Child of Flame (Crown of Stars 4)

Edging backward, staff held so that he could strike down, he stepped back through the pillared columns until he ran up against Two Fingers’ steadying hand.

“Now, go we quick.” Two Fingers sounded like he was about to start laughing.

Laugh they did, once they had gotten farther down the tunnel and found a narrow cleft half blocked by rockfall where they could stop and sit. Alain actually laughed enough, trying to stifle it so that it didn’t echo through the rock passageway, that he had to wipe away tears.

“You are brave,” said Laoina admiringly.

“Or foolish,” agreed Two Fingers. He brought out flint and a shred of dried mushroom for tinder.

Adica said nothing. She did not need to, with the hounds on either side of her, the ones who knew how much he loved her. All she needed to do was smile at him. A wan light emanating from the gold feather illuminated her face. Oddly, the way the light shaded her face made her old burn scar stand out starkly. She reached to touch his cheek, smoothing a finger over that place where, as she had shown him once in her mirror, he had a red blemish shaped like a rose.

Maybe it wasn’t the rush of overpowering love he felt for her at that moment that caused the tinder to spark and burn. Probably it was the flint. But the torch couldn’t have burned any brighter. He leaned over and swiftly kissed Adica on the cheek before following Two Fingers.

The smoke from the torch made the narrow passages seem even smaller, but as they walked on, the air became moist, the walls dripped, and the sound or running water grew louder. Eventually they entered a long cavern filled with water except for a narrow walk along the cave wall. This underground stream flowed from the far end of the grotto where a fall cascaded out of an opening, along the cavern, and into a natural culvert nearby them. The hounds sidled up to the water, drank their fill, and settled down on the ledge while the others drank. The water had a rich almost salty taste but was so cool and refreshing that mead could not have satisfied him more.

With a sigh, Alain leaned against cold stone and surveyed the cave. It glistened with moisture. Patches of blue-green moss gave a soft glow throughout the room. Two tunnels entered on the other side of the water. The water itself was clear, but shallow, perhaps only an arm’s length deep. Slimy yellows, browns, and whites encrusted the bottom, and small pale white fish, salamanders, and eels thrashed wildly when the torch was held high to view them more carefully.

“Hrm huum,” hummed Two Fingers thoughtfully, considering Alain. He had evidently exhausted his entire store of the language of the White Deer people, because he spoke in his own tongue and let Laoina translate. The noise of the cataract meant they had to yell in order to be heard. “How did you come by the gold feather?”

“I saw it on the ground. I picked it up.”

Rage stood suddenly and let out a single “woof” that pierced through the tumble of water. Sorrow rose groggily from a nap, but his attention quickly sharpened as he focused on the tunnel across from them. Two Fingers quenched the torch in the water.

“Hsst!” They retreated into the tunnel from which they had emerged just as two figures appeared in the other entrance, illuminated by torchlight, spear points leading their cautious advance.

The Cursed Ones.

Rage barked threateningly. Alerted, the two scouts slipped back into their cave, and their shouts calling for aid blended with the roar of the cascade.

“Come.” Two Fingers spoke urgently.

“Quick quick,” Laoina echoed.

An arrow shattered against stone. Laoina clawed at her eye, stumbling, as Two Fingers pulled her down the tunnel. Alain called in the dogs as a group of Cursed Ones burst out into the cavern, spears and swords in hand. The leader leaped into the water, splashing quickly across the stream, and lunged forward to thrust at Sorrow. Alain deflected the spear’s thrust with his staff, countering, but he was too far away to actually hit the warrior. As the Cursed One jerked back from the blow, he slipped in the water. Sorrow pressed forward, but Alain shouted sharply, catching him across the chest with his staff.

“Back!”

Cursed Ones screamed triumph as they charged into the water, brandishing their weapons.

“Alain!” cried Adica behind him.

“Go, Adica!”

Alain held them back, striking toward their heads, knocking a spear thrust off course, as Rage retreated in Adica’s wake and Sorrow took one last bite at the foot of the struggling leader who, righting himself in the slippery stream, thought he could get a last kick in for free. In the confusion, Alain retreated with Sorrow. They cut into the tunnel as another arrow thudded against stone.

“We go back to the phoenix,” called Laoina, ahead of them.

“Are you hurt?” Alain kept his balance in the blackness by keeping one hand in constant contact with the wall.

“Dust in my eye, nothing more.”

But it was more than dust that pursued them. Shouts and ululating cries rebounded off the walls. A light flickered behind as the Cursed Ones brought torches forward to light their pursuit. Alain saw Adica running before him and farther, almost a stone’s throw on, the faint figure of Laoina. The hounds had gotten ahead and were now trying to push past Two Fingers, who was leading them through the dark. They rounded a bend, and the light faded.

Alain paused long enough to turn and shout. “Haililili!” Then he rushed onward after the rest. Every score of steps he would yell back again, hoping to give their pursuers pause, believing he meant to charge out of the dark at them. But after the third time they began to yell taunts back at him. Even with Two Fingers’ knowledge of the tunnels, the Cursed Ones with their torches were gaining ground.

A glow rose ahead. Golden phosphorescence striped the walls. Two Fingers halted in that jumble of fallen rocks where they had stopped to laugh so short a time before. Here the tunnel narrowed until only one person could squeeze through at a time. After the others crowded through behind him and Alain stationed himself to guard the cleft, Two Fingers lifted the gold feather to his lips and blew.

Adica’s fingers brushed Alain’s back, a reassuring caress on his neck. The hounds pressed up beside her, tails thumping lightly on rock. Two Fingers lowered the feather and retreated cautiously toward the phoenix’s lair, Laoina at his heels.