Page 33 of Villains and Vengeance
‘A few days after I got here, I found her hurt in one of the tunnels. I don’t know what could take down an arania in the Mountain like that, but an orc had her cornered and was about to kill her. She couldn’t defend herself, so I took a rock and snuck up behind him and knocked him out cold.’
I frown. ‘Why would you save a monster?’
She stops dead and looks back at me. ‘Because I know a monster when I see one and when I looked into her eyes … I didn’t see one.’
She turns back around and continues.
I can hear the water. We have to be close now. ‘How much further?’
‘Not far,’ she says. ‘Be careful though. The stream is past Siggy’s borders.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Other aranias mostly, but, like I said, Siggy was almost killed by something else. There are bigger, badder things that live here.’
Her voice has a gravity to it that makes me shiver in spite of myself as she stares into the pitch black that’s all around us.
I let out a small laugh, but she goes on.
‘Sometimes there are noises that come from the deepest tunnels. You haven’t heard them?’
‘No, but I don’t know what noises are normal here. I might have and not realize it, I guess.’
She nods. ‘Sometimes there’s movement out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn to look, there’s nothing there.’
I roll my eyes. ‘Yeah, right.’
We reach the water and Jules stops, listening. I do too. I sniff the air, realizing that it’s not so musty here. There’s also an aura. I can feel traces of magick in the river. Faint, ancient spells.
‘The water,’ I mutter.
‘What about it?’
‘There’s a conjure on it. An old one.’
Jules freezes with her hands cupped just above the water’s surface, looking back with comically wide eyes.
‘A conjure to do what?’ she whispers, clearly fearing the worst.
‘To oxygenate the air,’ I say, not able to keep the wonder from my voice. ‘You don’t get spells like that anymore. It’s acting like a forest of trees. I guess it makes sense. How else would there be anything to breathe in here? The Mountain is sealed.’
‘Huh,’ is all she says before she dips her hands in and starts to drink. I can’t help myself either, falling to my knees by the edge and quenching my thirst with handful after handful. It’s cool and clean. It might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted.
I look over, seeing that Siggy is also by the bank. There’s no one behind me. I keep drinking, adjusting my body, getting ready to sprint. I think about taking the river, but I don’t know how deep it is, or where it flows, so I decide on the path I know.
Just as they both put their heads down towards the surface of the river once more, I jump up and run back the way we came, letting down my glamor as I go because my demon side is faster and stronger.
I run with everything I’ve got. I can hear Siggy scuffling behind me and Jules yells something I can’t make out.
I see the web. Just need to get across the cavern and into the next tunnel and I’ll have a fighting chance.
I move through the cave fast, running under the web and dodging the mummified corpses, which must be years of the arania’s meals. I don’t dare look back as I get to the shaft that leads out into the tunnel network and run into it. I can see the exit up ahead, the hole that leads into the main passage. She won’t risk following me out when there are so many patrols.
But just as I think I’m home free, a blinding pain radiates out from the middle of my back and through my entire body. I lose control of my legs and my body falls out from under me. I’m on the ground shaking and, a moment later, I realize what’s happened. The current ceases and I turn my head to look behind me.
Jules is standing in the tunnel.
‘You fucking tased me,’ I grind out through my still-clenched jaw.
