The Keys to Paradise, page 15
Finally, she saw a clearing ahead. Low to the ground, she crept forward, using the tree trunks to shield her from spying eyes.
A huge ironbeam tree dominated the edge of the clearing, one limb, thick enough to hold her, branching out from the trunk. Its thick, steel-grey foliage would hide her – if she climbed up unseen.
Petia scrambled up the trunk, grasped the branch, and with feline balance, ran along it. She was careful to stop before her weight made the limb bounce and betray her. Cautiously, she parted the leaves and looked down on the clearing.
Beneath her were paths trodden in the grass. They ran through the clearing into the forest. Petia guessed that these were the routes used by the guards to go to their stations.
The paths converged in front of an opening in the side of a forested hill. It was obviously a natural cave, but from her perch there was no way for Petia to tell its extent. She estimated that the entrance was fifteen feet across and nearly ten feet high. Sniffing, Petia detected smoke. Tiny vents lower down the hill, in a deep depression, streamed the fumes from fires hidden in the mountainside. She saw no human activity.
Petia settled down to wait. She concentrated on the cave’s mouth. Before long, she saw two men come out of the forest and head straight for the cave. Was there to be no challenge at all?
Petia saw a flickering just inside the entrance. The two guards walked to the cave opening and stopped. Petia’s eyes widened as she watched two things emerge from the cave. Human in form, they appeared to be made completely of flame. The men backed away as the flame creatures came out into the sunshine. As they walked, dancing fires shimmered about their bodies, masking all but their general shape and making them even more deadly in appearance.
The Flame Sorceress surrounded herself with magical beasts, flame beings. The two creatures carried spears of fire which they crossed in front of the human guards, blocking their way. One guard approached, obviously unwilling. Petia strained to overhear and failed, but a sign or password must have been given. The fiery spears lowered. The men passed between the flame beings, who twisted about searching the clearing, although Petia could not see any eyes. Satisfied, they too, turned and entered the cave.
Petia studied the paths in relation to the cave mouth, considering how to gain entry. The cave was under a solitary hill, a half mile in circumference and nearly seven hundred feet high. From her vantage, it appeared that the clearing completely surrounded the hill.
How to cross that clearing with nothing to hide her? Other groups of men arrived. Was the guard changing or was this the result of other activities? Had they found Giles and Keja?
When the flurry had passed, Petia took her chance. She left the security of the ironbeam tree and, staying inside the verge of wood, crept to a position near a path. She studied the distance and realised that the hill itself was covered in some foliage. Minimal, to be sure, but it would afford some protection for her approach.
Patting her dagger to see that it was secure, she zigzagged across the clearing, keeping low. She continued on for several yards up the hill to a bush of parsley. Petia paused to catch her breath. Looking up the slope, she was alarmed to see a guard standing several hundred feet above her.
Why had she not seen him from across the way? Too late for self-recrimination. Petia had to be careful to avoid being seen from above or below. She crept along the hillside, and within a few minutes realised that the plumes of smoke rising from the vents had hidden her from the guard above.
Above the cavern entrance, she closed her eyes and concentrated on her cat form, seeking to bring about the most catlike traits possible. Holding her breath, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The contrast between the bright sunshine and the interior of the cave made her uneasy.
Flickering light came past a large rock protruding in front of her, and a narrow trail wound to her left around the rock. The guards must still be ahead.
Her breathing normal again, Petia moved forward, staying low to the ground and hugging the stony wall. The path moved forward only a few feet before rounding the rock and doubling back in the opposite direction. For the first time, real fear seized Petia.
‘Oh, Giles, Keja, what have I done?’ Petia realised they didn’t know she was here, that she was truly on her own.
The light became brighter. Petia hesitated, looked behind her, then decided. Curiosity overcame any fear. She crept forward and peered into a small cavern. Several flame beings stood at ease with their backs to her. Bizarre little tongues of flame flickered incessantly along their bodies. Even though they had human shapes, the flames licking their arms and legs, the back of their heads, the brilliance of their crotches, they looked decidedly unhuman – and not in the way the Trans were unhuman.
In the cavern, a dozen Trans worked on making weapons.
They were sharpening swords, spear heads, dagger blades. If the Flame Sorceress brought religion to the cities of Trois Havres, she also brought violence. The cities would have to deal with that. For Petia, the problem was finding the third key to the Gate of Paradise.
She had seen enough; she had news for Giles and Keja.
Silently, Petia turned to head back into the daylight. A shadow fell across the cave entrance. Someone returned from duty outside. Petia sucked in her breath and held it. The shadow remained motionless, the guard waiting to be challenged by the flame beings. Petia was caught between the two.
She desperately hunted for a hiding place in the narrow passageway. None on the ground level. She heard the approaching flame beings. The light grew stronger. The flame creatures came from the depths of the cave.
Above her, Petia spotted a ledge well above the level of a man’s head. She leaped for it, scrambling up the slippery stone wall. Tiny bits of displaced rock rattled down. The flame beings turned the corner. Petia crouched, wishing that she could will herself to the size of a kitten.
‘What was that?’ The voice of the lead flame being was dry and crackled like the kindling of a new fire.
‘Bits of rock always falling from above. Pay no attention. Guard waits at entrance,’ answered the second. They moved on.
Petia cowered back, petrified. She tried to imagine becoming a piece of rock, of vanishing into the wall. In a few moments, the man passed beneath her, sighing with tiredness. The flame being trailed behind him and rounded the corner.
Petia let out her pent-up breath and leaped down from her rocky hiding place. The cat Trans breathed silently, holding the image of the flame beings and the guard in her mind, clouding their perceptions, toying with their emotions, so that they would ignore her. Feeling their mental confusion. Petia took a chance and left the cave, then dashed across the clearing and into the relative safety of the forest.
Pausing to catch her breath, she fought to keep from trembling. The emotion-tapping took so much out of her. Petia had bragged about it to Keja and Giles, but there had been little opportunity to practise it. It was definitely not something she did while plying her trade as a thief – she shook too much to rob effectively while altering emotional states.
But she had found the Flame Sorceress’ underground headquarters. And Giles and Keja hadn’t! Happily, Petia flitted back into the forest, merging with the shadows and travelling on feet softer than leaves falling on moss.
* * *
The expedition went well for Giles and Keja. They stayed outside the perimeter of the sorceress’ stronghold, fearing magical wards. From time to time, they saw the usual team of sentries. Giles watched the sun and judged directions from it. The stronghold was guarded by twenty-five teams, if Giles had counted correctly, stationed about five minutes’ walk apart. Figuring the distance the sentries covered in the forest growth, the old soldier estimated that the perimeter might be five or six miles in circumference. Seventy-five men on guard at any one time. This gave Giles considerable pause. How many in the stronghold, wherever it might be?
The two men made no attempt to breach the perimeter. It would be enough this afternoon to determine the size of the opposition. As the afternoon wore on, Giles was pleased with their findings.
By late afternoon, they came across a broad, cold, clear stream running south east through the forest. Giles motioned Keja to rest, and pulled a package of dried meat from his pouch, sharing it with him in silence.
The sun slanted down warmly through the trees; the stream burbled merrily; an incautious squirrel sat nearby, openly begging. Giles sat with his back to a log and enjoyed the scene before him. Were it not for their quest for the key, he would be content to homestead in this forest. Not a worry in the world. A nearly perfect life.
Why had he allowed himself to be talked into coming across the Evester to find yet another key? Something to do, an adventure? The War had provided more than enough of that. Adventure had burned out so much inside him – and now he had come along willingly on a new quest. A quest for something that wasn’t even real, Giles decided.
He motioned to Keja to follow the stream a way, then doubled around and headed back for camp.
The squirrel chittered angrily at being ignored, puffed out his jowls, then disappeared into the forest.
* * *
‘You little fool!’ Giles raged. ‘I told you to stay in camp.’
‘You’re just angry because I found more than you did!’ she shot back. Her feline traits were boiling out, both from being practised all afternoon, and due to Giles’ response to her scouting the cave and the flame beings within.
Giles simmered.
‘Her time does seem to have been better spent than ours,’ commented Keja. He winked in Petia’s direction. She wasn’t sure if she appreciated him being on her side in this or not. She wanted to savour her triumph – alone.
‘It leads into the hill?’ Giles finally asked.
‘Easy to enter, if you’re careful. Their security is lax,’ Petia said smugly.
‘You were just lucky.’
‘You’re becoming too cautious for your own good – or ours.’ she said angrily. ‘If we are to steal the key from the Flame Sorceress, we must be bold.’
‘We’re not even sure she has the key,’ said Giles.
‘And now you steal arguments from Keja. We have to believe the key exists. Otherwise all our efforts are for naught.’
‘The cat lady has a point, Giles,’ said Keja. All the thief got by way of response from Giles was a sour expression.
* * *
The middle of the night seemed the obvious time to make their way into the cave. Petia led two chagrined men between trees that they could hardly see. Her night sight sharpened with every step she took. Petia could hardly contain her excitement. For the first time she had shown her true worth to their venture. Petia nearly purred as she remembered the looks on their faces when she described the cave.
Unerringly, she led them to the ironbeam tree overlooking the clearing. For once, Petia was in command. Silently she motioned Giles and Keja to stay put while she investigated. In the dark, she crossed the clearing and entered the cave. No guards, human, Trans, or flame.
She signalled to Giles and Keja and led them to the cave. It was nearly pitch black in the initial passage, but torches illuminated the walls of the cavern ahead.
‘The rock’s dirtying my tunic,’ complained Keja. ‘Should we continue?’ He nervously licked dried lips. Petia took special glee at his uneasiness.
‘I came this way earlier,’ she said with great satisfaction.
‘Perhaps one of us should stand as rear guard,’ Keja said. ‘I will volunteer.’
Across the empty cavern, they saw other passages leading further under the hill. Petia raised her brows. Which one? Keja wanted none of them. Giles shrugged. One was as good as another.
Petia led them across the small cave. Giles stopped and rummaged through the crates he found, surprised at the number of weapons stacked along the walls.
‘She is preparing for a war,’ he said. ‘Our Flame Sorceress grows bolder.’
‘Quiet,’ Petia said, not wanting to give up her leadership yet. They entered a passage and crept forward, Petia, then Giles, and Keja in the rear.
A jumble of rocks filled the next cavern. While the roof arched high, the floor some distance below was small in proportion and was occupied by scores of working humans. Stalagmites had grown from water dripping down from limestone spears. Boulders, littered the entire area and a narrow rock balcony circled the floor. This small ledge saved them. Sounds of marching men echoed down the corridor behind. Petia gestured for the other two to join her on the balcony. They got there just in time to avoid being seen.
‘Give more warning,’ said Keja in a choked voice. ‘Fear and sweat are going to leave a permanent stain on my fine clothes, if you don’t.’ He edged away from them and sank down to his hands and knees, looking pale.
They peered down on the working men and women. The women were involved in mixing ingredients with mortar and pestle. Flame beings brought supplies from another part of the cave system and carried away what the women had finished.
The men were burnishing shields, using a paste that made sparks fly from the shining bronze.
Dust from the powders being ground drifted through the air. A draft from a side passage wafted some towards the trio. Try as she might, Petia could not contain the sneeze. The sound blasted like an explosion. All movement within the cavern ceased.
Six flame beings, all carrying burning swords, trotted to the centre of the chamber. Without a glance at the humans working on the cavern floor, they flowed directly to the spot under the ledge where the intruders pressed hard into the wall, trying not to be seen. Giles pushed Keja flat, motioning him to hide.
Keja stayed on his belly, unseen. Flame spears poked up at both Giles and Petia.
With a loud shout, Giles pulled his dagger and jumped. Petia cast a sidelong glance at Keja, then followed Giles, hissing and spitting as she went.
It was over quickly. Giles shouted, ‘It’s no use! We can’t get close enough to do them any damage.’
Petia had already discovered this. She cringed as a flame being’s arm came close to her face.
‘Steady,’ Giles murmured to Petia. To the flame beings, he said,’ We surrender!’
The spears thrust forward and herded the captives into a side corridor before either could speak again.
Hiding on the rock ledge, Keja held his breath. The human workers began to chatter, and he knew that Giles and Petia had been taken away.
His friends’ lives depended on him. He had to rescue them. But how? Keja Tchurak had no idea.
Fourteen
Hemmed in by the fiery guards, Giles and Petia were herded through one passageway after another. At the end of each succeeding passage, they entered a cavern larger than the one before. Finally, they found themselves in a long stone hall. Flame beings stood along either side, casting an eerie, dancing light across the flagstone floor.
At the far end, steps led to a dais. A woman sat on the throne: the Flame Sorceress. The arms and back of the solid black onyx throne were carved into interlocking flames leaping up toward the ceiling.
To the left of the throne burned a fire trapped in a magnificent brass brazier. The bowl sat on a tripod of carved nepler wood legs. Flames of crimson and green and azure leaped several feet above the hammered rim of the bowl.
The prisoners, still surrounded by the flame guards, were prodded down the middle of the hall toward the dais.
‘Keep your head,’ Giles warned. ‘We don’t want to arouse her anger needlessly. There may be a way out of this if we stay calm.’ Giles wished that following his glib advice were as easy as giving it. Inside, his belly knotted tightly, and his throat constricted to choke him. Of all the dangers he had faced, few had seemed to hold death so imminently.
‘But she’s trying to subvert the people of Trois Havres, to start a rebellion!’ Petia protested. Clearly indignant at the Flame Sorceress’ goals, the Trans had chosen a poor time to make known her objections.’
‘That’s not our problem.’
‘It may not be yours, but those are my people, both humans and Trans.’
A guard gestured at them to be quiet. Petia flinched away from the fiery arm. She stared with unconcealed hatred at the sorceress upon her fine throne.
‘I’ll be damned if I grovel before her,’ Petia muttered.
‘We’ve no choice,’ Giles whispered as he bent to kneel. ‘Better to live and fight than to die for nothing.’
Petia resisted only until the flame being by her side reached his burning hand toward her back to push her down. She ducked out of the way and crouched on the floor. The flame being reached again and Petia knelt, seething.
‘You cannot resist my flambeaux.’ The voice rang out, calm and silky and beguiling.
Petia and Giles looked up at the throne. The Flame Sorceress lounged indolently, one slender, well-turned leg crossed over the other. Her flame-coloured silk gown set off auburn hair that cascaded down her back and framed her white oval face in soft waves. Giles had to admit she was an overpoweringly beautiful woman. Her splendid proportions held only one flaw – her lips pulled into a thin and cruel smile.
‘None sneaks into my stronghold,’ the sorceress scolded. ‘People wishing to join the ranks of my beloved followers do so at one of my many temples. They do not come under cover of darkness, creeping like thieves. Nor do they disguise themselves as woodcutters.’ She looked at Giles. ‘That surprises you, does it not?’
Giles hid his inner turmoil well. The men who had challenged him had not seemed bright enough to report back so accurately. What else did this lovely, dangerous woman know?
‘And our angry young Trans here, part cat, from the eyes. Useful blood, is it not, my dear thief? What did you think to find here? Wealth?’
Petia glared up at her. ‘We wondered about this new cult. You’ve gathered quite a number about you, haven’t you? Followers mean power. Power corrupts so easily, doesn’t it?’ The softness of Petia’s voice nearly matched that of the sorceress. Giles tried to silence her but the Trans rushed on. ‘Temples where the people nearly swoon with the faith that you’ve preached to them. You would pervert that faith to lead them in rebellion against their lords. Who would wield the power after a civil war? Why, a natural leader, such as yourself. Is it not so?’
