by Icy Sedgwick
Jyx turned away and raced out of the doors. A squad of Wolfkin charged towards him, drawn by the sounds of the fracas inside. The lead Wolfkin picked him up by the shoulder and lifted him aside in one smooth movement. Jyx screamed in pain, the claws digging into the fresh wounds left by the last Wolfkin to grip his shoulder. The Wolfkin dropped him and Jyx rolled across the threshold. A trail of blood traced his route along the marble floor.
The squad disappeared into the gloom of the house. Screeching and growling fought each other for supremacy before the large entrance doors swung closed with a resounding crash. Jyx sank to his knees on the steps, aware that another crowd of Eufame’s admirers stood watching across the courtyard. They took in the sight of his injuries, and they backed away until they met the wall.
Bastet miaowed. Jyx looked up and saw her perched on top of a pedestal near the door. She wound herself around the statue’s feet, glaring at Jyx as she did so.
“I’m so sorry, Bastet. I didn’t mean to use the sleeping sand, and I thought you’d be safe in my chamber.”
She miaowed again, her golden eyes full of reproach. Jyx hung his head. She knows I forgot about her. I am a horrible person.
“Miss Delsenza’s probably going to embed me in the floor, isn’t she?”
Bastet flicked her tail in reply. Jyx stared at the ground. Only two weeks ago, his biggest worry had been ensuring no one found out about his nocturnal visits to the library. Now he had a horde of dead royals rampaging around inside one of the city’s oldest institutions—and it was all his fault. Expulsion from the Academy would have been better than this.
The tall doors swung open. Jyx looked up, and peered into the gloom. He expected to see mummies strewn across the floor as victorious Wolfkin stood over them, nursing their war wounds. Instead, a horde of mummies swarmed out of the front door, leaving dark heaps on the floor inside the House—dark, broken heaps of muscle and fur. Jyx gulped and looked away, unwilling to see the destruction wrought inside.
Several mummies broke away from the main group and lumbered across the courtyard towards Eufame’s would-be suitors. The old men stood rooted to the spot, staring wide-eyed at the advancing royals.
“Run, you idiots!” Jyx shouted at them, ignoring the fire in his shoulder to make wild “leave now” gestures with his arms. The mummies fell upon the small group, knocking the suitors to the ground. Screams and pleas for mercy overwhelmed the sounds of tearing and crunching.
The rest of the pack turned their attention towards Jyx. He looked across the courtyard but a small detachment of resurrected princes blocked his route to the exit. Another group blocked the doors to the house. There was nowhere to go, except through the mummies.
The scent of the yellowed pages in the Impetritae Inceptivus filled his nostrils, and the words sprang unbidden to Jyx’s lips. He threw back his head and yelled “Extollat me, exalta me altum, liberabis me, ut volet!” A gust of wind gathered behind him and forced him upwards. His feet left the ground and he felt himself launched towards the pedestal. Jyx caught the cold stone in his outstretched hands and he scrabbled onto the slab. He clung to the plinth beside Bastet. He was torn between elation at using his first wind magick incantation, and terror at the sight of so many mummies.
“I don’t understand it, Bastet. I’m sure I didn’t raise that many.”
Bastet miaowed and looked down into the courtyard. Jyx followed her golden gaze to where Queen Neferpenthe stood in the doorway. Another battalion of mummies gathered behind her, and Jyx’s heart plummeted when he saw Wolfkin among her death squad.
“She did it? She raised the others, and the dead Wolfkin? Why didn’t anyone tell me she was a necromancer too?”
Bastet miaowed again and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Jyx stared down at the queen. Nourished by blood as well as ether, her body had filled out and fewer wrinkles folded her ancient skin. Red sparks fizzed in the depths of her eye sockets, and her mouth curved into a rictus grin.
The thundering sound of hooves on stone and the panicked whinny of horses poured into the courtyard. Eufame strode through the arch, flanked by her personal guard. Her cold eyes burned with fierce rage, and Jyx could feel the sharp spikes of her aura all the way across the yard.
“What in the name of the Old and Great Ones is going on here?”
Eufame’s voice boomed across the courtyard. The notes of both fury and menace were enough to stop the mummies in their tracks. Those nearest the arch cowered backwards, away from the familiar figure of the necromancer general. Two of the mummies hunched over the remains of the suitors paused in their feeding frenzy to note the new arrival. Jyx glanced at Neferpenthe; the mummy queen scowled at Eufame.
Bastet let out a long howl, and Eufame looked up to the pedestal. Her expression softened for a fraction of a second when she recognised the cat. Her face hardened when her gaze alighted on Jyx.
“You. This was your doing.”
Eufame gave a flick of her wrist and Jyx tumbled from the pedestal. He landed on the ground with a thump, the air forced out of his body. His shoulder protested, and a loud whine filled in the air. It was only when the shock of the impact faded that Jyx realised the whining came from him. He looked across the courtyard, and Eufame gazed back. Disappointment and fury chased each other across her sharp features.
“I’m sorry, it was an accident—”
“I’ll deal with you later.”
Eufame rolled back the draped sleeves of her robe to reveal thin white arms covered in dark red designs. They resembled the pictographic writing Jyx had seen inside the house, and he guessed they were arcane tattoos, although they bore an uncanny resemblance to dried blood. She pointed at the mummies nearest to her. They halted their slow creep towards her, and froze several feet away.
The Wolfkin guard accompanying Eufame spread out to take up their positions around her. She barked several words in a guttural language. The raised Wolfkin among Queen Neferpenthe’s squad stepped aside, and marched down the steps. They lined up against the outer wall of the house. The mummy queen shrieked and barked out a frenzy of her own, but the Wolfkin dropped their weapons and put their paws behind their heads. One of Eufame’s guard broke away to gather their weapons. The Wolfkin stood between its raised kin and Queen Neferpenthe, a low growl rumbling in its throat.
Jyx scrambled to his feet and hobbled across the courtyard. Eufame ignored him as he slipped past. The Wolfkin behind her prevented an escape from the house, but at least he’d be safer behind Eufame than in front of her. Safe for now, at least.
Eufame roared and green fire sprang in a circle around the perimeter of the courtyard. The mummies closest to it shrieked and fell back. Jyx recognised the symbols around the circle, although they were inverted from those he’d drawn. Only two were completely different—and came from the Book of Banishment.
“You’re going to banish them?”
“You leave me no choice, Jyx.”
Eufame chanted the first incantation. The words sliced through the air like darts made of ice, leaving visible trails of cold. Queen Neferpenthe, standing just outside the circle, waved her hands and shrieked a counter spell. The flames flickered, but held. Eufame narrowed her eyes and repeated the incantation with a little more force. Queen Neferpenthe snapped her fingers and the mummies nearest Eufame broke their trance and lurched forward.
Three of the Wolfkin took up positions in front of the necromancer general. Immense blades dangled from sheaths attached to their belts, and they wielded vicious maces. Jyx ducked around Eufame and drew a sigil in the dust on the marble paving. A tiny whirlwind, no more than a foot high, spun through the dust, sending it flying upwards and into the empty eye sockets of the advancing mummies. They stopped, clawing at their faces, the enchanted dust interfering with their necromantic sight. The mummies fell to the ground, their goal of reaching Eufame forgotten.
“Nicely done, Jyx. But ultimately pointless,” said Eufame.
“Why? I thought you wouldn�
�t want the bodies destroyed,” replied Jyx.
“Are you really as stupid as you look? These souls have been tainted through blood. I cannot separate them from their bodies, and then perform the ritual again, albeit correctly.” Her scornful tone slashed Jyx’s pride. “No, these creatures must be destroyed!”
Eufame unleashed another incantation. A whirlwind, much larger than that created by Jyx, tore around the circle. Spectral hands of tempestuous air clawed at the mummies. Souls were ripped free from ancient bodies, whipped away within the whirlwind to spiral out of sight. The lifeless corpses swayed where they stood before collapsing into heaps of desiccated flesh and papery skin.
Queen Neferpenthe raised her arms and threw her head back, her withered vocal cords forming jagged syllables of raw power. The mummies around the circle surged forward, spurred on by their leader. Eufame growled and a ripple of energy danced around the sigils. The mummies collided with a wall of banishment. Arms of green magick reached out of the wall, tearing the souls free from any mummies found to be within their grasp.
“Come on, ’Penthe! Send me some more of your cronies!” Eufame screamed across the courtyard. Jyx sneaked a look at the necromancer general. Determination set her face in a mask of cold focus. He bit his lip to see a droplet of blood at her nostril.
Queen Neferpenthe lowered her arms and twisted her mouth into a parody of a pout. Only those mummies behind her remained. The rest of her impromptu army lay scattered around the courtyard, both inside and outside Eufame’s circle.
“What is she going to do?” asked Jyx.
“There is really only one thing she can do. Give up.”
“Is that likely?”
“No.”
Eufame barked a command and the green circle of flames subsided. The lifeless bodies in the courtyard suddenly looked fragile and pitiful. If he hadn’t seen them clash with the Wolfkin, he’d never have believed them capable of such violence.
“What are you doing?” Jyx trotted after Eufame as she stalked across the courtyard, her loyal guard in tow. Green energy glowed from within her tattoos, and snaked down her forearms. It clustered in her open hands, cupped as if to carry water. Queen Neferpenthe paced back and forward, her eye sockets fixed on the growing mass of energy in Eufame’s hands. The necromancer general pulled at the mass, sculpting it and drawing it into new shapes. Eufame fashioned the energy into a glowing green scythe.
The remnants of Queen Neferpenthe’s personal guard surged past their leader. Eufame swung the scythe once, and the blade screamed as it sliced through the air. It slid through the approaching mummies, and their lifeless corpses fell to their knees. Their souls remained standing for a moment, sliced in half, before they winked out of existence. The bodies swayed in front of Eufame before they stumbled backwards, landing with a series of wet thumps on the marble steps.
Jyx looked at the dead royals strewn around the courtyard. Blood smeared their mouths and stained their ancient skin. Jyx didn’t need Eufame’s advanced powers of perception to know their souls would carry the Blood Taint. She must have banished them to the Nether World, and there’s no coming back from there.
Queen Neferpenthe screamed. She pried the moonstone from her diadem and tucked it into the palm of one hand. She brought her hands together with a mighty crash. The moonstone exploded in a shower of white sparks, and the shockwave threw Eufame and Jyx backwards. Jyx landed on a broken mummy, and his shoulder wound sent spikes of pain coursing through him. He cried out, and rolled to the side. The movement forced a final puff of air out of the mummy’s lungs. A foetid smell hung in the air.
“Is that all you have, ’Penthe?”
Jyx looked up. Eufame struggled to regain her footing, the green scythe of energy now pulsing in her hand. Queen Neferpenthe breathed on the ball of white energy in her hands, turning the energy an inky shade of black. She stretched it and moulded it between her fingers as Eufame scrambled to her feet. Neferpenthe formed the black energy into a crackling labrys. She swung it backward in a neat arc, and grunted as she heaved it forward over her head.
The blade of the labrys connected with the staff of Eufame’s scythe as Eufame brought it up in defence. Neferpenthe screeched and threw herself forward, driving Eufame back two steps, the necromancer’s muscles taut as she fought to keep the labrys at bay.
Jyx pushed himself to his feet. The setting sun threw long shadows across the courtyard. While the other mummies still cast none, Queen Neferpenthe’s shadow stretched out for several feet behind her, crackling with the same energy visible in her labrys. Jyx visualised a sparkling red net, and drew back his hands as he prepared to cast it across the mummy’s new shadow.
Queen Neferpenthe squealed and hauled the labrys away from Eufame. The necromancer general stumbled, pulled off balance by the mummy’s movement. Neferpenthe swung the labrys again, preparing to take a swing at Jyx.
Jyx cast his net but his aim went wide. Eufame took advantage of the diversion. With one fluid movement, she heaved the scythe in a ragged arc, and sliced the blade through Neferpenthe.
Queen Neferpenthe swayed on her feet. Her hands flew to her throat and she dropped the labrys. The axe exploded in a frenzy of black shards when it hit the ground. Eufame jabbed at her with the scythe, and Queen Neferpenthe fell backwards. A shade of her former self remained standing, her soul manifest before them. Eufame barked a short incantation, and drove the scythe through the centre of the shade. Both the soul and the scythe disappeared in a flash of green.
“That bitch never did know when to quit,” said Eufame. Blood trickled from both nostrils, and silver streaked her hair. Tiny wrinkles clustered at the outer edges of her eyes, eyes now dull with exertion.
“I’m so sorry, I really am, I—”
“Enough.”
Eufame stood up and her Wolfkin guard trotted over. They flanked her, cutting Jyx off from his mentor. Jyx wanted to tell her his side, but the Wolfkin rushed her into the House of the Long Dead, and out of sight.
11
“My Vault…my wonderful Vault…”
Jyx found Eufame in the Vault, standing just inside the door. She gazed the length of the chamber, her jaw slack. Jyx noticed a film of moisture in her eyes and looked away. A combination of remorse and shame burned in his chest, fanned by the knowledge that everything was his fault. The flame burned brighter when he thought of his mother’s inevitable disappointment. Eufame swept along the central aisle, her robes trailing in pools of smoking alchemical compounds. Bastet followed, picking her way through the debris on her velvet paws. Eufame disappeared through the archway in the wall to inspect the damage in her chambers.
Jyx stood by the Vault’s entrance. One of Eufame’s personal guard stood uncomfortably close behind him. Jyx stared at the ceiling, unable to bring himself to look at the destruction. Overturned marble slabs lay all around the room, and traces of gold glittered among the wreckage of the alchemy tables. Two of the raised Wolfkin swept up the broken glass from the display cabinets in the gallery, while another moved counter-clockwise, sprinkling handfuls of dust around the perimeter of the Vault. Only a handful of mummies lay untouched at the far end of the room. A tiny glimmer of relief flickered in Jyx’s mind to see Eufame’s favourite royal among them.
A heart-rending scream echoed around the Vault, issuing from Eufame’s chamber. The depth of sorrow turned the scream white, and it coalesced as a mist of sadness that clung to the walls.
“She’s going to kill me, isn’t she?” asked Jyx, turning to the Wolfkin guard behind him.
The guard growled in reply. Jyx tried to swallow the hard ball of fear lodged in his throat.
Eufame reappeared in the Vault, her fists clenched tight and her mouth set in a firm line. She stalked up the central aisle towards Jyx. He flinched, caught between Eufame’s confrontational aura and the aggressive stance of the Wolfkin behind him.
Jyx wanted to ask how bad the damage was but he managed only a whimper. The noise sounded small and hollow in the cavern
ous room.
“You are lucky, Master Faire, that the damage is confined to only one of my chambers. The library remains untouched, as do my other rooms. But you already know of my library, don’t you?”
“I…I…yes I do.”
“Judging by the stink your aura has left, you favoured the Impetritae Inceptivus, didn’t you?”
Jyx nodded. Only a handful of magickal practitioners could physically smell auras; he should have known Eufame would be one of them.
“I knew you would head straight for that one. And you omitted the vital clause in the Resurrectio Totalis incantation, didn’t you?”
Jyx stared at her. “What vital clause?”
“This is the reason why I instructed you not to enter the library without correct supervision or guidance! The vital clause is there to ensure the raised spirits remain pliant and docile.”
Jyx thought of the pages, gummed together with old candle wax. His legs buckled and he pitched forward. The Wolfkin grabbed his collar and pulled him upright.
“Yes, Jyx. Some of the pages were stuck together, weren’t they? You learned the incantation that you found on the page, but you didn’t check to make sure you’d copied out the whole incantation. You absolute fool. I bet you thought you were going to impress me, didn’t you?”
Jyx tried to nod but fear, guilt, and anger at his own stupidity kept him paralysed.
“That pterosaur was never a test for you, nor was it a vehicle for you to show off how talented you think you are! It was intended as a learning tool, and now you’ve left the poor thing blind and confused!” Eufame jabbed a slender finger at Jyx’s chest.
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh I bet you are but sorry just isn’t good enough. Because of you, I’ve lost a trove of personal possessions that are utterly irreplaceable. I’ve lost almost an entire collection of enchantments. My alchemical work will need to be begun from scratch and the new prince’s coronation procession has been left in ruins!”
