AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re not going to die,” Nimue said, sounding annoyed. “Or else, what has this all been about? No, no. You don’t get to die.”
“I don’t think . . . we have much choice there. I do not know what is wrong with me—”
She laughed, and it sounded genuine. It also went on for a very long time. It went on, in fact, until I began to worry for her. She had sat up slightly as we spoke, but now she lay back down and cackled at the ceiling.
“Do not know what is wrong,” she finally gasped.
“I do not, unless the potion you gave me . . .”
“That was a healing potion, girl, and I went to a lot of trouble to get it. Hope it works, but with your strange composition, who knows? At the very least, it isn’t hurting you.”
“And yet, I feel like I might die,” I said truthfully. “Hollowed out and . . . strange. Weak—”
“Of course, you’re weak! You just summoned half the fauna in this part of Faerie to your aid! You’re lucky it didn’t kill you. But it didn’t. You should be fine with some rest.”
“Then . . .why did you bring me here?” I asked, but didn’t get an answer to that.
Because someone else was coming, a lilting voice that echoed through the caves, as if singing. It was a woman’s voice, and hauntingly beautiful, but Nimue did not seem to find it so. She jerked upright, into a full sitting position, then used her walking stick to help her back to her feet.
“What is it?” I asked, only to have her round on me.
“Be silent, girl!”
“Oh, let her speak,” the lilting voice said. “It’s not as if I don’t know where you are. Nimue, daughter of the oceans, queen of the tides, leader of a people now scattered and broken . . . like herself.”
The voice grew louder, which was a concern, as it was definitely getting closer. But Nimue’s actions were more of one. She looked around frantically, stared at me for a moment, shook her head and raised her staff, lantern and all, sending flashes of light jumping about the cave.
I did not know what she was doing, but a moment later, a familiar sight came speeding this way—for an instant. Until it was stopped by a too-narrow gap in the walls, where it hung up. I stared at it, and at the little rocks tumbling around the edges of it, as it tried to push its way through. For a moment, I once again thought I was seeing things.
But no.
It was the little capsule.
I knew it was the same one, because I could see dark impact marks on it from the Svarestri weapons. The blue lights were also flooding the cave, spilling brilliant color onto the uneven floor and craggy walls. And onto Nimue’s face as she uttered something that sounded like a curse.
“Should have left them outside, but you were afraid I’d find you, weren’t you?” the lilting voice asked. It laughed. “How ironic.”
Nimue cursed again, and the little capsule increased its efforts, judging by the amount of rocks suddenly hitting and then scattering over the floor. I couldn’t hear anything that sounded like an engine, but if I could, it would have been racing. I could hear the walls begin to crack—
And then the capsule suddenly went dark.
“You forget, cousin,” the woman’s voice said. “I, too, can use our discarded toys. And, at present, I believe I am a little stronger than you.”
I reached out, trying to add whatever strength I had to Nimue’s, but she shot me a look over her shoulder and shook her head. “Save your strength, girl. You’ll need it.”
“Yes, do save it,” the other voice said. “I don’t want you any more beaten up than you already are.”
“And whose fault was that?” Nimue demanded.
The voice laughed. “Yes, I admit it. Although, those were not my orders. The idiots were instructed merely to find her and alert me to her location. I was meant to do the retrieval.”
“But you trusted them to do it, and now, what are you left with?”
“Enough.”
There was an entrance at the opposite end of the cave that I hadn’t seen, because it was hidden in shadow. But a pale, white light began to flicker against the walls of it as I watched. It was merely a dim haze at the moment, but getting brighter.
“Come, cousin,” the woman’s voice came again. “Let us not quarrel. I know what he did to you, how you’ve suffered. I will avenge you; this much I swear. After all, we both want the same thing.”
