Bound by Darkness (Bound By Series)

21. Shared Fates

Chapter 21

Shared Fates

MORIA

I did not receive another dosage.

Not a single injection of powder entered my system. Cold sweats, fits of rage, and pain coursed through me as the powder emptied from my body completely. Yet through the pain, they still pumped me full of minerals, and sometimes, I thought my skin glowed the faintest of blue.

My chains rattled against the stone as thunder shook the building in great, large waves as prisoners swayed in tandem.

Whimpers and fits of coughing sounded in the room as the rest of us dangled like slabs of meat. None of us ever spoke. Didn’t acknowledge the other over these harrowing days, hours—I wasn’t even sure how long I’d been strung here.

The iron door creaked and shuddered as another wave of thunder struck the tower. The storm raged outside, swirling in great big sweeps over Galar.

How were the other prisoners fairing in the torrential rain? Would the guards unleash those weapons once more upon the unsuspecting prisoners as they descended the mountain trail? Would they strike in catacombs where women and children rested—where Ellia rested?

Ellia .

I blinked slowly, my eyes still slightly hazy from the injection. I had forgotten the young girl ridden with fever—a sickly girl lacking fear.

No one else would trek the trail for food and water. No one else would risk stealing tiny morsels to bring back to her. She likely had succumbed to her fever in my absence.

My eyes hurt, but no tears were shed for her. My body lacked the requirements to produce them as vivid images of the young girl flashed in my mind. Far too young to be a slave.

The iron door slammed open as thunder rumbled through, loud and demanding.

“The stench is volatile,” a voice cracked.

“Hush,” an aged voice spoke. “Do your job.”

The woman grumbled, eyes scanning the prisoners on the wall before flicking the lever by the door. The chains rattled once before losing their tether, dropping all of us to the ground.

My neck hurt as I angled it at the woman gliding in. She was dressed in fighting leathers, and no speck of dirt or blood stained them. They both looked ethereal as the taller woman’s gaze struck mine.

A gasp left my lips at her white eyes. No pupil sat in the middle as she blinked twice. Her feet glided over the ground with years of grace and wisdom.

Her ebony hair was wound into tight coils that slid over her shoulders and back. A few pins stuck out from the top of her head, where her remaining hair rested. Stark features crossed her face, her cheekbones jutting out beneath her skin. Her lips were painted purple, a few white dots resting in rows across her chin .

Her lips parted, revealing white teeth as she spoke, “Release them. Find them some clothes as well to cover themselves, Naexi.”

“Don’t order me around,” the younger woman, Naexi, grumbled.

“Do not bite back,” the woman simmered.

Her hands gripped the edge of my chain as she inserted a small, rusted key. The lock clicked, and the second followed shortly after, both chains dropping to the ground with a forceful thud.

“Can you move?” the woman demanded.

I nodded, my eyes wide. “Yes.”

The woman assessed me, her fingers gently caressing my shoulder as her eyes narrowed. “Dislocated,” she muttered to herself. “Are you afraid of pain, girl?”

“No.” Nothing would ever be as painful as my time in these walls.

With a quick twist, bone reset against bone as a sharp cry left my lips. I had no time to rest before she popped my other arm into its socket, tendons snapping and bending into place.

“Do not move them unnecessarily.”

I nodded as I cradled them to my chest. The ache lingered, but I embraced it. Pain was the one thing I knew how to control.

“Iyanna, hurry,” Naexi grumbled. “Here.”

She tossed a bundle of clothing onto the floor. “Found them in a storage closet outside. Grab what you can,” she said to no one in particular. Her foot tapped against the stone, a diamond-encrusted sword sheathed on her back. “We need to go.”

Iyanna gracefully stood, a dagger resting against her hip.

As the prisoners scrambled to dress themselves in proper garb, Iyanna splayed her hands on her hips as her voice traveled through the cracks—through the thundering of heaven.

“If you wish for freedom, fight for it,” she said, the rocks shivering in her presence. “We cannot guarantee your safety outside of these walls.” She gestured around the cylindrical room. “War is ravaging in Galar, but the Hideaway came to rescue you, citizens of Cethales.”

It hadn’t been thunder shaking the tower, but instead a war cry. The rebellion had come to tear Galar from the inside. They had come back for revenge.

Naexi flicked her blonde braid over her shoulder. “Follow behind us. If you falter and stop to stare at the carnage, you’ll be left behind to your demise.”

The rest of us lined behind them like children flocking their parents.

As I glanced behind, I stared at the iron cuffs in the muddied mixture of my blood and filth. I refused to be shackled again. I wouldn’t let them take me. I wouldn’t let my father control my life a moment longer. I left the sheltered, timid girl behind as we marched down the spiral staircase.

Thalia was right. Complacency did not win. Not in a world abandoned by the gods.

Stepping over sentinels and guards, I couldn’t help but admire the deaths plastered on the stone steps and walls.

These women had killed them all effortlessly without a second glance.

I froze.

My eyes glanced at the familiar specs and brown, tattered clothes he wore as his fingers poked and prodded my ruined flesh. Draven was laid among the carnage, an oozing wound festering across his broad chest.

Never again would he stir. Those hands would never torment another .

Only a twinge of rage clung within me that I had not been the one to finish his life.

“Hurry,” Naexi grumbled as the stairs met their end. Tossing the iron door open, light streamed into the tower.

My eyes narrowed as faelight shone through. As I stepped onto the crumbling rock, my bones drank in the fresh mountain air.

“This way!” Naexi’s long painted fingernails pointed toward the giant iron gates of Galar.

They were swung wide open. Only a mere fifty soldiers or so were crashing against the sentinels.

War had indeed found Galar.

The prisoners followed Naexi and Iyanna down the slippery slope toward the giant doors.

But I… I stalled. My feet refused to budge from where I stood as my heart cleaved in half. As their backs turned to the mountain, I slipped underneath the arms of a man as I raced to jagged rocks.

Not one prisoner stopped me as I slipped from the parading mass of slaves to where Ellia may be resting. I knew I chased a ghost, but my heart cracked at the image of her being left behind to rot and suffer in this place until her dying breath.

As I rounded the familiar wedge of giant rock, sentinels clashed around me as they fought back the invaders.

Flashes of blue and black sparked around me as warriors nimbly evaded the weapons that had killed so many before. I didn’t have time to linger and admire their footwork as I headed to the cave where she rested.

My footsteps grew heavier and faster as I willed the lingering beast inside my mind away—the monster salivating for more powder.

Shoving its raking claws away, I took in a shaky breath .

I would rescue Ellia. I would not lose another person because of my idleness. The monster would quiet soon.

Rounding the corner, the familiar strip of broken rock met my hands as it guided me into the dark tunnel.

Prisoners were strewn across the room as red oozed to form giant pools. Weapons were tossed around the area haphazardly from the frenzy.

Searching and searching, my eyes strained among the dead. So many prisoners had taken their last breaths in this cave, the sentinels killing them instead of letting them escape.

I did not see her among the dead. Had she escaped?

A rasp clawed through Death, the sound drawing my attention to a pile of broken bodies.

They shifted, a few tumbling to the ground as a woman emerged covered in red. Another and another emerged from behind bodies, their faces pale and lingering with Death. They had hidden themselves from the sentinels—using their former comrades as cover.

A woman’s shaky hand rose, veins popping from her sheer skin. “Can… can you get us out?”

“Yeah,” a man whispered. He had a gaping wound spurting life from his thigh. “You—You don’t have chains.” His iron-clad hands shook as he gestured to mine.

The iron was gone, but the weight of those chains hung close. They wanted me to save them? To rescue them from Galar while the Sentinels slaughtered all who breathed? Impossible.

“She can do it,” a meek voice whispered from behind.

I recognized the sweetness of her voice—a voice a breath away from silence as I turned around, her face painted in oil as blood dribbled down her chin.

She was clutching onto life, but it was abandoning her quickly. She showed no malice to it as a smile appeared on her lips. Covered from head to toe in red, she’d hidden too. Used the dead of her prison mates to hide her frame.

I thanked the gods for blessing her with wit as I hauled her to my chest, her body shivering. “Ellia, oh gods. You’re okay.”

Ellia patted my back once. “I’m not dying… that easily.” She coughed, blood peppering my tunic. “Sorry,” she said as she wiped her red lips.

“What do you mean she can do it?” A young boy clung to the older woman’s shirt, her sheer hands caressing his head.

Ellia let go of me as she stared at the boy, hands on her hips. “She’s the daughter of Euris Feyron. General to King Hywell… and a Rahan High Fae who possesses the casting of her ancestors—descendants of one of the first Four Kings of Cethales.”

Murmurs echoed around the still room as eyes flared to me. Some softened. Others hardened their gazes, embracing each other a bit tighter.

“How do we know she doesn’t work for them?” The boy said, his eyes widening as his fingers trembled.

My name did this. My people did this—killing innocents to maintain a balance they thought necessary.

Ellia coughed, but her stance remained strong. “She gave me this,” she said as she lifted the necklace from beneath her shirt. “A gift… of trust,” she spoke. “Moria will get us out. I promise. Right?”

Her eyes flicked to me as I stood there, twenty eyes shifting to me.

It had been years since I’d fought—felt metal cling to my hand as I’d practiced beneath the mountains of Raha, my ancestors rippling through my blood with each strike. Did my casting still exist? Did it still breathe within despite the torture—despite the black minerals running in my veins?

A hand gripped mine, tender and soft as I stared into blue. She was so young and here she was, choosing to stand beside the enemy. She was brave. More than I’d ever be as I squeezed her hand back, warmth caressing the chill of my heart.

“I can,” I said, my head dipping in a nod. “I can get us out if you’ll… if you’ll put your trust in me.”

I took a shaky breath as I stepped forward, that warmth leaving my hand. “Rebellion has found Galar, its walls crumbling as their group rescued me from the tower. The sentinels who’d flooded this cave would rather kill you than let you escape because they know… they know you’d give your dying breath to see Cethales freed.” I swallowed. “Rebellion waits outside the gates for you—for us.”

“Let’s show this place… show King Hywell what his slaves can do,” Ellia added, her teeth barring as a snarl tore through her throat. “I’m willing to find… this rebellion—” She coughed, a rasping breath echoing before her eyes narrowed. “Find this rebellion at the gates if it means they will rescue us.”

I gave her a small smile, a thank you breathed in her direction as I swept my hand over the cave. “Find any weapon you can. I’m not sure how long we have until another group of sentinels rush down the mountainside toward the rescuers awaiting us at the bottom.”

As the quiet clinking of metal upon metal rose, a bit of pride welled in my heart as I thought of Thalia. She’d be proud of me and that was enough to spur me forward to Death’s edge.

The path was treacherous, wet from runoff and blood as my bare feet pressed into the mud. There was no cover. Only open air and one path to follow toward the broken doors of Galar.

Sentinels were screaming, streaks of black and blue painting the air in misery as we descended into the fray. They were fighting their battle with whoever had blasted the gates. A war of their own as we waged ours.

A ray of blue raced toward my head as I ducked, yanking on a woman’s shirt as she dropped to the mud. The streak hit rock, pieces crumbling.

“Thank… thank you,” she rasped, her hands trembling. She would have been in its path, obliterated into nothing.

“Watch—”

Black slammed into a young man, his face curling to white as he disintegrated into a pile of bones.

Screams tore from the group as they ducked, hands flying over their hands. Chaos ensued as they spread like rodents, hands flailing as they ducked to the ground.

“Quiet!” I hissed, my eyes widening. “They will come running!”

But it was too late as a sentinel appeared from around jagged rock, his weapon glowing.

He dragged a man with a sword in one hand, his teeth barring. “You think this will stop her? She’s building an army to take on King Hywell,” he spat, blood plopping onto his chest.

The sentinel blasted him, his words dying in the wind.

The guard turned to me, a smirk lighting his face. “Going to join the rest at the gate?” Laughter bubbled from him. “Sorry to disappoint, but no one is leaving here alive. If others discover what is happening on Galar, King Hywell will murder us. Head back up the hill and you may live.”

“We’d rather die fighting.” Ellia coughed, her fingers tinted red. “We will not be slaves anymore. We are free.”

A young man gripped the sword in his scarred hand tighter as he rose it to the guards. “Free,” he echoed. “We are free.”

The sentinel flicked his gaze across everyone as that weapon rose to point at my chest. “Then you will die.” He licked his lips. “Starting with you.”

My eyes widened as I gripped the curve of metal. Was I swift enough to outrun a blast? Could I duck in time? What if I moved first, striking him where he stood? Would that?—

The weapon sparked and a flash of blue starlight caught my eye before the stream of black erupted from it. I was going to die. The spark of the weapon too fast to maneuver from as I waited for the buzzing sensation to overtake my body.

I’m sorry Thalia. I’m breaking our promise.

But there was no impact. No gruesome scream as my eyes widened.

I had not taken the hit.

Her body froze, her mouth opening in a silent screech as she looked at me, blood oozing from the wells of her eyes before she vanished in a flash of sparkling night.

Where she had once stood, only a pile of charred ash remained.

I dropped to my knees as my hands shook above ash.

Ellia—she was gone. A pile the wind slowly stole with each breath.

My hands gathered ash and soot, as if it would bring her back. Bring back what she’d done for me.

Wails erupted from my chest as tears plopped onto the ashen pile. She’d given her life for a coward’s.

A scream tore through my chest, hollow and raw as something glittered in that pile of soot. My fingers reached into it as I pulled the necklace I’d gifted her.

How it’d survived, I had no idea, but I wrapped it around my hand as I stood, raw streaks of red stinging my cheeks. Her death would not go in vain. Rage replaced sadness, a darker vice than any Draven had gifted me.

The sentinel grinned. “What a pity. I thought?—”

The sword flung from my hand, striking him through the chest as it pinned him to the rock behind. The blade was imbedded into stone, burning wood curling around my nostrils.

Casting—hot and potent flowed from my hands as that power fueled my heartbeats.

The sentinel coughed, blood splattering against iron. His hands shook as he raised the weapon despite the blood pooling from the wound. “You… will die,” he rasped, eyes drooping as the blood loss devoured his life.

Blinding hot rage seared my eyes and skin as something festered below the casting, hungry and deep. I tapped into that power as sparks of blue kissed my fingertips, years of torment clinging to them.

This was for the years I’d let men defile me. The years I’d let Gayle abuse me for scraps of food and tonics. Years of hands caressing my skin under the blanket of night so that I might not die. This was for the dead souls in the cave.

This was for Ellia—for her sacrifice. For believing in a coward who’d lost her way.

I held nothing back as I grabbed his neck, driving every ounce of casting ability into his fragile neck until I ripped it clean from his body.

I tossed it like a sack of potatoes as his body slumped against rock, the sword pinning his twitching legs to stone.

My lungs screamed with excess air as I stared at my fingertips bleeding blue. It was aiding my casting as I turned to the rest of them.

“Move!” I screamed, pain lacing each syllable. “Go!”

The rest of the prisoners scrambled to their feet as they hauled themselves down the mountainside, leaving me alone with a song of grief.

My hands gripped my hair as tears filled the pools of my eyes at that ashen pile.

I wept as the necklace burned my hand .

Between rasping sobs, a lament wailed from my lips as I blessed her, wherever she was. I prayed to the gods to hold her tight in my stead.

She would not be forgotten.

I would leave Galar and tell her story—tell the story of what happened beneath these cliffs as I walked down the hillside.

A few sentinels charged at me, but casting tore them in half before they loosened their first cries.

How had I forgotten its mastery? Its wails of pleasure as it tore through my skin. I’d forgotten how it felt to be this strong. To rely on the casting I’d inherited from my father as I descended from Death.

The gates were still steaming hot from the blast I’d assumed they had caused—the women I’d met in the tower. I did not look back as I exited the blazing metal. I would not give this place an ounce more of my suffering as I headed toward the oak trees?—

Two figures darted from the shadows, a handful of prisoners remaining within the oak’s shade.

“Where did you run off to?” Iyanna spat, her white eyes furiously blinking.

Holding my gaze steady, I lifted my shoulders in front of the two warriors. “I went to see a friend.”

Naexi’s brow quirked, but she remained silent as her lips rested in a thin line.

My fingers curled, nails stabbing flesh as I let their gazes sink into me. “I want to join you, the rebels.”

Iyanna’s face relaxed, a great breath expelling from her chest as if in relief before forced laughter echoed from her lips. “We aren’t the rebels, girl. We’re something far more promising.”