Shimmer

by Matthew Keith

  Chapter 24

  They crept forward on silent feet, moving one careful step at a time, pausing after each one to listen. There would be no turning back now. The chosen den was just ahead. Alex could hear guttural growls and a rhythmic, heavy banging from something loud and metallic. Above it all raged the unmistakable voice of a Nocuous, shouting and cursing in a vicious torrent of obscenities.

  Jonathan crept along one wall of the tunnel, his back flat against it as he inched forward, eyes wide with restrained fear. Clearly, the banging sound unnerved him.

  The fringe consisted of a nest of Nocuous dens located in the farthest-known reaches of the Under. Alex and his small group had left Domus three days ago, laden with enough food, water, and weapons to get them to the fringe and safely back again.

  In the end, only seven had volunteered to join the mission.

  Seven.

  Alex still grew bitter when he thought about it. Seven out of more than seventy able-bodied warriors.

  “It is not about bravery,” Jonathan had explained when Alex got angry. “It is about survival. Never, not once in over four hundred years, have we mounted an attack against a Nocuous in their own den. It is simply not our way. To most of us, what you propose to do is madness.”

  “But I’m not talking about mounting an attack!” Alex had objected. “I’m taking about a rescue!”

  “Nevertheless, it flies in the face of our most basic values. We have maintained our existence through hard work and, above all, caution. It is the reason we guard the Core. We exist to protect the world above, but for us to be able to do that, we must survive. First and foremost, we must survive.”

  Of course, Tabitha and Abner had stepped forward immediately to volunteer, and Jonathan hadn’t been far behind. The other four had done so as a group, eliciting a quiet groan from Tabitha when they did.

  Alex, realizing that those four would be fully half the team, wasn’t about to refuse their help no matter what Tabitha thought of them.

  “Divinites,” she muttered disgustedly. “Out to prove their worth after the disgrace Phineas brought down on their sect. Arrogant and self-righteous, each and every one of them.”

  It had taken no time at all for them to prove Tabitha right.

  “We will join you!” their leader had announced loudly. His name was Daniel, a tall, skinny, toe-headed man who couldn’t have been much more than twenty years old. “We do not fear those loathsome creatures. Vile, base, mutations created by the Devil himself!”

  At that point, even Alex was rolling his eyes.

  “My brother warrior,” Daniel had strode forward with an arrogant swagger, clasping Alex’s wrist. “We will gladly join your crusade if it means a chance to strike a blow against the Dark One.”

  Having automatically accepted the man’s grip, Alex stuttered out, “Um… I… thank you.”

  At which point Abner had snorted, choking back his mirth.

  Now, countless miles and scores of hours through pitch-black, silent tunnels, they had arrived at their destination. Jonathan had led the way, as he was the one with the most Core tours under his belt. Like most Domites, his intimate knowledge of the tunnels was limited to the span between Domus, the Ossuary, and the Core, but the tunnels had been mapped over the hundreds of years since the Arrival and meticulously carved into the wall in Sanctuary. Every citizen was taught from a young age to memorize their twists and turns. Jonathan knew the layout of the tunnels well, and had unerringly brought them to their destination.

  They moved in a silent crouch, a short distance from the entrance to the den. Ahead of them, the tunnel bent sharply to the left. Beyond that bend was the home of Thrain, a Nocuous known to be weak, but very clever. His was the first den in the fringe, which was the main reason why it had been chosen for this first mission. It gave them their greatest chance for beating a successful retreat.

  Thrain was well known to the warriors of Domus. Having made many attempts to reach the Core and grow his power, he’d sent his thralls against the Core guard time and again to no avail. His thralls were notoriously weaker than most, for what reason no one knew, but that knowledge had also been a major factor in their decision to infiltrate his den before any other.

  From inside the den, a flickering yellow glow filtered out into the tunnel, a brighter source of light than Alex had seen since arriving in the Under. He could also smell the scent of thick, unvented smoke.

  The source of the light must be coming from a flame.

  But how had Thrain created fire? In Domus, there was nothing that could burn.

  From behind, someone stifled a cough. Alex spun, alarmed.

  Jedidiah—or Jed, as he preferred to be called—looked just as alarmed as Alex, one hand clamped firmly over his mouth to prevent more sound from escaping.

  The rest of the group froze in place, listening carefully for any indication that the sound of Jed’s cough had given them away.

  It was the smoke. It was likely that Jed had never smelled anything like it before in his life, so it was natural that he would choke in the thick air. Alex was surprised they weren’t all affected by it.

  Jonathan raised two fingers near the side of his head and pointed forward, the signal that they were moving again.

  Inch by careful inch, they crept toward the bend in the tunnel. The rhythmic clanging became louder with every step they took. Alex was absolutely now that it was something metallic.

  The smoke was getting thicker. It couldn’t be easy on any of the warriors. It was already awful for Alex. Tabitha was right behind him. He glanced back to give her a nod of encouragement, but stopped when he saw that her face was almost completely coated in dark soot. He wiped his own face and his fingers came away black.

  Coal. Thrain was burning coal in his den, and a lot of it.

  Jonathan had also stopped. When he caught site of Alex, Tabitha, and the rest of the group, his mouth gaped open. The Divinites, having stopped as well, looked close to panic. Alex could only imagine that they were ready to decry the black tinge to the air as ‘the work of the Dark One.’

  Alex put one finger to his lips, cautioning them to stay quiet. He licked a fingertip and wiped it across a cheek, to show that the black film wasn’t permanent. He made a calming gesture, praying they would trust him. The Divinites still looked spooked, but they remained quiet and didn’t retreat. Whether it was simply because they had been trained so well, or because they trusted him, Alex didn’t know. He was just glad they hadn’t given away the group.

  Jonathan gave one more solemn nod and set his shoulders resolutely, slinking forward on the balls of his feet. Alex matched Jonathan’s pace from the other side of the tunnel, each step seemingly taking a lifetime, every instinct screaming that he should turn and run the other direction. No warrior of Domus had ever ventured this close to a den. Winston had made it very clear that their mission was considered by most as suicidal.

  Quietly, unobtrusively, Alex switched his weapon to his left hand. He put his other hand in his jean jacket pocket and switched on the laser, keeping it well hidden.

  When they finally reached the bend, Jonathan slowed even more, and then finally stopped altogether. He lifted one hand to signal a full halt and then signaled that he would be taking the first look into the den. His side of the tunnel was the one allowing the widest view of what lay within. By centimeters he leaned forward, moving so slowly that it was nearly imperceptible.

  The banging was loud now, very loud, and along with Thrain’s unrelenting tirade, Alex could hear the sound of a roaring fire. Briefly, he closed his stinging eyes and prayed that what lay ahead wasn’t what he knew it must be.

  Jonathan had stopped moving, his eyes roving over the scene in the den. He appeared petrified by fear and remained immobilized for a full ten-count. Alex gestured for his attention, but the veteran warrior wouldn’t, or couldn’t, look away, so Alex inched forward to get a look of his own.

  The devil himself could not have painted a bleaker pictu
re than the one that came into view. The den was an open cave, not terribly large, with numerous niches carved into the walls, presumably as bunkers for Thrain’s thralls. It was crude and dirty, filthy at best. A miserable existence for all who ended up there.

  But it wasn’t who was within, but rather what was within that made Alex’s heart stop.

  The den had been converted into a crude but effective smithy. Alex counted seven thralls hard at work, three of them gouging at the walls of one of the bunkers and digging out coal with sharpened stones. Another was separating the stone chips from the mined coal and carrying it to a separate bunker where an enormous pile already lay.

  Not far from the pile of coal was a giant fire pit, kept fanned and fed by an attendant thrall. The remaining two stood hunched over flattened stone pedestals, hefting heavy stones and bringing them down, over and over, the banging sound of their work echoing painfully loud.

  In the midst of it all strode Thrain, snarling and berating his thralls to work faster! More fire! More fuel! He carried a whip, cracking it down on the heads, arms, back, and legs of his thralls. Even when they redoubled their efforts, Thrain hit continued them, a look of gleeful malice on his face.

  This, Alex realized, could be the beginning of the end for Domus. The Nocuous and their thralls already had so many advantages, but now they were adding forged weapons to the mix. At first Alex couldn’t get a look at what the thralls were making, but when Thrain took a step to the side, he got a clear view. A pile of dull-hued swords and axes lay on the floor next to the smithing stones.

  Copper. They must have found a vein of copper somewhere in the tunnels and now, having a supply of coal to heat it, they were forging weapons. Alex leaned in further and squinted. A lot of weapons. But why? He had to assume that Thrain had all of his thralls there, in the den with him. Why would they create so many if he only had seven thralls to equip? Greed? And how had they learned to smith in the first place?

  A light touch on his back made Alex flinch. Tabitha had come up behind him and was peering over his shoulder, her eyes wide and white in her blackened face. He nodded grimly and looked back again, careful to turn his head slowly and deliberately. One quick or wrong move is all it would take to put their lives in danger.

  By greater and greater leaps, Alex’s heart sank as he realized everything this meant. The knowledge that a Nocuous was forging weapons was bad enough. But there were also implications for Alex, personally, and the quest to save his father. Their mission was to reconnoiter a den and use what they saw to judge whether they could realistically pull off a rescue without alerting the Nocuous or any of its thralls. If Thrain’s den was at all similar to other dens, there was no way they’d have any chance of sneaking in. It was a wide open space, and unless every single one of Thrain’s thralls was asleep—as well as Thrain himself—it just wasn’t possible. They’d be seen no matter what.

  Tabitha murmured something, two syllables, and Alex felt her stiffen beside him. Everyone in the group turned in a panic, but she paid them no heed.

  “Papa?” This time she’d spoken clearly. Tabitha took a tiny step forward, the movement almost jerky, like her body wouldn’t obey. She’d spoken in a small, child’s voice, barely above a whisper, but in the absolute silence of their group, it was like a detonated bomb.

  Papa? Oh no.

  Tabitha’s father was here, the father that had disappeared. Alex reached for her, hoping to pull her back into the tunnel where she couldn’t be seen, but it was too late.

  Thrain’s head snapped around, his eyes zeroing in first on Tabitha, then Jonathan, and finally on Alex. Contrary to any reaction Alex would have expected, there was a gleam of exultation in Thrain’s black, fathomless eyes. The Nocuous was glad to see them in his den, possibly even expecting them.

  Thrain’s lips peeled back in a hideous grin.

  “To arms!” Jonathan roared, backing down the tunnel. “To arms!”

  Everyone else backed into formation except Tabitha, who seemed immobilized, unable to tear herself away.

  “Tabitha, come on!” Alex yanked on her arm, but she pulled away furiously and took another step farther into the den, her eyes trained on a thrall that had been toting the coal from one bunker to another. It finally looked up, facing her squarely.

  “Daddy!” she cried out in anguish.

  Thrain’s grin spread even wider. “Kill her,” he commanded tonelessly, pointing a gnarled finger at Tabitha.

  Ignoring her sounds of protest, Alex dragged Tabitha back into the tunnel to the rest of the group. The last sight they had of the den was her father’s dead eyes filling with hatred and rage, a hungry growl rising from his throat. By the time he’d pulled her past the other warriors, Tabitha had slumped in defeat and despair, anguished sobs wracking her body.

  The thralls came in a rush, halting when they rounded the corner and saw that there were more than just three warriors waiting for them.

  “Kill them!” roared Thrain from inside the den.

  Like the whip he had been using on them, his voice was a spur to action. Motivated by pain and fear, they reared ferociously and charged.

  The Domus warriors met the onslaught in a screaming mass, never backing down an inch, their blades lashing out as one.

  Four of the thralls went down in the first rush, testament to the truth that Thrain’s thralls were among the weakest. The warriors then retreated further into the tunnel to keep fresh stone under foot and give them time to regroup.

  “Steady,” Jonathan cautioned. “They now know our mettle. They will not make the same mistake twice.”

  “Kill them!” Thrain’s voice raged. He strode around the corner, all fury and righteousness. “Kill them all!”

  The three remaining thralls lunged and feinted in an attempt to find an opening, Tabitha’s father among them.

  Alex was still behind the rest, with Tabitha. “Are you okay?” he shouted. She didn’t answer. “Tabitha!” he shouted again. When she still didn’t respond, he slapped her soundly across the cheek, forgetting the laser was still activated. It flashed through the tunnel, illuminating the tiny specks of coal dust in the air. She looked at him then, indignation glimmering in her eyes.

  “Him!” shouted Thrain, having seen the laser. “You take him alive, or die trying!” he commanded, now pointing at Alex.

  “You must attack!” Abner shouted over his shoulder at Alex. “It is now or never. It is time for you to test your power!”

  Abner was right. Alex moved Tabitha back against the tunnel wall. She was still so docile, she didn’t protest.

  “Tabitha still isn’t a hundred percent,” he warned the rest of the group.

  Firming his resolve, he pointed his laser behind Thrain, waiting for the right moment. Would there be a right moment?

  The thralls hesitated, the laser spooking them, but Thrain raged them into movement. “Attack!” Thrain screamed. “Kill them now!”

  Mindlessly, the thralls heeded their master and lunged toward the group. At the same instant, Alex closed his hand into a fist.

  Before the light could dim from his suit, he was spinning in a backhanded stroke for Thrain’s neck.

  But Thrain was ready. Either Thrain was much faster than Alex could ever have anticipated, or Thrain knew what Alex was going to do. The Nocuous lunged to the side, ducking smoothly out of the way, Alex’s blade whistled through empty air where less than a moment before the Nocuous’s neck had been.

  Knowing he was now in mortal danger, Alex quickly pointed the laser into the back of the den and closed hand into a fist, reappearing next to the pile of coal.

  He spun around in time to see Thrain’s enraged face as the Nocuous realized Alex might escape. Thrain burst into motion, moving so quickly that he was blur.

  Acting purely on instinct, Alex used the suit again, teleporting back to where Thrain had originally been standing. As soon as he appeared, he shifted his blade into his right hand ran for the group, swinging his weapon at the neck of
the closest thrall.

  The thrall never saw Alex coming and was dead a moment later. Alex reversed his swing and chopped at the next closest thrall, but it lunged out of the way, only to have Abner cut it down from the other direction.

  The one remaining thrall finally realized there would be no surviving the day. It looked for its master, but Thrain was still somewhere in the den, around the corner and out of sight. The thrall snarled. Alex thought it might try to make a run for it, but instead it turned to face them directly and prepared to charge.

  “No!” Tabitha shouted from behind them. “It is my father! Please! You can’t kill him!”

  “That is not your father,” Jonathan replied without hesitation, never taking his eyes from the thrall. “Your father died a long time ago, Tabitha.”

  The thrall cocked its head, looking past the group to the girl who used to be its daughter. For a moment, it seemed to recognize her and it sniffed once, twice, appearing to be confused by what it smelled.

  The moments stretched on, even though Alex could have ticked them off with two fingers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tabitha take a hesitant step forward.

  And then the thrall growled from deep in its throat and charged straight for her, mindless of the threat the rest of the group represented, the growl rising in volume to a fever pitch.

  Above it all, Tabitha was screaming, “Don’t kill him!”

  But the thrall was coming, and coming fast. Alex couldn’t allow it to hurt her.

  He raised his laser, pointed it directly in front of Tabitha and clenched his fingers, reappearing just in time to pivot and swing his blade in a stroke that ended her father’s life.

  As Tabitha fell to her knees, weeping over the thrall that had once been her father, the rest of the group rushed forward to do battle with Thrain.

  But when they rounded the corner the Nocuous was nowhere to be seen. Somehow, Thrain had slipped away.