The Vile (6) (The Underground Kingdom)

by Steve Elliott

  “Well, that was different,” Nix noted, blotting the wetness from his face with his sleeve. “Gods above, we were lucky to escape. I can’t believe how persuasive that music was.”

  Thorn looked across at me and whispered, “If it hadn’t been for you, Stephen, I’d have gone inside the building. I couldn’t help myself. The melody mesmerised me.” She shuddered. “It was horrible losing control like that! I never want to feel that way again!”

  “You’re safe now, sweetheart,” I soothed, draping an encouraging arm across her shoulders.

  “Wait a minute!” Nix exclaimed, looking around. “Where’s Trix?” We all stood up and gazed up and down the street in growing panic. There wasn’t a sign of her.

  “Don’t tell me she …….,” Thorn gasped, holding her hand over her mouth.

  “It’s a strong possibility,” I answered, grimly. “I didn’t see her in the rush to get away. I thought she was following Nix.”

  “What are we going to do?” Thorn whispered in anguish.

  “Go back for her, of course,” I replied. “But first, we’d better take a few precautions. We need some ear-blocking devices. Have a look around and see what you can find.”

  After a few minutes of exploration, we found what would hopefully prove to be efficient earplugs, in the form of moss, growing on nearby rocks. We tested our makeshift music blockers by stuffing some into our ears and yelling at each other to see how much sound penetrated. Despite the oddity of our choice, the moss worked reasonably well and, arming ourselves – sorry, earing ourselves – we retraced our steps back to the building, using hand signals to convey directions.

  We tiptoed up to the building entrance and peered gingerly inside. As expected, it was quite dark and very little could be seen. I indicated a forwards motion with my hand and we carefully groped our way into the interior. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see a faint light emanating from around a corner corridor. Touching Thorn on the elbow, I indicated the route I wanted us to take. She nodded her head and, in turn, tapped her finger on Nix’s arm to claim his attention. With our backs to the wall, we edged our way towards the light which appeared to be radiating from an open doorway. Holding up my hand to halt our progress, I stealthily peered around the periphery of the doorway to find out what I could see and, what I did see, made me blink in astonishment. It was something as incredible as it was unexpected.

  Chapter 17

  The very first thing my eyes beheld was Trix, slumped unconscious in a chair. Next to her, and capering around like a lunatic, was a Vile. At least, I presumed it was a Vile, because he certainly wore the standard uniform of one. But that wasn’t the sight that had initially provoked my astonishment. The shuffling figure had removed the standard issue helmet and, in so doing, had revealed his face. What I witnessed stunned me. I rubbed my eyes, opened them again and stared. No, I hadn’t been mistaken. At least he didn’t have a set of panpipes in his hand and so I cautiously removed my moss earplugs. No beguiling music greeted me and I indicated to the others that it was safe to discard our vegetative sound blockers.

  “Stephen, what’s the matter?” Thorn whispered to me. “What’s going on? What do you see?”

  “I see the impossible!” I whispered back, my eyes riveted to the scene in front of me.

  Thorn shook my arm in exasperation. “For heaven’s sake, what is it?” she demanded.

  “It’s Trix,” I told her. “She’s with a Vile.”

  “She’s all right, isn’t she?” Thorn questioned with a slight catch in her throat.

  “Apparently so,” I reassured her. “I think she’s simply unconscious.”

  “Then what?” she insisted. “What’s so impossible?”

  “I can see the Vile’s face,” I replied, my mind still reeling from what I’d discovered.

  “And?” Thorn persisted. “What does it look like? Is it a demon?”

  I took a lungful of air and turned around to answer her. “He’s a One!” I hissed. “Like you. The Vile are fairies!”

  I heard Thorn’s shocked exhalation of breath. “No!” she panted in horror. “It can’t be! The Vile can’t possibly be one of us! Tell me you’re playing a sick joke! It isn’t true!”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” I said compassionately, “but it is true. He has the same features as a One and I can see part of a wing poking up from the back of his uniform. But perhaps he’s only pretending to be a Vile to avoid capture or something. Whatever the reason is, he’s certainly acting in a very peculiar way.”

  “Why? What’s he doing?” Nix interjected.

  “He appears to be hopping around like a demented toad,” I informed him. “I don’t know why.”

  “What are we going to do then?” Nix softly asked. “How do we rescue Trix?”

  “I suggest a direct approach,” I advised, rubbing my chin. “After all, there’s only one of him and three of us.”

  Nix cracked his knuckles in anticipation. “Sounds good,” he grunted. “I’m becoming a little tired of being chased by these Vile anyway. It’s time for a little payback. Just give the word.”

  “Now seems as good a time as any,” I remarked. “He’s got his back to us and seems too preoccupied with Trix to notice us anyway. Okay, on three. One – two – three!”

  We rushed into the room and tackled the Vile. He squealed in surprise but didn’t offer any resistance. Nix ended up sitting on his chest and Thorn and I had an arm each. Nix waved a fist under our prisoner’s nose and demanded to know what he’d done to Trix. To our surprise, the Vile erupted into paroxysms of giggling.

  “Goody,” he shrilled, between spasms of tittering, “more playmates for Varish!” Then, inexplicably, he began to cry. “So lonely,” he sobbed, tears trickling down his face onto the floor. “No one loves Varish!”

  “He’s crazy!” Nix concluded in disgust. “He’s out of his mind.”

  “It appears to be the case,” I agreed, releasing my grip. “He’s probably harmless.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Thorn asked, doubtfully. “If he is a Vile, then he’s capable of anything, insane or not.”

  “Vile bad!” Varish muttered. “Chase Varish away.”

  “Why did they do that?” I asked curiously. “What did you do?”

  “Varish want to go and meet family,” he said, pointing to Thorn. “Want to meet you. Make friends. All one big family. Leader say Varish disgrace. Want Varish killed, but Varish too clever.” He winked at me and gloated obscenely. “Know secret way out of city, Hee, hee. They no find Varish. Stay here long time. But no one come. No one ever come.” He began sobbing again with self-pity and we all stood up, looking down at him with mixed emotions.

  “What do we do with him now?” Nix wanted to know.

  “We’ll worry about that later,” I told him. “Let’s see to Trix first.”

  After an initial examination, we concluded that Trix was physically fine, but we couldn’t wake her no matter what methods we used.

  “I think this ……. Varish creature has something to do with this,” Thorn commented, taking one of Trix’s hands and tenderly stroking her palm.

  “No prizes for guessing that,” I agreed. “Let’s see if we can persuade him to tell us what he’s done.”

  Leaving Trix on the chair, we grouped around Varish in a threatening circle. He cringed and huddled on the floor. “No hurt Varish!” he pleaded, covering his head with his hands. I sat on the floor beside him and motioned Thorn and Nix to step back.

  “No one’s going to hurt you, Varish,” I said softly. “All we want is some answers. What did you do to our friend?”

  Varish’s face transformed into what he imagined to be a cunning look. However, all it really did was to make him appear as if he was suffering a severe case of indigestion. “Varish play pipes,” he chuckled. “Cogdommina under spell. Stay with Varish forever. Not lonely anymore.”

  “How did you know about the pipes?” Thorn broke into my interrogation. She was awarded a
sly smile for her question.

  “Varish learn secret long ago from cogdommina,” he confided. “No one else know. Only Varish know.” He hesitated and then muttered, “Maybe other Vile know as well.”

  “And just how did you learn the secret?” Thorn angrily demanded. “Did you torture the secret out of the poor cogdommina?”

  Varish wilted under Thorn’s vehemence. “No, no torture,” he protested, wildly waving his hands about. “Cogdommina dying. Him friend. Varish bring food. Tell Varish before he die.” A few nostalgic tears rolled down his face. “Miss him much.” Thorn’s anger evaporated in the face of Varish’s obvious regret.

  “Yes, well,” she huffed, “but that’s not helping Trix. How can we bring her out of this sleep?” Once again, the look of misinterpreted cunning formed on Varish’s countenance.

  “Varish fix,” he confided, “but first, a reward.”

  “What reward?” Nix asked, suspiciously. “And why should we, anyway?”

  “If not,” Varish smirked, “friend never wake up.”

  “That’s blackmail!” Thorn shouted. “It’s just what I’d expect from a Vile!”

  “I say that we beat the answer out of him,” Nix declared in a threatening voice, making our prisoner yelp in fear and scramble out of the way.

  “Varish no tell,” he whimpered.

  “Let’s not be hasty,” I cautioned, kneeling beside the cowed Vile. “We don’t even know what the reward is yet. Varish, we don’t want to hurt you, honestly. Tell us what you want.”

  Varish sat up and brushed himself down. “Alone,” he began. “Always alone. Only Varish’s voice in the silence. Crave one thing. Always the one thing.”

  “And that thing is ……..?” I asked, gently.

  A seraphic smile adorned his lips. “Sing,” he murmured ecstatically. “Want to hear music. Varish love music. Leader ban. Say weakens fighting spirit.” He spat disgustedly on the floor. “Stupid! Singing lifts spirit. Varish no hear long time. Want to hear again. That is reward.” We stared at him in amazement.

  “That’s your reward?” Nix asked, perplexed. “You want someone to sing for you?” Varish nodded happily.

  “That’s the strangest thing I’ve ever heard,” Thorn remarked, raking fingers through her hair.

  “I think Varish is a romantic at heart,” I murmured. “I can see why he didn’t get on with the other Vile. Let’s make him a deal. Listen, Varish,” I began, “we’ll do what you say, but what I propose is for you to wake our companion first.” Immediately, he drew away from me.

  “Then you leave,” he accused suspiciously, folding his arms about his body. “You break promise and Varish not hear song.”

  “No,” I reassured him. “We’ll stay. But you see, she’s our best singer and we need her awake.” I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I swear we’ll remain for your song.”

  He peered at me distrustfully, but finally decided to take me at my word. Getting to his feet, he scuttled over to a nearby niche in the wall and extracted a set of battered panpipes, very much like those belonging to Trix, but with a few extra fluted attachments. He began to play an eerie, counterpointed melody that grated on the ears but which seemed to remove Trix from her artificially induced coma. She opened her eyes, blinked several times, smothered a yawn and sat up.

  “What the devil is going on?” she asked. Then she caught sight of Varish. “A Vile!” she shrieked in panic.

  “It’s okay!” I proclaimed, going to her side to calm her down. “He’s friendly.”

  “But …… but he’s a Vile!” she stuttered. Then she looked more closely. “Gods above,” she exclaimed, “he’s a One! But ……. how? Why? What’s happening?”

  Chapter 18

  We explained to Trix, as best we could, what had occurred after her capture and what we had found out since.

  “But I still don’t understand,” she confessed. “Let me get this straight. The Vile are basically cousins to the One. But how? What happened to change them into such horrible creatures?”

  “Varish knows,” he piped up. “Long ago is big fight between brothers. One stay and one leaves. Younger brother builds army to fight other. Big war. Many die. Much hatred. Younger brother pass on hate to children. And so it goes on.”

  “How sad,” Thorn remarked thoughtfully. “Generations corrupted with hatred for no purpose. For something that happened centuries ago. How stupid is that?”

  “Well,” I commented, “at least it proves that humans aren’t the only irrational ones in this world.”

  “Varish want song,” he complained, pointedly staring at me. “You promise.”

  “Song?” Trix questioned.

  “It was part of the deal to wake you up,” I explained. “Varish wants you to sing for him.”

  “He wants me to sing?” Trix repeated in astonishment. “Whatever for?”

  I shrugged. “He’s lonely,” I told her. “And he misses music. I told you he’s not like the others. He’s more of a One than a Vile.”

  “If you say so,” Trix said doubtfully. “Very well, if that’s what he wants. What will I sing?”

  “Anything, sweetie,” I informed her. “I think that Varish is so culturally deprived that even the world’s worst singing voice would be music to his ears. Pardon the pun.”

  Trix grinned at me and settled herself. I had to admit to being eager to hear her myself. I’d heard her sing before in a choir and knew how remarkable her voice truly was. She could actually sing harmonies with herself – something I had once believed was physically impossible. Her musical talents were extraordinary, so I relaxed and prepared myself to enjoy the next ten minutes or so.

  I wasn’t disappointed and Varish practically swooned with delight. Trix’s voice soared and danced, her sweet soprano echoing in the room and bouncing back to add to the overall delightful meshing of sound. Each note rang pure and delicate, crystal clear and sparkling. I could feel my tear ducts gathering themselves under the sheer beauty of what I heard. Varish actually was crying, and I didn’t blame him in the least. Even Nix, the solid and pragmatic Nix, snuffled with emotion.

  Trix ended her song, leaving a stunned silence behind. “Was it okay?” she anxiously asked. In answer, Thorn strode over and hugged her fiercely.

  “Delightful!” she praised, causing Trix to blush. “You have a remarkable talent, my girl.”

  I turned to Varish and asked, “Satisfied?”

  “Oh yes,” he replied, wiping away tears. “Varish remember this day forever.”

  “What’s next on the agenda?” Nix proposed, surreptitiously wiping his cheeks free of moisture.

  “We still have to escape,” I reminded everyone. “Our friendly Vile Leader is probably after us by now.”

  “You want escape?” Varish questioned. “Varish know all tunnels. Can lead you.”

  “You know the way out?” Nix demanded, hopefully.

  “Varish spend much time exploring,” he declared confidently. “Know all the ways.”

  “But can we trust you?” Thorn asked, staring intently at him.

  Varish drew himself up with what remnants of pride he had left. “You family,” he stated forcefully. “Save you if Varish can. Vile bad. Must not catch.”

  I nodded agreement. “Yes, you’re right there,” I told him. “Old Ugly Face must be frothing at the mouth by now, and he won’t take kindly to us if we meet again. I say we let Varish guide us.”

  Thorn remained a bit dubious, but Nix and Trix took my side and we made preparations to depart. As we were setting out, Thorn whispered to me, “How’s Traculimna getting along?”

  “Your sister?” I exclaimed, somewhat astonished. “Why would you be asking me about her now?”

  “Well, I’m concerned about her,” Thorn defended herself. “I want to make sure she’s okay. I don’t want her worrying about me. Her Stephen is keeping her informed, isn’t he?”

  “Of course he is,” I reassured her. “If you must know, she’s having a major
conniption right now over all of our close calls. She thinks we take far too many risks for her peace of mind.”

  Thorn smiled fondly in reminiscence. “That’s my sister for you,” she murmured. “Send her my love, won’t you?”

  “That goes without saying,” I informed her, putting an arm around her waist. “She knows you’re always thinking of her because she does the same of you.”

  Thorn leaned into me. “I’m so lucky to have the both you in my life,” she said, sincerely.

  “The feeling is mutual,” I told her, kissing the top of her head.

  Chapter 19

  Varish led us through various stretches of tunnel until I became thoroughly disorientated. I hoped he knew where he was going, because I certainly didn’t. After about an hour’s walking, we took a rest. Varish appeared happy to be in our company and he chatted away in his fractured syntax as only someone can who’d been deprived of companionship for most of his life.

  “What are you going to do after this is finished?” I asked him at one stage.

  “Varish not know,” he shrugged. “Go back to building. What else?”

  “Why don’t you come along with us?” I urged. “You don’t belong here, my friend. Come with us and enjoy music every day.”

  Varish was emotionally torn. I could see it in his face. “Everyone hate Vile,” he finally muttered. “Chase me away.”

  “No, they won’t,” I reassured him.

  “How you know?” he asked belligerently. “Hate Vile. Everyone.”

  I smiled. “The solution is simple,” I told him. “Without The Vile uniform, you’re a One, and nobody could tell the difference. We’ll simply dress you up as one of us.”

  “You know, that could work,” Nix agreed, rubbing his cheek. “Varish is a fairy in all but name. So long as he didn’t reveal where he came from, no one could possibly imagine that he wasn’t a One.”

  “Are you sure about this, Stephen?” Thorn asked, uncertainly. “After all, we don’t really know Varish all that well yet. Would he fit in with us?”