The Gods of Amyrantha (41 page)

Although it seemed like an eternity, it must have been only a few minutes before the rocks stopped falling, a few minutes after that before the rolling echoes faded into the distance.

Coughing up dust, Declan felt about the floor of the cavern until he recovered the torch. Nyah was still silent, thankfully, as he shook the dust from the torch, then found his flint in his pocket to light it again. After a few false starts, the torch sputtered into life. Declan held it up and looked around, relieved beyond measure to discover the way forward was still open. The cave-in had been right behind them, and the way back was now almost completely blocked. Ahead of them, it seemed clear.

Coughing up another lungful of dust, he turned to Nyah. 'Tides, that was close!'

She didn't respond. In fact, she wasn't moving, just lying there, her eyes closed, limp against the rock fall.

'Nyah?'

When she didn't respond, Declan wedged the end of the torch between the fallen rocks and shook her gently. 'Nyah? It's over now. You can open your eyes.'

She still didn't react. Didn't so much as flinch at his touch.

'Oh, no, you don't, you wretched child,' he said, quashing down the panic that began to bubble in his gut. He felt for a pulse beneath her ear and found it after a moment, thready and weak, but it was there.

When his hand came away, however, it was slick with blood.

'No,
no, no ...no ...
don't you
dare
do this to me,' Declan muttered, lifting her limp body forward to discover she was bleeding from a nasty gash on the back of her head. He cursed savagely — at his own inability to protect her as much as her stupidity for getting in the way of a falling rock — while he gingerly felt around the wound, trying to determine how serious it was.

It was impossible to tell. Between her dark hair, the inadequate light and the choking dust, he could barely make
her
out, let alone judge the extent of her injuries.

And she was still unconscious, which worried him a great deal more than the blood.

He laid her down gently and sat back on his heels. They were, as far as Declan could tell, only a few hours from the surface and the shelter of Maralyce's cabin. But a few hours — if Nyah was bleeding internally — might be a death sentence.

It would be faster, he knew, to leave her here. He could make it back to the cabin in half that time, unencumbered by an unconscious child. And Maralyce was a Tide Lord, after all. If this child was badly wounded and had any hope of recovery, it was at the hands of someone able to wield Tide magic, the ultimate source of healing in the universe.

But he had no guarantee Maralyce would agree to follow him back down into the tunnels to rescue and treat a dying child.

Suppose she wasn't badly hurt? Suppose he left her here in the darkness, only to have her regain consciousness minutes after he left? Even if she wasn't hysterical within a matter of seconds at the thought of being abandoned in these oppressive black tunnels, she was just as likely to try finding her own way out of the mine.

A wrong turn would see her lost down here forever.

With a sigh, Declan climbed to his feet, groaning as every ripening bruise he'd acquired during the cave-in made its presence felt. He adjusted his pack and then scooped Nyah's limp body up, before awkwardly trying to pick the torch up without setting her hair alight. When that proved too difficult, he rearranged the child until she was draped over his left shoulder. He bent down, collected the torch and raised it up, hoping he was right and that it wasn't far to the mine's entrance and the safety of Maralyce's cabin.

Because if he was wrong, and something happened to the heir to the Caelish throne while she was in his care, Declan was in no doubt that Ricard Li would make good on his promise to devote his every breath until the day he died to bringing about Declan Hawkes's extermination.

It was dark when Declan finally emerged from the tunnels into the littered yard outside Maralyce's cabin, relieved and exhausted, the weight of his still-unconscious burden seeming to grow heavier by the minute. His leg muscles were trembling and he was staggering by the time he reached the door of the cabin. Relieved beyond measure that aid was within his grasp, he tossed aside the remains of the torch and turned the latch without knocking, kicking the door open with his boot to find Maralyce and Shalimar playing cards at the table, a cheery fire in the hearth.

His grandfather looked up and smiled, as if he'd only just stepped outside for some fresh air. 'Declan! You're back!'

'Help me,' he said, pushing past them and through to Maralyce's bedroom at the back of the cabin. He lowered Nyah onto the fur-covered pallet, checked her pulse again — which was much stronger — and then turned to Maralyce who'd followed him into the room. 'She's hurt.'

'I can see that.'

'Can you help her?'

'Dunno.'

' Will
you help her?' 'Who is she?'

'The Crown Princess of Caelum.'

Maralyce peered at the little girl for a moment. 'Funny, don't remember leaving one of them layin' about down in the mine.'

If he thought it would do any good, Declan would have cheerfully throttled the woman, right

at that moment. 'There was a cave-in. She hit her head.'

'So you broke my mine while you were at it, too, did you?'

'Will you just do
something
for her?'

'What makes you think I can?

'You're a Tide Lord, aren't you? And the Tide's on the way back? Surely there's something you can do?'

Maralyce frowned at him. 'Funny how it ain't so bad me bein' a Tide Lord, soon as you need something from me.'

'Stop tormenting the lad, Maralyce,' Shalimar called from the other room. 'Have a look at the child, for pity's sake.'

Without actually saying she would help, Maralyce pushed past Declan and bent over the little girl to examine her. After a moment, she straightened and turned to him. 'Go boil some water.'

'Why? What's wrong?'

'Nothing. I just want you out of the way.'

Declan glared at her and then stormed out of the room to find his grandfather staring at him, still seated at the table with a rug over his legs, despite the warmth of the cabin. 'Please tell me you were joking when you told Maralyce just now you've
kidnapped
the Crown Princess of Caelum?'

'If I was joking, Pop, I'd have thought up something funny.' Declan shrugged off his battered pack and collapsed onto the chair so recently vacated by Maralyce. There wasn't a muscle he owned, right now, that wasn't complaining. 'Besides, I didn't kidnap her. Ricard Li gave her to me.'

Shalimar's eyes widened in surprise. 'Gave her to you? For
what?'

'To stop her marrying Tryan, if you must know,' Declan said, stifling a yawn. Even though he'd only just sat down, he was so exhausted the warmth of the cabin was already making him sleepy. 'It seems the

Caelish weren't ignorant of the suspicious origins of the Grand Duchess and her family, after all.'

'They
know
about the Tide Lords?'

Declan shook his head. 'They knew Syrolee and Tryan were a fraud, that's all. They've yet to learn the truth about who they're dealing with.'

Shalimar shook his head despairingly. 'So you agreed to bring their little princess back
here?
Tides, Declan, have you lost your mind?'

Declan was disappointed Shalimar, of all people, couldn't see the justice in what he'd done. 'What was I supposed to do, Pop? Stand back and let them have her?'

His grandfather shrugged. 'Of course not ... it's just ... it complicates things. How are you going to keep her from them, anyway? If Syrolee has her eye on the Caelish throne for Tryan, she won't let something like this pass unremarked.'

'I'll have to hide her somewhere.'

'Somewhere the Tide Lords won't find her? Good luck.'

Before Declan could respond, Maralyce emerged from the bedroom, wiping her hands on her trousers. 'That's a nasty bump she's got on her head.'

'Will she be all right?'

'Maybe.'

'She's been unconscious for hours.'

'Probably got sick of listening to you. I know I'd want to retreat into a coma if I had to listen to your complaining for days on end.'

Declan was too tired to react to her needling. 'Is she going to be all right?'

'She'll be fine.'

'How long before she can travel?' 'With that sort of head wound? A week or two, maybe.'

Declan was so weary he wanted to weep with it, but he didn't have a week to spare. He certainly didn't have two. 'I have to get back to Herino.'

'Thought you'd decided Daly Bridgeman was more than capable of covering for you?' Shalimar reminded him.

'That's before I learned Enteny and Inala are dead. The Tide Lords have made their first move on Glaeba, Pop. I need to get back.'

Shalimar glanced up at Maralyce for a moment and then looked back at Declan. 'Leave her here.'

'You plannin' to ask
my
opinion on that, old man?'

'I don't have to, Maralyce,' Shalimar replied. 'You don't want Tryan getting his hands on that little girl any more than Declan does. Besides, where would she be safer? Nobody knows she's here, and even if they did, nobody knows how to find this place. And if the worst should happen and they
do
come for her, you're the only one on Amyrantha with the ability to stop another Tide Lord from taking her away.'

'Tides, I should have drowned you at birth,' Maralyce muttered, stalking from the cabin, slamming the door behind her so hard the whole cabin shook with it.

'She'll be all right in a little while,' Shalimar told Declan with a smile. 'You look like hell, by the way. Is that your blood?'

Declan shook his head. 'I think it's Nyah's.'

'Is that her name?'

'She's a brat.'

'I'm used to brats. I raised you, didn't I?'

Declan allowed himself a weary smile. 'Do you think Maralyce will begrudge me her hearth for the night? I'm so tired, I'm going to
fall
down, if I don't get some sleep soon.'

'Make yourself at home. Did you want something to eat?'

He shook his head. 'I'm too tired to eat. Too tired to think.'

'Get some sleep then, lad. We'll talk again in the morning.'

* * *

As Shalimar predicted, by the following morning Maralyce seemed resigned to having another houseguest. Nyah was awake and asking for food, which Declan took to be a good sign, and Shalimar seemed to find it entertaining to have someone other than Maralyce for company.

After explaining to the little princess that his grandfather would keep her hidden until he could send someone for her, she agreed to stay put, probably so grateful she had finally stopped running that she didn't care where Declan left her, as long as it meant she wasn't required to walk another step. Once he'd slept, eaten and washed some of the grime from his sorely bruised body, he almost felt fit enough to continue his journey.

By midmorning, he'd said goodbye to Shalimar and Nyah and was heading down the trail toward the three graves lower down the mountain. Maralyce walked with him for a time, not saying a word, until finally they reached the place where, almost two months ago, Declan had stood by these graves and wondered if Shalimar was already dead.

'You know you can't win this fight of yours, don't you?' Maralyce asked, as Declan stopped to adjust his freshly stocked pack.

'We have to try, though.'

'You're trying to hold back the Tide, lad. Even the Tide Lords can't do that.'

'I know,' he said, turning to look at her. 'But that's what it is to be mortal. We're compelled to hope.'

She treated him to a rare smile. 'Then I hope you die young and quickly, lad. Disillusionment's a bitter way to spend your old age.'

He smiled back. 'You know, that's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me.'

'Don't let it go to your head. And watch out for Jaxyn when you get to Herino. He's a treacherous little bastard, and Diala's not much better.'

'I'll be careful.'

'Sure you will ... and I'm going to die tomorrow.' And with no further ado, she turned and headed back up the trail, without even saying goodbye.

PART
III

Now morn has come, 

And with the morn the 

punctual tide again.

Flood-Tide,
 

Susan Coolidge (1835-1905)

CHAPTER 41

Even with the horse he commandeered at Clyden's Inn, it still took Declan two hard-travelling weeks after he left Maralyce's mine before he arrived in Herino.

When he got there, it was just in time for the trial of Stellan Desean, the Duke of Lebec, who — he was stunned to learn while on his way through Lebec Province — was charged with the murder of the King and Queen of Glaeba.