Juliet McKenna - The Assassin's Edge

“You never know what you can do until you try.” The wizard turned serious. “That’s half the trouble with Hadrumal these days. Libraries and learning are all very well but apprentices end up thinking if some authority doesn’t say they can do a given thing, that must mean they can’t. We need more mages like Otrick. Unless several sources stated categorically something was impossible and gave clear reasoning why, he reckoned it’s always worth a try.”

“That sounds like Otrick.” Agreeing strained my throat. The magefire was spreading ever faster, leaping over the rubble of the disintegrating stones. We’d soon be encircled. “How are we planning to leave?”

“Over there!” But ’Gren wasn’t answering me. He was pointing to a column of black-leathered men running down the approach road. They fanned out, hefting maces in practised hands.

“We wanted witnesses to see Ilkehan’s power go up in smoke, didn’t we?” Sorgrad weighed a new ball of magefire in one hand, picking out a target.

“Can you see any gorgets?” Ryshad stood beside me, searching the oncoming line.

“I can’t tell them apart at this distance, not with the smoke.” I shook Shiv’s elbow. “We can’t risk you or Sorgrad to someone with Artifice. We’ll never get off these rocks without you.”

“Sorgrad, let the fire go.” Shiv swept his hands around as if cradling an unseen sphere. We’ve got too many elements active and I’m too tired to handle the conflicts.”

The Mountain Man obeyed, which sparked a look of amazement from ’Gren. Azure magelight threaded through the roiling smoke and, ignoring the teasing breezes, wove an impenetrable veil around the blazing wooden pillars.

“Time to disappear,” Sorgrad announced cheerfully.

I looked at Shiv, bracing myself for whatever sorcery had carried us over the ocean and another bout of nausea. Instead, Shiv was on his knees and prying up the slab he’d been standing on. With a scrape to set my teeth on edge it revealed a narrow, stone-lined stair.

I gaped. “Where does that go?”

“Somewhere not here.”

’Gren was already down the first few steps.

“There’s a chamber down there.” Sorgrad cocked his head quizzically at me. “We found it when we scouted the place.”

“What made you think to look?” I took one step down.

“No one would go to the trouble of building something like this and not make best use of it.” Ryshad urged me on down.

“Build it?” I said stupidly.

“You don’t suppose Ilkehan’s forefathers just happened to find a perfectly round hillock, do you?” Sorgrad retorted with amusement. “Get a move on, girl.”

As I followed Shiv I began to see how the mound had been raised from successive layers of that local stone with the useful property of fracturing into handily flat and even pieces. Then I couldn’t see anything at all. With another nerve-shredding scrape, Ryshad let the slab fall back into place and we were wrapped in total darkness.

“I know Mountain Men and Forest Folk are known for their night sight but this is a bit excessive.” I reached out a hand until I felt Shiv’s shoulder.

I felt rather than heard his low chuckle. A faint glow rose from the stones, as if some moisture reflected a distant light. It vacillated between the palest of greens and a whisper of blue before sliding into a suggestion of red and gold.

“We don’t want to give ourselves away,” Ryshad warned from behind me.

“They’re bound to know this chamber is here.” Sorgrad nudged me and I moved carefully after Shiv.

The radiance trickled down the stones alongside us. The stairs twisted oddly, curving back and around but the regular pattern of the stacked stones defied my sense of direction. After creeping around in unlit houses on many occasions and never losing my bearings, that unnerved me.

“They can only send down one man at a time.” ’Gren’s voice changed as he spoke, ringing louder in a wider space. “That means we can kill them all.”

“If they dare come down here.” Shiv stepped carefully off the lowest step, which was an uncomfortable stretch down even for someone with his height. I sat on the bottom tread and swung my feet down to the dark floor below.

Shiv’s vaporous magelight slid away to leave the stairs a black void in the wall of a conical chamber. There were other holes, niches an arm span across. Caught unawares, I shuddered as I saw long bones laid haphazard between ribcages still linked to hip bones by spines and leathery cartilage. Skulls tucked to one side or set one atop another regarded us sardonically, sockets dry and empty. Some of the niches were crammed with tumbled bones but no skulls, some all but empty save for several bony faces keeping watch. Something grated between my boot and the flagstoned floor. Looking down, I saw a small bone from a finger or toe.

I swallowed my revulsion. “Are we giving these people a decent burning?”

“No.” Sorgrad’s sharp response echoed round the charnel chamber.

I looked to see what Ryshad thought but he was studying a section of wall. The stones between the niches were large slabs set upright in the layers that made up the mound.

“We’re here to destroy the seat of Ilkehan’s power.” Shiv looked around before bringing his gaze back to Sorgrad.

“We’re not touching these bones.” The Mountain Man was adamant.

“If you say so.” I shivered again. “So we wait until whoever’s up top goes away?”

As I spoke, the sound of the slab at the top being lifted reverberated down the stair. Without magic to fan the flames, someone bold enough or scared enough of his commander must have darted between the burning tree trunks.

’Gren flattened himself to the wall by the entrance, dagger in hand. “Come and join your ancestors,“ he murmured with glee.

“Or we could try this.” Ryshad leaned all his weight on one side of the slab that had so intrigued him. It moved on a hidden pivot to reveal another black void.

“More bones?” I asked with distaste.

Ryshad peered inside as the elemental light explored the darkness. “No.”

“Looks like a rat trap.” ’Gren barely spared the hole a glance. “Kill enough of them good and loud and the rest’ll think twice about following.”

Sorgrad was already easing past the slanted stone on hands and knees. “If it’s anything like a tyakar, there may be another way out.”

That was good enough for me so I hurried after him, Shiv helping me with a boost to the rump that would have earned anyone else a slap in the face. He wriggled past me to fold himself up next to Sorgrad.

“Get in here, ’Gren,“ Ryshad ordered curtly. The Mountain Man obeyed, reluctance just about visible as Shiv’s fading illumination chivvied him across the floor. The chamber returned to the silent blackness of before.

“What do we do if they come knocking?” ’Gren grumbled under his breath as he tucked himself opposite me.

“Hush.” Ryshad eased the slab closed with barely more than a whisper of stone on stone. This was a mason’s work I could certainly appreciate.

We were sat hunched, shoulder to shoulder, boots uncomfortably tangled. We all tried to calm ourselves, as much to hear what was happening on the other side of the slab as to avoid giving our hiding place away. A faint noise sounded and we all held our breath, straining to hear.

I brought a hand up to my mouth and bit down on the knuckle of my forefinger. Halcarion only knows why but I had a quite insane urge to giggle. I scolded myself silently. That would be ridiculously stupid and quite possibly fatal into the bargain. With us packed like the fish in Olret’s barrels, Ryshad felt my shoulders shaking and took my hand, squeezing it in mute reassurance. I closed my other hand over his strong fingers, feeling familiar square-cut nails and the rough skin over his knuckles.