Морган Райс – Victor, Vanquished, Son (страница 2)

“Akila says that it’s time for the last people to pull back from the city. One of the beaches on the far side of the island has fallen, and we need everyone to reinforce the passes.”

Thanos nodded, trying to hide his disappointment at those words. He’d known that this was inevitable ever since Felldust’s forces had torn open the harbor gates, but he’d dared to hope that it was because they’d committed everything to that attack. If they were able to take beaches across the island as well, things were worse than he’d thought.

“Pull back to the hills!” he yelled, and the men around him looked surprised for a moment, before taking off through the city in the direction of the mountain passes. General Haven’s men did it as quickly as the men from Haylon, obviously having come to know the mountains over their time fighting there. Lord West’s former men followed along, obviously taking their lead from Thanos. He just hoped that he wasn’t leading them to their deaths.

They reached the rock walls and passes on the edge of the city. There were men there waiting with sledgehammers by great wooden wedges. Thanos guessed that when they drove them in, the rock walls around would come down, forming a natural wall. Thanos also guessed that unless they’d judged it very well, the men were risking being buried when the rocks came down. They were giving their lives to slow the advance.

Thanos couldn’t let them do it alone.

He grabbed one of the hammers, ignoring the man’s look of shock as he watched the troops with him filter through the gap. More of Haylon’s warriors came, and more still, but now Thanos could see Felldust’s men following close behind.

He found himself thinking of Ceres then. He hoped that she was doing better in her search than they were doing on the island. He’d wanted so much with her, and if he died here, that could never happen, but he couldn’t stand by and let these men do this alone.

“We need to do it,” one of the men there said.

Thanos shook his head. “Not yet. There are still men to come.”

“But if Felldust’s men get through…”

“Not yet,” Thanos repeated.

The warriors kept coming, and Thanos let through as many of his own people as he could. When the first of Felldust’s warriors came at him, Thanos parried the blow with the haft of his sledgehammer, then struck back, feeling ribs give way under the strike. Another came forward, and Haven was there, cutting the man down.

“This is not the place for you, my prince,” he said.

“I thought you said I wasn’t your prince,” Thanos pointed out.

He heard the other man sigh. “You’re not, but you’re right. I came to this island to be a butcher. Time to be something more.”

He nodded, and Thanos felt strong hands closing over his arms. A pair of the Empire’s soldiers pulled him back, while Haven took up the hammer Thanos had held.

“Haven, don’t do this,” Thanos said.

It was too late though. The old general was already swinging the hammer, alongside the few chosen men of Haylon. He swung it with all the strength of a much younger man, blows striking home on the wedge as above him, the rocks creaked.

When they gave way, it was like thunder, the whole world seeming to disappear under the falling rain of rocks. General Haven disappeared under that avalanche, leaving nothing but a solid wall of boulders.

Thanos stared at the pile in awe.

Even so, he knew it had only bought them a little time.

Haylon was lost.

He only hoped that things were easier for Ceres.

CHAPTER TWO

Ceres looked up from the pit, to the ring of half-dead sorcerers who surrounded it, and she tried to hide her fear. She managed to summon defiance as she watched them gather, clutching the hilts of her twin swords, waiting for them. She would not let them see her scared down here.

“You could have freed us,” their leader said in a voice like old paper.

“Freed you to destroy things,” Ceres called back. “Never.”

“Then we’ll take your blood, and be what we were for a while at least.”

Ceres stood there, waiting for them. Which of them would attack first? Would they just fire their magic down into the pit and destroy her? No, they couldn’t, could they? Not when they needed her blood. An idea came to her then. A way she might actually get out of this pit. It would be dangerous though. Very dangerous.

“Do you think I’m scared of you?” Ceres demanded. “I’ve fought in pits before. Come on, all of you.”

This wouldn’t work unless they all came at her. Even so, it was terrifying as they dropped in silence, landing on the hard stone of the pit and hurrying forward to attack her.

Ceres cut and moved. There was so little room in the pit to fight that the danger was that she would be swarmed. She cut off a hand that grabbed at her, ducked under the swipe of claws aimed at her throat. She felt the scrape of a hand on her side and kicked out, knocking one of the sorcerers back.

They weren’t as strong as they had been. Ceres guessed that they’d used more power than they wanted, throwing magic after her. She kept cutting, kept dodging within the pit while she waited for the moment when some of them would line up the way she wanted.

Ceres saw it, and she didn’t hesitate. She might not have the superior strength and speed that came from her blood, but she was still fast and strong enough for this. She cut one down to its knees in front of her, threw her swords out of the pit, and then used the sorcerer’s back as a springboard as it was still recovering. She leapt up onto the shoulders of the next enemy and then jumped with all she had for the lip of the pit. If she got this wrong, she had just thrown away the only weapons she had to protect herself.

She slammed against the rock of the pit’s wall, her hands catching on the lip as she struggled to pull herself up. Ceres felt something grabbing at her leg, and kicked back on instinct, feeling the crunch of bone as she connected with a sorcerer’s skull. That push was all she needed to set her climbing, and quickly, Ceres pulled herself up over the rim of the pit she’d fallen into.

She snatched up her blades and stood as the sorcerers shrieked their anger.

“We will follow!” they promised.

One roared in anger then, throwing magic her way. Ceres dodged aside, but it was as if that was the signal for the others to strike as well. Flames and lightning followed her as she ran from the room that contained the pit, and around her, Ceres heard the walls rumbling. Small rocks started to fall, then bigger ones.

Ceres ran on desperately, while rocks fell around her, ricocheting as they struck the floor and rolling in the case of the bigger pieces. She flung herself forward, and stood to find that the tunnel behind her was now blocked.

Would it stop the former sorcerers? Probably not forever. If they couldn’t die, then they would eventually be able to break through, but that wasn’t the same thing as being able to chase after Ceres now. For now, at least, she was safe.

She continued through the tunnels, not knowing which way to go, but trusting to instinct in the soft glow of the cave light. Ahead, Ceres could see it opening out into a broader cavern with stalactites hanging down from the ceiling. There was also the sound of water there, and Ceres was surprised to see a broad stream running through the middle of it.

More than that, there was a small landing post with a flat-bottomed boat tied to it. Ceres guessed that the boat had been there for more years than she wanted to think about, but somehow it still looked strong. Downstream, Ceres could see a light that wasn’t present in the rest of the caves, and somehow she knew it would be what she needed to head toward.

She got in the boat, untying it and letting the current carry it along. The water lapped at the side of the small vessel, and Ceres could feel anticipation building in her as it went forward. On another occasion, she might have been worried by a current such as this one, thinking that it might lead to a weir, or worse, to a waterfall. Now, however, it felt as though the current was a deliberate thing, designed to carry her to her goal.

The boat passed through a tunnel narrow enough that Ceres could have touched the walls on either side. There was light ahead, bright after the half-light of the caves. The tunnel gave way to a space that was not rock, not stone. Instead, in a space where there should have been just another cavern, Ceres found herself floating through a patch of idyllic countryside.

Ceres recognized the work of the Ancient Ones instantly. Only they might have done something like this. Perhaps the sorcerers might have found the power for an illusion, but this felt real; it even smelled of fresh grass and dew drops. The boat bumped against the bank and Ceres saw a wide meadow ahead, filled with wildflowers whose scent was sweet and delicate. Some of them seemed to move with her as she passed, and Ceres felt the brush of thorns against her leg, drawing blood in a sharp sting of pain.

They pulled back after that, though. Apparently, whatever defenses were there, they weren’t meant to keep her out.