by John Hook
The corridor continued to run straight for some time. We found no other features. It was obviously passing through the base of the mountain. As we approached the distance, we could feel a breeze fan against our faces, although we didn’t see light indicating an open tunnel looking out into daylight. We could also hear a low murmur. We finally saw a different quality of light at the end of the corridor, but it wasn’t anything nearly as bright as sunlight would be.
We approached cautiously. The hallway came to an arched entryway. We flattened ourselves against the walls, listening. At first, all we heard was the wind. Then we heard voices, but they seemed somewhere else, not on the path directly ahead of us. Some were human and sharp, like someone giving orders. Some were muted cries. And some sounded like demons. We moved cautiously through the archway.
We were no longer in a rock tunnel, but on a walkway with a low wall on one side, crossing a vast chamber carved out of the mountain. We immediately dropped low to the ground so we could look around. Above us, great stalactite teeth aimed at us like the jaws of some hungry beast.
Wind swirled in the cavern, providing a low whoosh sound, almost a hum, in the background. It wasn’t clear where it was coming from, but off in one corner of the very large chamber, there was some ambient light at the top. My guess was that there was a natural chimney or vent in the side of the mountain.
The pathway we were on formed a bridge that cut through the chamber above the floor of the cavern that was some distance below us. On one side of us was a cliff wall the walkway was carved out of. On the other, a low wall over a large drop. We could hear shuffling, and voices. We crawled up to the low wall and peered over.
The drop was probably about fifty feet. There was a pathway and beyond that, in the darkness, cages and a few low stone buildings. On a path below us, two shirks were dragging a frightened woman. She had a collar attached to a leash held by a demon trailing behind. Although the woman was frightened, she was also angry and struggling against the hopeless odds to get away. One of the shirks cuffed her, but she actually slugged him back. I almost cheered, giving away our position. Blaise and Izzy just nodded in approval. One didn’t need to see the fiery red hair of her glamour to know she hadn’t been broken yet. It was so rare to see someone in this place who fought back against the insane order.
Unfortunately, all it earned her was a sharp yank backwards on the leash by the demon. He grabbed her by the throat and roared.
“Leave her to me! Go!” The angry voice exploded in our heads. The demon didn’t know we were here; he was just broadcasting widely. The shirks quickly made their retreat not wanting to deal with the anger of a frustrated demon. I wanted to leap onto the demon but it was too far down. I’d be crippled at best on the hard surface below.
The demon placed his ugly face next to hers, showing his teeth. She averted her head. It wasn’t so much horror as disgust. He raked his clawed finger up the front of her body, tearing open her dress like a bursting cocoon. She struggled, but he was too strong.
I whipped out one of my clubs, but Blaise put a hand on me.
“Let me.” It was a low whisper, but there was a command-like quality to the voice, a weight. He took the club from me. He stood and seemed to be focusing on something. He held the club out and moved it around until he seemed to hit a specific position and then he held it there.
The demon ran a hand across her belly, moving it down and let out one of those screaming laughs. Without even a twitch, Blaise opened his hand. The club dropped fast, picking up speed, whistling slightly, although neither the demon nor the woman heard it. The club hit precisely and at great velocity. The demon’s skull shattered.
The woman reacted instantly, kicking the demon’s carcass away. She tore the collar from her neck. She pulled her clothes closed in front in an act that was more defiance than modesty. She picked up the club that lay on the floor, wiping off the goo on the dead demon.
As she lifted up the club, before even straightening, she looked up. All three of us were standing. I saluted her. As she stood, she smiled and hoisted the club in the air. Then she ran off.
Izzy grinned. “Hope we run into her again. I liked her spirit.”
“I suspect the next demon or shirk she encounters won’t agree.”
“Better keep moving before we are discovered,” Blaise cautioned.
It was clear there was no easy way from this walkway to the area below so that, even if there were something we might have done, we weren’t going to be any help. Blaise was right. We were too much in the open and when the body was discovered, they’d be looking.
At the matching archway at the end of the walkway over the cavern, it returned to being a simple rock tunnel again. I could tell that Blaise was keeping his eyes open for those bowling ball holes that might indicate a way to get down, but nothing showed up. It was tempting to think that Blaise was involved in something secretive and deadly in his previous life, maybe Special Forces. But something about it didn’t ring exactly right. He was secretive and very controlled, but he didn’t seem like a killer, though he certainly could kill. One of these days, if we ever got a moment’s peace again, I was going to try to get it out of him.
Finally we came to the end of the tunnel. It seemed to be a dead end, but over to one side were the familiar three holes. I turned them and a part of the rock wall rotated out. It looked like another small cave on the other side, but there was light from somewhere giving everything a soft illumination. We crossed the cave and exited out from a naturally formed mouth into the sunlight.
It took a few moments for our eyes to adjust. On instinct, we flattened against the hillside. When our eyes adjusted, we were on the sloping side of a mountain, obviously the one that rose up behind Haven. Below us was a small meadow filled with a soft, golden wheat-like grass that waved in the breeze. It was dotted with small groups of twisted oak-like trees. Sitting starkly in the middle of the meadow was a tower. If there was anyone around, we couldn’t see them, not demon or human.
There was something very odd and unsettling about this scene. There was nothing remarkable about the tower other than the fact that it resembled the conical cooling tower of a nuclear power plant. There was even a slight mist rising from the top. There might have been a glow up there as well, although it was hard to be sure in daylight. We couldn’t see up that high and I didn’t think it was a good idea to climb up higher on the mountain to get a view.
Even accounting for all the things that were strange about the tower, it didn’t seem to explain the feeling I had. It was out of place to run into such an odd piece of architecture here in this out-of-the-way field. It was, itself, very odd architecture compared to anything else I had seen. I had never seen a curved design before except the tower carved out of natural stone where Izzy took me to first meet Saripha and the others. It had no windows, only two large, barn-like doors, sealed tightly shut. Maybe it was a really big silo for demon farmers.
The fact that the area was deserted seemed disquieting. It made it more mysterious and somehow more dangerous. It suggested that either it wasn’t worth guarding or it didn’t need guarding. The latter thought made me uneasy.
In fact, it seemed so alien that I wasn’t sure it could be anything the demons would create, but even that wasn’t what was bothering me most.
There seemed to be a pall over this place, tangible but entirely psychic. It was as if this tower and the ground it stood on were haunted. I didn’t even entirely believe in places being haunted, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. There was a dread in my heart as if I were in the presence of great evil. I pretty much considered that true of this entire world, whatever it was. This, however, was something different.
I looked at Izzy and Blaise. Neither looked comfortable. Blaise was scanning everywhere, including up. Although this place was deserted, we didn’t know what was waiting in that tower.
We scrabbled down the hillside, keeping low and watching all directions. When we reached the bottom, we duste
d ourselves off.
“What do you think it is?” Blaise asked.
“Do you think they might actually have nuclear power here?” Izzy’s face suggested he wasn’t serious.
“Maybe they just have really odd notions of what a shopping mall is supposed to look like.”
“I’m feeling some heavy juju.” Blaise almost whispered it.
“Yeah, I think we all are. Let’s go check out the source of that juju.”
As with the approach to Haven, there wasn’t much point to trying to hide. The tower was tall and in the middle of a level meadow surrounded by hills. Anyone could have been watching us and there was nothing we could have done to prevent it even if we had crawled on our bellies through the grass. We kept alert and looking around, but we continued to see no signs of anyone.
When we got to the door Blaise put his hands on it. “It vibrates, slightly.” Izzy and I put our hands on it. It was like a slow pulse. We could feel air whooshing under the doors and they would suck slightly inward and then bulge again, indicating changes in air pressure.
“Think we should knock?”
“I don’t think we have the right password.”
We started making our way slowly around the base of the tower. We didn’t know what we were looking for. Something. Anything. Some indication of its purpose. There was nothing. No other doors. No windows. No fire escapes. No three-hole controls. No seams. Nothing.
We came around to the back. Since it was curved, we just assumed the doors were “the front” and the opposite side, which was closer to the trees, was the back. We almost missed it, but there were two parallel disturbances in the soil that had their origin at the tower and ran back into the wooded area.
Izzy got down on his knees and looked closer. “It isn’t recent, but at one time someone disturbed the soil here. It’s not as packed in and crusted over as the rest of the ground.”
Izzy took his staff and began using it as a digging tool. I came up with my other club.
“Until we know what this is, let’s use more precision.” I started scraping out dirt with my club, watching carefully to make sure I didn’t hit anything unusual. Izzy took a club from Blaise and joined me. We moved across the band of dirt, taking off a layer at a time. Whatever it was, it was buried pretty deeply. Then my club hit something rubbery. We switched to our hands and pulled more and more dirt out of the small rectangle we had been excavating. Blaise probably would have joined us, but there was hardly room for both Izzy’s and my hands. We finished clearing the loose dirt and sat back.
“Izzy?”
“I don’t know.”
Izzy leaned forward. It appeared to be buried tubing. Izzy touched it and it gave, but very stiffly, under his fingers.
“Is it rubber?” I asked him.
“Could be, but I can’t tell you. It’s not a substance I have encountered much here. However, I can tell you this. Something is moving through it.”
I leaned over and touched it. It was like a very tough skin and there was a steady pulsing through it. It was cold. Feeling it increased the feeling that the place was haunted.
“More technology,” Izzy said.
“Yes, this is very not demon-like,” I commented. “Unless we have a very different sort of demon here.”
Our eyes followed the path of the parallel lines in the soil that ran back into the trees.
“Izzy, I want you and Blaise to follow that. We need to find out where it goes. Try not to engage whatever you find. Come back here.”
“Wait.” Izzy looked concerned. “I don’t think we should split up. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to finish the walk of the perimeter and then I’m going to set up in these trees here and watch.”
“Stakeout.” Blaise looked amused.
“As usual. When I think something is important but I don’t know how, watch and see what happens. Someone has to show up eventually.”
“At least keep Blaise with you.”
“Why, so he can get bored on a stakeout too?”
“Things have a way of not being boring when you are involved.”
“Look, go. I’ll be fine. We need to know where whatever it is this pipe is carrying is being taken to.”
Izzy wasn’t happy about leaving me, but reluctantly started off. He knew it was important to find out. Blaise, as usual, showed little reaction and went with Izzy. Both had their staffs ready.
I continued around the tower, but nothing else seemed to present itself and I arrived back at the doors. I knew it wasn’t safe to do anything other than what I had told Izzy I would do. Go off into the trees and watch. Something wouldn’t let me. I felt strangely compelled to enter the tower, although, in fact, I didn’t see anything that could be used to open the doors. I knew there couldn’t be anything good in that tower, but I wanted to go in there in the worst way. And I didn’t. I wanted to run and put distance between myself and this place, but something from in there was calling to me.
And, for just a moment, I felt Philip.
I couldn’t explain it, but somehow I had the sense he was in there. I felt panic, but it wasn’t mine. I felt hopelessness, but it wasn’t mine. I touched the doors, almost absently.
They opened a crack.
Hot air rushed through the opening, causing me to shut my eyes a moment, and then a figure was standing in front of me. I stepped back as my eyes cleared and he came into sharp focus. He was a large-chested man with tanned, muscular arms. He wore what looked like an expensive sand-colored suit, but his head was a jackal’s. Not entirely. It played tricks with your eyes, sometimes seeming to shift into more human features and sometime more sharply defined jackal features, but the jackal head was always there. I knew I was looking at Guido’s local equivalent, this region’s Manitor.
“So it’s true,” he said without either emotion or humor. “Kanarchan’s pup is among us.”
I suddenly found strands of barbed wire wrapping around me. I turned. I knew what the source of the barbed wire was. It cut into my skin and the pain sharpened me. I was pissed. Baron Steel held the strands as he floated down on his platform, calmly regarding someone he viewed as more bothersome than posing a threat. I figured the least I could do was annoy him. I grabbed both strands of barbed wire and yanked hard, pulling him off the platform and slamming him into the wall of the tower. The Manitor showed no reaction and seemed content to watch. This was between me and the Shade.
The Shade rose slowly, but something had changed. His skin was hard and metallic, but it wasn’t like plates of metal armor on his skin; it was more like a fine dust of metal beads covering his skin everywhere, still black in color, even his face now. His eyes were slate gray but limned in red. In two steps he was on me, like a statue come to life. He returned the favor by slamming my back against the wall of the tower. He then, with no change in expression, drove iron spikes into each shoulder and each thigh, pinning me there.
This was the Hell I was more familiar with. It was the place where you could suffer immeasurable pain, but as long as nothing vital was destroyed, you didn’t die. And worse, these bodies did not go into shock. I felt fire burning through my body, but I forced myself to focus in spite of it.
“Janovic always said you had a hard time listening. It’s too bad you got lucky with him. I liked him, but he wasn’t very stable. We are going to have to do better.”
“If you knew who I was, why did you wait?”
The Shade smiled.
“Curiosity. I wanted to see what you were up to.”
“I told you what I was up to.”
“Ah, yes, you are looking for this person you lost.”
“I suspect you had a hand in that.”
“Yes, and I will be happy to show him to you. But I must ask a favor first.”
“For the guy who stapled me to a wall, sure, anything.”
The Shade placed his hand on the side of my face, resting his fingers at my temple. I could feel the hardness of the metal, the sha
rpness of the grain. He dragged his fingers down my face. It felt like metallic sandpaper tearing shallow but painful furrows in the skin along my forehead and cheeks. He had already pressed my face against the wall so I couldn’t turn away.
“It’s very simple. You have no power here. And you have no power because you chose not to have any. First, you did not retain the blue power. And second, you came to a place where you no longer have—what does he call himself?—Guido’s protection. Yet here you rage against two very powerful beings. It makes no sense.”
I said nothing. He was right. I didn’t trust magic, but here I was in the situation I assumed would have to happen at some point, where I was up against powerful entities with nothing but a glamour of human flesh.
“So I will make you a simple offer. Tell us where the blue power is and let us take it. We will return you to your territory and, as long as you stay there, nothing more will happen to you.”
“What is it with you guys? Janovic wanted the same thing. If you folks are so magical, why can’t you just take it?”
And then I grinned, looking the Shade directly in his inhuman eyes.
“You can’t, can you?”
Baron Steel belted me, breaking my jaw.
“I see that threatening you is pointless. Therefore I will stop merely threatening. You want to see this Philip? Come.”
The Shade unceremoniously ripped me off the wall. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been because the spikes dissolved just as he pulled. I started to collapse to the ground but he rudely yanked me up. My legs worked, but not happily and I was covered in blood. The Manitor just watched. I couldn’t tell if he was amused or if that was the impression given by his jackal features.
I was completely outclassed. I had been lucky with Guido. I’ve never found out how Janovic was forced on him as a Shade, but Guido had already decided to help me when I finally encountered him. His help was a little indirect, but it was help nonetheless. He was far too powerful for me to actually fight him. Now, even if I was able to stop the Shade, which would require the power Guido had given me, I would never be able to go up against a Manitor. So is this it? End of the road? Welcome to Hell and fuck you? I had been up against this several times and had somehow survived. I wasn’t giving up now.