by C. B. Miller
A tear ran down her face as she mouthed, ‘no.’
My lip curled downward as I looked at her waiting for her to explain. She avoided my eyes and shuffled her feet. A few heartbeats later, I wrapped her hand in my mine and whispered, “why not?”
She pointed at the massive glyph on the ground. “She’s lost. A shell, a fragment, a memory.”
“So, she won’t wake up if I pull her out, is what you’re saying?”
“Yes,” She said hesitantly.
The room rocked as another tremor cracked the far wall. Dozens of smaller cracks spiderwebbed out across the floor and ceiling.
Rebecca pushed gently against my chest, “we need to go. She is lost. There is no return.”
Magic wasn’t my strong point, so I had no idea if she was telling the truth or if she even fully understood the ritual. It was clear they had excluded her from the main ritual, but she seems certain about its purpose. I let Rebecca push me back a step and began to turn when I noticed the cracks stopped right at the edge of the glyph.
“What happens if the circle is broken?”
I sighed as my shoulders slumped. “What’s the chances that everything in here is out to kill me?” Enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, but less so when they owe me a favor for saving them.
Rebecca bit her lip and shifted her weight from foot to foot while she avoided looking at me. Pushing her to the side, I drew Ekurzakir’s Judgment and slashed the blade through the glyph. The blade slid through the stone floor like it was made of butter, severing the intricate lines drawn into its surface.
There was a bright flash of blue light, and the scent of burning flesh as my hand closed around the hilt. White searing agony ran through every ounce of my body, and Ekurzakir’s Judgment disappeared.
The waves of white-hot pain ran through me, shattering any resistance to pain I had as every muscle clenched, and I collapsed to the floor. I was vaguely aware of another tremor washing through the room as I writhed on the ground. Darkness swallowed my vision, and deep inside, I hoped that I would pass out, but the pain didn’t end when the void consumed everything in my sight. I didn’t know how much time passed before the agony subsided, and I was finally able to suck in a gulp of air into my burning throat and lungs. Pinpoints of light slowly expanded as my vision returned to me. My entire body ached as I sat up and looked around. I unclenched my left hand to reveal three triangles aligned in a column like an arrow burned into my flesh.
Scattered across the room were pieces of the ceiling. Small fissures crisscrossed the floor as I scanned the room. Rebecca cowered in the doorway while the other woman laid unconscious in the center of the room. Ekurzakir’s Judgment was nowhere to be seen.
A groan escaped the woman’s lips, and her eyes fluttered open. The groan continued for a split second before turning into a wail of anguish. I scrambled backward, cursing at the slow response from my aching body, and my hand slipped into a crevice, sending a shower of debris into its depths. I fell on my side, banging my side against the floor, and looked down into the hole. Her scream faded into nothingness as I looked down into the dark pit, and after a few heartbeats, I still hadn’t heard the sound of rocks hitting bottom. I scooted away from the hole and stiffly rose to my feet.
The woman’s eyes had rolled back in her head, and she convulsed violently. I moved closer, and as I was reaching down, a faint electric blue glow surrounded her
“A smart man would walk away and not get involved,” I muttered.
She stopped thrashing and looked up at me. As I opened my mouth to say something, she spun up to her feet and tackled me. I was suddenly very aware of her nakedness as she drove her shoulder into my gut and slammed me to the ground. The impact knocked the breath from my chest, and she shifted to sit on my chest, fist poised to strike as her sky-blue eyes locked with mine.
I managed to gasp out, “Back channel!” as her fist connected. Bright spots filled my vision as the world spun for a moment until there were only two of her sitting on my chest.
“Where’s Bertha?” She growled.
A small trickle of relief flowed through me at her response. ‘Back channel’ was the phrase used by members of the Accord to cease hostilities temporarily so negotiations can take place. They were no guarantees that the fighting would stop, but the signatories felt that providing a method to talk things out was in the best interest of maintaining the peace.
I pointed to where I thought the door might be, afraid to take my eyes of the both of them. “I think she’s over there. I’m not with her.”
“And how am I supposed to trust that?”
I looked around, and when I regained my bearing, I flopped my other arm over to point at Bertha’s body. Rebecca was still across the room, sitting on the floor and rocking back and forth while muttering to herself. “Because I killed her,” I whispered.
“Where are my clothes?”
“Beats me. Take one of their robes. They aren’t using them anymore.” I suggested.
She pursed her lips together, and eyes narrowed while she stared at me for a ten count. “Ok, so what’s your offer?”
I titled my head and gave her a puzzled look. “Offer?”
“Yes, offer. You requested a back channel, so I’m listening. I’d better like what you have to say otherwise….” Her voice was cool and collected.
“Yeah. How about first off, neither of us kills each other? Then we should get out of here and swap stories. I want to know how you ended up here and why.”
I felt the gentle probing of her will against me, a subtle tingling wash over my skin that felt like she had undressed me completely. “Whose wight are you?”
My eyebrows raised at her words, “Whose?”
She turned almost as red as her hair and grimaced. “Sorry, poor choice of words. I –“
“Yes. Very poor choice of words.” I growled.
The problem with working for a vampire is that old ways of thinking still have a nasty way of hanging on. Immortal beings bring their prejudices with them from their mortal upbringings in the case of vampires. Mages, on the other hand, are beings of immense might and tend to forget their humanity in their hubris. Those that adapt to modern society thrive, but sometimes they still fail to recognize that everyone is equal and a person in their own right. Not an object.
She brought her hands up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t know many wights, and the ones I do refer to themselves like that. Who do you work for?”
“Eden Savage. Now, about my deal.”
She blinked twice and gapped at me before looking around. “How powerful did Bertha become if you’re the sole survivor.”
The ceiling cracked, and a chunk the size of a car crashed to the floor in the back of the room.
“Long story, lady, and we can talk more when were get out of here.”
“Alex.”
“Huh?”
“My name is Alex.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Kaedin, and if you could get off of me right now so we can get out, that’d be great.” I made sure to draw out the ‘great,’ and Alex giggled in response.
Maybe she’s not so bad after all.
She stood up and searched the fallen for a set of robes that weren’t covered in gore. I sat up as the world stopped its slow spin and swore when I couldn’t see Rebecca.
Alex froze, “What’s wrong?”
The room rocked as another quake split the chamber in two. I jumped to my feet, ran to Alex, and knocked her clear as another fissure opened up underneath her. The fallen wizard she had been searching tumbled into the darkness below.
“Rebecca’s gone, but we have to move. Now, this place is falling apart.”
There was a flash of recognition in her eyes as if something finally clicked, and she nodded. “Hang on,” She grabbed my hand and slung me onto her back. Before I could protest, she looped her arms under my legs and grew six inches taller as she balanced me on her back. I awkwardly wrapped my arms around he
r and looked down to see that her bottom half was that of a goat. She sprinted out the door and raced through the complex, leaping over crevices and dodging debris in a matter of seconds. She came to a halt a few feet before the staircase and turned slowly.
Rebecca materialized a few feet away, eyes downcast as she held out a set of clothes. “I found your clothes miss.”
Alex trembled.
I bent down and whispered in her ear as she tensed. “Don’t hurt her. I think she can help us.”
“Fine.”
I slid off, and Rebecca joined me as we turned away to give her some sense of privacy.
“That’s awfully trusting of you, isn’t it?” Alex said.
“Trust has to be built. Sometimes, that requires placing the first stone in the foundation.”
Alex was silent for a few seconds,
“Tell me exactly how it happened.”
“Now? Don’t you think we might need to get out of here?”
“No. Tell me everything. Exactly. It is worth the time.”
“About that, I just remembered one slight issue we’re going to have getting out of here.”
“What’s that?”
“The building upstairs is on fire.”
Chapter Sixteen
Alex brushed past me and peered up the steps as they twisted up out of sight. They were cracked and broken in places, debris scattered its entire length, while roughly a third of the torches remained lit. Their pale green light did little to disrupt the darkness individually, leaving some stairs shrouded in shadow.
“Is this the only way out?” Alex turned to look at us and held up a hand when I started to speak. She nodded at Rebecca.
Rebecca twirled her hair for a moment before shaking her head. “We have another way out, but it might be blocked.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Alex said, spinning around and climbed the first dozen steps in a flash. She looked back, “C’mon, we don’t have much time. Let’s get a move on, people.”
Now that she was dressed, her legs looked normal. I assumed she was a wizard herself, maybe even a mage. Now, I wasn’t so sure. I had always thought satyrs were men, but then again, I didn’t know magic or vampires existed earlier this year.
Rebecca bounded up the stairs past, and we followed closely behind. Halfway up the stairs, she pointed at a hole in the wall and ducked inside.
“Ladies first,” I said with a smile and gestured for her to go ahead of me.
Alex smirked and ducked into the hole, “A gentleman and a scholar, I see.”
I followed them into the inky blackness beyond, scraping my head against a low hanging rock, and paused. Their footsteps faded into the distance as they worked their way through the tunnel, and I followed, groping in the dark against the wall until my foot caught the edge of a ledge.
“Ladies?”
I pulled back and fumbled in the dark, pulling out my cellphone and flicking on the flashlight function. A three-foot fissure crossed my path. The passage was smaller on the other side. It was close to three feet wide and five feet at its tallest. Alex’s face appeared at the edge of the light, a sheepish look on her face.
“Ope, my bad. You can’t see in the dark? I guess I should have asked.”
I sighed, letting out a deep breath as Alex reached out a hand to help me across the fissure. Another tremor shook the complex and sent my phone spiraling out of my hand into the darkness below. Its light faded into a tiny pinprick before disappearing, and Rebecca cried out in pain ahead of us.
A small yellow light formed in Alex’s hand, and she released the mote of light. It hovered in the air for a moment and then floated behind me.
“Holy hell, how deep can this thing go?”
Alex frowned. “We aren’t in Kansas anymore, or Illinois for that matter right now. We’re somewhere in between, and the tether holding this place here is snapping.”
I banished the thought of Rebecca falling into a similar hole, hoping that whatever befell her didn’t mean something worse for us.
“And that doesn’t freak you out?” I asked as she pulled me across.
Alex’s frown deepened, and then she shook her head. “Let’s go.” Turning, she scuttled through the low passage Crouched over, I followed her, avoiding the larger pieces of rubble and small cracks through several twists as Rebecca’s moaning grew louder.
The light spilled over her, writhing in pain as she attempted to push a boulder off her leg. Her foot was twisted at an unnatural angle and thick, yellowish blood leaked from the bone jutting out. The wound reeked of rotting flesh and something even fouler, and Alex shrank back against the wall at the sight of it.
The tingling in the back of my mind clicked, and I realized where I saw blood like that. It was the smell. The scent of Rebecca’s wound was almost identical to the creatures I fought the night before.
“The Wretched,” I whispered.
Alex whipped her head in my direction, her eyes and mouth wide. “You’ve seen this before?”
I nodded.
She started to say something when the tunnel collapsed behind us as a shockwave ripped through the passage. Smaller pieces of the ceiling rained down and covered us in dust. A few moments later, the dust settled, and Alex examined Rebecca’s leg.
“Well, Doctor – what do we have here?”
“A wounded woman, a boulder, an infected, broken leg.” Alex pointed to each one in turn.
“Ah, yes. I can see that now.” I mused.
Rebecca's eyes flicked between the two of us as tears left trails on her dust-covered face. “Mother’s gone? Who will help me now?”
Alex slid forward, placed a hand on her shoulder, and gently squeezed it. “We’re here. Everything will be ok.” She looked back at me, her face scrunched in confusion.
I mimed ‘head injury,’ and Alex blinked for a few moments before nodding briefly.
“You’ll take care of me?” Rebecca whispered.
Alex put a finger against her lips and shushed. She motioned at the rock, pinning Rebecca, “Lift straight up and over. We might be able to save her foot. As long as you clear the wound.”
The tunnel was almost completely blocked by Rebecca, the rock pinging her, and other debris scattered about. The stone crushing Rebecca’s lower leg was nearly two feet long and four feet tall. It was a few inches thick, which probably saved Rebecca from being crushed or severing her foot. I couldn’t tell, but it looked like we could climb over Rebecca.
If it came to that.
“No pressure,” I said and let out a heavy breath.
I wrapped my fingers around both edges, checking my grip several times, and lifted. Mentally I cringed as it rose slowly and tapped the ceiling. Small pieces of rock tumbled down, and a lump formed in my throat. I let the stone drop slightly and backed away slowly.
Rebecca cried out in pain as the stone bumped into her foot, and Alex told me to continue. My heart felt like it was threatening to tear its way out as I worked the rock sheet back through the tunnel. A wave of relief went through me as Alex gave me the all-clear. I pivoted, leaning the stone against the wall with a clunk as another shockwave rolled through the complex.
A piece of the ceiling bashed into the side of my head and bounced off my shoulder, and I felt the wet warmth of blood trickling down my neck. The quake was thankfully smaller than the last. My blood froze at the sound of rock, grinding against rock and the patch of wall to my right between us began glowing orange.
“Run!” I called out. The heat from the brightening wall washed over me, stealing the air from my lungs briefly as I scrambled by.
Rebecca rested against the wall, her eyes glassy as she looked off into nothingness. Alex stared over my shoulder before glaring at Rebecca. Alex let out a curse before extending her hands over the injured wizard. I cried out wordlessly as a green glow pulsed from Alex’s hands.
The mage fixed on me with her gaze, fire raging in her eyes. Her cheek twitched as I approached, and a burst of green energy flew
from her hands into Rebecca.
Rebecca gasped, her back arching as tendrils of arcane force wrapped around her body.
“We needed her!”
The twitch in Alex’s cheek expanded to her lip. “I know,” she murmured.
I skidded to a halt, slipping on the gravel, and fell on my ass. Rebecca’s leg was worse than I thought; nearly everything from her knee cap to her ankle was pulverized. Alex’s magic wrapped around her body and wormed its way down her hurt leg, wrapping it in tight bands of translucent white energy. In a matter of seconds, Rebecca’s bones and flesh regenerated and reconnected her foot. There wasn’t a scar or any hint of the damage left when the glow faded away.
The light from Alex’s healing magic faded, but the tunnel was growing bright. And hotter. I looked back to see the orange hot spot was now glowing white-hot as it melted away and lava poured into the tunnel. I looked back at Alex, who was already helping Rebecca to her feet.
Rebecca's eyes were still glassy, and with halting steps, the pair moved deeper into the tunnel as a loud ploop echoed against the rock. The rock gave way as a wave of lava gushed into the passage and a glowing red worm-like creature plunged out of the wall. Three feet in diameter, it opened its tri-section maw revealing rows upon rows of silvery filaments, and a gust of heat blasted from it.
Cold sweat ran down my spine as I scuttled after Alex and Rebecca. The thing chased after me; its body squirmed through the passage, melting or knocking aside everything in its path. I climbed over a small ravine and felt its furnace-like heat on my back. Glancing back, it was maybe fifteen feet away as it pulled itself along the tunnel.
“Run, Kaedin! You can’t win a fight against it!” Alex’s cry was sharp and hurried.
You’re right. We can’t fight it.
I drew Ekurzakir’s Judgment from its sheath in a wide arc towards the ceiling. The copper blade effortlessly cut through the stone, and I hopped back as the slab gave and collapsed into the tunnel. The rockslide buckled and then started to glow red as I resheathed my weapon. I turned and rushed down the passage.
Another hundred feet, the tunnel opened up into a basement hallway. At the end of the hallway was a door, and Rebecca stood off to the side, her arms framing it like a gameshow host. Alex had her back against the wall, keeping Rebecca in her sights while eying the passage as I emerged.
