by Kit Hallows
"Here." Samuel reached under his cloak and handed me a dagger secured in an ornate leather sheath. "Just in case we run into complications on the way. Conceal it, perhaps around your leg. Exposed weapons are seen as confrontational, in many parts of the Hinterlands."
"Thank you." I took the weapon, strapped it near my ankle and covered it with my jeans.
"Well, you passed Astrid's starey eye test," Samuel said. "And that's good enough for me. But that said, I'll let you walk ahead."
I followed Astrid while Samuel's lantern cast a soft golden glow that beat back the deep, restless shadows.
We walked along endless tunnels and corridors as Astrid threw out question after question. I answered them as best I could. I had nothing to hide from these people, and while I didn't know them, they seemed trustworthy and I believed their intentions were noble. Whatever they were.
Finally, we ascended a flight of stairs, the one I remembered from my last foray into the deeps. The chamber with the bonfires and odd bird-like people stood to the right, but Astrid took us to the left. Then she stopped and asked Samuel to shine his lantern upon the ground. The light revealed a cluster of chalk-like markings.
"Here." Astrid placed her cool, soft palm upon my forehead, then turned and stepped into the wall.
"You've been blessed with permission to enter the secret room of sharp, pointy things," Samuel said. "So, off you go." He gave me a shove, and I passed through the cavern wall into pitch darkness. Then he followed, bringing light into Hellwyn's hidden room.
"Balls," Astrid said as she plucked the gin bottle from the dresser and shook it to find it empty. Samuel tutted in sympathy as he lit the lamps on the old crate and filled the corners of the room with a soft yellow glow.
"Here we are then, Mr. Rook," Astrid said. She opened the wardrobe, revealing the armory inside. "This should serve your needs." She picked out a sheathed sword and threw it to me. "To complement your new dagger."
"Thank you."
"Will it be a sufficient means of dealing with your enemies?" Astrid asked.
I nodded as I examined the blade and I pictured myself slaying Wyght, the Embersens and their pet demon.
"There." Astrid nodded to me.
"What?"
"The shadow you hide within. I saw him. He's powerful. Stronger than you perhaps, but bound. I can tell you, if I'd met him rather than you in that passage, I'd have pierced your heart and left you bleeding in the gloom without a second thought."
"Thanks." I smiled at Samuel to break the tension but he watched me with the same intensity as his partner.
"We're two for now," Astrid said, nodding to Samuel. "Two against many. There are others on our side but we consider them to be an unknown quantity, for now. Which means we need all the allies we can find. So I'm going to have to trust you, but keep that darkness of yours at bay, lest it consumes you. And if you manage to stay with the light, there may come a time when we can help each other."
"You could return with me if you'd like. I could show you where your mother is buried," I said. Plus three would certainly be better than one.
"No," Astrid shook her head. "As Samuel already blurted out, we have our own obligation."
"Well good luck," I said. "I'd help if I could."
"I'm certain the time will come when you will." Astrid reached up and pulled a hair from my head.
"What was that for?"
"It's for her infamous hair museum." Samuel's eyes gleamed as he grinned. "Welcome to the club."
"It will help me to find you." Astrid tucked the hair into a small silver pillbox and placed it within the folds of her cloak.
"Thanks for the sword," I said. I turned to Samuel. "You want your dagger back?"
"No," he said. "Keep it for posterity. Plus, it sort of wasn't mine to begin with."
"Good luck, Mr. Rook," Astrid said. "May you show your enemies the same mercy they'd show you."
"Thank you. Can you help me find my way back?" I asked.
"Of course. Do you need to return to the exact place you left?" Astrid asked.
I thought of Elsbeth Wyght and the iron chain that bound her ankles and hoped it was still secure. "More than anything."
"Follow me then." Astrid stepped through the wall and I followed as Samuel blew out the lamps, plunging the room into darkness.
49
We made our way along the tunnel until we reached the porthole Hellwyn and I had returned through, not so long ago. Astrid rapped the pommel of her sword upon the band of glass that glimmered within the rock wall, then she pressed her hands and face against it. "It seems to be clear."
Seems didn't fill me confidence, but it wasn't like I had options. I stood before the glass and peered into the swirling soup of stars as white lights flashed in the velvet darkness beyond.
"Call up the place you need to get to and hold it in your mind's eye" Samuel said. "You know, the prison with the evil witch and the insane demon masquerading as a child."
"Fix the destination within your mind, and don't waiver," Astrid said. "The crossing won't be as smooth as when my mother accompanied you."
"Right," I said. "Well, thank you. I appreciate your help."
"There's a high chance we'll be needing a favor in return. And soon," Astrid said.
"Sure." I stepped closer to the wall, closed my eyes, and pictured the cells beneath the Embersens' house. "Good luck." I walked through the cold glass barrier.
My cry of shock was snatched from me as I tumbled through. I opened my eyes to see stars flashing by amid a roar of distant sound. I could almost see the glass wall in the distance and the oval of darkness I'd cast into it.
I tumbled through the strange, space-like region as the cell wall grew nearer and I could see a bloody mark stamped upon the glass. I was so fixated upon it that I failed to notice the movement to my left, until it was too late.
The sound of whales roared through the vastness and a colossal body sailed out from the dark.
A Gloaming Ghast.
I scrambled, my hands outstretched as I reached for the dark oval in the glass. My fingers tingled as I tried to reach through the portal, and met resistance. And then I saw the faint blue tinge of light gleaming over the surface.
Wyght had sealed the portal shut.
"No!" I slammed my fists against the opening but it wouldn't yield.
I spun round as the whale-like call reached almost deafening levels.
The Gloaming Ghast soared through the void like a massive grotesque, its fingers outstretched, its eyes endless black pools and its mouth a yawning gulf with no end.
50
Summoning the last of my energy, I smashed my hands against the oval rift in the glass. But it wouldn't budge. As I peered through, I could see a long bloody fingerprint drawn into the shape of a spiral on the other side of the glass.
She'd used a bind. One I had no way of undoing. My hand strayed to my empty pocket for a crystal that wasn't there. "Fuck!"
The Gloaming Ghast reached out for me, its fingers poised to seize me like a doll. I pulled the sword Astrid had given me from its sheath and thrust the pommel against the portal hoping to smash through.
It had all the effect of a sparrow pecking a glacier.
I grasped the pommel and swung the sword with all my might, but the movement was slowed by the unfamiliar forces within the ether-like realm. The blade moved sluggishly, like it was passing through treacle.
The sound of the Gloaming Ghast filled my ears and as I turned, its eyes caught mine and drew me into their dreadful spell.
Drop the sword. Give in. The voice was mine, but the words had come from the Ghast. My fingers began to loosen as they prepared to release the sword. Yes, why not give in? It would be easier to accept the inevitable.
The emptiness in the Ghast's eyes and yawning mouth was now almost welcoming.
Fight it! It was the other voice, my other voice, the old, buried one. Fight it with every scrap of strength you still own.
Two voic
es, one conflict.
The Ghast's anemone-like fingers swirled through the cold darkness and brushed the side of my face. I fought to summon the energy to move away, but the icy electric current passing through its fingers captivated me.
"No!" I heard myself cry.
I tried to push back and escape into the darkness of the void, but the Ghast pursued me like a behemoth rising from the deeps. It threw its head back and roared, the whale-like song echoing all around me, drawing me toward it. Then its mouth snapped shut with a boom like a depth charge, and its eyes narrowed in anger. An arrow, on the scale of a tooth pick, protruded from its throat and a dark current began to thread its way through the pale creature's veins.
The giant roared again, the sound primal, furious.
I glanced behind it to see Samuel soaring through the ether. He notched another arrow. The creature turned to face him and he fired again, this time striking the Ghast in its eye. It howled and began to revolve and swim through the darkness toward him.
Samuel let another arrow fly, then shot me a grin that turned into an oh shit grimace as the giant bore down on him. He dived away, his movements fluid and fast as the Ghast loomed after him like a shark.
"Here," Astrid appeared, tugged the cuff of my sweater and swam with me to the glass portal. "Help me." She set my hand on the darkened glass and placed her soft yet calloused palms over my fingers. "Concentrate. Give it everything you have left!"
Astrid closed her eyes, her brow furrowing as we pushed against the surface. I focused hard and imagined the bloody bind that Wyght had left weakening, diluting and running down the glass like melted ice.
A cold energy passed through Astrid's hand into mine, but slowly it began to warm.
"More!" she cried. "Give it more!"
There was still a tiny vestige of energy inside me. A scrap. I seized it.
The warmth between our hands blazed forth. Amid the heat a faint blue light began to shine through the portal and bleach away the blood-drawn spiral.
"It's opening!" Astrid shouted. "Go!" A wave of invisible power passed between us, then Wyght's bind faded completely and our hands passed through into the cell.
"Yes!" I grinned. Astrid met my smile. I glanced back into the void to see the Gloaming Ghast. It was a distant shape now, and Samuel no more than a speck before it. "Will he be alright?"
"He should be. I'll help him. Good luck, Morgan Rook." Astrid pulled her hand away. "Remember, you're not alone. There are others. People, trying to keep the light from going out. It seems like you need to be reminded of that." She gave me a half smile, before drifting away through the gloom.
I sailed toward the dark oval and as I passed through, my body encountered gravity and I stumbled forward into the glass cell. I was back in the realm of the blinkered.
I turned back but the portal was already resealing itself, the starry void behind it fading to dust and darkness. I took a deep breath of stale, sterile air before glancing into Elsbeth Wyght's cell, dreading what I would find.
It was empty. The iron manacles broken, the lock presumably prized or picked with the saw Wyght had wrenched from the butcher. I passed through into Wyght's cell. The witches beyond its wall were dead, their bodies laying slumped out.
She'd escaped again. And another trail of the dead had been left in her wake.
I stumbled from the cell, following a line of spattered blood drops like they were breadcrumbs.
51
I slowly pulled the steel door open. The hallway was empty but the panel leading to the lab had been left wide open. The room seemed to be clear. A man in a white lab coat lay sprawled across the floor in a pool of blood. I could see several long gashes in his neck, far more than it would have taken to kill him.
Elsbeth Wyght.
The place had been ransacked, drawers upturned, cabinets gutted and hanging open. Scattered surgical tools glistened upon the floor and several of the scalpels were bloody and red. The leech tank had been shattered. All the creatures were gone, but for one. It clung to a shard of quartz that swirled with a thin dark cloud at its core.
I could see lacerations, tears and wounds in the leech's flesh as if someone had tried to prize it off the stone, but it had held fast. Wyght, no doubt. And now, having taken the rest of the parasites, she had the means to make her own crystals. I had to find her and fast. For that I needed energy, and the only immediate source was within that last shard of black crystal.
...keep your darkness at bay, else it will consume you. Astrid's words echoed in my conscience. What choice was there? Facing the Embersens or Wyght without magic would leave me dead in the water.
I tried to brush away the leech but it wouldn't budge. Inky blue fluid oozed from its wounds as I gripped the crystal, soaking up as much power I could.
The essence inside was my own.
I caught a few flashbacks from the hallucinatory visions I'd had while being mined in the lab. Stroud leading the procession of the undead, a candle floating through a darkened chamber, a boy sitting amongst a pile of thick, heavy books. They were memories, my memories, parts of me that had been stolen along with my energy.
Had Wyght seen them too, when she'd tried to remove the leech? Possibly. Not that it mattered. She was a dead woman walking.
The darkness hidden within me stirred as the power surged through my hands.
Give me control, you're weak. I can finish what you cannot.
I silenced the voice, found a small basin in the corner of the lab and splashed cold water on my face.
Then I left, borrowed sword in hand. The steel, shiny and clean, seemed to be almost begging to be soaked in the blood of my enemies.
52
At the end of the corridor, just beyond the lab, I found an ornate paneled wooden door. I opened it a crack, glancing through to a long plush hallway.
A woman lay upon a Turkish rug in a pool of blood. It seeped like wine into the carpet around her as I crept by. She seemed to be some kind of security guard judging by the uniform.
I recognized my surroundings. The front door of the Embersen house was dead ahead and the drawing room was to my left. I stepped inside and found Lily standing at the window. Her reflection in the glass pale, drawn and haunted.
"You don't have a drop of magic in you, do you?" I asked, making her jump.
She wheeled round. "What have you done?" she asked. "What have you done?"
I ignored her question and held the sword up. Firelight caught the blade and its reflection passed across her face. "No," I continued, "you can't wield a scrap of magic. You just steal it from others. So tell me, how did you bind your demon?" I glanced to the door in the corner of the room, expecting to find the boy, but no one was there.
"I didn't bind him, I inherited him. He's been with my family for over a hundred years. My great grandfather was his first master and he's been a loyal servant ever since."
"And it was his power that kept Copperwood Falls silent and complicit while you farmed magical folk, and blinkereds too, no doubt?"
"Yes. And now you've fucked it all up. I should have listened to Sebastian. He said we should take you the first moment we saw you. Drain you of your gifts and leave your remains to the wolves. But I was curious." She gave a half smile. "And look where it got me."
"Where's Wyght?"
"The witch?" Lily glanced back to the window. "She won't get far, Sindaub will see to that."
"Sindaub?"
"The little boy who filled you with such horror."
"He did, I'm not ashamed to admit it. He's powerful. Unlike you."
She turned back and rested a hand on the dining chair where my coat lay. The sword of intention gleamed beside it. "We blinkereds have to take whatever measures are needed to get through this life, Mr. Rook. That's what you call us, isn't it? Blinkereds."
"That's what many within the magical community call the less gifted in this world."
"Less gifted." Her smile turned to a sneer.
"Yes, but I suppose t
hat doesn't really apply to you, does it? You're more than gifted. You've got money, no doubt politicians in your pocket, power, influence and control over Copperwood Falls. And all of it gained from other people's suffering."
"If we hadn't done it, someone else would have. Or do you think humans are some noble breed? No, we're all rats scurrying in the night. All of us. Including you."
The darkness inside me began to stir and an image of her throat, open and bleeding, passed through my mind. I fought against my dark other's calling. No, she was going to Stardim. A blinkered jailed amongst the beings she'd robbed, wasn't exactly mercy. I didn't give her long.
Her eyes flitted behind me...
I whirled round just as Sebastian sucker-punched me in the face.
The blow was hard enough to knock me back. Sebastian leaped forward, trying to grab the sword from my hand. I yanked it away and head-butted him in the face. The long awaited satisfaction of seeing his nose explode was short lived. I ducked as something whizzed past my head.
Lily stood behind me, poker in hand. Feral hatred warped her face into an animalistic fury. I brought the sword up as she raised the poker and as I swung to swipe it from her hand, Sebastian smashed his fist into the side of my head.
The blow weakened my grip and the clash with the poker disarmed me. I'd grown weak. Slow. And whatever essence I'd regained from the black crystal, was spent.
Give me control! The darkness inside me roared. You're too weak to fight them.
I was. The extractions they'd done in the lab and the incident in the orchard had robbed my strength. I was now dangerously overwhelmed.
Lily waved the tip of the poker before me as Sebastian strode past. He grabbed the sword of intention from the table. "Time to settle up," he drew back the sword, blood trailing from his broken nose to his thin curling lips.
"Don't!" Lily said. "Don't kill him. Not yet." They circled like a pair of hyenas. I forced my rising fury to slow. If I gave into it I'd decimate the pair of them, no question. But that would mean letting the darkness inside me gain control, and I was so weak I had no idea if I could ever get myself back.
