Darklight 7: Darkfall

by Forrest, Bella

  He looked almost abashed as he spoke quietly. "I know that I’ve done terrible things. I did them at first for my own personal greed, and later in order to survive here in this hellish wasteland. I want a chance to redeem myself." His normal eye fixed me to the ground. It was glassy, as if the softer human emotions inside him had finally broken through.

  A chance to be redeemed might be too much, but we’ll wait and see if he’s as good as he says with his ability to help us. My jaw threatened to pop with tension as I processed everything. My entire body was tight with frustration. Zach might be right about our limited options, but I could never fully trust Alan again. I would expect and prepare for his betrayal in case it came. In the meantime, I wouldn't let him out of my sight.

  "Fine," I said. I refused to add that he was our only option. He might know it, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction. "If everyone else agrees." My gaze passed over my team. The vampires seemed on edge, but the makers shrugged. Maybe the presence of maker guards on Alan's side had soothed their nerves, and after all, they didn’t know him like we did. Resigned despair gnawed at my insides as everyone offered a reluctant nod.

  Reshi went to free Alan and Elena from their chains. Alan rubbed his wrist and muttered a word of grateful thanks. The cuffs left angry red marks on their skin. Elena wrapped her arms tight around herself, rocking back and forth with tears running down her face.

  Desperate times called for desperate measures. I just hope this isn't a bad idea. I never allowed my stare to waver from Alan. Deep down, I sincerely hoped I wouldn't regret allowing him to be freed.

  21

  Lyra

  Alan smiled easily and gestured to the side door where the control room lay behind the dark walls. “Let’s see about getting you to the control room. Shall we?”

  His maker guards helped him up. Alan let out an appreciative but pained sigh as he stretched his new leg. The skin looked worse up close, but it was decent work.

  An unsettled shiver passed through me. Sempre had escaped, presumably back to this awful castle, after he almost succeeded in strangling me. He could be lurking somewhere. Surprisingly, whoever Irrikus assigned for this task had done a better job on Alan than Sempre… though it was hardly on purpose. Sempre had been near death when they brought him back.

  Seeing Alan again had never crossed my mind as a possibility. Now, he was going to help us break into the control room. I held my skeptical tongue as he eased himself over to the side door of the room.

  One of the maker guards, Marek, joined him and shook his head, looking tense. Alan motioned for us to gather, hobbling to join us in a circle. His revenants lined up against the wall with empty gazes. I crossed my arms, waiting impatiently for Alan’s grand plan.

  Reshi glanced at the door pointedly. “If this room is connected, why didn’t anyone storm in here when they heard voices?”

  “They soundproofed the prison,” Alan explained, and his gaze fell to Elena, who was rocking back and forth on her chair. “Elena screamed too much, and they grew tired of it. With the maker guards, Irrikus thought it was perfectly fine. He doesn’t think anyone unwanted can get into this room.” He paused for a bitter smile. “Or out, for that matter.”

  Curiosity washed over me. “What’s the plan?” I asked. Part of me screamed that he might be stalling, but he had called off the guards earlier. “Why not just let us shove our way through the side door, if you can control the revenants?”

  “Typically, there are a handful of controllers in the control room, even during a lockdown,” Alan said. “They would immediately sound the alarm. Marek tells me that there are only three today. We could storm it if we had something to surprise them with and a cohesive front.”

  The maker guard nodded and added gruffly, “We’ve been brainstorming a way to turn the enchantment against the controllers since we started working with Alan, but we haven’t found a way to redirect their power over the revenants. We know it’s possible for one person to control them all, but first we must figure out the magic.”

  I blinked, surprised that they had been working toward the same thing as the Coalition. We always knew we needed to aim for the controllers, but we’d reasoned the controllers had certain revenants under their command. I always thought the gems corresponded to certain revenants and a specific controller.

  “Isn’t each controller linked to their own revenant?” I asked. “Like, bound somehow?”

  Alan shook his head. “Not quite. Irrikus’s controllers can take over any revenants, including mine, with their own gems.”

  “We’ve been trying to figure out how to turn that off. A better way would be to fix it so that the control can be given to someone beyond those whom Irrikus deems worthy,” Marek muttered. Reshi’s brow wrinkled in thought. That was an interesting proposition. If we managed to give someone control of all the revenants, then it might turn the tide of battle. We could at least stop the revenants who were in the Mortal Plane from wreaking more havoc.

  “I haven’t been able to figure out how the spells work,” Reshi admitted, eyeing the maker guards cautiously. “I’ve studied the gems inside a revenant and outside. The magic is incredibly complicated.”

  Marek bowed his head. “We’re trying our best to figure it out. I only hope that we come across the solution before your allies get too deep in battle. We’ve heard the reports coming in over the radio. It was a good idea to go for the energy farms.”

  I’ll hand it to Alan. Wherever he goes, he manages to convince people to get on his side.

  “Redbills can’t get through the ironwork detail,” Bravi’s gruff voice said on the comm. They were well into the battle now if they’d fought off the responding patrols. My stomach jumped with nervous energy. We needed to move. How could we take the control room without giving Alan’s betrayal away?

  Alan’s radio, which Reshi had switched back on just in case, came alive at the same time. “The intruders are inside the stadium. Our patrols believe there might be reinforcements coming. We can’t let them into the judicial chamber. It’s already hard enough fighting off this group. Alan, are you there?” The voice was the rough rumble of a guard, or perhaps a member of the Immortal Council. The faint noise of combat thrummed in the background. Alan held the radio up to his mouth under our watchful stares.

  “Everything is all clear. The revenants are still in pursuit of the intruders. I doubt the intruders are headed for the stadium, so reinforcements shouldn’t be a worry. I’ve given the revenants orders to kill.”

  A dark chuckle came over the radio. “Excellent. Rest that ugly face of yours and keep an eye out for more.” After the brutal comment, the line went dead. They wanted to keep Alan in here. He was important enough to radio. An idea bloomed within my mind. If Alan warned of intruders, then we could use that.

  “We’re taking you hostage,” I said. “We don’t have time to be sneaky. We can storm the main doors and force our way in, threatening to kill you. In their surprise, we’ll ambush them. We can take the control room if we sweep them all at once. All of us.” I looked directly at Alan’s guards. Marek raised his eyebrow but offered no protest. A distant explosion caused a small tremor to pass through the castle.

  “Let’s go,” Reshi commanded. There was no time to lose, and frankly, I was uninterested in any feedback from Alan. We rounded the corner to the main room. It was unguarded, meaning that a council member must have ordered any available guards to join the castle patrols. They’ll regret that.

  I let Reshi take Alan in her arms, instructing Alan’s guards to hide just outside the room until they heard the attack. Reshi was large and sturdy, easily holding Alan with one pair of her hands and lifting a knife with the other. Rivo raised a gauntlet to Alan’s head.

  We burst through the doors. Just as Marek said, three controllers stood in front of a large screen. It was similar to the fantastical map I’d witnessed in the sanitarium and my vision from the Higher Plane. Two revenants sat at the table with their dead eyes loc
ked on us.

  “We’ve captured your controller,” Reshi snarled in an impressively menacing voice. “Surrender, or we blow his head clear off.”

  The closest controller, a stout, bald-headed man with an angry scar over one eye, lunged forward. His red gem began to glow. I threw myself forward with Reshi’s knives, aiming for his forehead. Alan’s revenants descended upon the other two controllers and revenants like wild tigers. Behind us, the maker guards swarmed inside and locked the doors.

  The bald controller let out a gasp as one of my knives struck his forehead just above his gem, which was newly inserted, judging from the irritated skin. He stumbled back against the table. The two revenants on the controllers’ side jumped up to help their masters.

  “Don’t aim for the gems,” Reshi cried as Rivo copied my movement with a female controller but struck far too close to the ruby gem in her forehead. “If we kill the controllers or rip out their gems, it might kill the revenants or make them completely uncontrollable.”

  My eyes landed on the last controller, the farthest away from the door in a shadowy corner. Sempre glared out at me, as ugly and cruel as I remembered. The sight of him, still alive, horrified me. He’s terrible to look at, with his stitched-together body. He lumbered toward our group, pointing at me.

  “Kill her!” he commanded. The two revenants turned to me. Their black eyes promised a vicious fight. I crouched and swept the legs of the controller in front of me as he leaned forward to clutch his bleeding forehead. These controllers weren’t warriors. As he fell, he smashed into one of the oncoming revenants. The other came for me, her arms reaching for my throat. Ingo the vampire smashed into Sempre with a vicious tackle while I dodged the oncoming revenant’s strikes. The other one quickly struggled out from underneath the fallen controller’s body, squirming inhumanly, like a worm desperate to kill.

  Reshi dropped Alan and launched a gem blast straight into the stomach of the revenant. Rivo and our other teammates took down the second controller, although her wails filled the air before Rivo could rip off some of her own cloak and shove it in her mouth. She struggled, her hands crawling for her radio device, which had fallen from her wrist. A vampire smashed it before she could reach it.

  Ingo grappled with Sempre. My pulse raced as I dodged again out of the female revenant’s range. Sempre must have been controlling her, because she moved with panicked, twitchy movements. Sweat slicked across my skin.

  “Go take care of Sempre,” Reshi said. “I’ve got these two.” She pulled out her crossbow and shot the oncoming female revenant. The vampire cried out in pain as the cord wrapped around her. She fought against the device as she reacted against the magic done to her. Alan’s maker guards subdued the second revenant, who howled. More fabric ripped as our teams desperately tried to shut everyone up.

  I sprinted to help Ingo, whipping out both knives to help finish Sempre off. I wanted him dead for good. Sempre was a reminder of the evil we’d faced in the sanitarium. His sheer existence proved the Immortal Council was willing to do unspeakable things in the name of their cause. He never should’ve been dug out of the caverns Ruk threw him into. I fought back a gag as the smell of decay greeted me. Sempre had deteriorated even more since last time. He smashed a button on his device.

  “No,” I cried, and buried my knives in his chest. Ingo had already unmagicked his armor, and the knives sank through the metal, but they landed in the rotting mess of Sempre’s skin. He was half dead already. Sempre looked at me with pure hatred, but a wicked smile played across his face.

  “Intruders in the control room,” he shouted, before a gem blast collided with his face. Ingo panted as he lowered his gauntlet. The radio was glowing a faint purple. A barking voice tried to respond, but the radio cut off. I gasped and swore, wrenching my knives and myself off Sempre’s corpse.

  “I’m sorry,” Ingo panted. “I thought I tapped my gauntlet against his radio device.” He yanked it off Sempre’s corpse now and crushed it beneath his boot, for all the good it would do. I tore myself away from the gruesome sight of Sempre’s melted face. All the evil things he’d done, and now, he finally rested in eternal sleep. I was glad he was dead.

  Reshi and the guards had the revenants under control. They were using her crossbow device to rope the two rogue revenants together. Once they were subdued, I ripped more fabric from the unconscious female controller’s cape and wrapped them around the bound revenants’ eyes. If anyone with permission could take over the revenants, I didn’t want them to see anything.

  I looked up, splattered with blood and matter from Sempre’s corpse, to find Alan staring at me. He lifted his radio control. “I should try to do damage control.”

  I was afraid it was too late for that, but I nodded for him to try.

  “Alan reporting in. Sempre was right. The intruders managed to launch an attack on the control room. The guards and I did everything we could to assist. We were able to subdue them with the revenants, but their functioning may be impacted. I suspect their gems have been damaged. The other controllers are unconscious, but I’ll call a healer.” Lies and more lies easily poured from Alan’s mouth. My stomach twisted into anxious knots as a pause sounded on the other line. Whoever Alan’s personal guard was—the one with the wretched humor—huffed at last.

  “Whatever, Alan. Keep things in order. We don’t have time for this,” the gruff voice spat. “There’s another oncoming—” The line cut off completely as an explosive went off in the background.

  “Well, we took the control room,” Alan muttered with a shake of his head. “Even if he doesn’t believe me, they’re too busy to care, at this point. Your allies must be keeping them occupied.”

  I hope you’re right. Dorian and Bravi had phoned in at various points to deliver news, but it was always simple updates. They were already fighting against the Immortal Council, but we needed to get there to reinforce them as soon as possible. Reshi and I needed to strategize. She and I turned to the map of the Mortal Plane with glowing revenant dots.

  Alan muttered to Marek to drag Sempre out and hide him before the stench gave us away. For once, I was glad to have his clever, cold mind working on our side.

  Reshi pointed a finger to the map. It was indeed the same one I saw in the Higher Plane window, down to the blinking red dots. Our maker allies gathered around Reshi as they worked to trace the magic of the revenants back to the controllers who were in charge. Alan’s guard had provided useful information. A smaller window on the screen showcased a basic layout of Itzarriol, with corresponding colors.

  Finally, Reshi let out an appreciative gasp. “So, there are nine controllers in the city and twenty revenants in the Immortal Plane. Three more controllers near the soul energy farms, so Gomez and Oz are probably dealing with them right now. There’s about the same number of revenants in the Mortal Plane, from what I can see.”

  We needed to phone in with that info. “All teams, Lyra calling in. We’ve secured the control room.” I reported the numbers of revenants and controllers, also mentioning that we took out Sempre. After a deep breath, I also told them about Alan.

  “Be careful,” Dorian said shortly before dissolving into the sounds of battle.

  “The old head of the board? Oh, we’ve spotted two controllers, but we’ll look out for the third. Oz is scouting with a redbill,” Gomez reported. “Our line is holding steady. The harvesters are still helping. They seem to take great joy in destroying the machinery meant to collect the energy. I doubt Itzarriol will last more than a week, but some of the wildlings said the harvesters spoke of Itzarriol using an increased amount of energy in the past few days before our attack.”

  My heart thudded as I requested an update from Dorian and Bravi. Bravi’s breathing was hard and labored as she came on the line, but she was cut short before she could speak. What was happening?

  Dorian cut in. “We’re going to need backup soon,” he said, in the controlled tone he used when everything was going to pieces. Faint sounds of gem
blasts rang in my ears. “Please get here as fast as you can.” His stoic request turned my blood hot with urgency; it must have been bad if he was asking for help. I swung my gaze to Reshi as the line cut out. Clearly, the battle was too chaotic for them to keep up with updates at the moment.

  “We need to move,” I urged.

  Her face hardened with reluctance. “Lyra, we don’t have control over the revenants yet.”

  The image of Laini looking into the face of death made me numb. I couldn’t allow that to happen today. I had to keep her close to me throughout this. Reshi saw the panic written all over me.

  “I’ll stay here,” she said, as a compromise. “I can work with our makers, and perhaps Marek can stay behind. We can barricade ourselves in if part of our team stays for guard duty.” Two of the vampires offered to stay behind, leaving Rivo as my main vampire warrior. It was imperative that the control room stayed protected. Chaka insisted on going with me to show the way. The room could be overrun while we left them, or my group might be attacked on the way to the stadium because we’d left fighters behind in the control room. But we needed Reshi to work on the revenant situation. Unease washed over me. There was nothing more we could do. I needed to go to Dorian and his team, but the control room had to be protected at all costs. Reshi might be able to work out the spells, especially if Marek had already made progress. If that happened, we could use the revenants to help overtake the Immortal Council.

  “Let’s do it,” I said. Zach and Gina helped place Elena into a chair. We quickly strapped her down so she wouldn’t panic. I pointed at Alan. He and his makers were coming with me. I didn’t trust him in the control room. “Can one of your guards help you along with that leg?”

  One of the maker guards gave me a sharp nod. Alan fell in line with no protest. Good, because I’ll punch you straight in the face if I hear so much as a discontented whisper.