by J A Raikes
And that’s when I felt the burning hot knife sear through my heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Have you ever been in total darkness before? I don’t mean you’ve shut off the lights and gone to bed, though there is something to be said for that first moment of intense darkness. I mean complete blackness where you can’t see your hand in front of your face and there is a world out there which you can’t experience. If you get the chance, go caving once and turn off your headlamp. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to complete and utter darkness. While you’re in there and your eyes are trying desperately to adjust to the complete lack of sunlight, there are creatures living in that cave who are perfectly adept at getting around and living or even thriving in the darkness. It’s unnerving to say the least. Our bodies weren’t designed to function in that kind of environment, and yet there are creatures which treat the blackness of the depths like just another walk in the park.
The grand room in the mansion we were standing in had, in an instant, plunged into complete, unpermeated darkness. I cried out as white-hot pain ripped through my chest and clutched a hand over my heart. I fell to one knee and tried to breathe as the pain washed over me.
“Finn!” I heard Eva call out in the darkness. We were only steps from each other before the darkness settled in, but it felt like we were worlds apart right now. Sound reached my ears as if she was yelling through a long tunnel and it was everything I could to do to focus on breathing.
I flailed my free arm about trying to hit whatever had attacked me, but I swung helplessly through open air. After a moment, the pain subsided and my hearing returned to normal.
“Finn, what's going on?” Eva called out.
“Nothing, I just must have some residual pain from the surgery, that's all,” I lied. I hadn’t told anyone about my nightmare turned reality from earlier and this didn’t seem like the time or place.
I tried to stand, but a new wave of pain washed through my system so I decided to stay put. Getting up is too much effort anyway.
From the darkness beyond us, a gruff voice called out, “Eva! Eva! I’m here!”
It sounded like Giles, but there was no way to be sure where it was coming from.
“Dad! We’re coming!” she called back and I heard her boots start across the polished marble. Percipity cut in from somewhere to my left.
“Do not move an inch,” she said, her voice sharp and direct. Eva’s footfalls ceased and I heard her begin to protest, but the Ekorius continued.
“Something is in here with us and it is not your father. Stay close and do not move until I say to.”
I pushed myself to my feet and shuffled back toward Percipity’s voice. I reached out and found the Ekorius’s arm. A moment later, Eva and Harris bumped into me and we turned to stand with our backs in a square, shoulder to shoulder.
Just then, a rumbling laugh echoed on the tile of the room and bounced around us. It was hard to tell where the voice was coming from but it sounded louder than it should have.
“You are a resourceful bunch,” a deep male voice called from somewhere in the darkness. “Much more so than the buffoons who came here earlier.”
There was a slight accent to his voice but it was hard for me to place. It sounded like a mixture between German and Jamaican but even saying that now, that sounds like a weird combination. It felt like he was shouting through a megaphone.
“Where’s my dad?!” Eva called out.
“Hmm? Oh he’s nearby, child. But at this point, speaking about him like he even exists is an unlikely probability.” The voice broke out into laughter again.
“Which reminds me, it’s time that you join him. I quite enjoyed watching you search my home as if I were simply going to be waiting here to be rescued. But I have bigger things to tend to and time grows short.”
There was a clicking sound like a door unlocking and a rush of wind blew through the room.
“Oh, and Finn,” the voice continued, “that little mark you’ve got? You’re welcome.”
“What?” Eva asked in the darkness, her face turned in my direction.
“I’ll tell you later. We just need to get out of here.”
“Blah, blah, blah.” The voice chimed. The wind ceased and the darkness parted around us, carving a path before us to the kitchen door, standing open and visible while the rest of the room was still completely black.
“Don’t move,” Percipity said again, her cool voice hard and firm.
I held my gun tightly and remained still. Harris shifted on his feet but also didn’t move. Eva chewed her lip and I saw her squeezing the staff in her hand trying to keep it together but I could tell she wanted to go find her father.
“Where is he!” she yelled back into the darkness.
“You’ll find him in the cellar, along with the other fools who came with him.” I could hear him smiling as he spoke.
“But you should hurry. He hasn’t got much time,” the man continued, “which is more than I can say for August and Lydia.” His laughter started again and the four of us shifted uneasily.
“Galen, you’re a coward and a fool,” Percipity said. “Come here and face me and we’ll be done with this charade.”
“Oh pipe down you overgrown she devil,” he snapped back. “The fun is just beginning and I get to be in the front row of the action. Think of me what you will, but history tells the story of the victor and I intend to make headlines.”
Thornsby cleared his throat and continued. “Now, either you head down to the cellar and help your friends, or I open the front door and let the Voidkin do to you what they want. And believe me, it has not been easy keeping them from gobbling you down like a tasty dessert for the last few hours. Either way, I have an appointment with a very important client and I don’t intend to keep him waiting.”
Silence fell in the darkness and we stood there for a moment, unsure what to do next.
I saw Eva’s muscles tense and she looked as though she was about to burst.
“We don’t have time for this!” she said, starting toward the kitchen.
“No, Eva, wait!” Percipity called out, but it was too late. Eva dashed to the kitchen and the doors slammed behind her. The darkness lifted enough for us to see that there were dozens of pairs of writhing blue eyes at the windows outside the mansion. I felt a tremor rock through my entire body involuntarily and swallowed hard against the fear.
“Cogspit!” Harris muttered. Percipity turned to the kitchen door and snarled something I didn’t understand and then took off at a run. Harris and I followed in step. The young man yanked on the doors to the kitchen but they refused to budge.
“Enough of this!” the Ekorius yelled as she lifted her katana into the air above her. The blade glowed momentarily purple and she cut a straight line down the crease of the door. The handle remained locked but the door swung wide. I glanced at the bolt as we headed into the room and saw it was melted in two, the lock still stuck in either door.
We hurried into the room but Eva was missing. There was a door leading outside on one side of the kitchen and a door that had been previously locked was now standing ajar. The Ekorius strode forward and headed straight for the door leading into the cellar. She threw open the door all the way and began descending the stairs.
The walls were close and there was a dampness in the air as we headed inside. The stone walls from the house above gave way to small bricks and the lights, unsurprisingly, would not turn on. We marched down the stairs, guns at the ready.
“Eva!” Percipity called out.
“Over here!” she cried out, frenzied.
We hurried the rest of the way down and saw Eva cradling her father in the corner of the cellar. Surrounded by barrels of wine and boxes, August, Lydia and Giles were crumpled in a pile like garbage to be thrown away, blood and dirt clinging to their bodies near large gashes and torn clothing.
Pericipity rushed to Eva’s side and immediately grabbed the dark green medic bag from near Giles and
began administering first aid. Harris and I went over to check on Lydia and August and found them alive, but only barely. Lydia had a large cut running the length of her face and the skin on either side had parted nearly to the bone, her thick clothes and leather holster shredded as if they were tissue paper. August was laying in a pool of tacky blood and his shirt was nearly ripped completely to shreds. His breathing was labored and shallow.
At once, Harris moved to August and ripped the remaining cloth from his chest. He began pulling it into strips and then handed me several strips as he moved to begin applying the makeshift bandages to the worst of the wounds.
I took the strips of cloth and tied them around Lydia’s arm and leg to staunch the trickle of blood cascading down her skin and then tried wrapping one piece vertically around her head to cover the gash on her face. Percipity was working with the medic bag, getting out several different syringes and filling them with various liquids. A moment later, she injected a needle into Giles’ arm and he gasped awake.
She took his face in her hands and stared at him, checking his eyes and looking at his reactions. Harris and I continued bandaging the other two as Eva held her father’s hand.
It took only a moment, but after the injection Giles spoke hurriedly in a raspy, cracked voice.
“He’s found Phantomsong. He’s using it to draw in the Void. He’s going to use it to find the other pieces of the Lightbane and eliminate the Arcmagus. There is still time but you must act now. He’s still here. He needs his compound to finish the ritual. Don’t let him win. Emberwall must be protected.” His eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp once again. Ekorius Emerson gave no indication that anything he said was of note and continued administering injections to the others. Within moments, their breathing steadied but were still very much in critical condition.
“Bandage them tightly. One of us will need to stay here and make sure their vital signs are stable or they may bleed out while we deal with this mess. I will try getting ahold of Central once more before we chase after that monster.”
“I’ll stay,” Eva said, looking down at her father with tears in her eyes.
“No, I’ll stay,” Harris said, tying off the bandage around August’s torso. “I have the most medical training here and I should be able to fend off anyone who comes down here. Plus, you’ve been working on your skill much longer than I. If there is a firefight, they’ll need you.”
Eva nodded hesitantly, still cradling her father’s limp form. She didn’t resist Harris’ offer and instead kissed her father on the forehead once and gently lowered him to the ground.
“Very well, we’ll make haste,” Percipity said, rising from one knee and picking up her katana.
“There must be a false facade or room in here somewhere, since we didn’t find anything or anyone earlier when we searched the house,” she said, looking intently at the walls and floorboards.
Not knowing any real first aid other than bandages and gauze, I stood and started quickly inspecting the walls for signs of a concealed passage or a lever to open a door. They always have those in the movies, so why not here?
“Is there any chance we missed something upstairs?” Eva asked.
“There is always a chance, but the likelihood of us finding anything in the black Dreadmyre with Voidkin surrounding us is slim to none,” Percipity answered, voice cool and collected as always.
Dreadmyre huh? How is it that I’ve been running around in the stuff for almost an entire day now and I just learned what it was called. Well, the more you know, I guess.
She continued, “Thornsby was speaking through a MAC projection system from a remote location earlier. It is likely he has the entire place equipped with surveillance and was watching us the entire time we were there. In each room, I placed an aural tension device which would’ve notified me if someone was sneaking up behind us from one of the rooms. I never picked up indication that he or anyone else entered the rooms we checked earlier, which means there is some other way to access his safehouse.”
“Then let’s get searching. Creepers like that always hide something in the cellar,” I said.
The Ekorius didn’t reply but instead leaned her head against the wall and placed her empty hand against the cool bricks. She took a second to breathe and then small purple sparks bled out from her hand in a small shockwave across the wall.
I continued searching the cellar for any signs of escape other than the way we came in. Across the room, a shelf with various bottles covered in dust partially blocked a wooden staircase leading to a dual-paneled cellar door to what I assumed was the backside of the house outside. That was both a relief and unnerving, considering it gave the monsters more ways into our little confined party, but also provided a way of escape, should someone come from the inside door of the house.
I turned back to the group and saw Percipity still leaning against the wall, eyes closed and hand pressed firmly against the cold bricks. Eva was searching the floors near the collapsed party with little success and Harris was still busily tending to the injured.
“There is a door to the outside over here. It’s closed and it doesn’t look to have any way of securing it from this side. It might be of use if we need a quick out. Any luck with the walls?” I asked the Ekorius. She remained still and silent for a moment. Her look was one of intense concentration and I was not about to disturb a woman with a large sword from her work.
Instead, I started helping Eva search the floors and leaned in close to whisper.
“I thought that the whole Adrinyn thing was for mechanical stuff.”
“It is.”
“So how is she doing that on a solid brick wall?” I inquired.
“She isn’t using Adrinyn. Ekorius Emerson is one of the few who is entrusted to use Lusynos without intense scrutinization of her every action.”
“But isn’t Lusynos what is empowering this whole mess in the first place?”
“Yes, and that’s one of the dangers. One thing at a time though,” Eva replied, eyes intently scanning the floorboards for any signs of a trap door.
A second later, the Ekorius’s eyes snapped open and she stepped away from the wall. The purple sparks ceased at once and she sheathed her sword.
“There,” she said, pointing to a section of the wall about fifteen feet away. She moved over to it and felt along the edges. There was an almost imperceptible seam along the brick which had been cut into the wall along the mortar line. Without whatever she had been doing, I doubt we would have found it.
Percipity felt the smooth bricks until her hand lingered on one longer than the others. Her hand tightened into a fist and she pounded against the brick once with surprising force. The brick sank into the wall an inch and the wall shifted and swung on a hinge, revealing a dark hallway beyond.
She drew her sword once again and gestured with her head that direction. I drew my gun, Eva picked up her staff and we walked to the newfound entrance. Before we marched onward, Percipity tossed one of the small disks she had been placing around the house to Harris. He caught it and turned it over in his hands.
“In case you run into trouble, press the center of the disk twice and it will alert me. We’ll hurry back,” she said as if she was reciting instructions from a manual.
He nodded his thanks and pocketed the device. He returned to his task and we headed down the hallway. Darkness stretched out in front of us and there was no telling what we were going to encounter.
I looked over at the two ladies as we started down the hallway. Ekorius Emerson looked calm and collected as always, katana resting comfortably in her hand at her side. Eva had a look of dogged determination, eyebrows furrowed and jaw set. Both of them seemed ready for a fight.
“So this is a total trap, right?” I said whimsically.
“Absolutely,” Eva said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
We headed down the hallway at a brisk pace, the darkness deepening the further we went. After a minute or so, Eva tapped the botto
m of her staff against the ground and blue-white light radiated from the small gemstone lodged in the tip. It helped, but only lit about fifteen feet in front of us. Granted, that was way more than if we had no light, but it wasn’t much.
“So what are we getting into here? What was it your dad mentioned? Phantomsong?” I asked quietly.
“Somehow, Thornsby is invoking the Void here over Emberwall by using a relic of untold power created by an evil force during the Culling. The relic Dr. Fleming spoke of was considered an antiquated superstition. Phantomsong isn’t even supposed to exist, let alone be here in the city. If Giles is correct and Galen does have Phantomsong, then he must be using it as a vessel for the Void,” Percipity explained.
“So, as far as our involvement goes, we’re looking to stop whatever ritual Thornsby has started and get the artifact? Got it. No big deal,” I remarked playfully.
“In essence, yes. But I doubt that it’ll be quite so direct,” she replied.
I rolled my eyes, shrugged my shoulders and continued walking. Tough crowd.
“Any idea what the artifact looks like?” Eva asked.
“Up until a few moments ago I regarded it as a myth, so no, I have no idea what it could be,” Percipity replied. “Remember, if we end up finding Thornsby he is likely not alone. August determined that there would need to be more than one person if this kind of ritual is going to succeed. Then again, Ekorius Horus didn’t know that the culprit was going to be wielding a mythological relic.” Her voice was calm and even the entire time.
I still could not get a good read on this woman. It was almost disturbing that she was presented with facts that directly contrasted what she had previously known to be reality and yet she was as cool as a cucumber. Considering literally everything in the last few days had been new and world shattering for me, the idea that there was some sort of powerful device being used to draw in evil powers from the corners of the planet to reign down terror on a strange mechanical world which included magic and cyber people was not too far beyond the potential of reality for me to accept any longer. Let’s face it, I was probably going to need some severe therapy when this was all over anyway.
