Vale nodded in earnest. “We captured one of them, and the others are dead. They had discovered another entrance into the caves. A hidden entrance. But we will block that also so no one else will find it. Your home is still safe.”
Nun’dahbi paused. Elina could not see her face and so could not tell if she was satisfied with his assurances. “They are growing too numerous,” she said at last. “More and more they come.”
“Your home is safe, Nun’dahbi.”
“But for how long?”
Vale looked surprised. “I… I assure you,” he stammered, “we… we have everything under control.”
Nun’dahbi paused a moment—perhaps to let Vale stew in a bit of uncertainty, Elina thought. He might have been in charge up on the surface, but clearly he was the subordinate down here.
Then Nun’dahbi produced a vessel of some sort from the folds of her cloak and held it out in white, bony hands. It was a tall, dark-colored decanter that Elina could see held some sort of liquid. Vale bowed his head and reached forward to take the jar from her hands, but she clung to it a moment.
“Do not fail me.” Her tone was soft but strident.
Vale looked up sharply. “I… I have never failed you, Great Mother.”
The faceless veil issued a soft hiss, a sigh perhaps. Or perhaps it was a laugh. Elina couldn’t be sure. But after a moment Nun’dahbi released the jar into his grasp.
“See that you don’t.”
Then she turned away and with a brief gesture of her clawed fingers waved him off.
Vale skulked away, clutching the jar in both hands as two of the N’watu lifted Elina by the ropes and carried her through the doorway into the tunnel beyond. She could hear a heavy, wooden groan as the door swung shut behind her. Elina found her pulse racing as she struggled against the ropes.
They carried her through the passage. Elina could see one lantern ahead of her and one behind, both casting a pale glow against the jagged walls and ceiling.
Before long they came into an open space, a larger cavern. Situated about the chamber were dozens of lanterns like the ones the two warriors carried. Their glow lit the cave in a mesmerizing yellow light. Elina struggled to stay focused and aware of her surroundings. The room was about a hundred feet across and the floor was smooth and flat, almost artificially so. Not like a natural cavern. The walls as well were too straight to be natural formations, with openings cut into them leading perhaps into other rooms.
They came to the edge of a precipice that plunged into darkness. She glanced, wide-eyed, down at the abyss.
They moved along the edge of the pit until they came to a wide, stone slab and laid her on it. Elina noticed now that several other warriors had joined them, and she fought through her fear to try to count them. Nearly a dozen of them but still the woman, Nun’dahbi, was the only female Elina had seen.
She was lying on some sort of table in a large oval-shaped chamber. Recalling her training, Elina tried to get her bearings. In the middle of the chamber was the large, round pit. Elina guessed it was twenty or thirty feet across. And on the ledge she could see the outline of a large structure—a stone base supporting a thick log that extended out over the mouth of the pit.
Nun’dahbi strode into Elina’s view, carrying a staff with beads and feathers dangling from the top. She swept it over Elina’s body from head to foot and back again, muttering a gargled series of incantations. She motioned to some of the men standing around her, and they brought a few lanterns closer, setting them on the edges of the table. Another man brought a small wooden bowl, the size of a coffee cup, and set it beside Elina’s head. She squirmed and rolled on the table, determined to make whatever procedure they might have planned as difficult for them as possible.
But apparently Nun’dahbi would have none of it. She hissed something at her men, and four of them stepped up to place their long hands firmly on Elina’s body and hold her still. For all their lean and bony appearance, these men seemed to possess great strength. Elina felt like she was being held by iron restraints.
Nun’dahbi leaned close over Elina’s face. Behind the veil, Elina could see vague, pale features and colorless eyes gazing down at her. The woman reeked of human stench. Elina’s breath came in sharp, rapid bursts, and she could feel herself choking on the rag.
Nun’dahbi whispered another unintelligible phrase and then slowly lifted her veil.
Elina’s heart pounded hard inside her ribs.
The woman’s face was as hideous as it might have once been beautiful. Her skin held no pigmentation whatsoever, though it was perfectly smooth and without blemish, like a layer of white latex stretched over a human skull. Only her thin lips and eyelids held any color, painted as black as her fingernails. And she was completely hairless. No eyebrows or even eyelashes that Elina could see.
She picked up a stick out of the bowl. It was long and slender like a quill of some kind, and Elina could see the tip dripping with a viscous black liquid.
Nun’dahbi issued a sharp, guttural command, and two more of the men grabbed Elina’s face. Cold, hard fingers clamped onto her jaw and skull, holding her immobile as the woman leaned close.
Elina screamed through the mouthful of rag, choking and sobbing as the woman etched marks across her face, whispering unknown words that only Elina could hear.
Chapter 39
Jack, Dwight, and Javier followed the tunnel deep into the mountain. Dwight had taken the lead, carrying his flashlight in one hand and a revolver in the other. As they descended, the tunnel became rough and harder to navigate.
Jack found himself praying desperately as he plunged further into danger. It was a strange sensation. Before meeting Elina, he hadn’t even thought to pray. Not earlier in the caverns. Not even when he was being chased by the N’watu. But now… now he was heading back into the pit. Back into the danger he’d escaped from just one day before to try to save a woman he hardly even knew. And he wondered if there really was a God who would help him. Or at least give him some answers. Was this the right course? Or would they have been better off staying on the surface and contacting help?
But he knew Elina didn’t have the luxury of waiting for the authorities to arrive. He also knew every step was leading him back into the horrors to which he had sworn he would never return.
Dwight held up his hand and shut off his light.
“What’s the matter?” Jack said between breaths.
Dwight whispered, “They’re coming. I hear voices.”
Jack squinted into the darkness. He could see a faint shaft of light drifting across the tunnel up ahead. “What’s the plan?”
Dwight flicked his light back on and inspected their surroundings. The cavern passage was low and wide and marred by numerous rock formations that had slowed their progress.
“Take cover off to the side,” he said. “We can ambush them when they come by.”
Jack’s pulse was racing as Dwight explained the plan in Spanish to Javier. Jack had never fired a weapon on another human being before. Now he wasn’t sure he’d be able to. But he heard himself saying, “Fine.”
They found a couple of rough boulders against one of the cavern’s sides and took cover behind them. Jack crouched in the darkness, watching the light approach and now hearing voices as well. It was Vale all right, and Carson, but Jack couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Minutes crept by, and finally the men came into view. Jack couldn’t see well enough to shoot at any of them. And on top of that, he was having doubts about killing anyone in cold blood. No matter how much he felt they deserved it.
“Aim for the head,” Dwight whispered. “Perilium begins the clotting cascade almost immediately, so hitting them anywhere else may not do the trick.”