Fall of Ashes (Spirelight Trilogy Book 1) Page 3

  The street ahead—overgrown with weeds and grass in places—sat empty, save for the small figure darting around a corner. His giggles echoed after him. The boy could certainly run!

  “Come back!” Addy called after him, breath heavy. But the boy was gone, leaving only the sounds of his laughter to guide her. She grabbed up her dress again and charged on. When I get a hold of him . . .

  The sounds of town faded behind her: the pounding of metal at the smithy, the distant murmur of voices, cart wheels over cobblestone, all dwindling until only silence filled the air. Addy turned down one street after the other, her breath now coming in gasps, but the little boy always seemed one turn ahead somehow. It was as if he knew this place better than she did.

  Finally, she came to a crossing, the streets here marred with patches of tall grass and wild flowers. She stopped, her breathing the only sound in her ears. On a faint breeze came the pungent smell of rotting wood and lemony weeds. And the dust in the air tickled her nostrils, nearly drawing a sneeze. The boy was nowhere to be seen. Had she taken a wrong turn?

  She opened her mouth to call to him, but a loud thump cut off the words. She spun about, the sound having come from behind. It wasn’t the crash of a crumbling building or the creak of wood; it was solid and heavy, like a dropped sack of wheat. She stilled her breath and stood motionless.

  The streets before her were empty, the buildings beside them silent and lifeless. Had she imagined it?

  A large, catlike beast with fir of gold strolled out from behind one of the buildings, its radiant yellow eyes fixed on her. It came to a stop maybe three paces away, standing nearly as tall as Maggie, the sharp, bony growths along its spine quivering.

  Addy felt the blood drain from her face. Oh, Lord of Light! She took a slow and careful step back. Perhaps if she didn’t make any threatening moves, the cat would let her leave.

  Instead, though, the canth let out a low growl and crouched, preparing to pounce.

  Addy turned and bolted for the nearest house, and a second later a fierce roar sounded from behind. A few short strides carried her to a door that stood slightly ajar, and she burst through it, turning quickly and pushing it closed.

  Her heart seized. There was no way to lock the door! She threw her weight against it, but a breath later the canth slammed against it from the other side, sending her sliding back a foot. Fur and fangs showed through the crack, and she let out a panicked yelp.

  Leaning into the door, she pushed with all her strength, her soft-shoed feet sliding over the dusty floor. Through the opening came angry snarls and the smell of rancid breath. The door opened a little farther, and a large claw slipped through the crack. It tore away a chunk of decayed wood. She shrieked. She had to bar the door somehow!

  To her left sat an old stool laying on its side. She reached out with one arm, while bracing the other against the door, but the canth gave another push from the other side, and the door slid open a little more. She let out another desperate cry. The stool was too far to reach! She would have to let go of the door! Perhaps . . .

  Addy turned and pressed her back to the door. Then she slid down until she was seated on the dusty floor. The canth gave another push, but it couldn’t yet fit through the widening crack. This had to work! She reached out with her foot. Her toe touched one of the legs. Almost! She stretched.

  The canth shoved, its maw slavering through the crack just inches from Addy’s face. She gritted her teeth and stretched again, pain shooting through her joints from the effort.

  Closer!

  She stretched.

  Closer . . .

  Addy’s toe hooked under the leg. She got it! With a final determined cry, she pushed back against the door with all her strength, and the door moved. It moved slowly, but it moved. And when it would move no more, she pulled the stool with her foot until it was within arm’s reach. Then she grabbed it and set it upright, wedging the top under the wooden handle, but would it hold?

  She leaped to her feet and glanced around, lungs burning for air. It was a small, one-room home, littered with debris and broken furniture. A single, glassless window sat across from her, its shutters hanging askew. The opening was small, but, Spirelight willing, she would fit through!

  The door lurched again behind her, and Addy’s stomach twisted. The stool was holding, but by the way it creaked and snapped, it wouldn’t hold for long. She raced to the window and threw open the shutters. One of them slammed against the wall outside and broke into pieces.

  A crash sounded from behind, wood splintering. Heart clenching, Addy threw herself headfirst through the window, but it wasn’t big enough after all. She was now stuck at the hips, dangling halfway out. Oh, Lord! I’m stuck!

  There came a loud roar, and Addy screamed. She screamed and pushed and gritted her teeth. She pushed with all her might! Then something brushed against her ankle. No! Lord of Light, no! She gave one final push.

  Something gave way, and her hips came free. Then she was tumbling to the ground outside. She leaped to her feet and spun around, hips on fire. The canth was there, one huge paw thrusting through the window, daggerlike claws seeking flesh and drool dripping from its long fangs. Addy scrambled backward.

  The great cat, snarling viciously, withdrew its claw and attempted to force its head through the window. Then it was gone from sight. It would be heading for the door.

  Addy jumped to her feet and ran. She ran like she’d never run before, charging first into one alleyway and then the next. She chose the directions at random, but always the sound of pursuit was close behind. She dashed through a small building that had more holes in it than walls, and a second later the beast crashed through it. Addy’s lungs burned for air.

  Then Addy was charging toward a path between buildings. It could barely be described as an alleyway, as narrow as it was, and the structures to either side leaned heavily inward, creating a sort of tunnel. In she charged, her heart pounding to the point of pain. Too late to turn back now. She caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. The canth wasn’t giving up. Lord, help me!

  She raced on, ducking under a beam and then scrambling over a waste-high pile of debris. The canth couldn’t possibly get through this, could it? And yet the sound of cracking wood and tumbling bricks still followed.

  The buildings to either side protested with creaks and groans. They could collapse at any moment. Addy’s chest burned with every gasp for air, and sweat poured down her face. The path narrowed, and the she slowed in order squeeze through sideways.

  Something slammed into Addy from behind. She was knocked forward, sending her flying through the gap and onto the ground beyond it. The canth! It was pushing through. She started to scramble away, but the great cat’s claw shot out and snagged the hem of her dress. Her heart seized in her chest.

  The building above heaved and groaned. Dust and bits of splintered wood rained down. Addy kicked and screamed and pulled, but the canth pulled her the opposite way toward a hungry, fanged mouth.

  Then, with a great rumble, the building started to crumble.

  The canth paused, and Addy managed to scramble back again, but a second later the beast dragged her right back. A large chunk of wood crashed to the ground beside her. A little closer, and she would have been crushed!

  Addy gave a desperate cry and pulled again, but the beast’s claws were snagged fast in the fabric of her dress. It lunged forward, jaws widening. She kicked hard, and her heel slammed into its nose.

  Her dress tore, and suddenly she was free.

  Debris rained down, the structure above them screeching and groaning as it continued to crumble. Something struck Addy’s leg, and a jolt of pain shot up past her knee. Then another struck her shoulder, but she dragged herself back, inch by inch. The beast soon vanished beneath the broken timbers and a dusty cloud, but the vicious growls still came, intermingled with yelps of pain.

  Then all fell silent, save for a shifting brick here or a tumbling pebble there. The building lay in s
hambles, its remains reaching skyward like skeletal fingers, disjointed and broken. Addy stared, gasping for air, eyes fixed on the pile of debris where the great cat had nearly taken her leg off. There was no sign of it now; just a heap of shattered wood and a cloud of settling dust. Faege rot your corpse, you wretched thing!

  She fell back to lie staring upward into a blue sky. Her lungs burned. A sour pit sat heavy in her stomach. Her body ached in too many places to count. But she was alive. She was alive!

  The pile of debris shifted.

  Addy’s stomach clenched. No! A battered canth rose from the wreckage, its fur matted with dirt and blood. It fixed her with an emerald gaze, and then stepped closer, a heavy limp to its stride. A low growl erupted from its throat. It couldn’t be!

  With a sound that was half-groan, half-cry, Addy pushed herself to her feet. Then she turned and ran, legs trembling.

  The alley soon led to a crossing, the path splitting to the left and right. Addy had only seconds—fractions of seconds—before the beast would be upon her. Down the path and to the right was no sign of obvious escape, no way to tell if it might lead to safety. It was just another narrow back alley between buildings, with not even a door within reach.

  She turned to the left.

  A second canth, black as pitch, stood blocking the narrow path, this one standing a hand taller than the one behind her. It crouched, shoulders hunched. She was going to die! She had escaped one, only to be caught by another.

  From above came a flurry of motion. A fluttering black mass descended like a carrion bird to its prey. It landed on the path between her and the canth, alighting with curious grace. But it wasn’t a bird. It was a skeg!

  The blood drained from Addy’s face.

  From somewhere within the black folds of the skeg’s clothing, two curved swords emerged. Then beast and skeg crashed together, claws raking and steel flashing in the light.

  Addy stood rooted to the spot. Run, Addy! Run! But her legs seemed frozen. The other canth would be here in a breath’s time, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move! A helpless whimper rose in her throat.

  The skeg gave no cries as it moved, blades arcing and thrusting in motions like some kind of deadly dance. The canth leaped this way and that, swiping with claws and roaring loud and deep.

  Addy was caught in the middle of a storm of death.

  She made to move again, and this time her legs obeyed, but she managed only a single step before the skeg’s blades flashed, crossing, and the canth’s head rolled away with a spray of crimson.

  In the next instant, the skeg was moving again toward her. Had she just traded one death for another? Curved blades arced, and she shut her eyes. There was no way she was going to watch the world spin as her head toppled from her shoulders.

  But death did not come.

  There was a roar, the sound of steel cutting through flesh, then a thump from a large mass dropping to the ground. Then silence. Addy opened her eyes slowly. The canth that had driven her into that alleyway in the first place lay silent and unmoving, the skeg standing over it with bloodied swords still in hand.

  The drip drip of liquid drew her eyes downward. Drops of blood glided down fabric blacker than black to pool on the ground at the skeg’s feet. Not a mark was left behind.

  The skeg spun toward her, and Addy took a startled step backward. Would he kill her? That seemed unlikely, as he had just saved her from the canth. Then the skeg stepped forward, the blades vanishing somewhere within his voluminous clothing. He came to stand so close that Addy could see the pores in the white skin around his eyes, the pinkish scar crossing between them and over the bridge of his nose. If she stood still and silent, did exactly as instructed, maybe he wouldn’t hurt her. A moment later, though, his hand was grasping her jaw, not painfully, but firmly.

  He turned her face this way and that, his cold, ice-blue eyes peering from within the narrow slit in those dark wrappings. His gaze washed over her appreciatively, taking in the sight of her shoulders, hips, and breasts, especially her breasts. Her face flushed. He lifted his hand to touch.

  Thunder cracked suddenly in the distance, drawing the skeg’s attention to the sky. His eyes widened.

  Addy turned her head, eyes moving upward, following the skeg’s gaze. Then her legs nearly collapsed beneath her. Above them, clouds, dark as night, poured in like a raging river, and with them came the stench of death.

  “Blackstorm!” Addy gasped.

  Chapter 3

  Alarm bells tolled in the distance as the storm rolled toward them, but the sounds were quickly drowned out by the howling of the wind—an unnatural wail, like that of a thousand screams. The smoky-black clouds—lightning dancing amid the billows—reached far into the sky, swallowing all in their path. In moments they would blot out the sun, casting everything into darkness.

  Addy tore her gaze from the storm, the rot-scented wind already whipping through her hair. She tried to pull away from the skeg, but his hand was clamped around her upper arm. They had to run! Surely even skeg knew the dangers of the Blackstorm.

  The skeg’s pale eyes darted from the storm above to Addy. Then he hissed a few short words through the black cloth covering his mouth, but they were nothing but gibberish. They sounded curt and angry, though, a warning perhaps.

  Addy gave another pull against his grip, but that gloved hand only clenched tighter, holding her to the spot. “If we don’t run, we’ll both die!”

  The skeg’s eyes narrowed. Then in one quick motion, he reached an arm around her and plucked her off her feet. Addy let out a scream, but he merely tossed her over his shoulder and began to run. She screamed again. She beat her fists against his back. She kicked her legs as hard as she could, but the skeg never set her down; he ran on, carrying her away as the wind whipped fiercely through the alleyway around them.

  The skeg’s pace was quick, the two dead canth quickly vanishing from sight. His direction took them farther from the storm and farther from the center of town. Papa would be wondering where she had gone by now. How would he find her? She twisted again one last time, but the skeg’s grip never slackened, never weakened.

  Addy went limp against her captor’s back, his powerful strides bouncing her like a rag doll. She could continue struggling, continue fighting, but what good would it do? The skeg wasn’t going to let her go. She was lost out here in this forsaken place, where no one knew to look for her. No help would be coming.

  The shadow of the storm fell over them, blanketing all in a hazy darkness. The buildings they passed were still visible in the dimming light, their doors and windows mere shapes in the darkness. The skeg’s pace quickened even further. In a few short moments the storm itself would fill the streets, turning day into the blackest night.

  The winds began whipping up debris from the alley and hurling it about. Something—a piece of wood perhaps—struck her painfully on the temple, and she gasped. If the skeg didn’t find shelter soon, they might be torn to shreds!

  From the direction of the storm came a sudden, horrific howl. Cold prickles raced along Addy’s spine. She had been in Blackstorms before, from the safety of the cellar beneath their home, but never before had she heard something so horrible!

  Then the stench of decay was suddenly stronger. Addy’s stomach churned, and she swallowed hard against the bile rising into her throat. She raised her eyes to the path behind, and her heart seized. Black clouds poured through the alleyway like flowing water, racing toward them. But the clouds weren’t empty. The clouds seemed to writhe with—

  The breath froze in her throat.

  Reaching from within the churning clouds were pale, clawed hands on bone-thin arms, searching, drawing ever closer. Were these the rumored storm wraiths that devoured those caught out in the storm? Weren’t they supposed to be invisible?

  The skeg raced along, turning down one alley after another, but the flowing black clouds were always right behind, with those eager claws drawing ever closer. They now trailed just a couple
short feet from them, close enough to see that there was something else in their inky depths. Addy’s blood grew cold. Faces! Horrible, ghostly faces. They were pale, like corpses, with empty eye sockets and sunken cheeks, their wispy, white hair flowing in the wind.

  One of them emerged from the cloud, drawing to just inches from her face. It spoke, but its lipless mouth did not move. The voice echoed in her mind. “It . . . hungers! It hungers for the blood . . . so warm . . . so wet. It must . . . drink the blooood, bathe in the stream of ebbing life.”

  Addy shrieked. There was something in her mind, and it was more than just the echoing voice! It crawled in her head like roaches skittering and gnawing at her brain. Why couldn’t she look away? Lord of Light, why couldn’t she shut her eyes?

  The nearest cloud-corpse, the one that had apparently spoken, opened its mouth, the corners stretching into what might have been a smile. “Her blood smells sooo . . . sweeeet, sooo sweeeet. It must drink her blooood. It must drink her!”

  Another piercing wail sounded from somewhere in the cloud. The mass surged forward, engulfing Addy in a blackness that flowed around her like icy water. A thousand tiny needles pricked her exposed skin. The whispers in her mind were suddenly louder, still crying for the taste of blood, her blood! Claws raked painfully across her body, tearing at her hair and clothes, clutching at her arms and legs. Oh, it hurt! It was as if they were tearing away her flesh, but it was too dark to know for sure. She screamed again, her voice sounding strangely muted. Spirelight, help me. Help me!

  The skeg turned abruptly, and Addy clung to him to keep from slipping off his shoulder. How could he see where he was going? A door slammed open, the sound muted and distant in her ears. Then she was falling.

  Addy hit hard. Something exploded beneath her, its sharp edges digging into her side. She came to rest facedown, cheek pressing against what felt like old, splintered wood. The voices in her mind silenced; the claws no longer raked at her skin. She sucked in breath, the smell of must and rot swirling in her nostrils.