The Fallen Prince Part 25

He launches into her arms and hugs her tight as she glares at the rest of us. "He's shaking."

"Good," Reece says and pushes past the pair. "That means he paid attention."

A shock wave ripples through the tunnel and dirt rains down on us. The closer we've gotten to Lord Hadrain's, the worse the conditions in the tunnels have become. I think I know why. Hadrain and his people are under attack again. I don't want to believe it. The last thing we need is more trouble.

Reece pulls me aside and whispers, "We need to get topside. It's not safe down here."

"I'm not so sure it's any safer up there."

"I agree. This whole place is a mess." He gives a slight nod toward Halim. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing, keeping the kid with us? I get why you like him; I like him for the same reasons. He's smart and thinks well on his feet, but he seems a little unstable. I don't want him getting hurt."

"Why are you here?" It's a question I've been meaning to ask, but haven't had time.

"Because of Kera. She saved my life. Helping her is the least I can do."

I don't believe him. "Really? That's it?" I hesitate, but I have to know. "No one's told you about Navar? About Lani?"

"I've been told." His lips grow thin and his voice cold.

"Then you know he's dead."

"He's not the only one who needs to pay for what he did."

I had my suspicions, but the way he looks, like he's ready to explode from the hate climbing through him, confirms it. "You know about Granel."

I've never seen anyone shutter their emotions so quickly. When he meets Granel, and he will, I'm a little scared his control will snap. I have no doubt he'll try to kill him. I give Reece a sad smile. "It seems we're all a little unstable around here."

Bodog sidles up and nudges me. "We are close. Come."

I wipe the metallic dust from my hand, and we all follow.

After a few more yards, Bodog points to a niche in the tunnel where an exit slowly climbs to the surface. "Go there." He then turns and moves in the opposite direction, pa.s.sing Reece, who frowns and asks, "Where's he going?"

"To prepare," Bodog says.

"Good idea," Halim says excitedly. "We should camouflage ourselves." He squats and starts rubbing spit-laced dirt on his already filthy skin.

"Hey, don't take the light," Reece calls after Bodog, but the little man doesn't stop. "Little ugly guy, I'm talking to you!"

"His name is Bodog," I remind him.

"Whatever. He's getting on my last nerve. He can't leave us here in the dark."

By now, I'd think Reece would notice Bodog does exactly what he wants when he wants. I motion after the receding light. "You go tell him that."

It's not really a suggestion, but Reece takes it as one. "Fine. I will."

He quickly follows the fading light around the bend, calling for Bodog to stop. A handful of seconds tick by, and then his voice booms down the tunnel, "Dude, that's not right."

I can imagine what Bodog's doing, and the image isn't one I want to dwell on. Reece's footsteps rush back our way, and when he reappears, he's carrying the light, though he doesn't look happy. "He's sick."

Halim c.o.c.ks his head and asks innocently, "What'd he do?"

"The h.e.l.l if I understand what I just saw, and I hope I never see it again."

We hear the slow plod of footsteps, and then out of the darkness, Bodog returns, his skin shining lily white.

Reece stares agape at him. "Let me get this straight. We're about to sneak into a place to steal a griffin, and he decides it's a great time to become a glow stick?"

He's got a point. But I also know whatever Bodog's done, it's his way of psyching himself up.

"He's right, Bodog. You can't go out there like..." I motion to his body. "Camouflage means you blend in, not draw everyone's attention."

"And you worried about taking me along?" Halim smirks as he rubs a fistful of dirt on his face and neck.

Bodog flashes an uneven, jagged smile and pulls out a dark brown cloak. He slips it on, successfully muting his glow factor. I tug the hood low over his bony head, making sure to tuck in his floppy ears. "Did you have to do it?"

"They will not see me," his voice floats out from the heavy cowl.

I'll never understand him fully. "If you say so." He's been more right in the past than wrong, and by this point, there's nothing I can do but hope he's right. I face everyone. "Ready?"

Bodog is the first one up the tunnel and out in the open. Reece follows, then Halim. I signal Signe. "Your turn."

Her hands spread against the tunnel walls that rise to the surface, almost as if she's forcing herself to stay put, and raises her face to mine. I see a flash of uncertainty. "There's something you should know."

I don't like the sound of that. Ever since I returned to Teag it's been one bad surprise after another. "What?" I ask, dreading what she's going to say.

"Griffins are volatile creatures. They respond best to women. Only on the most special occasions will they even allow a man to approach them."

"You're kidding, right? Tell me you're kidding."

"N-no." Guilt has her inching for the exit.

"You could have told me this sooner."

"I didn't want you to be put off. This really is our best option."

I feel like I've been tricked, that this trip was pointless. "Is there anything else you need to tell me? 'Cause I don't think I can handle another surprise once we get out there."

"Other than I'm highly attracted to my deceased sister's beau and am feeling terribly guilty about it? Nothing that I can think of."

With that, she scurries out of the tunnel, leaving me with the knowledge that not only do Halim, Reece, and I have serious issues, but she's carrying a load of her own. Right now, the only normal one of us seems to be Bodog, and he's lit himself up like Casper the friendly ghost.

We're going to fail. It's a given.

And then I feel it. Nothing.

The earth has stopped shaking. In fact, it hasn't shaken in some time.

As soon as I poke my head out of the tunnel, I instinctually want to go back. Dead bodies lie everywhere. Fire burns at odd intervals in every direction. Heavy smoke clouds my vision. I can barely see two feet in front of me. Bodog leans on his walking stick muttering to himself as Reece picks up a blood-drenched sword and rasps, "This is getting bigger by the minute."

I shake my head. I knew an all-out attack would happen. I just didn't know when.

Signe's steps are fragmented, made clumsy by more than the uneven ground. She stares out over the battlefield and whispers raggedly, "All of Teag is burning. Who would do this?"

I point to the sword Reece is holding, and she confirms it's for a first, though she's never seen one exactly like it before. She lifts her gaze to Reece, her face wreathed in misery. "Is your world so brutal?"

"Yes," he says and wraps his arm around her shoulders as she blinks away the moisture clinging to her lashes.

"Do you recognize anyone?" I ask. "Any of you?" All I can think of are Leo and Wyatt. I left them in the village, left them somewhere safer than where I was supposed to be going. Granted they both wanted to be here, but I still feel responsible for them.

"No. Maybe." Signe hides her face against Reece's chest. "I cannot look."

Reece's frown grows intense. "Where's Halim?"

Signe immediately pulls away, her face showing her sudden panic. "Halim? Halim!"

"Here," his high-pitched voice answers.

I race toward the sound and stop when I nearly stumble over him and the body he's hovering over. I yank him to his feet. "What are you doing?"

He yanks free. "Listening."

Halim drops to his knees and puts his ear to the man's mouth. "Go on."

Reece and Signe emerge from the smoke, and we huddle around and wait. It doesn't take long for the last breath to leave the man. Halim sits back and places his fingers over the man's eyes, forcing them closed.

"What did he say?"

"He is a Corlian."

"From the land to the north of us?" Signe doesn't hide her surprise. She examines the sword I still hold. "But they are our allies."

"His people were promised power and riches if they fought for the new lord," Halim says.

"Who is it?" I ask, though I'm afraid I already know.

"Someone not from here. He said the lord is young and reckless and brutal, disposing of lives as one would a bare bone. They followed him out of greed, but also out of fear he'd turn on them. He has a lot of power."

Reece snorts. "Sounds like Teag's allies aren't as friendly as they say they are."

"Teag isn't as friendly as it wants people to believe." The bitterness in my voice surprises me. I'm tired. The air feels thick, my movements slow, and one of us is missing...again. I grumble my irritation at our inability to stay together. "Bodog!"

As Bodog lumbers through the dead toward us, the acrid smoke swirls apart, and the manor's fortified walls come into view behind him. He stops a few feet short of us and leans on his walking stick like an old, frail man. The wariness in his eyes is unmistakable. "Only the eye of the storm."

"What, like the intermission?" Reece asks. He grabs Halim along the back of his shirt and pulls him to his feet. "Let's go." He literally marches the kid and Signe to the gates.

We're not the only ones making our way to the manor. Both sides of the conflict stagger to the gates. We press forward, and I'm a little surprised when Signe tells them who I am and we're rushed ahead of everyone else.

Inside the walls, we're greeted by piles of dead and the moans of the wounded. One of the sentries escorts us through the throngs toward the house. Everywhere I see ruined outbuildings and stunned people. Signe's fingers suddenly dig into my arm, drawing my attention to the stables. We all stop and stare. It's a ma.s.s of rubble, with dead horses and smoldering timbers...and still buried within it all, the unmistakable form and feathers of a griffin.

"This way." The sentry motions us forward.

I'm stunned. We've come so far, and now this. It's almost too much for me. How am I supposed to reach Kera now?

Signe has to pull me along like a disobedient child. "There is another way. There has to be. Do not lose faith."

"I don't have much left."

A man, his hair dirty and his clothes blood-spattered, intercepts us and grabs my arm. "You've come back. I told them you would." He turns to those around us. "The heir to Teag is back. Did I not tell you? He is back!"

Okay, this is new. I've never met anyone from Teag who was excited to see me. Only Kera.

The man's excitement sweeps through the crowd. Faces alight with interest. Hope even. The once worn and weary crowd presses in. Our escort shouts at them to stay back. We push our way forward and burst through the doors of the manor. A handful of soldiers rush forward to help keep the people back.

We're quickly escorted down the hall. Raised voices come from what looks to be a study and we pause in the doorway. Wyatt, Leo, Hadrain, and several soldiers are huddled around a huge library table. A map, magically dotted with green and black showing each army's movements, lies unfurled across it. Lord Hadrain jabs at a section. "I tell you, they came from this direction."

Lounging in a chair across the room, Lucinda delicately yawns and shifts her weight. "Nothing is over there but a spit of barren land and then the sea, My Lord."

The muscles in Wyatt's jaw twitch. "Seems like Leo's little kitty knows quite a bit about everything, but still has nothing of real value to share."

"Wyatt," Leo warns.

"What?" Wyatt pounds his fist on the table and points toward Lucinda. "Look at her. She's acting like-"

The soldier announces us, and those around the table turn our way as we enter. A split second later, we're rushed. Signe is engulfed in Hadrain's arms, and Wyatt, dressed like a soldier of Teag, whoops when he sees his brother. Bodog hides behind me as best he can as Leo rushes over and gives me a huge hug. "Bro, I am so glad to see you. This is some crazy rabbit hole we've fallen into."

Leo looks like an extra in a period movie, wearing spit-polished leather shoes, a suit with a vest, a bow tie, and a watch on a fob. I don't have time to question his style. I duck my head through the strap of my satchel and let the thing fall to the floor with a sigh. "You've got a mess outside and from what Bodog tells me, it's only halftime. Where's Granel?"

Reece's attention snaps to me, completely ignoring his brother, but Wyatt keys in on the tension. "Funny you should ask. As soon as you left, he disappeared. All that talk about protecting his people...absolute c.r.a.p. No one knows where he is. His men don't know what to think, so I've given them something to think about." He spreads his arms wide, winces, and lowers them, pressing his hand against his shoulder. It's then I see a b.l.o.o.d.y bandage peeking out between his fingers, and he says with a shrug, "Meet their new leader."

"You?" Halim asks as he peeks around Reece. "Why would they follow you?"

I see Hadrain take off his gla.s.ses and disappear into the hall as Wyatt stares down his nose at the boy. "Who's the runt?"

"Halim. Be nice." Who Reece is telling that to, his brother or the boy, is unclear. Most likely both.

Wyatt ignores the kid. "Apparently Granel wasn't that popular with his men. Didn't know jack about tactics."

"Have you looked outside?" Halim asks. "It doesn't look like you do, either."

"Ha-ha, little buddy." Wyatt grabs the back of Halim's head and pulls him close. "Those aren't my men."

"Neither am I. Does that mean I'm going to end up dead too?"

"Nice kid you picked up," Wyatt says to Reece. "Wouldn't it be kinder to throw him back into the deep end of the stray pool?" He finally lets go and Halim stumbles back, irritation twisting his face as he glares at Wyatt. It's not hard to imagine the torture plots running through Halim's mind.

I'm not the only one thinking that. Reece whispers something in Halim's ear, and then affectionately rubs his head before the boy wanders off. Reece turns his attention back to his brother. "Who are they?"