Fistandantilus Reborn - Douglas Niles [99]
Danyal felt an onrushing wave of hprrible fury, combined with an agonizing awareness of his own helplessness. They were both as good as dead, he knew, and he felt utterly powerless to change their impending fate. His fingers itched toward the weapon at his waist as he considered the chances. Could he draw the knife and sink the blade into his enemy before Kelryn could work the magic of the bloodstone?
He knew that he couldn’t.
“Raise your hands, both of you,” declared the man curtly, as if reading Danyal’s thoughts. Though he struggled valiantly to resist, Dan’s arms moved against his will, extending themselves over his head until he stood with hands helplessly upraised. His weapon might as well have been at the bottom of the sea for all the chance he had of reaching it.
“I think we’ll do this in a fashion my men will enjoy,” the bandit lord declared in a tone of amusement. “Let’s see… perhaps I should have the two of you leap from the upper battlement onto the rocks. They’re at least a hundred feet below. Yes, that would be effective. And dramatic as well, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
Kelryn frowned, apparently confronted by a deeply distressing problem. “But should I have you jump together or one at a time? I just don’t know.” Kelryn Darewind sounded genuinely distressed over his difficult choice.
Dan’s heart was pounding, and he felt the sweat trickling down his brow, but he still could make no gesture nor sound of protest.
“Well, to get us started, we can climb out of the dungeon. You, girl, go first. The lad will follow, with me in the rear. Now proceed, but slowly.”
Like zombies, Mirabeth and Danyal shuffled through the dark corridor of the dungeon. Once the lad tried to stop, to resist the commands of the bandit lord, but the feet that had been so unwilling to move a few minutes ago now refused to stop their inexorable march toward whatever doom Kelryn Darewind chose to devise for them. The pale, glowing bloodstone was like a physical prod behind him as Dan strained to turn, tried to resist with all his will the commands that marched them toward imminent execution.
“It shall have to be one at a time,” mused the bandit captain, startling them with his casual return to the topic of murder. “The look on the survivor’s face is not a treasure that I would care to waste. But which of you first? I really would like you to make a suggestion.”
Once again Kelryn’s fingers tightened around the bloodstone, and as green light seeped through the dungeon, Dan saw that the gem was pulsing with renewed power.
Danyal’s mouth opened and his tongue jerked reflex-ively, but he gagged on words that seemed drawn to the power of the bloodstone, that rose like bile in his throat. Spitting and coughing, he shook his head, drawing a sigh of disappointment from the false priest of Fistan-dantilus.
“Now, climb!” barked Kelryn Darewind as they reached the foot of the stairway. Mirabeth still led the way, and Danyal allowed her to advance several steps before he started after her. Once more he thought of trying to resist, though he still couldn’t manipulate his arms. Could he throw himself backward, try to carry the bandit lord down the steep steps?
Perhaps he could badly injure, even kill the man!
Buoyed by the sudden hope, Dan worked his head around, getting a glimpse of his captor. He was dismayed to see that Kelryn Darewind had drawn his sword as he followed them onto the stairs. Any maneuver such as the lad had contemplated would only result in a gory wound for himself.
Slumping in despair, Danyal turned his attention to the climb. Each step seemed to emerge from a haze before his face, and he found his feet rising without conscious direction as he gradually ascended.
They came to the door at the top of the stairs, and Mirabeth pushed it open, shuffling into the great hallway beyond. Danyal followed, and Kelryn came last. He still held his blade, but he seemed to be most concerned with the green gem that still glowed between his fingers.
“Go that way,” he declared, pointing toward the curve