CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

FROM THE JOURNAL OF RUBY

The Lucky Elisa came to a stop. I could hear the sailors above, running about, tying the ship to the dock.

“My stomach pains me, sister,” the impostor said.

“You will be fine. It must be sea sickness.”

Minutes later, we disembarked, carrying our belongings. I walked down the gangplank with “Shirelle” behind me.

A carriage waited for us.

“Are you Ruby?” the driver asked.

“Yes.”

“Get in. There isn’t much time.”

I entered the coach, a bit puzzled by the driver’s attitude. I sat down on the soft cushioned bench and waited for the impostor.

Leonis joined me.

“Did you really think poison would work?” he asked with his repulsive grin.

FROM THE JOURNAL OF HANDICE

Rany was dying. The healing potion had helped, but the injury was severe, and he was fading quickly.

“Brietta,” I called. I did not have to raise my voice. She was close.

Rany groaned. “What in gods’ hell are you doing here, Handice? What happened with the girl? Did you find her?”

“You must be quiet, Rany.”

Brietta appeared and looked Rany over.

“He isn’t going to make it.”

“Can you heal the wound?”

“Why?”

“He might have information.”

Ruby

The carriage began to move, fast.

I am ready for some unpoisoned wine now, what say you?” Leonis asked me.

“I am not in the mood for wine.”

“Why not? Surely you could use it. I wager that your pretty little mind is reeling at the moment.”

“Where are we going?” I demanded. I could barely look at him.

“We are going to have some fun, darling. If you are lucky, you might even get to see your father.”

We rode for an hour, perhaps a bit longer.

I said nothing the entire time.

Leonis seemed content to ride in silence. He seemed to have no concern at all that I might try to escape or to harm him.

His fat body made an ample target, if only I had a knife.

But if the poison did not harm him, what would?

I watched the world pass by through the small window. It was a very pretty day.

After a time, the coach halted.

“Come, dear,” Leonis beckoned, exiting the coach and holding out his hand.

I ignored the fat hand and jumped down to the ground.

I looked about, eyeing the quickest possible escape route.

I immediately saw that we were not alone.

“Do not harm the girl,” Leonis instructed.

A group of giant spiders surrounded us. Watching. I could see their giant, alien eyes, looking at me, their legs twitching in anticipation, itching to attack.

I repressed a wave of revulsion. I had always hated spiders, even the normal sized ones. These were larger than dogs.

I was not the only one nervous. The coachman said shakily, “I will be going, Master.”

“Yes, thank you,” Leonis said. “Your service will not be forgotten. Come, girl.”

We stood by an ancient stone ruin. The door had been left open.

“Him you can harm,” Leonis told the spiders.

In an instant they were on the man and the horses.

I had to look away.

The man’s screams echoed in the early morning.

Worse were the screams of distress and terror of the horses as they died.

“Do not be squeamish,” Leonis told me. “He would have slit your throat if I had told him to do so. But he saw too much. Come, let us go inside.”

We entered the tomb and went down into subterranean darkness. No sunlight made it in. We navigated the dank corridors by torchlight.

We walked past beast men who stood so close to me, watching me intently, that I could feel their hot breath on my face. I could smell the stench of them, like wet corpses left out in the rain.

“Easy,” Leonis told them. “She is not for you. Not yet.”

For nearly an hour we walked through a maze of corridors. Leonis never faltered or hesitated when we had to choose which direction to go. He knew the way as if he had designed it himself. Behind me, a spider followed, urging me forward and preventing any temptation to flee.

At the end of the dungeon we came to a solid wall. Leonis pressed his hands upon it and a pathway emerged. We went into a small, round room. In the center was a metal plate, the size of a shield. Leonis took me by the arm and stood me upon it, holding me as if we were dancing.

“Watch this,” he said, with that nasty leer of his.

The room dissolved around us. Suddenly we stood in a different room.

The monsters were gone.

Now, new creatures appeared, skeleton men and jackos, approaching Leonis eagerly like dogs to their master.

They all looked at me with keen interest, but Leonis staved them off.

“She is with me,” he told them. “She is my new pet.”

He asked me, “What did you think of that? We just teleported four hundred miles. Beats sitting in a coach for a week, you must admit.”

“Who are you?”

He laughed. “Do you really need to ask?”