Page 90 of Violet Legacy

“Modern technology,” Khalida muttered as she cleaned her sword. “Perhaps you can use it as a bat.”

Dante surveyed the cavern. The serpopards had begun to feast on the dying and slow wayfarers, forcing them to turn and hide. He followed their retreating paths, taking note of where they climbed and disappeared, and they all appeared to be heading in the same direction. More importantly, none of them had reappeared. “There is a way out.” Dante pointed to the corner. “It may be our only option.”

“Oh good. We only have to cross the crevasse and bypass the ten or so serpopards that may want to eat us.” Talik’s voice dripped with sarcasm as he waved Khalida’s sword away from his neck. “Don’t get annoyed because you don’t like what I said.”

“If we time it, we should be able to use the wayfarers as bait,” Khalida responded with no hint of emotion in her voice as she ignored Talik. “They don’t appear to discriminate between who they feed on. Better a dying wayfarer than us.”

A small light flickered above them, followed by a quick flash of silver as a jerking body of a wayfarer was thrown out of one of the smaller openings along the wall.

“The immortals,” Khalida stated.

“Hey.” Rieka’s voice rang loud and clear on the other side of the cavern.

Nowhere near where she was supposed to be.

“I believe you are searching for yours truly. Looks like you are on the wrong side of the cavern.”

Chapter 57

Theplanhadsoundedso much better in Rieka’s head.

She stumbled as she tried to regain her balance. Dirt and small rocks tumbled from the high ceiling, casting the entire cavern in a hazy glow. She blinked. Her eyes watered. On this side of the cavern, the stench of rotting flesh and fresh meat was overwhelming. But that wasn’t her biggest problem.

Even with the distance between them, Dante’s gaze burned into her. Furious was an understatement. She snorted; he could thank her later after she saved them. On the bright side, she had succeeded in getting the attention of all the wayfarers, and everyone else. Chaucer better keep his promise, or she was going to haunt his butt for the rest of his short life.

Rieka tapped her foot as she took in the gap between her and the others. It wasn’t as wide as she had thought. Or hoped. Barely one hundred feet separated them. The rushing sound of water was not comforting. “I’m waiting.”

Idris had used pain to call on the Anki. But she didn’t need pain to establish a link. The bracelet was as good as a two-way communicator. Focusing inwards, she pulled at the emotions she had spent a lifetime pushing down. The familiar tendrils of the Anki wrapped around her mind as she let them in, forcing them into the labyrinth she had hastily created for them. She flamed the fire within her, letting its wildness course through her veins as she let herself go. Rieka swayed as memories slammed into her, gritting her teeth against the bombardment. She almost stumbled under the onslaught.

No.

It washermind; she was judge, juror, and destroyer.

She allowed the memories to filter through; faces and places that hadn’t existed in thousands of years merged into one. She didn’t know what belonged to her, Vandana, or the Anki.

Transported to another world, Rieka stood in front of a large ornate mirror. She stared into it, but it wasn’t her face gazing back but a woman who had the same-colored eyes.

Two black serpopards sat by her feet, guarding her, their necks intertwined. Violet flames danced from her fingertips. Bright purples, reds, and muted pinks.

Vandana smiled. “Child of my child.”

Rieka blinked and Vandana was gone. Instead she was surrounded by wayfarers half-frozen in place, their whispered voices growing louder in reverence.

Rieka tasted ash. Violet flames danced along her skin, the outer layer red–gold as the flame continued to grow.

Vandana’s flame.

No. It was her flame.

Pleasure and pain like she had never felt before flowed through her, followed by the sweet roar of power coursing through her veins. Freeing her. Everything was hypersensitive. She could hear hundreds of heartbeats and smell thousands of different scents. Voices cascaded into one until she couldn’t distinguish them from each other as screams echoed through the cavern. Some were crying in pain, but others were whispering words of encouragement, urging her onwards. Their dark musings tempted her as they touched parts of her she hadn’t known existed.

She flexed her hand, the violet flame moving toward the nearest wayfarer, directly across from her. His pale clothes were coated in sweat, blood and dirt. He stumbled as perspiration fell down his face and soaked his clothes. He began to shrivel, his skin petrifying as the water was sucked out of his body. He writhed and moaned, and a pitiful wail escaped his mouth. Rieka closed her hand. The petrified body fell to the floor in a lump. Those who hadn’t been scorched by the flame scattered across the cavern, their screams of horror echoing as they attempted to run from the feeding serpopards. And her flame.

It could all be hers.

Wildfire. Daughter. Rieka.

The voices were getting louder. “Stop.”

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