Durstin Read online

  Stephan elbowed Durstin in the ribs. “Told you.”

  Durstin shook his head, fishing in his pocket for a gold coin.

  She raised an eyebrow. “You actually bet that you could get away without me finding out? How disappointing.”

  His gaze met hers. “No,” he admitted, biting back a smirk. “I took the bet just to see your face when I paid up.”

  She narrowed her eyes, watching the grin hover around the edges of his lips, and then she burst into laughter, the others joining in.

  His enthusiasm was obvious, and she wanted to be a part of that. She wanted them all to be a part of it.

  “All right, women,” Durstin called, “fall in with the men. There are ten parties, each with at least five—now maybe ten—people and a map. All of you, be watchful, be wary. Stick together, and remember that all of us are counting on you. Now, let’s find the best way to get our asses out of these caves.”

  She joined his team as he led them out of the cave, counting eight including herself. The happy chatter behind them slowly faded away as each team went off in different directions. “Do they know where they’re going?”

  “Yes.” Durstin reached back over his shoulder and pulled a rolled hide from the top of his pack and handed it to her.

  She unrolled it to see that it was a hand-drawn map, and rather detailed for what it was.

  “Most of the teams are going north and east—” he pointed out the tunnels “—so they don’t run into the Ardaks.”

  “Which tunnel are we taking?” she asked hesitantly.

  “The northwest one.” He pointed in a direction where the mapping stopped fairly early. “I’ve only sent two teams in this direction, that’s why it’s so poorly mapped. But at this point, that’s all the more reason to explore it.”

  She paused for a moment, looking at the short line he was talking about. Something tickled in the back of her mind about the caves in that direction, but she couldn’t quite remember what it was. Something said long ago by her people.

  Durstin’s eyes searched hers. “What is it?”

  The moment passed, and she shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “Is it something about your people?”

  She shook her head. “I honestly can’t remember.”

  He rerolled the map and replaced it in the pack over his shoulder. “Then I guess we’ll find out.”

  Chapter Three

  Durstin

  Twelve hours later, they reached their twenty-third dead end. Each time they’d come to a split in the tunnels, they’d sent runners ahead ten minutes in both directions ten minutes, waited for them to return, and then took what looked to be the best option. This time, they’d reached a dead end that had been just beyond their running point.

  “Let’s go back and try the third tunnel at the last split. It was only thirty minutes back,” Durstin suggested.

  “Or maybe we should just camp here for the night,” Stephan countered.

  Durstin’s brow furrowed. Stephan was the head of his army, and his friend. It was unusual for him to want to stop under any circumstances. But for the past two hours, he’d become increasingly agitated, which only intensified the sense of unease Durstin had coiling in his stomach.

  But Durstin had a feeling they should keep going. “I’m telling you, we should keep going.”

  “I don’t see why.” Stephan’s normally determined expression was bleak. “That will obviously be another dead end.”

  His friend could very well be correct, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have to check. Durstin glanced at his wife, who had been unusually quiet. “What do you think, love?”

  Her words were quiet in the cold twilight of the caves, which were lit only by their torches. “I think that if you believe we should keep going, then we should.”

  He threw an arm about her shoulders, pulling her close. “Why don’t you four remain here?” he suggested to Stephan with the others. “We can keep going for another hour and then turn back if we don’t find anything.”

  Stephan glanced at the other soldiers before waving away the suggestion. “Where you go, we go.” His voice was filled with resignation.

  A fresh wave of uncertainty rushed through Durstin as he stared into the darkened tunnel ahead. Would going farther really get them anywhere? Couldn’t they pursue the next dead end on the morrow?

  He wanted to relent, but something was pulling him down the tunnel. Almost in a daze, he put one foot in front of the other, letting his steps carry him forward.

  They walked another league or so before the tunnel came to an abrupt end.

  “What the hell?” Stephan moved forward, examining the smooth stone wall in front of them.

  “It’s stone, but it doesn’t appear natural,” Galbrand said, touching the wall. “It’s perfectly smooth—and look at this.”

  Directly in the center, something glinted. Durstin brought his torch closer to the wall and blew the dust away from the stone surface. Light gleamed off the reflective surface.

  “It’s a keyhole.” His voice was almost a whisper in the darkness. A golden circle surrounded the outside.

  “Who would put a keyhole in the center of a stone wall?” Stephan scratched his head.

  “I have no idea,” Durstin replied, reaching to trace the edge of the golden circle with light fingertips. “But this golden circle is so detailed—it appears almost elven. . .”

  “No, don’t—” his wife called out, but it was too late.

  The moment his finger ran over the golden circle, the world dissolved around him, and everything went black.

  Chapter Four

  Kiersten

  “N

  o one else touch the keyhole,” Kiersten commanded, but she needn’t have bothered. They were all smart enough to avoid it.

  She eyed the golden keyhole with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had never seen the wall before, but she’d seen the latticework inlaid in the gold, and the runes around the keyhole. They burned into her eyeballs, reminding her of an age-old saying of her people: One can never outrun the past.

  One could avoid it, wish it away, or even try to flee from it, but it would always be there, waiting for you to return like a curse you couldn’t outrun. And like a curse, she knew exactly what she stood in front of, so deep underground it hadn’t been found for a thousand years.

  It was the Cave of Knowledge.

  Durstin’s men were calling his name, frantically searching for a way in, the ceiling, the walls alongside the door, and even the floor, but she stood still, taking a few more seconds to prolong the inevitable.

  They wouldn’t find him.

  No, the only way he would be found was if she went in and rescued him.

  She put her head in her hands. If she did this, she would have to admit who she really was. And then, she would probably lose him forever. But if she didn’t, she might still lose him forever. Because he’d be dead.

  She kicked the wall beneath the keyhole, bringing everyone’s attention back to her.

  Stephan placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find him, I promise.”

  “No, you won’t,” she said with an assured calmness she didn’t feel.

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that he’s no longer where you can reach him. Stand back,” she ordered.

  The six warriors did what she said, gaping at her.

  She took a crystal from her pocket and handed it to Stephan. “No matter what happens, keep this crystal with you. When I’m gone, go back to the others. If we don’t return by nightfall, take everyone to Renwyn and show them the crystal. Even if there are still Ardaks or people get sick from the poison in the air, there is more chance of survival if you can make it to Renwyn. If the elves remain, their healers may have a cure for the red poison.”

  Stephan nodded, seemingly incoherent, but she knew he would do as she bade. He was nothing if not completely loyal.

  Then she turned back to face the wall of stone. She
squared her shoulders and raised her chin. Kiersten, adopted daughter of Karolus was gone, and in her place was Kerryth, daughter of Cithir.

  Let the games begin.

  She reached out and touched the golden keyhole, not batting an eyelash as the world faded into darkness.

  Chapter Five

  Durstin

  Durstin’s sword clashed with the one coming down at him. The thing wielding it looked strangely like a mud monster, its gaping eyeholes black and soulless. He tried to stab it or cut off one of its limbs, but whenever he managed to injure the thing, it simply regenerated.

  “What is the meaning of this?” he asked again. “Why are you fighting me?”

  Its mouth opened and an eerie high, hollow shriek was its only reply.

  If he didn’t know any better, he’d say this was the work of those damn elves and their damned magic. A simple excursion through an underground cave led him to a golden keyhole, and after touching it, he was fighting a mud monster with a sword.

  It had to be the work of the elves.

  He saw an opening and hacked at it again, chopping off its head, only to curse when it grew back.

  Yes. It could only be elves.

  Movement to his left caught his attention, and he lost his footing when he realized it was a second monster that seemed to emerge from the wall.

  “Great.” He’d been fairly competent against one, but not at all certain he could win against two. The blows weren’t fast, but they were getting incredibly stronger, and the longer he fought, the more unstable the ground beneath his feet became, growing slicker and slicker with each passing second. “I don’t suppose you can talk.”

  “No, but I can.”

  His heart stopped at the familiar voice, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Kiersten. “What are you doing here?” He tried to keep the panic from his tone.

  She pulled her sword and adopted a fighting stance. “I got sucked in after you. Are you all right?” she asked quickly, raising her sword as the second monster moved in her direction.

  “Do I look all right?” he asked exasperatedly, fending off another blow. “You shouldn’t join in. I can barely catch the blows—they will be too strong for you.”

  “It doesn’t look like I have a choice,” she replied grimly.

  They fought beside each other, slowly advancing down the tunnel. He staggered beneath the weight of the blows, but a glance told him she was doing fine against the other monster. His befuddled mind wondered why she didn’t seem to be as affected by them.

  “Have you seen anything else in here?” she asked casually.

  He snorted. “I was a bit busy with these mud creatures.”

  She nodded once, thrusting with her sword, pushing the mud monster back again. “Good.”

  “Good?” he asked in exasperation.

  “It could be worse,” she said succinctly.

  He grunted. “I don’t see how.”

  Just then, the walls began to shake, and smaller rocks and a layer of dust fell from the roof of the cave.

  “Dammit, you had to say that,” she complained, looking up.

  “I don’t understand how my comment could change anything,” he muttered.

  “In this place, it does.”

  He was tiring of her vagueness. “What do you mean? How do you know?”

  She glanced over at him, then at her monster. “You don’t want to know.”

  He grimaced. “You know what? I believe I do.”

  She thrust her sword straight into the mud monster in front of her, turning it and pushing it back against the wall of the corridor. She was blocking his view with her body, but Durstin could have sworn that a beam seemed to shoot down her sword into it, and a breath later, the monster dropped to the ground as if it had never been alive.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked in shock.

  She turned to him, thrusting her sword into his mud monster and doing the same thing. “Nothing.”

  “No, how did you do that?”

  She shrugged, avoiding his gaze. “I don’t know, but it worked, so that’s all that should matter.”

  “But I stabbed them numerous times, and that never happened. That beam seemed to come down your sword into it.” Almost like magic. He didn’t give voice to the thought. He couldn’t.

  She shrugged and looked at her sword. “Maybe it’s something special about this elven sword. We should keep going. I have a feeling that if we stay here more of those things will form.”

  “How do you know? Did your people fight these things?” He was starting to wonder what he really knew about her. According to her foster parents, she had been around seven or eight when King Karolus had found her. She didn’t seem to remember much about her childhood, so he hadn’t questioned her about it. “Where did you get that sword, anyway?”

  “Father traded for it on my first birthday with them,” she replied, continuing down the tunnel.

  He shook his head and followed. He couldn’t ignore that she had tried to stop him from touching the keyhole as if she had known what would happen. Yes, she could have just been cautioning him against touching something that neither of them knew anything about, but something was telling him not to be so naive. Elven-looking keyhole. Magic mud monsters. Elven sword to defeat them.

  He turned to her, searching her face. “What do you know about the elves?”

  Chapter Six

  Kirsten

  Kiersten winced, wondering if she could get away with lying. So far, she’d existed by misdirecting the truth, and since her life in Vierten was so far removed from her old home, no one really asked too many questions.

  She’d been hiding for so long that she actually thought for a moment about going back, pretending as if she didn’t know what had happened that had made her flee.

  She knew she couldn’t, and just the thought of never seeing her husband again was almost enough to bring her to her knees.

  So, instead of answering, Kiersten turned and took off down the tunnel, as if she could outrun him in this place. She didn’t have time to tell him the truth, but she definitely planned to be the one to complete the trials—whatever they were. Yes, he was the one who had touched the keyhole first, but there was no way she would allow him to risk his life for an elven prophecy.

  If this were really what she thought it to be, then she knew the guardian who stood sentry for the Cave of Knowledge would be in here somewhere, and she might need her husband’s help. Because she and the guardian went way back. As far back as it was possible to go.

  Durstin had caught up and was striding in sync with her. “You’re going to have to tell me sometime.”

  She blew out a breath. “I know, but not yet.”

  Their conversation was cut short because out of the semidarkness, the guardian appeared in a dress that radiated a bright white light, and she was holding a flaming golden sword in her hand. Her hair was burnished gold, her golden eyes matching the golden flame of her sword.

  “Who the hell is that?”

  Kiersten stepped in front of her husband, holding her sword high. “The guardian of the Cave of Knowledge.”

  The guardian’s face had almost held a smile, but the as the two women’s eyes met, the smile melted away. “Kerryth!” She gasped in old elvish. Her sword disappeared and her eyes narrowed. “No. It can’t be you who will take the tests!”

  Kiersten stared at the woman she hadn’t seen in a thousand years. “And here I am, encroaching on your realm once more.” She tried to keep the bitterness from her voice. “I didn’t particularly have a choice—then or now.”

  “This is my domain.” Merryth’s fist beat at her chest. “I won’t let you take them!”

  “What in the hell is she talking about?” Durstin cut in.

  Kiersten ignored him. “Believe me, I don’t think anything I do now could cancel out your thousand years as the guardian. A thousand years, Merryth. Others could have done this, and still you chose to leave me.” Kiersten’s voice cracked,
though she tried to hide it.

  Merryth’s lips twisted into a bitter grimace. “What other choice did I have? I didn’t have a future in Garthurian. You stole it from me!”

  “Don’t tell me you’re still angry about the necklace. It’s been a thousand years. Mother was out of her head with fever—she didn’t mean to give it to me.”

  “She wasn’t that far gone. She chose you over me—the eldest!” Merryth’s eyes narrowed. “Of course, you were always the perfect daughter. The healer, the one everyone loved.”

  “Because I could afford to be. Everyone knew you were destined for the throne. I didn’t have that responsibility.”

  “Until Mother gave you the necklace. Then you became the chosen one, the inheritor. The one who would marry any man she chose.” Merryth paused. “I no longer had a kingdom. This was my chance to serve our people – to be something great.”

  “The only thing you were was greatly missed. You still had a kingdom, you simply gave it up.”

  Her sister’s face grew red. “No one would have followed me once they found out about the necklace. You had everyone supporting you!”

  “But not the most important person and they don’t matter. None of that mattered after you left!”

  Merryth sucked in a hard breath and paced once and then twice in front of Kiersten before stopping and jabbing a pointed finger at Durstin.

  “What are you doing with this . . . this . . . what the hell is he anyway?”

  “He’s a king, and he’s my husband.” That got her sister’s attention. “After Father died, I refused to marry Elsifan and left Garthurian. I have never once regretted that choice.”

  “Father is dead?” Merryth spluttered. “You left Garthurian? How could you do that? You wasted your life!”

  “I have wasted nothing, and if you would only listen, you would realize that. I’ve had a life, one more fulfilling and replete with joy than I could have ever dreamed. I told you back then, and I will tell you now, that I never wanted Elsifan and I never wanted the kingdom. I would have backed your claim to the throne and been happy to be rid of it.”