Stepping down from her mechanical horse clumsily, her legs numb and apparently already sleeping, Katie collapsed onto the damp ground in exhaustion. "It's okay. We all know how worried you are that something bad will happen if we don't get to Elysia soon enough." She yawned.
"Just a couple of hours of sleep should be sufficient to recharge the old, gray Delco," Brian added, causing Katie to snort.
"I haven't heard that phrase in forever." She laughed sleepily.
"If you're going to break for rest, I will scout ahead," Amber stated. "I'll be back before you know it."
Since Katie had already fallen asleep, the rest of them decided it would be a good idea to crowd in around her on the wet forest floor for warmth. One by one they quickly succumbed to their exhaustion and light snores filled the air.
***
Trying her best to remain hidden, Amber slipped between the houses on the northern edge of Elysia. The town seemed quiet, even for this time of night, but so far she hadn't come across anything suspicious. Staying near the outskirts of the city she continued southward, looking for signs of her killer.
Halfway through the town she began to see the first hints of the devastation he'd wrought since the last time she'd seen him, much of which looked as if the citizens had made a noble effort to clean up and repair.
Suddenly her senses began to tingle, lightly at first but steadily intensifying. Amber tried and succeeded in dimming her glowing form to camouflage herself and braced for what was coming, which seemed to be rushing toward her. It wasn't easy to keep hidden in relative invisibility, even as a ghost Amber could feel the hairs on her neck and arms rising. Within seconds she knew why.
Swiftly gliding up the street was her worst nightmare. Apparently he had left for a while or the town would still be in chaos, but he was back now. What happened to the person he was controlling when I saw him earlier? Did he kill the man he was inside of after he'd served his purpose?
Stopping in the center of the street, he turned his gaze in her direction for a moment, almost as if he could feel Amber's stare. After the brief hesitation, George spun around and glanced at the castle, moving his eyes over the stone walls as if he were admiring the architecture.
Is this the place Edward calls home? Seems like I recall him saying something about his mother being inside of a castle. I wonder if she's inside. The more she watched George the more Amber got the feeling he was casing the place, looking for a way in. Before she could think about what to do next she saw him floating upward, toward the darkened windows high above the street. Wanting to follow but afraid of breaking cover and being discovered, Amber watched in agonizing silence as he disappeared from sight. Before she left to tell the others what she had seen, Amber waited for a few minutes, listening intently for any signs that his infiltration had alerted the occupants. The only sound she heard was the soft chirping of crickets nearby.
***
When Amber returned to where the others had stopped to rest and saw they were still sound asleep she knew something had to be done. "Wake up!" Her echoing voice shattered the silence, bouncing from tree to tree and magnifying the sound, resonating like a bullhorn used in the fog.
Nearly jumping from their skin, everyone in the group sat up simultaneously and looked around in confusion. "Oh, it's you." Katie breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted Amber. "You didn't have to scare the crap out of us, you know."
"I'm sorry," she responded. "I didn't know how else to wake you. There wasn't exactly time for pleasantries."
"What do you mean?" Katie raised an eyebrow in confusion, still a bit groggy.
"The spirit I've been warning you all about," Amber started, pausing to make sure she had their attention before going on, "is in the city west of here."
"Elysia?" Edward asked, spinning to face Amber.
"Is there an enormous castle there?"
"Yes," Edward replied nervously.
Amber grimaced. "Then it is definitely Elysia."
Standing up, Edward quickly helped the others to their feet. "Then we have no time to waste!" Jumping into the saddle, hoping the others were following suit, he shouted, "Lead the way, Amber! We will not rest again until we've reached Elysia and I've made certain that my mother is safe!"
Chapter 24
Pounding his fist on the arm of his chair, the Black Knight snarled in fury at the image upon the monitor before him. "Fools! How dare you let him escape! Your stupidity will not go unpunished!"
In perfect unison, the army of cyborgs and reanimated corpses turned at the sound of their master's voice. "My Lord," one of the cyborgs began, stepping to the front of the army, "how were we to know he would realize a trap had been laid?"
"You bumbling idiot! What did you expect? You morons infested every corpse in the town except one," he growled, his eyes quickly changing from yellow to black as his rage began to boil over.
"We had to leave one to tempt him with, My Lord," the minion stammered.
"You should have left more than one body. Wouldn't you be suspicious if a town you knew to be littered with corpses suddenly only had one?"
"We didn't think of it in those terms," the formless one replied, making it seem like the blame for the mistake should be put upon the others. "We will do better next time."
"You had better hope so. I will see to it that you writhe in torment for all time if you fail me again!" Disgusted with the incompetence of his minions, the Black Knight leaned forward to shut the monitor off. With a soft popping noise the screen went dark. Sitting back, he rubbed his temples with the tips of his bony fingers, trying to massage away the headache which was forming.
***
"So what's the plan now, oh fearless leader?" The minion who had taken charge when the Black Knight was tearing them a new one glanced over at the formless one inhabiting the decayed body of a human female.
"There's no need to be snide just because I was the only one with enough balls to stand up to him," the minion retorted. "Quit being an asshole and let me think."
The others gathered around him, awaiting his decision. Unlike the outspoken one reanimating a woman's body, the rest of them had respect for the eldest member of their little army. After all, it was rumored that he might even be as old as the Black Knight himself.
"I think I have an idea," he finally announced, raising a hand in the air to get their attention. "We will stay inside the bodies we now inhabit, but we will return to the places where we first entered them," he stated as the murmurs quieted. "There, we will lay in wait for George to come back."
"What if he doesn't return? How long do we have to play dead before we go after him?" the rotting woman asked sarcastically, placing both hands on her hips as if she were an impatient mother frustrated with her child.
The gesture looked rather comical to some, and they pressed their lips together tightly to restrain from laughter.
"Until I say otherwise," the leader snapped. "Now, get to your positions!"
The majority of the minions scattered as if they had been commanded by the Black Knight himself, but the reanimated woman glared at the leader for a moment before complying.
Chapter 25
Riding as swiftly as the horse would carry him, Edward sped through the darkness after Amber with the others close behind on the two mechanical horses. As daybreak began to approach, he noticed her glow was fading rapidly. Crashing out of the woods, she disappeared entirely as they entered another large open area, but the tallest towers of the castle he grew up in were now distinctly visible. A dark gray haze seemed to hang above the city, making it impossible to see any of the other buildings.
Smelling smoke in the air, which didn't have the same odor to it that firewood gives off, Edward urged his steed to go faster as he began to fear the worst. The animal tried to please its rider, but was so exhausted by now that its legs got tangled, sending both of them to the ground. Edward flew for twenty feet and landed awkwardly, flipping through the air a few times like a rag doll before finall
y skidding to a stop. The horse hadn't made the dramatic roll that Edward had, but when its front hooves had tangled it had come down hard upon its knees and rolled sideways as it fell. Now it was just lying in the grass, heaving and moaning.
Katie maneuvered her metallic steed over to where Edward lay crumpled on the ground, and Brian steered toward the fallen horse to check on it. Hopping down, she hurried over to him and quickly looked for obvious signs that something was broken before rolling him onto his back. Other than a few minor lacerations on his face and hands, and his skin being red from skidding across the prairie, he seemed to be all right. Thankfully he hadn't pulled that stunt back on Earth. The road rash would likely have peeled his face off.
His eyelids fluttered open and he moaned. "What happened?" he mumbled, seeing Katie's face highlighted by the steadily lightening sky and realizing he was on the ground.
"I think you were attempting to fly." She grinned. "Are you okay?"
Tenderly he placed his palms on the ground, wincing as he pushed himself to a sitting position. A wave of dizziness washed over him for a few seconds, during which time Katie stepped behind him to prevent Edward from falling backwards. When he stopped weaving around like a drunk, she went to where she could see his face and crouched down beside him. Raising a hand, he rubbed his scalp gingerly.
"How bad does your head hurt?" Katie ducked her head to one side slightly, trying to see his eyes. His pupils were dilated so much that the gray of his irises was almost entirely swallowed by them. "Hold still," she instructed him, covering his eyes with one hand for a few moments then pulling it away, checking to see if he had a concussion. His pupils didn't react normally, but they did at least get a little smaller when she removed her hand.
"It's thumping like someone hit me in the head with a club," he admitted.
"I think you have a mild concussion. You should be fine in a little while." She smiled reassuringly. Gently Katie began to check the rest of him, softly prodding and squeezing his limbs to make sure he hadn't fractured something in the fall.
"I have bad news," Brian announced, walking over and squatting in front of Edward. "Either your horse has managed to dislocate both of its front legs, or they are broken. There are no obvious bone protrusions so it's difficult to tell exactly, but it is as plain as the scrapes on your face that the animal is in agony."
Katie bowed her head at the news, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. "What is it with you and horses? You should seriously consider a different means of travel," she scolded, angry tears beginning to run down her cheeks.
"I couldn't have prevented what happened to the others, but this one was all my fault," Edward admitted. "I pushed the animal beyond its limits." Turning his head, he glanced over at the beast, its breath coming in ragged gasps as it continued to moan in agony. "Help me up," he pleaded, looking at Brian and Katie.
Once he was on his feet, Edward stumbled toward the horse. Lifting its head the horse gazed at him with a look in its eyes that Edward couldn't read, but looked like a mixture of fear and pain, and emitted a noise sounding as if it were a cross between a groan and a scream. "Shhh," he spoke calmly to the animal, though he felt helpless. "Isn't there anything you can do?" Turning his head, Edward's piercing gray eyes pleaded with Brian.
"I read something in one of the books I used to have back on Earth about the healing powers of shamans, even studied a few of the chants, but I've never attempted to use any of the spells before." Brian frowned. "I would be afraid of trying to cast one and screwing it up, somehow making things worse than they already are. Especially because I would be trying to do it from memory since I no longer have the books."
"How much worse could you make the situation?" Edward argued. "Just try, please!"
Sighing, Brian sank to his knees and closed his eyes, searching his mind for the correct spell. He could hear the impatient whispers of the others as he pictured the pages of a book in his mind. After a couple of minutes, Brian thought he'd found the right one and raised his arms high above his head. Everyone went quiet as he began to chant the foreign words, hopefully the right ones.
The hush over the group was palpable, the only noises coming from the horse's labored breathing and Brian's chanting. Several tense moments passed before his words had any effect on the animal. As they closed their eyes and began to silently pray for a miraculous recovery, something started to hiss and pop, causing them to peek through their eyelids. Their hope was shattered instantly!
"Oh my God! Stop, Brian! For all that is good, please stop!" Katie screamed, turning her head to vomit, and Edward followed suit.
Unfazed by the sight before him—as a werewolf he was quite used to the carnage—Jack placed a hand on Brian's shoulder and gently shook him. Slowly, his arms came down as he gasped. "Lord Almighty, what have I done?" Lying before him was an enormous, twisted mass of flesh, steaming and flooding the air with a coppery smell. No longer contained, the animal's organs slipped from every cavity and flopped to the ground. His gorge quickly rose and he began to violently throw up. The horse's legs flailed weakly for a few moments then clomped to the ground.
Unable to stop the flow of bile spewing from his burning throat, Brian didn't hear Edward approaching. Suddenly his head was rocked to the side by a fist. "You were supposed to try healing it," he yelled.
"I ... I did try," Brian insisted, rubbing his jaw.
"Then why does it look like you managed to turn my horse inside out?"
"I told you, I've never attempted to use that spell before. You knew something could go wrong, but you were the one who insisted I try," Brian shouted back, his face flushed in anger brought on by Edward's accusation.
"Edward, calm down," Katie pleaded, wiping her chin as she came up behind him and grabbed his arm to pull him away from Brian. "It was an accident. There was no way to prevent—"
"Yes, there was," he interrupted, beginning to calm down. "I should have never asked him to," Edward added, hanging his head in sorrow as he realized the blame was all his for what had just occurred.
Katie wanted to comfort him, give him a hug to let him know they would get through this, but instead her mouth flapped open. "Maybe next time you will consider riding a mechanical one. You don't exactly have the best track record with horses."
Jack shook his head in disgust. Here we go again. While none of the others were watching, he stepped around the heap of steaming horse guts and retrieved the saddlebag from the ground. Placing it upon the back of the beast Katie had been riding he stood nearby, waiting for them to finish insulting one another. Trying to stay out of their way, Brian joined him. "Maybe I should just stick to being a priest," he mumbled sadly. "I don't seem to be cut out for this whole shaman bit."
"You do just fine with catching things on fire." Jack grinned, turning to face him. "Hell, maybe you can use that inside out trick against a powerful enemy."
"With my luck I will heal the enemy instead," Brian stated, shaking his head and grinning back.
***
It had taken a considerable amount of persuading, but when Edward finished sulking and grieving over the loss of yet another horse, Katie convinced him to ride atop one of the metallic beasts with her. Perhaps it was because of this recent event that he seemed to forget about the urgency of returning home. The mechanical creatures plodded forward as the spires of the castle slowly began to dominate their view, rising above the trees as if they were grasping at the clouds moving by overhead.
A well worn path snaked through the woods before them as they continued to approach the town. "How much farther do you think it is?" Katie inquired softly, hoping if she could get him to talk a little that it might make him feel better.
"It shouldn't be too much further," he sighed. Dropping silent once more, Katie waited a few minutes before trying again.
The forest was thinning slightly and she could see people milling around near the edge of town. A short distance ahead Katie saw the path changing from dirt to the cobblestones, which the ci
ty's roads were made of. Two men armed with pikes paced back and forth at the place where the street began, eyeing them suspiciously as they approached.
"Are we heading straight to the castle, Edward, or do we need to stop somewhere else first?"
"Straight to the ..."
"Halt! State your business," one of the guards barked, brandishing his pike at them menacingly. The second sentry said nothing, but mimicked the threatening gesture of the first with his weapon.
Raising his hands into the air to show he meant no harm to them, Edward spoke with a calm confidence he hadn't displayed for quite a while. "Lower your weapons, my friends," he instructed. "I am Edward the White, and I am here to speak with the elders."
Squinting, one of the guards lowered his weapon and studied what he could see of Edward's face, which was partially hidden behind Katie. "Is that really you? I thought you had been exiled or something," he gasped. "No one has seen or heard from you in ages!"
"I assure you, I am who I say. I've been on a mission to find the source of the darkness which has plagued the city for quite some time, and with any luck, to destroy it," Edward replied. "I am here now because elder Jonas has sent for me."
The sentry who originally called for them to stop began to relax at the mention of Jonas' name. Lowering his weapon, he approached the group. "I'm sorry. I didn't recognize you. I will personally escort you and your friends to the castle." He bowed. "I will send someone to take my position and help you," he told the other guard, spinning on his heel and motioning for Edward to follow.
***
At first glance Elysia seemed the same to Edward as the day he'd left, but as they slowly approached the center of the city where the castle stood things became increasingly more disastrous in appearance. Many of the structures were reduced to rubble and ashes, and those which weren't looked to be so badly damaged that they were on the verge of collapse. The dying embers of many homes were still smoldering enough that tiny wisps of smoke could be seen rising from the charred timbers.
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