Dirge of the Dead

by Reed Logan Westgate

  “No, I didn’t,” Xlina’s tone grew harsh, “I am not a druid, Arri. I didn’t get to study magic or learn control like you did. I feared my abilities and instead of being educated, I was told to take a handful of pills and hope it ‘goes away’. The druid order... father... left me to rot in the damn psych ward.”

  “A lesson to be learned is all, for hunting the creatures of other world when you should be studying. He always meant to come and bring you home to us, but you had to come to terms with suppressing your gifts.”

  “Says who Arri? Why should I ignore my gifts?” Xlina shot an accusatory glare in his direction.

  “Even if you pursued your abilities on your own against Father’s wishes, why a demon?” Arrivan flung his arms wide and shrugged helplessly, looking for answers. “Why seek the darkness?”

  “I didn’t seek it out!” Xlina stomped her foot on the walk. “She found me! She found me right where you and father left me. She found me weak and alone. She walked in as my new social worker. She took me from the ward. Moved me to Maine, put me in college. She found me an apartment, for heaven’s sake. I trusted her. More than I trusted the Order that took my family from me!”

  “That’s not what happened.” Arrivan shook his head in dismissal, “Your view is warped.”

  “And your view is skewed from high on your mountain! How clearly Arrivan sees the world from his precious hidden grove?”

  “A better view than on my knees cowing to the yoke of a filthy demon.” Arrivan clenched his fists at his side.

  “You don’t understand! You do not want to understand. All you see is your wayward sister. You do not care about what I have been through. You only care about the means endured to survive. Well, have you seen now, Druid? Now that I have confessed to my mark, will you purge me from existence? That is why Owen is here, isn’t he? His sacred mission?”

  “We are here for the demons, not you.”

  “No? Then why don’t you help me?”

  “I am trying to help you!”

  “How? By lurking in an alley? By sending Owen into Pandora’s?”

  “Xlina! Listen to yourself! Take a god damn moment to hear the madness coming from your mouth, will you? Demons and Necromancy are never okay. The ends will never justify the means. Don’t you see that?” Arrivan extended his arms, welcoming her back into his embrace, but she merely shrugged, rejecting his offered embrace.

  “You speak from one who has the luxury of the Druid Order at your disposal. You had wardens, caretakers, teachers, and a full kitchen staff. I had myself. I was tricked into servitude by the demon. Tricked okay! Maybe if my family hadn’t locked me out of the order I would have known better.” Xlina turned away. She could not embrace him. He was too much like their father. Unwilling to see the errors in the order. Unwilling to accept the changing times.

  “The order was never meant for you. You would have gone mad being a Druid’s housewife,” Arrivan spat back with authority. “You were given the chance for a normal life. A mundane life. Out in the world.”

  “I didn’t want to be a housewife, Arri. I wanted to be an Acolyte.”

  “The Order doesn’t train women, it’s tradition. An ancient and long held tradition that has served for thousands of years. We don’t send our women to die in service to the cause.”

  “Instead, you sentence them to a death of monotony. A life without meaning. A life of no consequence. It is a stupid tradition, Arri!” Xlina hammered her closed fist into her hand and a glimpse of nightmare energy sparked fleetingly on the impact.

  “It is not our place to change tradition, but we can give you a chance to carve your own life. A mundane life, in the mundane world.”

  “Which is exactly how the demon marched her designer heels into my life and onto my throat,” Xlina’s voice dropped low and threatening, “Now you have the audacity to stand back from you position of privilege and fault me for my decisions?”

  “And the necromancer? How is that our doing? Please tell me, sis, how is the world at fault for your poor choices?”

  Xlina turned and barged close to her brother, looking him square in the eye. She was nearly as tall as him and was physically stronger. She refused to back down an inch. Questioning her about Valeria she had been ready for, asking about Oxivius? It was like rubbing salt in her open wounds. She could not stand his smugness. His righteousness. Her resentment burned in her stomach like a hot coal.

  “You don’t have to worry about the necromancer,” her words were short and firm, laced with venom, “He sacrificed himself saving me. Where were you, again? When the evil Necromancer died protecting your little sister? When he died doing your job!”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Neither is having to die for being tricked,” Xlina did not hold back. Her anger bubbled to the surface and overflowed. “Everyone who has been looking out for my supposed best interest has done nothing but make a dangerous situation worse. Everyone wants me to follow their advice, defer to their wisdom, yet no one asks what I want! It has been years, Arrivan. Yet here you stand before me once more telling me what to do and still you cannot bear to ask what it is I want. That is the druid way, though, right? Druids get to decide what is best and everyone else just obediently listens?”

  “Fine Xlina, tell me. In all your vast and brilliant dealings with devils and demons, what is your solution?”

  “First, it wasn’t my demon that attacked the Council of Magic. It was a rival demon named Ertigan. He had already undermined the counsel, converting nearly half of its members with promises of power. My patron brought me here to stop his influence in the area.”

  “How noble of the demon race. This is what... demonic infighting?”

  “Yes! It is some demonic dick measuring contest and none of you are helping.” Xlina slapped him on the shoulder roughly. “Lexxes has reshaped the council, but it’s a fragile alliance wrought with suspicion and mistrust. Now the Faithful are here and apparently they want me dead too.”

  “The soul you stole, Tamera, told us all about it.” Arrivan rubbed his shoulder softly. “You need to give it back.”

  “To Ertigan? To be tortured and converted to a demon? Not happing.”

  “Well then, what is your grand plan, runt? You can’t bloody well resurrect it and you can’t keep it... so what?” Arrivan shrugged, and he rubbed his temples with his fingertips. “You can’t fight everyone. No matter how strong you think you are. Sometimes you need to take a knee.”

  “The Necropolis,” Xlina placed her hands on her hips defiantly, “A cemetery of forgotten graves in the otherworld. Oxivius had a home there. We bring her soul there and she can stay as a spirit. Ertigan won’t be able to find her there because my demon lost sight of me when Oxivius brought me there. We won’t be resurrecting anyone, and finally everything will settle down to previously accepted levels of crazy. Order restored.”

  “Except you’ll still be marked,” Arrivan pointed at her with an uncanny resemblance to their father when he was scolding her. She bristled on the inside and took a deep breath, struggling not to snap his finger off at the knuckle.

  “Don’t you think I have been trying to figure that part out?”

  “Owen and I will take care of your demon.” Arrivan crossed his arms and leaned to his right side. He stood with that air of authority that made her skin crawl.

  “No! I can’t see Owen again,” Xlina backed away a step. “I can’t see either of you again. It is too dangerous. She will make me hurt you. I’m sorry Arri, but what I need is for you to buy me time to finish this... then leave me be.”

  “Leave you be? Do you think the Faithful are what? Just going to stop and let you roam about the city? After all you have done. Do you think your demon master will be so overjoyed in your achievements that it will just let you go?”

  His words hurt. Of course, she didn’t think it would be the end, but she couldn’t tell him about the Cauldron of Rebirth. She couldn’t tell him she damn well intended to revive Amber. Sh
e couldn’t tell him any of it, because he would stop her. Valeria was right again. After all of it, he was more druid than man. Still blinded by the dogma of the order. In the end, they would strike her down with little indifference or distinction between her and Valeria. It was their duty.

  “No, but I’ll survive,” Xlina held herself as if she could hold in the feelings welling deep inside, “I have become quite good at surviving.”

  “Come with me, runt... Xlina. Come with me and let us help you.” Arrivan’s eyes were soft, his tone pleading, but choosing him meant abandoning Amber. Oxivius’ sacrifice would have been in vain. She simply could not turn her back on them.

  “I’m sorry, Arri, I wish I could. I need to return to Pandora’s and regroup before the Faithful make their move on the city.” She held back her tears. She held back the swirling storm of rage and sadness that brewed inside. Instead, she turned away. Silently. Stoically. She strode toward the end of the alley, determined to leave Arrivan and the Druid Order behind her.

  “I’m sorry too, runt.” Arrivan’s voice followed her down the alley as the shadows leaped from the trash cans and dumpsters, blanketing the exit in shadow. She caught the scent of basil on the wind. Tamera’s magic. Cursing under her breath, she turned back to see Arrivan stalking his way down the alley behind her. “I wanted you to come of your own free will.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Family Feud

  Xlina raised her hands defensively, eyeing the purple glowing tattoo on her forearm. She was still injured, though thanks to Nico’s spell, she moved as if she was not. Arrivan stalked down the alley with purpose. His hands were up defensively and if not for the ominous overtones of the situation, she would have sworn it was just like they were kids again. This time, however, their parents were gone. No one would step in to break up the squabbling siblings. At her back, Tamera’s basil scented magic filled the alley as shadows jumped from the walls and debris to black out both exits.

  “Don’t do this Arri.” Xlina clenched her fists before her, bringing her nightmare energy flaring to life. Her fists were consumed in the violet blaze of nightmare magic and Arrivan stumbled a bit at the sight, suddenly uncertain. She was no longer the wild and untamed youth he could bull over and tackle. The past years for Arrivan were spent with the Druid Order, living a peaceful life of intellectual enrichment. She had fought werewolves and fae alike. She had killed a cephalopod that was using Pandora’s as it is hunting grounds. She had gone toe to toe with demons. Xlina was no longer the fearful little girl of their youth. She was the Baku, the alpha wolf, the hunter, as Oxivius was so fond of calling her. She would not go down without a fight.

  “We are just trying to help,” Arrivan chanted softly, and his hands begun weaving a spell. He was an acolyte of the druid order. His magic was far stronger than the witches she had faced before, which was why she would never allow him to use it. She steadied herself, her calves and thighs relaxed as she shifted her weight to her toes. Dynamic Mobility. The key to explosive speed was to stay loose. She launched forward with a floating hook aimed at his head. Arrivan ducked, trying to maintain his control over his spell only to meet her foot landing heavy on his chest and knocking him back on his behind in the alley. He crashed to the ground, his hands flinging back to brace the fall.

  Xlina’s left thrust kick had come in after the feint exactly as she hoped, and she pivoted her weight to it as her foot returned to the ground. She threw her right knee forward, following the downed druid. Arrivan tried to block the knee strike, raising his hands, raw and torn from the pavement, instinctively to cover his face. Xlina’s knee barreled through his arms, glancing off his left cheek.

  “Catch this,” Tamera emerged from the shadows, flinging daggers of shadow at her back. Xlina dove through her knee strike, hitting the pavement hard and rolling as the shadowy daggers flew overhead like scythes of darkness. Xlina sprung to her feet, seeing Tamera wielding shadows that writhed and coiled around her arms like snakes. Arrivan lay prone on his back, both hands clutching his left orbital socket. Xlina felt a pang of regret, but pressed on vaulting over Arrivan with a stomp to his gut.

  “Poor form,” Xlina pressed Tamera with a left right combination. The close quarters of the alley ensured the Druid and Voodoo pair they could hide the scuffle from onlookers, but they had given up their distance advantage to her. Tamera stumbled back as Xlina threw nightmare enhanced combinations at the Haitian woman. Unable to block or parry the dangerous blows, Tamera was forced into a retreat, stumbling back as the dangerous Baku lashed out.

  “Arrivan...,” Tamera’s voice squeaked as she narrowly avoided a jab cross combination. “Help me!”

  Arrivan stumbled to his feet and lunged at Xlina, wrapping his arm around hers and lifting backwards into a bear hug. She felt her feet leave the ground as he squeezed and lifted, pulling her away from Tamera.

  “Do it now,” Arrivan locked his fingers together, holding on to his little sister with all his might. Tamera stepped back to the edge of her shadow wall and began an incantation. She scribed runs of pure shadow into the air. Xlina felt a pull deep inside. It was a sharp pang, like something trying to tear its way through her core to the surface.

  “Amber!” Xlina’s eyes went wide with panic as the spell formed. She could feel the soul being called against its will to the shadowy runes. She kicked and thrashed, but Arrivan held tight, backing his way down the alley and giving Tamera the time to finish her spell. Xlina’s desperation grew as the feeling of the soul hidden away in hers pulled at her flesh. She remembered the dream realm when Lexxes had done a similar spell. She remembers how quickly Ertigan had appeared to claim what was his. “Sorry brother.”

  Until that moment she had tried to land, glancing or unenhanced strikes to confuse and disorient. To hurt but not injure. But she was now out of options. Xlina’s hands came up, grabbing Arrivan’s locked grip, and she allowed the magic within to flare to life. Nightmare energy flowed from her hands freely and his skin peeled back from his knuckles and fingers as her powerful magic seared the flesh from his bones. He wailed in pain, and she was free once more.

  Xlina turned to see her brother on both knees, his hands before his face and eyes wide at the sight of his burned flesh and raw bone. His mouth hung open as a low wail pierced the alley. The gruesome sight sent a shiver down her spine and she turned a frosty glare on the Haitian Voodoo woman attempting to steal Amber’s soul.

  “Let me tell you about my nightmare,” Xlina cocked her head to the side and a twisted smile took form. She whispered the horrors of her stored dreams, pushing her nightmare magic to its new limits. Like with the man in the alley, a cloud of nightmare magic crept from her mouth, hanging in the air in a noxious purple cloud that enveloped Tamera. She stammered as she continued to draw her shadowy sigils in the air, but Xlina’s powers were innate magic. They required no spell, no runes. She pushed the terrors, the visions of the infernal plane through her cloud of nightmare energy, and Tamera collapsed to the ground, her spell fading back to the shadows. She held herself like a child hiding from the bogeyman under the covers as her eyes glazed over with the violet hued dream magic.

  Xlina grabbed hold of a thread of fear in her mind and focused. Like with the man in the alley, only this time instead of devouring the fears she fed them. She enhanced them with the nightmares she had seen. The blood and carnage of the infernal realm so fresh in her memory was like gas on an open flame. Tamera screamed a shrill cry of unadulterated terror as her hands swatted at thin air.

  “You keep your shadowy hooks off Amber,” Xlina’s voice dropped low, taking on more of a growl. She turned her gaze on her brother, kneeling on the pavement, clutching his hands to his chest. She bent towards him, grabbing him firmly by the chin and locking his eyes with an icy stare. “I have had just about enough of the people who are supposed to care about me turning on me, brother. I’ll handle my mess from here on out.”

  She pulled back with her right and hesitated, looking at her blazing
fist. She blinked, allowing the nightmare energy to recede back into her and balled up a bear fist and let fly, connecting on the left orbital socket with a thud. Arrivan fell back to the pavement, quite unconscious. She straightened and let her hands fall to her side, containing all her nightmare magic once more. She chanced a look back at Tamera, who was lying in the fetal position at the end of the alleyway, swiping at phantoms created from her own mind with a clumsy hand. A feeling of doubt crept up inside her. She had been vicious. Cruel even. But they were the ones that instigated it. Were they not? It was Arrivan and Tamera who laid the trap in the alley. She winced slightly, looking down at the purple tattoo. Nearly half of the ink had faded, with her consuming much of the spell during the struggle.

  She exited the alley, leaving the wounded pair behind. She was certain Owen was somewhere in the area and had no plans of lingering, waiting for him to appear. While she had put down Arrivan and Tamera with her abilities, Valeria had commanded her to kill the hapless, rotund Owen. She would not stop, there would be no glancing blows. Valeria’s mark ensured that she would strike the Druid of Morrigu down and claim the weapon of the gods for her master.

  Xlina crossed the street at a busy intersection and wove her way through the clustered sidewalks, away from the harbor and back to the city proper. She needed to get back to Pandora’s she needed time to put her plan in motion. Most of all, she needed sleep. She saw the shelter for the bus stop on the street ahead and checked her pocket. Luckily, she still had enough for the fare and maybe a small coffee. She approached the bench and collapsed under the rain shelter, leaning back on its hard plastic wall. She cursed her luck. It seemed she was surrounded by those more than willing to take Amber’s soul from her.

  The shifting of the bus bench revealed she had been joined under the shelter, but she feared opening her eyes. She was exhausted and knowing how today had gone so far; she feared Archam himself would be sitting next to her on the bus bench.