by Steve McHugh
“There are two entrances,” he explained. “One on the opposite side of the building to here, and one around the corner; we need to go through the one closest as it’s not used. It should be locked up.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the city. I like it here. Everyone is nice, people don’t know who I am, and it’s easy enough to get away from here quickly if I need to. Besides, I like architecture. And this is a beautiful building, so if we can get Felix back without destroying it, I’d be grateful. I had to pay to get it fixed once; I don’t feel like doing it again.”
“I promise I won’t break the church. For a moment there, I thought you cared more about Felix than money.” I turned away.
Alan grabbed my arm. “Apart from Fiona, there are very few people I care about more than money. Felix is one of them. You asked me to keep him safe, and I did. And I grew to like the old bastard. Even helped him with his research.”
“How?”
Alan had the appearance of someone who had said something he wished he hadn’t. “Later,” he said quickly, walking past me and around the corner to the large double doors.
I tried the metal handle; it was locked, just as Alan had said. I could have cut through, or around, the lock with fire magic, but anyone inside who wasn’t Felix was certainly going to hear it. Instead I placed my hand against the lock and concentrated, allowing my air magic to flow into the lock.
Using magic to unlock a door is hard work. It basically means I have to use my magic to figure out where all of the notches on the key would be, and then use the exact amount of pressure to turn them all at once. Fortunately, the lock on the door was old and within a minute it was open. It would have been quicker, but Alan wouldn’t stop asking me if I was done.
I stood and slowly pushed open the door, which thankfully didn’t creak too loudly. Alan and I stepped into the church and I closed the door. Alan held one of the guns in his hand. A sorcerer was difficult to kill, and without a body of water nearby Alan couldn’t turn into his water form even to escape, let alone to summon anything.
We moved under an arch and behind some nearby pews. Glancing over the top of them gave us a great view all the way from where we were to the far end of the Minster. Beautiful stained glass adorned every window, with one large piece at the far end of the Minster just behind a sizeable organ, which was opposite an ornate pulpit. A bell tower that sat above the front of the church had scaffolding under it.
“Can you see Felix anywhere?” I asked.
Alan shook his head. “There’s a room up behind the pulpit. Unless they’ve put him under the floor, he’ll probably be in there.”
“Under the floor?”
“It’s how the place was heated. These floorboards come up—” he stopped. “You’re not interested in this are you?”
“Not right now,” I admitted through gritted teeth.
We crept along the outside of the pews, pausing after each of the four massive marble columns that sat between every few rows, until we reached the door behind the pulpit.
I placed my hand against the door and allowed air magic to flow into the room beyond. The magic would flow back out, giving me a signal whenever it found something alive. I’ve used it several times in the past, but only in small confined spaces, it’s not strong enough to use for an entire church, which is why I didn’t use it before I picked the lock outside.
I got one ping. I grabbed the door handle and turned it, pushing the door open to reveal a tied and battered Felix sitting in a chair in front of a desk. His face was a mask of dried blood, and his head hung loosely.
For a moment I feared the worst, and then he groaned and opened his eyes. “Nate?” he said, his voice weak.
His hands had been tied behind him with cable ties, and someone had put a sorcerer’s band on him. The ties had bitten into the skin around his wrists, and blood had begun to pool on the floor behind the chair. Other than a lot of bruising and cuts, the only serious thing was a knife wound to his ribs.
“Silver blade,” he told me.
“We’re going to get you out of here,” Alan said as I cut through the bonds and Felix sagged forward onto him.
“They’re going to come back. You need to go.”
“Not leaving without you,” Alan assured him.
We each put one of his arms over our shoulders and we walked Felix to the door.
“Stop,” he said. “I need to tell you something first.”
“We’ll discuss it when we’re free,” I told him.
“No,” Felix snapped, with as much force as he could manage. “Now.”
Alan and I shared a glance and then lowered Felix into the chair near the door.
“Okay, you don’t have long,” Alan said.
“I’m dying, lads,” Felix said softly. “The knife would have been okay if I didn’t have this thing on me.” He raised his arm to show us the sorcerer’s band. “But the blade was coated with that damn spider venom. I can feel it tearing me up inside. In a few hours I’ll be gone.”
“We’ll get that fucking band off, and you’ll be fine,” I assured him, glancing down at my own illuminated glyphs.
“You know I won’t be,” he said. “I’ve been in here for several hours already with this wound.”
“We should have gotten here sooner,” Alan said.
“And then you’d be dead too,” Felix snapped. “Damn it, Alan, I’ve taught you better than to do self-blaming nonsense.”
“What do you want to tell us?” I asked.
“We don’t have time for this,” Alan said.
“I made contact with . . . mostly criminals,” he winced in pain and took a few seconds to control his breathing. “They infiltrated the Reavers, feeding me details about what they were doing. They tricked a high-ranking member of my location. I took control of his mind and used him as a way to ferret out more members.”
“How did you manage that?” I asked.
“Ah, I broke his mind and made him believe that one of my allies was his trusted lieutenant and that all information should be shared with him. Took me a long time, and took a lot out of me, but he was invaluable in getting me information on the higher ranks, people like Kelly Jensen.”
What he’d just described went against Avalon’s laws. He’d destroyed a mind, and if anyone discovered that, he’d be executed for it. Fortunately for him, I had no intention of telling anyone.
“Okay, the rest can wait,” Alan said.
“Just listen,” Felix said, his tone hard. “This is important, if I don’t make it, you need to know. Liz Williams was one such ally. As was her husband, and a man she helped before he was murdered. Fiona was another. Alan here another. They all searched into Reaver activity and got information back to me.
“But someone began removing them from circulation, one at a time. They’ve killed the Reaver I’d taken control of, along with anyone who worked for him. After that they started going after my allies. They had prepared to attack Avalon, but the discovery that one of them was feeding me information made them wait. They needed to check that I hadn’t taken anyone else. It’s why I only took low-level members after that.”
“How’d they discover that you’d done this?” I asked.
“I’ve been wondering that myself. Not until now. Not until they tried to kill you too, Nathan.”
“Did someone betray you?”
“No. I was stupid. They discovered that the Reaver I was using was betraying them, and they used someone with mind magic to tear the information free from his head. It led them to my involvement, and the start of this whole thing. I set this off, Nate. I’m so sorry.” His words appeared to have taken even more out of him and he slumped forward.
“I know of a rune that might bypass the sorcerer’s band, it could allow you to use your magic to keep yourself alive.”
“Then do it,” Alan snapped. “And let’s fucking leave.”
“Or it could backfire and kill him in
an even worse manner than the venom.”
“No,” Felix declared. He sounded exhausted and in pain, but even so, he put a lot of force behind that one word. “You’re talking about a dwarven rune. How do you know it?”
“Long story.”
“I’m too weak. Let’s just get to my home, I don’t want to die out here.”
“You’re not dying anywhere,” Alan told him. “You’re too damn stubborn.”
Alan and I helped Felix stand and opened the door only to find a group of people waiting for us, standing around the pews. There were ten in all, including Mortimer, the man who’d killed the Williamses. The griffin who’d infected me with the jorōgumo venom was sitting on the edge of one of the pews, his massive wings folded behind him. I felt a sudden urge to cut the bastard in half.
“I see you found the old fucker,” the griffin said with a laugh. He slammed the butt of his spear into the wooden floor, which cracked from the impact. “I was surprised you all got free from the group we’d left down below for you. You were meant to wait for people to come and kill you.”
“I’m not very patient,” I said. “I figured I’d find those responsible rather than wait for them to come to me.”
“Are you going to give us the option to surrender or die?” the griffin asked with a chuckle.
I shook my head. “Nope. You’re just all going to die. Painfully for the most part.”
I couldn’t risk a fight. There was no telling what would happen with Felix so close. It would have been too easy for him to get hurt.
The griffin snapped his fingers, the double doors opened, and Sophie walked inside, followed by two large men. She had the smile of someone who’d suddenly decided they were in control of a situation.
“My dearest Sophie,” the griffin said. “I’m glad you weren’t killed.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake. How’d she get free?” I whispered to Alan.
Alan shrugged. “I may have forgotten to put the runes back when we left the cavern.”
“Not a great time to be forgetful,” I seethed.
“Because one more bad guy is going to make all the difference.”
“What if they’ve destroyed Felix’s notes?”
“We have Felix. I’m sure he can tell us.”
“Are you two done?” the griffin asked. “I’m not interrupting am I?”
“I just realized, I don’t know your name,” I said to him.
“Corath,” he said with pride. “I’m happy you’ll know the name of your killer. Could you please call your werewolf and fox friend in?”
“I don’t see why I should,” I said.
“Because if you don’t, those two men who came here with Sophie will go out into the city. You don’t want to know what their idea of a good time is.”
“It’s okay, Nate,” Remy said as he stepped through the open door with Ellie behind him. “We’ve been listening in.”
“Excellent. Everyone is here,” Corath said. “It’s so much better than random bloodshed. We’re not monsters, after all. We want what’s best for Avalon, and therefore best for all of us.”
“You want what’s best for you,” Remy countered as he walked over to stand beside me. Even though he had to walk past the Reavers, no one tried to stop him; clearly they were very confident in their position and didn’t see him as a threat. More fool them. “Avalon doesn’t factor into it.”
“Believe what you like, rodent.”
“Rodent?” Remy snapped. “Fuck you, Tweety.”
Corath’s wings flickered briefly, as he snarled.
“So, now that we’re all here,” Ellie interrupted, “what are you going to do? This is a pretty small enclosure. Killing us in here will result in a long fight first.”
“We’re all going to go down to the cavern again. And then you’re all going to die.”
“I thought I had to be kept alive,” I pointed out.
“You’re too much trouble alive. You can die now, I’m sure I’ll be forgiven when I give your head to those in charge. Speaking of which, I have a gift for you.” He snapped his fingers at one of the two men who’d come in with Sophie, and he darted from the building.
His glee at those words turned my stomach. I knew something bad was about to happen.
The man returned a few moments later with two men and a woman in tow. The man and one of the women were in their late forties, while the second woman was considerably older. They all appeared scared and confused.
“This is the Father who works here,” Corath explained, “along with his wife and an unfortunate member of his congregation. Sophie, please escort the human filth into the room behind Nathan and his companions.”
Sophie did as she was told, gaining a growl from Ellie that made her jump as she walked past us.
The man who’d brought them in handed Corath a leather sack. “One last thing. Nathan, are you aware that we tracked you? That Kelly used your blood to discover where you were?”
I nodded. “She said something about it just before you hit me with your spear.”
Corath’s forehead wrinkled in a look of amusement. “We were told to kill you at first, Nathan, something public. But then as it became apparent that we were unsure if you or Alan was the key to finding Felix, it was decided to follow you. Turned out we didn’t need Alan either, Fiona’s mind was cracked. And now you all get to die.
“But before all of that, I decided to go pay a visit to a friend of yours. I wanted to make sure that you understood how angry you’d made me.” He threw the bag up, and I immediately knew whose head had left its confines, before it struck the floor a foot away from me and rolled to a stop.
Lir’s blank expression stared up at me.
“He was a very stubborn man for a drugged-up drunk. I was surprised he put up much of a fight at all, but eventually he was overcome. Refused to tell us anything, although by the time we’d been working on him for a few hours, it was evident that he knew nothing of note. Still, some people are so worthless that they deserve to die. I thought you’d like to see him again before you died. You were friends, yes?”
I ignored him and took a step back, closer to my comrades. There were too many enemies, too many ways in which people could get hurt. The humans, Felix, all of them needed to be away from here. I couldn’t ensure their safety.
“You can’t hide in the shadows,” Corath said.
“Alan, I want you to take Felix into the room behind us,” I whispered, using my air magic to carry my words to them. “Remy and Ellie, go with them. Keep the humans safe, get them away from here. Kill anyone who tries to stop you.”
“You can’t seriously think you can take on a dozen people alone,” Alan said.
He was right; I had exactly zero chance of surviving such an encounter. “Let me worry about that. Get those people to safety, and then get back here to help. I’m going to keep the Reavers busy.”
“By dying?” Ellie asked. “It’s a suicide run, Nate. You’re tired, and beaten. You need time to heal, you can’t do this.”
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Just please . . . when I tell you to go, go. Don’t argue.”
Remy placed his paw in my hand and squeezed slightly. “Give them hell.”
“I’m not going to be able to keep my promise, Alan,” I said, and without waiting for a reply, I told them all to run. The four of them moved as quickly as possible into the room behind me. There was a scream, a thud, and then silence. I guessed Sophie was no longer an issue.
“Have you lost your mind?” Corath asked me. “Your only allies have run away. We’ll just kill you and then kill everyone in there too. If they’ve escaped that makes the hunt much more fun. Either way they’ll be dead.”
I remained silent, standing in the shadows that concealed my face, and tried something I’d never attempted before. I internally contacted my nightmare. Erebus, can you hear me?
“Yes, Nathan.” The voice inside my head said. “Your use of magic has placed me closer to the surface of y
our consciousness than would normally be possible. I told you, if you kept using magic, that either I would need to come out, or you would pass out from exhaustion. In your current condition, this would probably result in your death.”
There was a pause between us, while Corath continued talking, although I wasn’t paying much attention to his words.
“You’re still concerned that I will try to take control of your body. You know I cannot do that. Those blood curse marks stop it from happening. I am not the monster you believe. I’ve helped you before. I’ve kept you alive. That is my only desire; to keep you alive.”
Then I willingly free you to do what I cannot.
“This will render you unconscious afterwards, maybe for several hours. I can keep your body alive with magic, but it will be weak. You may not feel all that well upon waking.”
It was a risk I had to take. We had to get to Avalon, had to warn Elaine about what was happening. I couldn’t risk dying; I couldn’t risk my friends dying. I had to do what needed to be done to ensure we all survived. Do it.
“It will be my pleasure.”
If I’d been able to see Erebus I was certain he’d have been smiling, and a shiver went through me.
CHAPTER 29
Having a nightmare take control of your body is an odd experience. I still maintained a conscious awareness of what was happening, but it was as if I were looking through eyes that were no longer my own.
“I’m sorry, did you say something?” Erebus asked.
The last time the nightmare had taken control of my body was over a century earlier. His voice had sounded almost alien back then, but now just sounded like a lower version of my own. It was still uncomfortable to listen to though.
“I said, it’s time to give up,” Corath said, glancing to the men who were moving slowly toward me.
“I’d tell them to stop, if I were you,” Erebus said.
“You don’t sound like Nathan,” Corath said, and motioned for the men to stop.
“Nathan can’t be here right now. He would very much like to be, but he’s trusted me to finish the job. He’s quite angry that you killed Lir. He liked him. You should be grateful that you’ll be dead before Mac gets hold of you. I don’t think you’d enjoy that meeting very much.”
