Verecleeve's Arc

Chapter 8 of 8

The tower had seen him. So Verecleeve stopped running from it and ran toward it. If the walls knew where he stood, then hiding was worthless. He crossed the last dying trees and reached the base while the green light still crawled the stone. He circled the tower and found what he wanted. The walls held many doors, and most stood forgotten. One low arch hung open, choked with dead vines. He slipped inside. The passage was dark and cold. He kept the scattergun ready and moved slow. A guard stood at a bend, his back turned, watching the wrong way. Verecleeve crossed the stone without a sound. He wrapped an arm across the man's throat and held until the body went slack. He lowered it gently and left it in the shadow. One less between him and the Magus. He climbed a curling stair and pushed through a warped door. A small room waited beyond it. A girl crouched in the corner. She was thin and pretty, with pale hair and a light green dress torn at the hem. She flinched when the door moved, then went still and stared at his rifle and his hooded face. "You're Grondallynn's sister," he said. "Calliope." Her eyes changed at the name. "You know my sister?" "I made her a promise." He kept his voice low. "I get you out before I finish the man who put you here." She did not move. "They'll kill her if I run." "They won't get the chance." He held out his hand. "But I can't drag you through the whole tower. Not with what I mean to do next." She looked at the hand, then at the dark stair behind him. He saw her decide to trust him. She took his fingers and stood. Her hand was warm, warmer than a scared girl's hand should be. He noticed it and let it go. He pulled her back down the stair to a storeroom off the passage. Crates and old barrels filled it. He cleared a gap behind the largest crate and set her there. "Stay small. Stay quiet." He crouched to her eye level. "If I don't come back, wait for the noise to stop, then run the way I brought you." "What noise?" "You'll know it." She caught his sleeve. "He's not a man you fight. I've watched him. He breaks things just to show he can." "I built a rifle for a man like that." He checked the scattergun and stood. The girl was safe, hidden, out of the line of fire. His promise to Grondallynn was half kept. Now only the stairs and the Magus stood between him and the thing he had crossed the whole map for. Verecleeve turned toward the deep of the tower and started to climb.