by Kyra Dune
“No kind we want to have to deal with,” Reaper said, and picked up his pace.
The others followed suit, but after only a few moments Lorn began to fall back from his usual place on Anastasia’s left hand side. She looked over her shoulder at him. His face had grown pallid and sweat beaded his brow. Never had she seen him look in such a state.
“Simon.” She touched Simon’s arm to encourage him to slow down.
He followed her look and frowned. “Lorn? Are you all right?”
Lorn nodded. “Yes, I...” He panted for breath. “I am well.”
“You are not.” Anastasia stopped, forcing everyone else to stop as well or else leave her behind. “You look sick.”
“It is not well for your Ladyship to be concerned over me,” Lorn said.
“Forget propriety,” she said. “You were wounded in battle. You’ve earned a little worrying over. You need to sit.”
“That might be a bad idea.” Brandon pointed back the way they’d come. A dozen or more gray shapes were swiftly approaching them. At the moment they were too far away for Anastasia to make out any characteristics, but at the pace they were carrying she thought she’d soon see them much closer up than she wanted to.
Lorn doubled over, bracing his hands on his knees. “You must go, your Ladyship.”
“And leave you behind? You know me better.” Frightened though she might be, she had no intention of running off and leaving her bodyguard behind.
“We can’t stay,” Simon said. “We have to get up the mountain path and hope that deters those... whatever they are.”
“It might be interesting to hang around and find out,” Brandon said.
“Then you stay,” Selene said, as she moved to Lorn’s side. “We surely wouldn’t miss you. Here, Lorn, but your arm across my shoulders. Don’t give me such a look. I’m not merely a woman, I’m a higher power and I’m strong enough to handle you. Now do as I say.”
“I’ll help.” Simon came up on Lorn’s other side and with him leaning on both of them, the companions continued on toward the path. Even Brandon, who seemed not interested in the creatures well enough to stay behind on his own in order to have a better look at them.
Anastasia couldn’t stop herself from looking back every few moments to see the creatures gaining on them. In some ways, they did resemble wolves, and yet in others they looked as no beast she had ever seen.
By the time they set foot on the path, the beasts were close enough to hear their low snarls and yips. Anastasia ran up the path behind Reaper, followed by Simon, Lorn, and Selene. Brandon and Nephima were slightly behind them.
So narrow was the path they could walk no more than single file without risk of tumbling off the side. The fall wouldn’t have killed them so close to the ground, but they would be sure to quickly find themselves in the jaws of a beast.
Anastasia hugged the rock wall, doing her best to focus on putting one foot ahead of the other rather than on the sounds of the creatures. Her heart was pounding with fear. She jumped when she heard a sharp, shrill yelp. Her foot slipped, knocking her off her balance. For a moment she thought she would topple over the side, but then Selene grabbed hold of her arm and steadied her. Their gazes met for a moment and Selene’s lips pinched.
Beyond Selene and the others, Anastasia saw Brandon standing precariously in the middle of the path with a bloody dagger in hand and his left foot dangerously close to the drop. The beast he had stabbed staggered back into its fellows. In a moment they were on the wounded creature, snarling and snapping as they rent its flesh.
Bile rose up in the back of Anastasia’s throat. They must be truly horrible monsters to turn so easily on one of their own. Horrible and sickening as the sight was, she felt paralyzed by it, unable to look away.
“Move.” Selene’s not so gentle shove broke Anastasia from her stupor. She hurried forward, keeping her gaze locked firmly on Reaper’s back.
So focused was she, she didn’t even notice the sounds of the creatures had faded away until Brandon spoke up. “Well, that was bracing,” he said. “I’m almost sorry it ended so quickly.”
Anastasia risked a look over her shoulder. They had climbed much higher than she realized. The ground was now a good forty foot drop away and as the path had curved around the mountainside, the creatures were no longer in sight. This would have made her feel much better if it were not for Lorn, who was looking far worse from the effort.
“We could use a brief rest now the trouble is behind us.” She directed this remark at Reaper.
“Not now,” he said. “The path is too narrow for a proper rest. A little further on it will broaden.” He made good sense and so she said no more, but she continued to worry.
At length the path did indeed broaden, and at last they stopped to rest. Lorn slumped against the wall with his eyes closed and his legs stretched out before him. His skin had taken on a grayish tinge.
“Simon, would you take him some water, please?” Anastasia asked. “Even in the state he’s in, he’ll never accept it from me.”
“Of course.” Simon took a canteen and squatted down beside Lorn. He rested his hand on the man’s shoulders. “Can you take a little water?”
Lorn opened his eyes. They were shot through with red. “I thank you.” He parted his lips and Simon tipped the canteen to them.
“He looks poisoned,” Selene whispered. “Could it be from his wounds?”
“It’s possible,” Reaper replied. “They were hardly treated properly.”
Anastasia glared at them. “Simon did the best he could. Selene, couldn’t you bring us medicine?”
“Of what sort?” she asked. “I haven’t any knowledge of what he needs.”
Anastasia sighed. “Nor do I.” She shook her head. “He’s not going to die. We’ll reach Oracle soon and she’ll know how to help him.” She didn’t look at the others, not wanting to see the truth in their eyes.
Simon stepped away from Lorn, who had drifted into sleep. He screwed the cap back on the canteen as he joined them. “I don’t know how much longer he’ll last.”
“Until we reach the temple,” Anastasia said as firmly as she could. “He’s strong.”
“Of course.” Simon scratched at his bandage again.
“Let me see your hand,” Selene said.
He hesitated before holding it out to her. “It doesn’t hurt.”
She paid no mind to his words as she unwrapped his bandage. Beneath the gauze, the wound had turned a strange shade of green with thin red lines radiating out from it. “Poison.” She looked to Reaper. “Those creatures that attacked us were poisonous?”
“Apparently.”
Anastasia stared at him, aghast. “We ate those things.”
“It’s likely the venom is only in their saliva. Like a snake,” Brandon said. “Otherwise we’d probably be dead already.”
“How comforting.” Selene shot him a dirty look before returning her gaze to inspecting Simon’s hand. “Do you feel sick at all?”
“No,” Simon said. “It only itches a little.”
“Your hand is warm.” The look they exchanged made Anastasia’s stomach drop. Selene carefully rewound the gauze. “Let’s hope Anastasia is correct and Oracle knows of some cure for this.”
No one had much else to say. Anastasia couldn’t rest and so she paced, worry chewing at her insides. If anything happened to Simon... but no, it did not even bear thinking on. It would be like losing Charles.
They soon roused Lorn and continued along the path. It kept broader from there on out, enough so Anastasia could walk beside Lorn. Neither of them spoke a word, but the harsh wheeze of his breath said everything there was to say. And even though she kept mentally denying he might die of his wounds, her heart was slowly coming to terms with the possibility. Mostly because it was easier than to imagine the same happening to Simon.
“Can you feel that, Simon?” Selene asked. She was walking between Anastasia and Reaper.
“Yes.” His repl
y sounded rather grim.
“Feel what?” Anastasia asked. If it were another terrible thing she wasn’t sure she could stand it.
“Arcane energy,” Brandon piped in. “The air is fairly dripping with it.”
Selene frowned. “You can feel it?”
“I sure can.” He grinned. “Oracle must be a powerful witch.”
“Witch?” Nephima asked. “She’s not a higher power?”
“Whatever gave you the idea she was?” Reaper asked.
Anastasia was bewildered. “You mean she truly isn’t?”
“Impossible,” Selene said. “She’s older even then my mother. None but a higher power could have lived so long as she has.”
“A god could,” Brandon said.
“Nonsense,” Selene snapped. “The high realm has no gods.”
“This isn’t the high realm.”
“But it was in the high realm she was born, and the high realm produces no gods.”
“You’re mistaken,” Reaper said. “I do not mean to say Oracle is a god, though she may be. I don’t know. But she was not born of the high realm. It was she who first brought word of the gods to the elders of the time. She counseled them to take quick action, but they chose to wait until no time was left but to chain the gods each in one of the realms they had destroyed in the hopes they would never escape. Oracle tried to tell them of the Cataclysm, but they wouldn’t listen to that either. Our elders were a hard headed lot.”
“Is that why you pledged yourself to Shirelyn?” Anastasia asked. “Because you believed Oracle?”
Reaper’s dark, solemn gaze met hers. “In part, yes. But this was not my only reason. I met with Shirelyn, I spoke to her at great length. As did Fate and Morpheus, who also pledged themselves to her. Fate and I did not bear then the names we wear now, for we were young still and standing in the shadow of our parents. Morpheus was the only elder who believed all Oracle and Shirelyn had to say, but he was new to his role and the others would not listen.”
“My mother didn’t tell me any of this,” Selene said.
“Perhaps she did not think it important,” Reaper replied. “Although, it was how your parents came to be together. Until then, they hardly knew each other.”
“What about my brother?” Selene asked. “He would have been old enough then to have been there as well.”
“He was there with Morpheus, but was kept out of the pledge. His father thought him too young to understand the words. I suspect he was correct.”
Brandon rubbed his hands together. “This gets more and more interesting by the minute.”
Selene only frowned. Anastasia wondered if she was disturbed her mother had hid so much from her. It was strange to see how much like a human the higher power truly was.
The path carried them on until they reached the mountain summit. Anastasia stopped to stare in wide eyed wonder at the golden temple before her. It was far larger than she had expected and its walls were covered in frescos depicting the most exotic animals. “I have never seen such a sight,” she said. “Not even the Grand Temple in Nalese is so... so...” But she found herself at a loss as to the proper word.
“Pretentious?” Brandon suggested. “Overly large? Ridiculously gaudy?”
Anastasia made a face. “Awe inspiring. I could easily see a god living in such a place as this.”
“Oracle is no god.” Selene scowled. “I believe we’ve been over this already.”
“God or no,” Nephima gazed up at the temple, “she makes an imposing first impression.”
Simon swayed slightly on his feet. “Okay, now I’m starting to feel a little light headed.”
Selene slipped her arm through his. “Let’s get inside and see if this Oracle is as impressive as her temple.”
Two dozen steps led up to the covered porch. Anastasia took each one of the worriedly watching Lorn. His eyes were glazed over and he seemed to be moving on nothing more than his body’s instinct to keep pressing forward. She doubted if she spoke to him he would even hear and she hadn’t the nerve to test the theory.
The entrance to the temple was a set of double doors embossed with a fearsome looking creature all scales and featherless wings. Anastasia did not believe she had ever seen such a creature, and yet a hint of recognition tickled the back of her mind.
Simon stepped away from Selene and ran his fingers across the carvings. “These are archdemons.” He turned to Reaper. “Why are there archdemons carved into this door?”
Reaper shrugged. “Perhaps Oracle finds their form pleasing to look upon.”
“No one finds their form pleasing. What’s going on here?” Simon took a step forward, managing to look intimidating despite the slight wobble in his step. “I am not taking Ana into any building with those things carved on its doors.”
“Calm down,” Selene said. “They are only the images of the beasts, not the beasts themselves.”
“Are you serious? Seeing those,” he waved his hand at the carvings, “doesn’t bother you? One nearly killed me once, in case you have forgotten.”
“I think I can remember the reason we met,” she said. “And I can certainly understand why seeing the image of an archdemon here would upset you, but I still think you’re overreacting.”
“Well you know all about overacting, don’t you?”
Selene stiffened. “What do you mean by that?”
“Please stop, both of you,” Anastasia said. She surprised herself with her own boldness, but worry over Lorn made her forget her proper ladylike manners. “This is no time for fights, nor for fear and uncertainty. Lorn is very ill, and Simon you could be at any moment. Besides, Reaper has already said forward is the only way back and so we have no choice. We must go in.”
Simon rubbed a hand across his eyes. “I don’t like this, but I suppose you’re right. But you stay close to me.”
“I always do.”
Selene made a face and looked away. “Reaper should go first. He knows this place, after all.”
Reaper pushed the double doors open to reveal a spacious room sparkling with gold. The room was lavishly decorated with frescoes, statues, and tapestries, but what most drew the eye was the life sized statue of a black nightmare reared up on its hind legs.
Anastasia reflexively grasped Simon’s arm as her mind darted back to the stormy night in Duke Victor’s manor when life as she knew it was forever altered. The night a demon had tried to kill her and in failing to do so, set her life on this new and strange course.
“Wow, would you take a look at that.” Brandon pushed past them in order to get a better look at the statue. “Talk about a conservation piece. And can you feel the power?” He spun around in a circle. “It’s making me tipsy.”
“Must you always be so loud?” Selene hissed.
Brandon grinned. “Yes, I really think I must.”
“This place makes me uneasy.” Nephima pulled a dagger from her inner coat pocket.
“You’re not the only one.” Simon looked about the room. “When was the last time you were here, Reaper?”
“Shortly after the gods were exiled,” Reaper replied. “I visited with Oracle then and was warned not to return until the time of her prophecy had come.”
“How do you even know she’s still alive?” Simon asked. “We might have come all this way for nothing.”
“Oh, never fear, I am very much alive.” A woman in dark blue robes stepped from the shadows on the far side of the room. Her gaze swept over the companions, lingering on Lorn, whose gasps were growing louder and more ragged by the moment. “You seem to have suffered some trouble along your way.”
“Yes, we did.” Anastasia boldly stepped forward. “Can you help him?”
Oracle’s gaze shifted to Anastasia. “Are you more concerned with his life than with the Cataclysm?”
“At the moment, yes.”
“Then I’ll see what I can do.” She crossed the room to Lorn’s side. “I’ll take him where I can look after him. The rest of you may w
ait in the solarium.” She indicated an archway off to the right.
“Simon is hurt as well,” Anastasia said.
“No.” Simon shook his head. “Let her see after Lorn. I’ll stay with you. Don’t give me such a look. I’m an archangel and no animal bite, poisonous or not, will kill me. I won’t argue about this.”
Anastasia reluctantly nodded her head. She would have preferred he go and have his hand taken care of, but she was glad he would stay at her side. With Lorn sick, he was now the only one of her companions she completely trusted.
The solarium was filled with plants the likes of which Anastasia had never before seen. Tall, fern-like plants with leaves trimmed in purple; flowers in colors so garish they hardly seemed organic; vines with red thorns creeping across the floors and up the walls. The combination of scents left the air feeling heavy and thick.
Floor to ceiling windows covered one entire wall, allowing the solarium to be filled with the misty silver light which permeated the Land of Midnight. Where it might come from, Anastasia could not hazard a guess, as no moon or stars were in evidence.
Beyond the windows, the land rolled away in grass covered waves. It was a pretty sight, but not one Anastasia could enjoy. She had too much on her mind to worry over. Simon scratched at the bandage on his hand as he stared out the window. His expression suggested he was deep in thought, but she was too afraid to ask what he might be thinking about. What had a mind to think on these days but dark thoughts? She had enough of those on her own without adding his.
Silence haunted the Solarium until Oracle’s echoing footfalls reached their ears. Anastasia turned toward the path between the plants, her heart beating out an anxious rhythm in her chest. Oracle came up the path and Anastasia searched her face for some sign as to Lorn’s fate, but it offered nothing.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But your friend has died.”
Anastasia pressed two hands to her eyes. Strong arms came around her and she turned to bury her face in Simon’s chest. The back of her eyes burned, but no tears would come. Lorn’s death hurt, but not so much as she might have expected it to.
