by Aaron Bunce
He heard a noise slipping out of the darkness in his mind.
“I hear something in the dark. What is that noise?” he asked.
Emma was clutching at his arms and talking, her nails scratching his skin. He could feel her breath on his face but couldn’t hear what she was saying. The noise grew louder from the darkness, until something hit him. He couldn’t see what it was, he could only feel it. A staggering weight squeezed in on his arms and legs and he was lifted up into the air. The pain in his head surged, a sour taste creeping up his throat.
“Something’s got me. It’s got me!” Luca said, his voice breaking.
“Luca, you’re safe. You’re right here with me.” Emma felt so far away. He couldn’t feel her hands on his arms anymore.
He floated up into the air as a huge, terrifying face materialized out of the darkness. The monster inched forward, the light falling on horrible eyes and glistening teeth. Luca’s heart fluttered and his pants suddenly felt warm and wet.
Two men called his name, but he couldn’t move towards them. They started screaming, claws and teeth tearing at their clothes and flesh. A familiar voice cut in, soft and gentle. She wanted him to move, but he couldn’t.
He was strangling again, fighting for breath as his feet lifted off the ground. He was floating in the air. Luca saw a girl, older than him, her hair raven-dark and her skin ghostly pale. He knew her, but couldn’t quite remember how. Thinking about her made his head ache worse.
A knife gleamed in the light, and he felt air rush all around him as he toppled towards the darkness below. Something struck him and he pitched to the side. Pain flared in his arm, then his back, his neck, and his leg. Hard objects bludgeoned him mercilessly from all sides. Luca fell away, the pain driving him down and into the blissful silence.
* * * *
Emma took a step towards Luca as he staggered. The joy she felt just a moment ago washed away, replaced by fear and more than a little doubt. His knees shook. No, not just his knees. His whole body.
“Eyes…teeth. It hurts me!” he mumbled, his hands clenching spasmodically in the fabric of his shirt. The knuckles turned white instantly.
“Luca, what’s wrong?” she cried, grabbing him just as his legs went out.
She fought to keep her balance, but he pulled her to the ground with him. Emma smelled something sour and warm. Urine.
What is happening? What is wrong with him? she thought frantically, looking to the window, and then the door. She flinched and almost dropped Luca as a shadow loomed above her. Someone stood between her and the bright space of the open door. She hadn’t even heard it open.
“Mercy, what happened?” the dark-haired woman said, moving forward, and out of the shadow created by the doorway.
Emma felt her chest tighten further, and she shied away as Cassida knelt down next to her. The woman frightened her. She looked old and frail when she first saw her at the Lakeside Market in Pinehall. And yet, now she appeared as a young, vibrant woman. Her eyes had not changed, however. They were still wide and colorless, like deep and mysterious mirrors.
“We were just…he was,” Emma stammered, her eyes dropping back down to her arms, and Luca’s quaking body.
“Easy, dear. I will help him.”
Emma nodded, and felt a cool tickle flow down her back. The choking pressure in her chest started to release and in just a few heartbeats was able to find her voice again.
“We were talking. He remembered something about his family. It was his brother. Then, he tried to remember more. He just closed his eyes and…it hurt him. He started to shake, and then collapsed. Please, Cassida, you promised to help him. Please!” Emma said quickly.
“Please, call me Cassendyra. I have no need to hide here, and you have no need to worry. An agreement struck by a dalan is like a mountain of stone. It cannot be hidden, and one must walk a great distance to avoid it. I will do everything within my power to make him whole once again,” the strange, radiant woman said.
Emma listened to her speak, and felt like she was drifting off with the words. Her voice was soft, almost velvety, like a spongy bed of moss.
She focused on Cassendyra’s mouth, and then her nose. She wasn’t just the younger version of the old woman she first met. Yes, she looked younger, but also more refined, as if she were a statue finally completed after years of practice and mastery. Her hair was long and dark, falling in tight bunches of ring-shaped curls. Her nose was straight, and neither narrow or wide. Her lips were full, and turned up ever so slightly towards her eyes, giving her a pleasant, happy look.
Emma spent several winter thaws serving Lady Verona Goldman at Brickshire House when she was a girl. Lady Verona’s life had been built up around her status and natural beauty. Emma spent half a morning each day getting Lady Goldman dressed, primped, and powdered. It was a laborious affair. And yet, even with all the paint, baubles, and expensive ribbons, Verona paled in comparison to Cassendyra’s natural beauty. Emma felt inadequate standing next to her.
“Emma, did you hear me? Clear the bed so I might lay him down,” Cassendyra said.
“So sorry,” Emma said, meeting the woman’s strange eyes. She shook her head and allowed the woman to lift Luca out of her arms.
She ran over to the bed, shaking her head as she dipped low and scooped the blanket off the floor. It felt as if she were waking up from a deep sleep. How did that happen? She’d just stared at the woman and her mind had instantly filled with memories beyond count.
Cassendyra stood, hefting Luca easily in her arms. She walked over to the bed, her steps so light Emma couldn’t even hear her footsteps. She looked away as the woman stripped Luca’s trousers off. When she turned back, Luca was clean and dressed in a simple, white outfit. His arms and legs still twitched, his head rocking back and forth. He looked so small and horribly frail.
“You are struggling with your worry,” Cassendyra said, not turning as she continued to tend to Luca. “I feared what would happen to him once we arrived here. It is this place…the magical energies we have imbued into the land to protect us will affect both of you.”
Emma nodded, but didn’t really know how to respond. Magical energies? Affect us, how? And why didn’t she tell us? Emma took a breath and started to speak, but clamped her mouth shut quickly. Her parents taught her better. Never speak out of anger, especially when in a stranger’s house. She barely knew Luca, helped him steal a priceless treasure, and now couldn’t go home. If she alienated Cassendyra, what would happen to them? Would she ever make it home? Would the woman let Luca wither away?
“You’re handling all of this very well, I must say. Luca was lucky to have you by his side through all of this,” Cassendyra said, placing the flat of her palm over Luca’s forehead after Emma failed to respond.
He would not have made it without me, Emma added, silently, watching the strange woman’s body language.
“I don’t know what I did, honestly. We just went to a festival, and some boys were mean to him. I felt sad, and angry. Then he took the…you know? You said this place affects us, well how? I don’t know where I am. I’m lost. You brought us here and left us to sit and wonder. We haven’t seen anyone, and you haven’t told us anything. Luca is scared, and his body is failing him. I just want Luca to be okay, to be whole, and I want to go home. We need to know that everything is going to be okay,” Emma said, forcing out the words with all of her might.
They felt thick and clumsy, but knew she had to get them out or they would sit in her gut and fester. She became very conscious of how quiet the room was. Her cheeks flushed and she moved her weight from one foot to the other. She realized that she had balled up her fists, clutching at the shawl around her neck, and instantly dropped her hands to her sides.
“My dear,” Cassendyra whispered, finally lifting her hand from Luca’s brow. “It is nothing you did, or didn’t do, Emma. You could not have affected Luca’s fate even if you wanted to. You see, Luca was touched by something horrible. The violence that fr
actured and warped his body damaged his mind, scattered his memories, and nearly tore him from this life. It might have been a greater mercy if it had.”
“He is strong. He’s a fighter. Luca wants to live,” Emma protested, taking a half step forward, her hands balling up at her sides. She didn’t do it consciously, it just sort of happened. She wanted answers, and the woman had a frustrating habit of speaking in circles.
Cassendyra turned, her haunting eyes jabbing into Emma like the glowing embers of a hot torch. Her face remained neutral, like a porcelain mask. Emma withered under the look and immediately dropped her eyes to the ground.
“Yes, he is strong,” Cassendyra eventually said, before whispering something under her breath and running her hands along the length of Luca’s body. He groaned and his body shook.
Emma barely resisted the urge to plant a foot and run out of the room. Her insides felt twisted about like a rope, twisting tighter with every passing moment. She wished she were home, in her room at the Chapterhouse. She just wanted to be some place familiar.
Emma’s back collided with a strange looking chest of drawers, before she realized that she was moving backwards. The curving, flowing piece of furniture scraped loudly against the textured floor and rocked back, then forward, almost falling over on top of her. She jumped, and lurched forward in surprise.
Emma spun as hands clamped down onto her arms, her heart hammering in her chest. Emma tried to cry out, but her throat felt tight and closed off.
“Take ease, Emma. You are safe here,” Cassendyra said in a quiet, silken voice.
“Safe?” Emma gasped, looking into the woman’s extraordinary eyes and seeing her own reflection. She looked like a terrified rabbit in the clutches of a hungry fox. The room seemed to tip, and she felt herself being pulled into the strange woman’s gaze.
“I don’t even know where here is. We’re trapped. You’ll never let us go!”
“You are on Doa, the smallest of the dalan islands. I will show you, later. There are things I must do for you and Luca first,” Cassendyra said
She is false! The thought hit her so suddenly she pulled away, trying to tear free of the woman’s grasp.
“No! I’m sorry….I can’t,” Emma cried, her thin veil of control evaporating. The walls felt closer, Cassendyra’s presence like a stifling blanket.
She wrenched her arms violently, turning her body. Cassendyra’s grip on her arms felt like stone. She thrashed the other way, fighting the woman’s attempts to wrestle her still. Pain flared in her arms, her skin stretching and tearing, but she wrenched around again, finally breaking free.
Emma fell to a knee and tumbled forward, the fabric of her dress catching under foot and tearing loudly. She surged to her feet, jammed the latch down and pulled the door open, before bolting outside the room.
“Emma, wait!” Cassendyra cried out, but she wasn’t listening.
Emma bounced off of the wall outside the door and ran as fast as she could down the hallway. She went right, not left, and ran away from her room.
Fumbling and staggering, Emma made her way quickly down the stairs. The building was small and simple. There were the two rooms above, and a single, long space beneath it. A round pit sat off to the side, a fire crackling pleasantly. She whipped her head around, oriented herself, and ran directly into a chair.
Emma tipped forward, crashing to the floor in an ungainly mess. The chair landed on top of her. She clawed and kicked, shoving the chair off as she regained her feet. There was no pain, not yet, only the need to run.
Emma’s vision tunneled, and Cassendyra appeared as a blurry form out of the corner of her eye. She nearly landed in the fire, narrowly missing the hot flames as she jumped around it. She couldn’t think anymore, reason abandoning her. Now, she was an animal in flight.
She hit the door at a full run, the wood smashing against her body with a cruel lack of regard. Stars burst before her eyes, but in the next moment she was outside, in the open air. Trees shot up all around her – thick, knobby trees that branched above her to impossible heights.
The white, stone path led up and out of the small valley. Emma ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Something jabbed into the sole of her left foot. Where had her shoe gone?
Cresting the small hill, Emma took the left fork in the path. The trees thickened around her. A glimmer caught her attention. There was something shiny in a tree up ahead. No, not shiny. It was a building, no, a house, built high up in the colossal tree.
Emma ran on, part of her mind rejoicing in the simple act of running. If she had wings, she would spread them and fly. Part of her wanted to stop, but she shoved that part aside.
The path wound left and right, down and up through the thick trees. Strange wheels appeared in the dense vegetation, water spilling up and over them, driving them around and around.
She passed lanterns on the path, or were they trees? Tall and spindly, they grew like trees, with branches sprouting out along their trunks. And yet, perched on top of them were large, square lanterns, glowing with a pleasant blue-green light.
Emma dipped down into a small valley. She was only faintly aware that there were buildings on either side of her. They were rounded, flowing, and seemed to grow right out of the grass and moss covered bluff next to the lane.
Shadows moved in the windows and open doorways. She heard and saw them, but couldn’t stop to consider who they were or what they meant. Faster…must run, must escape, the animal part of her mind cried.
A massive tree appeared before her, perched almost directly in the midst of the bowl-shaped valley. Light burned through windows darkened by shade, and columns and buttresses adorned the trunk. A part of her mind found it interesting. It wasn’t just a tree. It was a building built into a tree.
A shadow flashed ahead of her. She reacted, clawing at the dirt and changing direction. Her other shoe fell away, but that didn’t matter to the animal.
The shadow grew larger, moving to cut her off. Instincts triggered and the animal Emma had become registered it as a threat. She hit a tree, rolled to the ground and sprang back up, running to her right. She was fast, lithe, and agile. She would survive.
Another shadow moved, and another. They surrounded her, but Emma couldn’t stop. A long spear streaked through the air, splitting the ground next to her. She rolled out of the way, and another struck immediately to her left. She growled, issuing a challenge, but turned to flee.
She twisted deftly, moving with the grace of a dancer and the power of a wolf, and leapt. Emma landed and leapt again, but movement flashed in the shadows. Two of the strange spears landed before her, a searing arc of light connecting them. She was moving one moment, and on the ground the next.
Emma rolled over, her breath knocked away, the cobwebs in her mind starting to break apart. The animal receded, giving way to her rational mind.
When she was finally able to draw breath, the smell of singed hair and flesh filled her nose. She struggled, but managed to push up onto her hands and roll over. She felt disconnected from her body, as if her arms and legs had been pulled off and carried a great distance away. Her dress was shredded, the fabric stained and burned. A shadow fell over her as she wrestled a bit more of her mind away from the animal.
A single horrible figure straightened, towering above her. He was just a shadow at first, but as the light filtering through the trees shifted, his form clarified. Bare-chested, his wild hair hung down like an obsidian curtain, shadowing his overly large eyes. Muscles coiled and tightened, but it wasn’t his physique that distracted her, but the dozen arms protruding from his elongated body. Each one leveled a strange, black spear, their tips throwing off long, searing arcs of what looked like black lightning. He advanced, his multitude of limbs flowing gracefully, like that of a sickeningly large insect.
Emma’s senses clarified a bit more, and she pushed away with her elbows and feet. Her head collided with something. The animal inside her tried to rise up and take charge, but she wouldn’
t let it this time. A shadowy form bent over her, shifting like a living shadow.
Emma felt like a doll as the creature lifted her easily off the ground. Something hard and incredibly cold came to rest just under her chin.
“Please. I just…” Emma pulled her head back, the blade drawing tight against her skin. She gasped, her breath forming as a cloud of icy particles before her.
“Jou move…jou die!” the figure holding her said, his dialect thick.
“Yes…” she whispered in terror.
Chapter Five
Old And Young
Brother Dalman hooked an arm around Aida’s shoulder, and limped off the road as a simple, horse-drawn wagon rumbled by. He was cold, and his old legs hurt, but he was gladdened to see other people again. The strange events in the capitol left a dark cloud in his thoughts. One that he feared had repercussions for every soul in Denoril.
Since leaving Ban Turin, they’d stopped for shelter in an unused caravan shack just off the Council’s Road, but thanks to the cold and snow, hadn’t met any other travelers. He was starting to wonder if the brutal figures behind the Council’s fall had already extended beyond the city’s walls.
How far does their corruption reach?
“I’m so cold. Can we stop here, Broth–” Aida asked, but Brother Dalman pulled her a little closer before she could finish.
“For the time being, I think it would be wise if you just call me Hobart. Let us find a room, a change of clothes, and then we will procure a carriage out of here,” Brother Dalman said.
“Hobart, heh? Okay, Brother. Hobart it is!” Aida threw him a wink, hooked her arm in his and pulled him forward.
“I haven’t gone by Hobart since before my time in the Denil order,” Brother Dalman whispered, pulling the young woman back close. “There are many eyes in these roadside towns, eyes that just might be looking for an aged monk, traveling with a…young woman.” He told her some of what he had experienced on the road, but held certain details back, for her own safety, namely the details surrounding Djaron Algast’s return.
