Empire of Rust

by Chambers, V. J.

  Darius was much better at handling it than she was. He seemed to have iron self-control.

  She felt as if her body was pulling the strings. That she wasn’t in charge of herself.

  It was ironic, she supposed. Because she’d thought that being with Darius gave her power. But now, she was utterly powerless. Her own body was not in her control.

  She spent her time lying in a darkened room, forcing herself not to give in to the delicious smell of the crush of human bodies surrounding her. Not that they were in the room with her, of course. No, they were far away, with walls and shut doors separating them from her.

  But she could still smell them.

  To keep herself from going mad, she focused on the revenants instead. She pushed herself, trying to see how far in the distance she could feel them. Once, she was sure that she had felt them across the water, on far off islands…

  She felt it when they died too. It wasn’t painful. They didn’t struggle against it, and it wasn’t as if something alive within them got snuffed out. But she felt the absence of them. One minute, they would be there. The next, it was as if they didn’t exist.

  A lot of them had been dying today, she thought.

  It was near dark, and she’d noticed that there had been a rash of deaths, all out by the shore. She wasn’t sure if they were just drowning themselves. The revenants weren’t exactly intelligent, after all, and they would often end up wandering into dangerous places. They moved on instinct—but when instinct failed, they seemed to move for no reason at all, walking right to their deaths.

  Still, it seemed like an awful lot of them dying out there. More than usual.

  When Darius came to her later, she asked him about it.

  “Yes,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I feel it too.”

  Her bed was covered in red satin, and it was surrounded by a canopy of wispy red fabric. The flickering candlelight made it seem as if they were in an enclosed warm space, like a womb.

  But there was no warmth here, not from either of their bodies. They were cold and dead.

  “Do you think it’s unusual?” she asked. “Should we investigate?”

  He reached out for her hand.

  When their skin touched, she felt better. It was good to be close to him. She sighed.

  “I think that together we can get a stronger hold on the revenants,” he said. “Close your eyes.”

  She did as he said.

  At first, it was the same as ever. Just a faint feeling of the revenants, something at the edge of her senses that told her where they were.

  But Darius squeezed her hand, and suddenly they plunged deep into a revenant’s body.

  It wasn’t one that was located near the shore. Instead, it was one close, one just outside their chamber. They were completely within it. They could see through its eyes, hear through its ears, smell through its nose.

  Then they surged from that revenant to another, still deep within. Their perspective changed, now oriented in the other revenant.

  Like a chain, they jumped from one to the next. In this manner, they traveled out of the mansion and beyond the wall to the shore.

  And once there, they saw…

  Hundreds of people, all gathered, wandering to and fro with spears and swords. They were killing the revenants. They were coming further and further towards the mansion. They were…

  Michal sat up, gasping, her eyes flying open. “It’s Gabriel. He’s brought an army.”

  “They’re coming at us from the water,” said Darius. “They’re attacking even as we speak.”

  She got up from the bed. “Well, we have to stop him.”

  They joined hands again. Together, they summoned a horde of revenants.

  “He’s coming at us from behind?” said Michal. “Fine, we’ll come at him from behind.”

  * * *

  The attack seemed to be going well. Leah and Nathaniel only knew what they heard from the messengers coming back to report and urge them to their next position.

  Nathaniel had been right that the largest concentration of revenants had been around the wall, trying to get as close to the necromancer as possible. The first two waves of soldiers had taken on those monsters, chopping them to bits and moving through.

  That had been their toughest obstacle, and a few casualties had been sustained.

  However, revenants notwithstanding, the first several groups of men had made it around the wall. They were now slinking up to the mansion in the darkness. The idea was that they would all get in position, and that once the entire army was there, they’d take back the mansion.

  Leah was clad in a leather jerkin that protected her skin. She thought that Nathaniel would be happy enough if none of her skin was visible at all. He didn’t want her bitten by a revenant. She didn’t want that either, but she had to admit that the leather made her stiff. It was hard to move. She didn’t dare remove it though. Nathaniel wouldn’t like it.

  When the latest messenger came, they moved forward, into the next position. They were leaving the shore behind them, advancing on the mansion. In the distance, the waters of the bay glittered under the moon. They were dark and placid, only broken by tiny ripples and waves.

  In front of them, the wall stretched up over their heads, thick and stone and cold. At its base, it was littered with the bodies of dead revenants, their black blood seeping into the ground.

  Behind them, there was nothing but empty land and smooth sand. They had killed all the revenants they’d come across, so there was nothing at their back.

  Nathaniel put his arm around Leah protectively. “You know what you’re supposed to do once we get into the mansion, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, feeling annoyed. They’d only gone over this a thousand times.

  “What?”

  “Nathaniel, please.”

  He rubbed her shoulder. “Come on, humor me, okay? What do you do?”

  “I find an empty room and bar myself inside until everything’s over,” she said.

  “Exactly.” He searched her eyes with his own. “Look, I don’t know what happens after all of this, but I know that whatever it is, I want—I need—you to be around for it. So, please, for my sake, don’t do anything stupid.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. She reached up to touch his face. “I knew you loved me after all.”

  “Yes,” he said. “You were right all along.” He rested his forehead against hers, and his voice got quiet. “I adore you.”

  She closed her eyes, waiting to be kissed.

  But a scream cut through the air, and they broke apart, startled.

  Then she saw them, and her blood turned to ice. Behind them, a throng of revenants was coming, and they weren’t coming slowly. Some other force had taken over their limbs, propelling them forward with a purpose, a mass of the dead, jaws open, teeth gleaming in the moonlight.

  She screamed too.

  Nathaniel let go of her. He yelled out something to the others—the men and women who were armed.

  She caught him by the sleeve. “Wait, what are you—”

  He thrust her behind him, pulling his sword out with his other hand.

  He and the others raised their weapons above their heads. They let out a guttural cry and headed at the revenants.

  “Stop,” shrieked Leah. He was crazy. They were outnumbered. There were too many revenants, and they were all coming, so fast. They didn’t have a chance. “Nathaniel, don’t!”

  Nathaniel didn’t acknowledge her. He dove into the revenants, sword flashing, swinging and stabbing. Bodies fell around him and also around the other fighters. They hadn’t been trained for nothing. They knew how to cut down revenants.

  But Leah could see into the distance. She could see how many revenants there were. They stretched back into the darkness, and she couldn’t see the end of them.

  “Nathaniel!” she called again.

  And then she couldn’t stop herself. She ran after him. She’d drag him away from the re
venants if she had to. Let someone else fight this battle.

  Nathaniel’s sword cut a swath through the revenants. Three heads toppled. He whirled to plunged a sword into another’s brain.

  And then—

  He stumbled.

  That was all she saw at first. Just him losing his balance.

  But then she realized there was something behind him, and then she registered the revenant. She saw that its jaws were clenched into Nathaniel’s neck.

  Not biting through his clothes, though, she tried to assure herself, feeling frantic.

  And then she saw the blood.

  She screamed.

  She ran at him as fast as she could, right into the mass of revenants.

  When she reached him, there was a funny look in his eyes. He looked puzzled, as if he couldn’t figure out what was happening to him. His gaze fixed on her, but he didn’t seem to recognize her.

  The blood was spurting out everywhere, gushing out over his shoulder, over the front of his chest.

  She let out a strangled noise—something an animal would make.

  And then she pulled on him.

  The revenant that was biting him didn’t want to let go, and she engaged in an awful tug of war.

  Finally, she pulled his body free, but she tore his flesh to do it. She left a piece of him in the revenant’s mouth.

  She hooked her hands under his shoulders. He was making a gurgling noise. Blood was bubbling up at the corner of his lips.

  She dragged him back, away from the revenants, from the fighting.

  She knelt down over him. “Nathaniel.”

  She shook him.

  He wasn’t moving now. His eyes were open, but they looked blank.

  No. No-no-no. She shook him harder.

  A hand on her shoulder.

  She looked up to see one of the other women smiling down on her. “Don’t worry, dearie,” said the woman. “He’s the messiah. He’ll return to life and conquer death. You’ll see.”

  Leah just gaped at her.

  SIX: BLAZING DAWN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Leah found herself surrounded by people—mostly women who’d been traveling with the army, but some men as well. They made a ring around her and Nathaniel’s body. She was holding onto him tightly, trying to shake life back into him. But when she shook him, he was unresponsive. Even the wound at his neck had stopped gushing blood. She knew the truth, but she couldn’t face it.

  Nathaniel was dead.

  The villagers all looked down on her and Nathaniel with solemn looks on their faces.

  “We will witness the miracle of his rebirth,” whispered one.

  “He is come to save us from the revenants,” said another.

  “When he rises, all the dead killed in his service will rise too.”

  Leah didn’t like the way they were talking. This was exactly what she’d been worried about when she tried to get Gabriel and Ezekiel to do something about the people’s strange beliefs about Nathaniel.

  The people took it up as a chant. “The dead will rise,” they began to intone together. “The dead will rise. The dead will rise.”

  Leah clutched Nathaniel’s shoulders. She realized that her hands and arms were spattered with his blood. She didn’t want to let him go. She didn’t want him to be dead.

  She wished that these crazy people would go away and leave the two of them alone for half a minute. How was she supposed to come to terms with what had happened to the man she loved if they were crowded around chanting that stupid drivel?

  “The dead will rise. The dead will rise.”

  “Shut up!” yelled Leah.

  They ignored her. If anything, they chanted louder.

  She thought about getting up and finding a spear. Threatening them with it. Chasing them off like rabid dogs.

  But that would mean letting go of Nathaniel’s body, and she couldn’t do that.

  Nathaniel is dead, she thought, and her eyes pricked with tears.

  He couldn’t be dead. He had never had the chance to teach her everything about making sparks and being a magician. He had promised—

  “The dead will rise.”

  And he hadn’t seen the baby. She was only a few months pregnant. The baby’s birth was a long way off, but Nathaniel was supposed to be there. He would miss everything—feeling the child quicken within her, watching her belly grow… No. He couldn’t be gone.

  “The dead will rise!”

  She shook Nathaniel again. “Wake up,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “Wake up. Please wake up.”

  “The dead will rise!”

  Nathaniel’s eyes opened.

  Her jaw dropped. “Nathaniel?” She leaned over him, looking into his eyes.

  He looked through her. His stare was glassy. But he reached up for her, tangling his fingers into her hair.

  She jerked back.

  He kept chunks of her hair, but she got free.

  “He’s a revenant!” she screamed at the villagers. “Get back. Get away from him.”

  How could she have been so stupid? Nathaniel had been bitten and killed. She knew what happened when people got revenant bites. They came back, sure, but they were still dead.

  But the gathered people weren’t running. They were falling to their knees, their eyes radiant.

  “He has risen!” said one. “Hallelujah!”

  They reached up to touch him—it. That monster wasn’t Nathaniel anymore.

  Leah backed away, backed out of the circle.

  The thing that had been Nathaniel moved fast. It snatched at the closest outstretched hand. It yanked the villager to her feet and brought the woman’s fingers to its mouth. It bit down, severing the woman’s index and middle finger with its teeth.

  The villagers screamed. It was pandemonium. They scrambled to their feet, they scattered in all directions.

  The woman stared at her missing fingers, making a high-pitched keening sound.

  The Nathaniel-thing bit into her upper arm. Her flesh stretched and tore as it bit her.

  Leah looked around for a weapon.

  Instead, she saw that the army of revenants was closing in on them. There were so many, and the men who had fought them were outnumbered. Two of the men were turned—the new revenants had broken away from the pack and were running towards the villagers.

  Leah let out a little cry.

  She had to get away.

  But she couldn’t leave Nathaniel like this.

  The Nathaniel-thing had broken the woman’s neck. She was on the ground, and it was over her, feasting on the flesh of her stomach.

  Leah shook.

  Weapon, weapon. I need a weapon.

  Then she caught sight of a knife glittering on Nathaniel’s belt. Of course, he would have another weapon besides his sword.

  She lunged for him, snatching the knife out of its sheath.

  She lost her balance, falling backward, knife aloft.

  The Nathaniel-thing turned from its prey. It was covered in blood—smeared red on its jaw and chin. It bared its teeth at her and sprang onto her supine body.

  She brought up the knife.

  The blade landed in the Nathaniel-thing’s chest. Slowing him down. Not stopping him. The monster touched her, raking its fingers over her face.

  She let out a cry of rage. “You can’t do this to him.” She pulled out the knife.

  The monster collapsed on her.

  She drove the knife into its eye.

  It convulsed against her. And was still.

  She lay there, sobbing.

  But the revenants were coming. There was no time for her grief. She had to run. She had to get to Gabriel.

  * * *

  Gabriel and Ezekiel had led two groups of men to get in position behind the mansion. They’d made it around the wall in the water, and they were waiting for everyone to catch up before they made their attack.

  But then they heard the screams from the other side of the wall.

&nb
sp; They didn’t know what was going on, so they sent back one of the men to see what the situation was and report back.

  When the man came back, he was wide eyed and terrified. He didn’t even address Gabriel and Ezekiel, just yelled at the entire company, “It was a lie. He wasn’t the Son. He wasn’t the one. He died and turned just like the rest of us!”

  The other men all began to mumble amongst themselves.

  “What?” said Gabriel. “Are you talking about Nathaniel? Is Nathaniel dead?”

  But the man ignored them. “We’re all doomed. There is no savior. Run for your lives!” And then he took off into the night.

  The roar of the other men’s conversation was loud.

  Gabriel tried to raise his voice loud enough to be heard over them, but it was no use.

  The men began to take off, running off into the darkness.

  “Wait!” yelled Gabriel. “Stand together! Stand your ground!”

  But most didn’t listen.

  And the screams from the other side of the wall were getting louder and louder.

  “The women,” said Gabriel. “Leah.”

  Ezekiel looked back at the mansion, and then at the fleeing men. “We’ve come this far. We have to keep going.”

  “Damn it, Ezekiel, we don’t know what happened over there.” Gabriel looked at the men who were left—maybe fifteen or twenty, a huge reduction in forces. “Back to the other side of the wall, men! We have to save our women.”

  They all started back the way they had come.

  “Gabriel,” said Ezekiel. “We can’t—”

  “Shut up,” Gabriel said.

  Ezekiel nodded. He came along.

  They hurried through the darkness, back down to the silvery water lapping against the sandy beach.

  They waded into the water, staying close to the wall, which jutted up out of the water and extended past the shore. They waded until it was too deep, and then they swam, but by that point, they were close to the end of the wall. They swam around it.

  On the other side of the wall, Gabriel was stunned by what he saw. There was a huge force of revenants, too many to count, and they stretched as far as the eye could see. What was left of his army was running along the shore. Some had been turned—those were running in pursuit of anyone alive. It was mayhem and madness.