The Eternal Blade Saga Book 2 Chapter 20: Deal Breaker

The deal was simple. I’d go with the Byrnes’ and my friends went free.

Now whether they would honor that agreement, I wasn’t so certain, but I had to do something. If I didn’t, we would all very likely die in that cavern and the blade would be left guarded by Dee and she wasn’t fully prepared for the responsibility yet. Leaving my axe to rest on the frozen ground, I resigned myself to the situation and wordlessly nodded.

Cries in opposition broke out from the others as the Byrnes commanded their wolf to corral and guard them in a corner against the cavern wall. I couldn’t bring myself to look anywhere in their direction. They probably felt I was abandoning them. But there wasn’t time to brainstorm any possible ideas to get us out of this situation, so I had to make a decision. As soon as I was free from the wolf, the Byrnes’ lit a torch and secured a pair of shackles on my wrists that emanated a faint red glow. I didn’t have time to inspect them any further before I was quickly ushered out at sword point.

However, the whole experience wasn’t in vain.

Being in closer proximity to the highborn pair, I was able to get a better look at the item Lady Eira had in her grasp. It wasn’t much longer than the span from her wrist to fingertips. She anxiously rolled it in her hands, and as she did this I spied red Inquest marks carved near the base. At the other end was a blue crystal, similar to the shards of ice crowning the wolf’s head, and it was glowing softly. My gut told me this Inquest item was how the highborns were controlling the wolf. The Inquest were well known for their experimental prowess.  However, the lines of morality were often blurred in their eyes, resulting in controversial projects as well as questionable work ethics. But if a project was highly valuable and highly sought after, none of that mattered. I wondered just how much the Byrnes paid the Inquest for this sort of magitech.

My thoughts went immediately to Torx. That traitorous lowlife had been hired initially by Sir Fendall for one of our trap locations for the blade, but we were unaware at the time of his Inquest ties as well as his alignment to Alec Sable and his mystery employer. We had thought we had done our jobs well when we vetted the asura scientist. Everything seemed to be in order, but we were wrong. Maybe we were too naïve. Maybe fate was working against us. It didn’t matter anymore. What was done was done and there was no taking it back. Torx made his bed when he betrayed us, and if I managed to get my hands on the asura, I was going to bury him in it. I had already started the job by taking his hand from him last we met at Reaper’s Gate. Next time I saw him, I’d take his head.

Some distance into the tunnel leading away from the cavern, I slowed my steps and eventually stopped walking. Lord Aedan turned toward me, bringing the torch so close to my face, I could feel the heat from the flame.

“What are you doing?”

My shoulders slumped, I let out a pained sigh. “Honestly? I’m tired and sore from playing with your little pet over there,” I replied as I nodded back towards the wolf. “I need to rest before you drag me back under whatever rock you crawled out from.”

There was no sharp verbal response, just a swift strike of Lady Eira’s hand against my cheek. I was surprised by the sting. The lady was obviously stronger than I had anticipated. Raising my hand to my cheek, I could feel the warmth where her hand landed and when I looked up at Lady Eira, she had a strange look of surprise in her eyes. It was as if she had no idea she was capable of when her anger was triggered.

“Whatever you’re pulling isn’t going to work,” Lord Aedan said as brought himself within a few inches of me. I could feel his hot breath on my face and his cold, wild grey eyes pierced into me like two silver daggers. “You’re leaving with us even if we have to drag out your unconscious body.”

The lord’s threat wasn’t surprising. Anyone was capable of violence given the right triggers, and your standing in society didn’t always contribute to it. I was looking into the face of an angry and desperate man. For what reason, that was still left to uncover, but it was enough to drive him and his wife to seek out help from the Inquest and trap us here with this beast. What exactly they wanted with me, I wasn’t exactly sure, but I had a hunch.

“Look, I made the deal and I’m coming with you,” I said while holding up my shackled hands up, “but I deserve to know why you’ve attacked me and my people.”

“Owe you?” Lord Aedan asked, his jaw clenched. “You and your family are the ones that owe. We owe you nothing.”

“In a way we do owe her, Aedan,” Lady Eira pointed out, her overall demeanor changed. Her anger had faded and was replaced with that same curiosity she had while examining me under the wolf’s paw, and I daresay a strange appreciation. It was unnerving how quickly her emotions had changed and I wondered just how many faces the lady had under the surface.

The lord looked at his wife, eyes widened in surprise. “Eira, there’s no need for this right now. We need to get back to the stronghold.”

“But if it wasn’t for Lady Nienna, we wouldn’t be any closer to it,” Lady Eira pointed out as she stepped in close. I flinched as she raised a hand and froze as she brushed back a few small sections of hair that had fallen in my face. In the lower edge of my vision I could see the device in her hand, but Lord Aedan was standing close to me as well. I just needed an opening. “We owe her everything.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied simply with a shake of my head.

“Yes, you do,” Lady Eira insisted, her lips pursed in a straight line. I could see her anger starting to surface again. “Playing ignorant won’t help the situation. It certainly didn’t help your parents.”

I froze and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. When I was a child, I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle on their farm in Queensdale and I never heard from my parents again. It wasn’t long after that my aunt and uncle’s farm was burned to the ground and amongst the ashes I found our family’s book. My watch over the blade began there in that rubble.

The Byrnes’ knew my parents and even though they didn’t verbally confirm it, I knew they were aware of the blade. How involved were they? Did they know what happened to my parents? Were they the ones who hired Alec Sable? I had so many questions. Again, I found myself on the brink of answers and I wondered if I would get any definitive responses this time. I grew up never knowing what had happened to my parents and it had haunted me ever since.

“What do you know of my parents?” I demanded, but my voice wavered. A part of me wasn’t sure I wanted an answer. What if I didn’t like what I heard? Would it be better not to know?

“They were stubborn just like you. Now let’s go,” Lord Aedan replied curtly as he pulled at my raised his sword at my throat to prompt me to continue walking, but I stepped back and refused to move. My actions elicited an irritated growl from the lord.

“How did you know them? How did you know my parents?” I demanded, my voice raising as I looked them each in the eye. “Tell me!”

The edges of my vision grew shadowed and my fingertips grew as cold as ice, but to my surprise, it did not spread past my hands this time. I breathed out a sigh of relief. The shackles seemed to be limiting any magic at my disposal or anything affecting me. I was almost thankful for them, but they were still restrictive.

“Your parents were selfish,” Lord Aedan spat out. He raised his sword, pointing its tip towards my chest a mere inch away. “They had something so remarkable, so powerful, yet they kept it to themselves. We could have fixed everything if we had it.”

Lady Eira placed a hand on her husband’s arm and gently squeezed it. The lord’s features softened and his anger melted, give way to sadness. It was an act full of compassion that almost seemed alien between the two. Their relationship did not seem to be one built on a steady foundation, that was for sure, but in that moment, there was such love between the two.

“We were friends once, us and your parents,” Lady Eira explained. She kept her hand on Lord Aedan’s arm as she regarded me with a cold gaze. “They knew the pain we were going through. They watched as we were cast out of court in Divinity’s Reach. Yet, they did nothing even though they had the means.”

“I don’t-.”

The emotional charge in the air immediately intensified as Lady Eira left her husband’s side and reached for my throat. Instinctively, I raised my hands to block her, but she then struck the side of my face with her other hand that held the crystal rod. Searing pain radiated all along my right cheek. I touched the skin where she had made contact and when I inspected my fingers and found them smeared with red.

“We know you have the blade,” Lady Eira said as she thrust a finger out at me. Her eyes were wild and tear-laden as her words rolled harshly off her tongue, but then she cleared her throat and composed herself. “There’s no reason to deny it. Our agents have confirmed it.”

“Your agents? Was Alec one of your agents?”

Lord Aeden began to answer but stopped when a metallic click echoed down the tunnel. The three of us turned to look into the darkness beyond the light of lord Aedan’s torch. While the highborn pair were distracted by the noise, I eyed the crystal rod in Lady Eira’s hand. I needed to get it away from them and get back to the cavern to my friends and see if it worked on the wolf.

There were a couple of mechanical clicks and then everything went silent. By their stiffened shoulders and wide eyes, I guessed that they weren’t expecting anyone and so this unusual sound was as unexpected to them as it was to me. I slowly side-stepped closer to Lady Eira, trying not to make a sound or make any sudden movement that would catch either of their attention.

“More of your friends, Lady Nienna?” Lady Eira asked.

“Not that I’m aware of,” I answered, “but they’ve surprised me before.”

I had to be quick before whatever or whomever was out there got closer. Unfortunately, I was running out of time. As I kept an eye on the dark ahead where the sounds had come from, I saw an undecipherable shift in the shadow. And then another, followed by a third. We definitely were not alone.

A shot rang out, striking the rough tunnel wall near us. My heart leapt up into my throat and I fought against the instinctual want to run away. I needed to get that scepter-like device from Lady Eira so instead, I forced myself to dive into her and knocked her over. She hit the ground with a cry and an unladylike curse that both shocked and impressed me. In her disoriented state, I pinned her down and grabbed her hand, prying the crystal scepter from her. As soon as it was in my grasp, I pulled away and rolled to the other side of the tunnel. I pressed myself against the wall just as another shot rang out and ricocheted off the ground nearby.

I didn’t wait another moment. Getting my feet under me, I set off into a sprint back toward the cavern, not caring if the Byrnes’ were following. The way was dark and it was awkward running with my hands shackled together, but I didn’t have too far to go. Careful of my footing, I ran as fast as I could with the Inquest device clutched to my chest. As soon as I saw the faint light coming from the mouth of the cavern, I felt a wave of relief. Inside, the wolf was still guarding the others against the far wall as they kept their defensive position.

“Get away from them!” I yelled, waving the crystal scepter erratically in front of me. I hoped to the gods it worked. The wolf turned toward me with a snarl, it’s cold, pale eyes locked on me as it turned from the others and slowly stalked toward me. Even though it made a point to bare its teeth, it made no move to attack. Instead, it merely stood in front of me, waiting, but not without a low growl to warn me of its violent nature.