Nathaniel Grey and the Obsidian Crown

by Farrell Keeling

  Perhaps you will be the first to come back sane… or even alive.

  Nathaniel shuddered suddenly, as if an icy hand had ran down the length of his spine. Little wonder that even the Dwarves were reluctant to return to this part of the mine.

  ‘My father – back before I turned – used to be afraid of his basement,’ Brey said cheerfully, startling Nathaniel from his stupor.

  Buried as he was in his thoughts he had not registered Brey walking up beside him, nor her fellow Lycans falling back. Despite his feelings about the mine, there was something calming about her presence. What is it about you, Lycan?

  ‘Why was your father afraid of his basement?’ Nathaniel asked, shaking off the troublesome questions that plagued him, for the time being.

  ‘One night he couldn’t get any sleep, he thought he could hear… whispers, but he couldn’t make out the words. It really used to bother him,’ Brey giggled at the memory. ‘He came to realise whatever was making the noise was coming from the basement, a sort of strange humming. My poor father thought we were being haunted! I suggested he put a lock on the door but he daren’t go near it.’

  ‘So… what was in the basement?’

  Brey grinned at Nathaniel and rolled up her sleeve to reveal the assortment of circular scars littered below her right shoulder. ‘Hornets,’ she said, ‘a lot of them.’

  ‘Well, maybe we’ll just find rats down here,’ he said with vain hope.

  Brey snorted at that.

  ‘This is far as I go!’ Humber suddenly announced, bringing the group to a halt.

  The tunnel carried on for some distance after, but for how long was impossible to say. The wall-mounted braziers came to a sudden and abrupt halt, just a few metres beyond the Dwarf, who had led them to this point. The journey into a gradually darkening abyss was to be theirs alone.

  Zaine stooped over beside Humber to inspect the ground, tracing a gloved hand over the dried mud. ‘No one has crossed this part of the mine in weeks,’ he said. ‘And those that did… were fleeing.’

  Humber nodded in assent. ‘There be something lurking in our home, Hunter,’ the Dwarf said, ‘you might be wiser to face the Regals, head on.’

  ‘It’s not like I didn’t tell them,’ Gabe could be heard muttering at the back.

  The Dwarf could only bring himself to make one fleeting glance at the passage beyond, before he began eyeing up his own boots. He shook his head sadly, ‘as you wish.’

  He pulled free a torch, previously strapped to his back, lit the head and then handed it to Zaine. ‘May you return safely to stone,’ slapping a fist to his heart.

  Humber bowed before them and then hurtled back from whence they came, as if staying a moment longer would be enough to render him insane. Staring at that impenetrable darkness that lay in wait, Nathaniel found himself wishing he’d gone back with him.

  ‘Takes a lot to scare a Dwarf,’ Zaine said with a troubled expression.

  It’s not going to be just rats, Nathaniel thought grimly.

  ‘Didn’t Pegs say that they hadn’t dug these tunnels?’ Samir said, squinting past Zaine. His voice seemed even deeper in the mines.

  ‘Humber confirmed as much,’ Zaine said, clutching his green pendant tightly in one hand, as he stared at the path ahead. ‘This place, there’s something… amiss about it,’ Nathaniel heard him whisper grimly.

  And if they didn’t build them, who – or what – did? Nathaniel could not bring himself to disagree with Zaine - something was very much wrong. And yet… whilst he was tempted as the Dwarf had been, to put as much distance between himself and what lay beyond, something was pulling him blindly toward it. Nathaniel wrapped his cloak closer around him. They had not moved another inch, and yet it felt drastically colder than it had a moment ago.

  ‘Then it is a good thing we have a Hunter with us, isn’t it?’ Brey said, patting Nathaniel on the back, sensing his unease. Though, it was difficult to tell whether Zaine’s presence truly comforted her either.

  Nathaniel thought he caught his fellow Regal glaring at him, as he stood beside Brey. He felt a similar pang of embarrassment, as he had in Pegs’ dining room.

  She knows you are promised to another, he thought. Though why would anyone wait for a ‘Kinslayer’? And not just any Kinslayer, but an Emperor murdering, Lycan loving, Kinslayer. He struggled to suppress a snarl. The Szar would pay for what he had done to him.

  The silver of Zaine’s eyes shone brightly at them all. And, as always, remained as unreadable and impassive as usual. If anything ever fazed the Hunter, he didn’t let on. Or perhaps he simply never felt the cold touch of fear. Whichever was the case, Nathaniel was silently grateful to have someone in their party that even the darkness that lurked in these cursed mines would think twice about swallowing up. I certainly would, he thought, eyeing up the hefty scar that split the man’s face.

  ‘We shall see,’ Zaine said, in answer to Brey. His overcoat whipped against the air, as he turned to lead them on.

  Vainly attempting to put aside the guilt that nagged at him – he really wasn’t sure if it was related more to his bride-to-be… or Vaera – Nathaniel continued walking beside Brey. The crackle of Zaine’s torch accompanied their quickened breaths, as they traversed deeper into the endless darkness.

  He heard the others behind him utter dark oaths, as they drew their own cloaks tightly around them to fight the growing cold. And it was a strange cold too. It seemed to begin deeper than the outer warmth of their flesh, cutting past bone to burrow its way deep into their very souls.

  The only one who didn’t appear to be affected by this unnatural phenomenon was the Hunter. Though, ironically, he had all the reason in the world to, given he was garbed in a considerably lighter manner than the rest.

  ‘What was that?’ Vaera said suddenly, bringing the group to a standing halt.

  ‘Come on, Regal, I don’t want to stay here any longer than you do,’ Gabe chattered through gritted teeth.

  ‘What did you see?’ Zaine asked calmly.

  Vaera began to point at something but faltered. ‘I–it’s probably nothing,’ she said, shoulders dropping in resignation.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Zaine persisted, ‘we can ill afford to take chances.’

  ‘It’s… I thought I saw something move across the walls… like a shadow–’

  ‘Probably her own shadow,’ Brey muttered.

  ‘I know what I saw,’ Vaera snapped.

  ‘Maybe… we should go back?’ Samir suggested.

  ‘The Dwarf was right,’ Gabe said, ‘be better to go knock in some Regal heads on the frontline. No offence,’ he added swiftly, as Vaera gave him a look.

  ‘What? And be delivered to the Szar in pieces?’ Nathaniel retorted.

  Gabe shrugged, muttering something about preferring to go out in a blaze of glory.

  ‘Quiet!’ Zaine cut past the chatter, ‘there’s something not quite right here, and I need you all at your wariest, and not at each other’s throats.’ He looked sternly between Gabe and Nathaniel.

  Brey gave Nathaniel a pointed look and, finding him at a loss for words, jutted her chin and stalked off. Vaera’s eyes settled on Nathaniel shortly after. Well go on then, her narrowed eyes seemed to tell him mockingly.

  What have I done now? Nathaniel thought.

  Perhaps it was his imagination but as they left the braziers further behind, the flames of Zaine’s torch appeared to angle back, more towards the dimming light. First, Vaera’s vision of shadows and now he was having his own paranoid imaginings!

  Teeth chattering loudly together, as they continued, almost blindly, on their course, Nathaniel found himself thinking – to his own surprise – that, perhaps, Gabe’s idea wasn’t so bad after all.

  Fancy yourself to be a bit of a hero now, do you? Nathaniel allowed himself to smile at the thought, before the grim reality set in. If it came to it, and they were forced to cut their way through to the palace, could he really kill another of his kind? The unspoken question left a
bitter taste.

  Well, they already think me a ‘Kinslayer,’ he mused.

  ‘There it is again! Right there!’

  Vaera’s outstretched hand quivered, as she pointed at a portion of the wall lit by the torch.

  Kaira whipped round, hands slapping her sides, ‘Ozin’s blood, Regal, are we going to have to stop every – Oh…’

  ‘Nobody move,’ Zaine said sharply.

  No one questioned that order.

  The shadows cast on the wall were not theirs, nor did they appear to belong to any living thing. They simply wormed their way around the light, dancing before their very eyes.

  Nathaniel also became aware of a low buzz emanating from all around them, growing in pitch until it became intolerably grating, like a knife scratching against bone. Judging by his companions’ grimaces, he was not the only one.

  Gradually, some words could be made out among the fervour of whispers. But Nathaniel had to strain to hear them, for it was not just a few voices that spoke, but seemingly a thousand, unceasingly butting in front of each other. Each demanding to have their say.

  ‘Darkness eternal… shadows three shall rise… blot out the light… drown the Gods…’

  Samir held his hands clamped to the side of his head and kept his eyes tightly shut, reciting something, perhaps a prayer, quietly to himself over and over. Even Gabe looked ill at ease, keeping a white-knuckle grip on both short swords at his waist.

  Was this what drove the Dwarves that Pegs had mentioned mad?

  ‘What manner of monster are you?’ Zaine called to the wall.

  One by one the shadows gave way to a chilling silence, pausing on the wall beside them, as if considering Zaine’s question.

  ‘What does this one seek?’ they began again. But, this time, in unison. In a terrifying chorus that shook the very walls around them.

  They all stared at the wall for a moment, dumbfounded. Were the shadows really speaking? They couldn’t all be imagining it.

  ‘What does this one seek?’ the shadows asked once more.

  All looked to Zaine, the only one of them able to maintain some semblance of calm. Yet, he too seemed, to Nathaniel, to be uneasy at the arrival of these talking shadows. Initially, he thought it was because the Hunter did not know what was before him. However, there was something in the way Zaine narrowed his brows at the shadows that suggested recognition.

  ‘We seek safe passage through these tunnels, we do not wish to disturb you,’ Zaine said, all the while drumming a steady beat on the pommel of his sword.

  ‘But disturb you have!’ the voices cried.

  ‘We only wish to pass through these tunnels, then we will disturb no longer,’ Zaine replied.

  The shadows considered the Hunter’s plea, before letting out a low hiss. ‘Only in darkness may you be judged.’

  The shadows darted down the wall, and began to slither across the floor, arcing towards the party as snakes would toward their prey.

  Startled, Zaine didn’t even have time to take a step back before the first wave began to crawl up his greaves. The torch slipped from his hand as he fought to wrestle the shadows away.

  ’The three shall rise! The three shall rise! The three shall rise!’

  The voices united in one deathly roar, like a steady drumbeat.

  ‘Away with you!’ Zaine growled. ‘Stay back!’ he cried at Nathaniel and Gabe, as the pair sought to help the Hunter.

  ‘Not a chance!’ Gabe advanced, jumping back just in time to avoid a shadowy tendril that extended from Zaine’s chest.

  Even more shadows collected at the floor, and some had begun to turn their attention to the rest of the group.

  ‘What do we do?’ Brey shouted over the clamour from the shadows.

  ‘They’re everywhere!’ Vaera shrieked.

  Nathaniel looked at Zaine. The Hunter was sweating profusely at the brow and grimaced as if he carried a great weight across his shoulders.

  Abruptly, his eyes flashed open and his face settled into a mask of pure horror.

  ‘Run… more are coming,’ he said, quietly at first, inspiring little but blank stares.

  ‘RUN!’ he commanded them at the top of his lungs, ‘AWAY WITH YOU!’

  Nathaniel did just that.

  He snatched up the torch and herded the girls ahead of him, only to find Gabe still rooted to the same spot. Samir remained beside him with his hands clamped around his ears.

  ‘GABE!’ Nathaniel yelled, ‘there’s nothing we can do!’

  The big Lycan looked guiltily between Nathaniel and Zaine, cursed, then dragged Samir along with him.

  *

  Nathaniel did not know for how long they had ran but their feet had pounded the damp earth underfoot long after Zaine’s cries had dissipated into the air. On a few occasions, the narrowness of the tunnel had caused one or two of their party to tumble to the ground until another managed to pull them back up.

  They did not stop until they reached a large cavern. A small stream, trickling down from the cavern wall, separated the space in two. At the far end, Nathaniel could just make out two tunnels, which veered out at diverging angles. Daggers of stone were poised above them, suspended from the high ceiling, threatening to impale those below at any given moment.

  Gabe collapsed to the ground first. His chest heaving as he struggled for breath. The rest soon followed.

  ‘What were those things?’ Kaira spoke through a shiver.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Nathaniel replied. All he knew was that he couldn’t bear to hear those grating whispers again.

  ‘Zaine…’ Brey said suddenly. ‘They didn’t… did they…’

  No one wanted to finish her sentence. The unspoken thought of the Hunter’s fate hung in their mouths like a bitter pill, too difficult to swallow. Gabe rose suddenly and started towards the tunnel they had run from.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Nathaniel called after him.

  The Lycan swivelled on his bootheels, his brow kneaded together fiercely. ‘We need to get him back.’

  Nathaniel swallowed hard. What he was about to say was going to sound horrible, even to his own ears.

  ‘What we need is to get to Obsidia.’ He knew it was what Zaine would have wanted but it still made Nathaniel feel a little sick wanting to abandon the Hunter.

  ‘You’re going to leave him there?’ Gabe thrust his arm back at the tunnel. ‘For the shadows to pick him apart?’

  Nathaniel stepped towards Gabe. ‘We need to get to Obsidia, before the Szar’s army can march to Dalmarra,’ Nathaniel said.

  ‘He wouldn’t stop looking for you when you got lost in Morne!’ Gabe said. ‘Who do you think tracked down that vampire to rescue you?’

  ‘I know. But we have to stop the Szar,’ Nathaniel said quietly. ‘To save your Brothers and Sisters.’

  ‘I… you…’ Gabe’s face contorted with all the emotions crossing his features. Gabe bent his head and made a defeated sigh. ‘Blaze you, Nathaniel,’ he said softly.

  Nathaniel removed a waterskin from his saddlebag and approached the thin stream, eager to distract himself from the guilt scratching at the base of his stomach.

  ‘Do you reckon that’s drinkable?’ Nathaniel turned to his companions.

  ‘With this place… I wouldn’t even touch it,’ Kaira said.

  Samir crouched down beside Nathaniel, dipped two fingertips into the stream, and brought them to his lips.

  ‘It’s fine,’ Samir said.

  The Scorched boy left Nathaniel’s side without another word and sat against the wall, clutching his bag of books close to him. His face, usually so calm, bore a somewhat hard edge that Nathaniel hadn’t noticed before. He knew he hadn’t asked Samir to join him on this journey - especially given he’d probably much rather be wrapped in the comfort of his books - but it made Nathaniel feel all the poorer for it, just the same.

  ‘That Dwarf of yours left out that we’d have our choice of tunnels,’ Kaira nodded toward the back of the cavern.

&
nbsp; ‘Maybe none of the Dwarves had made it this far,’ Nathaniel suggested.

  ‘But which one are we supposed to take to get to Obsidia?’ Brey lifted her torch ever so slightly, so its light touched the tunnel mouths more clearly. They both looked as gloomy and unwelcoming as the other.

  ‘You know what must be done, Regal,’ the rod’s voice crept into Nathaniel’s mind, causing him to jump.

  You again, he thought back.

  ‘What’s up with you, Regal?’ Gabe said.

  ‘Nothing,’ Nathaniel replied quickly.

  Desperately, he reached for the voice, begging for more guidance but that appeared to be all it wished to say. Nathaniel looked over his companions and made his decision.

  ‘I’ll take Samir and Kaira down that one,’ Nathaniel indicated the left tunnel.

  ‘I’m not good enough for your little group?’ Gabe growled.

  ‘It’s not that,’ Nathaniel shook his head. ‘I need you to make sure that Brey and Vaera get through safely.’

  Gabe grumbled about it, but Nathaniel took his stalking off to mean agreement.

  ‘You think we can’t protect ourselves?’ Vaera sniffed.

  ‘Do you two really want to go there with just each other for company?’

  The girls shared a look and grimaced almost simultaneously. At least the matter looked to be settled.

  ‘Are we going now?’ Samir’s voice rumbled from the cavern wall.

  Nathaniel glanced at the tunnels reluctantly. His bag seemed to weigh twice as much all of the sudden. ‘We’ll rest first, for a moment,’ Nathaniel decided. ‘Get some sleep, I’ll take first watch.’

  Aside from Gabe, giving himself away with his rockslide of a snore, Nathaniel doubted any of the others managed to catch any sleep. When Samir came to relieve him about an hour later, Nathaniel could only manage to shuffle about in his cloak, though he teetered on the edge of fatigue. Bleary eyes stared back at him, when they stood at the tunnel entrances later on.

  ‘If it turns out to be a dead end, double-back and take our tunnel,’ Nathaniel told Gabe.