Blood Calls Read online

  Placing a hand on the serving woman’s shoulder, he whispered in her ear, “Please allow me.” He slipped the jug from her hands and approached Balwin.

  Marian glanced up and froze as she locked eyes with him. He could see the plea in her eyes before he turned to pour.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t my little friend from the Centurium auction,” Balwin said as he smiled at Robin. Robin ignored the comment but gripped the jug more tightly.

  The rest of Balwin’s party turned to look at Robin. “So this is the boy you spoke of, Lord Balwin,” one of the men said.

  “Yes indeed,” Balwin said, sitting back in his chair. “I am curious if he has finally learned his place.”

  With a jerk, he picked up his goblet and threw the contents in Robin’s face. While the table roared with laughter, Robin blinked away the wine.

  “Well, don’t just stand there, dog,” Balwin said, cocking a grin. “Clean this mess.”

  Robin gave Balwin a hard stare for a moment. Then he placed the jug on the table, dropped down, and began to wipe the spill.

  “Now do you see?” Balwin said smugly above him. “This is where you belong…a dog at my feet.”

  Slowly, Robin raised his hot eyes to meet Balwin’s. He could feel Marian behind him, as if she was sending him a silent plea. Robin dropped his eyes, and he could almost hear a tiny sigh of relief from Marian. Then Robin gave a humph.

  At once, Balwin seized him by his hair. Pulling hard, he arched Robin’s head back. Taking advantage of Robin’s gasp of pain, he forced Robin’s mouth wide.

  “What was that?” he growled down at him. “I must have misheard you, dog. You must be smart enough not to commit the same mistake twice. As if you have enough brains to think…or even have a soul.”

  For a couple seconds, Robin remained where he was, Balwin’s fingers holding his mouth open. Then he let loose a series of gurgled words.

  “What was that?” Balwin asked, leaning close.

  Again, Robin gurgled. Then, with a jerk, he snapped his mouth closed. Balwin barked in pain as Robin bit down hard on his fingers. The copper taste of blood leaked into Robin’s mouth.

  “Do you still want to see my teeth?” Robin said after Balwin dislodged his fingers and stared at the deep cuts Robin had made.

  In less than a second, Balwin and his party sprang to their feet, knocking chairs to the floor. Spitting blood from his mouth, Robin stepped back, eyeing them.

  “Why, you…!” Balwin growled in a deadly voice as his fingers healed themselves.

  Jumping forward, Marian got between Robin and Balwin. “Please, my lord…”

  With a wave of his hand, Balwin sent her hurtling across the floor.

  Immediately, Robin pulled his fist back and rammed it full into Balwin’s face. The force of the blow lifted Balwin off his feet back a few steps. When he tripped over his cape and the chair he had knocked over, Balwin flipped backward and sprawled face-first on the floor in a tangled heap with his cape.

  Before Robin could move again, Balwin’s guards pounced on him. In seconds, he was pinned to the floor, his arms bound behind his back.

  Grunting, Robin looked up. Balwin regained his footing and untangled his cape. His eyes were ablaze with rage and humiliation.

  “I’ll kill you for that!” he barked, raising his hand.

  “You can’t!”

  All eyes turned to Marian. “He is still my slave! Only I can decide his fate. Only I have the codes to detonate him! By the laws of the Black Dragon, you cannot harm him! He is my property!”

  She paused for a breath and continued. “And you know what will happen, even to you, if you break the Black Dragon’s decrees!”

  For a second, Balwin stared at her. Then he slowly faced Robin again.

  “Very well,” he roared. “I may not be able to kill you, but you are going to wish I had. To the mines of Morhoth with you!”

  The guards jerked Robin to his feet and led him out of the room.

  Robin soon found himself sitting on the floor in Balwin’s ship. He was chained by a collar and his wrists to a wall. Around him, more chains with collars and manacles hung at intervals on the walls. He contemplated what he was going to do next.

  A small sound jerked him from his thoughts, and he glanced at the door. With a small hiss, it opened, and Marian stood in the frame, Balwin right behind her.

  “Say good-bye to your little pet, Princess,” Balwin said, shoving her in so she fell to the floor. “It’s the last time you’ll ever see him.” He sealed the door behind her.

  For a second, Marian simply stared at Robin.

  “Why’d you do it, Ryuu?” she asked in a quiet voice. “I told you I was going to do my best to get them back. So why?”

  “You do what you have to do to protect the ones you love,” he answered solemnly.

  When she seemed to recognize that he wasn’t going to say more, she climbed to her feet and turned.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  She paused, her back to him.

  “I’m sorry it had to be this way,” he finished.

  For a second Marian was still before she turned to face him again.

  “So am I,” she said.

  She walked to the door and pounded her fist against it. When it opened, she left him alone to face his fate.

  Chapter 18

  The Mines of Morhoth

  As the ship took off, the chains started rocking, which showed that the ship had been amped up to hyperspeed.

  Okay, time to start planning, Robin thought. He didn’t speak aloud, in case someone was listening.

  Obviously, my first task is to find Freya and Tekmet. After that… He paused stumped. Afraid he’d have to do what he usually did.

  Wing it.

  He reviewed the umpteenth scenario as the ship jerked again. I guess we’re here.

  He took several deep breaths. The ship jerked several times as it entered the atmosphere. Then it landed.

  No one came for Robin for half an hour. But just when he was starting to think they’d forgotten about him, the collar around his neck sent such a large current through him, he was jolted to the floor. The pain from the shock collar was the last thing he felt before he lost consciousness.

  Eventually he moaned, his head rolling and pounding with a racket that sounded like thousands of hammers driving into his skull. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was lying on solid rock.

  Moaning again, he pushed himself up and looked around. He saw lines of raggedly dressed people using laser picks, shovels, and drills on tunnel walls of solid rock. In the other direction, he saw a large, open space, as though the tunnel were lit by an unknown source of light that cast the whole place in low gloom.

  On the far side, he saw people hard at work with laser drills emitting flickering lights at odd intervals. Above them, more people worked on a section of rock that branched out into open air. A conveyer belt carried loads from top to bottom.

  Spread out here and there were patrolling sentinels.

  As Robin started to push himself up, he felt the ground vibrate under his palms.

  Looking up, he saw a line of hover carts moving right at him. He rolled forward. They missed him by barely millimeters. Now on all fours, he turned to face the carts as they rocked by, loaded with glowing crystals.

  He released a pent-up breath and stood straight. None of the people had stopped working or moved from what they were doing. Yet he was certain they were checking him out.

  Suddenly, he felt a sharp, stinging pain across his back, which dropped him to one knee. Teeth bared, he fought back the pain and looked behind him.

  “Stop dawdling! Get to work!” a sentinel barked in its robotic voice as the laser whip retracted into its arm.

  Robin glanced around and picked up a laser drill and bucket beside him. He noticed that his servant’s clothes from the palace had been replaced with patched pants, worn boots, and a torn, spotted sleeveless shirt.

  “Great, the bastard undress
ed me. That’s an image I needed in my head,” he muttered. Slowly, his eyes drifted to his wrist and the exposed bracelet and crystal. “Or maybe not,” he finished, knowing what would have happened if Balwin had seen the bracelet.

  As quickly and as discreetly as possible, Robin expanded a hole in his shirt and tore away a patch of cloth from the shoulder. That part of his shirt dangled a little, exposing toned muscle as he quickly tied the cloth over his bracelet.

  He rose, slung the drill over his shoulder, and walked closer to the workers. He set the drill stock against his chest and, locking in his position, prepared to drill into the rock. He placed the bucket on the ground below him to collect the crystals he would extract with the drill.

  Pretending to adjust a setting, he leaned close to the man beside him and murmured, “I need your help.”

  The man barely shot Robin a look before turning back to what he was doing.

  “Look,” Robin continued, “she’s about my height, with long, dark hair, and eyes and ears like mine.”

  He shifted his hair so the man could see his ears.

  Again, the man remained silent.

  Robin tried again. “Look, buddy she’s—”

  “Quiet!” the man hissed, turning his head to look at Robin. “I know you’re new here, but—”

  “No talking!” a voice barked. Robin glanced behind him at the sentinel. “The gods forbid it!”

  The sentinel cracked its whip at them.

  Frowning, Robin mouthed, “Gods?”

  He turned back and activated the drill, which bit into the rock face, joining the other flickering lights around him.

  For over an hour he worked hard, filling the bucket with crystals. When it was half full, he paused to arch his cramped back.

  Hearing a voice, he turned.

  “Grandfather, you have to slow down,” a teenage girl muttered worriedly to an elderly man, who was using a shovel. “You’re too old to work as hard as you are.”

  “I’ve been digging for almost seventy years,” the old man said, wiping his brow. “Take my advice. Slowing down will only…make things worse.” He went back to work.

  Robin stared at them for a second before glancing down at his bucket. He looked around, picked it up, and crossed over to them. Then he discreetly emptied his bucket into the old man’s. As he straightened, he saw the girl look up at him, a grateful gleam in her eye.

  Smiling, he pressed his finger to his mouth. Before he had time to move away, she beckoned him to work next to her.

  “Thank you for what you did for my grandfather,” she said.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he answered, shrugging it off. “Who are you?” he asked, placing the bucket on the ground.

  “7181940,” she answered.

  “I meant your name,” he clarified.

  She held his gaze before glancing around and back. “Gina,” she finally said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Robin said, nodding. “I’m Robin.”

  “I heard what you were asking that man earlier,” she said in an undertone as she set up her own bucket and drill. “Before I say anything, what is this girl to you?”

  “She’s my sister,” he said, turning on the drill. He felt her eyes on her and stopped the drill again.

  “There were a few new arrivals before you,” she said. Robin shifted crystals out of the wall and into the bucket. “I see them every now and then. There’s a girl who seems to stick to one of the Anubises here.”

  “Is she about my height, dark hair, ears like mine?” he asked, shifting his hair to show her.

  After looking at his ears, Gina shifted her gaze back to her work. “I don’t know about the ears…but the rest sounds like her.”

  Robin sighed in relief. “At least I know she’s here,” he muttered.

  Then he heard a familiar voice.

  “Water! Water!”

  He turned and saw Hannah, the mother of the toddler, walking along the tunnel. She had her daughter beside her, and she was carrying a bucket of water.

  “Hannah,” he muttered. He raised his hand to get her attention.

  She approached Robin, set down the bucket of water, and then scooped some into a ladle. She turned to offer some to him. When she got a good look at him, she froze, staring.

  “Shhh,” he urged, finger pressed to his lips. Quickly taking the ladle, he drank some water and poured the rest down his back. “Where’s Freya?” he asked quietly.

  Gesturing with her eyes, she answered, “She’s working in that section with Tekmet.”

  Glancing over, he recognized the area across the open space he’d spied earlier. As he started thinking of a way to get over there, a great gonging sound resonated through the chambers, and he covered his ears against the bass vibration. His head felt like it would split open.

  “What the heck?” he barked, looking around for the source. He paused when he saw everyone drop their tools and move along. “What’s going on?” he asked when he could finally uncover his ears.

  “It’s calling us to gather,” Hannah said.

  “For what?” he asked. He dropped his drill and followed after her.

  “To worship the gods or god of Morhoth.”

  Chapter 19

  The Gods of Morhoth

  Robin followed Hannah and her child through the maze of tunnels until they reached a vast cliff, which loomed before them. An eerie, shimmering black-and-red glow outlined the edge of the cliff.

  On the far wall, the head of a dragon with forward-swept horns was carved into the rock. The shimmering light below it cast the upper half in shadow. But Robin could still see the detail of the carving, right down to the smallest scales. The eyes glowed red from an internal source. Smoke rose from its wide nostrils.

  Tearing his eyes from the sight before him, Robin scanned the mob of people for Freya and Tekmet. However, the crowd behind him would not let him stop to get a proper look. He stepped near the edge of the cliff. Glancing down, he gaped at the river of lava that flowed below.

  Standing on his toes, he tried to see over the crowd of people.

  A grinding noise of stone on stone filled his ear. He turned back to the statue and froze. The mouth was slowly opening, and he saw a wall of flames inside burst forth, stopping halfway between the statue and the cliff before the flame was drawn back into the gaping maul. It seemed to explode over the edges, and a figure appeared. A cape billowed in the heat.

  Narrowing his eyes, Robin focused on the figure, but the flames behind it lit the figure in silhouette. He could not see it clearly beyond the fact that it was a man.

  He sensed shifting movement around him and realized people were dropping to their knees. All chanted, “Apep! Apep!” over and over.

  As Robin looked over the sea of chanting people, some with arms raised as if in worship, he paused. There, at least a hundred feet away to his right, stood Freya, Tekmet at her side, looking right back at him.

  “On your knees!” a voice barked behind him. Robin didn’t resist the metallic hand forcing him down.

  He briefly glared at the sentinel behind him before facing forward again. He watched as the figure in the cape stepped up to the edge of the mouth. Following the man’s gaze, Robin saw the last of the hovering mine carts dump its contents into a large container carved out of the rock.

  A booming voice sent a chill down Robin’s spine. “The ancient gods of the Underworld are angry!”

  “Balwin!” he growled.

  “The great fires given by the great god Apep have burned since the beginning of time, keeping you all alive with life-giving energy!” Balwin continued. “As Apep’s high priest, I warn you that the gods ask very little of you! You must feed them! Dig deeper! Work harder! Feed the crystals that fuel the flames of life!”

  As if he were a god himself, Balwin pointed a finger at them. “Or die!”

  With a flick of his cape, he swiveled and walked back through the fire.

  Again, Robin heard the grinding of stone on stone. He wat
ched as the large indent in the rock, which the crystals had been kept in, separated from the cliff and floated toward the gaping maw. He tracked its movement through the air until it disappeared into the flames.

  For a second, the flames seemed to flare and grow stronger and brighter. As they died down, the indentation reappeared and floated back to where it had once been. Instead of crystals, it was full of wrapped bundles.

  At the sight of the bundles, the people around Robin leaped to their feet with cries of joy.

  The sentinel behind Robin cracked its whip. “Pick up your gifts and get back to work!”

  Curiosity getting the better of him, Robin followed the others into the sinkhole. At the bottom, he watched as a few fought over a bundle. Snagging one, he climbed back up, turning in time to see Freya and Tekmet climb up across from him.

  Moving forward, he maneuvered through the crowd and pushed people aside, making his way to them. It seemed to take forever until he was at his sister’s side.

  “Freya!” he said, holding her upper arm.

  She stared and gripped her bundle.

  “I was afraid it really was you, Robin,” she finally said. “What the heck are you doing here?”

  As soon as they could, the trio found a secluded spot to talk. They set their drills nearby, and Robin unwrapped his bundle, revealing a loaf of bread. As he broke off a piece he eyed the pair, who hadn’t touched theirs.

  “How’d you find your way back to us?” Tekmet asked.

  “Long story,” Robin answered. “I don’t think our break will be long, but let me say it involved biting Balwin’s fingers and knocking him off his feet.”

  When he lifted the piece of bread to his mouth, the pair beside him snorted.

  Then he froze, the bread halfway to his mouth. A faint oily odor filled his nose. He eyed the bread carefully before bringing it close to his nose and sniffing deeply.

  “This bread has been—”

  “Drugged,” Freya finished for him.

  “Probably to make the people here more open to suggestion,” Tekmet said, looking around. “So we’ve been eating and drinking as little as possible to avoid the effects.”