The Book of the Blade

by Eric Asher

  Cornelius fell when the shadow vanished. The ground beneath him was rich with blood, and his body tried to follow it off the edge of the cliff before Beth caught him. She gently let him down to the ground, his blank eyes staring up at nothing.

  There was no saving him, that she knew. Even as the shadow folk gathered around him, applying their own healings, trying to pull the man back together, Beth knew that one did not summon an elder god of death only to cheat it.

  Beth slumped onto the ground, and watched them work over her friend. She held Cornelius’s old leather hat, the wide-brimmed one he’d gotten at a Renaissance faire long ago. Beth had seen him working there, seen how happy he was, and the thought of that old man’s face never being there again brought tears back to her eyes.

  Death came for all, but not all invited it.

  The shadow folk came by in what amounted to a procession. Beth heard whispers of thanks for the human who had saved their home, saved the last vestiges of their people. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been there, staying at her friend’s side. But eventually the tears dried, though she knew there would be many more to come.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder.

  “I need to take him home,” Beth said without looking up. But who would she take him home to? He had lost his family years before. His only daughter had moved across the country when she learned what he was. And after the words his own daughter had said to him, Beth didn’t care what she would think.

  “Beth.”

  She looked up into the face of Sleeper. Smooth gray lines had replaced the rough red flesh on his face. More than one scar showed itself where there had been none earlier that day. The shadow folk were skilled healers, but they couldn’t save everyone.

  “Consider, if you would, that he is already home.”

  Beth tried to speak, but her voice cracked. Tears came again, and she lowered her face into her hands, trying to will the tears away.

  “We lost many today. But we could have lost so many more without him. Let us bury him here, as is our tradition. Let his story live on among our people, and you can take his story back to yours.”

  Beth nodded and took a shaky breath. “I think he’d like that.”

  Sleeper nodded. “The sage wished to give you something.”

  “Where is she?” Beth asked. “I’d like to speak to her before I leave.”

  Sleeper looked out across the battlefield at the bottom of the cliff. “I am afraid she has joined those who have gone before. She did not survive the battle with the Eldritch god. I feared for you. With the destruction of the focus you placed on her, I feared what it could do to you.”

  “I’m sorry.” Beth suspected the blowback she’d felt had been in the moments the sage had been killed. The line energy had changed so dramatically, and so fast, she didn’t think she was going to survive it. She supposed she’d never find out what the sage had meant to gift her.

  “Come,” Sleeper said. “We will say goodbye to Cornelius, and as the new sage, I will provide you with what you need.”

  Beth wasn’t sure if she should congratulate Sleeper, or if there was some other response that was proper when one of the shadow folk became a sage. But with all that had happened that day, she had no words to offer.

  Sleeper bent down and picked up Cornelius. Beth looked away as drying blood tried to cling to his body. Blood she didn’t mind, but blood that had gone cold, that no longer carried life in it, made her skin crawl.

  A handful of shadow folk joined them in silence as Sleeper led the small group through the village onto a narrow path not far from Sleeper’s own hut.

  They walked single file, with Sleeper in the lead. The forest closed in around them, only to open into a clearing a short time later. A few of those furry puff balls screamed at them as they walked by. And Beth noticed some of the long-toothed lizards scavenging around the underbrush.

  A low note sounded as they stepped into the field. It took Beth a moment to realize one of the shadow folk was singing a deep basso note. A winding mournful note joined it before an angelic soprano whispered words Beth would never understand. She didn’t need to understand the syllables, because she understood the meaning in her heart, and as she watched Sleeper march forward with Cornelius in his arms, she knew, in her soul, this was the place for him to rest.

  The clearing widened farther and farther until it nearly reached as wide as the plateau they had arrived on when they first came to the Shadowed Lands. Obsidian cubes rose from the dirt, gradually increasing in height before descending in the distance. Sleeper led the way through the short cubes.

  More of the shadow folk sang, and those voices were joined by harmonics that brought goosebumps to Beth’s skin. It wasn’t until they had almost cleared the line of obsidian cubes in front of them that she realized each cube was vibrating like a tuning fork.

  Beth held her hand over her mouth, stemming another tide of tears as the group made their way to the center of the triangle formed by those cubes. The shadow folk lined up around an altar flush with the ground. And that was where Sleeper placed Cornelius.

  The new sage turned to Beth. “This is a place of peace for all of the shadow folk. A place where we set our noblest warriors to rest, and our kindest rulers. The sage will join him here once we find her. The bravest of us will join him here when our time is done. He will never be forgotten in this place, and the story you take with you to the realm of the Fae will live for all time.”

  Sleeper crouched and traced a pattern across the obsidian stone. It was the same triangle Beth had used to summon creatures from the Shadowed Lands. But now that she knew them, it felt wrong to call them creatures. They were so much more, so much kinder than their shadows had led her to believe.

  Sleeper drew a line across the triangle, the same line Beth would have used to seal the summoning, and an arc of electric blue line energy sparked across the stone. It consumed Cornelius, his body turning to a glittering black before it sank into the stone.

  The song around them quieted.

  “We will bury many in the coming days,” Sleeper said, raising his voice. “But we will not forget the human that saved us. And our people will honor the call of the blood mages until all are one with the stone.”

  The sweet harmony of the shadow folks’ singing was replaced with a raucous, rhythmic chant. Cornelius had changed their world. And in so doing, he might have saved their own.

  * * *

  Beth blew on the liquid inside a wide ceramic bowl. The beverage steamed and the thick-walled vessel felt heavy in her hand.

  “I apologize I don’t have anything smaller,” Sleeper said.

  “It’s not a problem.” Beth sipped at the bowl, and no matter how many times Sleeper said it was a mug, Beth would always think of it as a bowl.

  The contents were smooth, thicker like a hot chocolate, but without so sweet a flavor. It almost reminded her of thick tea with a bit too much creamer.

  “I remember when my mother died, I sat in that chair where you are now. I’m sorry for your loss this day, Beth, but I cannot think of a more noble end.”

  Beth had heard the same kind of rhetoric back in her realm when friends and allies died. There was always talk of honor and nobility and words that had no meaning anymore. Because the simple fact of the matter was, they were dead. Perhaps it brought some peace, but to Beth the song of the shadow folk had been more powerful than any kind words spoken about Cornelius. There was a weight in that song, and she had little doubt she’d carry it to her own grave.

  Sleeper pulled the blue afghan over his shoulders. Now that the sage was gone, or now that he was the sage, he’d inherited that grander home.

  “Won’t you miss your own home?” Beth asked.

  Sleeper smiled. “Of course. But I will bring things from my home to make this place more my own. We shadow folk carry the place we belong inside us. It makes it easier, when things are lost, if you carry the things most important inside yourself.”

  “You
sound like one of those minimalist vampires.”

  “I do not understand that term.”

  Beth gave him a small smile. “Some of the vampires in my world traveled through their life with very few material possessions. Their philosophy sounds like it’s a lot like yours.”

  “I should like to meet them one day. But I fear I must guide this conversation toward the gift you are owed.”

  “You don’t owe me anything,” Beth said.

  “I disagree with your assessment.” Sleeper stood up and let the afghan fall back onto the wide chair. He walked over to an intricately carved hutch, so covered in details and patterns it looked as though it might have been carved by one of the great Fae artisans. Sleeper pulled open the central drawer and then folded one side down.

  “Is that a secret drawer?” Beth leaned forward, studying the tiny slit in the side of the wood.

  “Not so secret I didn’t know about it,” Sleeper said. “In the golden days of this village, there were more problems with theft. It was not uncommon to hide things of value.”

  Beth instinctively squeezed the hat at her side. She thought perhaps she should’ve let it go with Cornelius, but she wanted something to remember him by. Something more than simple memories.

  Sleeper slid out what looked like a thin piece of ivory. It was old, or at least had the appearance of age. He turned it over in his hand, and Beth caught a glimpse of a rune etched into the surface.

  “This is a blood rune.” He held up the oval disc. “A drop of blood from the bearer, blood mage or not, and this rune will take them to their heart’s desire.”

  Beth frowned. It was an odd gift. And the old sage considered this payment for agreeing to fight an Eldritch god? “What can that be used for?”

  “It is considered uncouth to question a gift among the shadow folk. Although I know you are not aware of all our traditions, I would advise you not to be so brash among others of my people.”

  Beth cast her eyes down. “My apologies.”

  “Think no more of it. This is a time of victory, but it is also a time of loss. And I know you return to your realm to continue the war. The reason the sage wanted you to have this is that in the right hands, it will take you to the stolen cale.”

  Beth leaned back in her chair as if she’d been slapped. Now that Sleeper had said it, it felt obvious. “It will work for anyone who is not a blood mage?”

  “My friend, it will work for anyone who can bleed. But you must use caution. The bearer of the blood rune cannot choose what it takes them to. They must want nothing more than the cale. Nothing.”

  “Or the vampire who stole it,” Beth whispered.

  Sleeper cocked his head to the side. “An interesting ploy. But you would need one obsessed with a vengeance. Or who would love to kill the traitor enough that finding him would be all they desired.”

  Sleeper handed Beth the blood rune. It felt cool between her fingers. A pattern so intricate Beth doubted she’d be able to see the details without magnification.

  Beth’s lips split into a savage smile. “I think I know just the vampire to give this to.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Beth returned to the plateau where she’d first arrived with Cornelius. Sleeper came with her, and the two stood alone on the broken mountain.

  “You have the blood rune?” Sleeper asked like an overly paranoid father.

  Beth patted the pocket of her jeans. “Right here.”

  “And you know how to return?”

  Beth grimaced. “I know. It’s not the most pleasant of cuts.”

  “But your healers will be adequate in your realm? Such a deep wound has been known to kill before. I would not wish the loss of mentor and student to fall upon the same day.”

  “They’re the best. You don’t have to worry.” Beth wondered if Sleeper would be horrified by how deep some of the cuts she had made before actually were. The cuts on her palm were far less likely to kill her.

  “Then I can only thank you and wish you well on your journey. End the war in your realm, and we will continue to maintain the Seal that keeps the Eldritch away from all that we know.”

  Beth ran her thumb over the blood rune before leaving it in her pocket and squeezing her hand into a fist. “You know there are many Eldritch trapped in the Abyss?”

  Sleeper inclined his head. “It is known. But dealing with the Eldritch in the Abyss is not a battle we can fight from here. The ancient ones who built the Seals could not contain all the old ones in one place. You must remember that they invaded and destroyed many realms before any found a way to contain them.”

  “At least we stopped them here.”

  “For now,” Sleeper said. “Change comes with time, and one never knows what that change will bring.”

  Beth reached out and hugged Sleeper. He stood stock-still for a moment, as if not knowing what to do, before gently wrapping his own arms around her. The top of her head barely came up to his chest now, and his arms felt as bulky as those of Aeros himself.

  “Sorry if that’s not your tradition here,” Beth said, smiling up at Sleeper. “But in our realm, we hug our friends goodbye.”

  “It is good. Journey well, and summon us when you are in need. The shadow folk honor their pledges.”

  Beth stepped away from Sleeper and drew her dagger from one of the sheaths at her waist. She’d take Cornelius’s dagger home along with the hat tucked into her belt.

  The cold blade dug through her skin as she carved the pattern of two chevrons inverted and overlapping. The lines of an X came next, meeting in the center before she sheathed the dagger.

  She placed her bloody palm against her intact one.

  Sleeper raised his hand in farewell.

  Beth stepped forward.

  And darkness came.

  * * *

  It was almost as fast as the blink of an eye. The smeared stars and barely visible shades of the Eldritch gods above disappeared, replaced by familiar constellations, obscured by the light pollution of Kansas City, and framed by the welcoming chirp of crickets.

  Beth winced as she pulled her hands apart. It might not have been a dangerous cut, but it still felt about like dipping a paper cut into lemon juice. Not exactly a pleasant sensation.

  She looked at her hand and grimaced, then gently placed it on her jeans to absorb the worst of the blood. They were still stained from when she’d cut her chest, and from later, when she’d held Cornelius.

  “You could’ve told us what you were doing.”

  Beth spun around as she unsheathed the blade at her waist. The shadow behind her wasn’t hiding, and as he stepped into the moonlight, relief flooded over Beth. “Haka.”

  “Glad to see you survived it. Alexandra seemed to have her doubts when she told us.”

  “She wasn’t supposed to tell you,” Beth muttered. “Sometimes I think it was easier when you and the water witches didn’t like each other.”

  Haka grinned at the blood mage. “Where’s Cornelius?”

  Beth’s expression fell, and she pulled the old blood mage’s hat out from her belt. “He didn’t make it.”

  Haka’s dark eyes widened. “Shit. I’m so sorry.”

  And when Haka stepped forward to put his arm around Beth, she lost the control that her façade was projecting. Tears came unbidden, and she shook as she laid her forehead against the wolf’s shoulder.

  They stayed there for a time before Haka finally led her toward the house.

  “Let’s get you a change of clothes. And bandage up those hands.”

  Beth gave him a shaky nod and followed him toward the front door as he guided her. “It’s just one hand. The blood is from my other hand. I just …” She trailed off. It didn’t matter.

  “Hugh is off chasing flying heads,” Haka said. “They reappeared in the North.”

  Beth listened to his story as Haka pulled an extra key out of his pocket. He waited at the front door when she walked inside.

  “I have to get to Rivercene.”
<
br />   “Get cleaned up first. You know Ashley doesn’t need that heart attack if you show up looking like that.” Haka fished around in his pants again and tossed Beth another key. “Split Log’s car is parked on the street. Just … don’t scratch it up. That wolf only has so much patience.”

  “A werewolf without patience.” Beth slowly raised an eyebrow. “Imagine that.”

  Haka grinned at her and picked up the leather hat that she didn’t realize she’d dropped. “He was a good man, Beth. I’m glad to have known him. We won’t soon forget him.”

  Beth took the hat out of Haka’s grasp and sighed. “Are you coming to Rivercene?”

  Haka shook his head. “A couple of us are still here patrolling. Dad might be chasing the flying heads, but if the stone giant comes back, we need to know about it. Speaking of which, I better head out. Don’t hesitate to call if you need me.”

  Beth nodded. “Take care of yourself. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “When you’re feeling better, I want to hear all about the Shadowed Lands. I’ve never met anyone that’s been there. Not even sure if Dad has.”

  “I promise,” Beth said before she gently closed the door.

  * * *

  As much as Beth was in a hurry, she took more time than she planned in the shower. She stayed until the water ran cold, and the warmth fled from her wet hair. Her palm still wept, a small trail of pink water dripping down the drain.

  Her time with Cornelius had drawn to a close, but she would always be grateful to the old blood mage. And she wouldn’t let his sacrifice be for nothing by hiding in that house for long. The faucet squeaked as she turned it off and grabbed one of the overly fluffy towels Ashley loved so much.

  Beth frowned at the bloodstains on the towel from her palm as she dried off. She’d need to spray it with stain remover, or she’d never hear the end of it from Ashley. The thought brought a small smile to her face before she raised her eyes to the mirror.

  Old scars formed a webwork across her arms and chest. They trailed down to her hips, and a few still lingered nearly down to her knees. The fairies had offered to heal them more than once, but some scars were a part of her, so much a part that they felt like a memory in themselves.