by C P Sennett
It was about thirty steps before we approached a corner. He didn’t turn around to check if I was following. Instead he nonchalantly motioned with his hand, a languid movement to indicate that we were going to turn the corner. Being honest, I didn’t know where I was, but I was thankful it didn’t stink of death here. That was a good sign in my book. Doing this whole wizardly, monster hunting stuff for as long as I have, you half expect to see corpses rotting on the floor in places like this. The places I’ve been to, particularly in India, still leave me cold at times. Here though, it just smelt damp and damp I can live with.
The man then turned again giving me the same sign but on the other side this time. The problem is life isn’t like the movies and I wasn’t going to aimlessly follow him into a mountain of subterranean trouble. However, even though I had slowed up putting more space between me and him, he walked on exactly as before with his hands clasped inside his brown coloured robes like some sage or medieval monk.
I didn’t like the look of this place and as I was going blindly and unprepared into the unknown I did what I usually did. I took in a deep breath as I focussed on getting my wizard mojo going and began to slowly draw in my will. With time, I could do this slowly and subtly and build up enough energy to unleash in a powerful shield.
The man walked on, shuffling his feet as I warily followed. Thinking about it I had to follow him really, I didn’t have much other choice. I figured he was going to be as talkative as Steven was topside so it wasn’t worth chatting. Things seemed more serious down here though. The air was more oppressive but I think that was mostly anxiety creeping in on my part, anxiety which I had to get control of. Also, I wasn’t actually in any danger so far. Brown robe may well have been on the level and he clearly wasn’t the big cheese as far as I could tell. Things didn’t feel right, but I’d come this far unharmed so...
We walked on for a bit further with me half expecting my ring to sting my hand at any minute from some mental assault. It didn’t. But it was quiet, too quiet. All I could hear was my breathing and the breathing of the robed man in front. The fact I could see his breath as he exhaled was another good sign. At least he was alive and that was good news. So he wasn’t some vampire basket case looking for a nice wizard to feast on. Yep, by the looks of things he was a regular, garden variety human.
It wasn’t long after that he stopped and I felt my heart begin to slowly gather speed as a room seemed to appear before us out of the dimly lit gloom. Clearly, I was where he wanted me, at his boss or master’s place.
I couldn’t go into this sounding weak, I was sure of that. Fear gets wizards young and old killed and today wasn’t my day I told myself, as I had done on many other stupid occasions like this.
The man in front nodded deeply or bowed, it was a bit of both and then he then dropped to one knee. A sign of reverence for someone or something which could be good or bad these days. Then again, who wants goons in such terrible dress. This place, this night was royally screwed up!
The man then walked into the room, a large cavern type room which somehow existed under the very bowels of the hotel and its grounds. Maybe, now, I thought, we were for sure below the woodland that backed onto the hotel building as the air smelt strongly of damp soil.
I watched from about ten steps back, not wanting to hurry into the room until I knew what was in it.
Brown robe turned, still with his hands joined in the sleeves of his robe in reverence. “To see my master, all you need to do is follow me.”
“Nice try, I’m not going to just walk in there until I know a little bit more about what’s going on.”
The man inclined his head. “I cannot give you that answer, but you won’t come to any harm here so long as your intentions are fair.” he said, with another faint bow of his head. All the while he wasn’t looking at me but ahead, towards the darkened room.
He sure as hell didn’t seem like any monk and I wasn’t about to fall for anything. I slid my hand inside my shirt and held tightly onto my silver necklace as I prepared my mind. The ancient Celtic words I recited in my mind together with the will I had drawn in and the energy I had, held onto the words and formed the most powerful shielding spell I knew. I could have tried a divination but I didn’t have time and things were already weird enough here. Protecting my ass was my number one priority.
Tonight, I had seen the female hostess who knew I was a problem. Then ‘Steven,’ the marked security guard, branded by someone, and a spell caster at that and these were just the humans. Then, I’ve got this man, in shit coloured robes giving me a guided tour of the underground tunnels and I’m just here to find out about a missing girl. Not a girl of any real significance except someone wanted to pay a lot of money to have her found. I wasn’t here to rescue her, just to see if she was here or had been. I hadn’t planned on speaking to the big resident bad thing here. To be honest I didn’t know there was anything here. Although, if speaking to the owner helped, then great. If not, then I was likely in the brown stuff, again!
Perhaps this was just to scare me and throw me off the trail. Possibly, but I was sure there would be more to this which is why Monika, my Broker wanted me to go do the dirty work. I had a feeling, and not for the first time, that perhaps she hadn’t been totally straight with me when she gave me the brief. Still, I’d deal with her when I next called her.
As I finalised the shield spell a wave of confidence came over me. I felt stronger, not in a physical sense but more assured knowing that my mind and training protected me more than just my reflexes and flesh could. I felt less vulnerable now as this powerful spell had saved me from supernatural assholes before. It wasn’t an easy spell to do on the fly and I hoped I didn’t need it but when I stepped into the room I had to protect myself.
The man watching seemed to understand what I was doing and even took a half step back. That was interesting, he must be attuned to the arcane in some manner.
“Ok.” I said aloud, as I stepped forward. Into the darkened space.
My eyes looked around me, my hand clutching tight on my silver necklace which has served me well on a couple of fronts, if needed.
I scanned the room around me and I could see things. Small, low down things in the darkness but they were just outside of my vision. It was dark, very dark here and it seemed to be getting darker around me. If I’m being honest I hate the dark, I always have. I wouldn’t call it a phobia, far from it but it’s something I’ve worked on mastering for a long time. I simply don’t like it, call it what you will but the dark just wigs me out.
Just breathe, I thought. Deep breaths and slowly move forward.
The training I had long ago forced me on again. I took a bit of comfort from what Brown Robe said earlier and that my shield was in place. As curious as I am with all things arcane, I’m certainly not suicidal.
I moved forward watching the robed man as he stepped back. In front of me was a big room as far as I could tell with none of its dimensions truly visible. The darkness was all around me and unnatural in some manner, possibly conjured but I couldn’t sense it.
At the far side of this space there seemed to be a glimmer, a lighter area of darkness but I couldn’t really gauge how far away it was. It looked like an exit perhaps but something was making it hard to see it clearly. Maybe a tunnel out of here, or a manmade corridor giving me a possible way out. Either way, I couldn’t be sure.
“Ok I’m here, wherever here is. You wanted to see me?” I asked as defiantly as I could whilst clutching reassuringly on my necklace.
“He’s here, he’s all around us.” said the robed man as I turned to see him, a vacant look in his eyes. It was harder than I thought to make him out clearly given the clingy darkness in the room. My voice seemed to unsettle whoever was lurking in the blackness of the room. I could see shapes moving at the edges and hear noises as well. The only real light in the room was from whatever emanated on the far side of it. But I was in near darkness now and I didn’t like it.
“I c
an make it bright in here and trust me, you don’t want me to do that. It will hurt and blind your preacher man who led me here even if it doesn’t hurt you. So, let’s cut to it. What do you want from me?” I asked, looking first left then right, desperate for some more information on my predicament.
No sooner than I finished speaking than a noise came from around me. Then, I saw a limb appear in the gloom, an arm I thought. I took a couple of quick steps towards it and thrust my free hand towards it, albeit, against my better judgement. My hand drove into the darkness where the limb or whatever it was had retreated too. I felt something solid and I grabbed hold of it tightly. My left hand still on my necklace, for comfort and to help maintain my shield.
“Come here.” I snarled, growing tired of this charade as I yanked hard on the limb or whatever it was and I felt it move. It was attached to something, a person I suspected but with this heavy shield up your sense of touch is greatly reduced.
With a hard pull, suddenly a woman in her forties or fifties came flying out from the gloom. She was dirty and malnourished. So much so, that I recoiled from her as much as she did from me. She landed in a heap, naked and afraid, staring up at me from the patch of soil that she landed on.
I wheeled angrily to the brown robed man. “What are you doing here?” I shouted, as I pointed at the girl cowering at my feet. “What is this?”
“I do my masters bidding as we all do. You must unhand the unclean.” he said, with his eyes now wide again and an agitated look upon him. “Our master will see you now.”
“See me now, this can’t be your master? Naked people who haven’t eaten in a good meal in who knows how long. This woman is starving man! Who are you, do you lead some ravenous cult here, some false prophet? She is emaciated!”
“No, I serve.” He snarled and took a menacing step towards me.
“That’s what lunatics in every small cult across the world say.” I spat back at him. “You worship some false idol but it’s just a pony excuse to get your jollies off and steal people’s money. Take one more step towards me and you’re done, you hear me? This is the only warning you’re getting!”
“He has awoken.” said the robed man lowering his head reverently and stepping backwards. The change in demeanour was instant. His hands visible from his sleeves offered upwards in submission. I looked around me quickly in the darkness as he pulled his brown hood up over his head again. “Now you will see, now you will know.” he said, as the woman scurried back into the blackness and the room fell silent.
I was sure there were others in the lingering darkness of the room. The room was perhaps bigger and more densely packed than I originally thought but in an instant, everyone in the room had frozen, silent and still.
“Where is he?” I challenged. My left hand adjusting the grip on my amulet to quell my growing nerves. Then I felt cold, I felt the icy fingers of fear and realisation grab me.
For no logical reason, I looked up and when I did I dropped to my knees in horror.
A face appeared from within the shadows. It was almost human, the face of a man except it wasn’t quite the same. Its eyes fixed on mine, its gaze oppressed me and for a moment the eyes felt as if they bored deep, deep into me. Fear gripped me and the ring on my finger throbbed but no pain came. That was enough to snap me to my senses as was the pain now in both my knees from hitting the floor seconds before. My shield stopped any injury but the jarring movement still stung. This ‘man’ was bare chested as his body and face came into view from above, from out of the very darkness around me. Lean, yet defined with well-muscled body and symbols tattooed over his torso. Then his hands appeared from out of the darkness. Again, human hands but they were dark, almost bronze in colour, like the rest of his skin. He wasn’t tanned but the man had an unnatural sheen to him.
Seeing the thing’s eyes was bad enough. They scared me shitless, but soon, things became worse, much worse.
The creature lowered itself down moving towards my level. I got back up to my feet and backed up a few steps nearer the brown robed man. As the creature came into view it moved like something from a horror movie, the shadows clinging to it as if they were under the creature’s very command. With its torso now fully visible it was huge. The lower body I could see slowly coming into view was also massive.
I battled to compose myself and realised I wasn’t directly under assault yet but I had to be ready. It had tried to affect my mind, not an attack as such but perhaps the creature or man wasn’t sure what I was and it sought information. Perhaps it sensed the ring I wore and my shield.
This thing was like a nightmare, a creature of the old ages as it slowly came toward me. The unnatural darkness from the ceiling area of the room peeling away from it as it drew closer.
The human torso was bigger than that of a normal man. Then came the worst part, its lower body came into view, not just in front of me but all around me. The whole room seemed alive with this thing. Perhaps it had tendrils like on Stevens hands. No, I realised, coils. Coils came into view around me. Its lower body was that of a giant snake!
The snake part of it was gigantic too, huge I thought, too big by the looks of it even for me to get my arms around it. I watched speechless as the horror of its human body remained motionless with the serpent part moving him. The backs of the arms I could see were darkened. Darkened with the same now visible brown colouring as the snake part of the nightmare. Its underside was scaled with the same bronzed colouration as the human flesh of the monster’s torso and head.
It then spoke. “Human, why are you here?” it demanded in an altogether other-worldly voice.
I looked up at it, still clutching my silver necklace in my left hand. “I…I was asked down here, to see you?”
“Yes.” It hissed as if remembering, its tongue flashing out from between fanged teeth as its large golden eyes kept watching me. The black slits in them gave the monster a distinctly predatory look.
I then rediscovered my voice. “I mean no harm. I have been sent here to look for someone. Someone who has disappeared, this is all I am here to do, nothing more.”
The creature sneered, showing its fangs again, a human emotion visible on its face as I heard a noise behind me. I glanced quickly around and saw a man fall to the floor out of the dimness, partially visible now half in, half out of the blackness. “I will feed soon human.” said the creature to the painfully thin man.
The dirt covered male lay collapsed face down on the floor in total surrender to the creature. Like a priest trying to invoke an Egyptian God of old in some hieroglyphics. The man, hearing this then crawled backwards and out of what little light we had.
“My worshippers want to be with me.” said the creature. “They show loyalty.”
I glared at the creature’s face in defiance and it didn’t seem impressed. “Why are you here creature and what do you know about Tabitha Saffron’s disappearance?” I demanded.
“QUIET!” roared the creature, moving its head as the human portion of its body thrashed its arms about in anger. It was at this point I stepped back and took in the sheer size of the monster. It was also at this point I realised I hadn’t seen the end of it…
Something hard smashed into me, sending me flying sideways into the darkness. My shield spell protected me from whatever the creature did but not from the force of its blow. I slammed into something cowering in the darkness of the room with a sickening crunch. The specific shield spell I used had a nasty side to it as well, my own little adaptation. The first attacker that struck me with it up suffered a discharge of will in the form of lightning. There was a momentary bight flash in the room as the energy of my spell fed back through the monster’s tail. It recoiled from the shock and roared loudly again.
A nice twist to it that I had perfected over the years, some payback for anyone who lashed out at me.
The creature roared, not the serpentine hiss I would have expected but the roar of a lion or dragon which shook the room. I could hear humans scurrying all around a
s dust fell from the ceiling of the chamber.
I stood up as quick as I could, trying to quiet the throbbing inside my head. Its blow was draining my will having caught me off guard. It was then I saw more of its tail high up in the darkness as my eyes adjusted.
This thing was fucking huge, its tail looked as if it had the strike radius of the whole room twice over, so around fifty feet long. What the fuck was this thing?
“I’ve come here seeking answers, not conflict.” I called as red fire erupted in my hand, a manifestation of my anger and fear made elemental. I have no conflict here and I care not for your cult of worshippers or your choice of food. I’m here for information on the girl, Tabitha Saffron. If you know anything tell me and I’ll be gone. I am not here to cross you nor am I here to be crossed.” I said sternly with angry red fire rising a foot up from my hands.
It replied, a massive deep voice filling the room yet it spoke almost quietly, yes quietly. I could see the giant beast reposition itself to face me without little thought for anyone else in the room. It was now evident that the colossus was higher up in the room, coiled on a ledge or something otherwise it would be crushing the human subjects. “Why human, why do you suppose I know of this girl?”
“I was told she was here. And, I guess not much happens here that you don’t know about?”
“Argh!” it hissed. “You have been made fat on lies and washed it down with deceit. Deceit delivered to you by your fellow man. Misdirection, at every turn.”
I interrupted. “Maybe, but I am here now.” I said lowering my voice a little as my anger levels dropped, along with the fire in my hands. “Strike me again though and it will be a different matter.” I said with as much determination as I could muster.
“You cling to your necklace as a drowning man clings to driftwood. I will not end you this day.” it said with a giant slithering motion that came down from all around the room. “I find you interesting. Your primitive magic is strong. Primitive but strong. Yes, the girl you seek was here but she never came down to me. She was a guest of others above, delivered here and taken by another. Your master should have known this for it is late that they send you. Very late indeed.” it hissed.