by G. K. Lund
I returned to find her still out cold. I made quick use of the rope and had her tied up soon after. Depending on how strong a practitioner she was, it should hold her. With Loki’s sword in hand, I left her there and returned inside to look for him. I’d barely passed through the door before I glanced toward the hutch. I’d already gone there, so I aimed for the door where we’d first seen the fetch and entered the long corridor with the small sleeping cells. The moment I stepped inside, I heard a thumping noise that must have been drowned out in the common rooms. It came from further down the hall and when it repeated, I took hold of the sword with both hands and raised it. Was this another of Melleta’s weapons? Another fetch?
The thump came again, followed by something that sounded like speech. It was muffled. Someone was behind door number three to my left. I readjusted my grip on the sword so I could still hold it at the ready when reaching for the handle.
The thump thundered this time because the door gave in and was forced open by the impact. Loki came stumbling out, a blur of gray, black, and glowing orange, crashing into the wall opposite the door. A flurry of words I didn’t understand followed before he must have noticed me because he whirled around, hands elevated and ready.
“Oh, it’s you,” he said when he’d had a proper look at me.
“Nice to see you too, roomie.”
Loki either didn’t hear or he ignored that. His short hair was standing on end, he had bruises on his face from yesterday, and he took in the hallway with apparent confusion. “What’s going on?”
I smiled at him. “I’ve come to save you.”
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t look all that impressed. “You’re holding that sword like a fishing pole. Also, I just saved myself.”
I eyed the sword in my hands and lowered it. Okay, so he wasn’t wrong. But also, he sure as hell wasn’t right. “How’re you going to get out of that inhibitor then?”
He glanced at the glowing handcuffs and then shrugged. “This is Atlantis. I’ll find someone to lift the spell.” He gave a small wave for me to hand the sword over.
“What happened to you anyway?” I handed him the weapon, hilt first.
“That thing, which I can tell you is not an apparition of someone deceased, by the way, invaded my mind. That was nothing but magical force.” Loki visibly shivered due to the distaste he expressed at that. “And then it left.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, I don’t remember what happened in between. But I woke up wearing this inhibitor. And your friend? The last thing I remember seeing is her, before she knocked me out. Then I woke up in there a few minutes ago.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“What’s so funny? I’ll have you know I take great affront to having my head knocked about.”
“Yeah, well, it’s only that I totally saved you, because a few minutes ago, I knocked Melleta unconscious. And considering you’ve been out since yesterday—”
“Yesterday?”
“That means I so saved your bacon.”
“You say that with such glee, forgetting that I don’t care. My bacon, as you put it, is of excellent stock and should be preserved by all means.”
I stared at his stupid, smug face. “You just made me throw up a little in my mouth.”
“You should get that checked out. That doesn’t sound all that healthy.”
“Oh for… hhhh…” I growled and drew one of my daggers. “Let’s have them then.”
“Have what?”
“Your hands. You want to be free, right?”
He hesitated a moment, but raised his hands, eying me with apprehension and my dagger with curiosity. That changed to a raised eyebrow, but no apparent surprise when I used it to slash through the magical chain that linked the glowing cuffs together. The inhibitor disappeared in a puff of glowing sparks that did not seem to hurt him physically. Instead, Loki’s eyes flashed momentarily with green power before he smiled and raised his sword to sheath it in the scabbard strapped to his back. He froze mid-motion, though.
“We have a new problem, Red.”
I turned to see what he was seeing. “Don’t call me—oh…”
Gliding, or awkwardly walking mid-air, a fetch approached through the door from the common room. But as it slowly turned its creepy eyes on us, I saw this was not Dekel. He was too young for that, yet similar. “Helios?”
“That is not Helios,” Loki said.
“No,” I agreed and started walking backward, pushing at Loki without letting Helios out of my sight. A flash of green flew past me, bright emerald flames, much like the magic Loki had used back in Alaska, yet not equally forceful. It did nothing but flare and vanish after it hit Helios.
“That’s a fetch,” I told Loki. “Your magic will not stop it.”
“A fetch? Your friend’s stronger than I thought.”
I nodded and considered Helios. Then I flung my dagger at him. Like his father’s fetch, this one also screamed when the metal burrowed into it and forced the magic in it to dissolve.
“Handy,” Loki said.
I ran to retrieve my dagger. “Yes, I’m coming to realize there’s more to these weapons than I thought.” I straightened up and noticed movement somewhere to my right. I glanced out into the common room. No one there. But the door out to the courtyard was open. “Melleta’s awake and free.” I indicated the long corridor that continued behind Loki.
“Excellent rescue.”
“Shut up.” I stomped past him and followed the corridor. “Not like I have a magic inhibitor, is it?” She must have gotten free from her bonds. Loki was right about her being more powerful than we’d thought. How the hell had she ended up with the Red Kin? She must have truly believed Kerwyn. I shook my head as I walked at a brisk pace. We had all believed him. I was no different from Melleta, only less magically inclined.
“So what’s the plan?” Loki asked, catching up easily.
“Find Dekel and get him out of here. Then his son—his other son, will give us the Glory of Avalon.”
“Will he now?”
“Listen, I’ve been chasing a thief, running from a fetch, and been arrested all in a night. Just go along with it will you?”
Loki snickered. “Arrested? You?”
I huffed and got his upper arm with my pointy elbow.
“Ow!”
“Ooh, the mighty god can’t take a bump from a little girl?”
“Of course. It’s more the insult of the thing. You know, even that pathetic attempt to harm my most magnificent self.”
“Ugh, barf.”
“Why is this other son of Dekel Chiron in possession of the Glory of Avalon?”
I quickly got Loki up to speed while we moved through the long corridor. There were no more people to see, neither in the flesh nor by magic. The corridor ran parallel with both side buildings. By my estimation, we had the fence right outside to our left now, just like by the other building where Damyan had helped me climb over. There was a door at the end of it I suspected led us into the middle building and into the antechamber.
Sure enough, we opened the door and walked through, weapons raised and our attention on alert, but there was no one there. It was the antechamber in all its tacky glory. The gilded and burgundy surfaces glared back at us.
“Think she left?” I asked Loki.
He walked over to the front door and opened it a fraction. After a few seconds, he shook his head and closed it. “I can’t see her, but I doubt it. From what you’re telling me, her behavior has become rather reckless. Desperation is a blinding companion.”
“Want to see what’s behind door number two then?” I flicked a hand in the door's direction that led further into the building.
Loki frowned but nodded and joined me on my way over. The door opened into a high-ceilinged and large space, just as I’d thought when we’d first talked to Helios in there yesterday. The silence was eerie and our footsteps echoed between the walls. Long, flowing drapes of dark blue silks h
ung from the ceiling, dividing the room into smaller sections and making it harder to get oriented properly.
It struck me as a ceremonial room at once. The order of the Learned and the Reflective might call themselves a think tank, but they sure made me feel like I’d come home, which was saying something. About them and me both.
“There,” Loki whispered, indicating something further ahead with a quick nod. He let go of his sword with his left hand, the green flames back, ready to be hurled at Melleta should she attack, no doubt.
We stopped, and both strained our necks to see, but I realized then that without us moving, there were no sounds in the hall. I shot Loki a sideways look of confusion. He only shrugged and continued on.
The silken drapes fluttered around us because of our movements and soon revealed the center of the room. Surrounding a small elevated stage at the end, lay blankets folded to the approximate width and length of a cot, and upon them lay several people, lifeless, unmoving, and pale.
My breath caught in my throat at the sight. “Are they dead?” I stared at the nearest ones, a man and a woman. It took some time, but their chests finally rose, though barely. Oddly enough, it was at the same time.
“Their breathing is synchronized,” Loki pointed out, having seen it in even more of them. “This is not a natural sleep.”
We had to be staring at the rest of the order of the Learned and the Reflective. No wonder we had seen no one other than Helios. Melleta had taken control over every single one of them, likely to avoid questions regarding her falling out with Dekel. She’d only kept Helios awake to deal with pesky visitors like Loki and me. But now though, I saw both Helios and Dekel laid out on the floor, unconscious and unable to control their spirits being taken advantage of. Helios was the only one without a blanket under him, which made me suspect that this small kind act, to protect the members from the cold stone floor, had been done by him while awake.
“I think it might be time to call the constabulary,” I told Loki. “This is above our heads.”
“I think this is above their heads too,” he commented, poking a random leg with his toe.
“Actually, you won’t be alerting anyone,” Melleta’s voice rang through the room.
Loki and I jumped and turned in circles, trying to pinpoint her location between the drapes.
“I told the old fool to give me what was mine,” she said.
“Was it not his payment?” I asked her, raising both my daggers in case of another attack.
“It was until he made the constables suspicious.”
I nodded. Damyan had seen the constables a few days ago. Dekel must not have convinced them with his lies to authorities this time, like he had with the initial agent who’d also come asking. Maybe he’d grown weary of Melleta and not tried all that hard.
“Melleta,” I tried. “Just stop this. You’re not thinking things through. It’s been two years. Just turn yourself in. They won’t be so hard on you—”
“Are you insane?” she barked from somewhere to my right. I glanced around but again saw nothing. “I would never surrender to this magic infested, corrupt—”
“Sounds like the correct ass is farting,” Loki said, making me tune her out.
“What?” I faced him but saw his gaze fall on something to our side. A shadow at first. Then a moving figure. Sort of gliding and walking with stilted, unnatural movements at the same time. Then another figure, and another.
Loki and I stepped closer together on instinct as the doubles of the men and women on the floor glided closer, appearing between the hanging silk drapes like in some old horror flick. They were eerily silent despite their mouths forming words that never reached our ears. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were screaming for help. And yet, the people needing help the most right now were Loki and me.
Chapter Thirteen
“Not good, not good, not good,” I mumbled, eyes on the approaching fetches. “Any bright ideas?”
I could see the flicker of Loki’s magic out of the corner of my eye, but it wouldn’t help against these creatures.
“You’ve spent more time with them than I,” he began. “What’s their preferred method of attack?”
“Besides hurling stuff? Smothering.”
“Ah. Then I suggest we don’t let them do that to us.”
“Very helpful.”
The magic disappeared from his hand and instead of responding verbally, he touched my shoulder to get my attention and indicated the door with a wave. We would not be helped by staying inside the room, large or not. I nodded, following on his trail, but neither of us were quick about it. The fetches were too close, ready to attack.
“Just give me the gem and I’ll let you go.” Melleta’s voice was strong and loud, but I couldn’t pinpoint her location anymore between the drapes and her creatures. I wouldn’t have given her the stone had I had it. Instead, I proffered one of my daggers to Loki. He took it without a word, having already seen its effect on Helios’ fetch.
I was already mapping out our exit strategy in my head. We needed to reach the gate, and that meant passing through the courtyard and the antechamber before that.
The door between the antechamber and the hall slammed shut right in front of us. The fetches were surrounding us. Which one of them had closed the door? They seemed so… mindless, yet somehow aware of themselves, trapped like this. Melleta had to be feeding them precise orders.
Loki’s magic flared up again, and he sent it toward the door, straight for the lock and handle. Another magical burst followed suit and by the time we reached it, the metal was gone, burned and red on the floor. Loki kicked the door open, and I moved backward after him. The fetches reacted as one to this. They drew together and surged toward us.
“Run!” I shouted at Loki, pushing for him to speed up. He was busy checking the antechamber for any hidden threats, but at my shouting he listened and ran through the room, giving me space to do the same. We ran outside into the courtyard which was eerily silent like it had been every time. The sounds from the streets outside were pleasantly muffled by the surrounding fence. More importantly, none of Melleta’s fetches were there.
Loki and I did not need to communicate our need to reach the gate audibly. We simply legged it. With fifteen or so spirits under Melleta’s iron control, we needed to regroup and find Damyan later. I hoped he had the sense to stay out of this. He should have come inside by now, but—
I cried out as something smacked against my face. It stung like hail and blindsided me. Somewhere to my side, Loki cursed. Then it sounded like he fell. I twisted, trying to avoid more of the pain. The gate was so close. But I couldn’t see it. It took falling on my ass to realize there was sand blowing around us. The muted hiss of it was all I could hear.
“It’s the fetches!” Loki shouted from somewhere nearby before he coughed hard, likely getting sand in his mouth.
He was right, though. There weren’t many things out here to fling at us, poltergeist-style, but there was sand. Plenty of it.
I forced myself up on my feet, my dagger in hand. I staggered forward, feeling the wind conjured by the fetches to whirl up the sand. It was hard to breathe and my eyes burned. I had to squint hard to see at all, and there wasn’t much but gray and beige in front of my eyes.
“Loki?” I tried shouting, but a shadow, darker than the sand, emerged in front of me. It was not Loki. I hadn’t known him long, but he wasn’t stupid enough to get near an armed person without a warning. I lashed out with my dagger, but the fetch was further away than I’d thought.
Something snagged at my neck and I dove sideways. Better to hit the ground than feel those cold hands on me again. Blinded and confused, the impact happened a microsecond before I expected it to. I gasped in pain but rolled and forced myself up on a knee. I could feel a strange surge along the ground, the fetches’ combined powers disturbing the sand and forcing it up, no doubt. Another shadow closed in and I drew a ragged breath and forced myself not to attack too soon
. We were outnumbered, but the fetches were not operating with super speed, and by stopping our escape with the sandstorm, they’d made themselves blind too. At least judging by the fact that they weren’t attacking all at once. They were searching for us.
My eyes hurt at the constant strain, and I had to lift my free hand to my mouth now and then to even draw a proper breath without getting grains of sand into my mouth. I could hear muffled fighting nearby, figuring Loki had his own problems.
The shadow slid nearer, and I ducked while slashing with a wide sweep of my arm. I felt some resistance as the blade snagged on something. The screech I expected from these creatures soon followed. I didn’t remain in the same place to check on something I couldn’t see. I moved cautiously sideways. Alert for more nearby lurking fetches. A couple more of the same piercing screams sounded, telling me Loki was using my other dagger.
Sand whipped against my back and I cried out in surprise at the pain but ducked down and paced forward before straightening up again, hoping to avoid the hands that were seeking me out. I pivoted with a high kick, more from instinct than thinking it would help. My foot hit something. It didn’t move because of the impact of my foot and sent me hopping back to keep my balance. I quickly regained my equilibrium though and went forward, crouching low again, before swiping where I now knew the fetch to be. The blade made contact, and the ear-shattering scream of the spirit rang throughout the courtyard. I spun, squinting, and trying to spy any more nearby shadows. It didn’t take long, but now I’d found a tactic that worked at least. The fetches, being corporeal like us, couldn’t see well in their own sandstorm, and attacking the lower half of their bodies minimized the chance of them grabbing me.
The soul-wrenching screams kept coming as both Loki and I made short of the eerie beings. How long would they remain gone, though? Was Melleta summoning them back continually? It had taken time with Dekel.
