by J A Raikes
Harris’s gun clicked next and I saw him reach for his last cartridge. He ducked behind a barrel near the door and reloaded the magazine into his pistol. There were still a few cultists left and Thornsby with the dagger.
“We gotta go!” Harris shouted to us.
“We have to stop him or the whole town is toast!” I called back. As we spoke, the room grew colder around us.
“We’re running low on everything and that psycho has a literal relic of a Founder,” Harris called back, pivoting out from cover and training his gun on Thornsby again.
Percipity finished off the last two cultists and the room fell unnaturally silent. Thornsby stood in the back of the room, holding the dagger outstretched in front of him. Percipity stood along the far wall, heaving probably twenty feet from him. Eva and I were still a decent distance away and Harris was even further.
Several cultists were moaning on the floor, but their cries were muffled by the sound of a man humming. Soon, the entire room was vibrating with the sound of it. It sounded like he was right next to my ear, quietly doing the dishes and humming a little ditty to himself. It took me a second to realize that it was Thornsby, his dagger was turning bright red with an unnatural black glow around it.
“Well played, Mr. Archer,” Thornsby said. The humming continued however and it was seriously unnerving.
“You’ve ruined everything.” He sneered in Harris’ direction, but held the dagger very still. It continued to glow brighter, but with every passing moment, the room around us grew darker. It was as if the dagger itself was drawing in the light and heat. A frost was starting to settle in and I felt like I needed a jacket.
“You will not torment this city, Galen,” Percipity called out, her voice cold as the room around us. “We were tasked with protecting and leading this city by the Ember. You’ve broken your oath and we will see to it that you are brought to justice under the articles of the Treswalen pact. Your friends lay dying and you’re outnumbered. Drop your weapon and come peacefully.”
“You seem to forget yourself, Ekorius Emerson,” he replied, a smile touching the edge of his mouth. With the smallest flick of the blade in his hand, a tendril of black force rocketed across the room. Percipity raised her katana to intercept the blow, the purple glow still coursing through the blade. The force slammed into her, overpowering her will. Percipity let out a cry and her blade was thrown from her hand. The black washed over her body in an instant and she fell to the floor unmoving.
Thornsby turned his attention to Harris, his eyes shifting from the Ekorius to the young man. He started speaking but I ignored it and leaned in close to Eva, behind the shelter of our table.
“We have to stop him now,” I whispered through clenched teeth.
“If you can distract him for a brief moment, I think I can get him. We’re only going to have one shot at this, or I’m pretty sure we’re all going to die,” Eva said. Her tone was serious but there was a whimsy about what she said that seemed to be excited by the challenge. I nodded to her and popped up from my hiding spot.
Thornsby stopped mid sentence and turned his attention from Harris to me, one eyebrow raised.
“So quick for a death warrant, Finn?” he mocked.
“See, I’m sitting back here wondering how you even knew who I was,” I fussed with my gun in my hand behind the table.
“You’re the reason I’m doing any of this, young man. Your arrival signaled an important shift in our world and I needed to capitalize on it,” he said, bluntly.
The hole in the older man’s arm had stopped bleeding for the most part, but he didn’t look well. His features were gaunt and he was growing pale. I was certain that if he was going to incapacitate or kill us, it was going to have to be soon.
“To my knowledge, there are only a few people who know about my circumstances and you sure aren’t one of them,” I replied, trying to get some details while Eva got into position. From my side, she had shifted and was crouched with her free hand in a tripod holding her up on one side and the staff clutched in her other hand slowly glowing brighter and brighter.
“That is where you are mistaken, young man. You see, there are quite a few people who are aware of your arrival and are very excited to see you. In one way or another, you are the herald of Void and simply by falling into our laps, you’ve sealed the fate of this world.”
I swallowed hard at that. My stomach turned a moment and it took me a second to process what he said. I tried to play it off and at least keep my face neutral.
“Seems to me,” I said, casually, “that you’re the only jerk bringing the Void here and you seem to be failing to boot.”
His face soured and he turned to face me dead on, Phantomsong pointed directly at me.
“You brandish, uncouth, rotten, impolite, back-water two bit nonchalant pretty boy! I will rip the life from your body so mercilessly that your very essence will wish that it had never been fabricated in the annals of history!” Thornsby took a deliberate step closer with every word.
I turned the gun in my hand over once and fidgeted with it as he spoke. I pressed two buttons on the handle of my pistol and waited.
“You know,” he said, voice a degree cooler and more directly, “I can still complete the ritual with your corpse, it just won’t have the same oomph like if I had finished it with you screaming out your last breath as I drove this dagger into your heart.”
As he finished, I smirked and then pitched my empty gun his direction and unsurprisingly, he sidestepped it easily. Thornsby smiled and gave a small chuckle at my feeble attempt to stop him.
“Really?” he said incredulously. “Throwing your gun? Like that is going to - “
He was cut off mid sentence as the husk of my weapon exploded in a shower of metal and shrapnel. It wasn’t a large explosion, given that my ammo canister was empty, but it was just enough. Thornsby was staggered momentarily and let out a muffled cry as bits of my gun showered his back with metal.
Seizing the opportunity, Harris let another salvo of electric bullets fly at Thornsby, two landing true - one in the arm and one in the side. Eva erupted from behind the table and closed the gap between her and Thornsby. About four feet from him, she stopped and leveled the end of her staff at him. The crystal in the end of the pole glowed bright, and suddenly Thornsby was lifted into the air, a soft blue aura affixed under his feet. Blue snakes of energy shot out from the end of her staff and coiled around Thornsby’s arms, squeezing them together. He wrestled against the energy but was unable to break the bonds. Eva yanked on the staff and the blue tendrils moved with it, toppling Thornsby to the ground. Phantomsong, skidding from his hands and at once, the eerie humming that had filled the room abruptly stopped and the growing cold lifted.
I wasted no time. I dashed to the dagger and scooped it up, turning the blade to face Thornsby. More coils of energy blossomed out of Eva’s staff and continued wrapping around the older man until he was bound, head to toe.
Thornsby’s face was a mixture of anger and loathing. I know those sound the same, but there was definitely something in his features which led me to believe he wasn’t just angry with us.
“I will kill you. All of you. The dark lord will rise and this land will reflect its true nature,” he spat at us. Across the room, I heard Pericipity moan. Good, I thought, at least shes alive. Just then, Harris crossed the room and got in close with Thornsby and with one swift crack, hit him over the head with the butt of a gun. Thornsby went limp.
“Why!” Eva cried out.
“We have several injured Council members and no way of transporting him or them out of here without risking him using Lusynos on any of us. We don’t even know what is waiting for us out there. There could be a hundred Voidkin waiting to tear us to shreds. Focusing on him would be a waste of resources that might help us defend ourselves.”
“I had him bound,” Eva said, her eyes and tone flat. She was clearly frustrated with his actions, but I have to say, I agree with him. He didn’t kill
the guy, just made sure he was a non-issue right now, considering our circumstances.
Eva turned from Harris and set her staff on the ground, pole end up so it stood perfectly straight into the air and clicked a button on the hilt. The tendrils of blue energy continued to emanate from the staff and bind Thornsby without her even holding the catalyst. She moved swiftly to Percipity and checked her vitals.
“She’s still alive. Not in great shape, but she’s alive,” Eva said.
Harris moved to the Ekorius’s side, evaluated her injuries with the quick, methodical training of a medical professional and then hustled out of the room.
From the hallway, I heard him call back “I’m grabbing the medic bag. Be back in two.”
I took a moment to survey the room now that the chaos had subsided. Twenty or so hooded people littered the floor of the room, their blood staining the stone floors. None of them were moving or moaning any longer. The stench of death filled my nose and it was hard to keep from gagging. Thornsby limply hovered in place near where we had ambushed him and was being held captive by Eva’s Adrinyn snake things. The altar in the corner with the creepy skull stood dormant, the eyes no longer glowing a bright blue. Percipity was on her back now and Eva was staring down at her with compassion, trying to make sure the woman didn’t stop breathing while we waited for Harris. The dagger still in my hands was cold and heavy. I looked at it, turning it over in my hands. It was a long blade for a dagger and was a dark shining black. There was something written on it which I couldn’t read, the symbols or language were unfamiliar to me and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The bottom of the hilt had a small triangular shaped hole.
For now, I slid the weapon into my belt and walked over to Eva.
“We should find a way to call Central. Hopefully they can send help and we can get everyone out of here.”
She nodded, not taking her eyes off of the Ekorius’s quietly breathing form.
A few moments passed and we both remained quiet until Harris returned, medic bag in hand. He moved quickly to Percipity and dug out a vial of something and began taking care of her. Eva and I moved to the side so as to be available to assist if needed but out of his way while he worked.
Eva turned to me and stared at me for a long moment, her crystal blue eyes digging deep. It made me a little uneasy, her stare. I couldn’t tell if she was angry or upset or what it was she was thinking. Finally, she broke the silence.
“Finn, what do you think he meant when he said that your arrival sealed the fate of this world?”
“I’m trying not to think about it too much. Considering I don’t know anything about this place, I can’t imagine that my arrival did anything more than break my spine and make me miss home all the more.”
She turned aside, watching Harris work as she spoke.
“Yeah, but you can’t help but notice that things pretty much went to pieces after you got here. I know you’ve been here for a few weeks, but other than the last few days, you’ve been unconscious for it. And I can’t help but notice the graft on your chest,” she said, pointing to the small mark above my heart. The tattoo of a cog with a face in it.
“The graft?” I asked, thinking back to the conversation of the symbol on Pericpity’s neck that Harris mentioned earlier.
“Yeah, the grafting is a term that we use here for the special sigil of your district in each Ward. There are dozens of different districts throughout Emberwall and getting your graft is seen as a right of passage for the youth when they turn 11. It is a symbol of pride for the bearer of their home. Each graft includes an element of their Ward and then the unique symbol of their home district. As you grow, it becomes a part of your identity. Often when a young couple is from mixed districts, they will find a unique way of showcasing their graft in a unifying manner.” She paused and glanced at my chest again.
“Your graft there is a symbol. Except it’s missing everything. The sigil of a Ward and a unique piece of a home district.”
“So what does that mean?” I asked, looking down it myself. There was dried blood from Thornsby’s wrist still caked on my skin but the black symbol above my heart was clear as day. From this angle, it looked more like a skull than a face, now that I had time to really study it.
“That symbol,” she continued, “is the sign of Tir’Kalis.” She nodded toward the altar in the back of the room.
“You mean I have a tattoo of a demon thing indelibly etched on my skin?!” I roared. I couldn’t help but freak out a little bit. I’m not big on tattoos in the first place, although I have seen a few I thought were really interesting. Now, though, I’m marked by some sort of supernatural demon thing forever. Great.
“Yes,” she said quietly, seemingly unsure of what to make of the situation. “How did you get the mark?”
I told her of the nightmare I had back at the Council quiet room and that I woke up in blinding pain and there was a mark on me.
“I don’t really know what any of that means,” she said honestly, “But we’ll figure it out.” She touched my arm gently. It was a small gesture and it was comforting to know that I had landed myself a friend in the midst of all of this mayhem. I still didn’t really even know anything about this world or any of the people in it, but having a friend made it a bit easier.
I took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly. I nodded to her and then moved to the box where Percipity had found our weapons from earlier. My ill-fitting shirt and jacket were tucked away in there and I took a moment to cover up. If I had been branded as a sympathizer with the crazies who started this whole nightmare, I didn’t want to be walking around broadcasting that to the world.
“We should look for a landline and call in reinforcements,” I said as I finished buttoning the last toggle on the jacket.
Eva agreed and we left Harris to tend to Percipity while we searched for a phone. Back in the cellar, Giles, August and Lydia were all sleeping, their wounds bandaged and covered with makeshift blankets Harris must have found in the basement. Thankfully, there was a landline on the wall nearby to the sleeping trio. It must have been the phone Giles had left the message with because the earpiece was covered in dried blood and there was a smudged black-red handprint on the side of the wooden box.
Eva stepped up to the phone and tried the to call the Council chamber. I leaned in close to try and hear through the earpiece. After one ring, a voice picked up on the other end.
“Yes?” A droning nasally voice said.
“Ekorius Blackwell, it’s Eva Fleming,” she said. It took her a moment to outline the situation, but she pitched for medical attention and an escort to take Thornsby to a detention center.
“Very well. Several minutes ago the Dreadmyre lifted, the communication relays came back online and we’ve been dispatching teams to help secure the remainder of the city. It will be a long process but I have a few resources I can send your way,” Blackwell replied. There was a sharp click and the line went silent.
Eva hung up the receiver and smiled.
“We did it!” she exclaimed. “The city is free from Dreadmyre and help is on the way.” She leaned down and checked on her father who was breathing normally for a change.
We spent a few minutes tending to the Council members and I helped Harris get Percipity out from the secret room near to the others. The Ekorius looked awful. Her skin was growing pale and you could nearly see her veins through her skin.
“I’m worried about her,” Harris said as we gently set her next to the other Council members. “She isn’t responding to any of the medications I’ve given her and she isn’t improving whatsoever.”
“Well she did get hit with a blast of straight up darkness from a relic.” I replied.
“True. I’m just concerned. She is stable for now, but hopefully the doctors will know better what to do and how to help.”
I nodded and gave him a slight pat on his shoulder.
“I know you’ve done what you can. We didn’t come here expecting any of this, there wa
s no way to be prepared,” I said.
A small placating smile touched his lips, but his eyes were still troubled. He glanced down at my arm and noticed the blood seeping through the white linen cloth of my shirt and nodded down at my arm.
“Think maybe we should bandage that?”
Honestly, with all the adrenaline and excitement, I had completely forgotten about it, which is surprising, given the fact that the cultist’s blade had carved a nice curve up my entire forearm. It was still slowly bleeding, but it didn’t hurt. That said, now that Harris drew my attention back to it, it began throbbing and stinging. Of course. It’s amazing what your mind can compartmentalize while you’re not focused on it.
“Nah, I thought I’d just slowly let myself bleed out and really get the full effect of our little outing today,” I said playfully.
He rolled his eyes at me, opened the medic bag at his waist and silently went to work dressing my wound.
Meanwhile, Eva went back to the chamber and retrieved the floating Thornsby. As she carried him into the cellar, it appeared he was no longer unconscious but seemed resigned to his fate by now. He had stopped struggling against the force binding him and remained quiet for the duration of our stay. He never stopped staring at me, though. His dark eyes remained fixed on me and every so often I glanced over and noticed him smirking to himself as he stared me down. Even beaten, that dude was freaking me out.
We sat there in silence for the most part, occasionally checking on the Ekori who were recuperating from their injuries. Giles seemed to have been the least wounded of the original team. His arms were bandaged thanks to Harris and there was a large gauze pad across part of his face. Blood had begun to seep into the gauze, but it didn’t seem too drastic. His clothes were tattered and bruises poked through wherever skin was visible.
