He sat still for a moment, the expression of awe transforming into one of deep thought.
“Nope, not a clue,” he said bluntly, reaffirming his original conclusion. In the next moment his face changed into one of bemusement and he shrugged. “But I liked it.”
He leaned forward in the chair and smiled at me.
“Let’s do it again.”
Benedict
“I’m going back,” I warned Julian.
All that anyone in the kitchen had spoken about was the trouble between the two brothers, Jenus and Tejus, and how the ‘human’ had freaked out and had since been taken by Jenus and locked away in his tower.
“I expected that,” Julian replied hoarsely. “But it’s going to be so risky. Jenus is going to have guards everywhere!”
“You’re right,” I huffed in agitation—I hated that guy—“but I’m still going. I can’t stand the thought of Hazel locked away with him.”
Julian nodded, distractedly pulling at a string of fabric that had come loose on his shirt.
“We need to find that stairway again,” I continued. “It was near the emperor’s apartments—Jenus wouldn’t have his quarters too far from there.”
“And what would we do if we did get Hazel? The palace would be swarming with sentries looking for her. We’d definitely be hunted down.”
“We’ll stash her in Ash’s room. Just till after the trials,” I said. I really needed Julian to be on board—I knew the odds were slim, but I didn’t need to be reminded of it. I just wanted to get my sister away from Jenus, and even if my plan was only half thought through, it was something.
“Please, Julian,” I begged, “we need to find her.”
“All right.” Julian rose from where he’d been sitting on the bed. “Let’s see if we can remember the way back to the stairs…”
I followed him out of the room, and we closed the door quietly behind us. We headed back through the hallway and into the junkyard room, and then on through the twists and turns of the castle’s belly.
I was amazed when we arrived back at the stone staircase. It had taken us almost half the time it had the first time round, and I couldn’t really understand how Julian had remembered it so well.
“It’s like video games,” he replied when I asked. “When I get scared, I just pretend I’m trying to complete a level, or I’m on a specific mission or something—navigating the world like a game map.”
I liked the idea of that, and it made sense. In its nightmarishness, Nevertide was somewhat similar to Julian’s and my favorite video game—Hell Raker. Pretending that none of this was real was probably an effective coping mechanism.
But it is real, a voice in my head whispered.
I dismissed it abruptly.
We checked to be sure the coast was clear through the crack in the doorway, and I was relieved that the hordes of sentries who had been milling around ever since the emperor took ill had started to disappear.
“We need to go left,” I whispered to Julian, “there are guards outside the emperor’s room.”
Two men, heavily armed, were standing on either side of the door. They kept their gaze trained on a point in the distance, so I thought we’d probably be okay to risk going in the opposite direction—even if we would be completely exposed as we walked down the corridor.
“Move quickly,” Julian hissed at me.
We scurried along. My heart felt like it was in my mouth, my muscles tensed and ready to flee if I heard the guards shouting.
We made it to the end of the hallway and turned the corner out of sight. There we stopped. I waited for my heartbeat to finish racing, and looked to see where we’d ended up.
“Dammit,” I muttered at Julian, “it’s a dead end.”
Three stone walls penned us in, and I cursed our crappy fortune.
“What about this?” Julian asked, walking toward a closet-type door on the opposite wall.
“Doesn’t look like much,” I murmured, but opened it anyway.
To my surprise, I found a low-ceilinged corridor that obviously hadn’t been used in a long time—it was covered in cobwebs, mildew and dirt.
But as I looked down to the floor, I saw two large footprints marked in the dust—they were obviously new, as the markings looked fresh and undisturbed. I was wrong. Clearly someone had been here recently.
“Is this even big enough for a sentry to fit?” Julian asked, looking at the footprints.
I could see what he meant. The corridor would just be big enough for us to walk through—but a sentry would have needed to bend over to avoid hitting the low ceiling.
“I don’t know. Doesn’t look like it,” I mused, already starting to follow the footsteps as they went further along the corridor.
It seemed endless. There was no light guiding us toward the other end, but we’d left the door slightly ajar, and it seemed to be providing us with just enough light to keep following the footsteps—no matter how far we went down.
“We should have brought a torch—we’re going to run out of light soon,” I remarked to Julian.
“I don’t know about that.” Julian abruptly stopped walking. “That rock,” he said, pointing at a stone in the wall with a chipped and jagged corner.
“What about it?” I asked, peering down to where his finger was.
“We’ve passed it three times.”
“That’s impossible,” I replied. “We’ve been going in a straight line.”
“I know, but…” Julian hesitated, wetting his lower lip with his tongue. “I think this place is like the trees at the border. Something’s stopping us from getting through.”
I kicked the rock. The sentries and their tricks were starting to do my head in. Now I felt uneasy—if the same trickery that was at the borders was in place here, then it meant that something important and powerful was down the end of that corridor… something that no one else wanted us to find.
I closed my eyes, and tried to concentrate. I took a few steps forward, focusing all my will on deliberately stepping down the corridor. After I had gone a few steps, I could feel it. It was like an invisible elastic band was pulling at me whenever I tried to pass a certain point, ready to bounce me back where it wanted me.
I tested the elastic, pushing against it, making my movements deliberate and slow, like I was wading through water, while focusing my mind on taking that one step further down the corridor.
Suddenly, and without warning, I felt the elastic give. Its resistance seemed to snap, and instead of being flown backwards, I was projected miles forward down the corridor, losing sight of Julian completely.
“Julian!” I called, but I heard no answer. Just as I was about to turn around and go back to try to pull Julian over the barrier with me, I saw something up ahead, glinting in the dark. I walked towards it and realized that I had come to the end of the corridor.
On the wall in front of me I saw an ancient-looking and mystical pattern carved into the wall using precious stones. They glistened and shone, lighting one by one, so that it looked like the pattern was constantly moving and changing its shape. I couldn’t determine if it was light coming from somewhere that made it appear as if it was moving, or if it was some kind of freaky sentry voodoo.
Every time that I thought I was starting to decipher the pattern, the stones would change—and I would see something completely different than what had been there seconds before.
I didn’t know how long I stood in front of the pattern. The stone lights appeared to have a hypnotic effect, drawing me in. I couldn’t look away.
As I continued to try to understand their strange designs, I caught a shuddering motion out of the corner of my eye. I looked over as one of the stones—a greenish-yellow stone about the size of a dime—started to tremble in its socket. All the other stones remained perfectly still.
It continued to tremble and shake until suddenly it popped free of its socket and fell to the floor. I stared, open-mouthed, as it rolled toward me—even though the f
loor was perfectly flat and I was standing just about a yard away.
The stone stopped an inch from my right foot.
You’re supposed to pick it up, a voice within me urged.
But I couldn’t. Prickles of fear rose at the back of my neck, and I felt dizzy. Sheer terror—inexplicable and intense—washed over me. My blood felt like ice, and all I wanted to do was run as far away from the crazy pattern and the animated stone as I could get.
Pick it up! I willed myself. It might be important!
I didn’t care.
Turning on my heel, I ran back down the corridor as fast as my jellied legs would carry me. My breath came in heaving gasps, and for a long time all I could hear was my sneakers slapping against the hard stone floor and the sound of my lone, frightened panting.
What the hell was that?
Eventually Julian came into sight, and I slowed my run to a jog, afraid I might collapse before we managed to get out of here.
“Benedict! How on earth did you get—”
“Shhh,” I implored Julian, grabbing him by the shirt and yanking him back toward the entrance. “Something’s listening.”
“What?” Julian hissed, but I refused to answer him.
“Just—get—back—kitchen,” I panted, running on, in that moment not caring if he followed me or not. I just needed to be out of there.
I didn’t know why the stone had fallen out of the wall. I didn’t want to know. What I did sense was that there was something alive down there. Something watching me. Even if I didn’t understand how.
Eventually we came back to the doorway, and I pushed against it, momentarily unconcerned about the potential danger lying on the other side. Julian followed me out, and then I kicked the door shut, not wanting to see the gaping black hole that we’d just escaped from.
“What was all that about?” Julian exclaimed again as I stood panting with my back against the wall, my shirt soaked with sweat.
“We need to leave, now!” I hastily looked around the corridor to see if the guards were still standing by the emperor’s bedroom. They were—but again their gaze was fixed ahead.
“Now!”
We hurried back down the corridor, making it to the doorway that led down the stone steps, and then Julian led us through the labyrinth of hallways and passages back to the heat of the servants’ quarters.
“Please tell me what’s wrong!” Julian shouted, exasperated by my silence.
I didn’t know what to tell him. The further we got from the dusty corridor, the more my fears seemed irrational—the product of lack of sleep and an overactive imagination.
I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that while I’d been down there I’d felt that someone—or something—was watching me, but that was crazy. There hadn’t been anyone down there.
Right?
We reached the kitchen, still at a running pace, but I could see from Julian’s expression he was worried and pissed off with me at the same time. We burst through the kitchen doors, and they swung open into the darkened room.
At the far end, sitting in front of a crackling fire, Ash and Ruby were making moon eyes at one another, their faces only about three inches apart.
They jumped back as we entered, both looking guilty.
I didn’t say anything, and neither did anyone else. We all stared at each other, surprised and confused in equal measure.
The terror started to drain from my body, and once again safe, in the warm depths of the castle, all I could think was that it was the most ridiculous time for Ruby to be having a date.
Hazel
I woke up to shooting pains running up and down my back. The stone floor was freezing cold, and I was feeling the discomfort of having slept on it all night. I groaned softly, trying to rub warmth back into my numb limbs and fingers. I couldn’t even stretch out, the hole that Jenus kept me in was so small.
I turned over and curled up in a ball to try to retain some of my own body heat. There was a chamber pot wedged in one corner, but I had struggled to use it, only being able to move crouched down in a sitting position.
Today would be the start of the trial. I couldn’t be in a worse condition for it. I looked glumly at the door, willing it to open. I didn’t care what Jenus had in store for me this morning. Anything to get out of my cramped prison would be welcome.
Tejus.
His name entered my mind unexpectedly, and I felt a sudden pang of guilt. I had knocked him out of the running for emperor.
I wondered what would become of all of us now—Benedict, Ruby, Julian and myself. We all had our fates entangled in this trial; if Jenus won we would probably be kept locked in Nevertide forever, but if he lost, it would be certain death for us all.
Whichever way I looked at it, our future seemed bleak.
I heard the lock on the door being wriggled out of place, and instinctively crouched further back in the hole.
Jenus reached in and grabbed my ankle.
“Get off!” I hissed.
“It’s time to go. I need you out and ready,” Jenus barked at me.
I scrambled out of the hole, and Jenus had to help me to my feet as my body almost crumpled back on the floor. I wanted to cry out in pain as my body straightened out after being hunched over for so long, but I didn’t give him that satisfaction.
“Here, take this.” He handed me a small piece of stale bread.
“Thanks,” I muttered sarcastically.
“Just eat it.” He scowled. “I don’t need you to talk.”
I crammed the bread into my mouth, almost choking as I tried to swallow. I was so dehydrated and the bread was so dry that it felt like I was trying to swallow sand.
Jenus walked over to retrieve something from a tall chest in the corner of the room, and while his back was turned I noticed a water flagon on the table.
Hastily I grabbed it and stole a few gulps while his back was turned.
Eugh.
Even the water tasted stale—like it had been fetched out of a dank, mildewed lake. I wanted to spit it back out, but reasoned that rank water was better than none.
Jenus turned toward me, carrying a few daggers, which he tucked into the thick, ornate belt of his trousers.
“It’s time,” Jenus muttered. “Follow me. Don’t speak a word to anyone, and only do as I say—do you understand?”
“Yes,” I replied meekly. “I understand.”
Jenus nodded, and moved toward the stairs. I followed him and we made our way to the interior of the castle.
I was exhausted, filthy, and starving. I could barely keep up with Jenus on the staircase—I didn’t know how I could possibly participate in the trials. But I would have to, and do the best I possibly could.
Otherwise, we were all dead.
Ruby
“How do you feel?” Julian asked me.
He and Benedict were sitting on the edge of Ash’s bed while I examined the black robes that I would need to wear for the trial. Ash was sitting—and then standing—and then sitting again, on the chair in the corner of the room. He was clearly nervous, but aside from his fidgeting, he wasn’t letting it show.
“Nervous. Seriously nervous,” I replied with a tentative smile.
“You’ll be all right,” Ash replied. “I’m more worried about me. Whether I’ll be able to siphon under pressure.”
“You shouldn’t be worried about that. We’ve practiced. You’ve got this,” I replied with more confidence than I felt.
I believed that Ash could siphon under pressure, but I was still unsure of our chances up against the likes of Jenus, where I didn’t think it would come down to ability, but trickery and bending the rules.
“I think it goes the other way.” Benedict interrupted my worrying. “With the gold thread on the outside.”
I looked down at the robe. He was right—a thin line of gold ribbon edged just inside the silken robe, and it was clearly meant to be on show, not covered the way I’d wrapped it.
“And you know t
his because of all your castle wanderings?” I replied tartly.
“Uh, yeah—I guess,” Benedict mumbled.
I rearranged the robe and tied it in a secure knot at the front.
“How do I look?” I asked the boys, giving them a mock twirl. “Mentally powerful?”
“Yeah, a total brainiac,” Benedict said dryly.
“We need to do something about your hair,” Ash interjected. “I don’t want Jenus or any of them recognizing you. The blonde is a bit of a giveaway.”
Damn. I hadn’t thought about that.
“I might have something. Hang on.” Ash rose from the chair again and rummaged through the pile of old sentry belongings that lay rumpled in the middle of the floor. “What about this?” Ash pulled out a black scarf which looked like it might have traditionally been worn as a cummerbund, but it was wide enough to be wrapped around my head.
Benedict got up to help him, and he and Ash clumsily tried to cover my hair.
“Err, guys,” I laughed. “I can’t actually see anything.”
“Oh—sorry.” Ash hastened to correct it, but Benedict just started laughing.
“You look like an old Victorian washerwoman!” Benedict howled. “I wish I could take a photo.”
At least I’d lightened his spirits.
“Ignore him—you look fine… great, even.” Ash stumbled over the words.
Benedict rolled his eyes, and I felt myself blush a little.
“Did you hear anything about the trials? Do you know what it’s going to be yet?” I asked Ash, trying to change the subject.
Ash looked at me for a moment, and then blinked and cleared his throat. “Not much, but I know it’s taking place in an arena in the woods, just by the castle… Everyone knew that, more or less, but apparently there’s some strange gold light coming from it—and no one knows what that is.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise. It sounded more pleasant than the labyrinth we had encountered in the first trial, but an arena in the middle of the woods kind of gave me the creeps. I wondered if we’d come across the same woodland supernaturals we had in the first trial—nymphs, dervins, goblins. None of it had been pretty.
A Shade of Vampire 34: A Sword of Chance Page 8
