“Find them! They shouldn’t have escaped that quickly!” Alethea listened as the Fallen barked orders to each other as they attempted to find the Rasson brothers and her. Peeking from her hiding spot, she could see Mikhail was among the Fallen searching for her. He led his comrades down one of the tunnels. The Ilmarian of Truth listened until their footsteps faded before she scurried in the opposite direction. As soon as she heard someone coming toward her, she would hide in a room until her pursuers disappeared.
She could disguise herself as one of them, but she didn’t want to risk it. Based on what Mikhail told her, the Fallen must have some sort of connection with which they can identify each other. Because of that, she watched and waited until the coast was clear. Once in awhile, she would also see Sendiya, who would increasingly scream at her colleagues. Surprisingly, the Fallen superiors were involved in the search as well. If so, then they must be desperate. The only one missing was Shintra, but then he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.
She kissed her tongue. That bastard Shintra! How dare he manipulated Mikhail and turn him and the other Fallen into his slaves! As soon as she finds Noeth and escapes from this place, she’s going to expose that Duermon to who he really is. However, that wasn’t the only reason she was mad at herself. If only she had listened to her gut instinct! She should have left after spending the night. Now she’s in this mess.
“I knew something wasn’t right here, but no, you didn’t listen. Now we’re stuck in this mess,” Argus fumed. Alethea scowled; he wasn’t going to let her hear the end of it, that’s for sure. “So what’s your next move?”
“Simple. Find Noeth and get out of here,” she answered.
That didn’t suit well with Argus. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him,” he grumbled. “He knew that he was supposed to wait in his room with Corwin, but he decided to go out on a walk. If I were you, I would forget him since he’s probably captured already, but I know you won’t.”
Alethea bristled. “I won’t abandon him, Argus. I promise Corwin that I’ll get him back. Not to mention, I lost him when he was Dalin, and I won’t lose him again.”
The Parasitic Duermon didn’t reply, which she took as a sign that he was resigned to the fact that she wasn’t going to listen to him. After checking to see the hall was empty, she set out once more. As she ran down the tunnel, she would glance at the rooms to see if Noeth was hiding in one of them. However, there was no sign of him. Where in Samara is he?
“Don’t you think it’s odd?” Argus wondered aloud.
She slowed down. “What odd?” the Aerian inquired as she peeked into another room.
“That Shintra is having those Fallen search the place for you. He, of all people, should know that you have a needle ring. Why bother unless he knows that Noeth wasn’t with you?”
“Maybe one of the Fallen saw him walking around and alerted the others?” Alethea reasoned. “Remember, some of them were patrolling the area.”
“I guess, but this smells fishy to me.”
The Ilmarian of Truth scowled. “Argus, there’s no way Noeth knows that this was a tr-” All of a sudden, someone in the shadows stepped in front of her, which caused her to let out a yelp and jump slightly. Dammit, she was distracted arguing with Argus that she didn’t pay attention to her surrounding.
She quickly summoned her spear and was about to strike when she hear a familiar voice asked, “Thea, what the hell is going on here?”
Alethea lowered her weapon and stared. “Noeth? Where were you? I was looking for you everywhere!”
“I was taking a walk,” he replied. “That is until the Fallen suddenly acted weird and chased after me. I managed to evade them, but I’ve been hiding from them ever since. Now can you tell me what’s going on?”
“Taking a walk? I told you to wait for me in your room!” she hissed.
“Sorry, but I was feeling antsy,” he replied. “Now are you going to answer my question?”
Before she could answer, she heard shouting. Cursing underneath her breath, she grabbed the front of Noeth’s shirt and pulled him into an empty room. It was just in time because a group of Fallen stormed past by hiding spot. She and Noeth watched silently in the darkness until the last of them was disappeared behind the corner. “They’re gone,” Argus confirmed.
She breathed a sigh of relief and pulled her needle ring. As she pricked her finger, she began, “Do you remember when I told you that I was kidnapped as a child?”
“Yeah, by that colleague of yours, Shintra,” Noeth said. “Why?”
“Well, he’s the commander of the Fallen. He must use his magic on them and made them into his obedient servants. Now he’s using them to capture us especially Corwin.”
“Cor? I don’t understand. Why would he want my brother if he’s dangerous?” he asked.
“Because Shintra wants to use him as a weapon against Kejuta!”Alethea answered. “If he has Corwin, then he’ll have leverage over her and the rest of my friends.”
“Make sense,” Noeth muttered. “Where’s Cor anyway? Is he safe?”
The Aerian nodded. “He’s fine. I already sent him off to another location through my needle ring.”
“Where?”
“The Llinan coast. I told him to hide somewhere and wait for us. Anyway, I need to concentrate so stand guard while I get ready,” she said. Of course, she really didn’t need him to do that; Argus was already being a lookout. She just needed to keep Noeth occupied.
“Sure,” Noeth agreed and walked toward the entrance to keep watch. She looked at him as he peered through the doorway for a moment before she went back to her task. Closing her eyes, she visualized the Llinan coast. Sharp rocks stood erect near the dark gray cliffs as the waves crashed against them. On the tallest cliff was a lighthouse, which was distinctive due to the white-and-red stripes. With the image in her head, she opened her eyes and tossed the ring into the air.
While the needle ring slowly expanded, she turned back and said, “Noeth, let’s g-” and was startled to find him standing right in front of her. When did he sneak up on her?
Not saying a word, he suddenly placed his hand on her shoulder. His eyes stared down at her intently, which disturbed her. She was about to ask him what he was doing when Argus shouted, “Watch out!”
Before she could react, she felt something sharp piercing her chest as her body jerked from the impact and looked down to see a knife sticking out. Blood poured from her wound and onto the rocky floor, causing ceraphilis flowers to spring forth. Stunned, she glanced up to see an emotionless Noeth staring back at her. “Noeth… why?” she managed to muster as she reached out to grasp the hand which held the knife. However, her hand felt like rubber so it slipped and dropped to her side.
“Lord Shintra wanted you captured so he asked me to delay you as much as possible. He figured that you would go out of your way to look for me, and it seemed that he was right,” he answered as he pulled the knife out. “It’s unfortunate that Cor wasn’t with you, but that doesn’t matter. Thanks to you, he’d also retrieve my brother and begin the next phase of his plans.”
Alethea became alerted. Noeth was under Shintra’s control since when? Did it happen recently or…? A horrifying insight popped into her head as she recalled Noeth’s strange behavior after meeting with Mikhail yesterday and what her former fiancé told her about his commander afterward. “Apparently, he arrived a few hours ago, but he wanted to fully rest before he meets Aerius’s successor. I hope you don’t mind.”
Dammit, she should have known! She has to escape and warn Corwin of the danger. Unfortunately, her knees buckled, and she started to stumble to the ground. However, Noeth grabbed her arms before she could collapse. “Sh! It’s be all right,” he whispered as he gently lowered her to the ground.
“Noeth, don’t! Remember who you are!” she pleaded to no avail. Despite her protests, he continued to push her down; even though a reassuring smile was on his face, his eyes remained impassive.
All of a sudden, another voice cut through the air. “You found out the Lashival’s location?”
Noeth turned around and nodded. “Yes, it’s through there. She told me that they’re supposed to be meeting in that cabin,” he answered, gesturing toward the gateway.
Who was that? Looking past Noeth’s shoulder, she could barely make out blurry figures walking toward them. However, their glowing red eyes told her who they were. A Dalenthi walked by Noeth and her and peered through the portal warily. “Are you sure she didn’t trick you?”
“Of course not! She trusts me so she told me everything. Besides, she didn’t know that I serve our master until it was too late.”
“Hmph! If you say so.” The Dalenthi motioned to his men. “You five, come with me! The rest of you will bring our ‘guest’ back to Shintra. He’s really eager about retrieving his ‘little bird’.”
The demons nodded and did as they were ordered. The Ilmarian of Truth felt herself being lifted off the ground and carried. Glancing up, she saw that it was one of the Dalenthi, who noticed that she was staring at him. “Sleep tight, Aerian. You’ll be staying with us for a long time,” he taunted, showing a toothy grin.
Alethea opened her mouth to speak, but all she could do was gurgle as blood trickled from her mouth. Her vision was diminishing, and she found it was getting harder for her to concentrate as she tried her best to stay awake to no avail. Everything was blurry, and she felt herself drifting away. Her body felt cold, and she could barely move a finger. She could hear Argus begging her to stay awake, but his voice sounded like a fly buzzing in her ears. As her conscious faded, all she could think was that she had unwittingly led everyone to a trap.
