"This is it," Mari said. "The Iron Path. The Silver must be ahead, but we want this one."
Albrecht headed toward the ledge. "I'll go first. You two follow. Be careful."
"You, too," Evan said, following after him. Mari took up the rear.
The ledge was wide enough for them in Homid form, but it would be tricky if they had to take Crinos form. About fifteen yards down, it began to get dark.
"Damn," Albrecht said. "Moon's going down."
"Turn on your flashlight," Mari said.
Albrecht fished into his trenchcoat and pulled out the flashlight the Silent Strider had provided him. It was painted with pictograms, but otherwise appeared to be a regular flashlight. He clicked it on, and bright light flooded out of it. He aimed it at the path ahead and began walking again. Evan and Mari turned on their lights and followed.
When he got to the cave mouth, Albrecht carefully stepped in, shining the flashlight all around first. Bones littered the floor, some of them appearing to be the skulls of Crinos Garou. The rear of the cave disappeared into darkness. Albrecht motioned the others to follow him as he walked farther into the cave.
"I think we should start here. I bet it leads down, just like the ledge. But if the crown is here, it's in one of these caves, not just sitting on the path."
"I agree," Mari said. "Proceed."
They continued on. Far ahead they heard the dripping of water, apparently condensation from the cavern walls. They walked in the darkness with only their flashlights to guide them for what seemed like hours. The cave broke off into many different passages, and Albrecht took whichever seemed to lead down. It was too dark for them to map their way, and they had no paper anyway. Occasionally Mari would scratch a mark into the rock wall at a crossroads. Except for these faint marks, they left no sign of their passage.
Sometimes they found items scattered across the cavern floors, as if someone had dumped them there and forgotten about them. These objects varied from carved wooden toys to computer screens. The detritus of many cultures gathered in the dark.
In one small side cavern, Mari turned off to investigate a reflection from her waving flashlight. In the dirt, half-buried, was an ornate klaive. She called the others over to see it.
"It looks quite old, but very well preserved," she said. "It's got some interesting carvings on the pommel..."
"Don't touch it!" Albrecht said. "It might be cursed."
Mari moved away from it. "Anything here could be cursed. I wonder… what if the Silver Crown is also cursed from this place?"
Albrecht did not respond. He continued on down the passage. Mari and Evan followed.
Soon they heard scratching noises up ahead, faint and intermittent. They moved cautiously forward, and came to a large cavern. Albrecht swung his flashlight to the right and then back again as it passed over something unusual.
In the center of the room was a cage. And in the cage was a little girl, miserably clawing at the lock with her pale hands.
Albrecht hurried forward, but Mari put her hand on his shoulder. He turned back and saw her cautious look. She didn't trust this situation. He walked forward anyway.
The girl did not seem to notice them or the light of the flashlight.
"Hey! Girl!" Albrecht said as he reached the cage.
The girl did not respond. She just kept scratching at the lock. Her fingers were bleeding.
Albrecht shone the flashlight in her eyes. Her pupils did not respond. He turned to Mari, who was also at the cage now.
"She's deaf and blind, I think," Albrecht said.
"Be careful," Mari warned. "She may not be what she seems."
"Don't worry," Albrecht said. "Evan! Shine your light at the lock. I'm going to try to break it."
Evan did not respond.
Albrecht swung his flashlight around. There was no sign of the boy.
"Evan!" he yelled.
Mari was running around the room now, shining her light in every corner. "Evan! Where are you?"
"When did you last see him?" Albrecht asked.
"He was right behind me before we entered the cavern," she said, running back to the passageway by which they had entered and swinging her light up it. She turned back to Albrecht.
"He's gone," she said.
Chapter Fifteen
Evan stumbled along in the darkness, weak and dizzy. He felt around. The rock walls surrounded him on both sides, getting narrower. He didn't remember this place. He had come the wrong way.
He tried to calm down, to keep from panicking. He thought back, retracing his steps to figure out how he had come here. He remembered walking behind Mari, and then something had grabbed him from behind. Something which smelled awful. Its clawed hand had covered his mouth to keep him from crying out as it dragged him off into another passage, taking his flashlight from him.
He had tried to resist, shifting to Crinos form, but his abductor was stronger. Then it had let Evan go. Evan had run, back toward Albrecht and Mari, crying out for them. But the passageways weren't the same. He couldn't see anything, and was forced to rely on touch and smell. But everything here smelled the same — a musty, moist cave.
His abductor was gone without a sound or scent. Evan was puzzled. He carefully walked back the way he had come, but each step seemed to take something out of him. He felt spent, the way he did after using Garou magic, after expending his own spiritual energy.
He leaned up against a wall and thought about his predicament. He thought about the tales and legends of this place.
And then he knew. He knew what was happening to him. His spirit was being drained against his will. And he knew the person behind it.
Nightmaster.
Evan shivered, but he summoned all his courage and spoke: "I know you're there, Nightmaster. I've heard the stories. I know it has to be you."
He heard a step, not more than ten feet away down the passage ahead of him. He caught the scent again: the scent of ancient musk, of a very old animal. He heard low, raspy breathing. And then a voice.
"Who is this boy? Who calls me by name?"
Evan swallowed. "I am Evan Heals-the-Past, a Wendigo."
A grunt, mere feet away. Nightmaster was closer. "Why has the boy come? The boy knows of his enemy. Yet he has trespassed into his lair."
"We have no quarrel with you. We are just seeking an artifact."
"We? The boy has packmates. Who are these packmates? The boy will tell us."
Evan gasped as he felt hot, rancid breath against his cheek. Nightmaster was standing inches away from him now.
"Please. I can't see anything. Can I have my flashlight?"
Another grunt. "The light? The boy knows this place devours the light. Yet the boy begs for it. Begs for what is unnatural to this place. Why?"
"I… want to see what you look like."
"The boy wishes to see Nightmaster, leader of the Society of Nidhogg? Nightmaster, extinguisher of the sun? The boy has humor. Yes, the boy shall see Nightmaster."
Evan felt the flashlight being thrust into his hands. He flipped the switch, and light flooded the passageway. Standing inches away from him, looming at least three or four feet taller than him, was a Crinos Garou. At least, it had once been a Crinos Garou. The fur was oily and the skin parched and dried, looking almost mummified. Evan looked up into Nightmaster's eyes and saw the empty chasm there, a reflection of the empty void he had witnessed outside. The end of everything stared back at him through two wolfish eyes.
"Is the boy scared? Does he tremble before the mighty Shadow Lord?"
Evan nodded, unable to speak.
"The boy will now say what his packmates seek."
"Uh… we… ah... The Silver Crown. That's what we're looking for."
Nightmaster stepped back and cocked his head at an angle. But Evan was not sure whether that was meant as a gesture of confusion, coming from this shell of a Garou.
"The Silver Crown. The hated crown. Crown of my enemy. Crown of the wrongful kings. The crown which was created as a j
oke against the Shadow Lords. The crown which stole the leadership of the pack from them. The evil crown. Why does the boy want the crown?"
"To… uh… crown my packmate king."
"Packmate is a Shadow Lord?"
"No. A Silver Fang."
Nightmaster roared in anger, lunging at Evan with his snout. Evan cringed back, knowing he was helpless before the more powerful Garou. But Nightmaster's jaws stopped just short of Evan's muzzle, as he stared into Evan's eyes, a chaotic movement deep within his own. Evan stared back, seeing that raging emotion in Nightmaster's eyes.
Evan decided to take a gamble, although he knew it would probably get him killed. "You're not as empty as I thought," he said.
Nightmaster stepped back and cocked his head again. "The boy is going mad. Seeing things. Untrue things."
"In your eyes, when you got angry. There was rage there. Not just the abyss."
Nightmaster growled low and moved toward Evan, but then stopped, confused. "Anger. Nightmaster has anger. Nightmaster always has the anger. It is part of the emptiness."
"But if you've got something, such as anger, then you can't be empty. By definition."
Nightmaster reached out and snatched Evan by the neck. He spun around and marched down the passage, dragging Evan with him. Evan struggled to breathe as the grip began strangling him. As he thrust his fingers between his throat and Nightmaster's hand, the grip loosened. Not enough to let Evan drop, though.
"The boy is wrong. The boy knows not the Abyss. The boy will know the Abyss. Like all the children. The boy will learn the Abyss. Will learn the darkness. Will be devoured by darkness. Will be a child again. Child of the Abyss."
Nightmaster stormed through passageways, jogging now. Evan was slammed into the walls as his captor hurriedly turned corners. He struggled to right himself, to get his feet under him so he could at least keep pace with the mad Garou, but Nightmaster moved too quickly and made too many surprise turns.
Then Nightmaster came to a sudden stop and tossed Evan through the air. Evan tried to twist so he would land on his feet, but then slammed into a metal cage. He yelped at the pain, and hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of himself. As he lay there, stunned, he saw light, and heard voices calling his name —
* * * *
Albrecht and Mari stood in the cavern, arguing about what to do. Albrecht wanted to pick up Evan's scent and chase it through the tunnels. Mari claimed that the scent would disappear and they would be lost; that their best hope was to wait there for Evan to reappear. As Albrecht was about to give up in disgust and take to the passageway, they heard something large and heavy hit the other side of the cage.
Albrecht ran around the cage and saw Evan lying there in Crinos form. "Evan!"
Mari came around the other side. "Thank Gaia! He's here! But what brought him here?" She swung her flashlight around the room but saw nothing.
Evan groaned, trying to speak, but he was clearly stunned and having trouble coming to his senses.
The cage door loudly unlocked itself. Albrecht pointed his flashlight toward it as the door swung wide, but no one was there. The little girl stopped scratching, although she seemed not to understand that the door was open.
A voice appeared in the cavern, coming from all directions. "The boy will get in the cage, where all children belong."
"Who the hell?" Albrecht barked.
Mari stood up, instantly in Crinos form, looking for something to attack.
Evan sat up, coughing. "It… it's Nightmaster…"
Mari's eyes narrowed and she scanned the corners of the room. Nothing.
Albrecht helped Evan to his feet. "The Shadow Lord?"
"Yes," Nightmaster said, nowhere in sight. "The true lord. Not the usurper. Not the pretender. Not the Silver Fang."
Albrecht looked around the room. "Oh, yeah? I'm not the one living in a cave, pal."
"Impudent Fang. Idiot Fang. Seeks the crown. Nightmaster will give him the crown. He will rule. King of sacrifices. Sacrificed to the Abyss."
The spirits within the flashlights screamed as the lights went out, plunging the cavern into darkness.
Albrecht drew his klaive and assumed a fighting stance. He was in Crinos form and so he opened his senses, trying to catch any sign of Nightmaster. He could see, hear and smell nothing.
A claw ran up his back, not breaking the skin or tearing his coat; but it sent a chill through him. He swung his klaive around to hit the spot Nightmaster had to be standing in. Nothing.
"The boy will get into the cage. All children into the cage. Learn the Abyss."
"You put that girl there?" Mari yelled. "You bastard! What for? She's just a girl."
"Lost girl. Wanders to Abyss. Gift for Abyss. But must be trained. Must learn to accept Abyss. Must see nothing. Must hear nothing. Must feel nothing. Must be nothing."
"You fucking asshole!" Albrecht yelled. "You don't like Silver Fangs? Well, come and get me!"
A claw slashed at Albrecht's leg, but he felt the slight stirring of the air before it struck, and was able to move aside before the full force of the blow hit him. He swung his klaive down and it struck something in mid-darkness. A grunt was heard.
"Taste of your own medicine, asshole," Albrecht said. "So the mighty Shadow Lord is not perfect. Of course not. Otherwise he would be wearing the Silver Crown himself. But then, I bet he's afraid to put it on. Aren't you?"
"Silver Crown? Give it to Nightmaster and he will put it on. Become king over more than Abyss."
Albrecht frowned. "Tell me where it is and I'll give it to you."
"No. You have it! You will give it to Nightmaster!" Something crashed into Albrecht, forcing him to the ground.
Albrecht concentrated, drawing on the power given to him by the spirits, and his fur lit up into a bright white glow, flooding the cavern.
Standing next to the prone Albrecht, revealed in the intense light of Gaia's power, Nightmaster screamed and clutched at his eyes. Albrecht slashed at the Garou's legs with his klaive, and hacked off one of them. Nightmaster crashed to the ground, trying to crawl away.
Mari ran at him from the other side and kicked him in the head, knocking him back toward the glowing Albrecht.
Albrecht grabbed him by the throat and held his klaive inches from the Garou's gut. Nightmaster blinked, trying to adjust to the light.
"Where's the Silver Crown, damn it?!"
Nightmaster looked at Albrecht, awareness of a sort dawning on his face. "The crown is here? Nightmaster has not been told! Nightmaster must punish his legions!"
Albrecht rammed his klaive into the Garou's stomach and Nightmaster screamed in pain, coughing up a pool of oily, brackish blood before he fell over dead.
Albrecht pulled out his klaive and wiped it on the dead Garou's fur. The blood was sticky, however, and did not come off easily.
"Well, this was a load of shit," Albrecht said. "The crown's not even here."
"Albrecht!" Mari cried.
Albrecht looked down at Nightmaster in time to see him get up and run off, hopping on one leg. Albrecht took off after him, but the other Garou reached the passageway first. When Albrecht came around the corner, he was gone.
"Damn it! He's got a lot of lives!"
Evan walked over to him, looking in terrible shape. His eyes barely focused. "All I know is, he scares the shit out of me. He's what we'll become if we stay here. He's probably gathering his legions now. We've got to go."
Albrecht nodded, staring worriedly at Evan before going back into the cavern. He had never seen the kid looking so ragged before. Mari was standing by the door of the cage. She looked up at him as he came near, and he saw tears in her eyes.
"She's dead," Mari said. "He cut her throat. Probably when everything was dark. What kind of sick—"
"Let's just go, Mari," Albrecht said. He turned back to the passage and walked out. Mari bowed her head and followed him, knowing there was nothing she could do. And it hurt like hell.
Evan joined them in the p
assage and they followed Albrecht out, his glowing fur lighting the passage for them.
"I'll say this for the Silver Fangs," Mari said. "Your spirits teach you good Gifts."
"The Lambent Flame was created for just such a situation as this," Albrecht said, marching forward. "When the First Wolf encountered the Greater Darkness to free Gaia from its clutches, the Darkness devoured him. But he learned the secret of death while in that cold embrace. And he learned how to combat the darkness with his own light. Our legends say that the Abyss is the body of the slain Greater Darkness. I didn't believe it until today."
Mari's wall scratchings helped them to orient themselves, but they took many wrong turns on the upward ascent. The passageways actually seemed to change their features at times, and Mari swore that she saw her marks on crossroads she had never been through before. These false marks invariably led them back down into the caverns. They would then have to backtrack and find those passages which inclined upwards.
What disturbed Albrecht more, however, was that he and Mari had to keep Evan from wandering off by himself down strange passageways. Whenever they stopped him, he seemed to start as if waking from a dream. Looking around, his eyes would show a despair greater than he had a right to claim for his years. Albrecht knew they had to get out of there before the place claimed Evan.
They heard noises far off, scratchings and floppings, wet slaps of flesh on stone, as if things were moving in the walls. Scuttlings before and behind them. But nothing could be seen.
They hurried their pace and readied their weapons. They were all in Crinos form, and their nervousness had begun to tell on their self-control. Mari was jittery, and Evan shivered. Albrecht was a rock, a pillar of immovable determination. His seething anger at Nightmaster and the fact that, once again, the crown had eluded him served to focus his energy on one goal: escape.
"The Fang will hurt," Nightmaster's voice came out of the darkness, from no place, indeterminable. "Yes, he will experience much pain."
Albrecht did not stop, but kept moving forward. Mari growled. She hated this baiting by the Shadow Lord. Evan concentrated and drew upon Gaia's strength to still his nerves and allow him to think straight. His purpose renewed, he began to search through the dark for any sign of the hollow-souled Shadow Lord.
The Silver Crown Page 17
