As they reached the edge of the woods, Surreal noticed a tree with a perfect branch, a tree sweating dark red sap.
Titian walked past the tree across a lawn filled with tall, silvery flowers. As she picked a flower here and there, it turned into a knife, sharp and shining. Smiling, she offered the bouquet to Surreal.
The drum beat louder, harder.
Someone was screaming.
Titian continued walking toward a large, mist-filled rectangle, pointing here and there. Every time she pointed, the mist drew away. Two redheads. A girl with no eyes. A girl with a slit throat whose eyes blazed with impotent fury. A girl with one leg.
At the far end of the rectangle was a mound of freshly dug earth.
The drum beat faster.
Someone was shrieking, enraged and in pain.
Surreal approached the mound, drawn by something lying over the dirt. As she approached, witchblood began to sprout and bloom, forming a crown around a length of golden hair.
"No!" Surreal yelled, flinging herself out of the bed. The heartbeat drum pounded against her ribs. The screaming in her head didn't stop.
2—Hell
"You're going to help me," Saetan said, turning to face Draca.
"To do what, High Lord?" Draca asked. Her unblinking reptilian eyes revealed nothing.
"Penetrate the mist around Beldon Mor." His golden eyes locked with Draca's, willing her to yield.
Draca studied him for a long time. "There iss danger?"
"I believe so."
"You break faith with her."
"I'd rather have her hate me than have her lost to all of us," Saetan replied sharply.
Draca considered this. "Even the Black iss not sso far-reaching. A leasst not the Black you wear, High Lord. The help I can offer will only let you know what iss beyond the misst, to ssee but not to act. To act, you would need to link with another, sspear to sspear."
Saetan licked his lips, took a deep breath. "There is one there who may help, who may let me use him."
"Come." Draca led him through the corridors of Ebon Askavi toward a large stairwell that descended into the heart of the mountain.
As they reached the stairwell, hurrying footsteps made Saetan swing around in challenge.
Geoffrey appeared around the corner, followed by Andulvar, Prothvar, and Mephis. Andulvar and Prothvar were dressed for battle. Mephis's anger blazed from his Gray Jewel.
Saetan flicked a dagger glance at each of them before his eyes and his anger settled on Andulvar. "Why are you here, Yaslana?" Saetan asked in his soft, dangerous croon.
Andulvar clenched his hands. "That web in your study."
"Ah, so now you possess the ability to read the Hourglass's webs."
"I could snap you like kindling!"
"You'd have to reach me first."
A slow grin bared Andulvar's teeth. Then the grin faded. "The waif's in trouble, isn't she? That's what the web warned you about."
"It's not your concern."
"She doesn't belong just to you, High Lord!" Andulvar roared.
Saetan closed his eyes.Sweet Darkness, give me the strength. "No," he agreed, letting Andulvar see his pain, "she doesn't belong just to me. But I'm the only one strong enough to do what has to be done, and"—he raised a hand to stop their protests, his eyes never leaving Andulvar's face—"if someone has to stand responsible for what's going to happen, if someone is going to earn her hatred, let it be only one of us so the others can still cherish her—and serve her."
"Saetan," Andulvar said, his voice husky. "Ah, Saetan. Is there nothing we can do?"
Saetan blinked rapidly. "Wish me well."
"Come," Draca said urgently. "The Darknesss . . . We musst hurry."
Saetan followed her down the stairwell to the locked door at the bottom. Pulling a large key from her sleeve, Draca unlocked the door and pushed it open.
Etched in the floor of the enormous cavern was a huge web lined with silver. In the center where all the tether lines met was an iridescent Jewel the size of Saetan's hand, a Jewel that blended the colors of all the other Jewels. At the end of each silver tether line was an iridescent Jewel chip the size of his thumbnail.
As Saetan and Draca walked along the edge of the web, the Jewels began to glow. A low hum rose from the web, rising up and up until the cavern throbbed with the sound.
"Draca, what is this place?" Saetan whispered.
"It iss nowhere and everywhere." Draca pointed at his feet. "Your feet must be bare. Flessh musst touch the web." When Saetan had stripped off his shoes and socks, Draca pointed to a tether line. "Begin here. Walk sslowly to the center, letting the web draw you into itsself. When you reach the center, possition yoursself behind the Jewel sso you are facing the tether line closesst to Beldon Mor."
"And then?"
Draca studied Saetan, her thoughts hidden. "And the Blood sshall ssing to the Blood. Your blood, darkened by your sstrength, will feed the web. You will direct the power from thiss offering sso it iss channeled to the one tether line you need. You musst not break contact with the web once you begin."
"And then?"
"And then you will ssee what you have come here to ssee."
Saetan tapped into the reserve strength in his Black Jewels and stepped on the tether line. The power in the web stabbed into his heel like a needle. He sucked in his breath and began walking.
Each step drove the power of the web upward. By the time he reached the center, his whole body vibrated with the hum. Keeping one foot in contact with the web, Saetan positioned himself behind the Jewel, his eyes and will focused on that one tether line.
He held out his right wrist and opened his vein.
His blood hissed when it hit the Jewel in the center of the web', formed a red mist. The mist twisted into a fine thread and began to inch its way along the tether line.
Drop by drop, the thread moved toward Chaillot, toward Beldon Mor.
For a moment it stopped, a finger-length away from the Jewel chip, blocked. Then it crept upward, a red vine climbing an invisible wall, until a handspan above the floor, it was over, flowing back along the tether line.
He had breached Jaenelle's mist. The moment the blood thread touched the Jewel chip, he would be able to probe Beldon Mor.
The thread touched the Jewel chip.
Saetan's eyes widened. "Hell's fire, what—"
"Don't move!" Draca's voice seemed so far away.
What had Daemon done? Saetan thought as he picked up the aftertaste of rage. Sinking beneath the cacophony of the lesser Jewels, Saetan searched the Black, the too-still Black. There should have been three minds within his probing reach. There was only one, the one farthest out, the one at the Dark Altar.