The Mountain Ch. 07

"We're being herded."

She stopped short and Persephone nearly fell again. She tugged hard on Lucy's arm. "Keep moving."

"Why do you keep taking turns?"

"I'm trying to get us there as quickly as possible."

"You're staying in the light," said Lucy.

Persephone tried again to drag Lucy after her, but Lucy resisted with all her might and Persephone only managed to move her a few feet.

"Come on."

"No," said Lucy. "Wait. The lights. You're keeping to the light."

Persephone looked uncomfortable. "I don't like the dark."

As Persephone admitted it, the siren went silent.

"That doesn't mean it's over, does it?"

"There would be another announcement."

"The lights...it's as if someone is illuminating exactly the path they want us to take."

As she said it, Lucy realized it sounded crazy. But--the islanders wouldn't be able to control the lights. At least, she didn't think so. There was no electricity outside the mountain. Even Sheera's father...

Something felt wrong.

"Never mind," she said. "Let's go."

"No," said Persephone, chewing unconsciously on a fingernail. "You're right. And the all-clear should have sounded by now. We should go that way," said Persephone, gesturing into the dark with a determined look on her face. "Keep one hand on the wall. We can reach the apartment in five minutes."

#

Without the siren, the hallways were oppressively quiet. All Lucy could hear was the sound of her own ragged breathing and Persephone shuffling quietly ahead of her.

Before, they had passed people every few moments. But the dark hallways were empty now.

"We're close," Persephone whispered.

Lucy nodded, even though Persephone couldn't see her in the dark.

Then, the screaming started again.

This time, it hurt.

Lucy wrenched herself out of Persephone's grip and clasped her hands over her ears. She could hear Persephone calling her name in the darkness and then pulling at her, trying to make her get up. She wanted to respond, but the screaming took over. She curled into a ball and screamed back.

"Stop!"

The screaming stopped.

The hallway filled with light. Lucy opened her eyes, shaking. There, at the end of the hallway, was the woman from the Great Hall.

Ysabel.

#

They dispatched with the invading islanders embarrassingly quickly. Half of their force abandoned the attack when they saw warriors pouring towards them through the tunnels. The other half fought without discipline, made dangerous only because they were angry and panicked and had little to lose.

Warder wasn't able to stop some of them from being cut down. His own troops had orders to take prisoners at any cost but their own lives. But it has been a long time since any of the warriors under the mountain had been allowed to lose themselves in battle. Some of them delighted too much in killing, appreciating the opportunity to show their skills.

Warder used his own sword to stop a warrior from cutting down an islander who was begging on his knees. "There is no honor in killing a man who has already been disarmed," he growled.

The attacker was Celon, head of a regiment of his own. He struggled to parry as Warder kept blocking his blows. "Is this uncharacteristic mercy because an islander warms your bed, Warder?" Celon managed through clenched teeth.

"Death might be the mercy once Hadren determines how to answer this rebellion. For now, we take prisoners when we can. Or do you feel you know better than our King?"

"I feel our King would see things my way," said Celon. But he abandoned his attempts to murder the islander. Warder hauled the man to his feet in one hand and thrust him at a passing member of his own guard. "Tie him up with the others," he said, swallowing his disgust as the man fainted.

The islanders forces were all but put down, with nearly every man either dead or captured. It would take time for the warriors to comb through all the tunnels, seeking out any last stragglers who might, through sheer luck, have found a way deeper into the mountain as they fled. But there was no doubt that the battle was won.

Growling, he barked commands to Rader regarding the sweep. Cenia, tying up a group of islanders nearby, rushed to Rader's side as Warder swept away.

There had not been time for the islanders to make it far into the mountain. It was the only thing that kept Warder sane as he thought of Lucy. He would know through the mating bond if she was truly in danger--Lucy couldn't reject that awareness they shared, even as she sought to deny their connection. But the lack of panic or fear from the bond didn't mean she was safe. Lucy didn't know all the dangers that lurked in the mountain.

He had responsibilities to attend to. The treaty had been broken. His home had been breached. But his first duty was to find his mate, ensure her safety. He broke into a run towards his quarters.

#

Ysabel looked like she had that day in the Great Hall, except this time, her hands were not tied.

She was alone.

"Stay back," said Persephone. Her face was pale in the bluish light filling the hallway and her voice shook. "Stay the fuck back."

Ysabel smiled, her eyes vacant. She kept moving forward, taking her time. She stumbled a little and caught herself against the wall.

Persephone's fear didn't match Ysabel's demeanor. Persephone was at least half a foot taller than both Lucy and Ysabel and she had pulled her through the halls tonight without breaking a sweat. She could easily take Ysabel down. But she seemed terrified anyway.

"You were screaming."

Persephone pinched Lucy's arm to get her to be quiet, but Lucy ignored her. Ysabel looked around the hallway, as if she was trying to determine the origin of the sound. Then, her gaze leveled on Lucy.

"I knew you could hear me."

"Why?"

Lucy wasn't sure if she was asking why Ysabel had been screaming or why she had known Lucy would be able to hear her. It didn't matter, because Ysabel didn't answer. Instead, she raised one skinny arm in the air. A flash of light seemed to spark from her fingers, directly towards Persephone. Wordlessly, Persephone slumped to the floor.

Lucy fell to the floor next to Persephone, feeling for a pulse. It was there--Persephone had been knocked out.

"What did you do?" Lucy asked.

"I don't like her," said Ysabel, shrugging one thin shoulder. "I came to find you."

Lucy stood up, taking care to stand so that she blocked Persephone's prone form from Ysabel as much as possible. "Why?"

Ysabel flung her arms wide. "Don't you want to escape?"

Lucy's heart seemed to skip a beat. "You can help me get out of here?"

Accepting the offer was risky, but Ysabel's hands had been tied that day in the Great Hall. She was a prisoner, too.

"Everyone is distracted by the attack," said Ysabel. "There can be no better time." She frowned and dropped her arms. "You wish to leave your mate?"

"Yes," said Lucy without hesitation.

Ysabel titled her head to one side. "He has marked you," she said. "I can see it."

Lucy raised a hand to her neck where Warder had bitten her, realized that he had bitten that wrist, too.

"It doesn't go away, you know," said Ysabel. She turned her head to one side and brushed her long hair out of the way to show Lucy the mark on her own neck. The scar was old, but Lucy could still tell that the claiming had been brutal. The skin was puckered, shot through with red and white marks where the skin had closed back together. It looked as if Ysabel had been bitten more than once, up and down the side of her neck.

"I'm sorry," said Lucy. "I'm sorry that you were hurt."

It seemed to be the right thing to say. Ysabel reached out, taking Lucy's hand in her own. Her hands were cool and thin and and surprisingly strong. "Let us go."

#

Warder found his quarters warm--he was still getting used to that--and empty. The bed was made, the lights were dimmed. Persephone and Lucy had not made it back. He growled in fury, reaching out blindly and smashing one of the kitchen chairs against the wall where it shattered into splinters.

He marshalled his calm, focusing on his mate's scent, determined to follow her. He found her--the sweet, floral and citrus scent of her. But as he moved to follow her, he scented something else.

Smoke.

Faint, but growing stronger. And inside the mountain, with the precautions that they were forced to take, it would soon be enough to doom anyone nearby. The warrior's home was particularly vulnerable to fire and their response was characteristically ruthless. If a fire was not quickly contained, the ventilation system inside the mountain would seal off the area, starving the fire of oxygen--and dooming anyone trapped inside with it.

Even as Warder moved to respond, he heard the soft whoosh of the vents closing, felt the heat that was more deadly than the nearby hot springs. Lucy might still be trapped in this sector. Lucy, but also--the children. Anyone in the nursery would not survive long.

With a roar of anguish, Warder ran. He would find the fire and subdue it. Then, he would get everyone out.

When the children were safe--when Lucy was safe--he would find the warriors who had dared to burn his home and tear them apart.

#

Ysabel led Lucy through the darkness. Each time footsteps came their way, Ysabel raised a hand and the lights around them burst apart, slowing the progress of anyone who might pursue them. It seemed Persephone was not the only one of the mountain people who was wary in darkness. Odd, for a people living under the earth.

They moved quickly and quietly and eventually, over the gentle slap of their bare feet against stone, Lucy heard running water.

"What is it?" she breathed.

"An underground river," said Ysabel. "It leads--" she waved a hand "--out."

They turned a corner and Lucy stared at the water spilling past them and disappearing, black as night, into a dark tunnel a long way below.

"Is it safe to jump?" she asked. "Or can we climb down?"

"It's a tricky business," said Ysabel. "As easy to fall and break your neck as it is to capture the current and escape."

"Have others--"

"They've tried," said Ysabel, a too-wide smile on her face.

Lucy sensed that Ysabel was losing her nerve. To her mind, escape was worth the risk. "I don't want to be trapped here anymore. Come with me, Ysabel. The islanders will take care of us. Of you. You wouldn't be a prisoner anymore. You won't have to be an omega anymore."

Ysabel looked at Lucy with something close to disdain. "The islanders are prisoners," she said. "And omegas are born. They cannot be unmade, only broken."

Lucy thought of the words she had whispered to Warder in the dark. "One of us will break," she had told them.

Neither of us are weak.

"Maybe we can't stop being--omega," said Lucy. "But we can leave. Please, Ysabel."

"You know, it will happen to you, too," said Ysabel, ignoring Lucy's pleas. "The longer you are with your mate, the more you will need him. It cannot be undone. And if he casts you aside, the pain will keep growing. It will eat you like a living thing. Living inside you."

"I won't let Warder cause me pain," said Lucy.

"You won't be able to help it," said Ysabel sadly. "I could keep you from feeling pain like that."

"If we leave--"

"Do you think Warder loves you?" asked Ysabel.

"What? No," said Lucy. "No."

"I think he does," said Ysabel. "He could have mated any of the omegas here in the mountain, but he chose you. Was it because you are powerful or because you are pretty?" Ysabel sunk suddenly to the floor, still clutching at her hair.

Lucy reached out a tentative hand to stroke her back. "Ysabel, you can be free of it. Free of Hadren."

Ysabel whirled around, slapping away Lucy's hand. "There isn't any way to get free!" she said, her voice sharp. "And now--with you here. What use am I to him if I can't make him powerful? He will abandon me."

"What do you mean?" asked Lucy. "Don't you want to break the bond?"

"Only death can do that."

Lucy took a step back, the roaring in her ears louder than the rushing water. Only death. Was she truly bound to Warder until death? Even if she escaped, would he follow her? Would she desire him, dream of him? "It doesn't matter, Ysabel. We can run. We can fight it. Perhaps, if we get far enough away--"

Ysabel didn't seem to hear her. "Hadren will be angry. He will be so angry. But I have survived his anger before. And he loves me. He does. It's only that he is afraid."

"Of course--of course he loves you."

Ysabel looked up at Lucy, desperation in her eyes. "You think so?"

"Of course," she said, trying to keep her voice soothing.

"Then you understand? What I must do?"

"We need to go, Ysabel--"

The waterfall beckoned. Deadly. But--a chance.

Ysabel noticed the direction of her gaze. "He will think that's how it happened," she said. "That you were trying to escape."

"What?"

Ysabel lifted her hand and the light that had injured Persephone glowed between her fingers. Lucy had convinced herself that it was a magic trick of some kind. But this was no trick. The light was a living thing in Ysabel's hands, thrumming with power. Ysabel stretched it like taffy, seeming to get lost in the beauty of it. Lucy backed a step away, keeping her eyes on Ysabel.

"Warder will still be a threat. But without you around, Hadren will be able to kill him. All you have to do is try to escape. And then..." Ysabel raised one hand into the air, that strange power of hers dangling from it like a spider on a string. She tossed the bit of light over the edge into the water where it blinked and disappeared. "Splash," said Ysabel.

Several things happened at once. Ysabel lunged at Lucy. Lucy dodged and at the same time, Warder rounded the corner. He roared at the sight of Ysabel standing over his mate. Lucy bit back a scream. He was covered in soot--darkness personified.

Ysabel turned at Warder's approach. "What are you doing here?"

"Do not stand between me and my mate, Ysabel."

"I am more powerful than you," said Ysabel. She raised her hands, light crackling between them once more.

"Is he the one who put you up to this?" snarled Warder. "Grace? It doesn't matter, Ysabel. Whether it was Hadren or not, I'll kill him for this."

Ysabel screamed, inside and out. Lucy heard it with her ears and with her mind, felt it in her bones, burrowing under her skin. The sound of the water dimmed to a distant whoosh, so that the whole world was screaming and pain.

"I'll kill you!" The screams resolved into words. Dark, deadly promises. "I'll kill you," screamed Ysabel. "I'll kill you!"

And then she raised her hands. Not towards Lucy this time, but towards Warder.

Lucy stood. She hated him. Of course she did. But she couldn't watch him die. And if he did die, she thought selfishly, Ysabel would surely kill her, too.

"Ysabel!"

The woman turned and she flung the light she has been going to throw at Warder in Lucy's direction. The final push towards her "accidental" death.

Lucy flung her hands up, as if she could ward against it. And as she did, a matching light sparked forth from her own fingers. Terrified, she flung it away as Ysabel had done. The light flew, blinding her, filling the dark hallway.

Ysabel screamed, but the sound was different this time. For a moment, she seemed to glow and then she was truly on fire, her body convulsing. She fell to the stone floor, what was visible of her skin horribly burned.

The light faded and all Lucy could hear was her own breathing. She stared at Ysabel's prone form. She couldn't tell if the woman was dead or only badly injured.

"Lucy, stop!" Warder's command cut into her shock.

In her panic, she had moved close to the edge of the waterfall. Too close. So close, that Warder was afraid to reach for her for fear that she would shy away from him and fall.

"Is she dead?"

"I don't know," said Warder. "It doesn't matter right now. You were defending yourself."

"I was defending you," said Lucy. "Did you--did you make me do it?"

Slowly, Warder shook his head. Then, carefully, keeping his eyes on her, he knelt on the stone floor as if he could somehow make himself less terrifying. Less imposing. He reached out his hand.

It wasn't that his attempt didn't approach the desired effect. But Lucy was scared of other things than Warder for the first time in a long time. She was scared of Ysabel, even as she lay prone on the floor. She was scared of that light.

She was scared of herself.

"Come away from the edge, Lucy," said Warder. His voice was strained, but forceful. He tried again, and this time the command was almost a purr. "Come to me, Lucy."

Lucy stared at him, her heart pounding. Her eyes darted to Ysabel, still unmoving. She wanted to go to Warder. Wanted him to explain what the hell had just happened. Wanted him to soothe her and comfort her and protect her from the horrible things inside the mountain. Things that had just become stranger and darker and more--just, more than she had ever even thought to be afraid of.

"Come, Lucy."

She wanted to. Wanted him.

She looked behind her to judge the drop and the moment of indecision was enough. Instantly, Warder grabbed her, dragging her towards him by his jacket and then gathering her up so that her back was against his chest.

"No," said Lucy, but she found herself clinging to his arm where it circled her waist and she wasn't sure if she was trying to escape or trying to hold on.

"Be calm," said Warder, leaning down and speaking into her hair. "I will explain. I will protect you."

At his words, she did try to break free of his arms, but he only held her tighter, dragging her further from the drop. When they had retreated a safe distance, he allowed her to push him a few feet away, watching her closely as she paced in front of him. "Are the islanders here?" she asked, threading her fingers unconsciously through her hair.

"They breached the mountain, but the threat has been contained."

"Are they dead?" asked Lucy, looking him straight in the eyes. "Did you kill them?"

Warder scowled. "Most were taken prisoners. Some are dead."

"You killed my people," said Lucy.

Warder grabbed her again, his hands painful where the gripped her upper arms. She felt the way that he marshalled himself from further violence, felt his grip relax as he gained control of his anger. "They attacked us," Warder said. "They broke the treaty. Even so, I saved as many as I could."

Lucy was silent, trying to find a new argument, a new way to sift through all that had happened. Before she could, Warder pushed her behind him, trapping her against the wall.

"Hadren," she heard him say, his voice rumbling through her body where he was pressed against her.

"You've killed her!" Hadren's voice was wild. Even with her view mostly blocked by Warder's body, Lucy could see the way that the hallway lit up with that same strange light. And somehow, she knew that Warder must have deflected it, because Hadren shouted in frustration.

"Not dead yet," Warder said, his voice a low growl. "Not if you can still do that."

Lucy felt Warder move, deflecting another blow. He was forcing her so close to the wall that she could barely breathe. She pressed her hands against his back to steady herself, to remind him that she was there. He shifted slightly and Lucy's hands slid away.

They were wet.

In the next flash of light, she saw that they were red with blood. Warder's blood. She screamed and Warder reached for her. "You're bleeding," she said. She ran her hands over his armor, searching for the wound.

"It is not a fatal wound," said Warder. "I want you to run. Quickly, while Hadren is down. When this is finished, I will find you."