“I don’t know anyone who can do that,” he said, seemingly accepting her answer. She exhaled and continued walking.
“You can see them, can’t you?”
“I suppose.”
“That’s sensing, in its own way.”
They lapsed into silence again as they focused on navigating the jungle, breaths growing heavy with exertion. Rook could feel herself wilting under the heat, so far from the cool and breezy high season she was accustomed to. What she wouldn’t give for a gust of wind against her sweaty face.
The humming had turned into a vibration beneath her skin, making her fingertips tingle. It’s strong, she thought. Little was known about rifts on Yllzlo island. With such a substantive presence of the Sonlin Empire’s forces, the Order of the Riftkeepers had dwindled to a handful of members, and from her brief time on the island it seemed that the natives had little knowledge of riftspawn beyond superstitious beliefs. How long has it been growing here, untended? Wardens were supposed to guard the riftsites and prevent malicious riftspawn from entering their realm. If no one guarded them here, who knew what had come through the tear between worlds. Left untended, they could grow and fester until the veil became so thin that it ruptured, allowing any spirit into the physical realm.
Rook sneezed, grabbing a branch to keep her balance, and Viktor stumbled into her. “Are we near?” he asked, rubbing his nose.
“Very.” There was pressure pushing against her skull and she blinked heavy lids. “There, look.”
She caught herself on the edge just in time as the trees split, revealing a hole in the ground – a square cut into the jungle floor. Thick, knotted roots stretched down to the floor and weaved in a tangled pattern across the floor, budding with white blooms. Various kinds of riftspawn swarmed through the air in a variety of shimmering colours. Like the one that still followed them, some had long, snaking bodies, some spiny and others had the appearance of feathery fins, flapping like fish.
On the other side of the chasm she could see an indentation that ran beneath the ground, steeped in shadow, and her curiosity pulled her towards it as she searched for a way to climb down.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” she said as she tested one vine as wide as a tree trunk with her foot, nodding to herself when it proved stable. “It might be better if you stayed here.”
Viktor stole another glance at the red riftspawn. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Rook shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you get possessed.”
Viktor froze, eyes going comically wide. “That doesn’t happen! That’s the kind of thing old ladies say to scare children into behaving.”
“No, it definitely happens. It’s nasty, believe me.” Rook continued to descend downwards, using the knot where the vines tangled to rest her feet.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then don’t.”
She jumped the last foot to the ground and peered up into a cloudless blue sky, dotted with the forms of restless riftspawn. The pressure of the atmosphere only continued to grow and with it her head began to ache. Her blood stirred with adrenaline – a subconscious reaction to the presence all around her – and she had to will herself to calm down, heart beating erratically.
“Are you going to take all today?” she called up to Viktor as he struggled to climb down the vines, nearly losing his footing more than a few times.
“Sorry if I’m not a nature fiend like you,” he huffed, dusting down his clothes. He licked his thumb and wiped at streak of mud on his waistcoat with a scowl before looking around.
“That’s some nice threads you have there,” she said as she walked over to one of several pillars that held the structure aloft, the crumbling stone carved with symbols she didn’t recognise. Her fingers reached out and trailed the rough edges of the indentations with wonder. What was this place?
“I didn’t steal them.”
Rook laughed. “I never said you did.”
“That thing is still watching me.”
Would she have to kill it? It seemed likely now that it wasn’t losing interest in them – it caused a sense of foreboding deep in her gut – but she didn’t relish the thought of doing so, fists clenching at her sides. She was already fighting to keep control. It wouldn’t do to give herself a taste.
“Try and ignore it.” She passed through the pillars and into the gloom underneath, pausing to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Some of the vines had pierced the roof and grew down the walls. She pushed them aside, revealing more symbols all along the cavern.
“I think this might be some kind of temple,” she said as Viktor reached her side. “Do you know what it might be for?”
Viktor narrowed his eyes as he leaned over her shoulder. “How should I know?”
“Don’t you live here?”
“And?”
“You don’t know anything about the island’s history? At all?”
The look Viktor gave her was somewhere between confused and incredulous. “No?”
Rook sighed and continued into the cavern, the floor sloping downwards into darkness. There was now a shrill whistle sounding in her ears that sent shivers through her, temperatures cooling significantly as they descended. Could it be connected to the Illuminated? The religion was dying out on Yllzlo, and on the rest of the Myrliks, a newer strand replacing the old. It had been around for thousands of years, yet she had never seen anything like this built in the name of it. Perhaps they had different ideas regarding worship here. It was possible.
Suddenly Viktor let out a yelp and she jumped, whipping around with her riftblades drawn in front of her. Seeing that it was only a cluster of tiny glowing riftspawn that undulated in the air around his face, illuminating the angles of his cheekbones and the long slope of his nose with their iridescent blue lights, she sheathed her weapons and shook her head. His eyes flickered in all directions, mouth a tightly drawn bowstring.
“They’re harmless,” she said with a smile. “They’re just curious. I doubt they see many people around here.”
“How do you know? They could be evil! Waiting to suck my eyeballs out with those little things they have,” he cried, wiggling his fingers in front of his face to mimic the wispy tendrils.
Rook snorted. “So you don’t believe in possession but you believe in getting your eyeballs sucked out?” She shook her head in disbelief. Laughing at him was a good distraction from the way her nerves rattled the more she descended into the depths.
Viktor at least looked sheepish as he ducked under their glowing bodies and trailed after her. “This place is creepy.”
“It sure is,” she agreed.
They continued to walk for some time, the glowing riftspawn growing in number all around them until the cave was lit up like the night sky. She found herself lost in her imagination as she contemplated the people that might have built this structure and for what purpose. The symbols were not unlike the script used for writing now – they were made up of a combination of straight and curving lines, some dotted in places or ringed with circles – but she couldn’t determine what it was actually supposed to say. Did that one maybe look like the word for ocean?
Viktor nudged her shoulder and pointed. “There’s something up ahead.”
Her eyes followed his finger to the light that spilled from an archway cut into the stone and she stopped, thoughts of ancient languages forgotten. Rook raced towards it, feeling the jolt of riftspawn as they passed through her and the pleasant hum they left on her skin afterwards. She could even taste it on the air as she ducked into the room, the light painful after wandering through the darkness.
The room opened up into a cavernous space cut into the black rock, daylight spilling in from a crack in the roof much higher up than she had expected; clearly they had descended more than she had realised. Underfoot the ground was layered with fine black sand and in the centre stood a solid stone tablet cut from some kind of white stone, marbled
with thin orange veins. Above it the air shimmered as if in a heat haze even though the air was cool. Spirits poured from it in clusters, swirling around in the beams of warm light from the ceiling.
“The rift?”
“The rift.”
The vibration was drilling into the centre of her skull now, making it hard to concentrate as she crossed the sand to the stone tablet and the rift above. This isn’t right. She was supposed to feel the presence of the riftspawn but not like this. Like this she was in danger of being completely overwhelmed as her hand trailed smooth stone and she found her fingers shaking. Too many were crossing the threshold at once; without maintenance it would continue to tear until it was past the point of control.
“What is it?” Viktor asked as he joined her.
“The feel of this place is wrong.” Her skin was tingling and she resisted the urge to scratch at it. “There should be wardens here protecting the rift.”
“Why aren’t they?”
“I don’t know.”
Viktor trailed his fingers aimlessly over the grooved markings on the tablet. There was one at each corner and a fifth in the middle, each different. The latter was the only one that looked vaguely familiar to her, oddly resembling the mark on her wrist.
“Did you find a sign of the thing we’re hunting?”
Rook frowned. “No.”
“So we came all this way for nothing?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Didn’t you?”
Rook gave him a pointed look. “If the rift is unprotected like this then that particular riftspawn could be but one of a much larger problem.”
Viktor shrugged. “There hasn’t been a problem so far. Maybe it’s better left the way it is.” He turned and leant against the tablet, stretching out his legs as he gazed upwards. “Why is that thing still there?”
The red riftspawn bobbed through the air, wispy tail flickering like a candle flame in the breeze. It had followed them all this way but it hadn’t come any closer. In fact, given how many riftspawn swarmed the room, Rook was surprised they hadn’t faced an attack from anything malicious that might seek to possess an empty vessel like Viktor’s. Is it protecting us somehow? Why?
“Perhaps it’s your guardian spirit.”
“Yeah,” he snorted. “Right.”
The symbol that Viktor ran his finger along began to glow with a deep green light and he jerked his hand away with a yelp, stumbling away from the stone as if scalded.
Rook suddenly fell to her knees as a piercing shriek filled her ears, hands clamped over them as her face scrunched tight in agony. Worse than I thought. Her head ached as a pulse of nausea crashed over her and she rested her head against the stone, focusing on calming her breathing, vision swimming for one terrifying moment. It was all she could do to grip firm to consciousness and hold on, pain excruciating. Her breath came in quick, shallow pants.
As she regained her faculties she realised there was something wet and warm beneath her nose. Drawing away her hand she found smeared blood against pale skin, her hand trembling. Have to get out of here.
“Rook,” Viktor said. “Rook. Something’s happening. Why are they doing that?”
Fear gripped her as she looked up and found a writhing, swarming mass poised to dive towards them. In a flash she rolled, swinging her blades up in a weak arc and then bracing herself for impact. With that many an attack would be merciless.
But then nothing. She spread out of her crouch and stared in amazement as the riftspawn appeared to be held back by some kind of invisible barrier that shielded both her and Viktor from their attack, riftspawn in various sizes, shapes and colours all wriggling against each other as they butted against whatever force it was that kept them safe.
Maybe it’s the temple that protects us. Rook didn’t have time to speculate. She rose to her feet on shaky legs and reached out a hand to yank Viktor up with her. “We need to leave. Now.”
“I’m right with you on that.”
The two of them tore for the exit, her stomach knotting when she saw that the riftspawn were following, yet strangely still maintaining that short distance. Keep your eyes ahead of you! Her lungs burned from the steep incline up the cavern, nearly stumbling a few times on loose rocks and earth, eyes searching for light from above. More than once her mind tried to flee back towards the riftspawn that chased them but she scolded herself into action, helped by the long hours of suffered meditation during her training.
When she spotted the first glow of sunlight she exhaled in relief, finding a last spurt of energy that had her skidding into the opening of the temple, eyes protesting at the brightness of the light. She paused to catch her breath, hearing Viktor’s thudding footsteps behind her and the ragged edge of his breathing.
“They’re – still – coming.”
Sure enough, they seemed to gather from all directions, clustering together until they formed one large mass of energy, reflecting a kaleidoscope of colour as if she stood beneath the stained glass windows of one of the great Zorashiran churches in Tsellyr. They were completely surrounded now, trapped in a pit in the ground far away from civilisation, no help on the way.
“What do we do now?” Viktor asked, eyes wide.
“We need to try and get as far away as possible. Only the strongest of riftspawn can exist far from the rift. The rest will weaken and fade if they move too far from their energy source.”
“Right. Good plan.” He looked at her expectantly.
Rook gulped but nodded. She closed her eyes and breathed, surrendering herself to the sensations around her. The pressure on her skull had loosened a little now that they had moved from the heart of the temple and she could feel the larger presences humming as they lurked in the corners of her senses. Aim for the biggest. The little ones cannot hurt you. Adrenaline roared through her, her heart beginning the racing drumbeat for her dance.
“I’m going to carve a path. You can follow after me,” she said.
“What happens if they come after me?”
“I’ll get them first. Are you ready?” She was only half aware of the conversation, her mind already turned towards survival mode.
“Uh, sure.”
She nodded and sprang into action, twin riftblades arcing out as she ran the length of temple floor, jumping and hopping over the weaving of vines until she reached the wall. Sheathing her weapons, she latched onto a lattice of thinner vines and scaled the wall, flinching every time a sizable riftspawn plunged through her and siphoned some of her energy. By the time she reached the top she was exhausted.
Hauling herself over the rim of the chasm, she rolled and sprung to her feet, scything at one flickering form that dove at her, scattering it to the wind in a burst of light. Rook soon lost herself to the rhythm of the fight, cutting away at the spirits around them until they scattered whenever she neared them, her whole body thrumming with the energy she gained as they dissipated into nothing. Once she got a taste for the sweet sensation she couldn’t stop, chasing after the thrill with a cry as she whirled and lunged.
“Rook!”
Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered the sound of her name, muffled, as if filtered through water. Still she continued to cut into the dwindling swarm, feeding on the riftspawn’s panic as they fled the slicing smirk of her blade. She had lost count of how many; could only measure it in the staggering power swelling beneath her skin, threatening to burst out of her. More. More.
“Rook!”
Something grabbed her arm and she swung out, metal catching and tearing. Red. The flash of colour was enough to snap her out of her trance and she stopped, breathing heavily, as her eyes took in Viktor on the ground at her feet, one hand steadying himself on the undergrowth, the other clutching his arm as his face twisted with pain.
“What in the Locker did you do that for?”
Rook glanced around her, bewildered. She was deep into the jungle, light through the canopy dappling his face as he looked up at her with something
like fear. When she lifted the blade in her left hand she found it smeared with blood and she dropped it, hand slapping to her mouth. Blood, on a sacred blade. On her riftblade. For a long moment she stood there, unable to move. I lost control again. Her hand was trembling even more violently that it had been in the temple.
Viktor stumbled to his feet, maintaining a distance between them as he brushed himself off with the back of his good hand, bloody fingers tilted away from his clothes. “I called your name! Now look at what you’ve done.”
It was just a slice. Even from a glance she could tell it was nothing serious provided it was treated to prevent a fever. But it wasn’t just that she’d harmed another human being, it was how she’d done it.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Viktor pressed his fingers to the cut and sighed, deflating. “Is it finished? Are we safe now?”
She paused to check her senses, only feeling the slightest tickle against her skin. A few faint translucent riftspawn swirled through the leaves of the trees, almost formless. “I think so.”
“Good. I’m going home.”
“I didn’t mean to––”
“It’s done now.”
“Can you pick that up for me, please?” She gestured to her blade, glinting amongst the wilted leaves and ferns.
Viktor arched a brow but when she didn’t say anything more he shook his head and picked it up, stalking away into the jungle without another word.
She brushed pieces of hair that had fallen from her braid in the melee back from her face, matted with sweat. It was like all that energy she’d taken from the riftspawn had just seeped out of her in one go, leaving her drained and lifeless as she trudged back to the boat. As she and Viktor set off in the direction of Nirket she found herself ruminating on the words of her mentor, nails digging crescent marks into the flesh of palms. Who are you, Rook? She hadn’t known the answer then and she sure in the Locker didn’t know now. You are who you choose to be.
What did that say about her now?
Viktor tried to cut the knotted rope with her blade until she shoved him out of the way and plucked out a dagger from her belt. “That’s not for cutting rope,” she said, sawing it off.
The Broken Door Page 5
