Fyne Sisters - The Star Witch Part 28

As soon as they were well into the open area of Level Ten, Isadora realized that something was wrong. It took her a moment to realize what had caught her attention. In the past the low hum from Level Eleven had always been present at the ground entrance, but today all was silent. Whoever had the keeping of Level Eleven had deserted their machines, which meant neither the lift nor the light sticks would be operational.

Even if the lift had been working, she would not have used it because Lucan would not make use of it. They rushed for the stairs. There was not much time before the palace was overrun, and before that happened she had to get Liane and the babies out. Once they were safe, she didn't care what happened. She didn't care who sat on the throne, as long as the war was done and those she had sworn to protect were safe.

If sheer numbers were the answer, Sebestyen would not be emperor much longer.

She and Lucan hurried upward. Isadora's heart thudded in her chest, and the hand that gripped the small sword he had given her was sweating.

The plan was simple. She and Lucan would rescue Liane together, and then the three of them would collect the babies. While she and Liane got the children and themselves out of the palace, Lucan would retrieve the Star of Bacwyr. That stupid ring! It was the reason he had courted her in the first place, it was the power that had drawn him to her. If not for that piece of jewelry he would not have looked at her twice.

Not such a stupid ring after all, perhaps.

They ran into three sentinels at the landing for Level Six, and Lucan dispatched them quickly and with ease. The encounter did nothing to still the pounding of Isadora's heart. Steel on steel was loud in the enclosed stairwell, and to see the sentinels die...

She had killed two sentinels herself, this past winter. One in her home, the other in the forest as she searched for Juliet. They had deserved death, she still believed that, but those killings had also opened the door to a dark side of herself. She had put that darkness away for good, but she could never go back and undo what had been done. Thayne said that destruction was not always separate from and opposed to protection, but was a part of her gift. She did not see it as true. More, she did not feel it.

There was turmoil on Level Three. Many of the girls had already left, but a few remained. Many were very pregnant... a month or less from delivery. They were afraid, and they cried. Those who had a place to go had gone there days ago. Apparently everyone had realized that the end was coming.

As she and Lucan made their way down the hallway, Isadora issued orders. She commanded even the pregnant girls who swore they had no place to go to leave the palace now. A few complained, but they soon saw that she was serious in her directions, and they went. One man, a master-in-training named Brus, had remained, and Isadora placed him in charge of the fleeing women. Surely the guards at the palace gate would not detain the women. Besides, they were trying to keep people out of the palace, not hold them in.

No one remembered seeing Liane, and the Level Three rooms they searched were empty. Isadora was beginning to believe that she was too late. She never should have waited as Juliet had instructed. She should have come back here immediately and found Liane and the babies.Babies. It was such a relief to know that the emperor had not killed one of his own children. Liane had believed him capable of such an act, even as she'd loved him. And yet the pain in his eyes as he'd pushed Isadora into Level Thirteen had given her hope.

A man who had no heart did not feel that kind of pain.

It was a faint cry for help that caught Isadora's ear, and Lucan's. They stopped in the hallway and

listened, and the cry came once again, as faint as before. It was a woman's voice, coa.r.s.e and desperate.

"Here." Lucan opened a door to a room they had already searched once. It remained undisturbed, but

when the cry came again, it was clearer than before. They crossed the room, tore down a faded tapestry of a lewd nature, and revealed a hidden door.

Lucan made Isadora stand back as he opened the door on a seemingly empty chamber.

A bed dominated the room. It was mussed. Long scarves tied to the headboard and the footboard had

been left dangling. The cry for help came again, and Lucan rounded the bed.

"It's the witch," he said.

Isadora joined him. Gadhra lay on the floor, bleeding from a wound in her side. She was half sitting up,

and wiry, loose gray and white hair fell in disarray around her disheveled body.

"Who did this to you?" Lucan asked.

"The boy," she said hoa.r.s.ely. "The emperor. After all that wh.o.r.e did, he came here to save her. I tried to

stop him, and he stabbed me." She looked at her b.l.o.o.d.y hand in wonder, and then returned it to the wound.

"Where are they?" Isadora asked.

"I don't know."

Lucan a.s.sisted the witch up and onto the bed, where she sat on the edge and examined her wound. "Did he wear the ring?"

"Ring?" Gadhra asked, seemingly dazed. "What ring?"

"The Star of Bacwyr," Lucan snapped. "It's blue, and about so big..."

"You are blind," the old woman said.

"Did he wear such a ring?"

"Perhaps," she snapped, and then she looked at Isadora. "You survived."

"No thanks to you."

"How did you find Thayne?" The old woman smiled, as if she knew the wizard was Isadora's father. As

if she had known they would find one another in that cursed pit.

"Very well," Isadora said without emotion. She looked up at Lucan. "Let's go. Maybe we can catch them."

"You're going to leave me here?" Gadhra asked. "Patch my wound and take me with you. I'll make myself useful."

"The wound is not so bad," Lucan observed. "You'll survive."

Gadhra coughed and fell back onto the bed, gasping for air. Lucan leaned over her, appearing more annoyed than concerned.

Beware the witch. The words popped into Isadora's mind, and then they sprang from her mouth.

Lucan reacted to her warning just as Gadhra swung the knife she'd had hidden in her ragged attire up and toward his midsection. He s.h.i.+fted to one side, caught the arm in one strong hand, and snagged the dagger from the witch. The tip of the blade came within a hairsbreadth of his flesh.

"Why would you try to kill me?" he asked as he made use of the scarves that had apparently once been used to restrain Liane.

"Because the two of you are going to ruin everything!" the old witch spat.

"How?"

Gadhra pursed her wrinkled lips, but as Lucan and Isadora left the room, she shouted, "The boy is meant to be emperor!"

They did not ask, as they left her behind, which boy she spoke of.

RESCUING AN ANGRY woman and reuniting her with her baby was not a quick and easy task. It didn't help matters that Liane refused to listen to a word he said. Her attention was reserved for Jahn, and she did not want to let him go. He explained to his wife that she needed to dress in a gown that was warm and appropriate for travel, but it was all but impossible to draw her attention away from the child in her arms. He helped her dress, he all but led her through every step as if she were the child. He even slipped boots onto her feet and tied them securely.

As he led Liane along narrow hidden hallways, Sebestyen explained to her that she must get out of the palace, but she seemed not to hear him. Still her attentions were all for Jahn, and he wondered if she heard him at all.

Outside the doorway to the room where Alixandyr and Mahri waited, Sebestyen stopped and turned to his wife. "I am not as heartless as you believe me to be, Liane."

"You are," she said, not taking her eyes from her child. "You are heartless and soulless and cruel."

He did not have time for this conversation. Her own eyes would show her the truth soon enough. He opened the door, only to find Mahri standing in the middle of the room, poised to do battle with the knife he had given her. When she recognized him, she let the knife fall. "It's you, my lord. I thought perhaps it was the invaders."

"We're getting out," he said curtly.

He would prefer to leave the nursemaid behind, since he did not trust her, but he needed the woman and her prodigious b.o.o.bs to feed the babies. The woman stood slowly, looked at him and then at Liane, as the empress entered the room behind him.

It took Liane a moment to realize that her second-born child rested in this very room. Still holding Jahn in her arms, she ran to the cradle and scooped little Alix into her arms. She held them both as she spun to face Sebestyen, an expression of wonder on her beautiful face. "You didn't-"

"Of course not."

He studied the occupants of the room with a weary eye. How would he manage to get three women and two babies out of the palace unnoticed? The prophesy was coming true around him, so he did not expect to see himself to safety, but his family... Liane and the babies would survive, and she would need Mahri and the nursemaid, at least for now.

"The rebels are coming," he said solemnly. "Liane is empress, and she will be endangered if she falls into the wrong hands. The children are the next rightful heirs to the throne, and so they are in danger, also."

"My lord, surely no one would harm the babies," Mahri said.

He glared at the naive maid. "You do not know what horrors men in pursuit of power are capable of. I do."

Mahri paled, but Liane did not. She had never been naive or fearful, and he knew he would be leaving his children in good hands.

"We can get to Level Seven by way of the hidden stairwells. After that we'll have to use the main stairway to Level Ten. There's a secret exit through the courtyard. If we can reach that exit before the rebels arrive, we can make our way to safety."

"And then what?" Liane snapped. "Where will we go?"

He looked his wife in the eye. "I don't know. I don't care." He didn't expect to survive, but if he did, by some miracle... he would not look back. "Arik can have the palace, and the country." She did not look at all forgiving. "If you still feel the need to kill me, can it at least wait until we get out of here?"

LEVEL ONE, WHICH was usually bustling with sentinels and ministers and priests, as well as the daily goings-on of the emperor, was eerily silent. Those sentinels who had not deserted had moved down to the perimeter of the palace in order to protect it from the invaders. Did they realize that they were badly outnumbered? If not, they would realize that fact quite soon.

Lucan searched the bedchamber, and the office, and the ballroom, rifling through boxes and drawers in search of the Star. He found jewelry and coins and proclamations, but he did not find the ring he was searching for.

Isadora was anxious to move downward, even though to Lucan's mind the witch's confession proved that Liane was not in danger. Sebestyen was seeing to her safety. Still, she was not satisfied, and would not be until she saw the empress and the babies for herself.

"It isn't here," he said angrily. "And if it is, then it's well hidden."

"I could try a location spell, if you'd like," Isadora said.

He glared at her. "I must find the Star on my own. And I have told you-"

"No magic. I have not forgotten, I was just trying to help."

If he did not find the ring, then it was not meant to be. He had done his best, and he would continue to do so. But if it was not meant for the Prince of Swords and the new King of Tryfyn to come now, then it was not time. Not all things were in his hands.

"We will find the Empress Liane," he said, dismissing his earlier distress. "If the Star presents itself, then I will know it's time to retrieve it. If not..." He shrugged. "I still have you, so I can't very well call the trip a failure."

Isadora had not yet agreed to marry him, but as soon as Liane and the babies were safe, she would. She had all but promised him as much. Lucan rifled through a pile of precious stones and gold, just in case he had missed the ring he sought.

The silence of Level One had lulled them into a false sense of security, and when the green-clad sentinel burst into the room and found Lucan with a handful of gems in one hand, he and Isadora were both startled. The sentinel shouted, "Thief!" and then he raised his sword and turned on Isadora.

WHEN THEY REACHED the main stairway on Level Eight, Sebestyen heard the roar of the armies that approached. Time was running out-no-time had already gone. He should have been faster. He should have forced Liane to move more quickly, when she dawdled over her baby instead of listening to his commands.

As they descended the stairway, he realized that the sounds of fighting came from outside the palace. The rebels had not reached the interior of the palace-not yet. There was still time...

The sentinels who remained under his command, who had not deserted out of fear or disloyalty, held the invaders at bay, at least for now. There might be some resistance to the rear of the palace, beyond the courtyard, but no aggressor would see the three women and two babies as a danger. Liane was not dressed in crimson, he had seen to that, and none of the opposing soldiers knew what the empress looked like. Surely none of them would be on the lookout for twins.

For a moment, Sebestyen thought that perhaps he would be able to escape with Liane and the babies and their retinue of two servants. For one fleeting moment he imagined the life he might have had, if he'd stepped aside years ago. He imagined a life outside the palace, far from the city of Arthes, where there were no duties beyond a man's duty to his family.

They were very near the doorway to the courtyard, escape so close he could almost taste it, when the ragged old witch ran from the shadows, knife raised and obviously intended for Liane's back.

Sebestyen rushed forward with a shout of warning and knocked Liane aside. She stumbled but did not fall. The knife that had been aimed at Liane's back sliced into his arm, and an inordinate amount of blood spurted forth. He grabbed the witch with his uninjured arm and yanked her away from Liane. The old hag had one of the scarves that had been used to bind Liane to the bed cinched around her midsection, there where he had stabbed her.

He should have made certain she was dead, but how could he have known that she'd have the strength to stage an ambush?

He turned to Liane. "Go. Now." Liane cast him a quick, questioning glance, and then she and the others ran into the courtyard. She knew the hidden doorway, and if he could hold off the witch and the soldiers and the priests, maybe she and the babies would be safe. Nothing else mattered, not the fate of his country or his life.

"Don't let them escape!" Gadhra shouted as she tried to pull away from his grasp. "I need the boy. I must have the boy. Don't you see? He is meant to be emperor, and with me at his side he will be the most powerful emperor Columbyana has ever seen."

"Why would my son want you at his side?" He felt oddly dizzy, and blood poured down his arm.

"To take the place of his deceased mother, of course. To advise and coddle, and teach him the power of dark magic, so that sleeping but potent energy can return to Columbyana, as is right. I have seen the possibilities in my dreams," she whispered hoa.r.s.ely. "I have waited patiently for this time to arrive, and I will not allow you to ruin it. All of Columbyana and all the worlds beyond will tremble at the feet of your son, and he will be under my command. All will fear and respect him, and his influence will spread like a wildfire until the very earth shakes with fear of his power. No, I will not be imprisoned in Level Seven when Jahn is emperor, as I was beneath you and your father. No one will dare to challenge me. I will teach Jahn, I will coddle and nurture him. I will be the only family he can call his own, once you and the wh.o.r.e and the other babe are dead. He will have no one else to turn to; he will listen only to me."

"You will not touch Liane or Alix. Jahn will not be emperor," Sebestyen said. "And there will be no dark magic in this palace." The arm that had been wounded did not work properly, so he released his hold on the witch to draw the knife at his waist. He swung with all his strength, aiming for her heart. For all the years of training, for all the lessons on swordplay and knife work-he missed, catching bone.

Gadhra aimed for his gut and her blade sank deep. "You are no longer necessary," she said as she withdrew the blade.

Sebestyen sank to the floor, feeling boneless and woozy and... dying. He was dying at last, as Thayne had said he would.

At least Liane had escaped. She would be safe now. She and the babies. He wanted to close his eyes and be done with this life, but he wasn't finished. Liane and the babies were not safe, not yet. The witch planned to kill all but Jahn and then... he did not want to imagine what plans she had for his eldest son.

If Gadhra got her hands on Jahn, she would find a way to control him. Through magic and through grief, she would wield her influence. She would bring dark magic to power, and his son, his innocent son who might one day be the good man his father was not, would be at the helm of it all. The ragged, evil hag would ruin Jahn's only chance at a happy life.