The Fall of Ossard (12 page)

He reached up with one of his muscular arms and removed his helmet to reveal the small pointed tips of his ears. In a moment, the resemblance to a Fletman was gone. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He spoke in
Quorin
, Dormetia’s common language.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your approach,” I answered.

“I was just heading back to my ship when I heard your kind words.”

I smiled, he seemed friendly enough.

He continued, “We’ve just resupplied and are about to leave.”

And then, from across the city, we heard the Cathedral’s bells toll.

Dong…

The deep ring rolled out, seeing everybody stop and wait.

Dong…

And so we counted.

Dong…

Maria looked up to me. I bent down and picked her up.

Dong…

The Lae Velsanan officer watched us intently. About us, the people of the port tensed.

And then it came.

Dong…

Sef shifted, relaxing. I could feel my own demeanour change, a great weight lifted.

Thank Schoperde, Maria would be safe!

To temper the thought, the sound of sobbing arose in the distance.

Slowly, mournfully, people went back to work.

The Lae Velsanan asked, “Excuse me, but why does the bell toll?”

For a moment, with my relief making me giddy, I had to fight to maintain my composure. “There’ve been some kidnappings.”

He nodded, looking to Maria. “We have heard as much. We were warned of this place. I can see pain in your eyes, the kidnappings have already touched you. Take comfort; those responsible are being hunted by more than your own kind.”

For the first time in seasons, I heard the voices rise within me to whisper their support.

They liked him.

His words seemed simple, but they gave me hope. It was then that I realised it’d been a long time since I’d tasted such a thing.

I had to stop myself, suddenly taken by the urge to embrace this Lae Velsanan and thank him for his soothing words. Perhaps I was no longer alone in holding some of the truth and guilt.

Perhaps there was hope.

He gave a little bow and gestured to the ship. “I must go, it has been a pleasure.”

I nodded, and even Sef wore a smile.

The officer had indicated another Lae Velsanan waiting for him on the ship’s deck, his senior.

He stood there watching us, stark and handsome like a crisp winter day. Tall and lean, with a powerful frame, and all of it topped with cropped black hair and cold eyes of grey.

Within me the voices’ whispered chorus fell from warmth to an empty silence. There was no doubt, the officer was beautiful, but it was a beauty of a chilling kind.

The strongest voice within me hissed, “Soul Eater!” And for a moment I felt overcome. I still held Maria, but pushed her towards Sef. He grabbed her, surprised but ready. I put my other hand on his shoulder to try and steady myself.

I was going to faint.

“Juvela!”

And the Lae Velsanan we’d been talking to stepped forward and reached out with strong hands.

I wanted to refuse him, to say that I was fine, but the next moment my legs buckled. I’d barely begun my fall when the officer caught me.

Maria cried out.

The Lae Velsanan said, “Careful now.”

Sef tried to comfort Maria as he said, “Please Sir, I have my hands full, could you help her to our coach.”

“Of course.”

I protested, “I’ll… I’ll be alright, I just need a moment…”

Sef said, “Lady Juvela, you’re unwell!”

The Lae Velsanan nodded. “Please, my lady, I’m used to much heavier burdens. You will be no trouble.” And with a quick nod to Sef he moved to lift me.

Kurt had seen me faint and already had the coach coming forward. In moments, I was no longer under the sun or being held by the officer, but being fussed over by Sef while my poor daughter watched. With a barely managed goodbye to my rescuer and a thank you Sef swears he gave, we were on our way.

Strangely, as we left the docks, my colour returned along with my strength. I wondered at that, but it wasn’t easy to explain. All I could say for sure was that I’d left something behind us, something at the docks - and it was hungry.

Soul Eater…

The name rang out in my mind, again whispered by the voices that seemed to be rising stronger with each visit.

Sef was staring at me. “Juvela, are you alright?”

“I…” My thoughts were confused.

“Yes?” he prompted.

“I don’t know. I mean, I feel much better, but before I felt…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know how to describe it.”

“Try,” he said, and there was something about the way he asked that made me realise that he thought it important.

“There was something back there…”

He interrupted, “Where?”

“Back at the docks.”

“Yes?”

“Something scared me, it made me feel weak.”

He frowned, but it wasn’t because he didn’t understand - it was because he
did
. It encouraged me to go on, “Well, it was not so much that it scared me, but that I could feel it threaten me. It felt like it was somehow feeding off me, stealing, sapping my strength…”

“Go on.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what to say, it sounds crazy.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Well, anyway, now it’s gone.”

He nodded and leaned forward, giving a sidewards glance to Maria who’d calmed and was now lost in the view of the passing street. “And where did that feeling come from,
what
was so hungry?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.”

I shook my head. “Whatever do you mean?”

“The Lae Velsanan?” he asked.

“No, he was nice! How could it be him?”

“Their ship?”

All this was only adding to my confusion. A moment ago I’d thought that I knew what I was talking about, but only for an instant. Now I was lost again. With my uncertainty came defensiveness and a guess that sprang from the anxiety that nurtured it. “The Soul Eater.”

“The what?”

I looked down at my hands, to where they sat in my lap fidgeting with the fabric of my dress. “I don’t know.” I was embarrassed.

“Juvela, who is the Soul Eater, who was feeding off
all
of us?”

Finally, after my confusion, another moment of clarity came: It hadn’t been the Lae Velsanan officer, but his senior, that’s what the strongest voice had hissed. I took a deep breath and said, “The ship’s captain, but I can’t say any more.” I shook my head. “I don’t know any more, I just know it was him. He was the one who drained me, though I don’t know if he meant to, or even if he knew that he did. There’s something hungry about him.”

“For souls?”

I looked to Sef, helpless. I didn’t know what I was talking about, I wasn’t even sure I was communicating my jumbled thoughts clearly.

A knock sounded. It was Kurt.

Sef opened the sliding panel at the front of the cab to talk to him. At the same time the coach slowed.

Sef asked, “What’s happening?”

“We’re at Market Square, but there seems to be some kind of problem ahead. We’ll get through, but not quickly. I just thought you should know seeing as our lady is ill.”

I spoke up, “I’m much better, thank you, so you needn’t hurry.”

“Good to hear, my lady.”

Sef said, “I’ll come out and have a look. Give me a moment.”

“Right you are.”

Sef turned back to me, his expression serious. “Are you alright,
really
?”

“I’m well enough,
really
. Have a look at what’s happening and let me know. If we’re going to be stuck in the markets for a while we might as well get out and have a look around.”

He nodded, smiled to Maria, who grinned back, and then opened the door and jumped down to the cobbles. I could hear him talking to Kurt and people in the crowd. Some spoke gravely of the latest kidnappings, others about the commotion ahead, but he got no straight answers.

I opened the door and called to him, “Help me, we’re coming down.”

He frowned.

“It’s safe enough.”

He grumbled, but helped me before turning for Maria. Looking up to Kurt atop the coach, I said, “Work your way through this mess and wait for us on the other side. We’ll go through the crowd.”

He glanced at Sef, but nodded.

I took Maria by the hand. “Let’s go.”

The three of us began passing through the crowd, the square abuzz with gossip and the sounds of relief. Spread amidst it were a few tightly packed mobs centred on weeping women and distraught men; the relatives of the missing. They headed for the Cathedral. The Church of Baimiopia’s head in the city, Benefice Vassini, would be waiting within to bless them and then join them in prayer.

Market Square would be busy on most days, but this day the area seethed under the crush. I said to Sef, “We’re not going to be getting anywhere quickly.”

“Are you sure that you’re well?”

“I’m fine. Let’s have a look at what’s causing the problem.”

He grudgingly nodded.

Maria walked between Sef and I as we headed towards the heart of the crowd. I still couldn’t see anything of what was happening.

Sef looked about, he seemed nervous.

I asked, “Are
you
alright?”

“I’d rather we were getting you home.”

I thought he was being silly, after all I felt fine and the bells had tolled their full count.

We continued on.

To my surprise, the fuss was over nothing being sold, nor the theatrics of a street troupe, just a lone monk. He wore a sash of red tied around the waist of a faded grey robe with his ruddy face crowned by a scalp of stubble.

Through yellowed teeth and waving arms he spoke while a small metal amulet bounced about on his chest to catch the light. “Dark days require strong protection, the protection of the saints! And nothing gains a saint’s attention
and
protection more than prayers. To them, prayers and the swearing of devotion earn favour, and favour
is
protection. Such sanctuary is salvation!

“In evil times all seek sanctuary, and prayers
earn
sanctuary. If a curse is upon a city, one such as we bear, surely one should seek the favour of the
Saint of Children
. Is there such a saint you ask? Of course; the most-holy Saint Santana. Offer her your prayers!”

He lifted a small wooden box, its sides lovingly carved and polished. “Behold, a relic of the mortal remains of our most holy saint! Pray to it, kiss it, or buy a blessed amulet of
Santana’s Seal
for you or your child to wear. It will secure safe passage through this life
and
the next!”

A table behind him held a pile of amulets and an assortment of boxes.

While I was not overly familiar with the Church, I knew I’d never heard of Saint Santana. It looked more like a way to get wealthy. I turned to Sef, unconsciously tightening my grip on Maria’s hand.

He grinned at my unspoken thoughts.

I nodded; it was time to go.

He led the way.

We left the monk behind us. He looked to be a Heletite, one of the missionaries the Church set loose upon the world. I found it hard to believe that the Church had sanctioned his actions. Yes, it was greedy, but this was just shameless.

We headed through the market’s bustle towards our coach, still a good two hundred paces away. The sea of people going about their business seemed so normal, so ordinary, but above it all lay a simmering tension.

The city couldn’t go on like this, not with the kidnappings, nor with charlatans profiting from such misery.

And that’s when it happened.

A voice whispered, “It comes!”

I turned to look for the speaker, only to realise it was one of the voices in my mind. The rest of them then rose loud and clear as a chorus, all becoming frantic, “It comes! It comes!”

They cried out within me, repeating again and again, “It comes! It comes! It comes!”

Then the strongest hissed, “Beware, it comes!” And the others fell into wailing.

Distracted, it took me a moment to realise that everyone about me had stopped and that the square stood silent - but for the tolling of the Cathedral’s bells.

Dong…

Sef tensed, placing a hand on Maria.

Dong…

I again tightened my grip on her hand.

Dong…

The very air chilled.

Dong…

People about us looked to each other with growing fear.

Dong…

Then silence.

Complete blessed silence.

Just five as it should be…

Dong…

And thousands of voices arose as women wailed and men groaned to drown out the sixth tolling of the bell.

Sef picked up Maria and put his other arm about me to shepherd us towards our coach. The square surged with people, and as we hurried, we passed a woman who’d dropped to her knees amidst the panic to clutch at her young daughter. She cried, “Only five, not six, you can’t take any more!”

As if in answer, the daylight dimmed about her. Black sparks danced and snapped on the cobblestones, and then in a swirl of chill darkness, a vortex opened up beside her to leak a celestial shadow. The form took shape; it was a man robed in black.

The woman cried out.

He stepped forth on to frosted cobbles, reaching out for her daughter’s hand.

No one stopped, no one even seemed to notice - just me. Then I realised that no one else could see him. They were blind to the truth.

My accursed witchery had returned to burden me with yet more guilt!

Her daughter, with eyes sparkling amidst gathering tears, reluctantly reached out. She trembled with fear. Still, as if she had no will of her own, she moved to fulfil his unspoken command.

I couldn’t witness this, not again, not after the red-haired boy.

I had to do something!

I slipped out of Sef’s grip and snatched the knife from his belt.