The Labyris Knight

by Adam Derbyshire

  Colette’s look of surprise as the dagger struck home. Her shock and hurt as she crumpled to the floor. Cradling her in his arms as she slipped away and knowing that this was something he could never allow. Using the wish to save her life and teleport her safely away to the El Defensor knowing it would ultimately spell his doom but knowing he would have it no other way. Kerian was weeping openly now, unaware of the table in front of him, the laboratory around him, the monster sitting opposite. Instead he remembered Colette magically teleporting away, crying that she loved him, yet leaving him alone.

  A low growl stopped the flow of poignant memories, snapping Kerian back to the present with a start. He opened his eyes, blinking rapidly, immediately noting that the room had darkened whilst he had been reminiscing. Just how long had he been sitting here? Malum still sat entranced across the table, the music swirling about him and showing the scientist images that clearly had him terrified. The hounds had deserted his side and were over by the huge windows, growling at the glass as if they knew something lurked just beyond.

  Octavian continued to play, his own face now streaming with tears, his gaze locked with the spectral eyes of his wife, his playing becoming more frantic, more powerful, angry and emotional, the gypsy now a slave to the musical enchantment, gripped by the melody and playing because the music willed itself to be so, his body now an extension of the violin, swept along with everyone else in the room.

  Kerian forced himself to concentrate, his gaze reluctantly turning towards the ghost in the casket, despite the music beseeching him to do otherwise. He gritted his teeth, fighting the magic of the eerie serenade, forcing his head around, watching as she moved her lips, speaking arcane words and clearly using her limited powers to make Octavian play; her fearsome gaze locked firmly on the evil scientist. He squinted his eyes noting a pale ribbon of sparkling motes snaking from the crack in the base of the casket and wrapping around Octavian’s leg.

  His friend was drawing the bow across the strings of the violin without pause, his fingers moving as fast as the bow, violently drawing sounds from the instrument that a virtuoso would struggle to create. Sweat was dripping from his forehead, his hair was slick to his skull and his clothing hung on him damply as he continued to play as his wife demanded.

  The scrabbling grew louder at the window. What was it, a pigeon? Kerian could not make it out from the corner of his eye. Whatever it was scampered along the outer sill making the hounds rush along the window after it, backwards and forwards like some mad game. He glimpsed a skeletal tail, a small squat body. Was that a large skull with glowing green eyes? Then it was gone, leaving the hounds pacing, clearly agitated as the music played on, more intense, angry and vengeful. Kerian started as Malum slowly lifted a knife from the table, a trickle of blood oozing from his left nostril.

  Octavian continued to play, his eyes closed, his body swaying, the backdrop through the huge windows no longer a rose-coloured sunset, instead dark clouds rumbled across the vista, thunderheads clashing as they collided above the rocky peaks on the far side of the valley, monstrous titans battling in tune to the magic that the gypsy created through his use of the bow. The strings hummed, the sounds shriller, louder more urgent, causing Kerian to want to cover his ears and the hounds to whimper in distress on the floor.

  Malum seemed more intent on the knife slowly inching its way towards his neck. The veins in his forehead pulsed, his nostrils snorted and his face flushed as if he were desperately trying to push the weapon away. Instead, the blade drew closer, the tip of the weapon pricking his neck. Kerian suddenly realised that the enchantment within the music was forcing Malum to kill himself.

  Octavian staggered, drawing the bow across the violin and making the instrument shudder then shriek before stopping abruptly. He fell to his knees gasping, clearly exhausted from playing, his energy spent.

  “I’m sorry.” He wailed looking towards his wife’s remains. “I can’t Ana, I simply can’t.”

  The sudden break in the music seemed to shatter the spell, the apparatus on the laboratory desks beginning to bubble, hiss and pop again. Malum screamed, suddenly resuming control of his hands and hurling the blade aside from his neck as if it were a diseased thing, with no thought as to its trajectory. The blade glinted in the candlelight as it spun across the room, then the casket shattered and the world turned insane…

  The very air appeared to fill with static, hairs lifted along Kerian’s arms and he felt as if all the oxygen was being sucked from the room. The phantasm of Ana Silvestri stepped free of her prison, threw her arms wide and every glass vial, bottle, vase and tube on the work benches exploded sending gleaming splinters of glass rocketing out across the room. The huge glass windows running the length of the wall shattered, raining jagged shards down onto the floor and across the table. Sparks arced about the room and Kerian ducked instinctively as one large piece of glass smashed down and speared the chair alongside him.

  “You did this!” Malum screamed, pointing at Kerian with one blood streaked finger. “You and that damn gypsy bitch!” He clicked his fingers and two hounds leapt up onto the table snarling, whilst one of the golems lurched forward from where it had stood against the wall.

  “That bitch is Octavian’s wife!” Kerian shot back, drawing his sword in one smooth motion and letting the light of Aurora bathe the two creatures, making them whine and writhe in pain upon the table top.

  “My hounds.” Malum shrieked, throwing up his arm to shield himself from the light as he staggered forwards to grab them. Kerian moved to tackle him, only to be forced back by the lumbering golem that swung a fist in his direction making him duck and step away.

  He swung his blade in, piercing the creature’s side, only to watch it grunt, then reach for the gleaming steel as if it had not been hurt at all. He retreated just in time, the monster’s stubby fingers closing on thin air. Kerian stepped back, stamping down onto the edge of his shield and flipping it up to catch it with his free hand, just as the golden statue he had given Malum for ransom flew across the room and clanged loudly upon the shield’s polished surface. Kerian looked up over its rim and noticed Malum reaching for his serving plate and throwing that in his direction too. Porcelain cracked as he deflected the throw, only for Kerian to then jump aside as the golem lumbered past swinging its arms wildly, trying to connect a punch from which there would be no coming back.

  He ran towards his chair, then used it to leap onto the table, kicking aside the transforming chimera and turning to find the golem now at head height and lumbering towards him. He lunged with his blade, the steel glancing off the creature’s forehead and snapping the bolt from its skull. Foul smelling ichor started to bubble from the automaton’s head, thick viscous fluid that dribbled down into its eyes blinding the creature and enraging it further. It crashed against the table, its arms swinging wild then lumbered off across the room to crash into a suit of armour which it pounded intensely thinking it had finally found its target.

  Kerian turned back towards Malum, only to find the scientist lunging at his back, his hands open, going for Kerian’s neck. The knight only had time to swing his shield around and smash the scientist in his face, making his nose explode and knocking him away. Malum screamed in pain, dropping off the table.

  He spun around, noting more snarling creatures advancing from every entrance, all of them reluctant to move into the light, as if, by instinct, they knew this would cause them pain. Just how many of these failed science experiments did Malum have? The spectre of Ana materialised alongside Kerian and threw him a smile.

  “I’m glad Octavian and I never had you around for dinner at our place.” She remarked, taking in the chaos about them. “Thank you for bringing him back to me. I knew you would not let me down.” She smiled tragically, turning firstly to see her exhausted husband weeping by the window, then back down towards the focus of her hatred crawling away across the floor.

  “You are going nowhere!” she snarled, flicking out a hand an
d dragging the scientist squealing back across the floor towards her. She lifted him up, turning him about to face her, then snarled, allowing her spectral face to transform into something horrific and skeletal causing Malum to scream anew.

  “Malum, if you truly care so much for your experiments, I suggest you become one.” Ana stated coldly, raising Malum from his feet and hurling him across the room, smashing him through the test tubes, swiping clean table tops and crashing straight into and through the wall of the glass aquarium.

  Water thundered across the room. Kerian saw it coming and swiftly grabbed his equipment, lifting it above the torrent just before the water surged past, washing over Octavian and pushing him under, as the wave cascaded out through the destroyed window. The gypsy surfaced gasping, still on his knees, his head bowed, the violin and bow still firmly grasped in his hands.

  Malum screamed from the back of the room, the creatures inside the tank, flopping and thrashing on the floor suddenly latching onto his body and starting to attack him, their barbs arcing in and ripping chunks of flesh from his torso, despite knowing that their removal from their natural habitat would eventually lead to their demise.

  Ana continued to throw her powers towards the thrashing scientist, piling on her magic, venting her anger, melting his features, transforming his body and melding the monsters from the tank with the very creature they were trying to consume. Kerian held up his hand to shield his eyes as the intensity of the attack continued to course into Malum, with Ana pouring all of her anger, pain and venom into her assault.

  “Consider yourself cursed!” Ana spat, lowering her arms and sighing, her ghostly image fading from alongside Kerian, leaving the knight looking across at the scientist’s warped body with a shudder. Barbs and limbs twitched like fish left on a riverbank, whilst steam curled up from Malum’s mangled remains as he breathed raggedly.

  Octavian suddenly felt a warmth wash over his body and he looked up to find the phantom of his wife kneeling before him, her glow brighter than ever, her smile as radiant as he remembered, in all the nights they had been forced apart.

  “Oh my love, Ana, how can you forgive me?” he wept openly.

  “There is nothing to forgive.” She smiled sadly. “You kept your word to me darling. You came back, despite suffering so much for your family. You never forgot us. How can I hold anger in my heart towards you?”

  “But I failed you.” He sobbed. “Our child is dead, you are dead. We have lost everything.”

  “Iolander is beyond suffering now. She is free from pain. You were never going to return in time. Malum would have seen to that.” Ana replied gently shaking her head. “But you have not lost everything, for you have gained a friend, one that is more loyal than you realise and you have become a better man because of your trials.” She reached forward to tenderly slide a wet lock of hair from her husband’s forehead.

  “Kerian Denaris will lead you to greater things. You will see worlds much better than this one. You just have to remain true to your heart and ultimately you will be rewarded.” Her ghostly image flickered and waned before she became clear again, her magic clearly weakened with the powers she had used.

  “I love you so much.” Octavian confessed, his body shaking with grief.

  “I know my love.” Ana smiled. “And I love you too. Don’t worry, when the time comes, we shall both be waiting for you in the afterlife.” She stared off as if hearing something Octavian could not, then looked back at him again, her face suddenly urgent once more.

  “The danger is not yet over. You must still experience the depth of terror in darkness before you can truly appreciate the wonder of light.” She announced cryptically. “More people are coming, evil people that aim to do you harm. You need to play the violin again, call down a storm. Just like your grandfather. Kerian will know what to do.”

  “I cannot play without your guidance.” Octavian confessed. “The violin is not my instrument.”

  “It is now.” Ana smiled knowingly, leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the forehead. Octavian closed his eyes feeling her lips in his imagination, then when he opened them Ana was gone. He looked about dazed, noting Kerian still standing on the table, sword held high, the light from his blade flickering and flaring every time one of the hounds dared draw near. The golem continued pounding the suit of ancient armour, its fists now taking chunks out of the staircase and the mangled remains of Malum groaned on the far side of the room. People, what did she mean by people? Everyone was here.

  The doors at the top of the balcony exploded inwards, splinters of wood flying out in all directions, one chunk lodging into the golem’s skull with a ‘splat’, which it totally ignored, being intent on killing the stair rail in its confused state. The hounds turned snarling towards the new threat and charged for the stairs, leaving their master groaning on the floor.

  Kerian jumped down from the table and quickly walked over to Octavian pulling him to his feet, his face turned towards the new threat, not knowing what to expect. A knight smashed his way through the ragged remains of the door, his sword swinging as he cleared the opening and then stepped aside, making way for an exotic dark-haired woman bedecked in a long fur coat that flipped open as she walked revealing tantalising glimpses of skin-tight robes and long tanned legs.

  “Well this is not what I expected at all.” Justina confessed, walking up to the rail and placing her hands upon it to stare down into the wrecked laboratory. More knights filed into the room behind her and took up position along the balcony as her eyes took in the ruins of the room, the snarling hounds, the mindless golem and then the two men standing by the ruined window, one of which was armed with a sword and a shield, the other soaked to the skin and holding a violin.

  “My, my, it looks like I have missed one hell of a party!”

  “I have to play the violin now.” Octavian whispered.

  “Play the violin?” Kerian shook his head, his eyes wide. “What the hell were you just doing if not playing the violin?”

  “Ana told me to do it. She has told me to call down a storm. She said you would know what to do when the time was right.” Octavian stared up at the knights as another two figures walked through the ruined door. One of them he recognised instantly, whilst the other held a dagger to that person’s throat.

  “It appears Scrave never got very far.” Kerian commented, noting the Elf and the fact that his hands were tied. He did a quick headcount and noted fifteen people above him. Something told him Malum had miscounted the invitations he had sent for dinner.

  “Just hold them off for me will you.” Octavian stated, walking back to the window and putting his bow to the violin once more.

  “Hold them off!” Kerian remarked, muttering to himself, hesitantly walking towards the staircase, noting the first few knights already starting to step down the stairs purposefully towards him. “Oh sure. No problem. Fifteen to one. Piece of cake really. So any great ideas on how I’m supposed to do that exactly?”

  The golem reacted to the advancing knights first, just as the lilting sounds of Octavian’s violin started to fill the room. It rounded on the vibrations from the stairs and grabbed the nearest knight pounding the man into the wall so hard Kerian expected to see an explosion of blood, instead he was stunned to see the knight step away and swing his sword, hacking through the monster’s left arm, making it moan. However, if the knight had expected this to be a blow that would put the golem out of action, he was sorely mistaken, because it reached around with its other arm and grabbed him by the head before crushing his helmet flat.

  Kerian winced only to look on amazed as the knight disintegrated, not into crushed blood and bone but magically into pages and pages of loose manuscript. The golem thrashed about for a moment, then snarled and advanced up the stairs towards its next victim.

  The remaining door at the top of the stairs flew off its hinges and another golem lumbered in snatching knights left and right, throwing them over the banister and down
into the lab. Kerian watched the first one fall, hearing the man’s neck snap as he landed, then his eyes moved to trace the second knight who had grabbed the rail to stop his fall and was now dropping down to the floor. The first knight started impossibly getting up, moving his head straight, then drawing his sword and advancing back towards the stairs where Kerian stood.

  “Uh oh!” Kerian uttered, as the second knight regained his feet and then determinedly started in his direction. “This is not good. Is there any chance you can play a little faster?” Octavian appeared to be ignoring his request, slowly building the tempo on the violin, tapping his foot and letting the music swell about him as the clouds outside continued to crash and flicker threateningly. Movement out of the corner of Kerian’s eye made him snatch a quick glance in Malum’s direction, only to see the horrific blooded figure of the scientist impossibly struggling to draw himself up from the floor.

  “My eyes!” The scientist screamed. “What has happened to my eyes? I can’t see!” He staggered to his feet, the barbed tendrils of the Lampren swaying like a nest of vipers and glowing eerily as if they were tasting the air for prey. Malum threw his arms out to the side, feeling for something to touch and steady his balance, his eyes permanently scarred by the magical powers of Ana’s spells.

  “Where are you Styx? I am going to make you pay for this.” The tendrils stopped and slowly turned in Kerian’s direction. Kerian looked at the knights picking their way through the destruction, then at the nightmare creature that Malum had now become.

  The gypsy really needed to pick up the pace with that violin!

  “Styx.” Scrave muttered, his Elven ears picking up a name he thought he had left in the past. It could not be! The golem landed a lucky strike, knocking Kaplain a glancing blow and jolting the Bearer’s grip on his magical book. The knights froze momentarily before the man could focus his thoughts and order them back into action. It was the shortest of moments but Scrave read it well, ducking the next blow from the monster and taking the opportunity to step away from the chaos, just as four warriors charged in and started hacking and slashing at the huge behemoth. Scrave got to the bannister and stared down at the young man he had been travelling with.