by Luca Tarenzi
He focused on the cloud that engulfed the tied-up creature, feeling it, tasting it with invisible tongues, seeking his victim's Glamour until, when he finally managed to detect its distinctive note, he grabbed it with hooked appendages.
The prisoner's cloud trembled and pulsed, as if in a spasm, and Waspider followed its pulsing. He thought he almost heard that hoarse scream again, but this time longer and more painful, but he ignored it.
The Glamour he detected was as strange as the body it came from, subtle like the smell of dew at dawn, but thick and resinous at the same time. Waspider followed the movements with perfect calm, without haste, allowing his cloud to soak into that of his victim, moving in time with it, roughly at first, but then ever more precisely until both Glamour clouds vibrated to produce the same identical note.
The prisoner let out a scream again, overwhelmed by the unnatural nature of what was happening. Waspider just ignored his sounds, but smiled to himself, knowing he now had freedom to do what he wanted. His spell had worked.
His Glamour cloud merged with that of his victim, becoming inseparable and twirling around them. Two amalgamated essences sharing two minds. It was the king who raided the other's brain, a thousand tentacles reaching in to draw out thoughts, ideas and memories.
Much time would be needed. Waspider eventually realised that, at some point, the creature had become unconscious, but this didn't stop his exploration. There was too much to see, to feel, to smell, many things the king had never even imagined.
When he had finally finished, he tried to stand up, but he couldn't. He collapsed onto his elbows and knees, exhausted and on the verge of fainting. Instead, as he lay on the floor in the light of the stars, he opened his eyes and smiled. What he'd learned had changed many things.
Everything.
5
"We'll cross here," whispered Needleye, hiding behind a dirty black china jar.
Verdigris looked into the openness beyond the jar and jerked back quickly. "Right in front of the guards?"
Needleye had another quick look, then gave a sharp nod.
Just beyond their hiding place was the cleared land where the fortress stood and between them and the closest mound was four feet of muddy land, exposed to the dark night and without anything to provide even the slightest bit of cover. The fortress was nine feet further down, along the path, and only discernible amongst the rubbish to those who already knew it was there. Guards were hidden among the rubbish on top of the fort, tasked solely with scanning the surrounding land to detect any suspicious movement. Needleye couldn't make out any of these guards, but she knew that they were there.
"Can you see them?" she turned to her companion.
Verdigris pursed her lips. "I can see through Glamour, not through solid objects. If your brother put someone on the fort, it is because that person is good at staying hidden."
Needleye looked down the path, following it straight for four feet before it turned behind a ridge of rubbish. It would take ages to move down the path and cross out of sight of the fort. And time was not something they had. No, dawn was nearly upon them.
"It's still dark enough. We'll cover ourselves in mud, then run low across the land and dive behind there." She was pointing to a bag bulging with rubbish that must have rolled down from the top of the ridge, ending up like a little peninsula sticking out in the muddy slush.
Verdigris breathed in deeply. "If they see us..."
"If they see us, they'll send someone to take a closer look. By then, we'll already have moved on."
"To where?"
Needleye stomped her foot. "Under here. In the Cells."
Verdigris looked at the fortress. "The only entrance to the Cells is from there or through the secondary entrances, which are all guarded." She stared at Needleye again, narrowing her eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"
Something I shouldn't tell you. Simple as that...
Needleye shook her head. "Nothing."
She sought out the closest puddle, which was no more than a few paces away, knelt down and rolled in the mud, covering her back and then her front.
She gestured for Verdigris to do the same. "Hurry up."
Verdigris undid her plastic cloak, took two steps forward and looked at the mud.
Needleye was still down in the mud when she looked up at her and asked herself what she really felt about Verdigris.
She was beautiful, everyone had known this since she was a child. Her oval face, tiny, pointy ears, large dark eyes and mass of emerald green curls made her probably the most sought after Goblin in the whole tribe, not just among the orphans. Her independent streak and her complete indifference to finding a partner tied with her closeness to the princess and her special, dark gift - a gift nobody else of her generation possessed - just made her more desirable.
Needleye felt a sharp, sour note rising up her throat. "If you don't want to get muddy, you can turn around and head back to bed. There'll be worse things to dirty ourselves with in the Cells."
Verdigris hissed, but let her cloak drop to the ground before she knelt and patted some mud onto her body, careful to avoid her curls. Then, she picked up her cloak again.
Needleye shook her head. "Leave that here. It could reflect the light of the stars."
Verdigris clutched it to her chest. "I'm keeping it."
"You can come back for it when we're done."
Verdigris snorted. "Yes. Probably."
Needleye raised an eyebrow.
"Where do you think we'll go, 'when we're done'?" hissed Verdigris, sending a pungent shiver of Glamour at Needleye. "Think about it. We're going to free someone condemned to death. And then? Do you think we'll just be able to free him, without any problems or being seen, like when we were children and we used to sneak out for the night to go and see those forbidden places?" She pointed at the bone dagger and the metal hatchet hanging from Needleye's belt, weapons she'd found in the tent. "We're hardly armed like we expect nobody to see us."
Needleye closed her mouth tightly. "What are you trying to say?"
Verdigris took a deep breath, avoiding Needleye's gaze. "If we succeed, it changes everything. For you, for me, for Thaw. We can never go back. Never. If they capture us, they won't kill us, but never again will we enjoy any sort of freedom. We'll be locked away forever."
Needleye sniffed. "We won't let them capture us."
"And then? How will we survive? Have you given that any thought?" Verdigris clenched her little fists tightly. "Perhaps as exiles, living in the rubbish on the border between the territories of two tribes? Fighting the rats by ourselves for food, trying constantly to escape from the seagulls, making sure we're always hidden from the other Moryans and afraid of our own shadows? Nobody survives like that, Needleye. They won't even find our dead bodies."
Needleye felt a wave of bitterness overcoming her; she tried to keep it out of her Glamour so it wouldn't show, but to no avail. "I'm not leaving Thaw down there. If you don't want to come with me, then get lost, now."
Verdigris' cloud trembled again. "You are the one who dragged me out of my tent and now you ask me for the second time if I want to leave."
"What do you want me to say? That I came to get you simply because I need your Sluagh vision and sword? I thought Thaw was also your friend."
Verdigris turned, with reptile speed, and looked her straight in the eyes. "Is this why we're doing it? Because he's our friend? We save him from execution so we can all die a bit later without any audience?"
Needleye launched herself at her almost before she'd realised, pinning her down in the slush. "I don't need other reasons to do it! I'm doing it because it is the right thing to do. Simple!"
And because...
Stylus's death cry splintered through her brain, reverberating. She clenched Verdigris's tunic even harder, trying to silence the sound. "So tell me, why are you doing it? Let's hear why!"
Needleye was ready for the answer, her muscles tense and prepared to react, but to her amazement V
erdigris didn't try to wriggle away or hit her, but just relaxed.
Needleye tried to look into her eyes, but she looked away.
"Let me go. We're wasting time. I'm all muddy now too, just as you wanted. Let's cross and be done with it."
Needleye got up and proffered her hand to her companion, who accepted.
They returned silently to behind the jar and Needleye realised that Verdigris had left the cloak on the floor, without looking at it again.
She looked up. It was a completely clear night, without a cloud masking the bright stars as they shone against the now slightly blue background. Too blue. It was futile to wait for a darker moment. There would be none tonight.
They both caught their breath. "Ready?"
Verdigris nodded
Needleye dashed onto the open land, running as fast as she could.
It was only four feet, a few seconds, but it seemed to take hours to get across. She pushed her Glamour cloud down so her feet would be lighter and she could run without getting caught up in the mud. She felt like a pebble skipping across a lake and when at last she spotted the stuffed plastic bag in front of her, she dashed forward with such energy that she lost her balance and ended up crashing face first into the bag and being knocked backwards.
Verdigris was right behind her and managed to catch her before she fell. They crouched behind the packet.
"Did they see us?" gasped Verdigris.
Needleye leaned out to look, but nothing seemed to be moving on the top of the fortress. She closed her eyes and listened, using her Glamour to feel the air and find any audible sounds. She picked up two or three fragmented voices, but they sounded excited.
She nodded sharply. "They're coming."
Verdigris' eyes opened wider.
"Look around here," said Needleye scanning the area. "Anything out of place?"
"What?"
"I don't even know." Needleye breathed in deeply. "I've never seen it. I've only been told of it. Look for something out of place, something that doesn't look quite right to you."
Verdigris opened her mouth, about to protest, but then she nodded.
Needleye listened, but the airwaves had fallen silent. She leaned out, trying to work out how long it would take the fortress guards to get there. Had they seen them clearly? No, they'd probably seen two shadows moving through the darkness. What if they'd seen the point on the ridge where they'd headed?
"Down there," whispered Verdigris.
Needleye looked at where her companion was pointing. "What?"
"The wheel. The one with water."
Needleye could see a plastic wheel lying on the ground, about two inches across, perhaps once part of a toy. It was full of rainwater.
"What's wrong with it?"
"It's not in the right place." Verdigris looked harder, screwing up her eyes. "The water... it isn't still. It's rippling slightly. But there's absolutely no breeze." She looked up. "And it doesn't reflect the night sky properly."
Needleye moved towards the wheel, keeping low with her companion following. The round well was an unmoving mirror, filled with the light of the stars and, at least to her, everything seemed normal.
She plunged her hand into the cold water. "It seems real..."
"But it isn't." Verdigris moved so she could see her own reflection. "It's condensed Glamour." She looked across at Needleye. "But you already knew that, didn't you. It's the work of Two-horns, isn't it?"
Needleye nodded. The only Goblin who had such control over Gramarye was Two-horns, the tribe's sorcerer. Only he was able to make Glamour that could continue to exist far from a living body.
Verdigris fell silent for a moment. "What's under there?"
Needleye shrugged her shoulders. "Can't you guess?"
"Another entrance to the Cells. An entrance only you know about. And your brother, of course."
"And the two Goblins who dug the tunnel, although they can no longer say anything about it."
Verdigris looked at her.
"Two-horns used his Gramarye on them. He erased their memories."
In the ensuing silence, Needleye almost felt she could hear Verdigris's thoughts, just as was supposed to be possible using some very dark spells. The royal family had secret entrances dug into the tribe's most secure site and kept their existence hidden, when having such knowledge might, during an invasion or some other crisis, be able to save many lives or result in their deaths.
In a world where survival was built upon group unity, what room was there for secrets such as these?
Needleye shook her head, forcing away the feelings that were starting to overwhelm her. "They're coming. Follow me."
Verdigris responded with cold eyes.
Needleye grabbed the edge of the wheel and hopped over it. Instead of touching the bottom of the wheel, her feet plunged into a void that shouldn't have been there until she managed to find the first rung of a wire ladder. Needleye indicated the precise point to her companion and then took a deep breath before submerging herself completely.
The sensation of cold water around her was absolutely real and, for an instant, she was overcome by panic, but this feeling disappeared as soon as she found some rungs on the ladder, leaving her as dry as if she'd passed through air.
After going down what had turned out to be a vertical well, Needleye came to the bottom of a tunnel, about three inches down, running horizontal, with Verdigris just a touch above her. The darkness in this tunnel dug directly into the earth was total.
"What part of the Cells are we in?" asked Verdigris in a whispered voice.
Needleye moved forward carefully, feeling the tunnel wall with one hand and the hatchet in the other. "I don't know."
"And Thaw? You do know where he is, don't you?"
It took only another ten steps until Needleye's hand touched a cold wooden surface, where she stopped. "No." She moved her fingers across the wood until she found what must be a door. "But the guards in the Cells will definitely know."
She very carefully pushed the door open no more than a fraction of a millimeter. It was clearly dark beyond the door, but not quite as absolute. The air was tinged with a faint glow, suggesting that fires were burning not far away. Needleye decided to open the door a touch more and looked in, finding another, slightly larger tunnel that had walls reinforced with wood braces to support the ceiling. The door looked like another wooden panel, identical to the others.
She closed it again, very slowly until only a tiny opening remained.
Verdigris came up beside her. "What now?"
"We wait."
"What?"
"Until the guards pass."
Needleye heard her companion breathe in sharply. "And then?"
"They always patrol in pairs. We have the benefit of surprise. As soon as they pass us, we jump on them from behind and knock them senseless. We'll only have one chance, one moment. If they scream, it's curtains for us."
"They might scream when they wake up."
Needleye narrowed her eyes. "If we tie them up and drag them behind this door, it'll take ages before they're found."
"Farewell to our invaluable secret tunnel."
Needleye nearly let her irritation out, but managed to keep her self-control. "You said we're about to commit a grievous crime. What difference does it make if a secret becomes known?"
"Well, that depends." Verdigris' tone had become icier. "On how personal your brother decides to make this. These are your little family secrets, right?"
Needleye felt a strong urge to turn around and thump her even though she was right. Especially because she was right. "If you don't shut up right away I swear I'll..."
A noise came from the paved passageway.
Needleye slipped to one side of the door, gesturing for Verdigris to go to the other side.
The steps reached and then moved passed them, accompanied by the glow of a torch and the quiet hum of two Glamour clouds. Needleye closed her eyes, breathed in sharply and threw open the door.
>
They were on the guards before they even had time to turn. Needleye tripped one of them, grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him head first against the wall.
Then, she let him fall to the ground, jumped on top of him and thrust the blade of her hatchet under his throat. "Don't breathe!"
The Goblin was dead still, eyes and mouth wide open.
Needleye turned towards Verdigris, who had shoved the other guard to the ground belly first and was now whacking his head repeatedly against the ground. "Stop! Can't you see he's already out? Are you trying to smash his skull?"
Panting, Verdigris let his head drop and wiped her bloodied, muddy hands on the fallen guard's hair. Needleye indicated the secret door with her head and Verdigris started dragging her victim there.
Needleye focused on her Goblin again. She didn't know who he was. His skin was brown, his hair rather rat-like and he had those large eyes typical of a nocturnal creature.
She had little doubt he had recognized her.
"Yes, I'm Albedo's sister," she hissed in his ear. "No, it is obvious that he didn't send me here. I want to know where Thaw is, the Goblin they are planning to execute tomorrow. Where are they keeping him?"
The guard didn't even blink, but he did purse his lips.
Needleye breathed in. "I know you're tough, loyal. All my brother's warriors are. But I have no time to waste and very soon, you won't either. Tell me where he is and let's be done with it."
The guard remained completely still, although his cloud shuddered.
Needleye closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to think about what she was going to do. The guard was no Boggart or some other enemy. He was a Goblin, just like her. A fellow member of the tribe. A guard simply doing his duty. In a fight, anything went and no Goblin would worry about saving another Goblin's nose or fingers. Everybody knew, from as soon as they could walk, that life in the Landfill was wretched. But then, at that moment...
Needleye filled her mouth with Glamour, recreated the toxin she had used hours before on her brother and spat into one of the guard's eyes. Then, she covered his mouth with her hand and tried not to cut his throat with her hatchet while he writhed and tried to scream through his closed mouth.