by Steve McHugh
As the nightmare stalked closer, I threw myself through the hole in the wall, causing my ribs to protest once more as I hit the ground in a roll. I moved into the middle of the courtyard and removed my Jian from its scabbard. Every breath was agony, my ribs screaming in pain as I tried to suck in more air and waited for the nightmare to reappear.
The barracks’ door exploded outward, pieces of it raining down onto the ground. The nightmare stepped through the ruined entrance and moved toward me with silent purpose. The creature noticed the sword and for the briefest of moments I thought a smile crossed its lips before it attacked.
I planted the sword into the soft ground and flung a vicious gust of wind at the nightmare, blinding it for a moment with dust and dirt. But the monster kept walking toward me, slowly and surely, as if he was bringing my inevitable doom.
Molten eyes flared, the only part of the nightmare I could see as the winds increased in power getting closer and closer. When it was exactly the right distance from me, I stopped the gale and threw the Jian like a javelin into the remnants of the storm. The monster didn't even see the sword coming as it plunged into its chest, driving it back. The nightmare dropped to one knee, its hand gripped around the guard of the sword, desperately trying to pull it out. But the creature's blood was pumping out fast enough that a thick and dark essence covered the sword within seconds, ensuring it was too slippery to gain purchase.
I dashed toward the dying nightmare and pushed the sword in still further, until the hilt was touching its bare chest. The creature opened its mouth but only blood escaped. I cast air magic to afford me a better grip on the sword, and twisted. The wound opened further and more blood gushed onto the ground as I dragged the Jian from the nightmare’s kneeling body and kicked the monster over. A soft gurgling noise left its lips.
The door behind me flew open and Ivy rushed toward us, sprinting past me and kneeling by the dying nightmare. "Don't," I said. "It can still kill you."
Ivy ignored me and placed her hands on either side of its head. The nightmare tried to get back up, shuddered and dropped to the ground as the leathery darkness that covered it began to leave its face.
"What did you do?" I asked Ivy as Thomas padded over toward us, limping slightly on his right front leg.
"I reminded him of his old memories. Of who he used to be."
I stared in shock as the pale face of a young man peered at me through patches of the dark skin. "Thank you," he said and coughed more blood onto the ground.
"Simon," Ivy said; with obvious affection as she took his hand.
"Little one," Simon said. "They caught me, turned me into this. They forced me to keep using my magic. Didn't quite work... you brought me back for a moment." He looked at me. "You have to stop them. They want an army of these. More... kept in the basement... behind you." He pointed at the main prison structure.
"We'll stop them," I said. "I'm sorry it had to come to this." I meant it, too. Someone was going to pay dearly for this.
He nodded and looked back at Ivy. "I'm sorry, I have to leave." Simon coughed up more blood and cried out as the pain from the wound did its work. "You need to go. Stop Mordred."
"I'm sorry I couldn't stop them from hurting you," Ivy said. Tears fell onto her dying friend.
"You helped me more than you could ever know. You kept me sane all these years. It was as honour to call you my friend."
"The honour was mine," Ivy said.
"Now go, find your sister and the others and free them."
Ivy nodded and then kissed Simon once on the forehead. "I'll always remember you," she said as she released his hand and stood.
"Take her in there," I told Thomas, who nodded and motioned Ivy back inside the building they'd just left.
"Take care of her," Simon said to me when we were alone. "They need Ivy, and her sister." He had to stop talking as a fit of coughing and pain wracked his body. "Don't leave me like this. Please."
I knelt beside Simon and removed a silver dagger from my belt, the twin of the one I'd given Ivy. "Ready?" I asked. He took a deep breath, nodded, and I plunged the long blade up through his neck and into his brain, killing him instantly.
I allowed the rage I felt to build inside of me and got up, intent on killing Mordred once and for all.
Chapter 27
London, England. Now.
"Dani's awake," Laurel said to Francis and me.
We stood in unison and followed her from the old bench on the subway's platform, through to Francis' office. After Dani had passed out, and I'd received my unpleasant phone call, I'd asked Laurel to look after her. Although based on how fast Laurel had motioned for us to leave, I wasn't sure how much of my decision that actually was.
"How you feeling?" I asked Dani who was sitting up on the couch, a cup of hot tea in hand.
"Okay, I guess," she said. "Sorry I fell asleep, how long was I out?"
"About an hour," Laurel said. "It was a lot for you to take on at once."
Dani drank some of her tea. "I know where the office is. Or I will once we drive around the area."
"We?" I asked.
"I'll have to go with you. There's no way I can tell exactly where it is without seeing it."
I didn't want Dani to come with me. For a start, I didn't want her in any more danger. But I also didn't want to have to look out for her if it all went to shit. I'd rather she was somewhere I knew was safe. "You just give me the location and I'll do the rest."
"Doesn't work like that." She swung her legs off the couch and placed her cup on a coffee table beside her. "I know the area, it's by the docks, but unless you want to go building to building in search for it, I have to go with you."
"It's my memory, I think I'll know what building it is," I pointed out.
"Did you see the outside of it? Or what the buildings next to it look like? Because I did."
I opened my mouth to speak and then realised that I actually couldn't have picked the building out if I was standing right in front of it. I'd have to check out every single one of them in the area, and that would take hours, if not days to finish. "Okay, you can come. But you do what I say."
Dani mock saluted. "Will do, boss."
I shook my head. "You've got twenty minutes to get ready," I called out as she walked off.
I turned to Francis. "How's it going getting the information on your client who wanted the Iliad stolen?"
Francis walked off toward the main area of his business. He walked with purpose, and a little anger. Something was bothering him.
I followed and watched as he made his way behind the counter, pulling up a large box from the floor and placing it in front of him.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
He waved his hand at me in a dismissive gesture.
"Let's try again," I said and walked toward him. "Why are you angry?"
Francis opened the box and began removing small pieces of jewellery from it, placing them all on the glass counter. By the time he'd finished the glass was no longer visible, it was covered by dozens of broaches and rings, necklaces and cameos. Hundreds, if not thousands of pounds worth of jewels gleamed before me. "I can't seem to contact my last client," he said eventually.
"And that makes you reorganise jewellery?"
Francis sighed. "I will not be used to further the ambitions of others. I was used for a long time, and that period in my life is very much over. If these people have set me up, I have to consider my response." He looked up at me and for the first time I noticed the predator lurking behind his eyes. It was hidden, but definitely there. He blinked once and it was gone.
I thought about asking more, but Francis' tone made it perfectly clear that he would not be taking questions. "I will keep trying though," he said.
Dani's footsteps sounded throughout the subway. "All ready," she said. She'd changed into black combats and a dark blue hoodie, much more suitable attire for traipsing around the docks in the still dark early morning.
"You'll need this," Franci
s said, throwing me a set of car keys. "It's parked round the corner in a resident's parking space."
I glanced at the badge on the keys. "You drive a Jag?" I asked.
A smile crept onto Francis' face. "I like to drive in style."
I couldn't help but laugh.
*****
As it turned out, Francis didn't just like to just drive in style, he liked to drive in style at very high speeds. The Jag was a black XK 4.2, a car that, as I discovered, went like a rocket the second I put my foot down. The V8 engine, given the freedom to work without having to stop due to congested traffic, roared to life as I drove through the early morning streets of London.
Dani dozed on and off through the journey. It was only just coming up to three in the morning and she was probably still tired from having to use her newfound abilities. Even so, by the time we reached the docks, she was wide-awake and keen to start searching.
I drove slowly around the twisty streets, giving Dani an opportunity to look at all of the large warehouses and assorted office buildings, which littered the area. It took all of five minutes before she spotted something. "Up there," she said pointing toward the end of the road we were on. "That looks familiar."
I followed her directions and turned off the road to drive through an unmanned security gate. The barrier had long since broken, leaving only jagged remains of splintered wood protruding from the mechanism that would have raised and lowered it.
The entire complex beyond was deserted, and vegetation had started to encroach on the structures, giving the whole place an end of the world vibe. More than once I had to dodge potholes at the last moment
I continued to follow Dani's directions, which took us to an office building several stories high. I parked behind it and stepped out into the bitter coldness of the early morning. The smell of the river Thames hit me in one gigantic wave. The sounds of seagulls, and the occasional boat moving along its dark surface, sang through the air. I'd always liked the river. There was something soothing about its scent and sound, as the waves lapped against the banks and concrete walls that surrounded it.
"That's really freaky," Dani said after I'd applied my night vision. "You're like a walking torch."
I glanced down at the orange glyphs as they vanished from my arms and smiled. "That's probably not how I'd put it, but thanks none-the-less." Graffiti covered whatever could be reached on the exterior walls without a crane or climbing gear, including one particular piece that could only been achieved by hanging from the roof. At first glance it appeared that all of the windows had been broken, but as I got closer I noticed that one window on the third floor remained whole. "How did you find this place from my memory?"
She flicked on a small, but powerful, flashlight that she'd retrieved from her pocket. "Have you ever seen those crime TV shows, where they see an image and then turn that image round and measure the distance from it to a landmark or some such?"
I nodded.
"I sort of did that. When I came into your memory, you were standing by the door. I just sort of flipped the image and looked around for something to recognise." Dani pointed off past the buildings and back to the main road. "There's a sculpture back down that road, next to a sign that tells you the road name. You can see it during the daytime, but we passed it on the way here. I just knew to look for it and go from there."
"How come I didn't see it?" I asked. "I don't remember it."
"You weren't looking for it," she said. "You can't freeze frame your own memory and have a look around. Even if your subconscious spotted something, your conscious memory wouldn't remember."
I raised an eyebrow in surprise at her knowledge of memories.
"Laurel told me," she said with a sly grin.
"How'd you know it still existed?" I asked.
Dani smiled and held up her mobile phone. "Google street view said it did."
"So you could have just told me the address and let me do this alone?"
Dani nodded. "Could have, but I want to help. And besides, wouldn't you rather have the company?"
I probably should have been angry. After all, Dani had just placed herself in more danger. But part of me was actually quite impressed with her ingenuity. "Just tell me next time," I said and poked my head through the entrance, seeing nothing but more graffiti and the occasional rat. "You don't mind big rats do you?" I asked Dani, who was a few feet away. She shrugged in response. Well we'll soon find out.
I stepped inside and the rodents stared at me before scurrying off to wherever they lived, the sound of tiny claws tapping against the tiled floor sent a slight shiver up my spine. "Safe to come in?" Dani asked from outside.
"Yeah, you'll be fine," I said and looked around the hallway. It was definitely the one from my memory.
Dani shrieked a little and I whipped around. "Really big rat, fucking thing ran past me."
"I thought you didn't mind rats," I pointed out and began to walk through the corridors to where my memory had taken me.
"I don't," Dani said right behind me. "At least not until they get to the size of a Great-fucking-Dane." She mumbled a curse under her breath. "So you know where we're going?"
"I hope so." I followed the corridor until I found one of the walls that had been partially destroyed. "Now I know so."
We stepped into the room. It had been cleaned out long ago, and any remnants of those who had died here long removed. The same could be said of the adjoining room, where I'd dragged Welkin from the window and shot him in his knee.
"There's nothing here," I said and kicked a tin can against the far wall. "It's a dead end."
"I'm sorry, Nate." Dani placed a hand on my shoulder.
I squeezed it gently and left the room, my hopes evaporating along with the time I still had to find the research. I stood in the corridor and stared at the mess of graffiti on the wall in front of me. Most of it looked old, certainly more than a few years. It reminded me of the graffiti outside, in amongst the broken windows. "We need to go to the third floor," I said.
Dani appeared beside me wiping dust from her top. "Why, what's up there?"
I was already walking down the corridor and she had to run to catch up to me. "You going to answer the question, or what?" she asked.
"Outside, the windows were all broken. Except for one on the third floor."
"Maybe stoned people have a shit throwing arm."
"So how'd they manage to get the others?" I asked. "The law of averages suggests that if they can break the rest, then enough stones thrown should break all of them."
We reached a stairwell, where more graffiti adorned the walls, and headed up to the third floor. "I don't think it's glass." I opened the door and went through first. If there was anyone about to attack us, I'd rather Dani wasn't in the front line.
"So what is it?" she whispered as we walked down a corridor identical to the one on the ground floor, the only difference was lot less graffiti.
We opened every door we came to, checking for either the research, or potential threats, until we reached the door at the far end. "This is the room with the intact window," I said.
"I think there's going to be a problem," Dani said with a tap on my shoulder. I turned and followed her flashlight. Blood splatter covered the far wall.
"That's not good." The blood was old and had soaked into the exposed plasterboard. "It's about chest height." I touched the board. It was peppered with tiny holes. "A shotgun did this."
"You sure?"
I shrugged. "Somehow I know it was a shotgun." I turned back to the door and a thought occurred to me. I gathered up some compressed air in the palm of my hand, and threw it at the wall next to the door. Plaster dust ripped from the wall, causing Dani to sneeze.
"Little warning next time," she said with a cough.
"Sorry," I said and examined the hole I'd made in the wall. Shiny metal stared back at me. "This whole wall is reinforced. Someone wanted to keep what's inside this room hidden."
"So bust it down," Dani said w
ith another cough.
"Can't, I think there are shotguns behind the door." I pointed to the lock on the door. "And the deadbolt from the lock actually goes into the wall. To get inside I'd need to rip off the door, which is probably also strengthened, opening myself to a rather nasty blast of shot."
Dani moved aside, no longer standing in the path of any shot. "So how do we get inside?"
I placed a hand against the lock and concentrated. The white glyphs on my arms mixed with orange, and grew in brightness until it was almost unbearable to watch. "I'd move back," I said, and the lock began to melt. I used my spare hand to slam air magic into the lock, a second later the door vanished in an explosion that shot out and destroyed part of the wall opposite where I'd been standing.
Fortunately I'd dove to the ground after grabbing Dani; and covered us both in a thick shield of air. Little pieces of red hot metal bounced off the shield and pinged around the corridor.
"You okay?" I asked Dani once the ringing in my ears had subsided.
She nodded. "What did I say about warning me?"
"You'd have argued with me," I pointed out, getting back to my feet and helping her up.
She stared at me for a heartbeat. "I hate you."
I laughed and went to examine the damage. "Well, that definitely wasn't a shotgun behind the door." I knelt down and picked up part of a claymore mine. "The door was rigged with mines."
"And it stinks," Dani said.
"Burning wood, plastic, paper, metal. Not the most pleasant of combinations." I stepped through the still smoking shell of the doorframe and into a small room with one metal door in front of me. "No lock," I said and turned the handle, pushing it open carefully with a lot of effort, it was thick enough to be used in a bank vault.