Chapter Eighteen

Overruled

‘Come on, sweetheart, don’t you want to play?’ The disembodied voice made me bristle.

“This is worse than I expected,” Sihix remarked, rubbing his chin while he studied the interior of the wind chamber. “Well. In we go!”

“Wait,” I started to protest, but it was too late.

Sihix tore open a portal with little effort and threw us in ahead of him. On the other side, Nalithor and I fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs. I winced and pulled myself off my nylziis. Once we were both standing, a small frown came to my face. It was too quiet.

“Now then,” Sihix murmured, making a brief motion at me. Darkness spread from his fingertips and shot through the center of my forehead. “That should take care of a few things while we’re here. Can’t have Oraetha making my precious Ari-mrii unstable.

“Well, more unstable.”

“Must you incessantly tease her?” Nalithor sighed. “This is not the time.”

“Enough playing around.” I raised a hand and concentrated briefly, condensing darkness in my palm. Shortly after, my magic tore the doors to the room off their hinges. “We should go find—”

I cut myself off, my stomach twisting in disgust. It took most of my willpower to keep myself from vomiting on the spot. Decaying corpses littered the hallway of the prison beyond, covering the floor in congealed goo. The stench was enough to nearly knock me off my feet. I hurriedly summoned something to wrap around the lower half of my face, but it didn’t help much.

It was no wonder the prison was so quiet.

“This is…” Nalithor grimaced and procured several balls of qustrr from his shrizar, handing half of them to me. When he placed his within his face wrap, I did the same. It didn’t completely overpower the smell, but at least it helped. “Did Oraetha do this?”

“Doubtful. It looks to me as if the prisoners attempted to eat each other.” Sihix tilted his head, examining the corpses with fleeting glances as he strode down the prison hallway. “Come along. The less time we must stay here, the better.”

‘I am not walking on that…’ My stomach turned at the thought. I promptly used darkness to float myself and followed after Sihix. Nalithor followed suit.

“It looks like they’ve been dead for weeks,” Nalithor muttered, drifting closer to me.

“Considering they’re so rotted I can’t even tell what species most of them are, I’d say ‘weeks’ may be a generous guess.” I shook my head. “My question is where the guards are. I don’t sense any living people.”

“Nor do I.” Sihix glanced back at us. “Perhaps I didn’t need to bring my favorite pets along anyway!” Sihix paused, narrowing his eyes. “Now, now, Oraetha… I am not letting you ‘borrow’ Ari-mrii.”

“Borrow?” Nalithor asked as I bristled.

“The piece of Oraetha that’s trapped here wants to wrest Arianna from my protection,” Sihix stated, his mouth twisting into a snarl. “Come. We are dealing with this place now. We have fooled around for long enough.”

Nalithor and I exchanged an uneasy glance and followed the fuming Lari’xan. The only sound in the prison of wind was Sihix’s footsteps and the rustling of our clothes. I sensed Oraetha slinking around my barriers and whatever Sihix had done, but she wasn’t capable of getting past his work. Sihix was able to block out most of my senses, but I could still feel how wrong Oraetha’s presence felt.

I glanced toward Nalithor, examining his expression. Our Lari’xan companion hadn’t done anything to suppress my nylziis’ senses. He looked prepared to tear into anything that moved. I chewed on my lower lip and glided faster down the hallway, stopping before the next bulkhead. This one wasn’t locked, allowing us to open it with ease.

“Let’s torch the place,” Nalithor stated, gliding past me and into the gore-free hallway beyond. His armored boots clicked against the worn stone floor as he ceased gliding and began to walk. “Arianna, start with the portal room and that section of the prison. I’ll deal with the torture chambers, laboratories, and anything else I find in this direction.”

“No, you won’t,” Sihix stated, blocking Nalithor’s path. He closed his eyes briefly, sending his power rushing through me and my nylziis alike. Moments later, our power and his exploded through the prison, shattering everything in sight like glass. Sihix caught Nalithor and I each over one forearm, sighing. “Now then, with that done, I am going to get to work. The two of you are to remain here.”

Sihix dropped us unceremoniously on our bed and then strode out of the room, humming an oddly malicious-sounding tune to himself. I groaned, pulling myself into a sitting position. Whatever the Lari’xan bastard had done, it gave me a splitting headache. The clinking of metal caught my attention, making me shift my attention to Nalithor as he yanked off pieces of armor and threw them to the floor.

“You have your shrizar for that,” I pointed out.

“I can’t access it—or sense anything beyond this room,” Nalithor huffed in response. “I get the feeling Sihix made it so that we cannot leave the cottage.”

“So, he destroyed the prison but maybe left something alive?” I frowned, wobbling to my feet to undress. When I attempted to access my shrizar, the pain in my head worsened. “Ugh. The bastard. Just what is he up to that doesn’t require Balance’s help?”

“Maybe we aren’t ‘official’ enough to assist further.” Nalithor sounded just as bitter as I felt. He released a heavy sigh and turned to look at me. “Let’s take a bath. That stench is still clinging to both of us.”

“You won’t hear any complaints from me.” I nodded, then winced. “Well, not about the idea of a bath, anyway…”

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