by Matthew Roys
As though in a dream she wandered through the dark. Her stomach rumbled and her body ached. She needed to find a way out of there soon or her hope would fail and the heavy weight of despair would sink through her system. She stopped, leaning her head against the cold stone as she tried to think.
“Giving up already?”
The voice was right beside her. KT expected to feel a fresh wave of terror but anger rose up within her instead. She was no helpless little girl. She wouldn’t let herself die like this.
“Get the hell away from me!” she screamed. “You sick basta…” Her insult became a stifled cry of pain as something slid across her arm. Pain flared through the limb. She grabbed it with her other arm and felt her skin was slick with blood.
She lurched forward, her teeth gritted. She was jerked back by a hand that clutched at her coat’s collar. She struggled then felt another sharp pain at the base of her neck. There was the sound of ripping fabric and more pain bloomed the entire length of her spine.
Suddenly she was able to pull away and fell flat on her face. Her back was exposed, her coat and shirt having been sliced open. Blood ran freely across the pale flesh from a shallow wound that followed the path of the knife.
A weight lowered onto KT. With every ounce of her strength she thrashed and bucked until she was able to break free. She stood there panting. Waiting.
“The wee lass still has some energy. Good.”
There was the faintest of rustles before a cut opened up upon KT’s cheek. She held her breath. There was the rustling again. In a blur of movement she reached out and managed to grab hold of the man’s thick arm, the knife opening a deep gash across her forearm in the process. With the man locked momentarily in place, KT kicked out and scored a hit in his gut. He groaned and loosened his grip on the weapon. KT lunged blindly for it, grabbing it by the blade. She hissed with pain but didn’t slow as her other hand tore at the man’s fingers. She managed to pry the knife free then stabbed forward with it but the man was already gone.
KT clutched the knife firmly. She peered through the darkness, ready to strike at the slightest of noises. She felt a pressure on her shoulder and span, the blade slashing through the abyss. Instantly a fist drove into her stomach, lifting her from the floor. She dropped the knife and flopped to the ground like a rag doll.
“We’ve had the hunt and now it’s time for the feast. It would be rude to eat without some pre-meal entertainment.”
Fingers closed around the ragged coat and tugged at it. KT slid out of the coat and fled on her hands and knees. The butcher kicked at her, his toes smashing into her ribs. Her hand brushed against the knife. He kicked again and she drove the blade into his calf. He swore savagely and jolted away, the knife still embedded in his leg. KT took the opportunity to scurry away again.
She couldn’t breathe but she didn’t slow her frantic pace. Her sobs weren’t silent any longer. She couldn’t keep control of her emotions. The darkness pulled her down, seeping at her will. Frantic desperation and loss of hope warred violently inside of her head.
She was becoming delusional too. She could swear that there was a slight crimson glow to the darkness ahead. Maybe the red tint was due to fatigue or blood-loss, she thought wearily. Despite these thoughts, she started toward it almost mechanically.
The light grew as KT shambled closer. Fresh hope sparked in her heart and her walk changed into an unsteady half-run. Her eyes stung after spending so much time in complete darkness but she didn’t care. The glow was all around her now. She could see the rough hewn walls for the first time, noting that they seemed to be carved from solid rock. The source of the light seemed to be around the next turn.
KT turned the corner with a half-laugh that died on her lips. She stood swaying on the spot, her blue eyes glassy.
She stood at the entrance of a large chamber. The light was emanating from red flamed candles that dotted the room, giving everything within a hellish sheen. No other passageways led away. Inside were several stone tables. On the tables were corpses. Mostly those of women. They were all in differing states of carnage ranging from whole bodies to severed limbs or completely flayed carcasses. Other bodies hung from hooks in the ceiling. The entire room smelt of blood and death. Organs and cuts of meat were littered everywhere.
“Ye found me sanctuary then, lass? Is nae it a place of beauty?”
The voice was directly behind her. She turned and staggered into the room. The butcher stood facing her, visible for the first time since she had fallen. Blood stained his clothes from the few wounds KT had dealt him but they didn’t seem to bother him at all. His small eyes gleamed with joyous malice. The features that she had at first viewed as strange now took on a sinister edge that painted him as a monster more than a man.
“What are you?” she shouted. KT tried to make her voice sound strong and demanding but the words fell out as a cracked whimper.
The butcher flashed her his pointed teeth. “I am but a man gifted by the gods,” he answered as he licked his lips hungrily. “I’ve had many names over the years. Bean and Christie were the most known. For what time of ye life remains, ye can call me whatever pleases ye.”
His oversized arm shot out and grabbed KT by the throat. Without showing any sign of strain he lifted her a foot from the ground. The pressure on her windpipe cut off her breath and strained the muscles to near breaking point. He leaned in, sniffing deeply with a warped smile. His free hand reached over to pull at her shirt.
“This’ll be such fun. I hope yer a fighter ‘til the end.”
The last of her strength was fading as KT struggled for breath. She tried in vain to punch out at him to no effect. Her arm slumped to her side, her fingers brushing against something solid. She grabbed it and swung at the butcher’s head. Whatever she had picked up shattered on impact, causing the man to stagger back, dropping KT in the process.
The spots started to clear from her vision. She glanced down at her weapon and dropped it. It hit the floor and rolled slightly so that half rotted eye sockets stared up at her. One side drooped in on itself where the skull beneath had been smashed.
A sudden anger flared up inside of KT. It was as though her fear changed into rage with every beat of her heart. How many scared young women had been in this same position only to lay dead in this chamber? It was as though their anger flowed through her too.
The butcher was still smiling. He lumbered towards her without any sense of urgency. His grin faltered when KT lunged at him rather than trying to run. He blocked the punch easily only to receive a boot to his gut a moment later. He grabbed her arm firmly so she kicked out again, this time slamming her foot into his knife wound. He grunted, his leg almost buckling beneath him.
A sense of clarity washed over KT. The butcher’s arms were massive but his legs were a weakness. She couldn’t overpower him but he could be beaten. She ducked under a swing of his arms and punched the side of his knee. Pain flared in her hand but she ignored it as she dodged around another blow.
She jumped back, almost tripping on the skull. It spun slightly until it faced the man. KT kicked it straight at his face then leapt up onto the slab. Jumping up to catch the pipes above where several bodies were hung from, she used the momentum to swing forward, launching herself towards the man. In midair she kicked out as hard as she could, catching him hard across the temple. His head jerked around with a snap.
KT hit the floor on her side hard enough for the breath to be knocked out of her. She scrambled to her feet and spun to face him again. He still stood there, his body rigid and his head looking almost behind himself back into the labyrinth. Silent seconds ticked past as neither moved.
Slowly, KT edged away from him. She scanned the room but couldn’t see any other exits. There was a butcher’s knife buried into a table beside a half-carved corpse that she wrestled free. The last place that she wanted to be was closer to the man but there seemed no other choice. She wanted to be sure that he wouldn’t hurt anyone again. He blocked the
exit so she had no option other than to go through him.
She readied the knife and swung at his throat. His arm twitched and he caught her by the wrist before she could react. His other hand drove into her gut, doubling her over. Before she could recover he had both of her arms locked against her chest. He shoved her into the wall. KT had to look up to stare at his head as it jerked its way back around to face her. His smile hadn’t faded.
“Well, that was fun, wasnae it? An’ they say that foreplay is a dying art.”
He had her pinned. Even her legs couldn’t reach beyond the full length of his arm. He had taken the knife from her and now held it against her ear.
“If it makes ye feel any better, just ken that yer life’ll live on within me. The circle of life and all that crap. The strong eat the weak te become even stronger. That’s how life evolves after all. Through blood and death we transcend the chains of our own meagre mortality. Tis a cruel world but it’s all that we’ve got. Do try and enjoy. It is a once in a lifetime experience.”
There was a flash of light as thunder tore through the tunnels. The butcher staggered as blood erupted from his back. More crashes filled the air, each causing a new explosion of blood. He dropped KT as blood bloomed from his shoulder, spinning him around with the force of the impact.
KT hit the floor like a rag-doll. She couldn’t muster the strength to move but from where she lay she could see the entrance to the chamber. A shadowy figure stood in the doorway with its arm pointed at the butcher. The flash and crash happened again, fully lighting up the figure for a heartbeat. It was Déaþscúa.
The butcher was staring at him too. Amazingly, he was still standing. Without a flicker of emotion, Déaþscúa put two more bullets into his chest then waved his left arm at the man. A wave of fire shot from his hand and slammed into the butcher, knocking him back where the bullets had failed. He staggered and fell back onto one of the stone tables behind him.
“Ye bastard!” the butcher screamed, blood dribbling from his mouth with each word. His body was riddled with bullet holes that gushed blood and his clothes and flesh were badly burned. He still didn't appear to be in pain though. “Ye cannae hurt me! I have the Grand Moot’s protection and ye know it, hunter! I am essential to the threads of fate! They’ll have ye head just for comin’ here. Ye’ve been warned by them before!”
“I’m shaking in my boots,” Déaþscúa said dryly. His eyes were locked on the butcher with a flaming intensity but his hands worked slowly at taking a single bullet from a pouch and loading it into the gun’s chamber.
The butcher seemed to be panicking now. “Ye work for them! Ye cannae disobey their orders! They are the law. Without the law we're the same, ye see, me and you. Both monsters in men’s clothing. Ye cannae kill me.”
Déaþscúa raised his gun. “Can’t I? Tell me where Annis is.”
“Stay away from my Annis ye bastard! Ye need to move on from her so she can do what needs te be done. Cannae ye see that? She is so close te achieving her dreams. I’ll kill ye if ye lay a finger on her!”
“You’ll find it hard to kill me from the grave.”
“I AM PROTECTED!”
“Not very well.” Déaþscúa’s finger clenched on the trigger. The crack of the gunshot was followed by a second bang as the bullet pierced the butcher’s skull then exploded. Brains, blood and fragments of skull splattered across the walls and floor. The man fell limp to the ground.
Silence descended on the room. Neither Déaþscúa nor KT moved for several moments. Déaþscúa finally holstered his gun and sighed before entering the room. He walked straight up to KT and knelt down beside her.
“You sure got yourself into a mess this time. You’re reckless and will wind up dead without me. You should have damn well listened to me and done as I said.” Despite his words, his tone was gentle and his eyes filled with concern. “Are you okay?”
KT just lay staring at him with tears building in her eyes. Another few seconds and she could no longer contain herself. She broke down into great heaving sobs as all of the tension and fear drained from her body. Déaþscúa sat her up and rested her head on his broad shoulder. When the initial wave of emotion had faded he helped her to her feet.
“We still need to find your brother. Chances are he won’t be in a good state either.”
He took a few steps toward the darkness of the tunnel but stopped when KT didn’t follow. He turned back to see her staring into the thick, black air, her eyes wild. Déaþscúa shook his head then held out his hand. It seemed to shake slightly and there was a reluctance in his stance.
“Take my hand so you don’t get lost. The exit isn’t far.”
KT hesitated a moment then grabbed onto his hand. It was huge compared to hers, his skin rough to the touch. Déaþscúa started out again, pulling her reluctantly along behind. At the cusp of the darkness, Déaþscúa took one last look at the girl then pulled a silver lighter out from a pocket and sparked it. The flame was tiny but provided enough light to dimly see the sides of the passageway.
Déaþscúa walked with confidence, knowing each and every turn without taking a moment to think. He kept his eyes forward, their piercing stare never straying. KT had thought that he had only told her it was a short distance to comfort her but after a few minutes they had stopped beside a set of rusty metal bars that led up to a wooden hatch. Déaþscúa handed her the lighter then climbed the short distance to the roof. He opened the hatch then disappeared beyond leaving KT alone in the vile maze. She quickly followed.
“Tell me what happened,” Déaþscúa said once KT had rejoined him.
“We came here for supplies on the way to find you. He said he knew how to contact you. I fell through a hole into that hell. I…I don’t know what happened to Kai.”
Déaþscúa nodded. “Show me the room where you fell.”
The room they were in looked to be a cramped basement filled with all manner of general clutter. They climbed a narrow staircase into the main building and KT recognised the corridor that the butcher had walked them down. She started down it but stumbled, her head suddenly feeling very light. It took her a moment to recover herself.
“Blood-loss,” commented Déaþscúa. “We should stop and patch you up.”
“No,” KT said resiliently. “We have to find Kai first. That monster could have done anything to him.”
“I think Christie will have stowed him away somewhere while he amused himself with you first. He likes his meat as fresh as possible and would keep his victims alive for as long as his previous stores lasted.”
“What was he?” KT asked with a cold shiver.
“A human. At least at the start of his life. He has plagued this land for hundreds of years. I suspect that he was living off of the lifeforce of those that he killed. He is the face to almost any Scottish cannibal you could ever think of. He was also the lover of Black Annis for a time, or Black Agnes as she was known then. I would have killed him long ago but a prophecy ties him to the end of the world. Or did anyway.”
They came to the room and pointed to a small rug. “That’s where I fell.” She felt a wave of nerves fill her just by being near to the hole again.
Déaþscúa looked around the room slowly, his eyes taking in every inch, drinking in the room’s details. He moved his hand slowly as though feeling for something that he couldn’t see. “This way,” he said seconds later.
He left the room and continued to scrutinise everything. To KT, it was almost like he was looking past what was actually there to something deeper. He entered a storage room filled with boxes and tools with a large metal door at the back. He opened it and freezing air spilled out. Inside was a freezer room filled with all manner of meat. Tied up in the corner, his skin a pale blue, was Kai.
KT rushed to him. He was icy cold to the touch and was barely breathing. Blood matted his hair. She tried to move him but his limbs were stiff.
“Kai! Wake up!”
“Move,” Déaþscúa ordered. He cut the teen�
�s bonds with a knife then lifted him easily over his shoulder. He strode out into a spartan living room with a single table and chair and placed Kai against the back wall. He then turned and began to smash up the table, creating a pile of wood in the middle of the floor. His sword made short work of the larger pieces. Once satisfied, he held the lighter to the wood and waited until the flame had taken hold of the kindling. Warmth quickly spread through the room.
Déaþscúa only checked over Kai briefly before nodding to himself. “His only injury is a nasty lump on the head. Once he has warmed up his biggest problem will be a concussion. You on the other hand need healing now.”
Kai stirred before KT could answer, slowly opening his eyes. It took him a moment to make out any details through his blurred vision but when his eyes focussed in on his sister they suddenly became wide and alert. He struggled to stand but only made it to a sitting position.
“What the hell happened? You’re hurt.” He stopped as his memories fell back into place. “It was that damn butcher. What did he do to you?”
KT wrapped her arms around Kai in a hug. He was still cold but the contact gave her great comfort. “I’m okay now. It's just a few scratches.”
This didn’t placate Kai. Fury set into his features. “Where is he? I’ll kill the bastard for hurting you!”
“Then you will have to train as a necromancer. Killing a man already in the grave is redundant,” Déaþscúa told him passively.
This news did nothing to improve Kai’s mood. “I should have been there. I’m supposed to protect you but didn’t do a damn thing.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” KT said to him as comfortingly as she could. “I can look after myself. I am the older sibling, right. See, I’m totally fi…” Her head drooped and her body slid to the floor.
“KT!” Kai roared.
“Relax,” said Déaþscúa calmly. He moved the younger man to the side then knelt over KT, the blue light appearing around his hands. “She lost too much blood by wasting time talking. She just needs rest. As do you.
