Billy immediately grabbed Excalibur, pulling it free from its scabbard. He swung it quickly at the chains around his legs, and the sword severed them, cutting through them as though they had no more substance than air. A final swing, and his other hand was free.
He looked at Adin, who was cradling her burnt hands, the seared flesh visible even in the dim light of the dungeon. Nehara stepped into the cell, but did not approach Billy. He went to Adin and held her hands in his, and Billy saw water dripping down to the stone floor as Nehara used his ability to cool Adin’s wounds.
Adin shook her head, though, and said, “We don’t have time for that.” Even her voice was more weathered than it had been only a moment ago. She appeared to have literally given up a part of her life to free Billy.
Nehara nodded. “Come on,” he said, and reached to grab Billy’s arm.
As it had before, Excalibur leapt out seemingly of its own accord, the sword’s diamond tip coming to rest on Nehara’s chest.
“What’s going on?” said Billy.
“We don’t have time for this,” said Nehara with a nervous glance out of the cell. “Visitors are rare here, but not unheard of.” He looked at Billy with a pleading expression that seemed extremely out of place on his otherwise haughty face. “Please, Billy, you have to hurry.”
Billy shook his head. “Where?”
Nehara’s mouth opened to reply, but Vester spoke before the Blue Councilor could. “Billy,” he said. “Just go. Don’t waste time. Wherever they’re going, it’s better than here.”
Billy looked at his friend. Vester’s ropes were still shrinking, inch by inch. “Free him, too,” he said to Nehara.
Nehara looked downcast. “I can’t,” he said. “It is not within my power to terminate Eva’s spell.”
Billy looked at Adin. “Then you do it,” he said.
“I can’t either,” she said. She swayed on her feet, and Billy thought for a moment that she was going to pass out. Then she steadied herself, though dark circles seemed to appear below her eyes in the same moment. “I don’t have the strength.”
Billy thought about severing the cord with his sword or dagger, but remembered Eva Black’s warning that doing so would cause the rope to kill Vester instantly. He crossed his arms in front of him and said, “Then I’m not going.”
Adin looked at Nehara, and Billy thought he glimpsed desperation in both of their eyes. Then Nehara’s gaze hardened. “You will come with us, boy,” he said, “or you will be forced to come.”
Billy drew the dagger, and the shield appeared on his arm as soon as he willed it. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Not without Vest –”
“Billy, leave me!” said Vester in a voice that was half-whisper, half-shout.
Billy looked at his friend in surprise. “What are you talking about, Vester? I can’t leave you.”
“Yes, you can,” said Vester.
“But I don’t –”
“This isn’t about you,” snapped the Fire Power. “You have to get out of here. We can’t lose you.” He looked down, and then back up, and Billy saw a look of resignation and sadness in his friend’s eyes. “You’re not expendable. I am.”
“Vester, don’t talk like that.” Billy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Vester was a fighter, he knew that. So why was his friend acting this way?
“Billy, my part in this is over,” said Vester. “You have to leave.”
“No,” said Billy. “I won’t.”
“Fine,” said Vester. He looked at Nehara. “Kill me.”
Billy jumped in front of his friend. “No!” he shouted.
“Then go!”
Billy looked his friend in the eyes, then glanced at Nehara. He could see that Vester meant it. And could see just as plainly that Nehara – and Adin, for that matter – would be willing to kill Vester to get Billy to come along.
Billy stood between Vester and the Darksiders, hoping he would be able to protect his friend from them if he needed to.
“Billy,” whispered Vester. “Just go. Go, or I’ll find a way to end it myself.”
Billy felt tears well up in his eyes. Then he finally nodded. There was nothing else for him to do.
“I’ll be back soon,” he promised.
Vester nodded, but Billy could tell that his friend didn’t believe it.
Nehara gestured for Billy to step out of the cell. Billy did, and the Blue Power turned to Vester. “Well said, child of Flame,” said Nehara.
Vester said nothing. Nehara and Adin joined Billy in the dungeon corridor. Billy looked at his friend for a long moment, then Nehara put a gentle hand on his arm, guiding him away.
As he walked away from the cell, he heard Vester say, “Tell Fulgora I love her.”
And the words were horrible. Because Billy knew they were a goodbye.
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH
In Which Billy sees Love abed, and Walks the Air…
Nehara and Adin stood on either side of him. They guided him through the mazelike corridors of the dungeon. Billy tried to remember the twists and turns, tried to burn them into his mind so that he could find his way back and rescue Vester. But he knew in a few minutes that he was hopelessly lost.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
“Shh,” was Nehara’s answer.
“We’ll tell you soon,” said Adin. “But for now we must be silent.”
Billy was in a horrible position. Nehara was a Darksider, there was no doubt of that, so what was he trying to accomplish? Was he trying to steal the weapons Billy held, trying to somehow get them for himself and thereby challenge Eva Black’s supremacy among the Darksiders? That was a possibility that certainly made sense, but at the same time he doubted it. He didn’t feel like Nehara was going to harm him. Indeed, at every turn in the dungeon, Nehara would put out a hand and stop Billy until he had made sure that there was no one else in sight. He got a distinctly – disturbingly – protective feeling from the man.
That was odd. More than odd. That was the world record holder of all things weird. Billy had only met Nehara in passing a few times, but he had definitely felt antagonism from the man. Not now, though. Now, Nehara was treating Billy with care.
Adin, too, was watching Billy with worry and concern. Which made even less sense. Even though Nehara was a Darksider, at least he was a Blue Power. Adin was clearly a Black, as evidenced by her ability to bend the bars that had closed off the cell and to break the chains that had been fashioned by Death. And if there was one thing he had learned about Black Powers, it was that they had a universal hatred of Dawnwalkers.
Billy was jolted out of his reverie when a heavy door opened and a man walked into the corridor with them. The man was dressed like a construction worker. Just a plain outfit, some tattered blue jeans and a grease-stained t-shirt. The man’s back was turned, and he didn’t see Billy or his escorts at first, but then he spun around.
“Nehara,” said the man. “What are you doing here?” The man didn’t seem to notice Billy, and spoke kindly to the Blue Power at first. Then the other man did spot Billy, and his eyes widened. “He’s supposed to be locked up,” said the man. He turned his head, and Billy could tell that the man was about to shout, to call for help or raise an alarm.
Nehara moved slightly, and the newcomer started to twitch. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he coughed slightly. Then he fell down. It wasn’t a dramatic fall, nothing like Billy could remember seeing in movies. Yet at the same time, he could see instantly that the man was dead. From being fine to dying in the shadow of an instant.
“What did you do?” he whispered.
“I made his blood run backwards,” said Nehara, looking around as though to make sure that no one had noticed anything.
Billy was aghast, horrified. Not just that Nehara had killed someone so matter-of-factly, but because he had done it to someone he clearly knew and was on good terms with. What was the Darksider up to?
“Come on,” snapped Nehara in the next instant. H
e grabbed Billy’s hand and propelled the boy through the halls, Adin trailing close behind.
A moment later, there was a piercing wail that rent the air. Nehara and Adin looked at one another.
“What was that?” asked Billy.
“The alarm,” said Nehara. “They know you’re gone.” He jerked Billy again, moving the boy along even faster. “Come on. Quickly.”
Billy began running. The sword, dagger, and shield disappeared once again, allowing him to run without being hampered. They ran the halls on lightning-quick feet, Nehara pausing every once in a while to allow a troop of Darksiders to run past a cross-corridor. Adin was panting behind Billy, he could hear her gasping for breath. Her sudden aging must have caused her difficulty in this headlong dash.
“You all right?” Nehara asked once, glancing back at the woman with fear in his eyes.
“Keep going,” said Adin, waving her hands to show that the Blue Power should keep up his pace.
And the flight went on. Billy wondered how big the dungeon they were in was, and how many enemies of the Darksiders it could hold. That thought led to thoughts of Vester. Billy knew that his friend must be pulled up against the wall by now. He probably had only a few minutes of life left to him. If that.
Billy pushed the thought out of his mind. Vester had been willing to sacrifice himself to save him, and ironically that meant that Billy couldn’t spend time thinking about his friend. If he did, he might slow up enough to get caught, and that would undermine what Vester had done to save him. So in order to honor his friend, he had to forget about him. For now.
Nehara drew the small company up short with a raised hand.
“What is it?” asked Adin breathlessly.
“Entrance,” said Nehara.
“Guarded?” said Adin.
Nehara nodded. He thought a moment, then said, “Wait here.”
Adin put a hand on Billy’s shoulder as Nehara moved out of sight around the corner, though the gesture was hardly needed: Billy didn’t have any intention of following Nehara around to a guarded area in this Darksider bastion.
A moment later, Nehara reappeared. “Come on,” he said.
Adin drew Billy around the corner. He gasped as he saw what lay before them. There had to be eight or ten people in front of them. All very dead. Billy didn’t know if Nehara had made all their blood run in reverse, or if he had done something else equally horrifying and he didn’t think he wanted to know, either.
Nehara and Adin led Billy past the corpses. Some of the bodies looked like they were simply sleeping, others had arms raised as though to ward off some unimaginable horror. Billy glanced at Nehara, but the Blue Power seemed indifferent to the people he had apparently just slaughtered.
Beyond the bodies was a thick door made of what looked like solid oak inlaid with steel. Billy could see that there were several locks built into the door, but Nehara didn’t bother with them. He held out a hand, and the doorway seemed to wither and shrink into itself. A pool of water appeared at the base of the door, and Billy realized that the Blue Power was forcing the water to leave the door, compressing it to its smallest shape.
There was a ping, and the door’s hinges separated from the door, which fell inward with a noise like a thunderclap.
Nehara grabbed Billy again, yanking him through the now-open exit. “Keep your head down,” he said as he did so. “Most people don’t know your face so well, but we don’t want to take chances.”
Billy nodded. He figured that they would be coming out somewhere in the middle of Dark Isle, the stronghold of the Darksiders.
He was wrong.
He stepped through the wrecked door, and onto something soft and white. Billy thought it was snow for a moment, but only because he couldn’t really process what else it might be. It was white and fluffy like snow, but when he lifted up his feet it didn’t attach to his shoes in a clump, and there were no visible flakes. Indeed, whatever the substance was turned into a sort of mist as he pulled his shoe away, trailing off to nothing. He looked behind him, and saw the door leading into the dungeon, but the dungeon itself was only visible through the door. From this side, the door was an empty frame standing on the white substance. It was open to the dank, dark dungeon, but there was no wall around the door, nothing really behind it. Billy glanced around the standalone frame, and looked through it from the opposite side. He saw Adin and Nehara through the frame, but no dungeon: apparently it could only be entered from the one side. From the back, it was just a simple frame. No door, no dungeon.
Billy looked around. The white stuff, whatever it was, went on and on like a desert plain, seemingly for miles in every direction. There were people walking to and fro over the strange surface, and Billy could see that there were other “empty” doorways dotting the bizarre landscape. People would walk to them and open a door, then pass through the doorway… and not emerge on the other side. Apparently they were being taken to the places the doors opened to. Billy wondered if they all opened to different parts of the dungeon, or if each allowed entrance to somewhere distinct.
“Come on,” whispered Nehara, pulling Billy back toward him.
The three of them – Billy, Nehara, and Adin – walked away from the strange doorway to the dungeon. Billy did his best to do as he had been told by keeping his head down, staring at his feet as they walked. He was disconcerted to discover that his feet seemed to disappear into the white mist that coated the whatever-it-was that they were walking on. It was like walking on the top of a fogbank.
“Watch where you’re going,” spat Nehara, jerking him suddenly to one side. “That spot hasn’t been hardened yet.”
Billy looked at the spot on the ground that Nehara had pulled him away from. It didn’t look any different than any of the other places he had been walking on. But Nehara’s tone made it clear that something less than good would have happened if Billy had set foot there.
“Where are we,” said Billy, trying now to both walk with his head down and watch where Nehara was stepping – and not having much luck doing either very well.
“On a cloud, of course,” snapped Nehara.
Billy almost stopped in his tracks, and only a stern glance from Nehara and a prod from behind by Adin kept him moving.
They were on a cloud?
“Why are we on a cloud?” Billy finally managed.
“Later,” said Nehara through gritted teeth. “Quiet.”
Less than a minute later – though it seemed much longer to Billy, who worried at every step that he was either going to be caught or was going to fall through the apparently only partially-solid cloud – Nehara drew to a stop next to another doorway. Like the majority of the other free-standing doorways that Billy had seen in this place, there was a closed door in the frame, though it seemed as all the others had to lead nowhere at all.
Nehara put a finger on the closed door and whispered something under his breath. Billy didn’t hear what it was, but knew he must be speaking some password to get through the door. Some Powers keyed their possessions with spells that only allowed people with the right password to open or use them. Billy had first run into the situation when he had used Methuselah, the ceramic frog that Mrs. Russet owned and which was in fact much more than a mere ceramic frog.
As soon as Nehara stopped speaking, the door clicked, but did not open. “Your turn,” he said quietly to Adin.
Adin glanced around. Billy did too. There were a few people fifty or sixty feet away, but other than that they seemed to be alone.
Apparently satisfied, Adin reached out and touched the door in a different spot than Nehara had done. She spoke several words as well, though like Nehara she spoke in such a low tone that Billy could not make out anything she was saying.
The door clicked again, and this time it opened.
“Come on,” said Nehara, and went through the doorway. He pulled Billy after him.
Billy didn’t know what he expected to find on the other side of the door. Experience had taught him tha
t when working with Powers, expectation was a fool’s game. And what turned out to be beyond the threshold surprised him, not with its strangeness, but with its unusual normalcy.
It was a living room.
That was it.
Just a living room. TV in one corner, sofa directly across from it. A small fireplace embedded in one wall. A bookshelf filled with leather tomes that Billy had never heard of, like Advice to a Power, The Art of Darkness: Black Power in its Infancy, and Little Women.
“Where are we?” he said.
Nehara didn’t answer him. Just waited for Adin to step in through the door, and then the Blue Power shut it behind her and locked it fast.
“What’s going on?” Billy demanded. He folded his arms across his chest in a gesture that he hoped showed the two Darksiders that he meant business. Of course, it was just as likely that they would think he was either sick, cold, or worried they were about to ask him to take his clothes off.
None of those events transpired, however. “I have some juice in the fridge,” said Adin. “Want any?”
“No, thanks,” Billy mumbled. Darksiders who sprung him from prison and now were asking him if he wanted refreshment? It was about as hard to conceptualize as the idea of a world without the internet.
“He doesn’t want juice, Adin,” said Nehara.
“Milk?” said Adin.
“He doesn’t want milk or juice,” said Nehara. “Or water, or punch, or soda, or anything else.”
Actually, Billy rather thought he would enjoy a cool glass of water right now, but didn’t think it would be the most politic time to mention that.
Billy: Seeker of Powers (The Billy Saga) Page 17
