm, to get herself up as well. She held her breath as the two large guards passed directly below them, talking and laughing as they went. Calli felt sure they would hear her heart thumping even above their conversation, but they moved on, leaving the gloomy hallway as silent with their passing as it had been before their coming.
She waited a few minutes, then dropped down as quietly as she could. Danae fell lightly into her arms, and she kissed his cheek and smiled into his face.
“Clever little fox,” she whispered, drawing, for the first time, a tiny smile from him. Then she gathered him again, and they continued their slow descent.
* * *
King Sadone muttered a violent oath as his feet stumbled in the darkness of the dungeon hallway.
“Watch your step, my lord,” Hausa said, drawing a look of venom from the man.
“Did this small Shadrani say anything?” Sadone asked.
The man-at-arms laughed unpleasantly. “Didn’t give him a chance to say anything. Put a good boot to the side of his head to stop him wiggling away.”
The king wasn’t deterred by the reply. It didn’t matter whether the boy had spoken to anyone else. He would find out who he was.
Sadone knew the child wasn’t his son, for he had killed that spawn with his own hands two years ago. But he hoped fervently that the captive was important enough to use against him. And use him he would; for trade or murder or mutilation, Sadone didn’t care, as long as he could make another strike against the Prince of Gemen.
* * *
Calli exhaled in a sound of utter relief when they finally crept into the large water room and found it empty. She lowered Danae to the floor and only then realized how tired her arms had become from carrying him.
Approaching the swirling pool, she frowned and searched her memory for exactly where the passage was.
It had been so long ago!
She sat by the water and chewed nervously on her lower lip. If only she’d had time. She had meant to come and check this all out, but then she hadn’t dared wait because of the danger the child was in.
Suddenly, she was frightened as she searched the dark waters.
What if she couldn’t find the passage?
What if it had been sealed over or blocked or...oh, her mind raced with a hundred ways for this thing to go wrong. Then Danae, who was standing beside her, leaned against her and put his dark head against hers. She put an arm around him. “We’ll be home soon,” she said.
Scanning the walls, she finally remembered the marker that indicated the location of the passage. It was a stone that was just enough darker than those around it to make it recognizable to one who knew how to look. And Jala had taught her how to look all those years ago. Her heart now lifted, Calli turned to Danae.
“We have to go into the water,” she said. “There’s a passage under—” She stopped short at the look of pure horror that crossed his face.
Then it came to her.
Erone had told her that since his near-drowning, Danae was terrified of the water.
Oh, Great Tsandis! she thought, as she looked into the boy’s fear-filled eyes. She hadn’t thought of that!
* * *
The guard stumbled to his feet and uttered a greeting when he saw the King of Arath approach.
Tsandis, this wasn’t his day!
“Where is the Shadrani child?” Sadone demanded.
“He’s over in yonder cell.”
“Well, open it!”
The guard fumbled with the keys, tried the wrong one at first. Then, throwing a quick apologetic look over his shoulder, finally found the right one, turned it in the lock, and opened the door, stepping aside so that his king could enter.
He exchanged a loaded glance with Hausa when a few moments later they heard a violent exclamation. The king, his face like a thundercloud, stormed out of the cell.
“He is not in there!” he shouted.
* * *
Calli took the little face into her hands.
“Danae,” she said softly, “I know the water frightens you. But it’s the only way out.”
He shook his head, his eyes darting to the dark pond.
Calli closed her eyes and prayed that no one would come down to draw water and discover them. They were so close. So close!
“Then we’ll both die,” she said gently. “For I won’t leave you, and we cannot escape any other way.”
His Shadrani eyes widened.
“Do you trust me, Danae?” she continued.
He nodded.
“Then you have to believe me that I won’t let anything harm you. I’ll take you safely through the water.”
He swallowed nervously and eyed the water again, considering. She smoothed the hair from his face. “Be brave, my little Shadrani warrior.”
He pressed his lips together and nodded quickly. Calli’s sigh of relief was issued at exactly the same time as the alarm went up throughout the city that the small prisoner had escaped. But they were too far underground to hear it. She moved into the water and waited for him to come into her arms. Calli’s heart wrenched when she felt him tremble in fear.
“We’ll take three deep breaths,” she said. “And then hold the last one.”
He nodded.
“And then you hold on tight to me, and don’t let go.”
Again, he nodded.
They stood in the cold water and took the first two breaths together. When they had filled their lungs with the third, Calli dove under the surface and swam as hard as she could toward the passage to freedom that lay just a few feet away.
* * *
The Shadrani waiting by the water heard the loud alarm and stood back, looking at each other in surprise.
“Great Tsandis!” Habda growled. “This is a fine time to raise the call to arms, just when we’re preparing to sneak into the city!”
Raesa’s breath exhaled in a sound of desperation. She looked toward her brother. Erone stared grimly at the walls before him. He thought a long time before speaking.
“We can’t risk going in now.”
The sound of outrage from his sister drew him to turn toward her.
“I’ll go in alone,” he said. “One Shadrani stands a better chance to slip by unnoticed, for if we all go, one of us is sure to be seen by guards, who are now on the lookout.”
Raesa heard his words, and her mind accepted them. But suddenly she was afraid for him as well. As much as she wanted her son back, she felt a certainty that her brother had cheated death too many times within the walls of Soris.
That this time, he wouldn’t win.
“Erone—” she began, but he was already preparing to go.
* * *
In the darkness of the passageway, Calli struggled along, trying not to think about the boy that clung so desperately to her. She couldn’t allow anything to break her concentration, for she couldn’t remember anything about this tunnel. She had to struggle with her own fear that she had lost her way or worse, that she wouldn’t get them to the other side in time.
Terror ripped up her spine when she swam against a barrier under the water. Tsandis! They had closed it off, blocked it! And there was no time to go back; they didn’t have enough air left.
Now, Calli had to fight against panic as she desperately clawed at the obstacle. Danae continued to hold her, but she could tell from his sudden movements that he was beginning to run out of time. No! her mind cried. She couldn’t believe that this could happen. That she had risked so much and tried so hard to save this boy, and would only wind up drowning him!
Then, like a vision from the past, she saw Jala taking her hand and swimming with her through the tunnel. Yes! She remembered. They had come upon this obstacle. It wasn’t new. She must turn right here and then the opening was there, right there! Swimming now with desperate panic, she veered right and stroked as hard as she could with the last bit of oxygen that was left in her lungs.
She and Danae broke the surface of the water and they both drew in great gulping breaths of air. Calli crushed him to her, and felt hot tears of joy roll down her cheeks as she squelched the cries of relief that threatened to tear from her throat. She swam toward shore, thanking Tsandis over and over in her mind for saving them.
But night was falling, and she realized suddenly that they’d be out in the forbidding forest alone with only her crossbow to defend them.
And the village was a long way away.
Great Tsandis, she hadn’t thought of that!
* * *
The splashing in the water didn’t escape the sharp hearing of the Shadrani on the shore. Alerted and on guard, they turned toward the sound, squinting against the growing darkness to see what was moving toward them. They were silent as the night, their swords gleaming at the ready.
Calli and Danae crawled out of the water and came to rest on the shore, both of them breathing hard in an effort to still their adrenaline-charged hearts.
But Raesa, even with the distance and the fading light, could see the small shape that came out of the water. She stood and took a few steps forward, as if in a trance.
“Danae?” she called, her voice tremulous with hope.
Calli and the little one scrambled to their feet and turned in the direction of the call.
Danae stood for only a second, unwilling to believe his happy ears. “Mamma?”
Raesa again cried his name and ran to him at the same time that he raced toward her. Danae flew into his mother’s arms as she fell to her knees, sobbing and kissing his face.
Calli felt the tears on her face multiply as she watched the joyful reunion from a distance. Then, she saw the Shadrani materialize from the forest as if by magic. Her eyes searched for the one face she desperately needed to see. And then they found him. Her heart had time for only one small leap of joy before it froze painfully in her chest.
Even from the distance that still separated them, Calli could see it. His eyes spewed hatred at her in a way that made even his first treatment of her seem tame.
In that second, she realized a number of things. She realized that the Shadrani had come to rescue Danae or die trying, she realized that her love had discovered, finally, who she was, and she realized, with a hopeless wrench of her heart, that he meant to kill her for it.
Erone watched her standing by the water and his hatred flamed with delight at the sight. Tsandis had delivered her right into his arms! He smiled viciously as he swung into his saddle.
“Get them home safely,” he shot at Gadrel.
His promised had no time to ask him where he was going but merely stood, watching as the great black horse gathered himself and sprang away.
Raesa stood between them. She looked back to see her brother mount his charger, then looked ahead again to Calli who was standing, frozen to the spot. Danae trembled in her arms and she pressed his head against her breast and prayed for the female that had delivered him yet again into her arms. She heard the thunder of great hooves and shuddered as her brother plunged by her.
“Run, Calli,” she screamed. “Run!”
Calli had begun to back away when she saw Erone take to the horse, but then she froze in shock. The sound of desperate warning in Raesa’s scream slapped her to her senses and she turned and fled in terror.
But she knew she could never outrun the dark horse that ate the distance between them. Her heart pounding against her breast, she ran anyway, her fear urging her to risk a glance back at him.
He looked like a demon from hell, eyes flashing with silver fire, his mantle billowing out behind him as he swept down on her, leaning forward in his saddle to press the animal on.
Tsandis, he meant to run her down!
A cry of genuine terror wrenched from her throat as Calli turned back and continued to flee, the ground shaking beneath her from the thundering hoofbeats of the great beast now almost on top of her.
Raesa watched helplessly as, without his horse missing a stride, her brother bent down from his saddle, grabbed the fleeing girl, and shoved her roughly onto the horse in front of him. Then they disappeared into the night, leaving nothing behind but the echo of ominous hoofbeats.