Take the Darkness...: Epic Fantasy Series (11 page)

Chapter 23

Josette’s stolen horse was left behind to wander on the trail and she crept as slowly and quietly as she could through the sparse foliage at the side of the path. The Duke’s men had discovered the back route into the Keep and were guarding it in force. Beads of sweat rolled down her pale forehead and into her eyes as she looked on. The gate into the Keep was sheer rock, and while they hadn’t found the entrance itself, they were guarding the road and knew it was there somewhere.

The guards’ camp was big, much bigger than she could take by herself. She counted over ten men sitting around a camp site right in the middle of the trail. A few scouts walked around aimlessly with pikes held casually in hand as they chatted and didn’t do their jobs. She had to get into that Keep, and now. Goldie and the mercenaries’ captains would be arriving just a few hours behind her, and while the main body of men would take another day, she wanted to speak with Grimm and Elizebetha before he got a chance to do the same. Her two options were to try and kill to ten well-armed men by herself or to get her arse over the main Keep wall and hope she didn’t get filled with arrows by her own men.

She couldn’t think of a solid plan so she decided, when in doubt, to trust the stupidity of men... and these certainly didn’t look like the cream of the Duke’s army. They sat around laughing and talking as if they were on a camping trip. Looking at their uniforms, see saw they were very neat and clean, as were their arms. She guessed they were just levies raised from the Twin Plains farms to act as fodder. Stepping out into the path, she started to strut down towards them with confidence, pushing her hood back and letting her hair flow out.

‘Who the fuck’s in charge of this rabble?’ She yelled as she walked towards the men.

They scrambled for their weapons, and within moments, she was at their makeshift camp with three bows, five pikes, and two swords pointed at her. One man looked flustered in the extreme and held a rapier pointing at her. The Officer, of course.

‘Hold there, woman, who are you?’  He said back.

‘Who am I, Captain?’ She spat at him, ‘I’m the one who’s got to lead you fuck-ups into this Keep and take Duchess Elizebetha hostage.’

She pushed passed the stunned man and his men, and within a second she was at the blank black wall searching for the hidden keyhole. Elizebetha had given her the large metal key. Even if they knew where it was, it would never open without the key.

‘What the hell are you talking about? And what are you doing? Men, I want you to fire on this woman,’ he shouted.

She turned back. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I want to live. Duchess Deirdra has paid me a lot of money to get you into this Keep and that’s what I’m going to do. Now hurry up.’ She found the hole and, putting in the key, swung the black stone door outwards. The men were stunned and just looked at their Captain, and then back at her, bows drawn.

‘So are you coming or not?’ She said, turning back and putting one foot through into the cold.

‘Really, Captain, us ten against all of them in there?’ Said one very young and nervous man holding a pike.

‘Look, the Duchess has paid me to get you in, so if you want to go tell her you just wasted all her gold and time, that’s fine.’

‘Men, this is our chance. It was shit detail but we can snatch victory this very day.’ Said the moustached man as he walked forward and pointed his rapier against her back. ‘But I don’t trust you, so go slowly.’

Within moments she and the ten guards from the Duke’s army were within the stone doorway and walking up the small dark corridor. The only light was cast from the doorway. ‘Shut the bastard door or they’ll see the light.’ She said in an angry whisper. The stone door swung shut with a heavy thud and she felt the fear in some of the men. Her own heart was racing. She was in the Keep, but with ten enemy men at her back in a small dark corridor. Still no real plan, so she pushed forward with this idiocy.

She turned back to the Captain and spoke into the darkness. ‘If we follow this passage, it comes out in the Duchess Elizebetha’s study. She’s always alone. We take her prisoner and take her back to the Duchess for a fine reward.’

‘Okay, you lead, but if you’re lying you’ll die before me, I promise,’ whispered a voice back.

The corridor was almost entirely dark and she crept along with her hand on the walls, trying to find the right one. Beneath this Keep the Gatherers had built so many secret paths and doors, there were a lot more than just one. Slowly, light began to creep into the corridor and she saw the staircase, its tall metal spiral that went up and up.

‘This is it,’ she said and started climbing. It had stood for at least a hundred years, but was such a solid metal that it didn’t even creak at the weight of the ten men. She could hear their heavy breathing and tinkling of armour and weapons, though, and hoped her friends could as well. At the top of the stairs was a large stone room. In it were a table, chairs, and couches. It was even lit with a lantern; the men all piled into the room and she looked at their faces in the darkness. She had them all now: they listened to her words, hanging off every sentence. ‘It’s just through that doorway, it opens out into a bookshelf. Captain? What should we do next?’ She asked.

All the men looked to the Captain who was so far lost. Minutes ago, he was happily camped and eating some roast mutton, and now the battle hinged on him. ‘I still don’t trust you at all, so you go through first, and me second, and remember my blade is in your back,’ he said.

‘How could I forget? You keep pushing it into me like a horny little boy,’ she spat back.

‘Now open it silently,’ he whispered, and she just smiled to herself in the near dark.

She walked to the doorway and the flat door that was a part of the fake bookcase. ‘Oh, it only opens from that side,’ she said as she kicked the door as hard as she could with her boot. It flung open wide with a shower of splinters and books as she hit the ground and rolled out into the room. The Captain charged in after her along with his men and thrust his blade at her. They were done now: that noise would bring everyone. She rolled again and felt the rapier brush her leather clad side, and then he was flung back with an arrow sticking out from his neck.

The room was filled with Stellos and her archers. The study was actually being used as a barracks for the women as Elizebetha wanted the men and women to bunk separately. The soldiers were greeted with the sight of thirty half-dressed women, all with bows pointed at them as they came through the doorway. Duchess Elizebetha stood in the doorway. ‘No one has to die. Just yield,’ she said.

There was a clang of weapons hitting the floor, as the unprepared soldiers had no wish to die at the hands of these angry semi-clad women. Stellos looked at Josette and laughed. ‘Tell me to never ask you to lead a sneak attack. We heard you coming a mile away.’

Josette smiled back as she took the lady’s hand and pulled herself from the floor. ‘That was the plan, boss.’

Then she turned to Elizebetha. ‘I need to talk to you right now.’

Chapter 24

Seth stood before the reborn Wolvern which had leapt from the flames like some mythical creature, new and different. He could scarcely believe it was the same creature standing before him. It was actually beautiful now. It was still terrifying because of its sheer size and those wicked sharp teeth and dangerously cunning yellow eyes, but the thick white fur and long tail made it look like a king of wolves rather than an undead creature. It moved and paced in front of him as if filled with a proud restless energy, snapping its head left and right. He could hear its faint laughter of pride in his mind.

His right hand that held the fire sign still burned slightly, and he was starting to realise he had indeed absorbed the powers of the coins. He wondered if that meant he could simply create a rift and walk back through to his home.

‘
You could.’
It said in his mind, reading his thoughts.

Even the voice in his mind was much softer, and filled with less rage and hate. He’d gotten so used to that dark voice that was so hungry and filled with the need to devour and destroy.

‘
But you can’t leave yet.’
It said.

‘I know we have to go and rescue Seraphina from that woman first,’ he said back.

It laughed darkly in his mind. ‘
Not only that, boy, we need to finish what you’ve started here. I picked you all those years ago because of your hunger and strength, but it must have been more, surely I was guided to you for this reason.’

‘What reason?’ Asked Seth.

‘
To restore me and to bring back the sun
,’ it said simply.

His life could never be simple. Never anything like joining the city guard, working his way up its ranks. Being proud of his achievements and maybe finding someone to love. It had to be friendship with a creature from the land of the dead and being responsible for so much more. To himself, Seth still viewed himself as just a normal man who had been very lucky, or maybe very unlucky. He fought those who came to kill him and he defended his friends. Even in his journey to Black Rock, he had felt filled with purpose: it was simple. To protect the people he loved. Now the creature spoke of something so much bigger.

‘What do you mean bring back the sun?’

‘Do you think this place is meant to be like this? Is this the place your mother used to tell you about as you burned your fallen kin? A place of endless cold and hopelessness? Of the dead becoming mindless monsters being fed on by other monsters? It’s broken, boy, and you have to fix it.’

‘I understand it’s broken; it fits with no stories I’ve been told, but am I the one to do it? I’m just a soldier and a bloody young one at that. Am I really going to fix all of this?’

Its laugh rattled in his mind.
‘You say these words, but you don’t believe them; you know you’re meant for great things, you just need to embrace them. Let me show you what this place used to be.’

The Wolvern had pushed words into his mind many times before, but never had it taken it over and shown him its own memories. He fell to his knees and his eyes forced themselves closed so he didn’t see double as his vision changed to that of the Wolvern itself. He saw the world through its eyes and felt what it felt as it did.

It ran with power and confidence through its long animal legs and it was at the head of a pack of Wolvern. But covered with fur, and looking like a dangerous wolf pack of massive size. He led the group of ten as they raced across the green grass of the land. Trees were actually growing and the wind that whipped past its face was cool and smelled fresh.

They spotted the people and changed their course. The group of men and women walked slowly along with looks of confusion and fear on their faces. They were just like people he’d seen on any caravan road or trading route, but with a look of lost children. They walked along in many different types of clothing. Some were traders, some farmers and soldiers or beggars, and all were of different races. Some dark desert people, many Pellosi, and even a Northern lady, who looked very aged.

The Wolvern pack raced down the gentle slope towards them, howling as they went. Seth thought they would scatter with fear but they didn’t. The Wolvern pack raced down towards them and then they were passed them. They slowed and started pacing along next to them. He heard the simple word ‘Follow’ and the lost people did. They seemed happy to have a direction to move in, and started to follow the Wolvern pack across the unmarked land.

‘There were many of us, Seth, and we had purpose, to lead the dead to the judgement place. Most went willingly, but some would resist: they could feel the fire on their faces already and they tried to stay, but we would herd them like willful children and make them go
.’

Seth’s vision changed again and he suddenly felt the dreadful cold on him, and a hunger growing in the pit of his stomach. The Wolvern cast its eyes to the sky and Seth saw the moon as he saw it now, strong and unmoving. The Wolverns ran in the snow, leading a pack of men. He could feel the tension in their bodies and felt that the Wolvern was holding his own kind back from killing them. The hunger was so strong in their bodies. As they paced along, shapes began to appear out of the snow, tall white creatures like the silver women. They were beautiful and cold; they were fully naked and only held weapons made of that cruel black metal.

The Wolvern howled viciously and ran at the creatures, but there were literally hundreds and hundreds of them. They wanted the dead and would kill the Wolvern to get them. It was a slaughter like he’d never seen. The creatures with their silver hair moved like blurs in the snow and he saw the pack of Wolvern getting cut down. Black blood poured from their white, black, and grey bodies. They fought with feral strength and a few of the silver people fell to their teeth to be torn apart and devoured, but they were no match.

He saw his own Wolvern fighting three at once. They had a small girl who screamed like a normal child as they grabbed her and tried to start leading her away from the pack. The Wolvern leapt on the lead one from behind and, pinning him to the ground, bit a huge chunk from the back of his neck and spat it out; he pounced off the body and slashed the next with a huge swipe of his clawed hand, which was completely unlike a paw, and ripped its face apart. But as it fought, they just kept getting up again and again. Wounds that should have killed them healed in front of its eyes until the Wolvern fought alone. The field was littered with the dead of its kind and he stood facing a group of twenty of the silver haired creatures. They had the screaming humans in their arms, or led them at sword point. It crouched low, black blood dripping from a long cut in its side, and readied to die fighting.

Then she came forward. The beautiful silver woman, her silver tongue flashing in her mouth as she laughed. ‘Your time is done, dog. Run now, run and live a long life of a coward, knowing your kind is dead.’

‘
And I did Seth, I couldn’t kill them all myself and so I lived a long life and watched it all change. Hundreds of years passed and they changed. They grew fat and disgusting from the flesh they ate. The dead grew stupid and feral from fear and the evil of the moonlight that always shone, and even I changed. My body changed with no sunlight to give me strength, no water to drink, no food to eat. Until one of the Dark Guild summoned me for the first time. By then I didn’t care. I was alone and at least I could eat again.’

Its visions left Seth’s mind and he felt like he would throw up. These awful silver-haired creatures had come from somewhere and they had destroyed not only the Wolvern kind but the afterlife of his people. He’d seen them on the plains before the change, and while there were lost children, they were far from monsters. Now they were mindless beasts just to protect themselves from the horror of what was being done to them.

‘Are these silver hairs still feeding on them?’ Seth asked with rage in his voice.

‘
Of course they are: why would they stop?’
It said.

It was right; it showed him this. He might just be a boy from the North and not the one to do it, but he’d be fucked if he was going to sit by and watch his people be turned into cattle for these silver skins. He’d kill them all if he had to.

‘So what now?’ Seth asked.

‘
Now we bring back the sun and let it burn them all.’

Seraphina looked down the snow covered roadway and at the creature that faced her with its sword drawn. It was disgusting. Fat and horrible, but at least it wore clothing, unlike her friend the silver woman. It was at least six feet tall and looked very dangerous. There were hundreds of them creating a wall of pale and fetid bodies to either side, and they shrieked with excitement and bloodlust. She was afraid, but more about showing her hand than the fight. She’d been her uncle’s favourite, and she knew that when facing an enemy that was stronger, faster, and more dangerous, she needed to strike first and strike to kill.

‘Anything I should know?’ She asked over her shoulder to Silver.

‘Try to take his head off. They can still heal, even if they are a pale shade of what we once were. Those scars all over it are the marks of its weakness to heal properly, but it won’t be able to survive that.’

Seraphina had not spent five years here just sitting in her cave and crying. She’d only done that for a few months, and had spent most of the rest of the time with her power. She’d imagined fighting and killing Seth and others many times. She knew how to use her power well, and even though she’d be revealing herself to the woman, she had no choice. She’d lose in a fair fight, so she’d have to cheat.

The creature was still a good distance away from her, and stood sword pointed at her and waiting, which was good. She drew her sword and yelled in Northern, ‘give me your head!’ She swung her blade through the air at the level of its neck; the creature was meters and meters away from her and just laughed as the blade swung pointlessly through the air, well in front of it. The others were still laughing as well, when the creature toppled back, with a gush of silver blood streaming from its throat. Seraphina could make herself like a shadow and still hold the image of Seth standing there meters back, so she’d dashed forward and delivered the deep cut herself, and returned while they were laughing.

It fell back with a shriek, clutching its throat and slowly bleeding to death as the laugher turned to fear. She sheathed her blade and they all saw it still dripped with blood, even though she’d just swung at the air. The silver lady was also stunned.

‘What power is this, champion? You’ve never done this before,’ She said, with some fear in her voice.

‘I’ve never needed to.’

Seraphina could feel the fear in them all and played it, as she turned to the rest of them screaming in deep Northern. ‘Who’s next, then?’ She pushed her face close to the ugly things watching and looked into their cloudy eyes, going from next to next. ‘You? ‘You? I can kill you all with just a swing of the blade. Or let’s try without the blade.’ She spun around and looked at one in the crowd, and with her finger she made cutting marks across the air in front of its face. Within moments, the cuts appeared, made by her as she held the illusion. They wouldn’t see her little shadow darting forward... she was too good now.

Once he started bleeding, they ran. Hundreds and hundreds of these awful pale things just ran from little Seraphina from Pelloss. She looked back at the silver woman who had drawn her own sword on instinct. They took flight and started running towards whatever they called a city.

‘Well that was easy.’ She said to Silver.

The silver woman looked at her with disbelief as she gripped her sword hard, as if thinking, and then started laughing and laughing. She ran to Seraphina and crushed her on her naked body. ‘Oh, you are so perfect! Even more than I could ever have imagined, we’ll be unstoppable now. They will all run to my mother and tell her of you and what you can do, so she’ll have no choice but to face us.’

Now the battle was done, Seraphina felt nothing but elation. She’d been facing an enemy much stronger than her and she’d won. Her uncle would be proud of her, and she’d even be able to kill Seth if she was allowed to. But her friend the Wolvern wouldn’t want her to.

‘But you do scare me, champion,’ Silver said releasing her. ‘Why haven’t you revealed this power before?’

‘I am still loyal, mistress, it’s just I can only do it for a little; it drains me, but I knew we had to scare them, so I did it.’

‘Oh, the power is limited, you can only do it sometimes.’ She said, and Seraphina could hear the relief in her voice.

‘Yes, mistress.’ That had been true once, but now she could cast an illusion and hold it forever.

‘Good, good, but we need you strong, so come here.’ The silver women reached up, and with her long silver finger nails, made a deep scratch in her neck. She knelt down naked in front of Seraphina. The silver blood slowly dribbled from her slender neck. ‘Drink, champion, drink and be strong.’ She said it in the voice of command and Seraphina had no choice. She leant down and with Seth’s lips found the women’s neck. The silver blood slowly ran onto her tongue and she felt the warmth and life in it. The feeling of strength ran through her body. It was much better than snorting her uncle’s snuff powder. She felt incredible. She licked the silver woman’s neck and, reaching with her hand into her silver hair, pulled her in closer. She felt a quickening of excitement in Silver’s body as she did so, and she let out the tiniest of moans. Seraphina smiled to herself, as that was something she could use too.