Crown of Ash (Blood Skies, Book 4) (45 page)

She was
taken
to the bridge, a stoic and
humorless room cut in odd elliptical angles.  There were no chairs, just standing stations
at
the control panels along the back wall. 
There was a
massive viewport made from reinforced
blood
glass,
and
skylight
s
above and below.  The
ship
floated
high above
a pale wasteland dominated by glacial floes and dark hills, jagged ruins and drifts of snow. 
D
erelict clo
uds seemed frozen in the dusk sky.

Rake was on the bridge, along with Geist, Burke and Raven
, all dressed in Revenger black,
with
iron epaulets and blood-colored badges of rank on their chests
.  The Fade
woman
was bruised and had a nasty cut down one side of her face, presumably from whe
n
she
and the Scarecrow had
fallen down the stairs.  She walked right up to Danica, and Black braced
herself to receive
a blow.

“No,” Rake said.  Raven
fumed
.  Her dark eyes
narrowed
with hate, and she clenched her fists several times before she finally stepped back.

“Good girl,” Danica said.  “Can you roll over, too?”

Raven stepped back up and punched Black in the stomach.  The blow was hard and fast, and Raven’s hand felt like it was
nothing but
bone.  Pain
flared
through
Danica’s
abdomen, and
she
doubled over, the breath
forced
from her lungs.  She coughed a few times before she was able to stand straight again.

Rak
e walked over and slapped Raven
hard
in the face
.  Blood ran down her
mouth
.

“I said ‘Stop’, you undisciplined whore,” he said quietly.  “Back away.”

Raven did
as she was told
. 
She
looked at
Danica
and
smile
d
.

“You never learn, do you?” Rake said to
Danica
.

“You have two Fades,”
she
said.  “Impressive.  I was wondering th
is
whole time how you kept my spirit restrained while I was in general population.  I figured you’d just given me Narcosm.”

“Too expensive,” Rake smiled.

“I would
think
a Fade
i
s even more
expensive
.”

“Our good friends in Koth have all but perfect
ed
the process of creating Fades,
”
Rake said.

“Creating?” Danica said. 

“
They can’t
make more than
a handful
every
few
months
or so
,”
he
said offhandedly.  “So we’re not
exactly
ready to invade Thornn with a host of Fades.  Not yet.”  He smiled.  “Koth has something a bit more direct in mind.”

“I can’t believe you,” she said.  “
Joining forces
with Koth. 
You’re
human
.  Well…you
used
to be human…”

“Ha, ha,” Rake smiled.  “Don’t push your luck, bitch.  The only reason you’re
still
alive is
because I can still use you
.”

“So why the tour?” she said.  “
I
never pegged you as someone who liked to
stick to Super-Villain clichés.”

“Rake…” Burke said, but
Rake
turned and gave him a look.  Burke shook his head, and backed away.

“I really did
miss you, Dani,” Rake said quietly.  The shi
p was in hover mode.
Danica saw the remains of a ruined tower in the distance, some broken spire of black stone. 
D
evastated ruins
surrounded
it,
the
smoldering husks of dark buildings and
old
walls
.  “You had a mean streak in you that always surprise
d me
.  On the outside you
were just
another pretty face, a woman trying to make it in a man’s world.  You walked the walk and talked the talk…but you were
different
.  You weren’t afraid to do the things that needed to be done.” He smiled.  “Remember Sandosa?  That village
? 
Holy shit
, what you did to those people…”

“Go to hell,” she said.  “I’m not like that anymore.”

Rake smiled, and smacked her
.  H
ard.  Blood welled
from
her lip.  Her face stung, and painful tears came to her eyes.

“I know,” he said calmly, as if nothing had happened.  “I know, Dani…and that’s what really stings.  Because you used to be someone I could count on.”  He backed away, and a Scarecrow took
hold of both
her arm
s
in its skeletal vise-grip
.
It held
her so tight she was afraid the bony
hand
s
would cut off
her
circulation.  “Do you want to know what’s going on?”

“Why would you tell me?” she spat. 

“Because it’s not a secret,” he shrugged.  “Koth is going to enter the war, and
it will
d
estroy the Southern Claw.  It’
ll be fast, and
it’ll be
ugly.  With the humans subjugated – oh, Black Scar will be the new capital of the human lands, did I mention that? –
the Ebon Cities
will understand that
we’re not to be fucked with.  If they can’t see that, then we go to war against them, too.”

The Ironnaught shuddered as a gust of heavy wind blasted against the hull.  Dark birds took flight in the distance.  The molten sun peeked through the
clouds
and turned
the world dirty gold.

“What can you possibly have that would make war against the Southern Claw
go
so easy
for you
?” Black asked.

Rake
walked over to
the
viewport.
  Tension mounted in
Danica’s
back. 
The Scarecrow
’
s grip was so tight
it was difficult to even turn her head. 

“We have Cross,” Rake smiled.

“And?  He’s kind of a pain in the ass,
just so
you know.”

“True,” Rake laughed, and for just a moment Black remembered being friends with
the man
, remembered sitting and drinking and smoking in his
chamber
s
, talking about old jobs or battles or
past
loves, just two friends having a drink, laughing, pretending their lives were normal
.  Pretending
they weren’t mass murderers.  “True.  But he’s also invaluable.”

“This is about the blades,” Danica nodded.  “Soulrazor, and Avenger.”

“Actually,” Rake smiled.  “No.  It has nothing to do with that.”

Black paused. 
The confusion must have been plain
on her face, because Rake laughed again.

“You’re smart, Dani, but you’re not
that
smart.
  Did Cross ever tell you about Koth?  He’s been there, you know.  On the mission that killed his sister.”

“Yes,” Danica said.  “He told me about it.”

“Did he tell you how he walked right in…
how
they let him
enter
the necropolis
?
  No other hu
man has ever done that except Red, and Cross’s sister
.”

Where is he going with this?

“So…what, did he see something there?”

Her mind
wen
t back to the conversation she and Cross had had, the night he’d told her and Kane about his experiences in
Koth
.  He rarely liked to
speak
of
it.  His entire squad had died on that mission to track down Margrave Azazeth, “Red”, once a leader of the Southern Claw
who’d
turned traitor and thief.  She’d stolen secrets, important secrets, and dozens of highly trained Hunters had perished
hunting her down.  M
any resources had been squandered try
ing to stop her from giving Koth
…

Oh, God.
  The obelisk.  The artifact created when Dane Knight made the sacrifice that gave humans magic.

Rake smiled.  He saw the realization dawn on her face.

“It’s been lost,” he said.  “It’s buried somewhere in the Carrion Rift.  Nasty things are down there, Danica.  Stuff that even the Ebon Cities
is
afraid to face, dark
creatures from realms of madness
.
  Or something like that.
”  He slowly walked over to her.  “But there are other ways in.  And by using Cross, we can use those backdoors.  He’s the key, whether he knows it or not.” 
Rake
gently ran his fingers along the side of her face,
and
then
roughly grabbed her chin.  “And so are you, Dani.”  His voice had dropped to nearly a whisper.  “You see, we’re going to use
a
door in those ruins
down there
–
Voth Ra’morg
– to enter the Whisperlands.  We won’t be the first ones to have done it.  Someone is already there looking for the same thing we are.  We’re going to find it by
using
Cross, and when we do…well…”

He stepped away.

“Well what?” Danica said, shuddering.  His touch was like oil.  She felt filthy from being so close to him.  Once she’d found him attractive, maybe even charming
, with h
is roguish mannerisms and wild appearance
.  There was a
hint of lunacy in his eyes that she’d always mistaken for genius.  He was a charismatic and powerful man.  But he really
was
insane.

“Your new pals in the Southern Claw will be in a lot of trouble,” he said.  “Because
Koth knows how to destroy the precious obelisk, and that means human magic
will
just…
go
away.”  He turned and looked at the dark
ening
horizon.
  “Raven.”

Danica turned
just
in time to
receive a blow to the face
.  The Scarecrow let
Danica
fall to the ground, and she landed hard on her
chest
.  Raven stood over her and
kicked her
.

“Oh, Dani, one more thing,” Rake said.  “The ritual to destroy the obelisk requires a mage sacrifice.  A special mage.  You don’t
quite
fit the criteria, I’m afraid…but
you
will
.  Because w
e’re
not
done
with you
yet.” 

Dan
ica’s
senses blazed with pain.  She saw Raven’s boot lift
and
descend. 
Everything went dark.

Lara.  Lost, and alone.

Do you?

I’m sorry.

H
urt
blazed
across her
body like
wild
fire
. 
Danica
woke only intermittently, long enough to realize she was in a chamber, locked deep in the iron bowels of the airsh
ip. 

Raven and Geist took turns
beating her.
 
Pain exploded through her head.  Her vision was white and grey.  Her mouth filled with hot blood. 

She lost time. 

Her face was bloody and raw. 
Whips and chains tore s
trips of
flesh
from her back
.  Her limbs
felt
heavy.  Her eyes crusted over w
ith broken skin and
dried
blood.