The Dark Levy: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 1)

by Alaric Longward

  I felt the Shades were suddenly available to me, and I desperately grasped the familiar strings and filled myself with energy, weakly and slowly, still in shock, but then I managed it and released it. The festering wound closed, but not all of it. I did it again, tired beyond exhaustion and did it once more, and felt the pain go away.

  ‘Good, superb,’ she said hollowly as I began to lose consciousness and saw her eyes glow. ‘You will live, perhaps, and we shall all get what we desire.’ She was grasping at power, the portal opened, and I felt dizzy as she traveled with me through the shadows and shades and finally lay me down in our hall. The creature disappeared through the dark hole, and I felt her pulling at the power, casting a spell as she hurtled into some other room. She cut me off the Shades.

  What had she done to me? I felt my shoulder, it was cold and numb.

  Yet, despite the terror of the creature, I had a mission.

  .

  CHAPTER 9

  I slept, dreamed uneasily and woke when the others came to the room that evening. Dana ran to me, lifting her robe’s hem. ‘Shannon?’ she shrieked. I rose from my stupor and eyed her as she crouched before me. The rest gathered around, staring at me curiously, Ulrich, with an unmistakable look of disappointment playing across his face, most of the others with doubt and bewilderment evident in their eyes and smiles. Only Cherry plopped to sit next to me, with a shy grin. ‘You look strange,’ Dana said, running her finger across my face. ‘Sort of drained.’

  ‘Who was she?’ Ulrich grunted.

  ‘That is our real mistress,’ I told them weakly. ‘And she will teach me for I am different.’

  Dmitri grinned. ‘She is right in that.’ I gave him an evil eye, and he shook his hands. ‘I mean it in a very endearing way.’

  ‘In what way?’ Dana demanded, dropping her hand from my face, and I stared at her in astonishment, for just the briefest of seconds and for the first time in our lives, I was sure she was jealous of me. She blushed and shrugged, annoyed. ‘They said you hear the ice but not the fire and what does that mean? I cannot hear and see anything like that. None of them can, either.’ She nodded at the others.

  I gazed at Ulrich whose fist was balled. I shook my head. ‘It means I have powers the first people of this land … will appreciate.’ I glowered at the large man, and Lex saw it and stepped in front of him. The two men stared at each other until Anja pulled Ulrich away. I shrugged thanks to Lex, who grinned at me affectionately, and I worried about him, for while he was brave and quarrelsome, Ulrich seemed the more powerful of the two. I spoke to Dana softly so the others would not hear. ‘She has plans for me. The rest of you will be made … useful in a more direct application of power, the Fury, but there is value in what I can do and so she is hopeful for the Dark Levy is all a sham. She profits from you, yes, but she wants more. She has been looking for me, for thousands of years. I fear her. She is a real demon. But I do not know what else I can do but to obey. I only know I can heal and that is unique. Well, I can do that somewhat. It is terribly draining to gather such powers and then to release them, and I’m likely doing it wrong and sloppily. There is a lot to learn. She will teach me.’

  ‘What is the mistress like?’ Alexei asked curiously, trying to hear what I was saying, for he had not gone with Anja and Ulrich and Dmitri pushed after him.

  ‘You do not wish to meet the mistress, no, and do not ask about her,’ I said with a shudder. I trembled as I thought of her face, as she bit and fed on me. Dana was thoughtful, calculating and she stared around at the others.

  ‘And you hold the access to her, the gatekeeper?’ Dmitri smiled, his eyes glinting. ‘Are we to keep away while you play with the mistress? Suffer and starve, while you …’

  Cherry scowled at the boy, and I calmed her with my hand. ‘No, do what you will. Don’t blame me if you do not receive power and privilege, but pain,’ I told him bitterly, massaging my shoulder. She had drunk my blood, for God’s sakes. Why was the shoulder so numb? The Rot? I fought the urge to look at it.

  ‘But she will teach you?’ Dana whispered to me.

  I leaned forward, whispering back. ‘She will teach me. And it will be dangerous, not a party at all. I am doing my best. For both of us.’ I sobbed and held my hand, and the rest looked disconcerted at my reaction.

  Dana smiled widely and leaned so close the others could not hear her. Able came to sit with us, trying to eavesdrop, but could not, likely. Dana ignored him. ‘It’s you and me against the worlds. But we never did work well together, did we? In fact, you never worked at all. So now I am to trust you with my life?’

  I clapped Able’s cheek and smiled at him, and Dana glanced at the boy with apparent annoyance while the others looked uncomfortable. I shook my hair free of my robe, searching for words. ‘I needed you, Dana. I had no other friends, only you. I loved you, for you tried to help me, and I know you loved me. I do love you, despite what you did, despite the fact I now sometimes wonder if I ever knew you. You never needed me, but here, now, we need each other. We have to learn how to appreciate each other. As equals.’

  She smiled at me, glancing at Cherry, whose face was unchanged as she studied ours. Lex was hovering nearby, and Ulrich had gone to sit by a statue of some poor dead girl, his eyes never leaving us. Dana looked back at him and whispered. ‘He is a paranoid bastard. Got to be careful with the damned, strange fool. I trust Lex. I suppose she is your lapdog?’ Dana nodded at Cherry.

  ‘I don’t know what she is. Friend?’ I suggested, raising my voice so she could hear me and gazing down at her. Cherry nodded. At me. Not at Dana. ‘And I think Able here is fine with us as well. Not sure of Albine?’ I stretched my neck to gaze at the dark face of the child, as she was sitting by the door, staring at me.

  Dana shrugged and came so close she was hissing into my ear. ‘We will see about … them. Good. We have a few, Shannon, who will survive this, or at least help us to do so.’

  ‘Dana …’

  ‘Us. First and foremost. We shall grow stronger as we go on, and it will be so that we shall walk out of this place. Trust me, you can do whatever she asks. If things get hard with this crew, you must trust me with the harsh decisions. You were always the one to wither under pressure, and I am not like that. You know this. Let us work together, grow and complement each other’s faults. Obey me and we will be free.’

  ‘I … We shall, Dana,’ I told her earnestly. ‘I suppose I have to learn. I suspect I will.’ I rubbed my shoulder, wincing at the thought of the murderous she-beast. ‘I shall learn to be …’

  ‘To be practical?’ she said gently. ‘I was practical with Ferdan. He was the key, I turned it to gain our freedom from the pain, if not from servitude, and it gave us a chance at a new life. And it might all be worth it, Shannon. This is not home. This is a new world, and we can carve a piece of it for ourselves. Simple. Live or die. Remember that when we make our way forward, OK? We have to be strong, you have to trust me, and I have to … trust you. Even if you have ever been weird, even after we came here. Really weird.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  ‘Be practical. Like I was with Ferdan.’ Her eyes flickered to Ulrich. ‘And Ron.’

  Ron’s dead head came to mind and I took a deep breath and tried to forgive her, to accept her words as wisdom. ‘I do not know if it was practicality or viciousness, Dana, but I will have to learn both.’

  ‘Learn both, for we need to change ourselves if we are to survive,’ she whispered. ‘I shall share my secrets with you from now on, and you shall share yours, and it will be all right. And don’t get too close to them.’ She smiled at Cherry and the others and then looked deep into my eyes. ‘Sisters.’ She stared at me, and I felt angry with her for a moment. Yet, she would die if I failed. She had ever tried to help me. I nodded.

  ‘Sisters,’ I said and gave her my hand.

  ‘Good,’ she agreed, and we hugged under the baleful eyes of Ulrich.

  The tomte entered, grinning at us. Under its wrinkled brow, I though
t I saw some other emotion playing in his old eyes, likely pity. We stared as the creature ambled forward, filled the tub with clear water and served us another tub of slop. The rest groaned and shuffled over to eat the thing, save for Albine, who was miserable, and Able, who went to lay on his side by her and slept. The tomte shuffled past me, staring at me, and it stopped. It stood there for the longest of times as if lost until it smiled gently. ‘Many secrets does the tower hold, up, and down, and far below,’ he said softly. ‘One day call for Nox, friend, and he shall guide you through to the dead end. I feed it, and you will meet it.’

  ‘What?’

  He left me gawking.

  I shrugged and stared at the shadows all around the hall, hoping Euryale had not witnessed the event. Apparently Nox did not love her, and he might doom me as well, if he was not careful. Then I forgave the tomte, for I found I had a fat sausage on my lap. I smiled in gratitude. I thought of eating it alone, I admit but walked over to Albine and shared it. Able did not have any, sleeping tightly, but Albine did, eating ravenously, her misery less for a while, staring at me while I was nudging at her brother who just turned to the other side. So young. Kids. Lost both. They were so strange, never speaking to each other, and I guessed they must have gone through some terrible event in their history. Close and apart, both. We ate until Alexei whistled and nodded at me, and Cherry and I got up, despite Dana’s words not to get closer to anyone. We kicked the ball of rag around vigorously, the boys giving us no mercy, and I took the bath late, only to find Alexei had not taken one yet.

  ‘What?’ I asked him, in the middle of undressing.

  ‘Ah, well, shall we share?’ he asked with a nervous grin.

  ‘Why didn’t you take one with Dmitri?’

  ‘He is ugly,’ he noted.

  ‘He is your identical twin,’ I retorted.

  ‘His mind is twisted, I meant. He might be handsome as a god, but he is retarded and farts in the tub,’ the boy said happily and undressed. I sighed and climbed in with Alexei, who was blushing vigorously, apparently attracted to me for some reason.

  ‘What now?’ I asked him as our legs entwined in the bath. I felt I was blushing as well.

  ‘I can wash you?’ he suggested and saw I was scowling. ‘Your hair?’

  ‘Sure,’ I told him and dipped my hair to the water.

  ‘I had a girlfriend,’ he began as he washed my hair with water and some strange soap the tomte had left us, ‘but she was a bit too stupid, to be honest. And greedy. I gave her to Dmitri though she didn’t know it. Don’t ask. We are twins, you see, and they don’t know the difference.’

  ‘This the one with the pox?’ I giggled.

  ‘No,’ he said sourly.

  ‘Are you sure she didn’t know? His nose is broken,’ I said. ‘Perhaps she wanted to switch?’

  ‘I …’ he stammered and glanced at his brother balefully, his hand in my hair until I splashed water on his face. ‘She spent all the money I had stolen from Uncle, so perhaps that’s punishment for him. She sucked him dry as well. I mean of money. Now, I have no girlfriend, obviously. But if I should have one, I’d be happy to share all I have for I have nothing, and there is nothing to spend it on in here anyway.’

  ‘You trying to ask me something?’ I said as I gazed at Lex speaking with Dana, and she was laughing. Lex’s eyes met mine, and he frowned.

  ‘I …’

  Gods, but Lex was handsome. I got up and placed a hand on Alexei’s. With some regret, for I had never had a boyfriend, I smiled at him. ‘I need a friend, Alexei,’ I told him morosely. ‘But who knows? Later.’

  ‘Thank God. Gods. Whatever,’ he exhaled, a bit disappointed. ‘I’m a terrible boyfriend. Probably would have gone for your sister in the end.’

  I dunked his head under the water and then tore him up, for he stayed there and I had to cross my legs. I liked him, for, despite my awkwardness and their occasional mockery, he treated me like a person.

  Dana and I slept next to each other. I stared at her as she snored slightly. Euryale had promised us freedom. Dana had agreed, and we would work to attain it. We had a plan. A dangerous, deadly plan, one that likely would get us both killed, but it was a promise, and it takes very little more to give one’s will to live back.

  Yet, I looked around the room. I stared at the poor child Albine. At Able, the strange boy who barely spoke and one I realized was even more shunned than I had ever been by the others. None had spoken with him, nor invited him to join the discussion. I stared at the strange Cherry, who was seeing nightmares, and at Lex, the stalwart, a foolish boy whose smile made me blush. I glanced at Anja, who worried about his brothers, and then at the two idiots, both of whom I called friends, for some reason. Alexei especially. Curse him, for I had been tempted to say yes to him. And Ulrich. He had lost his brother. He hated me for it. I could understand him, at least sort of. He was hurt. Bitterly so.

  Dana was the only one truly dangerous of the lot. And Euryale. And I was allied to them.

  I tried to sleep, but it took a long time to do so, and what I saw were nightmares of Grandma, telling me to find myself.

  PART 3: THE FLAMING HEART

  ‘You know what I am offering. I say all or none.’

  Anja to Shannon.

  CHAPTER 10

  That first year we survived.

  In the mornings, we would wake up early, shivering and cold, getting up under the stone eyes of the dead. Our predecessors were there; reminding us life is precious and happiness fleeting in Aldheim. The smart ones learned quickly to get up before the beasts got in. That was a useful skill as you had the time to piss and stretch. Ulrich and Anja did, I did, though never Alexei and Dmitri, who would have to hold their damned bladder all morning, complaining miserably about the problem until Cosia or Bilac gave in and let them relieve themselves. We would invariably shuffle down to sample the frugal gruel and soon, after but a few months not one of us held any extra weight. People had birthdays, which Anja somehow managed to plot for us, and the celebration was always modest. The one having it was given a spoonful more of slop and congratulations. I turned eighteen, and Lex giving me a kiss on the cheek was the best present I had ever had, I realized. The boys were growing long, scraggly beards, and Alexei’s and Dmitri’s hair grew as well, and they developed a grudging respect for me, for I found I had a taste for practical jokes. While Anja was often their victim, I managed to steal and hide Dmitri’s rope at least once, making him frantic for one night at least, terrified of having to go naked to the training. They played the vicious game with the ball of rag, once tripping Lex so badly he was sore for a week. Ulrich and Anja were close, and so were Dana and I, with Able and Cherry hovering near at all times. Albine still stayed out of the groups, silent and grave, and I let her be.

  After a few months of this, seeing no one else but knowing there were others in the Fanged Spire, at least one class before us, our whisperings in the evening were those of envious people. If there were other people training on the other levels, students further along the hell than we were, they surely did not suffer as we did, at least from hunger. Occasionally, when we were allowed to see the Shades, I could feel there were others doing so elsewhere, near, not too far, but that was the only evidence of a life outside our seclusion.

  I was special.

  I would sit with the others in the War Hall of Cerunnos Timmerion and wonder at the wreckage Hel’s army had done there. I puzzled over who the dead were, the daughters of Cerunnos amongst them, no doubt as Euryale had claimed. I wondered how they had died, and my daydreams never invoked sharp reprimands nor savage kicks the others received for their laxness. I was protected. I would massage my shoulder, wondering at the numbness and cold, but otherwise, I did not suffer the welts and pains.

  While Bilac and Cosia were around, we made few jokes, spent little time risking the unnecessary punishments. When we could, we rested, even when someone was getting whipped or beaten for inevitable mistakes, for harnessing the spells of Fury w
as more exhausting and draining than anything we had previously known. The two females forced us beyond our abilities, often leaving us heaps of shuddering pain. We gathered the energies; we held them, gathered even more until our fibers were throbbing with pain. The aftermath of doing that often felt like a limb gone dead from the lack of blood, but the limb was your mind, and you could not easily remedy it. No. The excruciating pain just went on. For the two bitches, the brutal training was probably not cruelty, but a way of life, suffering as normal as farting. They switched or whipped the others if we did not grow quickly enough to meet their expectations and those expectations might change daily, even hourly. Ulrich was convinced they were schooling us for a very violent career, and we would be grateful for it in the end, but I did not feel grateful, or happy.

  They were training us for war, that was true, and after Ulrich’s words, I wondered what kind of a world we would see out there. One full of ruins? Or wondrous and full of beauty? That is if we should live to see it. Euryale told me elves were senseless and cruel, and I feared them.

  However, I feared her more.

  I often stared at the Bone Fetter entwining my arm, the silvery, pulsing light holding us prisoners and wondered at Euryale’s promises. She was a dangerous thing; old as time and few of her motives and thoughts were something a human would indeed understand. Her word? Worthless? Likely. She, or rather it was a shifty beast. She wanted her sister, the gods, and their cheated reward. Or something else, something more? She was not to be trusted. Cherry was. Lex, perhaps, he was straightforward and kind. Dana, was she? Perhaps. Our relationship grew as the months went on. She would speak to me, about things we had never spoken about, about the future and our plans for freedom though she did not talk about the past. We had acted all our lives and getting to know her was a curious, interesting experience. She was a perfectionist, that much I had known, but she used to have fun on the side. Now she did not. She did not take part in the discussions or the play of the evening, things that kept the rest of us sane. Everything she spoke about, everything she did, led up to her goals, and things she had planned for as long as she could remember. Now they were our goals.