A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 79
With no idea what was happening, Tani could only draw closer until she could finally listen. The words were all Futhik, but Slaten crept beside her and began to translate.
"The Zeitai is currently engaged in some work of great importance, so we only need to hold our position." The other woman was speaking, more to the assembled soldiers than to Celivia. She looked elegant in her combat robes and carried herself with a predatory grace, though strangely she was barefoot. "I don't know what could be so important, but the Zeitai's ways are not our ways. If we do prevent the humans from stealing the Zeitai's treasure, then there are likely promotions in everyone's future."
Celivia made no move to fight, but straightened to speak. "At least allow my band to move to a safer position. The poison is almost touching them."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Celi." The other woman turned and shook a finger at her. "We all need to work together to survive this, and I don't think that I can count on your cooperation, can I?"
"If you let the soldiers and the workers go, I'll do whatever you want."
"Oh, but I don't think you will. You did this to them, Celi, with your sad little coup."
One of the men on the lower island struggled to his feet despite being tightly bound around the legs. Though he shouted to be heard, he didn't sound desperate. "The poison is rising and it might fill the tunnels. You're condemning everyone still inside to death."
"Is this some trick?" The woman in charge turned to frown at him. "You were the one Myuneras caught investigating... you should know that all the poison was within the sealed tunnel. It might cover the bottom of the mine, but it will dissipate in the air before it reaches the occupied tunnels."
"There are back passages and ventilation shafts. The poison could already be reaching them."
Tani looked to the side at the same time as the mansthein woman and realized that her first analysis had missed something. There were multiple tunnels opening in the sides of the mine, most unoccupied, but several were locked shut by metal grates. Scrawny mansthein pressed against them, staring down at the scene below.
After regarding them briefly, the leader shrugged. "Even if you're telling the truth, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. I'll allow those you already evacuated to flee - consider that my little gift to you, Celi. No one else moves until we learn whether you were telling the truth about the Hero."
Celivia glowered at the other woman, but remained silent. Tani glanced over her shoulder and saw that the others were following her, though everyone but Slaten moved more cautiously instead of leaping down the side of the mine. If it came to a battle, Slaten and Veron could join her soon enough, but they would be outnumbered. The soldiers might be easy to handle, trapped on an island amid the poison with only one bridge, but the Catai was a major threat on his own and if Celivia wasn't trying to fight, the other two warriors must be strong.
"Jeraeli, be reasonable." A mansthein man Tani had barely noticed stepped up beside the leader, putting a hand on her upper arm. "The Zeitai wanted the pits as well as this treasure, so would he be happy with the workers and females dying?"
"I did not request your opinion, Krafan." The other woman pulled away from his hand in a motion Tani found familiar, and her glance toward him was long-suffering. "Be quiet."
"You know how much I risked for you! You took me as a partner in this and made promises, promises that you haven't kept. I'll not let you throw me aside like another of your toys!"
"I forgot how much of a spineless leech you could be. As this situation has already passed far beyond reason..." Jeraeli turned toward the golden-furred mansthein. "Myuneras, kill him."
Krafan stumbled back and started to yell something, but he barely had time to shout. Myuneras carried him by the neck to the edge of the rock, then in a single motion twisted his head off. He dropped both pieces into the poisonous fumes, which blossomed upward as if in response to the offering.
Slaten's translation had become steadily more strained and now he looked toward Tani, but she barely spared him a glance. Her eyes were on Celivia, who knelt in apparent defeat, but her arms flexed within her manacles. She might have been able to break them already, but she thought that she was outnumbered, her men threatened, and her position hopeless.
Not only was the poison rising, Melal was surely on his way with another army conjured from the hopeful. If it arrived like this, the situation would become the slaughter they all feared, but what could be done?
"This ain't right, Kaen." The silence was broken not by any of the warriors, but by one of the soldiers behind Jeraeli. He winced when she turned her gaze on him, but even though he'd just seen a man's head torn off, he stepped forward. "Those men have been working themselves to the bone, and those women... they didn't ask for this. We can't just leave them to die."
"Was one demonstration not enough?" Jeraeli reached out toward the man's throat, but glanced over her shoulder to Myuneras. "Disable Celivia permanently. I'll deal w-"
One of the other soldiers swung a club at Jeraeli's face. It didn't break her skin, but she staggered a step, eyes wide with surprise that he had dared to attack. All at once everyone began to move, Myuneras bearing down on Celivia and Jeraeli reaching out to kill the soldier who had struck her.
Tani moved before anyone else could. She leapt to the island feet first, all her momentum striking the golden-furred mansthein in the chest. It felt like kicking stone, but he stumbled back and fell into the green mists below.
Celivia saw her and tore the manacles apart, but Tani was already moving past her. She began by throwing two knives, biting into Jeraeli's back before she could kill any of the soldiers. Her blades cut through fabric, but only drew shallow cuts on the woman's skin. She turned with an imperious glare, just in time for Slaten to swing directly at her face.
She deflected the blow with her forearms, which somehow endured the blade, but the impact staggered her. Instead of falling from the side, she dropped back to a slightly lower slope, fumes curling around her legs.
The soldiers immediately fell on her, battering her while she was off balance, driving her deeper into the mists. Tani worried that Jeraeli would finish them off quickly, but several struck with limited sein training and it seemed that she feared the mists. Only the Catai remained as a threat, but he hesitated and Veron was leaping to land beside them as well, so Tani had time to find Celivia.
Though the other woman wasn't far away, the battle had drawn mists onto the island, and Tani shivered at the feel of the poison around her ankles. Whenever it brushed against her it left a sheen like oil, and the bitter scent burned in her nostrils. She didn't want to test her body against it, but Veron had no such compunctions, bending down for a whiff, then pulling up sharply.
"That's foul." Veron spoke casually, but then coughed painfully. "Too many breaths of that might kill me, so if you fall in, try not to breathe at all."
"Some warriors can survive it, but it's designed to kill even those with sein training." Celivia spoke as she walked closer to them and Tani ignored the mist to look over her more carefully.
"Are you alright?" Tani asked. The other woman tossed the remnants of her manacles to the ground with an expression between a grimace and a grin.
"That depends on if we survive to the end of the day."
~ ~ ~
Slaten rotated slowly on his heel, trying to keep the entire battle within his sight. Jeraeli was being beaten into the poison by a combination of soldiers and warriors while the Catai was held back by Veron, but he didn't think either was the true threat. He didn't even hear Celivia and Tani, simply watched the mists.
If his brief impressions were correct, the most dangerous person in the mine was the golden-furred mansthein they had called Myuneras. Slaten suspected that he was a Feras mansthein based on descriptions, but that was irrelevant compared to his strength. While it was possible that the poison had claimed him, Slaten thought it unlikely.
A pair of crimson eyes burned through the fumes. Myuneras prowled back onto the island, pulling free of the poisonous mist. It trailed from his mouth as he breathed, but it didn't seem to have harmed him in the slightest.
His eyes were on Jeraeli, moving to rescue her from the soldiers, so he didn't see Slaten strike. Yet he turned with fluid speed, deflecting the thrust and then reversing his arm to backhand Slaten in the chest. It was only a casual blow, yet it sent him staggering several steps.
If not for his strengthened body, he would have at least broken ribs. As he'd feared, Myuneras was strong, perhaps strong enough that all of them combined would struggle against him.
Assuming that he had Tani and Veron to fight alongside him, Slaten moved to intercept Myuneras. Yet as the Feras mansthein's eyes turned on him furiously, he realized that the two women had leapt to another island to assist Celivia's band. Some of them had begun coughing violently even from the wisps that reached them, so they did need help, but that left him alone against a superior opponent.
Again the Feras struck, and Slaten evaded only by rapidly retreating. He landed on one of the lower islands, up to his ankles in poison, but he was surprised by how many fumes rushed upward from his feet. Worse, his opponent followed immediately, launching a series of strikes and kicks. It was all Slaten could do to defend himself and he ended up inhaling a full breath of the mists swept up around them.
When he finally pulled free, he expected to feel his lungs burning. To his surprise, there was no pain, not even the slightest urge to cough. Yet his opponent watched him with a predatory gaze, stalking from side to side, and Slaten realized that he was at an increased disadvantage. Not only was his back against a sea of poison, he had only survived the encounter, while his opponent had taken his measure.
Myuneras snarled and leapt at him, a streak of gold.
The streak cut off as Veron appeared in front of Slaten, deflecting the claws. She didn't simply deflect them, she held her blade in a static block that ended the savage charge. Veron glanced over her shoulder and smirked at him. "This one's mine. I'll leave the rest to you kids."
Though the Feras mansthein launched a vicious assault, every strike as swift as the first, Veron managed to keep up with him. When her blade sliced at her opponent's chest, he leapt backward off the island, as if he feared she might actually cut him. Veron pursued and the two of them clashed again in midair before landing on one of the rocky ramps on the side of the mine and continuing to exchange blows.
He had known Veron was strong, but this was different. All the ferocity of her sein that he'd seen before, now channeled more intensely. Unable to assist her without becoming a liability, Slaten turned back to the others instead.
First he noted the Catai, who was struggling to crawl from the poison with several long cuts on his arms that must have been dealt by Veron. Jeraeli had gained the upper hand and killed several soldiers while he watched, but they had a moment to breathe. Celivia and Tani had moved to the side of the mine, having carried all the band with them. Though the men looked exhausted and a few still coughed, it seemed that they hadn't breathed too many of the fumes. Slaten leapt across the sea of green to join them.
"Can Veron actually fight Myuneras?" Celivia asked. Her eyes shifted rapidly as she followed the battle.
"We'll have to trust him to her," Slaten said. "But the battle will matter less than the evacuation when Melal arrives. What can we do?"
"We need to unlock the grates keeping the rest in the tunnels. I'm not sure if you can cut steel, but that might be..." She was interrupted when one of her soldiers stepped forward, presenting a heavy iron key. "Good, thank you. Then the question is who we can spare to help them escape. Given the fighting, they may not want to leave, but if the poison is reaching their tunnels..."
"Can I help?" Laeri walked down the nearest ramp, concern in her eyes as she watched all the poison below. "If you breathe too much of that, I don't know how much I'll be able to heal you..."
"We can work together." Tani smiled and took the other woman's arm as well as the key. "I'll jump us to the grates, then you can help them all evacuate."
"Are you certain?" Laeri asked. "I... I had hoped to help with more than that..."
"You can." Celivia gestured toward the smaller building on the surface. "Several of my men are up there. I don't know if they're still alive, but if they are, they need your help. We'll bring any other injured to you."
Though Laeri nodded eagerly and seemed to want to leave, Slaten found his eyes lingering on the poison filling the bottom of the mine. "Why did she flood this place with poison?"
"Jeraeli believes that we've found the seal. The poison was her last resort to prevent the Hero from taking it, even if he manages to seize the mine. It isn't strong enough to bring down a Catai, but I don't know if a human could be strong enough to resist it."
Tani shook her head. "I breathed a little while we were helping your soldiers and it felt awful. Don't let anyone fall into it."
"I breathed some," Slaten said. When everyone shifted to look at him, he instead turned to Laeri. "Can you check if the poison is killing me and I simply haven't noticed?"
She nodded and placed a hand on his chest, but only a heartbeat later she shook her head. "I don't feel any poison. Your Bloodskin body must be able to resist it like a Catai."
Celivia immediately turned to him and grabbed his shoulders. "Then you need to get the seal, Slaten. It's on the other side, the tunnel where the poison is thickest. We'll try to fight Myuneras and evacuate, but I don't know if we'll be fast enough. Our best hope might be you bringing the seal to Melal before he can attack the mine at all."
It was close enough to a plan. The group nodded to each other, then parted. Tani picked up Laeri and began jumping toward the locked tunnels, while Celivia supported her band. Slaten tried to determine the quickest path to the other side of the mine, but froze as he looked below.
Jeraeli emerged from the poisonous mists, covered in blood not her own and dragging the corpse of one of the guards behind her. When they had first arrived, she had always been poised, as if admiring her own clothes instead of standing on a battlefield. As she clenched her bloody claws and smiled, he saw none of that poise, only a ruthless warrior.
The time for plans was over.
He began to run, keeping his head low as he approached the tunnel of roiling fumes. Though Laeri had said he was healthy, he still hesitated to enter such thick mists. He could dimly see a torch in a basin beside the tunnel entrance, but lighting it in the mists might not help him much.
"The humans are stealing the Zeitai's treasure!" He heard Jeraeli call from the central island, pointing toward him. On the side of the mine, the Catai began lumbering toward him, picking up speed as he reached a straight section of the stone.
Slaten turned and threw himself into the poison.
~ ~ ~
Celivia had only just retrieved her weapons when she heard Jeraeli's cry. The other woman's hair was askew and she was covered in blood, but otherwise she showed no sign whatsoever of all the soldiers who had battered her. Despite what she had claimed, her rebirth had given her a Catai's armored skin.
Above them, Laeri had unlocked the tunnels and the women and workers were beginning to follow her up the side. Those few guards that remained were in shock at what they had seen below, but it didn't seem that they would stop the refugees. Not after they had witnessed Jeraeli massacre their friends.
She stood alone on the island, poisonous mists curling around her as she turned, taking in the changed situation at a glance. Then she leapt toward Tani and the evacuees.
As soon as the other woman had left the ground, Celivia jumped to intercept her. In midair she saw Jeraeli turn, readying her claws, and realized that closing might have been a mistake, but it was too late for either of them to change their paths.
Her whip snapped out first, trying to catch Jeraeli in the face but deflected. As Celivia's sein flowed down the whip, it shifted course to lash downward, but only opened a shallow wound on the other woman's shoulder.
Then they collided, their combined momentum taking them toward the wall of the mine. Jeraeli thrust out and Celivia grunted as she felt the claws dig into her stomach, but before the next quick stab, she dropped her knife and grabbed her opponent's arm. They continued to spin but Celivia pulled so their final tumble put Jeraeli's back to the rock.
Their impact cracked the stone, but though Jeraeli took the brunt of the impact, she shrugged it off. When they fell away from the wall, Jeraeli landed on top of her, claws going for her eyes. Their limbs tangled as attempts at blows became a messy grapple.
Except that Celivia's tail twisted from beneath her, striking... uselessly.
Jeraeli grinned and rose, tugging at Celivia's tail to keep her off balance. She attempted to draw her second knife and strike, only for Jeraeli to reverse course and kick, sending her skidding across the dusty rock.
She barely gripped an outcropping, her momentum taking her body over the edge, her legs swinging through the poison. Celivia desperately tried to pull herself up before her opponent could take advantage, but Jeraeli didn't attempt to attack her.
Instead she rushed toward Tani.
Though Tani saw her coming and began throwing knives, Jeraeli's claws were equally fast, deflecting them in all directions. She closed the distance between them before Celivia could even return to her feet, leaving her heart in her throat as those claws lunged at Tani.
Somehow the Rhen woman drew her sickle knife and warded off her opponent, but Jeraeli grabbed the blade as it passed and wrenched it aside while kicking Tani in the leg. Tani stumbled back, straining to defend herself, but Jeraeli left her again, moving to the tunnels...
Where she slammed the grate closed in the faces of several shocked workers. Then, with exquisite slowness compared to the speed of combat, she locked the grate. Jeraeli turned to her, the key against her lips in a mocking kiss, then she tossed it into the poison below.
Once, Celivia would have believed it was simply spiteful, but now she understood that it was purely calculated. Jeraeli needed to divide them and waste their time, which was exactly what her ploy had done. Perhaps half the noncombatants had left the tunnels, and Jeraeli wasn't stopping them from following Laeri, but that left hundreds more trapped within. Though Celivia considered leaping after the key, she decided for a more direct approach.
