by Eric Asher
I winced as it crept backward and reached us, expecting to feel heat, but there was none. If anything, it was colder than the air around us, as if the flames themselves were ice.
“It is begun.” Hess stalked forward, following the fiery spirit as she too walked farther into the cave. “Ghosts of who have come before, join us if you would, and you will be honored in death.”
Gray shades drifted nearby, crossing into the path of the Spirit Hunt’s magic. I watched that blue light leak into their forms, crawling up into each ghost until they looked almost as solid as Hess. But I didn’t see the ghosts I knew from outside Samir’s shop. The grandfather and the soldier were nowhere to be found, but others came, and the light changed them.
I didn’t see much difference in Aseer herself, except for two notable exceptions. She carried a spear of pure light, longer than any I’d ever seen an Utukku wield in life. And Popcorn flickered with light and power at her side. Much as I’d seen Bubbles and Peanut grow with an influx of power, Popcorn was no different. Even as a ghost, the cu sith now looked as tall as a pony, her paws wide enough to crush skulls.
I leaned over close to Foster. “Look at the puppy.”
The fairy grinned at me. “If she can take down a basilisk like Bubbles and Peanut took down a harbinger, we’ll be in great shape.”
Nugget released a thunderous honk. I was hoping it was a honk of agreement.
We followed Hess and the fiery spirit deeper into the labyrinth below the earth. And the farther we got, the more I realized “labyrinth” was the only word for it. We passed fragments of the corridors from Gorias, only hints among the earth and stone.
Dozens of smaller tunnels and caves branched off from the main path. We stopped at almost every one, and I looked through the peacock’s eyes, studying the walls and creatures that waited beyond as well as I could.
It would be one thing to come upon a basilisk in the dark. It would be quite another to be ambushed from behind.
The lair of the basilisk curved to the left before coming back to the right, obscuring our forward vision by the simple nature of its shape. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been walking when we came to a section that looked something like a subway platform.
I paused there, studying the signs on the wall in a language I didn’t understand. At first, I thought the symbols were just warning signs, but the shapes were wrong, and I didn’t understand why.
“What is this?” I asked.
Hess turned back to face me, and her eyes glowed with the same fire as the spirit. “This place is not of your world. Perhaps one of Nudd’s experiments, or someone else’s.”
I didn’t miss the glance Foster and Aideen exchanged.
“What is it?” I asked.
Aideen rubbed her neck with her free hand. “There’s an old story in Faerie that Nudd wasn’t the first to try to bring Falias into your world. Could be part of that.”
Foster shook his head. “That was thousands of years ago. Look at this place. This looks like commoner technology. They didn’t have this thousands of years ago.”
“I know,” Aideen said. “I don’t recognize the language either. Which means it’s either dead, or it’s not from this realm.”
Aseer spoke to Hess before Hess turned to relay the message. “She says a power capable of moving the prisons of Gorias had already shown its power.”
That didn’t really clarify anything, but I understood what the Utukku was saying. If Nudd had the power to move buildings between realms, other Fae might have had that ability in the past. It made me wonder what else might lurk beneath the streets.
We left the station out of time behind us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Even thirty minutes after we’d left that unknown language behind, something was still bothering me. I hadn’t noticed the place when I looked through Nugget’s eyes. And if I’d missed a platform that large, what else might have snuck by unnoticed?
The thought unnerved me. And I made an effort to tie that thread of Titan magic in a little tighter with the peacock. The vision still raced through the tunnels, hard to slow, almost impossible to control. But the more I pulled my necromancy back, and kept my aura away from the peacock, the more the vision opened up before me.
“Another mile, and we’ll be in the ruins of Gorias.”
“Is that a good thing?” Nixie asked.
“It’s close to where I saw the basilisk. So depending on your point of view, it could be either.”
“A very good thing,” Hess said, her voice almost a growl. “When the serpent appears, shield yourselves until I tell you otherwise. You may have held an imprisoned Utukku, but you have done much to benefit what remains of my people. I would not wish you stone.”
Foster held up a finger. “And if, just for information’s sake, we hadn’t done much for the Utukku. What would have happened then?”
“I would have taken the veil mirror without asking.”
Aseer turned and stared at Foster. And she spoke in a voice like the crackle of the campfire. “I would have devoured you like the gods of old.” Her eyes flashed in the trail of smoke that rose above them.
Foster nodded. “Good to know. And I can understand her, which is mildly disturbing.”
Aideen grabbed his arm and pulled him back a couple steps. “Ask your questions later. Perhaps when we are not standing in the middle of the Spirit Hunt with angry ghosts.”
Foster gave Aideen a broad smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He did let out a slightly nervous laugh.
Hess turned to me. “Can you sense what is beyond these tunnels? There is more from Faerie under the city than I thought. I can feel it in the magic of the hunt, but it is separate from these tunnels.”
I shook my head. “I can only see what’s attached to the tunnels. Once the path leaves them, or goes above ground, my entire vision turns into a yellow glow. I can’t make anything out.”
“When we have completed our mission, and are no longer here to protect you, it would be good to find out what else waits beneath the streets of your city. The harbingers slumbered here for many years before they rose to strike at you. There could be other things that wait in the shadows.”
“Awesome,” I muttered.
The farther into the tunnel we walked, the more I realized Hess might be right. There were ghosts underground, and far more than there should have been. I looked at some of them who remained stuck in their loops, reading what appeared to be books and papers, yet somehow trapped under the earth.
“Mortals from Faerie,” Hess said. “They should not be here.”
“How do you know they’re from Faerie?” Aideen asked.
The Utukku blinked at Aideen. “Can you not see the runes upon them? The armor beneath their cloaks and fancy wear? That is not the mark of a commoner.”
I looked closer at the ghost Hess pointed to. At first, I saw nothing out of the ordinary, but as I stepped closer, and the gold crept into my vision from Nugget once more, I could see the jagged runes carved into the breastplate almost hidden by the ghost’s cloak.
They either wore the runes of a Viking, or the armor they wore was Fae in its construction.
“I know what these spirits are,” Hess said, her voice fading as she turned to look all around us. “By the gods. The mortal dead of Falias. Those slain in the basilisk attacks.”
I stopped by a ghost holding out a small stack of coins. Her loop was short enough that it repeated inside the minute, and my heart ached with it. The coins fell as her mouth opened in a scream, jagged holes appearing across her chest before the loop reset.
Nixie crouched down in front of her. “The wound from a basilisk is supposed to destroy one’s entire being.”
“Not a mortal’s being,” Aideen whispered. “Those Faerie stole from the commoners’ realm, only to be slain by the serpents. Can you release them, Damian?”
Aseer slammed her glowing spear into the earth, and it echoed like a blade on stone. “The death of the basilis
k is their only chance to escape. Until that time, they relive their deaths in cycles unending.”
A shiver crawled down my spine as I turned and looked at the other ghosts around us. Really looked. Every one of them caught in a loop, every one punctuated with a flicker of absolute terror before they reset, reappearing at the beginning of that same loop.
“If there’s a hell, this is it.” I studied those who walked and those who sat in stillness before the end. It started to become clear what had happened to that gathering. The destruction of a basilisk surged through them like an invisible dance, but it still didn’t explain the text on the walls that appeared in languages none of us knew.
I studied another sign, a triangle that could have been a yield sign if not for the alien symbols scrawled across its face.
Aideen joined me, her wings brushing against my backpack. “I recognize this, but this can’t be right.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“The Long Road.”
“The hell is the long road?”
“Murias,” Nixie said. “They stole many commoners.”
I waited for Nixie to elaborate, but it was Aideen who spoke. “It is said the gods of Murias were cruel indeed. Known to steal children and mothers and more from the streets of the commoners. When those who were stolen proved to be rebellious, or less useful than intended, they were sent to the Long Road.”
Hess spat on the ground. “I expect this brutality from commoners. I will never understand what happened to the Fae of Murias.”
The other ghosts that had followed Hess dispersed around us, studying those trapped in loops, reaching out to them as if they could pull them back from their frozen hells.
“Sacrificed to the serpents,” Aideen said, raising her eyes to meet mine. “The Long Road was used to keep the basilisks at bay in the wilds of Faerie. Commoners were sent to live there, to die there. Fae who were branded traitors had their wings clipped and were sentenced to die beside them.”
She stepped closer to one ghost and shook her head.
“You can see them too?” I asked.
“Through the magic of the Spirit Hunt, they are as clear as you or I. Watch, just before her body crumbles.” The ghost jerked back as if someone had grabbed her, tried to pull her out of the way of something before she collapsed and the loop reset. And behind her, as lifeless as whoever had tried to save her, sat the empty armor of a Fae knight.
“Relics of a Fae who is one with the lines. A fairy tried to save her and died for their trouble.”
Aseer watched us all until we turned away from the ghosts. She led the way forward, out of the fragment of a corridor and back into the tunnels the basilisk had carved. We left that place behind, and many of the ghosts that had followed us chose to stay there, but I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get those visions out of my head.
* * *
It was one thing to hear Ward had once fought a basilisk. It was another to hear the stories of the destruction those creatures wreak, and at times were invited to wreak. The stories made me far more wary of the tunnels around us, and I took to keeping myself tied to the peacock as much as possible.
The longer we remained in contact, the less chaotic the visions became until I could almost slow them at will like a video on playback. But it was still hard to control, and harder to tell exactly where each corridor was until we reached it in the labyrinth.
“Are you okay?” Nixie asked.
My first instinct was to say I was. But with everything my friends and family had risked to pull me out of the Abyss, honesty was the least I could do.
“Not really. I’m just … this labyrinth is reminding me of the underground by Falias. Other than the weird bumps in the tunnels the basilisks left, we could be back there. Walking into a trap. It’s just … I can’t shake it.”
Nixie didn’t answer me, only placed her hand on my cheek and smiled. And in some small way, that helped. Maybe she knew there wasn’t really anything she could say to change how those tunnels felt. And maybe she knew exactly how that felt.
“What about the ghosts who stayed behind?” Aideen asked. “What will happen to them when the magic of the Spirit Hunt is gone?”
Hess glanced back at the fairy. “They will be free to choose. To return to their own loops, or continue on. Spirit Hunts are a gateway between realms that are open to all who walk inside their power.”
The longer we continued, the more I started to understand the pulsing visions from the peacock. The farther away we were, the longer it took that trail of light to traverse the distance. Hess and the fiery Utukku were always the starting point, and they were like a sun in themselves at the start of each flash.
The vision of the Gorias corridor appeared faster and faster as we traveled through the labyrinth until at last it was the first thing to appear after the brilliant light of Hess.
“Stop.” I held out my hand and let the visions fade. It was odd, seeing Nugget’s sight layered on top of my own. I could see what was right in front of me, and the golden paths laid out ahead of us, but it wasn’t so convenient as a HUD. It was more like looking through a very dirty transparency.
“What is it?” Hess asked.
“The next doorway is the corridor I saw with the armor and broken statues.” I didn’t need to say more than that. Didn’t need to remind them it was likely the basilisks themselves that had toppled those stone sculptures and killed whatever Fae had been inside that armor.
I drew the focus from my belt, pointing it away from my allies as if it was a gun. My powers had been inconsistent and calling a soulsword that stretched a quarter mile in the confines of these tunnels probably wouldn’t end well for anybody.
Hess and the fiery Utukku led the way. They didn’t make it more than a few steps inside before they stopped, and the rest of us filtered through behind them.
The first thing I realized was that I didn’t get a sense of scale from my visions with the peacock. I didn’t think this hall would be much wider or taller than the basilisk tunnels, but that didn’t come close to explaining the chasm that opened up inside that room. The statues that had been brushed aside rivaled those that towered above us in the Royal Courts of Faerie.
“What was this place?” Hess asked.
And she was right to ask what it had been, because now it was a tomb. Mortals caught in loops filled the chamber, and these were nothing like those who had almost been peaceful at the station before. These sailed through the air and clutched at their chests or at loved ones who couldn’t be seen. And then the visions reset, having a split second of peace before something surged through the room and scattered them all into death once more.
“Look at their clothes,” Aideen said, following beside a ghost as it folded in on itself and hit the ground before resetting. “I would have expected these people to be from well before the Wandering War, but they aren’t.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Look at his vest. This style wasn’t worn by mortals until the past two centuries. The hall itself is ancient, yes, but the ghosts are not from the Wandering War. Something more recent pulled fragments of Gorias into the commoners’ realm.”
“Nudd,” Foster said. “It’s not like he didn’t have the power of the Mad King this entire time. A test run for what he wanted to do with Falias?”
Aideen nodded. “I suspect you’re right. And when Gorias materialized underground, he worked on a new plan.” She glanced up at me. “Ezekiel and the Old Man. The only necromancers with enough power to merge the realms. Until he realized how strong Damian was.”
Foster cursed and turned from the nearest ghost.
The fiery Utukku knelt near the corner, sifting through discarded armor and bones. She lifted a skull that didn’t look so different from her own before turning it to show Hess.
“Utukku in Gorias?” Hess asked. “Within the past century? Not unheard of, I suppose, but odd for them to be here in the most recent centuries.”
“Odd indeed,�
�� the fiery Utukku said. “The Long Road was not in Gorias.”
Hess looked around at the ghosts and bones. “I fear part of it was, sister. And now it has come to the commoners’ realm.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
We stayed between the towering statues of that place for a short time. It provided a modicum of shelter and was a good place to pause for a snack before venturing deeper into the darkness. I looked through the peacock’s eyes again, and my skin crawled when one of the distant walls moved.
Of course, it wasn’t a wall. It was a basilisk as wide as the tunnels we’d been standing in. And instead of avoiding the damned thing, we were heading straight for it.
“Not far now.” I closed my backpack and tossed it over my shoulders. “Best-case scenario, do we want to fight these things in the tunnels, or in a hall like this?”
“Think of the basilisk as a train,” Aideen said. “In the tunnels, you know exactly where it will move. It will be more predictable. But you have nowhere to run.”
“So we lure it to a hall, then.”
“They are faster in the open, and their gaze is harder to avoid.”
“Awesome. So we’re chasing a train that can bite us and turn us to stone?”
Aideen pondered that for a moment. “Yes.”
“I wish the Mosasaurus could breach these tunnels,” Nixie said. “They have long been predators of the basilisks in the depths.”
I blinked. “Basilisks in the ocean? I thought these things breathed air.”
“There are several types of these things,” Nixie said. “Some are more like eels in the seas.”
I shuddered at the thought. Eels were fast, slippery, and masterful at hiding. The idea that one of those things could have the power of a basilisk was unsettling, at best.
We continued in silence for a time, exiting the ruined hall and finding more pieces of Gorias buried under the earth. It felt more and more like the catacombs beneath Falias, and we saw fewer ribbed tunnels as the basilisk had made its way over the stones of the buried ruins.
