The Last Spellbound House: A Steampunk Dark Fantasy Thriller
Page 34
“You’re one o’ the girls who works in the House.” Merana turned her face aside as she spoke to avoid catching a mouthful of half-liquefied eggplant. “I never forget a face. Jenna, right? We first met seven cycles ago. Ya musta been no older’n eighteen back then… You’re the server who’d always smile an’ tell me to ‘enjoy’ when ya brought me my second beer o’ the night. Never figured out what yer angle was. If it was tips ya wanted, I never once gave any; but ya always kept comin’ back with that stupid smile.”
“I just wanted you to feel welcome.”
“Well. Yer a poor judge o’ character.” Merana grimaced and spat on the ground as the rotten tomato caking her hair ran down into her mouth. “I’m here gettin’ what’s comin’ to me. Ya shoulda saved yer kindness fer someone who deserved it.”
Jenna looked out at the crowd, taking in their torches and sacks of nasty things to throw. “This seems too cruel. If you’ve done something to them, can’t they just demand reparations? That’s how we do it in Void’s Rim.”
Merana snorted. “That ain’t how the world works outside yer little town, girlie. Folks need ta feel better ‘bout their hurt an’ anger. They want somebody ta pay in blood… but only after they’ve had their bit o’ vengeful fun.”
“That’s not fair!” Jenna turned to the crowd. “Stop it, all of you!”
“Ain’t nobody’s place to stop us!” shouted someone from amid the mob. “The witch ensorcelled my husband! I’ll have my satisfaction ‘gainst her adulterin’ dark magic!”
A crooked grin spread across Merana’s bruised face. “Is that what you’re callin’ it now? As I recall, he was only too happy to hop in my bed. Mayhaps yer husband oughta be considered the adulterin’ dark magician.”
“Tough words for a common pickpocket!” screeched a portly man near the back of the crowd.
“This woman is responsible for the loss of my family’s farm,” called a man in an accent from the South of the Kingdom. “I paid her to run off the bandits, but she and her mercenaries skipped town! I had to sell the farm to get my family out of harm’s way before the bandits came back.”
“She pushed me down on the road,” said a woman, hobbling forward with a makeshift wooden crutch under one arm: her left leg was a stump. “The injury festered, and I lost my leg.”
“Only right that she lose a leg, too!” yelled someone. “You’re a monster for defending her!”
“Chop off her theivin’ fingers!”
“Strip her naked and flog her!”
More voices rose in a cacophony of suggestions for terrible things to do to Merana.
“Is this a collection of everyone you’ve ever wronged?” Jenna asked the Relic-seeker, sheltering her own face under one arm as the hail of vegetables resumed, now including her as a target. “It’s… quite a crowd.”
“When ya learn young that nobody listens to aught but violence, an’ go through yer life with a temper an’ a chip on yer shoulder, ya make a lot of enemies,” Merana said.
“Let’s get you outta here,” Jenna said quietly, her Void’s Rim accent returning as Merana’s dialect and the shouting voices drew her back into the way she spoke with her childhood friends. “I don’t like any o’ these awful punishments they’re plannin’ for you.”
“An’ go where?” Merana asked bitterly. “I ain’t got anywhere in the Kingdom left without somebody who hates my guts. I conned, harmed, or stole from everybody I ever worked with. Why else would I employ myself right out in the Void, far away from people as I can damn well get?”
Jenna leaned down, using her back to shield Merana from the hail of rotten vegetables. “You haven’t had any kind o’ good role model, have you?” she asked quietly.
“I ain’t needed one. I know how people are.”
“An’ they’re like this? Hateful, bent on revenge?”
“Every last one of ‘em,” Merana agreed, grinning maniacally, as though she must smile or else she would weep. “You gotta be ready for ‘em to hurt you, an’ ready to do the hurtin’ first when you see it comin’.”
“What about me?” A frown crossed Jenna’s face. “Am I here to use or hurt you?”
“I just ain’t figured out yer angle yet, that’s all,” Merana said, glib as anything. “Maybe yer here ‘cause ya need me to fight somebody for ya, right before ya throw me back to the dogs.”
“Are ya so determined t’see the worst in everybody?” Jenna hissed, and Merana blinked in surprise at the younger woman’s sudden verve. “Today alone, I shouted down a mob, had a battle o’ wits with a Fae, ran from spell-addled mercenaries, snuck past paranoid scholars, watched someone I care about age two decades, and now trawled through four people’s worth o’ dark visions, and I am just about at my limit for bein’ treated like the enemy! Let me help ya, damn it!”
Merana stared. She couldn’t help but be impressed at Jenna’s dense refusal to get the hint. “I’m doin’ everythin’ I can ta make it clear I don’ want yer help, stupid girl! Get outta here an’ leave me ta my just desserts.”
Jenna let her head fall forward, her brown hair hiding her face from Merana. For some reason Merana couldn’t comprehend, Jenna still didn’t move aside from the pelting of rotten food striking her back. “You know, I wasn’t really truthful earlier. In the Last Spellbound House, I didn’t go the extra mile to serve you just on account o’ wantin’ you to feel welcome.”
“So, what is it? Hopin’ fer a tip even now? ‘Cause anyone in that crowd will tell ya I’m a no-good skinflint.”
“No,” Jenna replied quietly. “It was because someday I wanted to be like you. You were an adventurer in a world o’ ordinary folks; you went on forays into mysterious places an’ returned with wonders. In some ways, I suppose I idolized you.”
“Ya chose poorly.” Merana spat on the ground. “I ain’t never been worth idolizin’.”
“You’re wrong.” Jenna’s eyes emerged from beneath her hair and caught Merana’s. Her gaze held a strange, unrecognizable intensity which seared Merana’s very soul. “I may still have no idea ‘bout the things you regret, the things you’ve put yourself on trial for here… but even seven cycles ago, I knew you had somethin’ I wanted. That ain’t changed. Now I’m on an adventure o’ my own, an’ I wouldn’ for a second trade away the dreams that brought me here. They were inspired by adventurers like you.”
Merana’s heart ached. The naivety of the girl stirred something in the mercenary, called forth a responding vulnerability she hated. Every time she’d ever felt like this, it had come moments before pain.
“Save yer breath,” Merana moaned, mustering the harshest tone of mockery she was able. “Yer givin’ me a headache with all this sappy drivel. Ya liked the idea o’ me. Ya never knew who I really was.”
“I didn’t need to. Yer flawed… but so’s everybody else I ever met. That alone ain’t gonna make you deservin’ o’ treatment like this. Let me help you, Merana.”
Merana stared up at the girl, who was smiling that sickeningly innocent smile of hers and holding out a hand. The one-eyed Relic-seeker’s bindings had grown slack, practically falling off of her wrists. For a moment she felt her freedom keenly, and almost considered reaching out and taking the young woman’s helping hand.
But Merana had spent too many cycles stewing in her own worthlessness, telling herself over and over that she didn’t deserve the support of the ground she walked on, much less of another human being. Everyone would abandon her eventually… so what was the point?
“Keep yer pity!” Merana screamed, her voice raw, and she slapped Jenna’s hand away.
The girl vanished, leaving Merana to the violence of her jeering, chanting regrets.
Jenna landed heavily on her side, the wind rushing out of her as she struck a stone surface. She lay fighting for breath, with spots in the shape of the mob’s torches dancing in her eyes. Then someone’s firm but gentle grip around her back lifted her into a standing position.
&nb
sp; She blinked to clear her vision, and Pyke’s features swam into view, with the façade of the Last Spellbound House in the background. In this vision, he was young again. She was keenly aware of how close his face was to hers.
“Pyke?” Jenna asked, all else slipping from her mind. The chaos and misery she’d left behind had become distant, as though the calm quiet of this place were replacing them even in her memory. In the sudden peace, she could only seem to think of how deeply she had longed to hold Pyke in her arms again.
“Yes. Are you really Jenna?” Pyke’s expression was a mixture of concern and relief.
“She is,” a deep and resonant voice boomed seemingly from nowhere. “However, another has come here with her. Shall I eject the unannounced visitor?”
Jenna gave a start and flinched, looking around wildly for the speaker, but Pyke seemed unsurprised by the voice. He raised an eyebrow. “Kind of you to join us. Well, Jenna? Were you aware you had company?”
“It’s Aqua,” Jenna said quickly, her heart still pounding. “Please don’t send them away. I need their help: we have to get you free from this place, Pyke—”
“Unnecessary,” the Voice interrupted. “With the Fae Queen gone, I can release the Curious One from this place at any time.”
“The Queen was here?” Jenna glanced around, but there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger in this vision. In fact, the place continued to exude a distinct sense of safety.
“For a short while,” Pyke said. “I… I missed you, Jenna.”
Instead of replying, Jenna wrapped her arms around Pyke and pulled him closer, her breath catching as she buried her face in his shoulder and fought the urge to cry.
“It’s all right.” Pyke stroked her back, his touch gentle. Jenna’s frayed nerves calmed, and the floodgates of her tears threatened to open. “It’s all right…”
“No, it’s not.” Jenna leaned into Pyke, and nearly lost her composure when he responded with a comforting squeeze around her waist and lower back.
“How are you here?” Pyke asked.
“I’m in the real world’s mirror room, and Aqua is sharing their skills and knowledge with me,” Jenna replied, grateful Pyke hadn’t let go of her yet. “The mirror is a gateway which reflects Workings, even across realities. It connected me to the Glamour trapping everybody, and I helped them fight back against visions of their darkest fears. Well, most of them. I don’t think Merana is doing too well.”
“I’m not trapped. As best I can tell, this place is a representation of my thoughts.”
“If we’re in your head, what was that voice earlier?”
“It’s a facet of my Oddment. The Voice has been speaking to me for as long as I can remember. It takes in information and calculates things.”
“Can it calculate a way out of this situation?”
“Unknown,” the Voice replied, startling Jenna again. “As it stands, the Fae Queen will continue to obstruct you. I am unable to calculate probabilities until I better understand her powers and motivations. It is possible I will be better able to determine odds if the Curious One chooses to read more of her story.”
“Can you bring the book here, Voice?” Pyke asked, and Jenna smiled at how well Pyke’s inquisitive tone matched the ‘Curious One’ title the Voice had given him. “This might be a safer place to read than reality.”
“Negative. I could not manifest here even an ordinary book whose contents neither you nor I have witnessed.”
“Worth a shot,” Pyke muttered, his voice muffled as he pressed the lower half of his face against Jenna’s shoulder. His arms squeezed her waist again. “You… feel tired, Jenna.”
Tears ran down Jenna’s face as the flood of her stress and worry burst the dam she’d constructed for its waters. “Oh, Pyke, I am tired.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “This is all my fault.”
Jenna shook her head and grabbed two stubborn fistfuls of the back of his tattered cloak. “It’s not. Don’t say that. If it hadn’t been you, those sisters would’ve found someone else to set these events in motion.”
“Not necessarily. I’d imagine there aren’t many with the knowledge of Old Ancient to navigate that Lens’s menu, or with the reckless nerve to try to deactivate it.”
Jenna smiled through her tears. “But that’s what’s so wonderful about you. You have passion, and you love your work. You’ll save us yet, I know it.”
“Curious One, something is happening in the external world. The mirrors have become dark once more, and the others are awakening.”
Pyke sighed. “Couldn’t it have waited another few minutes?”
“Negative. Based on the accelerating rate at which I detect Res flowing out of Jenna, I calculate that fewer than thirty minutes remain until the people of the Last Spellbound House perish. Both the real-world and Place Aside switches will need to be thrown at approximately the same time in order to proceed.”
Jenna took a deep breath and tried to rein in her urge to cling to Pyke forever. “I… I guess I’ll see you on the other side, either way.”
Pyke gently moved her out to arm’s length. “Pull the switch thirty seconds after you wake up. I’ll make this right, I swear.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she told him, putting on her best grin and wiping away the tears which leaked from her traitorous eyes.
“Don’t die, or I’ll have nothing worth coming back to,” Pyke said, and pulled her close, pressing his lips tenderly against hers. Jenna’s exhausted legs gave out under her, but Pyke was holding her waist with just enough strength that she could wrap her arms around him and forget about everything, forget her worry and her exhaustion and her fear. For a long, blissful moment Jenna was warm and happy, and all was right with the world.
Then she stood alone in a small underground room in front of a mirror and a red-painted handle.
“One… Two…” she counted, wiping at the tears flowing down her face and leaning exhaustedly against the wall next to the switch. “Three…”
Chapter 19
Pyke opened his eyes to a dark room full of fallen mirrors, some of which were shattered. He was kneeling with his head slumped forward, and his knees were scuffed where they had struck the stone floor. His keen ears told him three of the other five were stirring in the room behind him.
Pyke came to his feet as swiftly as he could, and his legs twinged with the pins-and-needles sensation of having been motionless too long. He stumbled forward, his boots crunching amid the shattered glass of the mirrors littering the floor.
“Raine,” he called, “Aqua needs a lift, and maybe Merana too. That switch has to be pulled in…”
“Eighteen seconds,” he finished.
Elsewhere in the room, Raine yelled a wordless battle-cry and threw off the thirty mirrors which had landed piled on top of her: clearly it had taken more than a few Faerie-lights to subdue the Gigant. In a few massive strides, she found Aquamarine lying unconscious near the entrance to the room and picked up the Seer’s slender body in one hand.
Pyke heard the Gigant grow still. “Pyke, make haste to the lever.”
Pyke glanced back. Merana rose from amid another tangle of mirrors, blood running from a small cut in her forehead. Her lone eye glowed an eerie white, and her sword was drawn. The blade shone a multitude of colours, and the smile on her face was too broad and eager to be her own.
Eiten and Vino hurried to join the Gigant, who unceremoniously dumped Aquamarine’s limp form into their arms. “Go. I shall hold her off.”
“Go where?” Eiten asked.
“Away,” the Gigant snapped, and the two men, carrying the Seer, took off toward the far wall.
Pyke had reached the wall with the switch ahead of them.
Panting, Pyke reached
up and pulled the blue-handled lever.
Stone ground upon stone, and the rock wall in front of Pyke rose into the ceiling. Beyond it, a chamber came into view: Pyke now stood on a cliff overlooking a cave twice the size and height of the manse above. A copper machine of gargantuan size stretched below him, covered in turning gears and composed of three main hubs interconnected by copper cables and steel tubes the height of a man. The chamber was filled with the sounds of churning cogwheels, quietly thrumming belts, and hissing pistons. At the machine’s centre, connected to the three hubs by a spiderweb of metal casings protecting complex systems of gears, loomed a large spheroid of black reflective material. Its smooth, polished surface nestled amid the clockwork evoked an onyx gemstone set into a giant pocketwatch.
A ladder was built into the side of the cliff not far from Pyke’s feet, with a metal cage over it. The iron of the cage was rusted and falling apart, but the rungs were made of steel and had mostly resisted the oxidizing effects of time. The ladder descended all the way to the floor of the cavern, where the vast tangle of machinery waited.
A concussion sounded, and Pyke glanced back to see Vino and Eiten arriving with Aquamarine’s unconscious form balanced on their shoulders. Behind them, Raine engaged Merana in battle.
Whatever Merana had become, the mercenary was now stronger than any human being had a right to be. She parried another earth-shaking blow with her colour-shifting sword, and riposted too swiftly for the eye to follow. Raine leapt backward and covered her neck defensively as the prismatic blade elongated like a whip, digging a bloody gash along her forearm instead of into her throat.