The Ghost Princess (Graylands Book 1)

by M. Walsh

  Lily went ahead, and he followed. While concentrating on not making a sound or slipping down the hill, he kept looking out into the swamp. It was a long stretch of flatlands, mostly water, but there were points where the ground and water merged together and looked no different from each other. He could imagine several parts of what appeared to be solid ground turning out to be puddles and creeks with a thick layer of mud on top.

  He kept imagining the bugs lurking around in those waters and mud and under the ground. He pictured them watching travelers trying to pass through, waiting to ensnare them. Waiting for them to make the wrong step and sink into the thick, murky depths.

  Maybe more—if some of the creatures were like spiders, who was to say there weren’t any webs? With all the fog and mist, could anyone see before they blundered straight into a thick, sticky net of webbing—all but ringing the dinner bell for whatever monstrosities haunted this nasty pit?

  They reached a point over solid ground. The pirates were literally on the other side of the brush. Krutch could hear Hobbs speaking—talking about some scouts spotting Drake Garrison in the area or something. Despite the cold, he started to sweat, which came easily in the damp air.

  The ground was four feet below them and muddy, with tufts of weeds poking out. Lily crouched down and jumped from the hill, landing gracefully in the mud with only a slight plop. The heels of her boots sank into the earth, but the ground otherwise looked solid and sturdy enough. She paused, making sure she wasn’t heard and that nothing was stirring around her, then looked up to Krutch and motioned him to follow.

  He, unfortunately, proved nowhere near as graceful as her. Crouching down, he lost his footing and started to slide down the hill before making an unprepared jump. The sound of dirt and rocks tumbling followed him, and he landed awkwardly with an ugly sounding splat. He fell to his knee and would’ve gone face-first into the dirt had Lily not grabbed his arm.

  She pulled him up and back to the hill, pressing both their backs against it. The talking above stopped, and Krutch was certain someone heard him. He flattened himself against the dirt hill and froze, holding his breath—less afraid of being caught by Hobbs and his men, but the inevitable shouting would draw the attention of something hiding beneath the mud and water.

  In his mind, he clashed with different hopes: Please let them ignore us—please make them go back to talking—if he sees us, please let Hobbs be smart enough not to start yelling—

  There was a tense silence before the talking resumed. Lily glanced up, and Krutch let out a sigh of relief when she nodded at him. She held a finger to her lips, and they headed into the swamp.

  She led the way, navigating on narrow passages and paths of solid ground around the vast pools of standing water. The mud was slippery, and Krutch felt panic itching to explode every time he thought he glanced something moving in the dirt or stirring in the water. He only felt safe on the brief patches of relatively dry grassland.

  Everywhere he looked, he could imagine massive creatures with hundreds of thin, hairy legs leaping out from hidden holes, pools disguised as mud patches, or simply emerging from the very dirt beneath their feet.

  He saw them: spiders with fat, bulbous bodies, and long, wiry centipedes with thousands of moving legs curving their way about like massive snakes. They all had dripping mandibles, blank, marble-like eyes, and stringy antennae.

  Every so often, he would think he heard something buzzing overhead and imagined massive shapes with grabbing legs and wings stretching beyond six feet across. They would swoop in from the fog, with protruding compound eyes like bouncing balls, staring impassively. They’d wrap themselves around you, clicking and buzzing before flying you away to some disgusting nest made of sticky film and pus.

  He shuddered involuntarily—several times, in fact. With each step his skin crawled, and he felt a disturbing shiver going up his back, like something really was crawling around inside his clothes. He gripped his gun, but it brought little comfort. Would bullets do any good against giant insects? What did he know about their anatomy? Was his aim even that good? And wouldn’t a gunshot only attract even more?

  “How much further?” he choked out, struggling to keep his voice to a whisper.

  “I can make out some towers in the distance,” Lily whispered. “Another half mile or so, I think.”

  He looked ahead and saw nothing but blank fog. He chose to trust Lily’s eyesight was better than his and muttered, “Sooner the better.”

  “I think that’s far enough, boss.”

  Lemmy Hobbs’s voice cut through the tense silence like a clumsy drunk falling down in the dark. Krutch’s nerves locked, and his shoulders shot up to his ears. He was less afraid that Hobbs had been following them, and more horrified the idiot didn’t seem to appreciate where they were.

  “I gotta say, Leeroy,” he continued, smugly, flanked by Arkady and the handful of remaining pirates—although they seemed to be missing one more. “I’m not surprised you escaped, but I wasn’t expecting to see you still hanging around here. Trying to screw us out of the Kader job after all, are you..?”

  “Damn it, Hobbs, shut-up!” he said, straining to keep his voice low. “This is not the time or the place!”

  Hobbs looked at Lily and smirked. “Cute broad you got with you, Leeroy. Ain’t she the one that was running with Rien? You two in on it together?”

  Krutch’s teeth gritted, and he pulled at his hair. He resisted the impulse to draw his pistol and open fire, knowing that would only exasperate the situation. He looked at Lily, and her face was stern and serious. She was looking around at the other pirates surrounding them.

  Hobbs was about to speak again, when she cut in, “Look. This really isn’t the place for this shit. Whatever problem you guys have with us, we should settle it outside the swamp.”

  “Stay out of this, bitch,” Hobbs sneered. “This don’t concern you.”

  “Yeah,” Arkady said. “This is between us and Leeroy.” He paused and gave a disgusting smile, licking his lips. “We can deal with you after.”

  Lily shook her head and sighed. “Hey, Krutch,” she said, “Giving any second thoughts to the Vicar’s suggestion?”

  “Which one..?”

  As soon as he said it, he remembered and cringed. Lily gave a sympathetic look and shrugged.

  Hobbs almost spoke again, when Lily grabbed one of the pirates sneaking up beside her and hurled him into a nearby pool. There was a loud splash, and putrid, muddy water erupted into the air. The pirate shouted in outrage and disgust, and the rest of his crew began yelling as well.

  Wasting no time, Lily grabbed Krutch, and they ran. Behind them, Hobbs ordered his men to pursue. The silence and stillness of the swamp had shattered, and the sound of shouting, splashing, and stomping footprints echoed throughout the bog.

  Krutch tried to keep up with Lily as best he could, more worried about slipping and falling into the water than anything else. Behind them, he heard Hobbs and his men storming after them—cursing, threatening, and yelling. He heard their footsteps splat through the mud and splash through puddles with no concern where they were stepping.

  In his mind, he kept picturing the legions of ungodly insects that infest the swamp waking up in their underground nests, hidden pits, and every other nasty crevice. The image of things with many legs emerging from the mud and water and following them in pursuit inspired him to quicken his pace and keep up with Lily.

  Finally, he began to make out the faint outlines of towers in the distance. He couldn’t tell how much farther the swampland lasted, but he felt relieved to see the end near. There was still no sight or sound of bugs swarming, and for a moment, he thought maybe they could make it without having to deal with a legion of giant spiders and centipedes after all.

  Then he heard someone scream out in horror behind them. The screaming was abruptly cut off with a thick slosh—like someone had been dragged into the mud. Lily hesitated, coming to a point where there was nothing but water in front of
them, and Krutch—against his better judgment—looked back.

  Most of the remaining pirates were still visible. He could make out Hobbs and Arkady clearly, while the rest were vague silhouettes in the fog. They were shouting and calling amongst themselves, wondering what just happened and who did they lose.

  Suddenly, Krutch saw a shape emerge and tackle someone in the back. Another pirate dropped to the ground, as though his feet were taken out from under him. This was followed by more screaming—not in anger, but in horror. And beneath the shouting and screaming of Hobbs’s men, Krutch heard faint hissing and clicking. The sound of inhuman things with dripping mandibles.

  “Krutch, we need to go!” Lily said, tugging him along, trying to find a passage across the water.

  He followed after her, trying to ignore the sound of intense terror growing louder and more piercing with each passing second. Shouts of confusion and horror mingled with cries out to gods and mercy.

  The sound of mud and thick water splashing echoed behind them, and Krutch imagined men being dragged kicking and screaming into dank pits by large, heavy things with thin wiry arms locked around them. He dared not imagine what awaited them after.

  Lily tugged him along, and his feet hit something on the ground. He thought he tripped on a log, but it was far too soft, moving, and it screeched. Krutch tumbled forward and landed in the dirt. He frantically tried to get to his feet, Lily pulling him up at the same time.

  He saw the shape emerge from the mist—a long, thin thing like a beam of wood. It bent and contorted like a massive snake, a million hairy arms lined up and down either side, all moving at once. It had a head that didn’t look separate from its body—a dozen tiny black eyes, and antennae waving about in all directions. Sharp mandibles clasped greedily over its drooling mouth.

  It rose up from the mist like a snake being charmed. It regarded Krutch and Lily, moving in liquid motion, then darted back down on the ground. It glided with blinding speed and was biting at Krutch’s ankle before he even realized what was happening.

  He shrieked in terror and fell down on his back. The centipede was on top of him in a flash, pinning him down like a living plank of wood. Its millions of legs moved around, scratching at him like weeds. The instinctive urge to push it off drained away from his mind—drowned out by the disgusting horror of having to touch the hideous thing on top of him. Its mandibles were going for his face.

  A dagger plunged into the top of its head. It let out a slight screech in pain and thrust off him. It jerked about on the ground, making disgusting spasms and waving its legs frantically. Krutch rolled away and shot up to his feet, his face drained of color and rubbing his hands against his clothes despite never actually touching the thing.

  “You okay..?” asked Lily, holding a dagger dripping a foul, yellow-brown slime.

  Krutch didn’t answer with words. He instead made a strained groaning sound and twitched compulsively.

  “Right,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  They found no passage of solid ground and instead had to find a part of water shallow enough to cross. Had this been suggested to Krutch before he was nearly eaten by a giant centipede, he might have argued. However, still reeling from the horror, and desperate to be as far away from the swamp as possible, he charged through the muddy water before Lily did.

  He lost his footing and dropped to a knee, but that did little to slow him down. He practically dove out of the water and onto the solid ground on the other side. Lily was behind him, but as she emerged from the shallows, her feet were taken out from under her, and a black shape pounced from the mud behind her.

  Krutch froze, still terrified from the centipede and now terrified all over again from seeing the massive spider on top of Lily. If he stood up, it would come up to his waist, and it was a massive, huge thing made of thick, black bulbs. Veins protruded from its backside, and its hairy limbs wrapped themselves around Lily’s squirming legs.

  It hissed and tried to bite her face, but she blocked with her forearm. She screamed in pain as the fangs bit down and shook.

  Hearing Lily scream snapped Krutch back to reality. His horror and panic were replaced with a sudden and sure hatred for insects. Gritting his teeth, he drew his pistol and blew the spider’s head clean off. It exploded in a spray of yellow pus, and its fat, black body went limp.

  The gunshot echoed throughout the land, sounding like thunder. There was a brief pause where dead silence and calm returned to the swamp. Then a new sound started to drift through the fog and envelope the entire area. It was the inhuman howling and shrieking of demons.

  “Oh, shit,” Krutch moaned.

  Lily shoved the dead spider off her and got to her feet. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  She made a move to run, but he stopped her and asked, “How’s your arm?”

  She clasped her bleeding forearm tightly, which seemed to be leaking some kind of black fluid, and said, “I’ll be okay. The venom isn’t lethal.”

  She turned to run, but he stopped her again. “You sure? That’s looks nasty.”

  “I’ll be okay,” she repeated. “It’ll hurt for a few days, but I’ll be fine. Come on, we have to go now!”

  She grabbed him by his sleeve and started running again. They didn’t stop until they reached the edge of a ravine. The swamp dripped down the cliff like an infected wound, pooling at the bottom in massive puddles of black sludge. The fluids collected in what appeared to be stone canals. In the distance, beyond the remains of the swamp, they could clearly see the old ruins.

  “If we can get down this cliff,” said Lily, “we’ll be okay.”

  Looking down, Krutch said, “Yeah, but that looks like it’ll be easier said than—”

  “Leeroy! You son of a bitch!”

  Hobbs lunged out from behind, tackling him, and sending them both toppling over the side. Krutch heard Lily call out his name, but aside from that, he was only aware of falling and tumbling down the hill.

  20

  This has not been my week with hills.

  The thought crossed Krutch’s mind as he and Hobbs went tumbling down the edge of the swamp. It was a relatively gentle slope, and luckily—or not, depending on your point of view—because it was dripping from the swamp, most of the fall consisted of sliding and plowing through mud and sludge—as opposed to bouncing off rocks and harsh dirt.

  Krutch had no way of seeing where he was falling or controlling how he landed. There was a moment of flipping through the air before landing with a splash in thick, black sludge. He had barely a moment to wretch in disgust before the crevice where the pool had formed gave way. The next thing he knew, he was sliding toward the ruins, as though he was being flushed from the swamp.

  His wild ride came to an end being dumped into one of the stone canals that served as the base of the ruins. There were a few moments of complete dizziness from the tumble down, but upon realizing he was soaking in some ungodly swamp vomit, Krutch frantically pulled himself out of the canal and collapsed onto the stone floor beside it, gagging up as much fluid as he possibly could.

  He remembered what Lily said about the water earlier—

  Water’s good. For now ...

  —and desperately tried to cough up anything and everything he might have swallowed as he wiped the dripping greenish-black sludge from his face, hair, and clothes. The water was still “good” hours ago, outside the swamp. Now, who knew what kind of diseases and parasites he’d just been rolling around in?

  After flailing about and gagging for a few minutes, Krutch calmed down. He didn’t see Hobbs anywhere and hoped he was stuck up by some crevice on their way down or landed in a deeper canal and couldn’t get out. Looking around, he saw he was somewhere around the outer edge of the ancient ruins and felt slight relief in realizing he’d made it to his destination.

  The relief passed when it occurred to him the worst was likely not over. He looked up, saw the hill he just fell down climb up into the fog, and hoped Lily would find a better way of getting
down than he did—and fast, because, having made it to the ruins, he now had no idea what he was supposed to be doing.

  There was a low rumble of thunder, followed by raindrops that escalated into a downpour. Beneath the sound of driving rain, he heard the distant howling of demons. He cringed upon thinking that might mean Katrina was already there and Kader’s trap had been sprung.

  He looked back toward the hill, as if Lily would appear and reassure him. He glanced down one of the long roads leading toward the center of the ruins—not seeing far through the rain and fog. He paced around, making uncertain whining noises, knowing he should probably do something, but not wanting to.

  Grasping his pistol—noting with some dread he only had three shots left—he took a deep breath and charged toward the center.

  * * *

  At first, Katrina didn’t move, and this turned out to be beneficial.

  She stared at Marcus’s sword, lying at her feet, hearing a voice somewhere in the back of her mind urging her to pick it up and fight. She heard thunder and felt the rain come down around her. She sensed the black-clad disciples and armored orcs closing in on her. But she felt no strength or desire. She wanted to shrivel up and die. She wanted a drink. She wanted to go home.

  Because she wasn’t moving, Daredin’s followers assumed her will was broken and she’d be taken easily. The gargoyles remained perched atop the towers, apparently letting her be taken by the men on the ground. No weapons had been drawn yet. She could see they were just going to tackle her, bind her, and drag her away. The scene was being played out so calm, if they had taken her, the only sound would be the pouring rain.

  Suddenly, a figure bound out from the fog. He crashed into the disciple closest to Katrina and went tumbling into the center courtyard. He was a young, unkempt man with filthy clothes and shaggy black hair that was dripping wet from the rain.