Page 78 of Drawn into Oblivion

One of the only things about the hall that looked the same were the gold reliefs on the set of massive wooden doors on the left side. Beyond them was the throne room. And the Damned One himself.

The door they’d used to enter closed with a soft click, giving Mai a start. She glanced at Shumei, whose eyes darted about the hall, looking for something. The empress gasped. With dread, Mai looked in the same direction, for she knew what, or rather who, Shumei had hoped to find.

Though the man’s arms were stretched up and fixed to the wall, which left him unable to sit comfortably, he was so thoroughly coated in filth that he was almost invisible in the deep shadows between two widely spaced sconces. His head was down, his body lax.

Shumei’s attention was fixed on him as she zigzagged through the tables. Mai kept an eye out as she followed, sword still in hand. Though intensely curious about who the man was and why he was here, Mai knew now was not the time to ask.

Her heart clenched as she took in his wretched state. Almost every inch of him had been viciously attacked. Shallow wounds had been left to bleed, and the deeper ones had been sloppily dressed. Though his sex was intact, it certainly wasn’t without injury, and he had tucked his legs against the area as protectively as possible. His wrists were dark with dried blood and bruising, which suggested he had been similarly restrained for long periods of time. Most disturbing was the unnatural thinness of his frame, and the clear attempts to feed him forcefully, as evidenced by the smears around his mouth. Perhaps the animal meat had been for him?

Shumei approached cautiously, one hand out. Mai almost warned the empress of what had happened in her vision, but Shumei cast her spell quickly, touching his chest and whispering the keyword.

“Chinmoku.”

The man woke instantly. He jerked his head up, eyes wild. He opened his mouth wide to scream but didn’t make even a wisp of sound, for the silencing magic had taken his voice. Nevertheless, he vainly struggled against his shackles, and a couple of his wounds opened.

Despite his attempts to become one with the bloodstained wall behind him, Shumei managed to capture his face in her hands. Her touch stilled him. Their eyes connected, and Mai saw the moment his soul slid back into place. Tears slipped down his scrunched-up cheeks, and of the words he silently sobbed, Mai only recognized Shumei’s name. He knew the empress.

“We’re getting you out of here,” Shumei whispered. She didn’t let go of him, surely aware her touch was keeping him sane, and she spoke again in an aside to Mai. “Despite everything Akiji did, I can’t leave him. I’m the reason he became involved with Majo, and unlike her, I have a heart.”

Mai remembered at last where she’d heard the name Akiji, and the memory of the night they’d fought the Damned One’s champion pushed to the front of her mind. Majo had told them her master had decided to keep Akiji, but that had been months ago. How was he still alive?

Although in a way, he wasn’t.

“I’ll get his shackles,” Mai offered, sheathing her sword. The empress whispered a spell that made Akiji go limp. His eyes fell shut, and his face smoothed as he entered a dreamless sleep. Mai pried the pins out of the iron rings holding his wrists to the wall. With their combined strength spells, she and Shumei easily moved him to a chair close to the servant’s door. There, Shumei quickly dressed a wound on Akiji’s chest while Mai wrapped his lower half in a strip of cloth she had cut from the nearest drapery.

“His wounds are many, but none are life-threatening,” Shumei said as she eased her hands away to ensure he wouldn’t slip from his seat.

“I’d be more worried about his mind. I don’t think it survived.”

Shumei’s brow knitted. “I have to try. Now, what do you think you’re doing?”

Mai paused in the middle of drawing her sword. “I’m going to face the Damned One with you.”

“But he doesn’t know you’re here. We have him at a disadvantage.”

“What do you mean? He knew it the second we cast those spells—”

“I think he merely sensed a flare of magic. We even have the same…flavor of magic, so to speak. And none of the demons that have seen us so far have lived. For all he knows, I’m the only one inside his stronghold.”

“You can’t know that for certain,” Mai hissed.

“In your vision, he had captured only me.”

“You’re really willing to bet your life on the accuracy of a dream?”

“I think it was more than a dream, or even a vision,” Shumei said. “I think the Divine One used his power to shift reality. He cast a spell through you.”

The air rushed out of Mai’s lungs. “Me? Why not you?”

“You are the bow, and I am the arrow,” she said with aggravating certainty.

“The arrow usually doesn’t come back on its own,” Mai pointed out.

Shumei smiled at her. “I suppose you’ll have to use magic to do that.”

⁂

Mai stood to the left of the throne room doors. She was to remain hidden while Shumei entered alone. They had both agreed the Damned One wouldn’t attack the empress on sight—he’d likely taunt her first—and Shumei would use that time to get into the best position. Everything after that would be all nerve.