by Owen Elgie
“Andrea, you’re not yourself. There must still be a piece of the Drake Stone on you to make you act like this. That’s why you don’t understand, you’re being manipulated.”
I was doing my best to hold a level tone as I spoke, showing that I wasn’t there to fight her and hoped that what I was saying would get through the haze of control coming from the shard of crystal we’d missed. In response, Andrea heaved me from the floor and smashed me against the wall of the shell, our frozen grip proving to be incredibly powerful. The impact made my teeth rattle and I could feel the air get blown from my chest. The wall of energy around us was hugely strong but now there was a slight stickiness to it. All around us, the Tayne all lurched at the impact, expecting me to fall through to them. Some of the weakest they may be but in these numbers, there wouldn’t need to be any violence, they’d just have to envelop us. Andrea slapped me against the shell again and Em winced before dropping to one knee. I couldn’t just do nothing, we’d all die. I’d have to fight back.
Andrea shoved again but this time I shoved back, cancelling out her effort. Calling into my fire power, I quickly melted away the ice holding me to her and jumped forward, grabbing her in a bear hug to hold her arms down at her sides. We toppled over backwards and I landed on her, though the impact did nothing to stop her squirming or snapping at me.
“Em, are you OK? Can you hold this together?” I needed to get us out of this fast but that question just enraged Andrea even more, bringing even more fight from her.
“I’m losing the shell. I can’t get us through or out. Please my Lord, help me,” Em pleaded, anguish in her voice as she begged for he superior to come to her aid.
I did all I could do and pulled together as much power as I could and forced a Cascade Bridge into existence but it was too late. The light was still flickering into place and the familiar ozone aroma was just a suggestion on the air, the tug of tidal energy coalescing but not whole, as the shield of power surrounding us cracked and fell apart. There was some feeling of coalescing power but it just didn’t feel strong enough. The darkness which was the ocean of Tayne above us poured in and there was nothing more to do.
32
I was alone in the dark.
I could hear far off noises, diffuse and nebulous but I was totally enfolded by an impenetrable blackness. Was I dead? I could make out different smells warring for attention, some pleasant, some decidedly not and if I was dead, I would have thought that I wouldn’t have been laying on a dusty stone floor when I came to.
Easing myself gingerly into a sitting position, I risked bringing fire into being, gingerly to begin with, just so I could at least see where I was. Flame blossomed in the palm of my hand. I was in a room, no bigger than my bedroom in my flat in London. The floor was bare stone, pitted and imperfect and the walls were high and dug directly from the rock. Above me, there was more proof that there had been very little aesthetic consideration to my location and by the looks of things, there was no door. I couldn’t see any fused stone anywhere which would signify any recent activity but aside from the tactical concerns of my current position, I was interested in the sheer mechanics of how I’d been placed here. Had I jumped myself here?
Standing up, I risked raising my light a little more and the flame which had been dancing happily in the palm of my hand climbed higher and became more intense. My original assessment of the room wasn’t expanded but at least there was more detail for me to make out.
I was stuck, but on the plus side, I assumed I wasn’t dead.
With just my light source to keep me company I took stock and wondered if I’d jumped myself here in the attempted escape. If that was the case, where was I but also where were the others? I slid my hand over the surface of the wall and tried to glean any information which could help me. I felt a rocky wall. No magical or mystical insight came and all I was left with was the awful possibility that I somehow jumped myself out of the collapsing shield bubble into a solid piece of stone somewhere. For all I knew, I’d travelled twenty feet from my original point and was just below the surface but I could also have been on the other side of the planet. Add to this the fact that if I was sealed into a block of stone somewhere, I’d be using up the air in here at a rapid rate. In short, I needed to leave.
Stepping away from the wall, I began to concentrate my mind with an image of home, readying to create a bridge and leave wherever I was when there was a tiny fizzing hiss from behind me. Spinning to face the noise, my concentration broken, I located a small stone on the floor. There was nothing else, just a loose piece of rock. Moving my hand closer to it to provide maximum illumination, I recognized the smooth surface just as the fizzing started again. I leapt back and away, shutting off the flame in my palm. It was one of the ‘devices’ Em had shown me in the vault in Argentina, the ones that open portals to places and didn’t react well to magic close by. That meant that wherever I was, I’d been put here by someone rather than me doing it. My immediate situation hadn’t changed but in that second of understanding, it certainly felt more perilous.
Whoever had put me in here had also made sure that I couldn’t do anything magical to ensure my release. That meant that there had been a prior level of planning as the stone weapons, although not said by Em explicitly, had seemed to be unlikely to be available to any and every one. I still didn’t know anything about where the other members of my team were and I had been quickly captured and every part of my strength nullified. Suddenly very perilous.
Sitting in the dark, unable to risk calling any magic to me for fear of the little pebble of doom in here with me, I had to try and rely on my other senses. Nothing at all would be gained if I just let the thoughts of what had most likely happened to everyone else float to the front of my mind. I had to push away the fear for them all. For Em, Mike and even Hairy but most especially Andrea. I just couldn’t let the thought of losing her climb any higher.
I reached out and found the nearest wall and began to sweep my hands back and forth across its ragged surface. From there I did the same across the floor but nothing more than rock was forthcoming. Next, I sat in what I could identify as the centre of the room and just listened. To start with, all I was able to pick out was my own pulse and my breathing but as I remained in the same position and just did my best to relax, I thought I could make out the most muffled of sounds coming from off to my right. More than just sound, they had shape and purpose to them. My heart rate jumped in excitement and filled my ears but as I calmed myself again, and shuffled in the direction I thought it was coming from, yes, I could recognize the barest of sounds, tiny and weak but unmistakably there.
Hands to the wall again, this time I could make out the slightest ringing vibration as that sound travelled through the stone to me. Without having a starting point I’d just waved my hands past that tiny signal from beyond but now it was clear to feel. And it was growing.
As each second passed, the vibration grew and grew and grew, bringing with it first a slight buzzing sound which grew to become a more clattering, cracking howl. Reflexively stepping back and away from the growing sensation which was now shaking the floor as well as the walls and no doubt the ceiling of my little cell, I pressed myself as flat as I could to the far wall and kicked the magical pebble towards the vibrations, shielding myself as tiny fragments of stone and dust fell on me from above.
The explosion of stone didn’t come. The force coming closer built and built and I was close to making any kind of magical attempt to repel whatever was approaching when, through a splitting, roaring crack, a tiny light spread over me. The stone hadn’t blown towards me, instead it had been sucked back towards whatever was moving in. In that hanging fragment of time I was treated to the sheer blandness of the cell I’d been held in. It was just a roughly hewn box, suitable for any number of mundane tasks but created with the minimum of care.
That, though was where any possible relief abruptly stopped and the pebble, which had been buried under a small pile of the debris whic
h had broken free as the wall was breached, proved that whatever was coming was using magic of some kind, and it erupted in a swirling plume of blue/white power. I’d seen the result of one of these things going off once before and recalled the detail that Em had given me about what was going to happen to anything nearby. I tried to call together as much power as possible to create my own Cascade Bridge but there was just no time. The gargantuan pull from what was before me reached out but before it could grasp me, it was quickly wreathed in a bright purple shell, severing the force utterly. The power continued to buck and swirl but it was impotent before what was surrounding it. In a few more seconds, it winked out and the purple shell went with it.
I was still rooted to the spot with the expression of shocked terror on my face when Em walked through the gap she’d created and stood over me. Her face was blankly calm, back to an almost familiar posture of indifference to her power but now her skin was a much deeper shade, closing on the colour of her bodysuit and was akin to polished crystal. Her features moved despite this solidity and her eyes were afire with the blaze of violet flame.
“My Lord. Are you well? It would appear that our captors were unaware that I can control the energies within the defence stones they left with us.” Her head was tilted again and her voice was that usual flat enquiry. For her, it would appear to be just another day at the office.
I just hugged her.
One of my team was still alive and she’d just been able to break me out of the deepest hole. That knowledge was such a balm to me, that I wasn’t here alone. Her posture was stiff and her skin cold and hard but, as she hugged me back, tightly, the humanity returned to her, softening her as we embraced.
“I thought I’d killed everyone.” I’d spoken into the top of her head as we just stood there together, her short hair smelling nondescript yet pleasant. “Where are we? Have you see any of the others?”
She just held me for a further second before easing away slowly and looking up at me. “We are within the boundaries of Bress Tal but I have only been able to locate you. I can feel that the others are still alive but I cannot pinpoint them. It feels that there is something shrouding them in the most part.”
They were alive as well. I needed to hug Em again but kept a grip on myself this time. I just nodded but didn’t hide the fact I was happy with the information.
“So now we need to go and find them. Just point the way and I can jump us in.” Everyone was safe and time was of the essence. Swift action was needed.
“I would suggest a more cautious approach to our comrades,” Em replied, her head tilted. “We are unaware of the defences that Mr. Ward has at his disposal and it would be unwise to assume that he hasn’t taken steps to stop us taking the easiest possible route in. I would recommend a more low key approach.”
I needed to keep my enthusiasm in check. No matter how relieved I was that everyone was still alive, it most certainly didn’t mean they were out of danger. I had to stay focused on why we were here and not totally lose sight of the tactical details of what we were trying to do.
“OK fine. Makes sense.” I closed my eyes and tried to feel out with my magic and locate where anyone else could be, friend or foe. I hadn’t been able to send my mind out beyond the tomb I’d been left in and now, with the walls cracked open, I was still blind to what was going on around me. Em had said that she was able to recognize the fact that everyone else was still alive but that there had been some kind of attempt to shroud them yet there was just a blank space out there to me. I couldn’t find anyone, friend or foe. And I swear that I could still hear those same whispered, far off voices, just out at the edges of my senses.
“It looks like you’ll have to direct us in. I can’t see anything beyond this room. I can’t sense anyone.”
“Very well my Lord. Please follow me.”
Em turned and marched from the ruined cell and into the low light which was beyond. I followed, doing my level best to channel every ninja movie I’d ever seen and make as little sound as possible.
The walkway we were in was made of the same stone as the cell but there appeared to have been a great deal of architectural care used when this space was created. It may have been the same pale stone but here the walls were covered in the most exquisitely carved reliefs of all kinds of animals and plants. As we moved quickly, lifelike figurine after lifelike figurine passed us by, their dead gazes seeming to follow us, silently regarding these two interlopers. All I could think about was my experience with the Wraiths in my own mansion, peeling themselves from the walls to attack in any and all ways they could. Shadows coming to life was one thing but stone creatures, and a hallway full of them like the thing in the vault in Argentina, that wouldn’t be good at all. I closed the gap with Em just in case.
Hallway after hallway sped by as we moved through the underground fortress. The further we went, the less well preserved the decoration became. What had started out as opulent design had still been in place to begin with but it had been worn down by the effects of time or possibly the touch of a million hands, each taking a miniscule piece with them. From there, any proof of previous civilization drained away and the areas we travelled through became more akin to the naturally formed underground spaces, haphazardly fitting into the spaces left by the living rock itself. Em made no attempt to slow her pace as she went though. At each junction she just marched in her chosen direction without even the barest hint of hesitation. Her power was flowing through her suit as she lithely moved, spilling out a violet light as the passageways darkened so it was clear to see that she was pulling on the magic she had within her to be able to find the way.
“How are we doing?” I asked quietly, wanting to know if we were at least getting close to where we needed to be.
“We are closing in on the location where I can feel the echo of the people we came with,” was her rather perfunctory response. It was also very loud.
Looking around me like some kind of frightened animal, searching for the predator, I shushed her before asking, “Shouldn’t we be doing our best to stay out of site or sound of the enemy?”
She stopped and looked over her shoulder.
“We are within the libraries of Bress Tal, or what once were the libraries. I know where we're going and have been constantly checking for the approach of anyone as we’ve moved. As yet, there has been no sign of any person or creature at any point. We are alone.”
“Alone?” We couldn’t be alone here really, could we? “Are you sure? There must be people here with Leatherpants.” She considered what I’d said before saying, “Didn’t you yourself say that he was far from the world shaking monster everyone else was thinking of him? Besides, he has an entire race of people acting on his every whim. He’s got more than enough resources to be able to do what he’s done up to now. How do you think you were placed in the cell in the wall?”
I started to reply but stopped short. It was all true. Now Em was beginning to use logic to be able to work through the details ahead of her. I did consider just becoming my Dragon right there, if Leatherpants was on his own, but even I could see that it would still be wiser to keep that particular card close to my chest. He would still be under the impression that the fragment of the Drake Stone he'd given each of us was still in place.
Nothing more was said as we resumed our trek.
As we travelled, I was continuously doing my best to reach out and ‘feel’ what was going on around me, to recognize any fragment of the people who were down here in the way that Em was able but there was just nothing for me. In every direction there was nothing. As we made our way through what were now incredibly damaged pathways, the spaces long since having foregone the description of rooms, my rational mind was just letting me know that trouble was getting closer.
Picking our way around fallen rock, Em held up a hand in warning and we both stopped and eased our way back against the stone walls as best we could. Ahead of us, where the floor had been once, was now a gaping chasm. Em edged up to th
e rock edge and her suit glowed again, casting more light around us. The rock walls glowed back, ever so dimly but uniformly across the whole space, bringing a detail to everything beyond us.
Across its vast distance, the far side of the space was so far away as to be almost out of sight. Below and above us continued the theme of a raw emptiness. There was just an enormity to what had taken place here, so far beyond anything which I’d seen before, and I could just recognize from everything here, this vast nothing had been created by something other than simply the greedy hands of time.
“What is it? Can you see them?” I couldn’t make out anything specific but the area I could see was such a tiny fragment of the whole as to be insignificant. The same voices were still just out there at the back of my mind and gave an even eerier feel to the place. Em blew out a breath and just shuddered.
“I would have thought that after all these years, these thousands of years, the stain would have faded.” She was just looking around the void and her voice had softened as she spoke.
“Stain? What do you mean?”
“Bress Tal was overrun. These libraries of wonder were at the most great risk and the creatures of The Hive were storming every part of this beautiful city". There was an almost wistful quality to her words before she turned to me and spoke with more force. "These streets were filled with happiness once, calm and at peace. We used to play here as children, here where there used to be a fountain which was always so achingly, wonderfully, clear.” Em waved an arm out at a space just beyond the edge of the chasm and a tear fell to the floor.
She was remembering being here. Not the passed on memories of former Messengers, she’d actually been here when the place fell. There wasn't any magic to the knowledge, I could just see it in her that she was in pain.
