Chapter 15 - Children of the Void
Between the Worlds
Liam sprinted through the yawning gates of the Tower of Endless Worlds.
Twin statues of leering winged creatures flanked the entrance, their wings joined over the gate. The portal opened into a vast, vaulted hall of pale dark marble. Thin columns sprouted from the ceiling and arched to the floor, and a dim green glow shone out of the depths. Liam had taken six running steps before he realized that Ally had stopped.
Liam whirled. “Child, are you mad? Run!”
Ally looked at him. The green light gave her pale skin a ghastly cast. “They won’t follow us.”
“How do you know?” said Liam, peering out the gate. She was right. The dark shapes vanished wailing and screeching into the Crimson Plain. “Why don’t they follow us? We would make easy prey in this hall.”
Ally scratched at her ragged hair. “They’re afraid of the Tower.”
"But that soldier said the ghouls come out of the tower," said Liam.
Ally shrugged. "Maybe. But they're too scared to come back in."
Liam looked over the vast hall. Bas-reliefs covered the ceiling, showing strange scenes of other worlds. Long lines of words had been carved into the floor, written in a strange alphabet Liam did not recognize. An unnatural stillness hung over everything. Liam turned a full circle. He could not shake the feeling of hostile eyes.
“Are they afraid of the Tower itself, or something that dwells within?” said Liam.
Ally said nothing.
Liam sheathed his Sacred Blades, but kept his hands on the hilts. “Let’s go.”
They set off down the hall, Liam's boots clicking against the cold stone floor. Ally padded along, her dark eyes darting back and forth over the strange carvings.
The hall opened into a vast circular chamber. A colossal statute of a nude woman stood in the center of the room, taller than the highest spire of the now-ruined Scepteris Palace. Eleven other vaulted passageways opened off the circular chamber, the faint green light shining from within their depths.
“By the gods,” muttered Liam. He had never seen such gargantuan construction. “The Tower of Endless Worlds, indeed. Which way do we go?”
He looked up, and could not see the ceiling. The chamber rose away into nothingness. Balconies with ornate stone balustrades and leering statues ringed the wall at regular intervals. And twelve passages branched off every balcony, which meant that thousands and thousand of corridors led from this central chamber. Spiral staircases rose around several of the slender pillars, climbing into the Tower’s vast heights.
Endless worlds.
And how was he to find Earth among such a multitude?
“By the gods,” said Liam. “Which way to Earth?” He tried to think. Perhaps the strange writing could tell the way, but he could not read it. How had Marugon gotten to Earth? Had the last of the Warlocks found his way to Earth and its terrible weapons by sheer chance?
“Look,” said Ally, pointing.
Liam followed her finger and noticed a dark smudge on the floor before one of the vaulted corridors. Liam moved closer and saw that a sigil had been burned into the stone.
“What is it?” said Ally.
“A clawed hand holding a burning eye,” said Liam. “The personal sigil of Lord Marugon.”
"What does that mean?" said Liam.
“Have you ever heard the story of the evil woodsman and his two children?” said Liam.
Ally nodded. “The evil woodsman left his son and daughter in the great forest to die. But the son had a loaf of bread. He tore it into crumbs and left a trail, and he and his sister found their way out of the forest.”
Liam tapped the sigil with his boot. “I think Marugon left us bread crumbs. The fingers of the hand point at one of the passages. That must be it! Marugon didn’t bring the guns through the Tower himself. His minions did it, and he left them markers to follow the path to Earth through the Tower.”
“What if some of his minions are coming through the Tower right now?” said Ally.
Liam hadn’t thought of that. “We’ll deal with that if we find any of them. We should keep going.”
Ally nodded. They started down the passage Marugon’s sigil indicated.
###
Liam frowned. “I forgot.”
“Forgot what?” said Ally.
They walked down a high corridor of blood-red marble marked with another of Marugon’s sigils. Statues of smirking imps with six wings and nine eyes leered from the pillars and walls. Bas-reliefs showed the imps fighting, cavorting, fornicating, and feasting on the flesh of humans. Liam wished Ally and Lithon didn’t have to see the scenes, but he supposed they had seen worse horrors.
“To eat,” said Liam. “I had hoped to do so when we entered the Tower, but I forgot in the rush of the moment.”
“I’m not hungry,” said Ally.
“You should eat,” said Liam. “It…” He frowned. “Nor am I.” It had been sixteen hours since they had entered the Tower, so far as he could tell. He had neither drank nor eaten since then, but he was neither hungry nor thirsty. Nor had he needed to relieve himself.
Strangest of all, he was not tired.
“We should hurry,” said Liam. “I fear this place is having an ill effect upon us.” He knew some diseases that hampered appetite and thirst. Still, if Marugon and his soldiers had survived the Tower’s perils, then Liam supposed they could as well.
“Why?” said Ally.
A red marble statue of a nine-eyed imp stood in the center of the corridor. Liam stepped around it. “Because we haven't needed to eat or drink. That cannot be a good thing.”
“I don’t think it is bad,” said Ally.
Liam looked down at her. “Why?”
“Why do we eat or drink?” said Ally.
Liam blinked. “Because we are hungry or thirsty. Our bodies need food and drink to remain strong. It is the way of all things, even beasts and plants. Animals must eat, and plants must have water and sunlight to grow.”
“That is the way of things on our world,” said Ally.
“So?” said Liam.
“We’re not on our world anymore,” said Ally. “We’re in the Tower. I think the Tower is between the worlds. Maybe rules on our world, like eating and drinking, aren’t rules here.”
It was a strange idea, but Ally’s words rang true. “I suppose that makes sense.” He smiled. “How does a little girl know so much?”
Ally shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought about it.”
Liam nodded. What if Ally wasn’t a human child at all? What if she was one of Marugon’s creatures in disguise? Liam dismissed the thought. She had had numerous chances to kill them, and would have done so before they entered the Tower’s labyrinthine passages.
Still, she was a very strange child.
The crimson corridor ended in a domed chamber of gray stone. A bubbling fountain stood beneath the dome, its clear waters splashing and sparkling. Heaps of bones, some human, some not, lay piled around the fountain. Clearly, drinking from the fountain would be unwise.
A red metal cylinder with silver lettering on its side lay by the bones.
“Coke,” said Ally.
Liam blinked. “Coke? You mean coal?”
Ally shook her head. “No.” She pointed. “It’s what that cylinder says. Coke.”
Liam tapped the metal cylinder with his boot and sent it rolling away across the floor. “It’s metal, yet so light. Perhaps it is of Earth. If so, we are on the right path. How do you know how to read the script of Earth?”
Ally didn’t say anything. Liam shrugged and took a step back. The fountain had a strange, sweet smell, and was starting to make his head spin.
“I don’t think we should drink the water,” said Ally.
“Agreed,”
said Liam, his eyes wandering over the bones. He spotted Marugon’s sigil burned into the floor before another long passageway. “That way.”
He started forward, but Ally remained still.
Liam turned, reaching for his Sacred Blades. “What is it?”
“Listen,” Ally whispered.
Liam listened, and realized he could hear a distant roaring, like the blowing of a great wind.
“Do you hear it?” said Ally.
Liam nodded.
She pointed. “It’s coming from the way we have to take.”
Liam looked at the corridor. It was built of dark gray stone, its ceiling vaulted, pillars running along the wall. The corridor looked as empty of life as all the others they had seen. Yet when Liam lifted his hand, he felt a faint breeze against his skin.
It was coming from the corridor marked with Marugon's sigil.
“What do you think it is?” said Liam
Ally said nothing.
Liam grimaced. “Well, we’ve nowhere to go but forward.”
“Okay,” said Ally. She reached up and took Liam’s hand. The old Knight looked down at her in surprise, smiled, and continued walking.
###
Statues of robed men with serpents’ faces gazed from the walls. Bas-reliefs of strange machines and towering cities covered the walls. The breeze grew to a gentle wind, while the distant howling became louder.
“Look,” said Liam. He pointed. “Someone’s passed this way recently.”
A leather sack lay discarded against a pillar. Besides it rested a square of shiny paper. A strange sigil marked the silvery paper, alongside a pair of words written in red letters.
Liam frowned. “I don’t suppose you can read that as well?”
Ally squinted, her face knitting in concentration. “Burger…King?” She blinked. “It says Burger King.”
Liam picked up the paper. “The Burger King,” he said. “I wonder who that is?”
Ally shrugged. “The king of the land of Burger? Or the king of the Burger people?”
Liam rubbed the greasy paper between his fingers. “I’ve seen paper of this kind before. It’s called foil. Marugon’s gunmen use it to hold their rations.” He nodded. “One of Marugon’s agents must have dropped it here on a journey back from Earth. Good.”
“Why?” said Ally.
Liam dropped the paper. The breeze blew it down the corridor. “It means we’re on the right path. And it also means that the corridor ahead is passable, despite whatever’s making that wind.”
They moved on. The wind grew stronger, tugging at Liam’s clothes and tattered cloak. Ally’s ragged hair whipped out behind her. The roar of wind became a dull howling, the air so cold that Liam's breath began to steam in the air. He braced himself against the wind and kept going.
“I can’t!” said Ally, yelling over the roar. “I can’t keep going. It’s too strong!”
Liam scooped her up. She wrapped her skinny arms around his neck. He forged ahead, grunting under the weight of Ally, Lithon, and his pack.
He staggered into another domed chamber, the ceiling supported by slender pillars. The wind shrieked out of the doorway with chilling force.
Liam stopped. “What is that?” Ally turned her head, frowning.
A huge hole, easily as wide as a dozen men, had been blasted through the far wall and a portion of the ceiling. Chunks of scorched stone lay strewn across the polished floor. The wind blew from the hole.
Inside the hole was absolutely nothing.
Liam blinked, straining to see. Past the jagged edges of the hole he saw nothing but a deep, utter blackness that stretched for infinity. A low moan rose from it, perhaps made by the wind, perhaps made by something else. Liam could not shake the feeling that something in the hole could see him.
Ally whimpered.
“What?” said Liam.
“Don’t go near the hole,” said Ally. Her voice shook with fear.
“Why?” said Liam. “What is it?”
“A hole,” said Ally.
Liam grunted. “I can see that.”
“You don’t understand,” said Ally. “The Tower is between the worlds. That’s a hole in the Tower. It opens into the empty black places between the worlds.” She shivered. “If we fall through, we’ll be lost forever. Don’t go near it.”
Liam nodded. Another corridor opened on the other side of the chamber. He started across the polished floor, hugging the wall to stay as far from the strange hole as possible. The wind grew stronger, and the moaning from the hole rose to a high shrieking. Liam gritted his teeth and forced his way forward. Ally shivered, and Lithon began to cry. Liam stumbled through the doorway and into the next corridor.
The wind vanished.
“Gods,” said Liam, wiping cold sweat from his brow. He put Ally down, and Lithon's cries faded to soft whimpers. Ally took the boy’s hands and murmured soothing sounds. “I hope we don’t have to do that again.”
“Me, too,” said Ally. They rested for a moment, then continued.
“I wonder where that hole came from,” said Liam.
“Marugon made it,” said Ally.
Liam frowned. “How do you know that?”
“He made it,” said Ally. “There was rubble over his mark on the floor.”
“Why would he do that?” said Liam. “He brings his guns and food for his gunmen from Earth. Why would he knock holes in the Tower?”
“Maybe he wants to let something into the Tower,” said Ally.
“Let what in? I thought you said there’s nothing between the worlds.”
“Maybe I’m wrong,” said Ally.
Liam remembered the black nothingness beyond the hole and shuddered. “Let’s keep going. I want to put as much distance between us and that hole as possible.”
Ally nodded. They kept walking.
###
“There’s another one,” said Ally.
Liam turned around. They stood in a high, vaulted corridor of crimson granite. It reminded Liam of the great naves of the temples of the true gods, before Marugon had destroyed them. Statues of nude women with fangs and wings and nine eyes adorned the pillars and walls.
Another gaping hole, the fifth they had seen, had been torn into the wall. Chunks of shattered stone lay across the floor. The hole opened into utter blackness, and looking at it made Liam’s head ache. At least no wind came from this hole.
“Liam.”
“Did you say something?” said Liam.
Ally shook her head.
Liam tore his gaze from the ruined wall. “We have no time to stand around and gawk. One of Marugon’s caravans might come through the Tower at any moment. I would rather not stand around and wait for them.”
Ally said nothing. Liam grunted, adjusted the straps holding his shoulder harness, and kept going.
“Liam.”
Liam whirled, drawing his Sacred Blades. Ally shrieked and took a step back.
“Did you hear that?” said Liam. The glow from his swords made the walls gleam with a pale blue light.
Ally shook her head, tangled hair falling over her forehead. “I didn’t hear anything.”
Liam looked around the dim corridor. “No. Perhaps not. Let’s…”
“Liam, Liam.”
Liam’s head snapped around. “What?”
“I don’t hear anything!” said Ally, stamping her foot.
Liam caught a glimpse of movement at the end of the corridor. His lips tightened, and he raised his Sacred Blades. “Marugon’s caravans, no doubt. Stay behind me.” He undid the straps of his shoulder harness. “And hold the King. We may need to run.”
“Wait,” said Ally.
“I need you, child,” said Liam. “Guard the King for me, please.”
Ally nodded, and took Lithon in her arms. She stagger
ed a bit under his weight, but hopefully she could carry the King long enough for Liam to deal with the threat.
Liam set off down the corridor at a loping run. He would spring into the next chamber, perhaps take down two or three of the unseen enemies before they recovered from surprise…
Liam leapt into another of the domed vaults he had seen throughout the Tower. Crimson marble gleamed in the emerald glow.
His swords flashed up in a guard position and froze. He blinked, unable to believe his eyes. “Annemarie?”
Annemarie Scepteris, Queen of Carlisan, stood in the center of the room. She wore a black gown that hid all but her hands and pale face. Liam lowered his swords, his hands trembling. Lithon’s mother had died at Carlisan. At least, he had hoped she had died in the fighting, that she hadn’t fallen into the cruel hands of Marugon’s soldiers before her death…
“Liam,” said Annemarie. “It’s so very good to see you again.”
“But,” Liam’s croaked, “but the Scepteris Palace…the explosion…”
Ally padded to Liam’s side, Lithon in her arms, and glared at the Queen.
“I escaped,” said Annemarie.
“Impossible,” said Liam. “The King sent Lithon and Anna with me. He said he couldn’t find you. You…you had been at the gates when they fell, the soldiers would have killed you…”
“The escape tunnel beneath the old gate,” said Annemarie, her dark eyes wet with tears. “I ran through it and came out just as the palace exploded. I knew you would try to come here, so I…”
Liam’s swords fell to the floor with a great clang. He ran forward and engulfed the Queen in a great hug. “I thought had lost you!”
Annemarie kissed him. “I’ve followed you for the last year, Liam. I thought you had died a thousand times. But I’ve finally found you.”
“Anna died,” said Liam, his face against her hair. “I…I tried to save her, love, but I couldn’t. There were too many gunmen. They cut her down. I tried…I couldn’t…” The old Knight stifled a sob. “I know,” whispered Annemarie. “She saved Lithon. She was very brave, our daughter.”
Liam looked away, his jaw working. “I…always swore to tell the King what had happened between us, one day. Now I shall never have the chance. He is dead, and our daughter Anna is dead.”
Lithon began to wail.
“But Lithon is still alive,” said Annemarie. “You saved him, Liam. You saved my son.”
“I had to,” said Liam, looking into her eyes. “For my sake, for your sake, for Anna’s sake, and for the King’s sake, I couldn’t let any harm come to him.”
“He is our son, Liam,” said Annemarie.
Liam flinched. “How? That's impossible. We…we didn’t…”
“Do you remember that night after the Feast of the True Gods four years ago?” said Annemarie. Liam managed a nod. “My husband shared my bed the next night. No one ever suspected.”
“Ally,” said Liam, turning. “Come here and bring Annemarie her son…my son.”
“No!” said Ally. She took a step back. “He’s not your son!”
“Ally!” said Liam. “This is the Queen of Carlisan! Show…"
“Hush,” said Annemarie, her warm fingers brushing his lips. “The poor girl has been through a nightmare. We all have. I can understand if she fears a stranger.”
Liam nodded. “Very well.” Ally gave him a sullen, frightened stare.
“Why have you come here, Liam?” said Annemarie.
“I had to,” said Liam.
“Why?” said Annemarie. “This is not a place for mortal men. This is Marugon’s place.”
“Because,” said Liam. “Alastarius told me I must.”
Annemarie flinched. “The Wizard? I thought he died at Castle Bastion.”
“He did,” said Liam. “But he Prophesied before he died, Annemarie.” He smiled. “He said that Lithon was the hope for our world. If I could but keep him safe, then the King’s son would return one day to restore our world from what Marugon has done…” Liam's voice trailed off.
“What?” said Annemarie.
“It had all been for naught,” said Liam. “The deaths, the slaughter, Sir Arran’s fall…nothing. Lithon is not the King’s son. He is my son. Alastarius’s Prophecy was wrong. We have lost so much, and it has been for nothing!” Liam’s voice rose to an enraged shout, echoing over and over through the looming corridors.
“No,” said Annemarie. “There is still a way.”
“What?” said Liam. “What can we possibly do?”
“We have lost so much,” said Annemarie, “but there is still a way we can lose nothing at all.”
“You speak nonsense,” said Liam.
“No!” said Annemarie. “I have wandered the corridors of this Tower waiting for you. Its doors open onto many worlds, perhaps even all worlds. Listen to me. The doors do not only open to different worlds. They open to different times.”
“Different times?” said Liam. "You mean...the future?"
“Other times, Liam.” She took his arm in a firm grip. “Times past and times to come.”
“What good does that do us?” said Liam.
“Think about it,” said Annemarie. “If the doors of the Tower can reach the past, then we can go back and stop what has happened.”
Fear and hope churned in Liam's mind. “But how?”
“I saw Marugon’s birth,” said Annemarie with a shudder. “It was foul. A demon, a voidspawn from the black places between the worlds, was his father. He is a soulless man.” Her grip grew tighter against his fingers. “But we have the power to stop it, my love. Think of it! You can go back and kill Marugon in the cradle. You could kill his mother before he was even born.”
Liam nodded. “Then none of it ever happens. Marugon does not go to Earth. He does not bring guns to our world.”
“Yes,” said Annemarie. Her eyes glimmered. “Think of it, my love. You saw Carlisan burn. You saw Anna die. We can keep it all from happening.”
Liam licked his lips. “Which way?”
He knelt and scooped up his Sacred Blades.
“Here,” said Annemarie. She led him down a high corridor carved with images of strange buildings with spiked crowns and glass walls. Ally followed, Lithon clutched in her arms. Another of the black holes into nothingness gaped in the wall. An icy breeze blew out of its depths. Shattered chunks of crimson stone lay strewn across the floor, obscuring Marugon's sigil upon the floor.
“Here,” said Annemarie. “This corridor leads to the doors to Earth, the world where Marugon found the guns. Yet from here you can go into the past of our world.”
“Where is the door to a different time?” said Liam.
Annemarie pointed into the nothingness. “There.”
“What?” said Liam.
“The corridors of time wind through the black places between the worlds,” said Annemarie. “It is there that you must go. Step through the breach and think of your destination. The strength of your will shall carry you to the time and place of your choosing.”
The breach in the wall looked like a great black eye. “ I am unsure…”
“Unsure?” said Annemarie. She took a step back from him. “Liam, my love, listen to me. This is our last chance. Our world lies in ruins. My husband is dead and almost all my children are dead. Marugon murdered them. This is our last chance to undo it. It is our last chance to save them. Please, Liam.”
Liam looked into the void. He felt a deep chill radiating from the blackness. It took all his will to keep from looking away. He thought of the ruin of Carlisan, of Anna’s death, and all the horror and carnage that he had seen. His jaw tightened. If had a chance to undo it all…
A small hand seized his belt. Liam glanced down, and saw Ally next to him.
“Don’t,” she said. “You’ll never come back.”
“I have to,” said Liam, shaking free f
rom her grasp. “It’s the only way…”
“Why?” said Ally. “How do you know?”
“Because it leads to the corridors of time…”
Ally hit him in the gut. It hardly hurt, but Liam blinked with surprise. “Why did you do that?”
“You’re being stupid!” said Ally, her face crinkling. “How do you know this is the way?”
“Because…because Annemarie told me,” said Liam. “I love her. I trust her.”
“Liam,” said Annemarie. “This is our last chance.”
“How does she know?” said Ally. “How does she know?”
“Child,” said Annemarie, her voice soft. “Your poor thing. What horrors must you have seen, to so shatter your trust?” She reached for the girl.
Ally hopped away, Lithon clutched in her arms. “The most horrible thing I’ve seen is a woman who’s supposed to be dead!”
“Child!” said Annemarie, her voice a whip. “Peasant! Show some respect to your elders!”
“Annemarie!” said Liam. “I don’t know what terrible things she has seen. Show some gentleness, I pray.”
“How does she know?” said Ally, her voice rising to a shrill yell.
“I saw it,” said Annemarie, folding her arms.
Ally pointed at the darkness. “Do you even see anything?”
“No,” said Liam.
Annemarie spun away with a scowl. “Your wits are addled! Are you drunk?”
“Drunk?” said Liam, stunned by her rage. “No, I…” He blinked. “Drunk…”
He remembered.
He had sat and watched Annemarie together with the King during the Feast of the True Gods four years past. Glass after glass of wine had been placed before him, and he had drunk it all as he watched the love of his life sit with his lord and king. Afterwards, Liam had staggered off to his own chambers in the Tower of the Knights and had fallen asleep. The next morning he had had a dreadful hangover-but he had awakened in his own chambers.
He had not awakened in the Queen’s bedroom.
Liam looked at young Lithon. The boy had the features of his father, Annemarie’s husband, the fallen King of Carlisan.
A finger of ice brushed Liam’s spine.
“You’re lying,” he said.
“Liam, no,” said Annemarie. Her voice shook with pain. “She’s just a child. Don’t listen to her.” She reached for him. “You must…”
“You lie!” said Liam. He jerked away from her touch and moved to stand before Ally and Lithon. “Lithon is not my son. I never had a son. My only child was Anna, and she lies dead on the battlefields of Carlisan. You are lying.”
Annemarie shook her head. “Liam. Make it easier on yourself. Just go through the hole and into the void. You will have an end to all your sufferings. Just go. Two steps. That’s all.”
“No,” said Liam. Something in Annemarie’s face made him lift his Sacred Blades.
“Then throw the girl and the child through the breach,” said Annemarie. “You can yet save yourself. We will let you go, if you just give us the boy and that wretched girl.”
Liam’s Sacred Blades began to glow brighter. “Who are you?”
Annemarie smiled. “Why, I am Annemarie Scepteris, Queen of Carlisan and the love of your life. I am who you believe me to be, whom you truly wish to see.”
“No,” said Liam. He raised his swords, the steel flashing with blue light. “Annemarie Scepteris was a kind and gentle woman. She would never demand that I throw any child, let alone her own son, through some hole into nothingness! And you said ‘we’, you deceiver, trickster who wears my beloved’s form! Who are you, and where are your confederates?”
Annemarie laughed and looked at the floor. “So petty, so small. Typical of mortals.”
She looked up. Annemarie’s lovely dark eyes had become pits into the void, yawning pools of black shadows.
Much like the hole in the wall.
“Who are you? Answer!” said Liam.
“We were there before you,” said Annemarie. Her melodic voice became deep and whispery. “The worlds were ours long before you mortals lived.” She hissed. “The Divine cast us out, threw us into the black places between the worlds, and built this wretched Tower to keep us out. The Divine left us to scream and gnaw on the nothingness between the worlds. And for what? For the sake of you crawling, mewling, dying little mortals?”
“What are you saying?” said Liam. His Sacred Blades pulsed brighter. Flickers of white flame danced across the steel as the cold breeze from the hole grew to an icy wind.
Annemarie shook her head. “Liam Mastere of the Two Swords. You fear Marugon so much. But what are his little powers? They are nothing. We are everything. The worlds are ours. The seals crumble, and we can now walk the corridors of the Tower. Soon they shall fail, and we will come forth and all the worlds shall be ours once more.”
“Thing of darkness,” said Liam. “I know not or care not what you are, but do not stand in my way.”
Annemarie shrank back, seeming to sink into her black gown. Lines of darkness blurred the edges of her form, and wings of shadow rose from her back. Shadows flowed from her bottomless eyes and crawled down her body.
Her gaze snapped to meet his as claws of darkness grew from her fingers. “You will not leave this Tower!”
The creature lunged at him, moving with the speed of shadow.
The wind howled.
Liam spun, his Sacred Blades flashing in an azure blur. The shadow-thing hissed and reared back, flinching from the magical fire of the steel. Liam settled back into a guard position, waiting for the creature to strike.
Annemarie’s face leered at him beneath the swirling darkness. Then the creature twisted and lunged for Ally and Lithon.
“No!” said Liam. The creature’s claws swiped for Ally and missed, and Liam chopped down with both swords. The Sacred Blades burned through Annemarie’s body. The creature wailed in agony, blue fire flashing through its eyes and mouth. The shadows fell from its body and crawled back to the breach in the wall.
“The girl!” wailed the creature. “She is the one! Take her! Take her now…”
Liam’s flashing blade severed the creature’s head from its body. Head and body dissolved into crumbling shadows and black mist.
“Liam!” said Ally.
Liam turned and saw a horde of the winged shadow-things crawling and hopping up the corridor. Some looked male, others female, but all were blurred and cloaked in darkness. Some crawled along the walls and ceiling, and their whispering voices echoed in his ears.
What had the false Annemarie called the creatures from the dark places between the worlds?
Voidspawn.
A hiss came from the breach in the wall. A shadow-thing vaulted out, claws reaching for Ally and Lithon, followed by another. Liam roared and spun his blades in a circle. The first creature vanished in a spray of dark mist. The second leapt past Ally and thrust its claws at Liam. He swung aside, but not before one claw stabbed deep into his side. Liam gasped in pain, hacked off the creature’s arm with his left sword, and disintegrated its head with his right.
He reeled back. A deathly chill crawled up his side, spreading through his veins.
“Liam?” said Ally.
Liam’s head snapped up. The voidspawn raced down the corridor. “Run!”
They sprinted down the hall, Liam's heart thundering in his chest, sending pulses of pain through his wounded side. They had to reach the doors to Earth. It was their only chance.
He heard a whisper above his head.
Liam stabbed up with both blades. The falling voidspawn wailed and withered into nothingness. Four more dropped down from a gaping crack in the ceiling. Liam leapt to the side, dancing through them, his swords whirling with the skill of decades of practice. His Sacred Blades burned through the voidspawn and sent them screeching into nothingness.
Liam
clutched his side, cold blood dripping from the wound. The mass of creatures surged towards him, whispering. He shot a glance down the corridor. Ally stood a hundred feet further down the passage, gazing at him in terror.
“Run!” said Liam. “Damn it, run!” Ally spun and fled. Liam lurched down the corridor in a halting sprint. He heard the chorus of deep whispers drawing closer.
He skidded to a stop. The corridor ended in a cavernous arched gallery. Five closed doors of ornate stone stood in the far wall. Marugon’s sigil lay on the floor before the middle door. Ally hesitated before the doors, confusion on her face. Lithon screamed and wailed in her arms.
Ally stared at him. “Which one? I don’t know which door to open!”
Liam’s eyes flashed over the doors. Marugon’s sigil had marked the middle door. Did the other four doors go to different worlds? Or perhaps all five of the doors opened to a different location on Earth? The shadow-thing wearing Annemarie’s face had said the doors to Earth were near…
“Any door but the middle!” said Liam. “Hurry!”
Ally ran forward and pushed on the far-left door, her body trembling with the strain. It began to swing open with a low growl.
Liam ran toward her, and glanced over his shoulder.
Ice grabbed at his heart. The horde of shadow-things would swarm over him and reach Ally and Lithon before she pushed the door open.
“No,” said Liam.
He spun with a yell and charged into the shadow-things. The creatures flinched from the fires in his blades. Liam stabbed and spun, his Sacred Blades tracing designs of azure fire in the air. Voidspawn after voidspawn wailed and vanished. Claw after claw lanced out and stabbed Liam. One sunk deep into his thigh. Another slashed across his jaw. A third skidded down his ribs. He felt light-headed. Blood loss, he supposed.
Then light flooded the chamber.
Liam staggered, blood dripping from his jaw. The creatures backed away, covering their eyes. The light poured from the far-left door. Ally ran through it, Lithon in her arms. Liam watched as she sprinted across a field of high green grass and blooming wildflowers, a wall of trees in the distance. The field did not look so very different from the meadows and forests of Carlisan. Perhaps this distant Earth was not as hellish as he had thought.
His King was safe at last.
A wave of contentment, of peace, washed through him.
The door slammed shut, the light vanishing. A whispering howl rose from the creatures.
Liam moved in a slow circle. The voidspawn stood in a ring around him, watching him with bottomless eyes full of madness. Liam smiled through the pain. For some reason, he felt no fear.
“Come, you devils!” Liam said. “Come on, then, and face me!”
The creatures came in a rush, and Liam Mastere, the Two Swords, Knight of the Order of the Sacred Blade, whirled his blades in a dizzying display. Voidspawn wailed and died, and for the first time in uncounted millennia, the corridors of the Tower of Endless World rang and echoed with the sound of battle.
And then they fell silent.
###
Night blanketed the Crimson Plain. The Tower of Endless Worlds stood mountainous and silent over the bleak expanse. Every now and again a burst of green light flashed from within its depths, illuminating the writhing shape of the ghouls hunting each other across the Plain.
A pale-skinned man clad in filthy red rags limped towards the Tower.
The ghouls ignored the rag-clad man, or at least the thing that wore the dead man's flesh like clothing. They had no desire to face it.
They could sense what dwelt within the corpse’s spell-chained flesh.
The pale-skinned man stopped at the base of the Tower’s steps, head titled to the side, as if listening. A low, feeble moan escaped its lips, followed by a deep-throated, booming laugh.
The rag-clad corpse shuffled up the steps and through the gates, intent on the trail of its quarry.
***
Chapter 16 - The Door Opens
Anno Domini 2003
The Tower of Endless Worlds Page 38
