The Eighth Court (The Courts of the Feyr - By Mike Shevdon Page 0,82
do something. My hand flailed out, trying to work out where my sword was. As it did, Gramawl vanished from under me and I fell flat onto the floor like a sack of wet sand.
“Oof!” I sprawled on the floor, winded and aware that I should be rolling to me feet ready for the next attack, but my body was still weak and I had no fight left in me. My bones felt like jelly, and my face was numb on one side from the impact. I raised myself up onto my elbows, trying to focus. The torch was a few feet away, pointing down the tunnel, illuminating the exit, if only I could get to my feet and make a run for it.
Ha! The way I felt at that moment, I might as well have wished to fly.
I pulled myself forward on my forearms, edging towards where the torch lay. My sword was in the light, just beyond it. As the torch came almost into reach, I felt my ankle snag and I began sliding backwards away from the torch. As I did, a pair of boots walked into my limited view and stopped.
She stood in the torchlight where she could be seen and spoke. “OK, Gramawl, how do you want to do this?”
“Amber,” I said. “Kareesh has gone. Don’t hurt him.”
“Don’t hurt him? Have you seen yourself?”
“We don’t need any more violence. It won’t help anyone – least of all Kareesh.”
“No, wait,” she grinned. “Your plan was to lull him into a false sense of security and then… what? Tickle him to death?”
“Gramawl?” I gasped. “I need to talk to you. This isn’t helping. It won’t bring her back.”
The air filled with shivering subsonics which bypassed my ears and made my teeth ache. I took a breath. If he was going to kill me he could have done it already. There was clearly something wrong, and I had to find out what. “Gramawl, I need to know what happened.”
My leg was released and I collapsed back onto the cold floor. Rolling over, I could see a pair of pale golden orbs watching me from beyond the light.
“Amber?”
“I’m here,” she said from behind me.
“Would you wait for me upstairs?”
“You’re joking, right?”
“I need Gramawl to understand that I haven’t come to hurt anyone. I came to see Kareesh, but she’s not here. I want to know what happened, but he’s not going to tell me while you’re standing there with a sword.”
“And what do I tell Blackbird if he tears your arms and legs off?” she asked.
I watched the eye watching me. “He’s not going to hurt me,” I said, “but if by some chance he does, you can tell her that she should ask Gramawl for an explanation. He can explain it to her himself.”
“You’re sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked.
“No, but I don’t know how to do anything else. I’ll join you upstairs in a few minutes.”
The torch skittered across the tiles to where I was kneeling. My hands closed around it and pulled it near, setting it on end on the floor so it shone up the tiled wall, illuminating without dazzling. The golden orbs flicked to the light and back to me. “Can we talk?” I asked.
The sound reverberating through the tunnels faded to a low hum.
“Is Kareesh…?” I let the question hang. The figure in the dark blinked and then edged further into the torch-lit area where I could see him more clearly. I was struck again by the silence of his movement. I could not guess his mood from his face, but from his posture I would say miserable, angry; frustrated. He shook his head slowly, an obvious no.
“She’s not dead?” I asked. He shook his head again.
“That’s good news isn’t it? Where is she then?” He shrugged his massive shoulders, opening his gnarled hands in a gesture of helplessness.
“You don’t know? She can’t have gone far. Where could she…?” His paw slammed into the floor, making the entire passage reverberate with the impact. “OK, OK. I’m sorry. I was only trying to help. I guess you’ve already looked for her and didn’t find her.”
He nodded slowly. I watched his face, noting how his nose twitched. “You’re very good at finding people, aren’t you?” I said, hazarding a guess. He nodded again. “But you didn’t find her, so…” I suddenly understood the problem, “she didn’t want to be found. She’s hidden herself from you. But why?”