by N M Thorn
“You can’t leave that realm?” repeated Gwyn ap Nudd, his arms dropping to his sides powerlessly.
His eyes narrowed into sharply angled slits as his gaze stopped on the chain around Aidan’s neck. He gaped at the chain for a moment, shaking his head in disbelief. Aidan braced himself for his mentor’s wrath.
“I had to… I’m sorry—”
“You bet your goddamn ass, you need my help!” shouted Gwyn ap Nudd and slammed both his hands on the surface of the window. But it wasn’t anger that was reflected in his white eyes, it was undiluted agony and despair.
“Gwyn, please allow me to explain.”
“What did you do, Aodh mac Lir?” Gwyn ap Nudd hissed, the anguish in his voice hit Aidan with a spike of guilt. “What did you do? Did you sign your life off to these assholes at the Destiny Council?” He stopped talking, his wide chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. Then he pressed his hand to his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm down. “You made a mistake. It’s okay, my boy, I will find a way to get you out of the mess you put yourself in.”
“It wasn’t a mistake, Gwyn,” objected Aidan. He approached the mirror, placing his hand against Gwyn’s. “I’m sorry, but I did what I had to.”
“Tell me everything,” said Gwyn ap Nudd, the white light extinguished in his sad eyes.
Aidan sighed and sat down on the mats. He took his time telling his mentor everything that happened from the moment Jim walked into his office with the news of Gunz. When he explained why he had to swear his fealty to the Guardians Order, Gwyn just shook his head but didn’t interrupt him. He finished his story with telling his mentor about the note from Luc de la Crosse.
Gwyn ap Nudd leaned forward, resting his forehead against the surface of the window, his hands buried into the mass of his obsidian hair. For a moment he stood silent with his eyes closed. Then he opened his eyes and they shone with a silvery-white light.
“I assume you need me to get in touch with these jackasses from the Destiny Council,” he muttered, pushing himself off the window. “You need to see this missing page from the Book of Words.”
“Yes,” confirmed Aidan, feeling slightly relieved that his mentor was back to his normal calm disposition. “I need to restore this page in the Book of Words. That crazy mage that abducted Gunz went through a lot of trouble to erase this page from existence in both Books in this realm. My hope is that by reading this page I might find out who she is and what her intentions are.”
Gwyn ap Nudd nodded. “Fine. As much as I hate to see anyone from the Destiny Council, I’ll do it.” He laughed but there was no humor in his laughter. “They are not going to be pleased that I left the Otherworld, breaking their friggin’ rules. But screw them and their rules. Pompous assholes. Having said that, I’m not going to restore the missing page. I don’t think I should.”
“Why?” asked Aidan, lost. Didn’t he explain clearly enough that he needed to read this page and why he needed to do it?
“I’m not going to restore the missing page, but I will copy its contents,” continued Gwyn ap Nudd, giving Aidan a pointed stare. “You said it yourself that possibly both Orders—Guardians and Wardens—were infiltrated. Who knows what kind of information this page could provide to the traitors. I say, we keep it to ourselves for now.”
“Agreed,” said Aidan, rising, and approached the window.
“Good. Now, you are going to do everything I tell you to do,” said Gwyn ap Nudd firmly. “Let’s start with summoning Kalidus. Do it right now, while I’m here, my son.”
“Kal? But why?” asked Aidan. Gunz never wanted to get his mentor involved in his business. He preferred to clean up his own messes, knowing that Kal didn’t love getting involved into the affairs of human realms.
“Because I said so,” said Gwyn ap Nudd impassively. “Gunz is the Child of Fire and Kalidus has the right to know what’s going on. Just like I wish you told me what was going on before you went and swore your fealty to the Guardians. Trust me, I could have gotten your girl out of this mess without you giving up your life.”
“I’m sorry, Gwyn—”
“Enough with apologies already, Aodh. Summon Kalidus,” demanded Gwyn ap Nudd, drumming on the surface of the window with his fingers. “I haven’t got all day, um, night.”
Aidan sighed but extended his hand up and whispered, “Ignius.” A small flame ignited in the palm of his hand. He lowered his face closer to the flame and whispered Kal’s name.
A smoldering fire curtain unfolded in the middle of the dojang and a giant blacksmith, hammer included, walked through it. Kal was wearing a leather apron that was hardly covering his bare torso and his flaming-red hair was tied up with a leather ribbon in a thick messy ponytail on the back of his head. He wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and turned to Aidan. His eyes fell on the pendant on Aidan’s chest and bright flames went up in his igneous eyes. He crossed the distance separating them in one long-legged stride and seized the chain, pushing Aidan back and pinning him against the wall.
“What the hell, boy!” growled the Great Salamander, flames running up and down his giant arms. “Gwyn will skin you alive if he sees it.”
Aidan silently pointed to the side, not sure that he wanted to argue with the Fire Elemental. Kal looked to the side and saw Gwyn ap Nudd. He let go of Aidan and put his hand on the surface of the window.
“Gwyn, my old friend, I’m pleased to see you,” said Kal, extinguishing his fire. “Would you like me to put this dimwitted son of yours across my knee and give him a nice beating for what he did?”
Gwyn ap Nudd laughed openheartedly, throwing his head back. “That was my exact desire when I saw that chain.” He sobered up quickly and added, “But the boy is in love. He did it to save the woman he loves. If anyone can relate to that, it’s you, Kalidus.
“The boy is almost twenty-five hundred years old, Gwyn. He’s all grown up and should have known better,” replied Kal grouchy and turned to Aidan. “Why didn’t you summon me before you willingly subjugated yourself to the Destiny Council?”
Aidan bowed his head, avoiding Kal’s reproachful gaze.
“Kal, forget about it for now,” said Gwyn, knocking on the window to attract his friend’s attention. “I think we have a much bigger problem on our hands. I’ll let Aidan fill you in on all the details later, but first let me tell you—I feel fluctuations of power in the underworldly realms. Not only in the Otherworld. It’s everywhere. Something big is coming, and it’s tipping the balance toward the darkness. I could feel it for a while already, but I can’t figure out what it is. Something tells me that everything that Aidan is going to tell you somehow is connected to that big-bad that is slowly rising from beneath.”
“Understood,” said Kal, “I’ll look into it.”
“Kalidus, be careful, my brother,” said Gwyn ap Nudd, his face hardened, his hands clenched into tight fists. “I wish I could be there and stand by your side, but I can’t leave the Otherworld until the night of Samhain. Destiny Council be damned with their screwed-up rules. Please, help Aidan and your own child, Gunz. They’re way over their heads with this one.”
“Don’t worry, brother. From this moment on, I’m not going to let Aidan leave my sight,” promised Kal, throwing a heavy glance in Aidan’s direction.
Oh, wonder-friggin-bar, thought Aidan, cringing, Daddy thinks I need a babysitter.
“Good,” said Gwyn ap Nudd with a sigh of relief. “Now I have to go. I’m sure Aidan is getting tired holding this window open. Keep me updated on everything that’s going on.”
“Gwyn—,” Aidan started to say, stepping closer to the window.
“I know, you’re sorry,” said Gwyn ap Nudd, a sad smile hiding under his black mustache. “As soon as I’m done with the Destiny Council, I’ll call upon you and Kalidus. Be careful, my boy. See you soon.”
Gwyn stepped backward, silently submerging into the darkness. Aidan waved his hand, closing the window, and turned to Kal. The Great
Salamander stared at him for a moment, then seized his chain, wringing it around his massive fist, and pulled Aidan toward the office.
“Let’s go, boy. You have a lot of talking to do.”
Chapter 15
~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~
Gunz felt a gentle touch to his cheek. “Angie,” he murmured without opening his eyes. The touch turned into a rough jerk on his shirt and when he didn’t react, someone slapped him on the face. Gunz gasped and opened his eyes.
“You’re alive. Thank God!”
He recognized Karma’s voice but could see only a dark fuzzy silhouette. He blinked a few times and wanted to bring his hands down to rub his eyes but couldn’t. Something was holding his arms pinned above his head. His wrists were agonizingly sore and every muscle in his body was aching.
Slowly his vision came into focus and he saw Karma’s face right in front of him. He tilted his head back and looked up. Ah, not again… His wrists were shackled to the wall above his head with heavy iron chains. The roughly crafted rusted manacles were painfully biting into his skin. A few thin streams of blood were trickling down his arms from under the manacles.
“Goddamnit! Medieval freaks,” he mumbled, lowering his head. “Why does it always have to be the chains and creepy dungeons?”
He glanced around, carefully studying his surroundings. They were inside a small concrete cell with thick iron bars in the front. There were no windows and the only weak light was coming in from somewhere outside the cell. Karma was sitting on the floor. Her eyes were red and swollen and her face was beyond pale. Her cheeks were covered in dust and dirt, and a few clear paths left by tears were running from her eyes down to her chin. She wasn’t crying anymore, but her cheeks were still wet, and her nose was suspiciously red.
“Did they hurt you?” asked Gunz with a sigh.
“No,” replied Karma.
“How long have I been out?”
“Not sure,” said Karma, wrapping her arms around her bent legs. “It’s hard to say without a watch and yours is broken. But my guess, we’re here at least twelve hours if not more.”
“Where is Milana?”
Karma averted her gaze and sniffled. “I don’t know,” she mumbled, hardly audible. “When Chernobog teleported us to his castle, we got separated. They brought me here right away. A few hours later, the guards brought you in and shackled you to the wall. You were unconscious. But Milana…” She sniffled again, tears gathering in her eyes. She wiped her wet cheeks with her hands, smearing the dirt all over her face, and added, sounding calm now, “They never brought Milana in. I have no idea where she is.”
“Who are they?” asked Gunz. “Do you know where we are?”
“I thought you would guess by now,” muttered Karma somberly.
“I think I did, but I don’t like guesses and assumptions,” objected Gunz dryly. His head was ringing as if someone had kicked him a few times and his body was so sore, he was sure that someone actually did beat him up while he was unconscious.
“They are Chernobog’s personal guards,” said Karma with a sigh. “And we’re in his dungeons.”
Gunz nodded. Every tiny move was sending a jolt of agony through his body. He tried to readjust his position, just to realize that he was so weak that he could hardly move. But worst of all was that he had no desire to move. Just like when he fell through the gates, he felt broken and resigned. He didn’t want to fight; he was ready to give in to whatever was coming.
Nevertheless, his situation was different now. He wasn’t alone. He had two young women with him, and for whatever crazy reason, they believed that he could lead them out of this hell-realm. Feeling responsible for their safety, he couldn’t leave them without his support.
“Do you know of any way to escape this prison?” he asked, closing his eyes for a moment to deal with the nagging pain. “And why am I so sore? The last thing I remember is fighting the demons in the tavern and then that giant man in black on a black horse… Was he…?”
“That was Chernobog himself and there is no escaping from this place. Get it out of your head, Zane,” replied Karma. “There is no fighting against the god of Destruction. He rules the Nav. He is the Nav, and it responds to his every whim. He can reshape it, change the flow of time, and warp the space as he pleases. To make a long story short—we’re screwed. I just hope Milana is okay...”
She stopped talking, staring down at her skinned knuckles. Karma looked just as broken and resigned as he felt. Her usual humor and sass were gone. It seemed that even the rougher side of her personality was wiped out. The woman sitting in front of him was tired and indifferent to everything. She stopped her illusion spell and now he could see the gray oversized rags that were covering her body.
“And yeah… You’re sore because the guards weren’t very gentle with you while you were out,” she added quietly. “I don’t know what they were doing with you for those few hours before they brought you into this cell.”
She leaned forward and lifted his shirt up, gently probing his ribs with her fingers. Gunz grunted. Even the lightest touch to his body was agonizing. She carefully moved him to his side and checked his back. Her eyes widened for a split-second, and she cringed as she let him sit back down and lowered his shirt.
“Wow… judging by the bruises and welts on your skin, they beat you up a bit. With a… a…”—she raised her eyes and swallowed—“with a whip? No, most likely with a belt or something like that. It’s not too bad. Give it a couple of days and you’ll be like new.”
Gunz chuckled humorlessly. “Medieval assholes,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Now I can tell my friends in Kendral that I also know how it feels to be flogged.”
“You find it amusing?” asked Karma, arching her eyebrows.
“It hurts like hell,” replied Gunz, moving his shoulders tentatively, “but I just don’t care. I don’t care what they do to me. Since the moment I fell through the gate into this hellhole, I can’t care about anything. And it’s not really like me, you know. Normally, I don’t give up without a good fight.”
“It’s the way the Dark Nav works.” Karma crawled closer and sat down next to Gunz, leaning her back against the wall. “Until it breaks your spirit, bending you into submission, it’s not going to let you through. How long were you falling?”
“Seemed like forever… I don’t know for sure.”
“You weren’t falling at all, Zane,” said Karma, staring straight forward. “You were suspended in midair, in complete darkness and the Dark Nav was feeding on you, applying pressure on your psyche to subdue your spirit. Tell me, as soon as you gave in, you found yourself on the hard ground, correct?”
“Yes…”
“This is why you’re so calm and indifferent now. This dungeon works by the same principle. It takes away your spirit, your will to fight, to live… It kills you before you even die.” Karma sighed. “Besides the point that it also suppresses all the magic in you and weakens you physically. I know I have to fight it. If not for myself, then for Milana. But I can’t… The fact that I don’t know what happened with Milana kills me, but I still have no desire in me to do anything about it…”
“How did you and Milana end up here in the first place?”
“Because of my stupidity,” muttered Karma. “You know, Milana is a seer, but as a witch she is nothing compared to me. She wanted to see the World Tree, but she didn’t know how to get to the Isle Buyan. Like an idiot, I agreed to show it to her. I had business I needed to take care of in the Land of Dreams, so I took her with me. You know that the World Tree connects the three main realms—Prav, Yav, and Nav, right?” Gunz nodded. “I knew it was dangerous, and I have no idea what moved me to bring her to the Isle Buyan. I’m always so careful and never do anything rash… Anyway, I don’t know how it happened, but as soon as we touched the Tree, we just fell through.”
She covered her face with her hands.
“Zane, it’s all my fault… us, falling into the Dark Nav. And now she
is missing… Why did I listen to her?” She folded her arms atop her knees and lowered her head, her shoulders shuddering in rugged sobs. “I love her so much, Zane. I’ll never forgive myself if something would happen to her.”
Gunz bit his lip, lowering his head to his chest. “I wish my hands were free,” he muttered.
Karma stopped sobbing and raised her head. “Why? Did you want to hug me? Comfort me?” she asked snidely, suddenly her former self awakened. “Do I look like a little girl who needs to be comforted and reassured? I don’t need my mommy and I certainly don’t need a man to tell me that everything is going to be all right.”
Gunz chuckled. “No, Karma, you certainly don’t need anyone’s support and reassurance,” he said icily, without looking at her. “You misunderstood me, darling. I’m not here to wipe your tears with a lacy handkerchief. I wanted to have my hands free, so I could kick your sorry ass! The woman you love is missing and all you can do is cry the blues! How long have you and Milana spent in the Dark Nav that you’re so damn broken?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to count time when there is no difference between day and night. Seems like a few months at least. Enough time to find out that the only way out of here is through Chernobog’s backdoor,” she mumbled, staring at him. But then she clapped her hands a few times and burst out laughing. “Wait, Zane… Please, tell me that you didn’t just turn the tables on me. You are not here to wipe my tears? Is that what you said?”
“You damn right, I did. Someone needs to kick your ass and remind you of who you are. Might as well be me,” growled Gunz, staring at her. “I need the Karma that kept me tied up to a bed and had no hesitation in using a knife, even when I begged her to stop. She did it because it was the right thing to do and she saved me. The badass Karma, who almost summoned a Harley Davidson into the room. Can you bring her back?”
“I’m starting to respect you,” she said, looking at him, the sincerity of her words reflecting on her face. “You’re the one who’s beat up and restrained, and yet you’re the one who is pushing me to be stronger.”
