Eldritch Files: Elemental Flame Part 19

Another strike but this time something came through the ceiling and skewered the s.p.a.ce between Bastien and I. More dirt collapsed on top of him.

"Bastien!"

He was going to be buried alive if I couldn't get to him, but the shaft of something hard and metallic was in my way. I summoned my Gnome and pushed my hands against the failing tunnel. I sensed she was there but not in physical form, in the form of something akin to a cousin to the Earth around us. The rumbling stopped as huge, thick worms twisted in the light from the walls. I took a closer look and realized they were the roots of something, writhing as they looped themselves into knots to brace the ceiling.

I touched the metal, and it instantly shattered into ash as Arcane surged forward. Bastien was struggling to get to me so I folded myself up, grabbed his arm and pulled him with me. I asked my Elemental to give him a shove-and she did. He came flying at me as I tumbled back.

With no time to stop and see what was happening, we moved fast on our hands and knees as we stayed just head of blades as they shot down from the ceiling. If those were soldiers over us, they figured out we were in the tunnel and they were trying to stab us.

"This way!" Cordelia said and I turned to see her disappear to the right. As I neared the right, there was a dark side branch and I hesitated.

"Move!" Bastien said and shoved my b.u.t.t forward into that darkness.

Just a few feet in and the ground gave from under me. I reached out for Bastien and I could just see him as light s.h.i.+ned down from above and we were falling. I was pretty sure they'd opened up the tunnel and we'd found some bottomless cavern under a weaker part of the tunnel. And now I was certain we were headed to our deaths.

Instead, we splashed into the coldest water I've ever landed in. Every nerve ending lit on fire when I went under, and I hadn't taken a breath of air. I struggled to find which way was up as the cold slowed my reflexes as well as my thinking. I inhaled water and it burned my throat and lungs as something grabbed me under my arms and yanked me up.

I was in the air again before landing on my stomach. I coughed, choked and spit water out as I flailed on something soft and slippery.

Sam, if I had known you couldn't swim, I would never have forced you into the pond that day.

I started laughing, coughing and choking all at the same time as I pushed myself up on my knees and pulled my now wet and heavy hair away from my face. I smiled at the tall, black, glossy featureless figure that stood before me. "Hob."

It is good to see you. You have met Cordelia.

"Yes we have...and this is Bastien LeBlanc. He's a...Lycan." I turned in time to see Bastien pulling himself-his wolf self-out of the water. He looked like a pitiful, wet dog as he shook himself, and then did that full body shake that drenched me and everything around us.

A few seconds later, he s.h.i.+fted back and I faced a naked man on his knees. "Why did you do that?" I asked.

"I swim better as a wolf."

"Uh huh. Did you pack spare clothing?"

The look on his face was priceless. "No."

"Then I suggest you stick to wolf in public." Man it was hard not to look. So as I stood up, I looked at our new surroundings.

We were in a cavern, right out of some Jules Verne novel. An arched ceiling with thousands of stalact.i.tes pointing down gave it a cathedral look. We were standing on the beach side of a grotto very much like Hob's home. There were flowering trees and plants, gra.s.s and a beach. And to my right- I jumped back when I saw a gigantic Undine. She was sitting on a rock just out of the water; nude from the waist up and from the waist down, she had a long, iridescent green tail. Her hair curled down her shoulders and was the same green color as her tail, as were her eyes. I stared at her and thought I heard a soft note. Just a single note that touched the center of my forehead and blanketed me with overwhelming peace.

But what caught my eye was Bastien as he moved toward her, naked and completely enthralled by that note-just as I'd been a second ago. I realized a beat later what she was and marched over to them. Putting myself between them, I faced Bastien and slapped him hard across the face.

He blinked. Looked around. And then looked at me. "Cherie?"

I turned and held out my hand as my own Undine appeared. She did a little pirouette over my palm and the imposter on the rock hissed. Abruptly, the spheres of her body reversed and I beheld the legs of a female and the upper half of a fish.

Siren.

Stop that behavior! These are my friends! Go!

Hob's shout made me smile as my Undine took a seat on my shoulder and I guided my bewildered wolf back to where Hob was standing.

This is their home, their grotto.

"You can get to the dungeon from here?" I pulled my backpack off and checked the items inside. Book, check. Wooden knife, check. Water...come to mama. I pulled out a bottle, unscrewed it and downed half of it before I gave it to Bastien. He finished the rest and put the empty bottle back in my pack.

Yes. So many are thrown into the Queen's dungeons. They find their way here, the Sirens lure them to their deaths and they are forgotten. The dungeon has become their source of food.

Oh no. I looked back at the water. "Hob, is there a new guy in the dungeon? Young? Dark hair, dressed like us? A Witch?"

Yes. He is over there. Hob pointed toward a back wall I hadn't seen before. A black wall made of obsidian.

I moved toward it as I hefted the backpack on my shoulders. I saw a door in the side of the black wall and stepped inside. Instantly, the atmosphere changed, became oppressive and smelled of urine, mold and damp earth and it was cold. The floor was made of worn stone, veined with lichens and moss. The walls matched the floor and a door braced by iron bars looked like the only way out.

On a cot to the side lay Ivan. He was curled up in a fetal position, his arms tucked into his chest and his knees bent. He wasn't wearing shoes or one of his regular hoodies. In fact, he was dressed only in a torn wet t-s.h.i.+rt and equally messed up jeans.

I ran to him and put my fingers to his neck. I found a pulse, but it was weak. Kneeling down beside him, I pulled his hair from his face and got a really good look at a lot of serious bruises that jived with Cordelia's report he was dragged across the warlands. I pulled at his s.h.i.+rt and examined his arms, his chest and his back. "These are lash marks. Who beat him?"

Hob glided into the cell and stood beside me. I noticed the place we came through didn't look out on the grotto. Instead, it looked like another wall. And to prove my point, Bastien stepped through that illusion and joined us.

"You found him," Bastien said.

I looked at Hob in askance.

He was brought to the Queen. She gave orders that all humans entering through the Cairns be given to her. I don't know what she did to him, but he was brought to this cell in worse shape than you see him. I found a bit of Spyderwick web and used it, but there isn't much of it left.

What the h.e.l.l did she do to him? I leaned in close. "Ivan. You told me to come get you. I'm here, honey. And Dharma's waiting for you."

His eyes fluttered. When he opened them I drew back in horror.

"Sam?"

His eyes were completely white. No pupils. No irises. Ivan was blind.

TWENTY TWO.

My hand shook as I caressed Ivan's cheek. Tears welled up along the lower rim of his eyes, and then fell over his cheeks. "Sam...I'm so, so sorry," he placed his hand over mine.

Why? It was the only word in my mind as I wrapped my arms around Ivan and hugged him tight. Why would she do this? For what reason?

"Because she's afraid of you."

I thought for an instant Bastien had said that. But the voice was decidedly feminine. And then Bastien growled to my left. I released Ivan and turned to see Tzariene standing beside Hob.

Of the three Queens of Faerie I had met, Tzariene always struck me as the most regal. She didn't appear as bright as she had through the looking gla.s.s. I wasn't talking about intelligence, but the internal light I a.s.sociated with Faeries looked dim. Her gown, which I a.s.sumed had once been bright white, looked dingy and soiled in the sullen light of the dungeon. Her horns still stood proud upon her head and her hair was still as silky as I remembered. Long, graceful pointed ears poked through that hair, finis.h.i.+ng her Other Worldly appearance.

Her face-well, even I thought it was divine. She looked like a doll, fas.h.i.+oned from the most expensive porcelain.

I stood back next to Bastien and did a sort of bow that made me feel stupid. "Tzariene."

"Samantha." She glided to me and opened her arms. I tried to think fast; was there anything I didn't know about hugging Faerie queens? If I did would she take something from me? Would I owe her something?

My hesitation was lengthy enough that her expression saddened and she lowered her arms. "It's fine. I understand your...reluctance. I'm afraid our worlds haven't really coexisted as well as they should."

"Truth is, your Majesty, they shouldn't coexist at all."

I thought for a second I'd angered her, but her expression remained the same and she actually nodded. "Again, I understand," she turned to look at Ivan as he lay on the cot. "Brendi has worked herself into somewhat of a paranoid state thanks to a priest who has worked his way to her side. He convinced her you will come and take her prize from her. So when she realized she had one of your coven and he refused to tell her what she wanted to know," the Queen looked back at me. "She punished him."

"What did she want to know?" Bastien said.

Tzariene seemed to see him for the first time, and I swear she blushed. When I looked at him, I realized he was still naked. One thing about Lycans-no inhibitions. None. Nada.

I stepped in front of him, successfully hiding his man parts. "This is Bastien. He's the Alpha of a Lycan pack."

"Yes he is." Tzariene's dark brows arched high and her lips puckered in amus.e.m.e.nt. When she smiled, I could just see the hint of her sharp teeth. "To answer your question, only the human can say. But his pain was great enough that Hob and I dulled his wit."

"Dulled his wit?" I looked between the two of them. It was quite a contrast. The solid black featureless mannequin and the exotic Faerie queen. "You lessened his I.Q.?"

No. We simply made the pain less. And the Spyderwick webbing helped in healing the other injuries. But the eyes...I can't heal those.

I put my hands to the sides of my head and pushed my fingers into my still damp hair. How would this affect his magic? Would he still be able to manipulate the web?

Either way, I couldn't look for Crwys knowing Ivan was here in the dungeon, and under the whim of Brendi. I lowered my backpack to the ground and retrieved the wooden knife. "Hob, is the door still open in your grotto?"

No. It was closed when I was brought here. The cave remains, but the Cairn is gone.

Lady Darksome... "Then I'll have to just send Bastien back with Ivan." I held up the knife and looked at Bastien. "Will you do that? This should send you right back to the barn. All you have to do is get him to a hospital."

Bastien shook his head. "No, cherie. Then you will be trapped here. Doesn't the staff move with the traveler?"

I swallowed and took in a deep breath before I answered. "Yes. But I'll find some way back. I can't carry Ivan around looking for Crwys and neither can you."

"I'm not leaving you here alone."

"What is that?" Tzariene said in a sharp tone that reminded me a lot of Medbh. She pointed at the knife in my hand, and I wondered if she could see something about it I couldn't.

"It's a staff of rowan."

"Let me see it," Tzariene held out her hand.

Again, I hesitated. I really, really wanted to trust her but d.a.m.n it, she was a freak'n Faerie! And you should never trust them!

"I will not take it, Samantha Hawthorne. I need to touch it."

I looked at Hob. When he nodded, I felt a little better.

A little.

I stood and held the knife out to her handle first. Not that there was any danger of cutting the Faerie. The thing didn't have any real sharpness to it to begin with. It was made of wood, after all. Which was why I was shocked when it flashed an angry red at her touch.

And apparently, so was she. Tzariene pulled back and held her hand to her chest and I thought I saw and smelled smoke. Uh oh. I made a Faerie queen mad now!

The rowan wood is dangerous to Faeries. Tzariene knew this.

"Then why did she touch it?" I blurted out.

"Because..." she said as she held out her hand and I saw her blackened, charred fingers. "I...had to know if it was also...a weapon. Something that could be used in battle."

Lord and Lady! I pulled the knife away and held it behind my back. "Tzariene, I'm so, so sorry."

"It will heal, once I regain my power."

"She took your power?" This amazed me. Brendi had come that far in her transformation into a Faerie? How did she do that?

"Yes, while I was confined within these iron bars. I can't move past them. So I spend my time in this lovely grotto, toying with the Sirens," she nodded to the knife. "You can't use that here, in this place, Samantha."

"It won't work?"

"It will work, but its use will also alert everyone that you're here. Brendi will be able to pinpoint your exact location and find you."

My shoulders slumped as I looked at the knife. "What am I going to do? I can't leave Ivan here. What if I have to use this in a hurry? We have to be together in order to make this work. And he can't follow us, not like this."

Bastien put his hand on mine and I looked up into his golden eyes. He looked sad and very tired. Dark circles hung under his eyes. I could feel through the link, though it was just he and I sharing that link, that Bastien LeBlanc wanted to do more.

Then he looked away from me. "M'selle, is there nothing that can be done for the young man's eyes?"

"What are you asking me?" Tzariene's tone strengthened and her voice lilted just a bit too...much. I looked from her to Bastien.

"I am not asking. I sense there is more you could do, but you are...waiting for something." He gave her a light bow.

Waiting for something? I refocused on Tzariene. "What is he talking about?"

Now, the Tzariene I was accustomed to seeing reared her ugly little deal-making self as her lips tilted to one side in a smirk. "You still have one thing to ask of me."

Of course. Tzariene wanted to dispense with her payment. As long as she did that, I would be required to fulfill my bargain. To slay the Dragon. The Summer Queen was no fool, even as a captive-if that's what she really was.

I had split that payment into two. I asked for information, which she had given me. I had one request left to make. "If I ask for his sight to be returned, you will grant it."

"I have no such power, but there is something in the palace that can return his sight. It will also exact its own price eventually, but it will grant your wish."

"And you wouldn't just want to tell me what that is out of the goodness of your icy heart, would you?"