Keeper of the Realms: The Dark Army (Book 2) (2 page)

Charlie peered blearily down at the rodents. ‘I hate rats.’

As she continued to kick and grind her feet, the movement caused the iron manacles to rub deeper into her skin. She scowled up at the restraints. ‘Handcuffs, manacles, Isiris Bracelets and chains … I hate them too! I hate all of them! I hate them!’

Realizing that she was growing close to losing her temper Charlie took a big, deep breath. And another … and then another. Gradually she felt her anger receding.

‘That’s better …’ she murmured.

One of the rats, unhappy with the amount of dust and debris raining down on it, chose that moment to scamper up the wall, on to Charlie’s foot and up her trouser leg.

‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!’ she screamed in disgust. She kicked and thrashed her legs, dislodging the rat so that it fell to the floor. The motion caused the manacles to cut deeper into her wrists.

‘Gaaaaaaaaaah!’ That was it. Charlie really lost her temper. ‘Get me out of here! Get me out! Out! Out! OUT!’

Kicking and screaming, she jangled on the end of her chains as sputters of Will fizzed from her fingertips, and her face went red then purple.

‘Let me out of here you low-down, good-for-nothing, chumpaholic idiots –’

A rumble and creak of stone from the opposite wall stopped Charlie mid-flow as small fractures appeared across its surface.

‘Huh?’

The cracks grew, the stonework moaned and Charlie could hear the faint sound of what seemed to be whale song mixed with the distant rumble of thunder. As the song grew in volume, the wall began to bulge and shake. A large circular hole peeled open in the brickwork to expose a dark and forbidding tunnel. The singing stopped and a bulky figure wrapped in a black hooded robe strode confidently out of the passageway.

‘B-Bane!’ stuttered Charlie, feeling the blood drain from her face. The Stoman Lord was the reason she was in Bellania. It was, after all, his twisted ambition and his shadowy servants, the Shades, who had chased her from London, intent on trying to kill and even eat her. Bane seemed to think that the pendant Charlie had worn round her neck ever since her parents went missing seven long years ago was key to controlling the realm. With the pendant in his power he could ensure his mastery over Bellania and, knowing this, he would stop at nothing to get it. It had become clear that keeping it in her possession and discovering its secrets was the only way Charlie could save the realm from his evil rule, as well as her only hope of seeing her parents again.

Right now she could feel its reassuring presence round her neck. Whoever was holding her captive clearly didn’t know
what the necklace was. It seemed like the only piece of good luck she’d had since she’d opened the portal to Alavis.

Striding forward, the figure loomed over Charlie. Large hands reached up and pulled down the hood to reveal the characteristically gnarled skin of a Stoman. The stranger’s face was hard and rigid and he had the coldest grey eyes Charlie had ever seen.

‘No, not Bane,’ said the large visitor. ‘My name is Darkmount. Edge Darkmount.’

Charlie blinked in astonishment. Edge Darkmount was the Stoman bishop she’d been trying to find: the one person who could reveal the secret of her pendant. The bishop was rumoured to be one of the most powerful Stomen in all of Bellania, with stonesinging abilities that could manipulate even the hardest rock as if it were nothing more than clay. Now that Charlie was face to face with him she was relieved that it wasn’t Bane, yet she didn’t necessarily feel any safer for she could see that he carried his own darkness. However, as she stared back at the hulking figure, instead of fear she felt the familiar stirring of fury within her. It was like the welcome return of an old friend.

‘You chump! You sold us out! You were supposed to help us, but you stabbed us in the back!’ she shouted. Lashing out, she tried to kick the looming Stoman, but he was out of reach. ‘If I ever get down from here I’m going to rip that cloak off you and stuff it up your nostrils, you lousy backstabber!’

‘Silly Humans, you are all the same,’ snarled Darkmount. ‘Only an idiot chained to a wall would insult a stranger.’ Raising a clenched fist he sang a powerful note that caused
his hand to glow a deep, baleful red. ‘Indeed if you aren’t careful you might be forced to learn a painful lesson.’

Jensen groaned and did his best to gain some control of his torn and bruised body. Spitting mud from his mouth, he clenched his fingers into the dirt, pushed his knees under his chest and struggled to his feet.

‘I won’t ask again. Tell me wot yer’ve done with Charlie!’ he demanded through swollen lips. He staggered defiantly upright to face the Stoman guards in their shining armour. ‘Where is she?’

The Stomen were tired of the repeated questions. Grown used to the Treman’s plucky determination, they did what they always did. With a nod from a nearby sergeant one of the Stoman soldiers stamped his way from beneath the shelter of the overhanging roof into the pouring rain. Casually he lifted his heavy war axe and, using the thick shaft of the handle rather than the sharp business end, clubbed Jensen back to the ground.

The soldier stared down at the captive. ‘You better stay down and be quiet!’ he growled, nudging his boot into Jensen’s ribs.

‘I’m getting tired of repeating meself,’ mumbled Jensen. Raising a shaking arm he waved it in the general direction of the astonished guard. ‘Tell me where me little Hippotomi –’

The guard slammed his foot into Jensen’s head, cartwheeling the Treman over on to his back. As Jensen lost consciousness, the courtyard finally fell silent.

The Stoman grinned and raised a thumbs-up sign to the rest of his squad.

‘Ya didn’t answer the man,’ said a voice interrupting the moment. ‘Where’s the girl? Where’s Charlie?’

Snarling, the soldier snapped round. Furious, he broke into a run that quickly covered the distance between him and the second prisoner. Slamming shoulder-first into the girth of Kelko’s stomach, the guard once again brought the shaft of his axe into play and knocked the fat Treman into another unconscious heap. When the chubby Treman was down the soldier ruthlessly kicked him several times.

This was getting way beyond a joke. The two Tremen were insulting the might of the Stoman army with their lewd jokes and constant demands to know where the young Keeper was. A sound beating was the least they deserved. The other Stoman soldiers looked on in approval as he continued to kick and grind his heel into the unconscious prisoners.

A flurry of activity at the far end of the courtyard announced the arrival of a lightly armoured messenger. Ignoring the beating, the messenger jogged past the ranks to the colonel.

‘At last,’ snorted the colonel once he had absorbed the message. ‘I thought we would have to babysit these fools all season long.’

Indicating that two of his men and the messenger should follow him, he strode over to the prisoners, who were slowly regaining consciousness. ‘I would like to thank you for gracing us with your constant wit and banter, but we no longer require your presence. Lord Bane has commanded that you be taken with all haste –’ the colonel punctuated
his speech with a well-placed kick in Kelko’s stomach – ‘and ceremony –’ and another kick for Jensen – ‘to the Soul Mines of Zhartoum, where you will work till your fingers are worn to stubs, your teeth drop from your mouth and your hair withers like rotten wheat. Welcome to the end of your days.’

With a nod of his head he watched his men drag the two Tremen off.

‘The dog too?’

‘Yes, Colonel.’

‘Good, that beast was a real pain in the neck. It mauled three of my men before we could muzzle it. So what about the Keeper and the Hatchling? Can we get rid of them too?’

‘They are to remain here, Colonel. Lord Bane has further plans for them. He has dispatched a pack of Shades to usher them to the Western Mountains where he will oversee their fate in person.’

‘Excellent,’ muttered the colonel, who felt that guarding prisoners was a waste of his time. ‘And then what of me and my men?’

‘What else but back to the fray? The Human cities are almost ours for the taking and once they have fallen we can turn our sights to Deepforest and that cursed city, Sylvaris.’

2

An Introduction and a Deal

Hands glowing, Darkmount grasped first one manacle, then the other. At his touch the metal peeled back, releasing Charlie so that she fell to the floor in a puff of dust with a startled ‘Oof!’

‘Huh?’ gaped Charlie, too shocked and too tired to register the pain in her backside. ‘Why’d you do that?’

‘Would you rather I had not?’ said Darkmount. ‘If you prefer that I leave you to your fate it will take but a moment to reattach the manacles.’

Charlie managed to compose herself, but only just. ‘But why would you want to set me free after betraying me?’

‘You weren’t betrayed. Alavis simply had the misfortune to fall faster than anyone expected.’

‘Come again?’

‘The Stoman army invaded the city and when you opened your Portal you were unlucky enough to open it into one of the courtyards that the Stomen were using.’

‘Yeah, a courtyard you picked!’

‘When I picked it,’ reasoned Darkmount, ‘Alavis was still a free city. Let me repeat myself, you weren’t betrayed; it was just … poor fortune.’

‘What?’ sneered Charlie, still angry and suspicious. ‘Like you couldn’t send me a message or at least give us some kind of warning!’

‘And how would you have suggested that I do that?’ Darkmount held up his hand and ticked off points on his fingers. ‘One, Bane’s forces were far larger than predicted. Two, the city was surrounded so no message could get out. Three, even if I had sent a message it wouldn’t have reached Sylvaris in time to stop your arrival.’

‘OK, so if you didn’t betray me how come you weren’t there to warn us?’

‘So I could be captured too? Pah! You are either innocent or idiotic, and neither personality trait is acceptable, particularly in a Keeper. Fortunately for you I am no fool, which is why I used my time wisely.’

‘Yeah, doing what?’

Again Darkmount ticked off points. ‘One, moving my research and books to a safe place. Two, keeping an eye on the guard movements and, three, planning a safe method of extraction.’

‘Extraction?’

‘Escape! I’m helping you escape, you foolish child! Enough of this idle chit-chat. Now that you are in a position to make a bid for freedom it is time for us to discuss the requirements for our deal.’

‘Deal?’ said Charlie. ‘What deal?’

‘I believe you wanted your pendant examined, did you not?’ rumbled Darkmount. ‘You and your Lady Dridif from the Jade Circle believe that it holds answers, answers that only I can provide, and in return for this information you
and I must discuss the matter of price. A deal must be made.’

‘Right,’ muttered Charlie, who had come to expect such things from strangers in Bellania. ‘What kind of deal would that be?’

‘Do not be sarcastic, little girl. Remember, we all have different paths to walk.’

‘Oh, sure, paths that require you to force me to make a deal while me and my friends are still imprisoned. That really seems fair, doesn’t it?’

‘Who ever told you that life was meant to be fair?’ asked Darkmount. ‘I am offering you something, I require something in return and I believe that is the basis of a “fair” deal.’

Charlie stared hard at Edge Darkmount. It was true that he should get something in exchange for his knowledge and since she was half rescued thanks to him she should, she supposed, be grateful. But there was something very unlikeable about him; he was too cold, too distant. But as with so many things that had happened to her in Bellania, she knew when she had little or no choice.

‘So what do you want from me?’

‘I need you to fetch me a vessel. A holy vessel. It is a sign, an embodiment of my religion and with it in my hands I can begin to repair the damage that Bane has done to the true faith of Bellania.’

‘True faith? Bane? What has Bane done to you?’

‘What has he done?’ growled Darkmount, and for the first time he revealed some genuine emotion. ‘What has that dog
not
done?’ A flickering anger swept across his face,
causing veins to pulse across his forehead. ‘He has made a mockery! A mockery of the Stoman religion. His new so-called god has usurped the true faith and led the righteous astray. Bane must be forced to see the error of his ways.’

‘So I take it you’re not pals, right?’

Darkmount let out a sigh of frustration. ‘Your constant, infantile witticisms are wearying to my ears, but in this you are indeed correct. Bane and I share a hatred so sincere, so pure, that the darkness of night pales in comparison.’

‘So is this an “enemy of my enemy” kind of deal?’

‘If you wish to see it like that,’ replied Darkmount, once again in control of his emotions.

‘So what’s in this vessel then?’

‘My god.’

‘Say what?’ Charlie rubbed at her ear, thinking that she had misheard.

‘I said it contains my god,’ growled Darkmount. Lightning seemed to flicker across his eyes. ‘The vessel is merely the physical casing that contains my god.’