A Gathering of Souls

by Dianne Keep

  Shane helped Bree off the platform, and they followed Ehre through a white hallway lined with almost imperceptible doors except for the windows and tiny shadows on the crevices. At the end of the hallway, there was another door with a panel. Again, Ehre placed her hand on the panel and the door opened smoothly.

  Another platform waited for them in a musty tube of crumbling brick and mortar. Dim light did little to illuminate the tunnel. Ehre released the locking mechanism, and the platform zoomed down, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

  Bree had to force her arms and legs to stay relaxed and her eyelids to droop. There was something in the air, causing her alhor to spark and scurry. The other three guards in her quad kept scrutinizing her face and posture. She sagged into Shane and he hefted her up. She hoped she wasn’t overdoing it.

  The platform squeaked as it shuddered to a stop, and Shane lugged her off before the rest of the quad. Every breath reeked with the stench of rotting flesh and human waste. The dirt floor was stamped with a multitude of boot tracks and footprints. The hallways leading away from the platform were drenched in shadow.

  Chills crept up her legs and along her back. Darkens were down here. She could feel them in the crannies and hear their chatter. The sound frayed her nerves.

  Her alhor surged before she could contain it. The quad stood still. Ehre turned around slowly, an enchantment already leaving her lips.

  Bree pulled herself from Shane’s grip and fell to the floor. Come on, alhor. We’re supposed to be drugged. It shimmered and pulsed. They won’t believe us if we don’t act right. The gold light swirled and raced forward anyway.

  Shane picked her up and dusted her off. “I think the drugs are affecting her a little too much. What’d Gallie give her?”

  Ehre gave Bree a curious glance. “The combination I used might affect her negatively. But we had to be sure she was pliable.” Ehre continued down the hall.

  Rhion and Nathan met them at the first turn. Rhion said, “We’re taking her to the back.” Ehre nodded and they followed. Bree lost count of the barred doors. Standing at the rods were old men, women, and children staring at nothing, not blinking.

  A sliver of rage escaped Bree’s well-contained prison of emotions. Power rushed to her fingertips, but Shane tapped her calf with his boot. She stumbled.

  Not now. Free them later, said the girl.

  Bree nodded. Definitely later.

  After a few more twists and turns, Rhion opened a windowless wooden door and ushered Nathan and Ehre in. He took her from Shane’s arms and said, “The quad stays out here.”

  Shane saluted. “Yes, Superior.”

  The door closed, and the air inside the room seemed to evaporate. Rhion placed her in a chair, and Bree slumped back. There was a desk, a pedestal, and two more chairs in the small space. The walls were paneled with wood. The only light came from the mixture of alhors.

  Bree tried to breathe normally but couldn’t quite manage it. What was Osling doing with all those people? And why were the darkens down here?

  They eat souls, the girl reminded her.

  He’s feeding them?

  Yes.

  Bree shivered. If her stomach had anything in it, she would have thrown up.

  “I’m to lead the questioning before Osling arrives,” said Rhion. “She’s too close to you.”

  “She might answer me better,” said Ehre.

  “We’ll see.” Rhion’s red alhor tried to cover Bree’s, but her alhor stopped his magic about three feet in front of her legs. “I thought she was drugged.”

  “She is,” said Ehre. “I would know if she wasn’t. Her defenses have triggered. Any contact we have with her from now on is speculative. Her reactions will surprise us all, I’m sure.”

  “Is the charm still active?” asked Nathan.

  “Yes, or we would have been notified.” Ehre touched the pendant. “There does seem to be some cracking though.”

  Rhion came over and looked at the pendant. Bree’s gold alhor pushed his red aside. “Phase two will commence shortly,” he said. “She need not wear it after that.”

  “Exactly,” said Ehre. She and Rhion scooted away.

  “Bree?” Rhion said, “What happened in the lower levels?” Again, his red alhor failed to touch her.

  Mumble.

  Bree murmured unintelligibly.

  “What?” Rhion stepped closer, and his alhor clung to his flesh as gold spread over the front half of him. He stepped back. “What happened earlier in the lower levels? The generator stopped and you blew up relics. Why?”

  “Pudding?” Bree slumped forward. “I love.”

  Nathan laughed. “What did you and Gallie cook up? She’s useless.”

  Three knocks on the door.

  Bree sat up. Despite the lack of air in the small room, her breath came faster. Outside the door, she felt them, the darkens, devourers, and another threshold. Their whispers seeped through the miniscule spaces between the wood panels and slithered under the airtight door.

  These people were insane. What were they doing with more than one gateway?

  A Nexvene. He made hundreds of them, the girl answered.

  Who made hundreds of Nexvenes?

  The Endmar, an enormously powerful Seyh. The one who gave up his soul and stole another’s to create the Nexvenes, the doorways into our world for the darkens. They are living passages of magic. They feed off the souls of others to bring more darkens into this world so they can feed and corrupt.

  Abominations. Bree’s core ignited, and with it, her alhor soaked every inch of the little room.

  Wait, wait, wait. Be patient.

  Her alhor contracted.

  The door opened and the Resh came in. With gloved hands, he held a book that reeked of waste and death. “Has she said anything?”

  “Only nonsense,” Rhion said, “Whatever Gallie gave her put her past coherent sentences.”

  “This might get a reaction out of her.” Osling set the Nexvene on the podium and walked over to her chair. “I have a prisoner ready for questioning outside. I’m sure whatever instincts you possess will wake up as soon as the feeding begins.”

  Bree’s head snapped up. “No need. I’m awake now.” The girl had taken over again.

  A blast brighter than the sun drowned her vision.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Bree winced as the chorus of darken wails, screams of Seyhs, and the Resh’s yells hit her ears. In a flash, the last devourers were banished to the Inbetween. The putrid air inside the room suddenly smelled lovelier than the forest right after a spring rain.

  Bree gasped at the amount of power flowing through her. Nothing could stop her. Her alhor returned to its normal hover, but it was brighter, almost too bright. She flexed it, finally feeling a connection to the visible power.

  It was hers.

  “What was that?” Osling asked from the opposite side of the room.

  The door lay in pieces, shredded like cheese. Across the hallway, Shane held a trembling young woman. Bree couldn’t believe the Resh was about to feed one of his subjects to the Nexvene.

  “You said she was sedated,” said Osling. “Ehre?”

  “She was. It must be an instinctive reaction to the Nexvene.” Ehre stepped in front of Rhion, glanced at the open doorway, and looked pointedly at Bree. “That’s the best explanation for what happened this morning in the lower levels.”

  What is Ehre up to? Bree took a deep breath.

  “Well?” Osling walked over to Ehre. “What are you waiting for? We can’t have her destroying any more of the palace.”

  “Right,” said Nathan. He threw something that knocked Bree’s head sideways. She hit the floor.

  Ehre came to her side and poured a nasty concoction down her throat. Ehre whispered, “You should have run.”

  Bree gagged. “Where would I go?”

  “Anywhere is better than here.” Ehre propped Bree against the wall. “In a few minutes, she’ll be asleep. Then we can move her.”r />
  “What did you give her?” Rhion touched Bree’s neck.

  Her veins thrummed under his fingers.

  “A paralysis agent mixed with a sedative.”

  “It better work,” Osling said. “Rhion, I need another Nexvene.”

  Bree tried to move her head, but her body already tingled from the paralyzing agent. The power she’d felt minutes before knotted into a tight ball in her stomach, waiting for her body to recover.

  Ehre gave Shane instructions for the prisoner, but Bree couldn’t decipher the words. Her eyes finally shut. Hands gripped her arms and legs. They moved her somewhere cold and wet. Someone set her down and she blacked out.

  Her nightmare started.

  She stood next to Khrisk at the edge of the forest next to the dead land where they were burnt to ashes. She waited for the pain, but the scene changed.

  Khrisk was running after Bayan.

  She tried to see what chased him, but Khrisk was focused on pushing Bayan forward. They were on a hill, then down the hill, and across a river. The things behind Khrisk howled.

  Wolves.

  He checked the stars.

  It’s night.

  The howling and growling of their pursuers drew closer. Khrisk plunged into complete darkness. The air was heavy with dirt, which scratched the inside of her nose. She heard rushing water in the background.

  A sinkhole or cave.

  Khrisk held onto Bayan’s hand and pulled him through a tunnel, moving deeper into the blackness. There was a safe place just ahead that he thought was secure enough to last the night. They waded through a warm stream and climbed. The porous rock scrapped his hands and legs.

  He has a plan. He knows where he’s going.

  Khrisk counted in his head. He’d been here before and knew when to turn and when to jump or hug the walls. He was trying to confuse the wolves.

  But his plan blew to pieces. The wolves knew the tunnels too, and they had better noses.

  Khrisk and Bayan piled boulders against the opening to protect their small cave.

  The wolves tore it apart in seconds, but their mutated size kept them from entering. Khrisk scooted Bayan behind him and cut at the gaping jaws in front of him.

  Wake up.

  Her eyes fluttered open. She’d been in Khrisk’s head. How?

  I don’t know.

  She was in a stone cell lit by silver light. The metal door didn’t have a handle or hinges. Her body was sore like she’d run through the caves and gotten scrapped on her hands and legs just like Khrisk. “What is going on?”

  Bree studied her skin and clothes. They were the same, but her alhor wasn’t gold. “Why are we silver?”

  We’re always silver at night. Gold in the day. Look at our hair.

  Bree brought some forward. It was silvery white. “Wow. This must be why I had to go to sleep before dark.”

  Or you’d notice.

  “Right.”

  Our eyes are blue too.

  “Blue?”

  Have you seen anyone else with silver hair and blue eyes?

  “The woman.” The visions she’d had before flashed through her mind. “Where is she?” Bree’s inner cage rattled, threatening to release the captive memories, the grief. She was falling to pieces, breaking apart.

  We must save Khrisk. Wolves, remember?

  Bree’s breath hitched. She couldn’t lose him. The pain she felt in her body was Khrisk’s pain. It wasn’t enough to make her useless. Her power was strong.

  She pounded the door. “Help!”

  No one is going to help us. Khrisk, yes. Us, no.

  “You’re right.” Bree pounded the door again. “The Zeir is in trouble. The Zeir is in trouble!”

  She yelled until her throat was sore. “No one is down here.”

  Not true. There are lots of people down here, just no one who cares about what we’re saying.

  “So how do we get their attention?”

  We could melt the door.

  “Oh, yes, we could.” Bree placed her hands on the door and thought of it dissolving. The metal turned red and sizzled.

  Shouts and the pounding of boots echoed in the hall outside her cell.

  A chunk of metal plunked to the floor.

  “Blasted shiners! Send for the Seyhs,” said a guard as he poked a laser pistol through the hole in the door. “You best stop your meddling, shiner, unless you want me to shoot you through.”

  “Stop!” Ehre yelled. “Unless you want to die right now.”

  The guard backed away. “Not me that’s dying. It’s that shiner. She melted my door.”

  “She’ll melt you too,” said Ehre. “Return to your post.”

  “Yes, Superior.” The guard backed away.

  Bree stuck her head through the hole. “Khrisk is in trouble. He’s in a sinkhole with Bayan. Wolves are after them.”

  “How could you know that?” Ehre whispered an incantation and the hole in that cell door resealed. “Sorry, but if I don’t, I’ll be dead.”

  “I saw it when I was sleeping. They’re in danger. We have to help now.” Bree said to the door.

  “I’ll tell Osling, but I warn you, he’ll think you are just trying to get out,” Ehre said.

  “I don’t care what he thinks. His son is about to be eaten alive. Tell him that.” Bree kicked the door for emphasis. “You can’t keep me in here.”

  “Of course I can,” said Ehre. “You blew up most of Osling’s relics. And you almost killed the Resh.”

  “I banished the devourers. I’m not supposed to be in Stav.” The night of her capture replayed. The darts, the purple alhor, the necklace. “You stole me, specifically.”

  “Is that all you remember?” Ehre asked.

  “I don’t have to answer that.” Bree’s memories weren’t completely clear, but she knew that she’d been taken against her will.

  “I’ll be back.”

  “Soon?”

  “As soon as I can.” Ehre tapped the door three times. “Nathan’s out front in case you get any ideas.”

  “Great.” Bree leaned against the door. “What do we do now?”

  Sleep if you can.

  “Sleep? Haven’t I slept enough?”

  We haven’t really slept well in days, and we might not get another chance to rest in such a safe place for a while. So, yes, sleep. I’ll keep the nightmares away.

  Bree lay down and closed her eyes. “Promise?”

  Promise.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Squeaking hinges woke Bree. Dim light from the hallway glowed red against her eyelids. She remained on the ground and measured her breath so whoever entered would think she was still sleeping. A cold burn made her squirm. Opening the eye closest to the ground, Bree saw cords of blue wrapping around her arms, legs, and middle.

  Nathan chuckled. “Feel that do you? Just to keep you close while we move upstairs.”

  He isn’t using a strong binding. We can break it.

  The girl was right. The bonds could be easily broken. “Where are we going?” Bree asked.

  “To your new room. Osling’s orders.” Nathan flicked his hand and she was suddenly standing. “You’ve got to be a little dizzy.” He reached out and steadied her.

  A shock of familiar electricity shot down her arms. “Do Seyhs always zing each other?”

  “Only if they want to. Some Seyhs hide their alhor.” He motioned to the door.

  Her quad stood outside. Their laser pistols hummed with the energy of souls consumed by devourers.

  Don’t they know what’s powering their weapons?

  Of course, they do. You heard Osling, the girl said.

  Bree cringed as her quad surrounded her. She could hear the faint shrieks of the wasted souls inside the pistols. How many people had Osling willingly fed to the devourers to keep the energy flowing from the Inbetween?

  “Does the Resh know about Bayan and Khrisk?” Bree directed her question to Nathan.

  “Ehre told him of your dream. He’s
sent out soldiers and scouts.”

  They went back to the rickety platform. Shane helped her onto it and squeezed her hand quickly. A shock of something shot up her arm. It felt like the zing Nathan had given her. Was Shane a Seyh that hid his alhor? The handprint on his chest meant something.

  You have to remember.

  Bree peeked at him, but his face showed her nothing.

  At the top of the tunnel, the door opened to the chemically doused white hallway with indistinguishable doors. One of the doors toward the entrance was open. As they got closer, she heard Ehre and Osling arguing over phases and charms.

  The conversation halted when Shane announced their presence by clearing his throat.

  “Bring her in,” Osling said. “And you may stay. Have the rest of the quad wait out by the platform.”

  Shane saluted, and the other guards moved down the hall.

  Bree entered the sterile room. It held a bed, dresser, and table with four chairs. All the furniture was made of metal.

  Must be their first-tier prison.

  “Please sit,” said Ehre, motioning to the table. “Would you like some refreshment?”

  “Water, please.” Bree sat and folded her hands in her lap. She counted to ten and took a deep breath. She didn’t have time for Osling’s waiting game. “Has there been word of Bayan or Khrisk?”

  Osling remained silent, but Ehre answered her as she set a glass of water on the table. “They found tracks leading to the caves. Our Seyhs have removed the wolves but haven’t found Khrisk or Bayan yet.”

  They know nothing.

  “How do you know you’ve received the correct information?” Bree studied the water. It could be laced with another drug.

  Ehre sighed. “Our Seyhs don’t lie to the Resh. It’s a death sentence if they do.”

  “What excellent motivation.” Bree’s feet tapped. She squeezed her eyes shut, counted to ten again, and opened them.

  Osling sat across from her. “How am I to believe what you saw was true?” His silky voice pained her ears.

  “I have a connection to Khrisk. I felt it as soon as he returned to Stav,” said Bree.

  Osling blinked.

  “You knew,” she continued. “I think everyone in this room knew about it except me. But I’m aware of it now.” She took a deep breath. “I saw him and Bayan. I felt his panic. They’re in trouble. They will die.”