The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga, #1) - G.A Aiken Page 0,61
you!”
She ran to the throne, but the Witch Queen was already moving, with several of her assistants beside her.
“You know what to do,” the Witch Queen ordered. “Don’t delay. The doorway will only be open for five minutes.”
Gemma grabbed the Witch Queen’s arm and pulled her around. “Come with us! We’ll protect you!”
The queen laughed and pressed her hand against Gemma’s cheek. “You are not what I expected, War Monk. But you need not worry for us. We are leaving this place until all things are settled.”
“This world?”
The Witch Queen’s confused frown embarrassed Gemma even as the fire around her spread.
“No, woman. We are going to the Northlands. Far away from here. Witches there will protect us and our books and papers until we can come back. They are warriors, a lot like you. We’ll be safe with them.” A large book was pushed into the queen’s arms. “I must flee, Monk. But there is something you must remember. Keeley isn’t dead. And we will not be here to agree or disagree about who was named queen.”
“Delora was just lying about Keeley.”
“She was lying about Beatrix as well.” The queen reached up and placed her hand on Gemma’s shoulder. “I’m guessing your sister is using Marius’s forces to attack our fortress. A fortress that has stood here for more than four thousand years without incident. Beatrix is a dangerous woman. She will take down anyone who gets in her way. But your sister Keeley . . .”
“Is just a blacksmith.”
“Don’t underestimate her. You’ve already made that mistake with Beatrix. And see where we are now?”
“The door is open, my queen!” a voice yelled from one of the nearby tunnels, while the sounds of wind battered the walls as fireballs battered the building. “Please! Come!”
“Good luck to you, War Monk.”
“And to you, Witch Queen.”
Delora attempted to push by the queen, trying to run down the hall where the doorway had been opened. But the Witch Queen caught the bitch by the collar of her dress and yanked Delora back, tossing her to the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going, traitor?” the queen asked.
“You can’t leave me!”
“You can die here with your collaborators,” she tossed over her shoulder, waving as she walked off.
“Noooo!” Delora cried out. She scrambled to her feet and again tried to enter the tunnel. But Gemma wasn’t about to let that happen.
She grabbed Delora by her hair and yanked her around. With a quick swipe of her eating dagger, she slit the witch’s throat from ear to ear.
Gagging, Delora dropped to her knees, her hands around her throat, attempting to stanch the blood. But within seconds, she was facedown on the floor and unmoving.
Gemma pressed her hand against the witch’s back and chanted the song of death.
The corpse stood again and Gemma pointed at the doorway. “Go. Kill the enemy,” she said, knowing the bitch wouldn’t make it far. But she still deserved this end.
Gemma rushed back to the healing chambers, but by the time she arrived, her unconscious sister was already on a pallet and the pallet was attached to a work harness that Caid and Laila had somehow gotten on the wild horse. The demon wolves surrounded the horse and Keeley.
“Where are we going?” Gemma asked, moving past her cousin, Samuel, and the horse, so that she’d be ahead of them all.
“Amichai lands,” Laila replied. “We’re not that far.”
“All right. Stay behind me. Be ready for anything. Kill anyone who gets in our way.”
“Or,” Laila quickly suggested, “we can try to survive this by sneaking out a back way that I know.”
Gemma shrugged. “If you insist on going with logic . . .”
Smirking, Laila took the lead. With a dramatic shake of her fine mass of hair, she shifted to centaur. The tips of her antlers nearly touched the stone ceiling. They were not as big as her brother’s . . . but they still made a dramatic statement.
Gemma pulled out her two short swords and adjusted her shoulders, ready for battle.
“Wait!” Keran abruptly called out as she ran back into the healing chamber.
“We need to move, Cousin!”
Keran returned but she now held Keeley’s hammer.
“She’d have killed us all if we’d left this behind,” she said with a smile.
And her cousin had a point.
CHAPTER 15
The journey was long, but Caid barely noticed. He ate, but only when his sister put food in his hand. He slept, but like a prey animal. More awake than asleep, waiting for an attack at any time.