The Underground City (The Lily Harper Series)

  Since they were both waiting for me to finish my stew, I shoveled down the last three bites and put Bill’s bowl and my own into Tallis’s “sink.” Picking up the jug of water, I intended to wash our dirty dishes, but Tallis’s hand on my arm stopped me. At his touch, I felt goose bumps break out all over my skin. It was very unusual for Tallis to actually touch me.

  “We’ve wasted enough time,” Tallis announced. “Ah can wash oop later. Now, we practice yer sword fightin’.”

  “Hey, Tido, you mind if I hang back an’ get me a little shuteye?” Bill asked, eyeing Tallis’s bed with undisguised interest. “I’m prexhausted.”

  “What?” I demanded, throwing my hands on my hips. “How can you be exhausted? You haven’t done anything today except eat!”

  “Duh!” Bill responded, shaking his head like I was the one who was slow. “That’s why I said I’m prexhausted, not exhausted or post exhausted. Just thinkin’ about everything we gotta do today has exhausted me.”

  “Aye, ye can remain ’ere,” Tallis replied. “Boot yer not ta sleep oan mah bed.”

  “Blewdy hell,” Bill answered, doing a poor imitation of Tallis. With a shrug, he headed for the fireplace and sat down on one of the animal furs. Stretching out, he covered himself with another fur before looking up at me. “Since I just ate whatever the hell that shit was, I get Farte Blanche,” he said as he eyed me knowingly. “You hear me, Lil? I get unrestricted power to fart at my own discretion, got it?”

  I just shook my head and looked at Tallis, who faced me. “Yer sword is leanin’ ’gainst the wall, lass,” he said, pointing to a long, narrow object, which was wrapped up in muslin. Tallis had disallowed me from taking my sword back with me to Edinburgh after our last mission. His explanation was that I knew just enough about wielding it to be a danger to myself and others.

  Picking up my sword, I followed Tallis outside. He closed the door behind us and grabbed his own sword from where he’d left it leaning against his house. Heading for the rear of the house with me following closely on his heels, along with the herd of Grevels, I asked, “Where are we going?”

  “We cannae parry here,” he answered as he plodded forward, without offering any more information. Trying to interact with Tallis was what I liked least about him. He wasn’t a talker by any stretch of the imagination. The incessant silence between us always made me uncomfortable. Trying to look at the bright side, I pasted on a smile and started humming “Do I Wanna Know?” by the Arctic Monkeys. Tallis glanced back at me with a furrowed brow that said he didn’t appreciate my humming, but I didn’t care. If he couldn’t politely engage in some form of conversation, then he’d have to tolerate my humming.

  When we reached the same clearing where we’d practiced the first time around, Tallis stopped walking. Some of the Grevels disappeared into the undergrowth, no doubt scouting for God-only-knew what, while the others collapsed beneath the cool shade offered by the nearby trees, and watched us both curiously.

  “Ye can oonbind yer sword from its swathe,” Tallis announced as he pulled the scabbard from his chest and took out his own sword. I, meanwhile, fumbled while trying to unwind the muslin wrap that swaddled my sword, not finding it particularly easy. I heard Tallis’s chuckle and looked over at him in surprise. He rarely smiled or laughed. “Jist stand the sword oop straight, an’ the cloth will drop, Besom.”

  I did as he instructed and, as usual, he was right. The sunlight glinted off the polished blade of my sword and as I held the hilt, a strange feeling overcame me, as if I were being reunited with an old friend. “What type of sword did you say this was again?” I asked Tallis.

  “A Claymore.”

  “No, I mean in Gaelic,” I clarified. “You called it something else.”

  “A claidheamh mhor.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that was it.” Fastening my eyes on the sword’s undeniable beauty, I allowed my gaze to absorb the essence of it. The sword was long, maybe four feet or so, and featured two handles at the top of the blade. Each handle curved into a honeycomb shape. The hilt was created of wood, which I assumed must’ve come from this very forest. I gripped the hilt tightly and examined the flawless beauty of the blade, unable to restrain my smile.

  “Ye have missed her,” Tallis said. I found him studying me with an expression of curiosity.

  “Yes,” I said, nodding as I beheld my sword again. “It’s beautiful.”

  “Aye,” Tallis said as he nodded. “Boot the look in yer eyes was not one o’ admiration, lass, boot pride.”

  “Maybe,” I said with a shrug. “I am proud of it.”

  Tallis actually smiled. “It pleases meh ta hear it, lass.” I didn’t respond or have to. “We shall begin,” Tallis continued. “Do ye recall yer lessons?”

  “I think so,” I replied while gripping my sword with my right hand, the dominant one. Then I took hold of the pommel, using three fingers: my ring, middle and pinky fingers. I pointed the tip of the sword right between my sternum and my throat, just like Tallis taught me.

  “Aye,” Tallis said while nodding to let me know that my stance was correct. “Is the pommel jist above yer belly booton, lass?”

  I glanced down and saw that it was. My stance was correct. “Yes.”

  “Strike,” he ordered. Bringing my left hand up past my eye, I aimed for the sky. Then I brought the sword down, using my right hand to guide it while my left hand provided the force. “Good, lass, good,” Tallis said. “Again!”

  This time, I focused on my footwork. With my left foot behind my right, I stood on the ball of my foot and pushed off, being careful to place my left foot down before sliding my right one along the ground to ensure my balance. When I was ready to strike, I brought my left foot back into position and lashed out with my sword.

  “Ye appear a wee bit unbalanced, lass,” Tallis said as he studied me. “Boot all in all, not bad. Ah daresay ye’ve been practicin’?”

  I wasn’t sure if he would have wanted me to practice without him, seeing as how he’d kept my sword rather than allowing me to take it with me. But there was no use in lying. “Yes, I have.”

  “With what?” he asked, suppressing a smile. He appeared to be amused, or maybe he was actually pleased with me. Tallis was such an enigma, it was extremely hard to tell.

  “A long stick,” I answered and remembered how ridiculous I looked when practicing in my room and jabbing at the air with my pointed stick. I started to laugh.

  “Ye have done well, lass,” Tallis said as he stepped away from me, bracing himself with his feet shoulder-width apart. He assumed the same position I had when I demonstrated proper striking stance. “Now, ye will fight meh.”

  “Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow, athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain.”

  – Dante’s Inferno

  THREE

  “Um,” I started, prepared to argue the reasons why I shouldn’t fight Tallis, namely because he was a practiced warrior and I was a nobody; but he was already coming at me, his sword raised high in the air, and the maniacal look of a crazy person in his eyes. I was as good as dead.

  Bracing myself, I held my sword out in a defensive stance before me. When the blade of his sword struck mine, it felt like an earthquake rocked my entire body, with the epicenter in my right arm. After the initial, jarring blow, my arms felt like jelly but, amazingly enough, I managed to maintain my grip on my sword. My brain, however, still felt like it was rattling around in my head. “Are you trying to take my arm off?” I yelled at him. “Not so freaking hard!”

  Tallis raised his sword into the air again, clearly continuing his assault. “Demons o’ the Oonderground wilna be lenient oan ye, lass,” he explained as he rushed toward me again. “Ye moost learn ta defend yerself, come what may!” I experienced a few seconds of intense déjà vu, but then figured I’d just seen Braveheart one too many times.

  I deflected the blow in the same way as before, but a split second later, the blade-wielding Scotsman circled around and charged me o
nce more, his sword held high again. Before I could even fathom what was happening, Tallis held the tip of his blade against my throat. I clutched my sword in my left hand with the tip of it just skimming the ground, realizing it wasn’t doing me a whole lot of good. Tallis walked a few paces forward, and forced me to walk backwards to avoid being run through.

  “If Ah were a demon, mah sword would be buried in yer head by now,” he said calmly. “Och aye, perhaps then Ah’d sever yer head an’ later, it’d be mounted oan mah wall.”

  “Ha-ha,” I said with little or no humor. I fought to take a deep breath and calm my heart, which, even now, suggested I was having an attack.

  Tallis shrugged. “Ye shoulda blocked meh, lass,” he finished in a deep voice, his eyes riveted on mine.

  I didn’t respond until I backed up against the rough bark of a tree and realized I was cornered. “You can’t expect me to defend myself from you when you’ve had over two thousand years of practice!” I yelled, not liking the feeling of being trapped. “And what’s more, I’m not possessed by the ghost of some dead warrior! So this isn’t exactly fair!”

  “Do ye wanna survive the Oonderground?” he asked rhetorically. His tone remained casual and calm, which only irritated me more.

  “Of course I do!” I railed back at him, craning my neck to the side as he held me captive beneath his blade. “What are you doing?” I demanded. But he didn’t remove the sword. He held it in place, while staring at me like he’d lost his mind. “Take your sword away from my throat!” I ground out as burgeoning fear tried to overcome me. Tallis was always unpredictable, which was, by nature, intimidating.

  My voice was abruptly cut short when he pushed ever so slightly on his sword and I felt the cold metal riding up my larynx, its keen point threatening my neck, yet still not piercing my skin. Without a clue of what was going on, I looked into Tallis’s eyes and what I saw there worried me. A lot. His standard, midnight blue gaze was gone and replaced by a dark, inky blackness. His eyes were so dark and shadowy, I couldn’t distinguish his pupils from his irises. I’d seen his eyes eclipsed like this before—usually in moments of combat or after his anger was incited. I’d always figured it was just the warrior spirit within him suddenly overtaking his body. But why would the warrior feel threatened by me? I had no idea why. All I could hope was that I’d survive long enough to find out.

  Tallis continued to stand there, silently watching me, his sword still precariously aimed on my neck. His eyes were completely engulfed by the strange blackness. They no longer resembled the eyes of a human ...

  “Tallis,” I whispered. “You’re scaring me.”

  My comment seemed to thrill him because his lips parted into a smile. But he still didn’t say anything. Instead, he continued staring right through me with enigmatic eyes that revealed nothing. He continued to smile as he studied me, though, appearing amused by the fact that he had me where he wanted me, amused that I was his captive. And that was when I realized he intended to kill me.

  “Ta … Tallis,” I gasped before moving my arm toward his blade, with the hope of pushing it out from underneath my chin. There was a strange gleam in his eyes that matched his bizarre smile. “Don’t do this,” I said as my heartbeat began to pound loudly through me. I could feel sweat breaking out along my hairline as the gravity of my predicament overcame me. “You said yourself that you were looking for salvation,” I started. “If you kill me, it’s not going to help you find it.”

  “Kill ye?” he repeated, suddenly frowning. All at once, the black pitch of Tallis’s eyes disappeared altogether. In a matter of seconds, it simply dissolved into the navy blue I’d come to know so well. His eyes widened as if he were surprised, as he instantly dropped his sword on the ground beside me. Looking up at him, I shook my head, feeling the rush of heat in my cheeks as I witnessed how powerful Tallis could be and, more importantly, how completely unpredictable.

  “What the hell was that all about?” I yelled as I pushed myself away from the tree and touched my neck, examining my fingers for any signs of blood. Although I found none, it didn’t alleviate how pissed off I was. “What the hell just happened?”

  Tallis shook his head and looked confused. He started to explain, “Ah dinnae …” but I interrupted him.

  “You were about to kill me,” I continued, my voice angrily accusatory. There was no way I was going to buy this act. I was more than convinced that whatever had just gone on in his head had nearly cost me my life.

  “Nae, lass, ye are wrong,” he replied immediately.

  But I vigorously shook my head. There was no way he could talk his way out of this one. “I actually saw it in your eyes!” I railed back at him. “You were just about to run me straight through with your sword right before you suddenly came to your senses.” I took a deep breath, trying to slow my frantic heartbeat. “Bill and I are leaving,” I tersely announced, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from him as I could. “I’m heading back to your house right now!” I added as I started forward. Then I thought better of it and turned back around to face him. “And when Bill finds out what just happened, you bet your ass he’s going to be furious, mister!” I knew Bill couldn’t do anything at all to Tallis or anyone else for that matter, since angels were prohibited from inflicting physical pain, but there it was.

  “Nae,” Tallis repeated, but this time, his jaw seemed tighter and he looked more stressed than a moment ago.

  “Nae yourself!” I screamed before turning around again and starting for Tallis’s house. Yes, I had no clue where the house was, but I didn’t intend to let that stop me! I planned to just continue marching, with my head held high, and be damned grateful that I still had one. My only hope was that the forest wouldn’t pull a Rubik’s Cube on me and make me lose my way.

  “Lass,” Tallis muttered as he caught up with me and gripped my upper arm before yanking me to a stop. He so rarely touched me that I was immediately taken aback. “You’ll nae retreat ’til Ah’ve had mah say.”

  “Then have your say!” I yelled at him, throwing my hands on my hips as I dared him to come up with a good enough excuse as to why he’d nearly lopped my head off.

  “Ah wasna goin’ ta kill ye, lass,” he said before grunting and taking a deep breath. Whatever he had on his mind was obviously not easy for him to spit out.

  “So you’ve said,” I muttered.

  “Aye,” he began and seemed like he had something more to say before he firmly shut his mouth again and ran his enormous hand over the back of his neck, looking frustrated.

  “Is that your best defense?” I asked in disbelief, frowning at the enormous man. “Because it’s pretty lame!”

  “Nae!” he thundered at me, his eyebrows meeting in the middle of his forehead in undisguised frustration. “This isnae easy fer meh, lass!”

  “I’ll bet it isn’t easy! How do you tell someone you were just about to cut her throat, even if you are possessed by a warrior ghost!” I railed back at him.

  “Fer the last bludy time, Ah wasna goin’ ta kill ye, ye daft woman!” he yelled, his patience clearly failing. “Ah was tryin’ ta keep mahself from tearin’ yer clothes off an’ plantin’ mah face ‘tween yer thighs!”

  “Well!” I replied, biting my lip because my thoughts suddenly crashed headlong into a wall and now bits and pieces of them were strewn all over, never to be made into a coherent whole again. “Well,” I repeated, shaking my head. My first battle was wrapping my mind around the knowledge that Tallis not only possessed a libido, but, apparently, harbored sexual attraction toward me.

  “See? ’Twas noot an easy feat fer meh ta tell ye,” he grumbled, shaking his head like he was both embarrassed and angry with himself.

  “Well,” I said again, for the third time, which turned out to be the charm because my words didn’t fail me this time. “I guess that’s better than thinking you were trying to kill me.”

  He glanced at me and raised one brow. “Aye, Ah’d agree with ye, lass.”

&nb
sp; “So,” I began while studying him curiously. “Was that … response coming from Donald or was it from … you?”

  “Doonald?” he repeated, shaking his head, clearly at a loss.

  “The warrior ghost inside you,” I prompted before rolling my eyes as if to infer he should have figured out whom I was referencing, even if Donald wasn’t the ghost’s actual name. The real name sounded like something close enough …

  Tallis shook his head. “Ah dinnae know, lass,” he answered, raising both eyebrows. “Donnchadh has been a part o’ meh fer so long, I dinnae know where he ends an’ Ah begin.”

  “Donnchadh, that’s right,” I said with a little smile, feeling relieved. Now that I knew Tallis hadn’t wanted to kill me but was only after a little tongue action, I was a little more relaxed. Although I had to admit I was still finding it difficult to come to terms with the fact that Tallis was lusting after me even if the information did thrill me. It really didn’t make sense because it wasn’t like I felt any romantic feelings for the guy. I mean, he was practically a hop, skip and jump from being a wild animal. He probably had much more in common with the Grevels than with me …

  After studying me for a moment or two, Tallis seemed to get his wits back about him. “We are finished with our practicin’ fer today,” he announced, placing his sword back into the scabbard before fastening it across his chest. It wasn’t lost on me that the practice lasted only what? Twenty minutes, max. It was fairly obvious that the whole image of cunnilingus threw a hiccup in Tallis’s giddyup because he was definitely acting very weird. He refused to look at me and I thought his cheeks seemed a little redder than normal.

  “I thought my personal training appointment was at noon,” I said with a scowl. “And I don’t know what time it is, but I’ll bet it’s nowhere close to noon.”

  “Aye,” Tallis answered indifferently as he started toward the forest from where we’d just emerged. The Grevels hurried out from the undergrowth and trotted behind him, happy as demons could be now that they were headed home. Lacking another option, I caught up with him.