by Lindsay Nall
“Well hell!”
After searching most of the day the two were finally able to locate someone who was willing to point them in the direction of a Witcher. Witcher’s were not social people, they liked to cling to the edges of humanity monitoring what was going on in both the human and demon worlds. Most were considered hermits finding lodging in far-out places away from towns, living on their own where they could practice openly. They weren’t accepted because they weren’t human, at least not to everyone else. They were human in appearance but if one glimpsed into their eyes they could see the demon roiling under the surface, demons who had fallen from Lucifer’s grace and now spent their time trying to undo his work, if they were paid enough. Nothing came free.
It was an old man living on the outskirts of the town that finally pointed them towards a hermitage lodged in the side of a nearby mountain. He had explained how his daughter, stricken from grief after losing a child, had tried to convince the Witcher to open a tear for her to join her son. The Witcher had of course refused, children taken were sent straight upwards, nowhere a Witcher could contact them even if they wanted to. The old man said he had become a friend to this Witcher named Dantis when he had refused to help his daughter and brought her back home to get the help she needed risking his own life to enter the town. Anyone who would have realized who he was would have more than likely killed him on the spot. And so it was come mid-afternoon, guided by the old man from Ipsburg, Mari and Marinique made their way down a barely used trail around the back of the nearby mountain.
“Who disturbs me?!” The voice was raspy but forceful in its accusation. The cave entrance was nothing special, nothing marked it as being inhabited or broadcasted that a Witcher lived within its confines.
“Eh Dantis! It’s me, got a couple of Shadows looking for your help.” The old man cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted into the cave. There was a long moment of silence then slowly the three could hear something dragging along the ground. An old disheveled man appeared from the cave, a gnarled stick in his hand like a cane as he dragged his left foot, obviously broken, behind him. His long hair was matted and filthy, his skin dirt-covered and sallow as if it were hanging off his bones but there in his eyes was what told them his appearance was not to be taken at face value. Where the eyes of this man had once held a normal color to them they were now a stark black with a red ring, the sign of a fallen demon.
“Shadows…interesting. Payment?” Marinique reached into a pocket to extricate a small pouch of coins then tossed them at Dantis. Faster than his body looked like it could react he grabbed the bag out of midair, tossing it in his hand a few times as if to weigh the amount it held he shrugged and turned around. “Come in then. Harold, get with ya, you don’t need to be here for this.” The old man that had lead them to the Witcher nodded, bowed to the two then took his leave quickly and quietly.
“Should I be worried?” Mari leaned close to her uncle to ask the question but he said nothing. As they followed Dantis deeper into the cave it seemed to open up, candles were lit sticking out of random rocks giving a soft yellow glow to the blankets and straw-filled sacks lying all over the ground. Small items, animal bones, herbs, and mirrors lined the walls where they were creviced as makeshift shelves.
“Don’t touch anything.” She nodded at her uncles’ command ducking under a line of dead birds hanging from a wire above them. If anyone were to stumble upon this place they would think a homeless man lived here but if you knew what you were looking for you could spot the signs of demon inhabitance hidden around the chamber. Symbols were scrawled into the rock here and there, the herbs and animals that were hanging from the walls had not been cut or killed by any earthly weapon and then there was the smell. Some of the candles burned oils, some herbs but nothing could cover up the sulfuric smell that had permeated the rock around them. This Witcher had either lived here for a very long time or had taken it over from another Witcher before him.
“Sit, sit.” The two stared at Dantis at his request. “Oh, don’t trust the Witcher I get it but if you don’t mind I’ll be sitting, this vessel is not what it used to be.” He poked at a bag of straw with his cane then collapsed onto it propping his broken leg on its own pillow. If the odd angle hadn’t given away that it was broken the purple skin and black toes surely would have. Mari didn’t know much about Witchers other than what she had been told by her uncle on the way to Ipsburg but she knew when the body they were using began to wear out from age or ailment they would find a newly deceased human and take theirs. It made her wonder why this Witcher hadn’t found a new body to take.
“That vessel used to be a normal human being.” Marinique growled.
“Aye that it did but he died a peaceful death in his sleep of old age, no family, no one to even notice there was nobody to bury. No one missed him.” Dantis shrugged. Whoever heard of a thoughtful Witcher? “I’d get a new one but of the few people who have passed in town lately all of them had a family. I just gotta bide my time till one of them old geezers without anyone kicks it.” Mari blanched at the statement but shrugged to herself, was she expecting a former demon to show that much compassion? The amount he had shown already was enough to shock her but still not enough to make her think of him in any way other than a demon. “Now I’m betting from the bag of money you handed over you are not here to discuss my current vessel. Is this official business or personal?”
“Both.” Not knowing why she was doing it she walked past her uncle and took a seat across from Dantis.
“You’re a brave one.”
“Or foolish, who knows yet.” Mari shrugged which made Dantis let out a loud bark of laughter.
“I like this one, now what is it you’re needing?” She took two deep breaths then explained to Dantis what had happened the last time they had been in Ipsburg with the Muse imposter. As she finished her story he let out a low whistle. “That’s some deep demon poo you want me to stick my foot in.” Poo? A demon who said poo… if she wasn’t already sitting in front of a former demon with a conscience she would have thought that was the strangest thing she heard in a while.
“Can you or can you not find the tear and give us the demons name?” Marinique stood just behind Mari with his arms over his chest trying to look as intimidating as he could. Dantis looked form him back to Mari.
“I like talking to her better,” Marinique growled. “Alright, alright don’t get your knickers in a twist. Do you have anything the demon touched?” Mari thought for a long second then held out her hand for Marclay to land in.
“Just her.”
“What is it?” Marclay flapped her wings and hissed at Dantis.
“She’s a Wigget, just kind of think of her as a tiny bat.” Dantis stared at the little creature a moment longer then shrugged.
“Should work.” He held out a hand.
“Go on.” Marclay shook her head. “Now is not the time, go.” Marclay hissed at her but did as she was told flying over to land in Dantis’ outstretched hand.
“Interesting.” Reaching into a small pouch that sat on the floor next to him he rubbed a small amount of whatever powder was in it on Marclay’s stomach. “That’ll do it, go on now.” Marclay flew back to Mari. “It’s demon dust, won’t hurt her.” Dantis stood slowly not able to put much weight on the broken leg. “This way.” They followed him once more this time down a narrow tunnel off the main chamber they had been in and into a much smaller area. On the ground were scribbled multiple symbols and words in a language neither one of them could read. “You’re sure about this right? There’s no backing out once I start.”
“Positive.” Dantis went to work tracing over a few different symbols then reciting a few of the words out loud, as he did an image of the area seemed to come into focus before their eyes.
“There’s your tear.” He pointed to one of several glowing lines on the map. “Doesn’t look like it’s been active but that one time. Take your bat there, it will draw out the demon you’re looking for.”
Mari made mental notes of directions on how to get to the tear, it wasn’t far, maybe a few hours walk.
“And what is its name?” Marinique asked also taking note of where the tear was and how to get to it.
“That I cannot say.” Dantis hobbled over to where Mari stood and placed a hand on her forehead. It felt as if a static shock passed between the two and all of a sudden Mari knew a name, a name she had never heard before. “But she can.”
“That’s it?”
“Yup, be on your way now, wouldn’t want the Silhouette to figure out what you’re up to.” Dantis hobbled ahead of them back to the main chamber of the cave as Mari thought over what he had said. As Marinique was making his way towards the exit she hung back for a second to ask a question.
“How much of my mind did you read when you did that?” Dantis shrugged.
“Does it matter?” She guessed it didn’t but at the same time, she felt violated. “Dreams are not always the best places for information if you can get it in the real world.” He whispered and then faded from sight. He had read a decent bit of her mind apparently.
Fifteen
No one had heard from Mari in three days and Marinique had gone off the grid as well, not that Nyght expected her to contact him. What she had done, what she had said, it still didn’t make sense to him but seeing Tadum open the door to her room telling him she was still sleeping… the jealousy that had raged through his body had been something he had never experienced before. Still, he worried about her. He knew there was something else going on, that the decision she had made to break their hearts was not something she came up with on her own. She was trying to protect him from something. But what? He knew it wasn’t her mother, she had told him about her months ago and never once gave any kind of hint that she was worried about it. He had tried over and over to figure out who in headquarters had put the thought in her head, she’d had little time where he or Tadum weren’t around her and he knew there were few people here that had known about what had developed between the two of them.
As he passed by the courtyard gardens he could see his grandfather out in the field meditating causing him to pause. Mari had told him about the encounter she’d had with Alto in the library before they set off on their first mission, how he had posed the thought that Nyght should be a Shadow or a Deus but not both. A new fury started in the pit of his stomach as he marched across the courtyard towards his grandfather.
“Nyght, is something wrong?” Alto could feel the emotions running high as Nyght came to a sudden stop a few feet from him. “Has something happened?”
“You tell me.” The words were ground out through clenched teeth. Alto took in his posture, his clenched hands, and tense shoulders as well as the set to his jaw. “It had to have been you, you had to have said something to her. What was it!?” The look Nyght gave him was something he had never seen before, not even when Nyght’s demon half had surfaced, but this had nothing to do with his demon half and everything to do with his emotions.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Dammit don’t lie to me!” He flexed his hands a few times to relieve the stress from having them clenched too tight. “It had to have been you, what did you say to Marisol?” Alto straightened his shoulders and leveled a look on Nyght.
“I said what needed to be said. She knew better from the beginning and so did you.” It was getting harder for Nyght to control his anger.
“You have no control over my life old man.”
“As a member of this clan…”
“Get serious there is no clan anymore! There’s just us!” Nyght’s breathing got heavier as he spoke. “There’s only us and I’m not even sure there should be that. Now, what did you say to her?!” Alto knew there was no way around this, knew the damage was done in Nyght’s eyes and saw no way out of telling him of what had been said between himself and Marisol. As he reiterated the conversation they had had a few days prior Nyght’s stance seemed to soften. “You used her to get what you wanted out of me.”
“I did no such thing. I told her what your options were, where your loyalty should lie.”
“You have no right to speak to anyone about loyalty.” He took a step back at that statement. “I am a Shadow, I am one of the 14 soldiers created to end the war, there is no life after I fulfill my duties to the Silhouette and you know that. I will die, we all will yet you believe I should still choose between living my life as it is now or training for a life we both know I will never have. There is no clan Alto, there’s only you.” As he turned to walk away Alto spoke his name quietly.
“You can’t blame me for hoping you could live.”
“No I can’t, but I can blame you for keeping me from living.” With that final statement, Nyght returned to the main building to hunt down the others. He was going after Mari, he had no idea where to look for her but thought maybe he had an idea on where to start.
As Alto stood there in the courtyard letting Nyght’s decision sink in to leave the clan he couldn’t help but crack a smile. Nyght had found a true calling not as a Shadow or a clansman but as something he never dared to do, to be a normal man.
A call to Tadum’s Wigget told him that Mari had met up with Marinique in a small town instead of traveling with him. Even Marinique was in on this.
“She didn’t tell you where they were going?”
“No, nothing. It’s not like her to be this reckless, Rayne, yes but not her.” Tadum’s disembodied voice came from Nyght’s pendant on his lapel. “I wish I could come help but we’re tracking a hierarchy demon that’s been targeting small towns in the eastern district.”
“We’ll find her.” There was a long silence where Nyght wondered if Tadum had severed the connection.
“What happened that night…”
“Don’t.” It was a clipped word. He didn’t want an explanation from anyone but her.
“It destroyed her too.” Nodding he ended the call and pulled out a map of the northern towns. Ipsburg was the closest town with a running train system, it would be faster than trying to walk to Hidell.
“Why can’t you send out a bulletin like you did before?” Nyght and Karter had been going back and forth for twenty minutes about the same thing. Nyght wanted a bulletin sent out to all the field researchers and Shadow members in the field to contact them if they found Mari or Marinique but Karter refused to issue it.
“Because this isn’t an emergency. Last time, last time it was life or death, not some lovers quarrel.”
“Lover’s quarrel? That is not what this is and you know it. You know her! You know she wouldn’t go off the grid unless she was ordered to or unless she was doing something dangerous.”
“Marinique was with her last we knew.”
“Yeah, last we knew! We don’t know that now! For all we know he’s drinking in a pub somewhere and she’s off on her own!” Karter sighed and took a seat behind his desk.
“Nyght, I have known Marisol since she was very young. She is hardheaded, stubborn and too much like her uncle for anyone’s liking but she has a good head on her shoulders. If she were to sense any kind of danger she would contact someone, she knows better.”
“Does he?”
“Despite what you think Marinique would do whatever was necessary to keep that woman safe, a feeling I believe you and him share,” Nyght growled numerous obscenities under his breath but nodded. “Trust her, she has a good reason for going off of the grid.”
“Is that what you thought the last time she did it? Did you ever even find out why she did it last time?”
“Things got a little hectic once she returned so no, I didn’t, and I’m assuming she never told you either.” Nyght shook his head. “Then she believes she is doing what is best.”
“And what if it gets her killed?”
“If it will make you feel better I will tell Bart what has happened in recent events, he may be willing to send out an alert in his district.”
“Fine.” Nyght stoo
d quickly to leave the office. “I’m taking Vander and Reagan with me.”
“I’ve already taken care of reassigning their cases.” As Nyght made his way to the main entrance where he told the others to wait for him he couldn’t help grumbling to himself. Karter was right, they couldn’t start a panicked search for two rogue Shadows when it wasn’t a dire situation. In a way, it had been ridiculous to even ask but the knot that had settled into the pit of his stomach told him something wasn’t right. Whatever she was up to, whatever reason she had for turning off her locator, it wasn’t anything good.
Six wrong turns and three arguments later Marinique and Mari stood under a large tree near an old abandoned farm. It had probably once been a thriving place with large fenced in pastures, a huge barn, small farmhouse and what looked like a large orchard behind the barn but now, now it was nothing but decay and rotting wood. The forest to the east of the property seemed to be reaching out with its foliage, trying to swallow the desolate buildings. She wondered what had happened to this place to make it fall into such despair.
In front of them was the tear, a long jagged line floating in the middle of the air, not recently used but not sealed either. To the average passerby nothing would seem out of the ordinary but for those who knew what they were looking for it wasn’t hard to spot.
“What happens now?” Marinique asked looking the tear over carefully. Sure he’d been with field researchers overseeing the close of one before but he’d never seen one up close and personal like this.
“I’m not sure, I guess it’s up to Marclay.” Holding out her hand the Wigget perched on her shoulder slowly made its way to sit on her palm. Taking a few steps closer to the tear it seemed to shimmer, another step and part of it opened to show a dark chasm inside the tear. “Just one more…” At her final step, the tear ripped wide open letting loose the screams of the tortured and spitting out a familiar demons’ body.
