GOE 08 - Bound By Darkness [calibre 0.9.30]

If not for her mysterious contract with the Oracles she would be long gone.

He kept the warning in the front of his mind as he halted at the entrance to the cavern and once again described the exact route through the tunnels to where the baby was being kept.

Thanks to the efforts of his friendly ghost he possessed a complete map of the sprawling caverns burned into his brain. As well as the members of Tearloch’s motley crew.

And while he wasn’t willing to assume that no one had noticed his approach, they would be expecting a Sylvermyst to try and make a grab for the child. There was no way they could prepare for a vampire who could make herself practically invisible.

With the least amount of luck Jaelyn should be able to slip in and out before anyone realized the baby was missing.

His pretense of aloof indifference briefly faltered as he felt the prickles of ice filling the air. She was preparing to call on her powers.

“Jaelyn,” he said in urgent tones, reaching to grasp her forearm. “Wait.”

“I got it.” Her smile was rueful. “Be careful. Get in and get out. Don’t stop for anything or anyone. I am trained, you know.”

He heaved a frustrated sigh. “I don’t like this.”

“And you think I do?” Her eyes narrowed. “There’s no need for a distraction.”

Ariyal shrugged. He’d waited until they had reached the caverns before he announced his intention to enter the tunnels. He claimed he wanted to create a distraction to make sure no one noticed the missing child until she was clear. It was true enough. He would make one hell of a distraction.

But he had his own agenda. One he didn’t intend to share with Jaelyn.

“We’ll only have one opportunity to grab the child,” he said with undeniable logic. “I intend to give us the best possible chance.”

She held his gaze. “And you swear you aren’t going to try and go after Tearloch?”

He held up a hand. “I swear.”

“Fine.” A dangerous warning glittered in the indigo eyes. “But if something happens to you ...”

His hand skimmed up her arm, craving the feel of the cool silk of her skin.

It didn’t matter how furious he might be; if he didn’t make it out of the caves then he wanted his last thought to be of this female.

“What?” he prompted.

“I’m going to be pissed.”

Her warning delivered, Jaelyn spoke a low word and the chill in the air became a frigid blast of ice. At the same moment her slender frame simply seemed to disappear, no doubt already headed through the caves.

“So romantic,” he muttered, reaching out his hand to clench and then spread his fingers.

There was a stir of air before a smooth ash bow abruptly appeared.

Not as good as Jaelyn’s stealth act, but it would have to do, he wryly acknowledged, grasping the smooth wood in a loose grip as he silently slid into the entrance of the cavern.

He paused a moment to examine his surroundings.

There was no sense of Jaelyn, of course, but with an effort he could catch the scent of his fellow tribesmen despite the wizard’s dampening spell.

It was impossible to make out individual scents, but he had what he needed.

Moving as swiftly as he dared considering he was surrounded by enemies, Ariyal headed deep into the earth, barely noticing the too-smooth surface of the tunnels or the growing stench of evil that tainted the musty air.

He had only a few minutes to accomplish what he’d come to do and try to make a clean getaway.

In and out.

No problem.

He chanted the words beneath his breath as he used the images the ghost had shared to find his way through the confusion of passageways and abandoned caverns. The scent of Sylvermyst thickened, but instead of following the rich aroma of herbs, he darted into a narrow cave directly above them.

The ghost had been commendably thorough in his investigation of the caverns. Which was why Ariyal knew that half a dozen Sylvermyst were frantically working to clear a tunnel.

The question he wanted answered was ... why?

Tearloch might have tumbled into madness, but the wizard remained coldly cunning. He wouldn’t waste that sort of man power unless it was essential to returning the Dark Lord.

Which meant that Ariyal needed to halt whatever they were doing just in case Jaelyn failed.

He crushed the surge of fear that threatened to distract him, kneeling on the floor next to the large crack that ran the length of the cave. Whatever had destroyed the tunnel beneath him had left this floor split nearly in two. A wrong step and it would collapse.

As he hoped, he could easily hear the sound of his tribesmen as they struggled to remove the rocks that blocked their path.

For several excruciating minutes there was nothing but the sound of stone scraping against stone. He wasn’t concerned about the fact his presence was already seeping through the passageways. He wanted to attract attention so they didn’t realize the baby was missing. But he wasn’t any closer to discovering why his tribesmen were burrowing through the rubble.