Barb Hendee: Through Stone and Sea

"Get it as far inside as you can," she told him. "Then bolt for the other room. Don't wait, Chane; just go!"

"I will," he answered.

But not until the last instant—not until he was certain she had finished preparing and could ignite the crystal. Since their arrival in Dhredze Seatt, nothing had gone the way he—or she—had envisioned. Here and now, Chane could do what no one else could—face another Noble Dead, regardless of its unique state.

Shade's voice dropped to low mewling, almost that of some large cat. She began pacing along the chamber's far wall beyond the half-open door.

Chane glanced quickly about, searching for the best positions. He pointed Wynn toward the pool's ledge, farthest from any wall without stepping into the water. He backed partway toward her, giving Shade room as he watched.

If Shade did sense the wraith's direction, she could harass it when it appeared, and he was free to flank it from either side. If she was wrong, he would be ready to take it first, and let her box it in.

Shade suddenly stopped. Charcoal fur rose on end along her neck and shoulders, and Chane slid his sword back into its sheath.

"Get ready," he warned.

Shade backed along the pool's edge.

A patch of wall blackened.

The stain quickly spread upward and downward and then bulged. Shade's jaws clacked as the wraith pushed through at the pool's far side. Its black robes began floating on the air.

Chane leaped from the ledge to the pool's far side, boxing the wraith as he heard Wynn begin whispering. He swung his hand straight at the wraith's cowl.

It instinctively flinched aside, nearly sinking into the wall, and Shade rushed it from the other side, snapping and snarling.

Wynn's repetitious whispers grew to a voiced chant.

The wraith halted, its cowl turning at her voice. That black opening swung quickly both ways, as if taking in the whole chamber.

Chane could not let it rush Wynn, and swung at the cowl again with his other hand.

The wraith vanished, sinking into stone, and Chane's hand slapped against damp wall as he heard Shade's jaws snap closed. He quickly pivoted, watching the whole chamber as Wynn's voice stopped.

"Shade?" Wynn whispered, and glanced at Chane.

The dog turned about, sniffing the air with her ears pricked up. She raced past Chane, pacing back between the chamber door and the ledge Wynn stood upon.

"Where is it?" the captain shouted from inside the far chamber.

And the black-robe winked in, directly before the archway.

Danyel drove his sword at it, but in the same instant, its hand reached out, passing through his chest.

Chane bolted around the pool as Danyel's blade's tip slipped out the back of the black cloak. Shade charged, snapping at it from behind. Wynn spun, aiming the staff and chanting once more as Chane ran by her.

The wraith vanished.

Chane skidded to a halt behind Shade, both of them snarling in frustration.

Danyel just stared blankly at them.

Chane did not notice how pale Danyel looked until the young guard simply crumpled.

"Danyel!" the duchess shouted.

His knees hit stone, his eyes still locked open, and he fell forward. Shade sidled quickly away, and the man's chest and face slapped the floor.

He was dead.

Chane spun, keeping Wynn in sight as he watched the whole chamber. He knew what the wraith was doing. That one pause before it sank into stone had been enough. It had taken the lay of this small space and all who were in it. Now it had even gained a glance at the next room.

"Get out of there!" he told Tristan and he sidestepped toward Shade.

The captain came out, sword in hand, and hauled the duchess along. She pulled her own saber, and Chane hissed in disgust.

How many times had they been told, and still they clung to their useless weapons. Even so, the wraith would not be coming through any wall.

It had taken a life, at least a taste, and Chane felt his own hunger gnawing at him. It gained strength, while he slowly weakened further. It would keep up this tactic, disappearing and reappearing, breaking Wynn's focus over and over, and exhausting and disorienting all of them.

Until it pulled them down, one by one.

"We go now!" he snarled at Wynn.

Racing to the door, he snatched up their packs, tossing one at the captain.

"Put it on and carry the other," he ordered, handing off the second. "And put your weapons away!"

He shoved Wynn's pack at the duchess.

"Go where?" Wynn shot back. "We can't let that thing come at us in some narrow passage!"

Chane dropped off the edge into the pool and looked up at Wynn.

"Down the sea tunnel," he said. "You use the staff to threaten it off while we run for the outside. We keep moving, changing locations. … We must make it out by dawn."

Her eyes widened—then her young face wrinkled in anger. She looked about the chamber, perhaps wishing the wraith would come once more. It was obvious she did not want to run.

Chane was about to pull her down when she let out an exhausted breath. She stepped off the ledge, sinking to her waist in a splash.

Shade snarled and barked at her from the pool's edge.

"No … come," Wynn said.

"What are you doing?" the captain demanded.

"We run for daylight," Wynn said.

"Or at least somewhere the wraith has not been," Chane added. "By its tactics, it cannot appear in any place it has not first seen. Now open the gate!"

The captain still hesitated. The duchess stared at the body of her dead guard, her expression slack. Chane had no interest in either of them, but he empathized with the captain's dilemma.

"Into the tunnel," Reine whispered, almost too low to hear. "Chuillyon knew … he knew we could escape from here."

All Chane cared about was getting Wynn—and Shade—out of here before the wraith reappeared. They could not defeat it in this place.

The captain stepped off the edge, followed by the duchess, and waded toward the gate. He reached into the back of his surcoat and handed off a sea-wave-shaped comb to the duchess. In turn, she placed it over the gate's white metal oval.

Chane heard grating as the bolt slid open. When the duchess removed the comb, he saw a small pellet of white metal on its underside. She had barely begun to open the gate when …

"Valhachkasej'â!" Wynn cursed under her breath.

Chane glanced at her. She was staring in fury at the white metal lock.

Wynn closed her eyes and shook her head. She stepped forward and jerked the gate open, muttering angrily under her breath.

Chane had no idea what she had said, though her tone was full of venom. Whatever bothered her, it could wait.

Shade was about to jump off the ledge and swim across, but Chane held her back with a raised hand. He and she had to take the rear for when the wraith finally followed. And it would.

Chane motioned the duchess and captain into the tunnel after Wynn.

Sau'ilahk lingered in the outer passage, three strides from the chamber's door. Then noise echoed up the passage from behind him. He quickly sank into the passage's wall.

He had fed only a little, not nearly enough. Killing so quickly did not allow for a proper meal. But the suddenness of his tactics, the helplessness fostered in Wynn and her companions, was a gain in the balance. He would give them a little longer to wonder, let uncertainty feed their fears. Not knowing when and where he would reappear would consume them. And a body lying dead among them was more fuel for that fire.

Bit by bit, he would break Wynn before he even touched her. A grip on her, or even the duchess, and the staff would come next. No one would risk either life if he demanded it in exchange. Once the crystal was shattered, he could drag off his hostage, and slip into hiding. He would learn where the texts lay before he fed more properly.