by J. F. Penn
"Don't run or it will charge," Xander said quickly. "If it's like other apes, it won't attack if we're submissive. Bow your heads as it comes through. Don't meet its eyes."
The giant ape pushed through the branches. They cracked and ripped apart across its huge barrel chest as it emerged and stood tall. It slapped its chest and bared its teeth, roaring a challenge. Sienna kept her eyes down, her heart pounding as the vibrations of its call rippled through her. She saw Finn's hand tighten on its sword and willed him not to use it. Perhaps the ape would lose interest and move off.
But it took a huge step forward towards them and swung its giant fist.
Mila dove sideways, rolling away as the meaty arm slammed down where she had stood just a moment before.
"Guess submission doesn't work." Xander pulled the skin map from his pocket, dropped it to the ground as he bellowed, drawing the beast's attention away as Asada, his lion, stepped from the leather.
The lion roared and charged at the ape, barreling into its great body, knocking the beast to the ground. But the ape put its great arms around the lion and shoved it away enough to swing a giant fist into Asada's face. The lion rolled away, snarling, the roars of the two beasts combining into a fearsome cacophony.
They ran at each other, the ape howling as the lion attacked. Dust exploded into the air as the two gigantic creatures tussled, the lion slicing and biting, the ape thumping and rolling.
A slash of claws, and bright blood flew from the ape's chest.
It turned and bit deep into the lion's flank, and the big cat yelped with pain. They were well matched, but then the wound in the lion's side healed over, and its ferocity redoubled. It slashed and bit and tore at the ape, beating it down, tiring it until the great creature lay on the ground, chest heaving, its blood soaking the earth.
The lion bent its muzzle to the wound in the ape's chest and began to tear strips of flesh from it. The ape moaned in pain as it was eaten alive, the sound so similar to a human in distress that tears sprang to Sienna's eyes. The ape was some kind of distant ancestor, despite how wild this one was. Xander watched with a dark satisfaction on his face, almost as if he was the one feeding.
Then a throaty roar came from behind the maze wall in front of them.
The lion looked up, muzzle coated with blood. It stood motionless, and Finn drew his sword again. Another roar answered – and another. There were more giant apes, and they heard one of their own in pain.
They were coming.
"Run." Xander pushed Sienna ahead of him. "Get the path opened in front of us."
He dropped back, calling Asada to stand with him, Finn on his other side, sword drawn, Mila next to him.
"Come on." Perry dragged Sienna away. "We've got to find a way through. The others will follow."
They turned a corner, and Sienna felt a tug inwards. "Here." She stopped and pressed her bleeding palm against the wall. Again, it opened for her.
Perry pushed her through. "Just keep opening the way ahead. I'll signal the others."
Sienna crossed over the next corridor, trying to tune out the dull thud of fists against flesh, the snarl of the lion and the roaring of the apes behind her. At least there were no screams … yet. She had to hurry.
The maze began to twist more tightly, the tug inside calling her onwards. After four more walls, she reached a gate made of thick metal bars as tall as the woven branches around it.
"Here. I've found the center!" she called back through the thick walls of the maze. Had they heard her?
Then she saw Mila running through, Perry and the others close behind as they tried to outrun the giant apes.
The gate hung open on its hinges, the lock cracked by whoever had come before them. Sienna darted through and held it open. "Come on!"
Mila rushed through, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Perry and Finn darted ahead of Xander, who lingered as Asada the lion still fought. Sienna could almost feel the adrenalin of the fight through his powerful proxy. Xander's hands were raised, the muscles on his back tense as he drove the lion forward with his will. It savaged the first of the attacking apes as it tried to push through the narrow hedge, ripping into the thick neck. Blood spurted out, and the great ape collapsed, blocking the gap.
The beasts behind bellowed in anger and frustration, but they couldn't pass the wounded body. The lion darted in again, raking at the eyes of the giant ape as if it wanted to tear its face away.
"Come on!" Perry shouted. "Enough. Leave it now, or finish it off."
Xander spun, his eyes fixed on Perry, his face contorted like the lion who stood by his side. Almost as one with his illustrated beast. For a moment, it looked like he would send Asada to rip the other Mapwalker to shreds. Then the wildness left his eyes.
Xander took a breath and slumped forward. He placed the scrap of map leather on the ground, and the lion stalked into it.
Once they were all through, Mila pulled the gate shut and Perry wrapped a little piece of map leather around the broken lock. He conjured just enough flame to fuse the lock closed, so the gate shut firmly behind them.
The sound of the apes faded away as the other beasts moved off.
"There must be another way round," Finn said. "They won't give up."
"Then we better hurry up." Sienna turned to see where they were.
A circle of flat rocks formed a raised platform. In the middle, a pile of charred wood and human bones steamed in the sun.
"It's a pyre," Mila said. "Work of the Shadow Cartographers."
They clambered onto the pyre, the smell of burned wood and roasted flesh intensifying around them. Birds of prey circled above, beady eyes on the carrion below.
Mila used a partially burned branch to rake the pile of burned bones, looking for a sign of what might have happened here.
"You need to look at this, Sienna."
A small round object glinted in the afternoon sun. Sienna looked more closely and realized with a jolt what it was.
Her father's five-pointed compass.
She would recognize it anywhere. Engraved upon the face were the things her father valued, a book, the face of the goddess Aquae Sulis representing Bath, and enclosed within the glass, a lock of her baby hair. Tears welled in Sienna's eyes.
She fell to her knees in the ash. The grey dust billowed around her as she reached for the compass. She wiped it clean to reveal the patterns beneath.
"It's his, isn't it?" Mila said, softly.
Sienna nodded. "He was here." She looked at the pile of bones. "You don't think …?"
Mila shook her head. "He was too valuable to burn. The compass could have been stolen by someone else. These bodies might be rebels or smugglers."
Finn hunkered down to kneel next to Sienna. His closeness comforted her, and she could see a reflection of her loss in his dark eyes. "I know smugglers, and I know rebels. None of them would have left this here when they could get so much for it."
A roar sounded from just outside the gate.
They turned to see the giant apes gathered outside the bars, testing the strength as they eyed the enemy inside. One of the beasts slammed into the metal, its war cry ringing out. The gate shuddered and shook, but it held.
For now.
"We're not getting back out the maze that way," Xander said. "Even if we all fight, we can't hold them off for long. We need another way out of here."
One of the apes started to climb, pulling itself up the gate, hand over hand, baring its yellow teeth as it snarled at them.
Sienna clicked the button at the bottom of the compass, and it flicked open. Inside, the bronze was engraved with his name, John Farren. And on the opposite side, there was a carving, a tiny map inscribed on the inner surface with a castle at its center.
Sienna ran her fingers slowly over the carving, thinking of her father etching these lines. It was rough, but perhaps it was enough. Together with what they had learned before, together with Finn's desire to see his sister and her own to see her father, with
Mila's knowledge of where the castle lay. Together they might be able to make it.
First one and then another ape dropped down on their side of the gate. They roared and lumbered towards the team.
"If in doubt …" Xander said. "Quickly now!"
Sienna's heart thumped as she considered the drip of shadow she would exchange for her blood. But they had no option.
She pulled the scalpel from her bag and used it to cut her hand slightly, dripping blood onto the map in the compass.
It filled the lines, scarlet and gold together with the rays of the sun forming a mesmerizing pool. All she had to do was fly into it.
Sienna felt lightness inside, even though they were surrounded by the stink of beasts with decaying flesh between their teeth, and the burned bones upon which they stood. This was a place of death, and they were going further towards darkness, but she could sense they were almost there. She would see her father again.
"Now would be good," Xander shouted as he turned to face the oncoming charge.
Sienna put one hand around the bloody compass and held her other hand out. The others gripped it and held each other, entwined together as the beasts bore down upon them.
Her heart pounded as she remembered Finn wasn't a Mapwalker. How could he come through? She looked over at him, eyes wide with fear. She didn't want to lose him now.
He nodded back at her. "It's okay, just do your part and I will follow through. And if you make it to the castle without me …" He looked over at Mila. "Then you will find my sister and set her free."
Mila nodded. "Quickly now."
Perry hurled a blast of flame, pushing the beasts back. They howled as flame caught fur and one rolled itself into the pile of ash, pieces of bone sticking to its flesh. Then it came for them, a thing of fury and ash, bone and flame.
Sienna closed her eyes, trying to tune out the roar of the beasts, and the expectation of her friends.
She thought of her father, fixing the map from the compass in her mind, and reached for blood in the darkness.
19
One moment Sienna felt the sun on her skin and the next it was cold and clammy, the roar of the beasts replaced by quiet water dripping on stone.
"We made it." Finn's voice was filled with wonder.
Sienna opened her eyes to find them in a storage area with a low ceiling and walls of thick stone. They matched the dungeon she and Mila had visited before, and it certainly felt like the same castle. How many of these could there be in the Borderlands?
The sound of voices came from beyond a doorway, and the group melted into the shadows. The voices came closer and then passed by.
"They were talking about taking food up to the women," Finn said, his face set with anger. "I'm going after them."
Mila put a hand on his arm. "Wait a minute. We need to decide what the plan is first."
Finn shook her hand off, spinning towards her, his finger jabbing the air in front of her face.
"I am here for my sister, and you promised to help me."
Mila crossed her arms. "I promised to get you to the castle. I never said we would help you find her and take her home."
Sienna watched the two of them face off. They couldn't find her father and Finn's sister at the same time, but the Borderlander had risked his life and his future to get here. They wouldn't have made it this far without him, and she couldn't leave him now.
"I'm going with Finn," she said. "We'll find his sister, then we'll come back and together, we'll find my father and the rest of the Mapwalker team. We won't be long. By the time we come back, you need to be ready to move."
Finn slipped through the corridor of the castle, Sienna close behind. He was surprised she'd chosen to come along, but he was glad of her help. They followed the servants at a distance through the twisting and turning corridors.
A scream came from up ahead, a primal sound of pain recognizable in any culture as a woman giving birth. Then the scream of a newborn, forced into a world they didn't choose. Finn could smell metallic blood soaked into straw, like an animal's den. He put his hand on the wall to steady himself as thoughts of his sister came to him.
The Shadow Cartographers had come to the citadel, taking those on the edge of womanhood. Isabel had only been fifteen, but already beautiful. She had an edge of magic, a mild gift she used to grow plants in the barren ground of the broken city. But with such a gift, other kinds of magic could be dormant, unlocked if she bred with another.
Finn had heard rumors of what came out of these halls over the years. The Elite Shadow Cartographers, wielding blood magic with precision, creating new worlds from their veins. But also the mutants, those whose magic coalesced into something twisted, tested and found wanting, fodder for sacrifice at the Tophet where the blood of children fueled the dark magic of the mages.
"Are you alright?" Sienna's whisper came from behind him.
Finn pushed away from the wall and nodded, leading her onwards. His heart pounded as he imagined what he might find ahead. Would Isabel even be here? She might be dead from childbirth, or he'd heard the girls who couldn't get pregnant were slaughtered, their blood used in ritual. Useless mouths weren't tolerated here.
He crept forward, peeking around a corner to check the way ahead.
A guard stood in front of a doorway, the edges decorated with horns of plenty, a bountiful harvest and phallic symbols. The fertility halls. A guard paced back and forth in front of the door, alert and ready.
"I'll distract him," Sienna whispered.
Before Finn could stop her, she walked out around the corner towards the guard, hands relaxed by her side. Finn remained in the shadows as the guard turned at her footsteps, his eyes widening at the sight of her. The man leered as Sienna exaggerated the swing of her hips, walking towards him with intent. He gripped the pommel of his sword tighter.
"What are you doing here?" the guard demanded.
Sienna rested against the wall next to him, angling her body so the guard turned, his back to Finn.
"I'm looking for someone." Sienna smiled. "I heard you might be able to help. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to find her." The guard stepped closer, his hand lifting from his sword to caress her cheek. Sienna leaned into him, pressing her body against his.
Finn slipped around the corner, and as the man reached to pull her body closer, Finn brought the pommel of his sword down hard on the back of the guard's head.
A dull thunk and the guard slumped to the ground. Finn would have finished him off, but Sienna stepped over him and bent to pull off the man's belt.
"We'll hogtie him and drag him into the tunnel," she whispered.
They worked quickly and soon had the unconscious guard back in the shadows. By the time he regained consciousness, they'd be long gone.
Sienna looked down at the guard and over at Finn. He felt her eyes appraising him, and he almost blushed under her gaze.
"There'll be more guards inside. It'll be tight, but you'll just fit this uniform."
"No." There was no way he was going to wear such an evil costume and drag Sienna like a captive around this unholy place. "There's too much that could go wrong."
She put her hand on his chest. "I'll be fine, Finn. I won't end up like your sister. We can't get rid of all the guards, so we need to walk unseen. This is the best way."
Finn took a deep breath. He had helped Sienna escape once, and now he felt responsible for her. There was no way he would put her back in danger again, especially here, where women only existed for one thing.
She bent to pull the guard's uniform off. "Help me." When he didn't move, she looked up at him. "Come on, we don't have much time. You want to find Isabel, don't you?"
His sister's name made Finn gasp. It had been so long since he had heard anyone else speak it, for once the girls were taken, they were dead to their families. It was ill-advised to speak of them again, except as the martyred dead. After all, it was an honor to be a vessel for a Halbrasse.
He might be so close
to her now.
Finn bent to help Sienna pull off the guard's uniform and swapped his own clothes for the heavy armor of the guard. It shone, freshly polished, with the half-moon of the Shadow Cartographers. He wrapped a piece of rope around Sienna's wrists, tying them behind her back.
"Are you sure it's okay?" He whispered in her ear. "Not too tight?"
He was so close that he could smell the scent of her, a faint vanilla underneath sweat and the blood they had shed together. He had never thought a Mapwalker would look at him the way she did, but it seemed she saw past the external to his inner self.
"Push me ahead of you. Be a little rough. You won't hurt me."
Finn took a deep breath and then pushed Sienna forward a little. "Walk." His voice was stronger now, and he channeled his father as he assumed the swagger of authority.
They walked together into the tangle of winding passages beyond the archway, and as they passed, they peered through the barred windows of each of the cells. One woman lay crumpled on the floor, her body like a broken doll. Another banged on the door, yelling as she pulled at the bars. She screamed at them, pointing at Finn, calling him names Sienna recognized even though the woman spoke in a foreign language. It didn't matter what race you were here, only whether you could breed.
In another cell, a grunting sound and the rhythmic slap of flesh on flesh betrayed what occurred within, as the sound of weeping filled the corridors around them. It was a desolate, ugly place. Finn slowed his steps, wanting to help each one, but there were so many …
Sienna turned, her eyes bright with anger, a flush of red on her cheeks. "We must go on. Your sister might still be here." She looked around her. "We can't help these women one by one. We have to change things at a more fundamental level. And I promise you that we will, Finn. But if we're caught, it's all over. For both of us."
He nodded and as they walked on, the cells changed in nature. Women in different stages of pregnancy paced inside or lay chained on their backs, bellies looming large, closer to term the further they went in.