AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His blood chilled as he glanced around. There were no other entrances in or out of the fort. Just the main door where he’d have seen her if she’d exited. None of the windows were large enough for a person to get through.
His gaze went to the hearth. Cold and empty. The ashes spilled onto the floor hadn’t been there before. He moved slowly to the fireplace and crouched to look within, the chimney more than wide enough for a person to climb out. Only he didn’t get the impression Fionna had climbed of her own will, not with the scuffs marring the soot that lined the chimney. Bits of filmy threads clung here and there to the stone. He plucked one loose, the strand sticky, like webbing.
His mind flashed to a childhood tale that featured giant spiders that the storyteller claimed used to live in the caves peppering the mountains. These massive arachnids supposedly stole people and dragged them to their nests for food. Surely a fabrication of a fanciful mind, or was it? After all, he’d also not believed in dragons.
Rather than climb up the chimney, he raced to the stairs in the courtyard that led to the parapet that wrapped around the fort. The chimney was incorporated into the wall. At its tip, he saw more signs of an arachnid. Webbing dangled and dropped to the ground outside the fort wall. Visibility worsened as thefalling snow thickened, meaning he couldn’t see far into the pass, but he could guess where she’d been taken.
To the cave.
Panic filled him. He had to find Fionna. But first, he grabbed her things, tucking the mirror away before he stowed her bags on the rump of his horse. He then mounted and galloped out into the heavily falling snow.
He’d not gone far when a strange noise startled. He pulled up his stallion and listened.
Heard it again.
A voice.
He whirled to look behind and squinted. Had someone followed him?
The voice once more spoke and he realized it came from his horse’s rump, Fionna’s bag to be exact.
He reached in and pulled out the mirror, doing his best to not startle at the sight of a face peering at him from its surface. Not his own, he should add.
The woman with dark skin and vivid green eyes appeared just as surprised. She exclaimed, “Who are you? Why do you have Fionna’s mirror?”
“I am Kormac, the warlord of Srayth, and you must be the witch queen.”
“What have you done to my adjutant?” she barked.
“Nothing. I would never harm her, but I do believe she’s been taken against her will.”
“I’m too late.” The queen’s lips turned down.
“Explain.” A command that raised her brow.
“I think you should start. What’s happened since I last talked to Fionna? Last I heard you were chasing a man.”
“We found him, and Fionna managed to remove the curse from him. We were about to return to the citadel to getreinforcements to tackle the thing in the cave when she was taken.”
“Taken by what? Fionna is my best warrior.”
It sounded foolish but the evidence didn’t lie. “A very large spider.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, that isn’t good.”
Understatement.
“Your turn. What do you know?” Because Fionna mentioned that the queen had her people looking into the situation to see if they had any records of what might be hiding in the Pass.
“It would seem that Fionna might be the key that will set the thing in the cave free. I was contacting her to tell her to stay far away.”
Her use of the word key reminded him of Lomar’s claim the night before. “I’m going to assume this has to do with her magic.”
“Yes. We finally discovered what the symbol means on those protective devices. It stands for Koschei.”
The word brought a frown. “What is a Koschei?”
“You mean who. He’s a spell caster from a long time ago who found a way to cheat death. There was a chapter about him in a very old book about monsters that used to roam the world. Essentially, this Koschei, when his body failed from age, imbued an object with his essence. Somehow, despite being disembodied, it can still influence the living that come in proximity.”
