by Cora Choi
Chapter 10: The Saboteurs
I first encountered the Saboteurs when I was nineteen, and still alive. At that time, the entire abbey was in a fragile state, with guards stationed throughout the island. For several months, many members of the Order of the Crane had been disappearing inexplicably. All the monks had been ordered to report any strange or sinister incidents. I had not yet encountered anything, until one night when I stayed in the library past midnight. Another apprentice and I were the only ones there. We were both under the tutelage of the head of the abbey, Abbot Pellanor, and were both bona fide members of the Order of the Crane.
“I am done for the night, Brother,” I announced as I turned for the stairs. The other apprentice was sitting at a table. “I wish you well for the rest of your—” But the light in both our candles was suddenly blown out, along with the fire that burned in a silver tray in the center of the floor of the library. The darkness was blinding. At the end of the handrail of the stairway, there was a tray that held a flint stone and steel rock. I struck it several times, until I was able to light a piece of tinder and bring a flame back to my candle. As I did, I saw that the other apprentice was no longer in his seat. His books were there, but he was nowhere near them.
As I walked over to where he had been sitting, I saw a wisp of a shadow cross my field of vision, as if a swirl of black smoke had blown in, but there was no wind, not even a faint draft. I continued walking along the column of books, calling out his name, but there was no response. Instead, a dark, transparent shadow covered the glow of my candle, and my knees locked with fright.
I suspected the worst. As the blood rushed to my head, I ran through the stacks of books, searching for my friend. I caught a glimpse of him as he calmly turned the corner at the end of a row of bookcases. I followed him, calling him, but it was useless—he was in a trance.
The shadows swished swiftly past me but twirled and twisted around my friend, forming a diaphanous noose around his neck. They seemed to be pulling him down an aisle and then leading him around a corner. My defensive instincts alert, I followed him and swiped at the shadows whenever they brushed by, but it was pointless—my hand went right through them. After a combination of random left and right turns through the maze of stacked bookcases, I saw him walking toward a dead end. I believed I could catch him, but, to my astonishment, he seemed to walk steadily into the floor. I bent down and brought my candle to my feet and saw that the marble tiles had spread apart, revealing a staircase that led downward into an even darker realm. I descended.
The humidity in the air stuck to my face, and the sound of lapping waves echoed in my ears, as I struggled down the large-cut rock stairs. I extended the candle to my left and saw the walls glistening with moisture. I brought it in front of my forehead and saw a cavernous space extend before me. Drops of water from above brought me to the conclusion that I was in a cave, a hollowed-out area in the center of the island that opened out to Stauros Sea.
The descent down the stairs seemed miles long. When I reached the final step, I looked ahead and saw that the other apprentice was climbing into a bobbing box that was sitting in a silvery, shining path at the end opposite where I stood. I ran to him quickly, and when I was close, I saw that the silver was the moonlight reflected in a pool of water that flowed out of the mouth of the cave, and the box was actually a small wooden rowboat. My friend had already boarded the boat and, without oars or steersman, was slipping steadily out to sea. I called out to him, but he didn’t turn back. He was never heard from again.
I immediately reported what I had witnessed to Abbot Pellanor. An investigation took place that very night, and it was discovered that there were secret members of the Order of the Shrike living among the members of the Order of the Crane. They had put a curse on all who followed the Order of the Crane, by calling forth the Saboteurs to chase and lure the members into the cave, where a boat would be waiting to ferry them to the World of the Damned.
