Matt Forbeck - Marked for Death

Esprл looked into the changeling’s all white eyes for a moment, then nodded. She wiped her face on Te’oma’s shirt and said, “All right.”

The girl pulled her way up along Te’oma’s over-stretched arm until she reached the horse’s reins, then swung her feet out toward the chasm wall and scrabbled up until she was out of sight.

“Thank Vol,” the changeling said softly. Once the girl was clear, she tested her arm. Agony lanced through her shoulder. She tried to swing her good arm up to grab the reins, but her fingers fell inches short.

“Esprл?” Te’oma said. “Where did you go?”

There was no response. The horse twisted its neck back and forth, wiggling the reins. Black spots danced before Te’oma’s eyes for a moment, but she fought them back. When she looked up, she saw the girl standing next to the horse at the edge of the chasm.

Esprл held the horse’s taut reins in one hand. A sharp knife glittered in the other. “I found this in your saddlebag,” she said.

“No,” Te’oma said, tears welling into her eyes. Inwardly, she kicked herself for this. Every time she’d ever done someone a kindness, it had come back to haunt her. It seemed this time was no different. “Please, Esprл. Don’t.”

“You’re not my friend!” Esprл said. Her rage marred her tender young face. “You’re not my aunt! You kidnapped me! You were going to kill me!”

Te’oma shook her head as she strained to peer through the mist and into the girl’s eyes. “No, Esprл. No.” Her voice grew hoarse with emotion and desperation. “I never would have killed you.”

“You’re a liar!”

“No.” The knife came closer to the reins, glinting dully in the half-light. “I mean, yes! It’s true-I am a liar. I lie all the time.” Te’oma swallowed hard. “But I’m not lying now.”

Esprл brought the knife to the reins. “Swear it,” she said. “Swear you won’t hurt me.”

Te’oma nodded. “Yes! Of course, I won’t!”

“Say it.”

“I swear it!”

“How sweet,” said Tan Du, as he appeared from the mists next to Esprл. “You two have formed such a lovely bond.”

Te’oma screamed.

Esprл turned and stabbed at the vampire with the knife, but he caught her wrist and sneered down at her. “Admirable, but predictable,” he said.

Tan Du grabbed Esprл’s chin and forced her to look into his eyes. “Have you forgotten who’s in charge here?” he asked.

The fight left Esprл’s arms and her eyes. She stood before the vampire, her mind a blank, awaiting his next instructions.

Tan Du let go of the girl’s chin and grinned. “Don’t let me interrupt you,” he said. “Go ahead and do what you were going to do.”

“No!” Te’oma said. She had known she couldn’t trust the vampire, but she was shocked that he would cut her loose so carelessly. “You bloodless bastard!”

Tan Du smiled down at the changeling, baring his white fangs. “It seems to me that our partnership has reached a crossroads. Since you’ve taken such good care of our little friend here, I think it’s only fair that she determine your fate.”

The vampire turned Esprл around and put placed her so the knife in her hand rested against the horse’s taut reins once again. “Go ahead,” he said to the girl. “Make your choice.”

Te’oma closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “Please!” she whispered at the girl.

Esprл hesitated, the hand with the knife trembling over the reins. Her grip tightened, the blade touched the edge of the reins, and Te’oma held her breath. In one fluid movement, Esprл twisted the knife, turned, and plunged it into the vampire’s belly. He winced, then looked down at the blade.

“You are an interesting child,” Tan Du said as he wrenched the girl’s hand off the knife and removed the blade, “as determined as the justicar. I see his influence upon you.” The vampire stooped over to look into Esprл’s eyes. “It’s almost a shame what will happen to you. Now step aside.”

The girl obeyed, and Tan Du reached out and grabbed the horse’s reins. He snarled at the poor, tired beast, and the horse kicked backward, its terror overcoming its exhaustion. As the horse scrambled back, it pulled Te’oma up and over the chasm’s edge.

When she was safe, Te’oma flipped her injured arm free of the reins and collapsed. She hugged the ground like an old lover she’d never hoped to see again.

“Get up,” Tan Du said. “I have something to show you.” He turned to Esprл and spoke. “As for you, behave yourself and stay with the changeling. You seem to be able to count on her to keep you safe.”

“What is it?” Te’oma asked as she struggled to her feet. Her arm hung loosely at her side. What little feeling she had in it was only pain.

“Something unbelievable.” Tan Du looked at Te’oma’s useless arm. “It’s a pity you used your last healing potion.”

The changeling used her good arm to pull her injured limb and stuff its hand across her body and into her belt. “Don’t worry about me.”

The vampire grinned. “Do you think it’s in my nature?”

He turned and walked off to the left of the chasm.

Te’oma grabbed her horse’s reins with her good hand and led the animal after Tan Du, following the edge of the chasm. Esprл scrambled up onto the horse’s saddle where she rode in silence.

“What is it?” Te’oma asked again when they caught up with the vampire, who stood waiting for them.

“As always, changeling,” Tan Du gestured toward the nearby chasm, “you manage to find the obstacles that lay in our path, while I”-the vampire stepped aside and bowed, revealing the end of a lowered drawbridge behind him-“I find the solutions.”

“After you,” Te’oma said.

Tan Du strode out onto the ironbound oak planks of the bridge. Te’oma led the horse after him, the girl still silent in the saddle.

The changeling stayed in the center of the drawbridge. She looked back to see Esprл leaning out from the saddle and peering into the abyss below. The changeling’s eyes followed the girl’s, but the mist obscured everything. The chasm could have been a dozen feet deep or a hundred. It was impossible to tell.

The wall of the tower seemed to grow out of the mist as the travelers approached. It stabbed high into the swirling grayness, or so it seemed. Te’oma could not even see the top of the arch that stood at the drawbridges base.

The trio passed beneath the arch and found themselves in an open courtyard. Tan Du led them forward until they came to large, wooden door, in which was set an ornate, iron knocker cast in the shape of a gargoyle’s head with a large, thick ring in its mouth. He presented the door to Te’oma and said, “Here you are. I believe this sort of thing is your specialty.”

“Why don’t you just turn to mist?” Esprл asked from atop the horse. Her voice sounded distant.

The vampire looked up at the girl with a bloodless smile. “I have to be invited,” he said. He looked at Te’oma. “But I think we can arrange that.”

Te’oma handed Tan Du the reins to her horse and stepped forward. The vampire tied the animal to a hitching post near the door and pulled Esprл down from the saddle. They stood back and watched as the changeling examined the door.

Te’oma ran her eyes across the door’s surface first, scanning for any traps-in the Mournland one couldn’t be too careful-then ran her good hand in the same pattern. Nothing happened. She reached out for the knocker with one eye open. Her hand touched it. The metal felt cool, if a bit moist from the mists.

The changeling pulled on the knocker, then pushed, and nothing happened. The door did not give an inch. Te’oma tried twisting the knocker, but it wouldn’t budge. In frustration, she pulled the ring up and then slammed it down.