Chapter 2 - Golden Kingdom

Leed handed me a Zulenii version of a skullcrusher. The short-handled hammer-like weapon ended in two blunt ends made of what I thought was probably a mixture of an unknown metal and peneldium, though the craftsmanship was not as fine as that of the metallurgists in Earsleh. “I know it’s probably not what you’re used to,” he said.

“I’ll manage,” I said, but I did long for the sharp point and the longer handle of a skullcrusher. This weapon was heavier than I liked, more suited for a man, but once I faced the Hollows below, I’d forget about everything except survival. Tomorrow—if I made it until tomorrow—my arms and shoulders would complain of the weapon’s additional weight.

“I’m coming,” Taio said, holding out his hand until one of the other soldiers put a weapon in it. He closed his fist around the handle and gave me a look that dared me to argue with him. I had no intention of doing so. Taio had proven himself a capable warrior. I wanted him with me. I would have felt better if we had trained together for more than a few brief minutes, but at least I knew he could hold his own.

“Perfect,” Leed said. “The rest of you put your hands down.” Taio translated Leed’s words as he continued. “Any more of us and we’ll be in each other’s way.”

“What’s the fastest way down? The rope ladders?” I asked in Earslehen. I’d spotted the ladders rolled and secured on the side of the railing overlooking the valley. Those could be lowered to the path, and we’d make our way down until we met the Hollows. But descending ladders and hiking down a path would use up time and precious strength.

“There’s a faster way,” Leed replied. “We rappel down to that point there.” He indicated a wide ledge about three-fourths of the way down the mountain. In the flickering firelight from the still smoldering Hollows, I could just make it out. Descending from that point would be rapid. It would have to be because at that range the Hollows would hear and see us. They’d come for us, and they could be quick when motivated.

“What is rappel in our language?” I asked Leed as the Zulenii word was unfamiliar to me.

“I don’t think we have that word. To rappel is to tie a rope about your waist and descend the rockface. The warriors up here will hold you steady and help control your descent. They’ll catch you if you fall, too.”

I eyed the warriors standing at the railing. The group of men and women looked young and strong, but I didn’t know them. I didn’t trust them either. What if they “accidentally” let me drop or cut the rope and later claimed it frayed? Mayhap these men and women didn’t want Taio marrying a foreigner.

I looked at Leed, who was already securing a thick rope about his waist. He trusted these warriors, and he was Earslehen. Perhaps I could too.

Taio approached with a length of rope for me. “May I?” he asked, holding it out.

I nodded. He wrapped the length of the rope around my waist twice then knotted it. “This is a simple knot,” he said. “Pull here to free it. You’ll need to do so hastily.”

“I understand,” I said. I wished I had time to practice freeing myself, but Leed was already at the railing. I expected Taio to reach for his own rope. Instead, he put both hands on my shoulders. I looked up at him.

“My body for yours, Mara,” he said quietly. “Remember that.”

I swallowed. He didn’t say these words lightly, and I didn’t take them as such. He’d give his life for mine. Was it because he loved me or because he needed me to save his people? And what if he knew the secret I kept from him? Would he be so keen to save me then or would he wish to send me back home as quickly as possible?

“My life for yours,” I answered him, forcing my voice through the lump in my throat. The phrase was something we said on patrol in Earsleh, when we all pledged to sacrifice ourselves for the safety of the kingdom and each other. I’d always meant it when I said it, but I’d never said it to someone I truly loved. The words seemed to resonate within me when I spoke them, and my eyes locked with Taio’s. Afraid of what I might say next—what I might admit to him—I looked away and cleared my throat.

I needed something to do, so I secured my weapon in my belt loop and went to stand next to Leed at the railing, my back to the river and the Hollows below. I didn’t like the idea of descending without seeing what I was dropping into, but at this point, there was nothing for it. After securing a length of rope around his own waist, Taio came to stand on my other side.

“Ready?” Leed asked.

“Ready,” I answered without hesitation.

“Ready,” Taio said.

As one, we climbed over the railing, and six warriors moved forward, two for each of us. One warrior took hold of the rope at the railing, and another stood behind the first, controlling the rope from further back. I assumed this second warrior was a safeguard in case the first warrior’s grip slipped, or the rope became tangled. Kintle was the warrior at Taio’s railing, and Omira was behind him. Yung stood at my railing. I didn’t know the man behind him, but at least I had Yung. I gave him a tight smile, and he put a fist to his chest and knocked twice. I was reminded of when Kintle, Omira, and Yung had pledged their loyalty to me in the forest on the trek here. Yung seemed to be assuring me that pledge still held.

Leed pushed back from the rail and began to descend, his feet striking the rock just below the outpost. Taio did the same, and I took a shaky breath, closed my eyes, and pushed back too.

For a moment, there was nothing beneath me. I was suspended in mid-air. My chest seized with fear as I prayed to the gods the rope would hold. Then I arced back to the steep rocky edge of the mountain and used my feet to brace myself. I closed my eyes with relief at this meager contact with the earth, but I had little time to savor it. Leed and Taio were dropping swiftly, using their boots to push off the rocks, descend a few feet, then do it again. Clearly, they had done this before. I pushed off the mountain, hurrying to catch up to them.

After a few moments, I began to find my rhythm. I found if I didn’t look down—or up—my head didn’t spin, and my heart didn’t thunder. I kept my focus on the rock in front of my face, trying not to think of the drop below me—or the Hollows that waited below. I could hear them better now, their wet hisses and guttural groans. The wind kicked up, and I caught the scent of putrefying flesh and rotting garbage. They saw us coming and were growing excited at the prospect of dinner.

I rappelled down another few feet, coming level with Leed and Taio, who were both looking down. “What is it?” I asked.

“We’re almost there,” Leed said. “Just a few more feet. When you land, you won’t have much time to free yourself from the rope and ready your weapon. They’ve already started up the path, and they’re moving quickly.”

“Hellfire,” I muttered and clenched my jaw with determination.

“Ready?” Taio asked. At my nod, he motioned to the warriors up on the platform. The sign was obviously one indicating we wanted more slack. Depending how much Yung gave me, I would rappel very quickly. “Go!” Taio ordered.

I pushed back and jolted as the rope I held went slack. I caught the scream in my throat just in time and slammed, none too gracefully, into the side of the rock. Pain bloomed on my shoulder, but I ignored it because I’d caught a glimpse of what was below us. Leed was correct. The Hollows were coming for us, climbing awkwardly but determinedly in a single line up the narrow path. We’d have two minutes, maybe three, before they’d reach the outcrop.

“Last few feet!” Leed called. He signaled to the warriors this time and yelled, “Go!”

I was ready for the sudden slackness, but that didn’t stop the panic at feeling as though I was falling. I controlled it better this time and skimmed my feet on a landing about a foot above the outcrop. Taio, already on solid ground, grabbed me and lowered me to the outcrop while Yung gave me more slack. “Loose your rope!” Taio ordered. He didn’t need to say a word. I saw the Hollows nearing and couldn’t be free quickly enough. Taio reached for his own rope, and I saw Leed was already free and had his weapon in hand. My fingers felt numb as I struggled with the knot. I pulled where Taio had indicated, and nothing happened.

Taio stepped away and readied his weapon. The too-sweet stink of rot washed over me, making me want to gag. I looked up from the knot and noted the Hollows had fanned out on the more level ground just below us. Leed and Taio were moving to intercept them, but I was still struggling with the knot. I cursed under my breath as I pulled helplessly on the ends of the rope. I should be free, but the rope had tightened during my descent, and the knot was stuck fast.

“Mara!” Taio called.

“Coming!” I answered back. But the knot would not budge.

I heard the first thud of a hammer connecting with flesh and the high-pitched scream of a Hollow. Oh, gods. The monsters were here, and I was tied to a platform more than a hundred feet above me. I glanced up from the knot of the rope at my waist and saw one Hollow on the ground by Leed and Taio swinging at another. A third Hollow was coming for me. I didn’t think, just snatched my hammer free from the loop in the rope and lowered myself into a defensive stance. The Hollow—a tall man with dirty orange hair that reminded me of Kintle’s—opened its black mouth to snap its teeth at me. I wanted to run and bash its head in, but I could feel the pull of the rope, keeping me in place. I would have to defend myself from here, and I braced my legs, readying for the creature’s attack. But instead of charging at me blindly, as Hollows usually did, it slowed and seemed to cock its head at me. The thing made an odd sound, sort of a higher-pitched groan. The sound seemed almost questioning.

I was imagining things. Mayhap because I’d stopped moving, it couldn’t detect me? “Come on!” I shouted. “I’m right here.”

The Hollow man seemed to hesitate a fraction longer before snapping its teeth and lunging. I brought my hammer up in a wide swing, connecting hard with the monster’s head. If I’d had my skullcrusher, the Hollow would be dead, its head pierced by the sharp end of my weapon. Instead, my blow only seemed to stun it. It didn’t even fall to its knees. But its hesitation gave me enough time to bring the hammer down again, slamming it on the back of the Hollow’s head. I gave a cry as the thing collapsed at my feet before I swung again, flattening the thing’s head into a black, oozing pulp.

I started to look down at my knot again but caught the movement of another Hollow heading for me. This one was an older woman with long white hair and red-rimmed eyes. Instead of the usual gray eyes of the Hollows, hers seemed to be covered with a bluish film, reminding me of the rheumy eyes of Old Ceba, our Court Historian. This woman had been very old when she’d been changed. She might be over two hundred now.

But she came at me with the strength of a warrior in her prime. She hissed and groaned, and I barely had time to raise my hammer before she was on top of me. I pushed her back with the hammer’s handle, and she stumbled but didn’t fall. Trapped by the rope and the body of the Hollow I’d killed at my feet, I could do little but wait for her to attack again.

I took a breath right before I felt the tightness of the rope give. I took a tentative step forward as the other end of the rope thumped on the ground beside me. I was free—in a sense. I had no idea how I would get back up the mountain, but that wasn’t my concern now. I leaped over the Hollow at my feet and swung the hammer at the old Hollow, swiping her across the chest. Raising the hammer over my head, as I could see Taio doing in my peripheral vision, took too much strength, so I settled for swinging it from the side.

The old Hollow recovered and lunged for me, but I sidestepped and hit her under the jaw with one of the blunt ends of the hammer. Her head snapped back, and she went to her knees. I kicked her down on her face then slammed the hammer into the back of her skull, wincing as the black goo splattered my boots and leggings.

Leed yelled something, and my head jerked up as I raised my weapon and readied for the next attack. But Taio and Leed had taken care of the other four Hollows. I followed Leed’s finger. At first, I was confused at what I was seeing. The fire that had been burning below seemed to be spreading in our direction. But then I realized it wasn’t the fire but the Hollows who were on fire. I moved toward Leed, trying to get a better view. I had to pull the length of rope that trailed me free from a rock where it had become stuck. “How can that be?” I asked, staring at the fiery Hollows. “How can they still be walking?”

“They don’t feel pain,” Leed answered. I knew this, but how could they be so unaffected by the fire? They’d been burning for hours.

“Two of them approach,” Taio said. “We can kill them here then go down and finish the others below.”

Thank the gods the ones below seemed to be too incapacitated to make the climb to attack us. They writhed and crawled, though. They were not dead.

“You take that one, Leed,” I said. “I’ll take this one.”

Leed eyed me, his gaze darting to the rope still around my waist. “You’re encumbered, Mara. You stay here.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Taio was already following Leed down the incline. It wasn’t in my nature to stay back from a fight, but Leed was right. The long length of rope was heavy and could easily catch on something, leaving me trapped. While Taio and Leed closed the distance to the flaming Hollows, I studied the rope around my waist again. Taking a resolute breath, I once again yanked on the ends of the twine as Taio had showed me. This time the knot loosened and then fell apart, leaving the rope loose at my feet. “You dusthead,” I muttered to myself. I’d obviously been pulling on it the wrong way before.

Now free, I started down after Leed and Taio. One look showed me that the men were in trouble. While the heat of the fire didn’t seem to trouble the Hollows, it was preventing the men from getting too close to their targets. Again, I wished for my longer-handled skullcrusher. These hammers meant we had to move too close when engaging. I could keep running toward the Hollows, but I didn’t think I’d be able to come any closer to the Hollows than they were. In the meantime, the Hollows were still advancing, pushing the men back. Pretty soon, there would be nowhere to go, and we’d be trapped by the burning monsters. But that wasn’t the only issue. The Hollows were setting all the scrub on this rocky path alight. If the Hollows didn’t kill us, the fire, which was rapidly turning into a crackling, sizzling blaze, would.

I wished I had a bow and arrow. Everyone in Earsleh trained in archery as part of our combat training. Leed’s warriors must have trained here too, but the cadets were far from skilled. Dozens of broken and bent arrows littered the ground around us. Since I didn’t have any tools for archery, I looked about for something else that would have a similar effect. Spotting a large rock, I hooked my hammer into my belt loop, pried the rock loose from the earth and hefted it to my shoulder. It was too heavy to throw far, so I moved closer. Taio was still swinging his weapon, trying to keep the advancing Hollows back. I stopped just to the side and above his position, lifted the rock to my shoulder and threw it. My injured shoulder screamed with pain, but the rock hit the Hollow in the chest and sent it sprawling.

“Good idea!” Leed yelled. “Taio, use the rocks.”

I already had another in my hand, and I threw it at the Hollow near Taio. The thing was already trying to rise again. Taio pelted the creature next, and after a few moments, it ceased moving. Leed was still throwing rocks at his Hollow. The monster had been slowed but resolutely moved forward. Taio lifted a large rock, one far too heavy for me, and ran at the thing, using the momentum to heave the rock at it. The projectile slammed into the thing’s head with a sickening clunk, and it went down.

“Kick dirt on them to put out the fires,” Leed said. “Then we make sure they are finished.”

But I was more concerned about the growing blaze closing in around us. “I don’t think we have time for that,” I yelled over the roaring of the fire. “We have to get out of here.”

Of course, for me, that was impossible. The full length of my rope was on the ground. I had no way of returning to the safety of the outlook above.

Taio grabbed me and roughly yanked me closer to him. I glanced behind me and saw the spot where I’d been standing had sparked into flames. A second’s hesitation from Taio, and I’d be on fire.

“She’s right!” Leed called over the thunder of the mounting blaze. “The fire is spreading too fast.”

“And if we leave it to spread, how soon until it reaches Zleyval?” Taio demanded. My respect for him rose exponentially, and I already had a tremendous amount of respect for him. He always thought of others and rarely of himself.

“We can discuss containment strategies up above,” Leed argued. “Up there”—he broke off to cough—“we can see the whole picture.”

“Come on!” Taio led the way through the smoke that made my lungs burn and my eyes water. Between nightfall and the haze of smoke, I could hardly see where I was going. Clearly Taio and Leed were familiar with this trail because in moments we were back on the outcrop. I wiped sweat from my brow and leaned against the cool rock to catch my breath. Taio and Leed found their ropes and began securing the ends around their waists. As he finished, Taio peered at me. “Where is your rope?”

I gestured toward the fiery brush. “Over there somewhere. I couldn’t loosen the knot, and Yung dropped his end down. I finally freed myself, but there’s no way to get back up.”

Taio’s blue-green eyes widened, and for the first time, I saw what looked like a flash of fear in his face. “You go without me,” I said. “I’ll climb up on the path.”

Taio looked at the path and then down at the fire. Clearly, he had the same fear I did—the fire might overtake me.

“What’s the matter?” Leed asked.

Taio explained, and Leed looked up. “Why haven’t they sent down another rope?” He moved along the rocks, looking for a length of rope from above.

“You take my rope,” Taio said. “I will climb the path.” He started to loosen his knot, but I grabbed his hands.

“Taio, there’s no time for this. I need to start climbing. You go up and send down another rope.”

“She’s right, Taio,” Leed said. “I’m going. The faster I reach the top, the sooner I can send help for her.” He tugged on the rope and was slowly lifted.

“I’d better start up,” I said, moving away from Taio.

“One more moment.” He grabbed my shoulder, spun me around, and kissed me.

I hadn’t been expecting the kiss. He tasted of smoke and heat and sweat. I kissed him back, half-afraid this might be my last chance. I wrapped my arms about him, and he pulled me closer with one arm. A moment later my feet were off the ground. I pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“We both go up,” he said.

“No!”

“I will not leave you, Mara.”

Panic rose in me like soap bubbles. “Taio, I don’t have a rope about my waist. What if I fall?”

“I will not allow this. You shall not fall,” he said, tightening his arm about me. “Hold on.”

At this point, I had little choice. I was six feet off the ground already. Every single catastrophic scenario flashed through my mind. The rope might not be strong enough to support both of us and could fray or break. The knot at Taio’s waist might come loose. We might slam against a jutting piece of rock, and Taio might lose his grip on me. Holding me as he was, he had little control over our ascent. A few feet away from us, Leed was using his feet to help guide the warriors pulling him up. Leed steered his course away from bushes and sharp boulders. I risked looking at the mountain behind me and barely had time to look away before my back brushed against the thorny limbs of a plant growing along the side of the mountain. I hissed in my cry of pain and buried my face against Taio’s neck.

He should have let me climb on my own, but in his place, wouldn’t I have made the same choice he did? I didn’t know my way along the path, it was dark, and the fire was moving quickly. He was right to worry that I’d never make it to the top. But now he risked both of our lives.

The ascent seemed interminable. I didn’t dare look down because no matter our progress, we were now high enough that a fall would kill me. We brushed along a rock, and Taio twisted to take the brunt of the impact. My hands, sweating from fear and the exertion of holding on to him, slid from around his neck, and I fought to keep my grip. He must be exhausted from holding my weight, and I was giving him very little support. The arm he’d wrapped about my waist shook from his efforts. He couldn’t release the rope he held with his other hand, or we’d arc backwards.

“You shouldn’t have done this,” I said again. “We’re both about to die.”

“If I die, I die in your arms,” he said.

I glared at him. “Stop being noble.”

“Not noble,” he answered. “I pledge my body for yours, and my word is true.”

What good would that pledge do if both our bodies lay broken and bleeding eighty feet down?

“Hold on!” Omira called. She sounded far away, but I was reassured by the fact that I could hear her. “You will be safe in a moment.” At least that’s what I thought she said. She might have given some other indication of time, but I preferred to believe this nightmare would be over soon. Taio’s arm began to slide, and he tightened it again. I pushed against him, wishing I could climb inside him and to safety. I knew he didn’t have much strength left. Even the strongest of men couldn’t hold all my weight much longer. His entire body was shaking from his efforts now, and still we barely inched forward.

My eyes were shut tight, but I kissed his neck. “I forgive you, Taio,” I said. “I know you tried your best.”

“I...will...not...let go,” he said through a jaw clenched from effort. But I could feel his hold on me loosening. My own arms were trembling violently. I wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. I had a few seconds to say goodbye.

“I love you,” I said before I even knew what I was saying. I hadn’t meant to say those words, but they seemed fitting as my last. Taio’s grip loosened, and I began to slide. I clung to his neck, but my damp hands slipped. I would not scream as I fell. I would not...

Strong hands grabbed me from above, wrenching my injured shoulder and making me gasp in pain. Another pair clutched me under my arms and hauled me up. I opened my eyes as I was dragged away from Taio, over the railing, and onto the platform.

Kintle and Yung smiled down at me. I tried to smile back, but I was sprawled on the wooden planks, heaving in breaths, my entire body one locus of pain.

Suddenly, Kintle and Yung moved aside, and a man I didn’t know came into view. He scowled down at me. In Zulenii, he said, “What have you done with my son?”