‘Lady …’ Dana grunted and half stepped before me. Cosia turned to look at her. ‘Forget her. I guess we would all wish to know where the hell we are.’
‘Where?’ Cosia said. ‘Why, you are not with Hel. You are all alive. Come, you three, join your fellow students.’
‘Students?’ Albine mouthed, but we all turned.
We turned to find three more people. Two were brutally tall men, one dark and the other redheaded, and they grinned at the same time. There was something similar in them, a swaggering confidence and arrogant expressions. The last one was the short girl with thin cheeks, the one I had seen running, and I saw she was, perhaps, a teen with a short mop of black hair, looking strangely at the lot of us. All had reddish symbols playing along their arms.
‘That is Cherry,’ said the red-headed man with a thick voice. ‘And I’m Ron. That’s Ulrich. German.’ The latter grunted, powerful arms folded over his chest, eyeing the lot of us.
‘Austrian,’ Ulrich corrected him. ‘From the Alps.’
‘Can she speak for herself?’ Albine asked irascibly, nodding at the girl. The French girl was looking for trouble.
Ron stared at Albine with disdain. ‘No, I named her. Cherry is a good name. Her hollow cheeks are pink and red like those cherry tree blossoms, you know? She does not speak. Not a word. We tried. Change your tone.’
Her cheeks were indeed red, and she was not making a sound or showing any emotion. A survivor, I thought, used to desperate situations.
‘Mute,’ Dana grinned. ‘Now, where are we?’ she asked Cosia with some impatience. ‘And what’s this about being students?’
Cosia swept her hand around the hall, and the many strange globes of light began drifting around. I noticed the floor and the walls were indeed covered in beautiful drawings and script. She took a deep breath. ‘All questions will be answered in time.’
‘But surely you should tell us now,’ Dana demanded, and I nearly pulled at her to shut her up. She noticed it and shot me a venomous glance, and I stopped my hand, but she nodded at me, and I suppose she understood my concern, for she asked no more.
‘As I said …’ Cosia went on with a warning note in her strange voice.
‘You heard her,’ Ron shouted and nodded at Dana. ‘Tell us where we are. And what the hell are these things around our arms. It burnt like shit when they attached themselves to our bones. And I didn’t ask for one, by the way.’
Cosia shook her head, her voice now cold. ‘It’s always like this with you humans. Always so many questions, always demands for exact, logical answers. You lot have lived in that filthy mine colony of yours for too long, I think. You have grown arrogant as beggars of Brygga and ignorant as savages, making a mess of epic proportions. All of you think you are born with rights, entitled to answers and silly freedoms you enjoyed before. Your gods left you and now you are the gods? Hah! Once, you were tools. And tools you are still. You are this year’s Dark Levy. That is all you need to know. Now shut up.’
Albine, the black girl, gritted her teeth. ‘We are no tools, you hooded creep. The Dark Levy? Sounds like some form of slavery to me. All of us are seeking peace, harmony, and what we found was pain and more questions. People died to get us here! In here! You say we are not entitled to answers? What are these things on our arms?’
‘You came willingly,’ Cosia whispered. ‘You let her take you. Your families sent you here, your names were whispered, and so you are ours.’
‘Our aunt forced …’ Albine began.
Anja pulled at her shoulder and whispered, ‘She made some damned impressive lights just now, small girl. I would not aggrieve her.’
‘No, she is right,’ the loud Ron said in Albine’s support. ‘Tell us something, at least. You seem human, but …’
Cosia snickered, no longer a beautiful sound, but grating and inhuman. ‘A woman, a human like you? No, I am not a human. Never a human. Not even quite. All will be made clear to you, as I said, as I promised.’ She stopped and was apparently amused after the sudden burst of anger. Her voice regained the beauty and singing quality. ‘But I shall humor you. Know you did not find peace or harmony for years to come. You are the property of the Shrouded Serpent Merchant House, and as for the Bone Fetters in your arms? They are there to make you property, slaves if you will, and ours to be exact. They will make sure you will not try to embrace those silly illusions of freedom and rights, the lies you were unfortunately born with. You will obey us. You will do so until we sell you. Or eat you.’
Stunned silence followed.
She nodded, apparently surprised at the lack of expletives. ‘This world and the Nine are a heaven for the gifted. Those who see the Shades rule all things, living and dead. You are amongst these lucky ones. By that fact, you would expect reverence, riches, and servitude from others, those who are not so gifted. Even in this world, where the many noble houses rule the land, there is no house unless a maa’dark rules it. Maa’dark, the Gifted Hands are holders of vast lands and honor and always feared and respected.’
‘And we are not?’ I asked her.
She bowed to me slightly. ‘You are a saa’dark. A Gifted Slave.’
‘We are …’
She shook her cowled head. ‘Stubborn. All humans are, and you are not the only ones we have seen enter this room. No, no. Understand this, if you know nothing else. We are of the maa’dark. Perhaps not of this world, but of those who see the Shades nonetheless. You call us the Gifted Hands or just mistresses. We are as free as you can be in the Shrouded Serpent Trading House, obedient ladies of the Dark Water and Deep Murk Clans and of our mistress, your owner.’ She stopped to stare at us and then lifted her hands in a sign we should rejoice. ‘Yet, be happy. You are special. No human was meant to be a maa’dark. That you are is a twist of nature and the crime of the lords who used to own this land we now occupy. This might not comfort you in your thralldom, for you are not only stubborn but also arrogantly foolish, yes, but you will be useful and less uppity soon enough, yes you will. But, above all, always remember that human is the least of the intelligent races. Now, rebel away. I rather expect you to.’
With that, she shook her cowl off.
Her skin was bone white. Her hips were wide and shapely, her legs well-sculpted and muscular. She wore a leathery, dark loincloth that covered her privates and her breasts were covered in some sort of chain mail, dark and supple. Silver and golden hoops beautifully ringed her arms. Her face was rather human, near enchanting with delicate bones. She had a smooth brow and shapely mouth with dark lips. Yet, the eyes were bright and yellow, like jewels, emotionless and harsh. Her hair was hugely long, dark, and vibrant. I stared at the hair more carefully. ‘My God,’ I said. She did not, in fact, have hair. The slithering strings were thin dark snakes, mesmerizing and alive, apparently looking at all of us, wary and spiteful, moving like a deadly sea of weeds. Cosia grinned, and we froze, suddenly aware things would not work out as Dana had hoped they would.
Cosia was oblivious to our stunned silence, her finger ticking at each of us, counting us, taking account of each of us as if memorizing something we could not understand. ‘I am no god to be honest, but to you, perhaps I am. This is, my young, foolish friends, the Grey Downs, our war-torn refuge, once the gate to the Tenth world, the abandoned one, which is, of course, as you guessed, yours. It is our land in a world few dare call anything their own, and we will keep it. It is, lovelies, an island refuge, once the jewel in this world, so keep that in mind if you plan to escape. You see the Shades, yes, but no application of the Fury nor the Gift have been found to this day to allow one to fly through the air, and I would not try to swim, should you get the chance. Consider this your school. You will be schooled here, indeed. I …’
‘What the hell are you talking about? You own us? Let us speak to …’ Albine blurted and Cosia turned her way, shutting her up though only barely, for Albine was making small, angry sounds. The female’s eyes shimmered in the magical light, going from yellow to white and he
r thin, elegant eyebrow arched. I pulled Albine back, and then Cosia regarded me. Her eyes went to my silvery sigils. There was some brief hesitation on the face, and then she lifted a finger.
‘There is something very peculiar, oh so strange about you. Come to me,’ she murmured, and I felt her spin some ice and air and a force grabbed me tightly, air curling around my legs and arms, and I was pulled by the power, ending up on my knees, unable to move. ‘Such a spell allows you to be drawn and pushed briefly, my students, but also held as she is. Observe.’ She tightened her hand, and the spell she held curled around my midsection, making me sob in breathless panic until she grinned and let go. I was drawing pained breaths and stayed still. Curiously, I saw what she had done, what wondrous, strangest bits of ice she had pulled and merged together with air, and I felt a brief rage and considered hurting her with a similar spell. I glanced at Dana.
She shook her head carefully.
Cosia lifted my face from the chin, her hand strangely warm, and she leaned to examine me. The hundred snakes, dark as night, also turned their eyes towards me. Albine took a hesitant step forward, but one of the Russian boys put a hand on her shoulder. She ripped herself free, but Cosia seemed to pay the quarrelsome kid no attention, still staring at me. ‘You are a curious one, are you not?’ she ran her finger across the embedded markings in my arm, the one she had ominously called the Bone Fetter, and it tingled. ‘Strange color, is it not? Never seen the like, and I have seen plenty. But we will see, very soon.’ She snapped her fingers, and the bonds around me renewed and twirled me around and threw me painfully back at Dana’s feet.
‘Respectfully,’ Ron said darkly as Lex helped pull me up, ‘we are no slaves.’
‘Not in the least bit,’ Albine agreed with a childlike growl, and we all felt she grasped at the power.
‘Ahh, here it is,’ Cosia giggled. ‘Violence.’
Sweat trickled on Albine’s face as she was trying to find something to use as a weapon, some clue on what to pluck at, what strings of the strange power to combine, how to weave them together. Her arms twirled as she shook, making a brave and dangerous effort at drawing hot winds and fires to her. Now there was a near scorching wind whirling around her, buffeting us all, building to a terrible strength. Ulrich, the Austrian boy, tried to grab her but flew on his back from the gust and the rest of us toppled like wheat inside a tornado, our nails scraping on the intricate floor carvings. Albine was shrieking, and we could all see by the look on her face she was terrified. Cosia, however, smiled and snapped her fingers once again. Albine’s sigil flared. A simple, dull ring gleamed on Cosia’s finger, and the wind died instantly, and Albine fell on her knees.
‘I can’t hear it!’ she sobbed as Able came to her, scowling at Cosia. ‘She shut me off.’
‘She shut us all off,’ I said softly, feeling bottomless sorrow, not unlike an addict staring at a toilet where the drugs had twirled but a moment before. It was not like it had been back home, where something seemed to bother you all the time, driving you crazy, but here there was only craving, disappointment, and anger at being thrust aside. The Bone Fetters were our true jailers, I decided. We could never leave if we lacked our powers. Cosia stared at me, and she nodded as if knowing what I had been thinking.
‘The mistress controls the Fetters, a mighty First Born and our lady. These rings give us access to her right to deny you the Shades. And she received the right to your obedience when you accepted the gift,’ Cosia said with a small smile.
‘And where is the mistress, then? Why send a minion to treat with us and not come here to face us herself?’ Ulrich growled.
‘Face you?’ she chuckled and shook her head with pity. ‘She does not treat with you, no. She is above you like Mar is, the star of the world. Neither that nor she shall you see for long months and only should some of you prove worthier than the others, shall she give you an audience. Cheer up, toads. Consider this service something you must give in order to repay us for escaping the Tenth. There, you would have withered away. Here, you shall serve, but also smile, occasionally,’ she smiled sweetly as if to show us how. She had fangs.
‘Give it back to us!’ Ron demanded but settled down as Cosia’s beast eyes turned his way, and her singing voice laughed happily. ‘You took our …’
Cosia bowed mockingly. ‘So I did. Yet, I just told you. You gave us the right in order to travel here. It’s the price for the trip. Also, you are but children in this art. Do you think we would let mere humans run around, seeing the Shades, using it at will and with no control? Madness that would be, would it not? Did you not see what the young fool just did? You humans often learn a spell or two the first day you feel this power, but that does not make you an adept at their usage. Letting you run around empowered thus, it would be dangerous to us, dangerous to you, dangerous to the Grey Downs and the lands around us. You would caress the fire of the Shades, and no doubt, very soon you would be pulling carelessly at the many strings you should not and releasing powers you do not understand. Even before releasing anything, some of you would burn up splendidly after absorbing too much of the power. No, no. It is no game, girls and boys, no. It is a delicate art of conserving your abilities, knowing what you can hold, how much and when, what to weave, when to release it and how. The power we call the Shades and the result of a spell, if it is the destruction you seek, is the Fury. If it is a beneficial and kind spell, it’s called the Gift. Neither kinds of spell-hurling are a game, no. Yes, you are slaves, dear ones, for your sake as well as ours. You are precious, delicate slaves, who are worth their weight in gold and silver, and we are loath to lose any, even if such a lesson will do you good.’
‘Will?’ I breathed.
We eyed her, grinding our teeth together. ‘Mistress …’ Dana began.
Cosia cut her off. ‘Mistress? Some of you learn quickly, no? You will be here for two years, learning the rudiments of your powers. Then we shall sell you like chunks of ripe mutton to whoever wishes to bid on you. And there will be many if we train you properly. Oh, you will have uses, you will.’
‘Will you treat us well?’ Ulrich asked reasonably. ‘At least tell us this much.’
She shrugged as if thinking about it. We stared at her carefully, and finally she seemed to snap out of her thoughts. ‘Well. I could lie and have before. I think I shall be honest this time. It is no world for humans and certainly not one with such powers. There will be dangers, but perhaps it is no worse than what you had back home. You escaped the troubles in your old lives, many of them with the laws and rules of your pitiful lords, but know there are no worlds without laws. In your sad, misguided land, you lived in frustrated pain and forever confused, but in here, you will be useful. You will at least know what you lack when you cannot see the Shades. I promise you no kindness, a trait for humans, at least occasionally. But there will be little confusion, as we will tell you what is required, and the pains and hurts you will suffer are all easy to understand. You shall, in any other thing know this one law. Obey. Then, one day, perhaps, you shall make your own decisions. If you survive.’
‘If we survive?’ Alexei asked with incredulity. ‘What kind of a school is this, exactly?’
‘A school for the strong,’ Cosia grinned. ‘And you are only as useful as you are strong. It is a school to prepare you for a world that dislikes you. This class needs a name.’
‘Where are we, exactly?’ I asked. ‘Grey Downs, I get that much, yeah, but what is this world?’
She ignored me. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘There are ten of you?’
‘Eleven,’ I said. ‘Unless you count differently from us.’
‘Shut up, girl, you awkward fool,’ Ulrich spat.
Dana spun on him. ‘Do not threaten her. Nor insult her.’
‘She isn’t …’
‘Silence,’ Cosia said softly. ‘So. One is too many.’
‘You summoned us!’ Anja spat. ‘Why summon the wrong number?’
Cosia shook her head empathetically and the snak
es waved in unison. ‘I said one is too many, not that there is a wrong number of you. Sometimes we get twelve for a class, other times eight, but the rule is, one will not make the cut. While I said we are loath to lose you, it is so you have to understand your place. It is a lesson, and it is a valuable lesson. Call it the awakening, your scourging, if you please. It is meant to teach you things will be different. You, despite your troubled past, have lived guarded lives. Volunteers?’ Her eyes flashed around. ‘Well?’
We stared at each other, not fully comprehending what she was asking. Lex took a step forward.
‘You?’ Cosia asked, tilting her head.
‘What? No!’ Lex told her with a nervous wave of his arm. ‘Why not just send one back? They will suffer there forever, lost to … the Shades and die prematurely anyway. That’s a lesson for us, no?’
‘And you would like to be sent back?’ she snickered. ‘No, you cannot go back to your pathetic Tenth, your earth, the cesspit of House Timmerion’s mining colony. It is not part of the Nine worlds, and the gods did not craft the gate to it. No, it was created by former lords of this hall, eager to attain what the gods had, their own dominion, independent from the Lord Freyr. Arrogant bastards. This gate is different, not governed by Heimdall’s horn Gjallarhorn. Its secrets are mostly gone. Our mistress discovered the way they had moved back and forth in the beginning before the Tenth was given a permanent though secret, gate. She knows the spell to summon the Dark Levy every other year, even without the high gate. Without the gate, we cannot send anyone back. That knowledge was lost with the fall of House Timmerion and the disgrace of Cerunnos Timmerion. You are stuck here, that’s the story.’ Cerunnos, I thought. He had been a mortal? Someone who tried to reach and grasp a world for himself? My mind spun, and I nearly did not hear what Cosia was saying. I found her eyes on mine. ‘No, no, none shall go back. And the lesson is to be given, nonetheless. Mistress so orders. So, one of you is just too many and which one shall it be?’
‘You mean one of us is to … die?’ Lex asked incredulously. ‘Truly? This is a joke, right? A damned cruel joke, but just a joke?’
The Dark Levy: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 1) Page 8
