Mask of Poison (Fall of Under Book 1)

by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

  With a snap of his fingers, the door swung open.

  And at the bottom of his stairs was a horde of drengil. Shoulder to shoulder, they stood like a wall, only thirty feet away.

  She froze.

  There, standing in front of the rest…was Rxa. He had his head lowered, his long, matted, and bloodstained blond hair hanging limply around his shattered porcelain mask.

  Without warning, Aon’s hand twisted in her hair and yanked her toward him, almost pulling her off balance. She staggered, and he caught her…with the claws of his gauntlet around her throat. He held her in front of him like a shield.

  Rxa laughed. It was the eerie laugh of a madman.

  “Hello, old friend,” the King of Shadows greeted.

  Rxa tipped his head up toward them, the demented and cracked grin of his mask slowly coming into view.

  “Hello, brother.”

  24

  Silence.

  Ember had never seen drengil stand still. But there they were—a sea of silent, unmoving corpses. They stood, packed in close, and simply stared ahead.

  And waited.

  No one should be able to command the dead. And especially not a madman.

  Ember shivered. Aon had her back pressed to his chest, her head tilted back at an angle to keep his sharp claws from piercing her throat.

  “Oh! Hello, little dove. I didn’t notice you at first.” Rxa chuckled. “I’m so glad you found yourself here! That’s so exciting. If you’re here, then, that means my buzzkill of a second command is bumbling around nearby. Tell me, Aon, have you schemed a trap for me, I wonder? Is there to be an ambush?” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the wall of the dead that stood behind him. “Cuz…I don’t know how it’ll go for you.”

  “You think you can overthrow me with your mindless chaff?” Aon’s grip in her hair tightened. “You underestimate me.”

  “Says the man hiding behind a mortal.”

  “It ensures you will allow me the opportunity to talk.”

  “That’s all you like to do—talk.” Rxa began picking at a section of the bandages that were wrapped around him. It was turning brown as the blood dried and rusted. It looked as though it had dried to his side, and he was trying to pluck the crusty cotton from a healing wound. He hissed in pain. “I’d rather just jump to the bit where I kill you slowly. Repeatedly.”

  “And how do you plan on doing that? With your new army?” The King of Shadows scoffed.

  “Yup! I don’t know how many of my zombies it’ll take to overrun you and your defenses, brother.” Rxa nearly spat the word a second time, his voice riding the knife’s edge between mania and rage. “But I do know how many I’m gonna use!” He cackled.

  “And therein lies my proposal. I do hate to see such wanton and needless destruction, nor do I particularly desire to pick a million corpses off my lawn. I will fight you, Rxa—one on one.”

  “Why would I agree to that? I’m insane, not stupid.” Rxa snickered again. “I have you surrounded and outnumbered. You might be able to nuke the first half, maybe even two-thirds of my new friends here…but you’ll get tired before I run out of ‘chaff’ to throw at you.”

  “Why? It’s simple. If you do not agree to face me alone, then your friend here will die.” Aon threatened murder so matter-of-factly, it was clear it was a thing he did frequently.

  “So?” Rxa tilted his head to one side slightly. “She’s mortal. That’s what they do.”

  Great. So much for the using-me-as-bait plan. Ember cringed at the sting of the claws in her throat.

  “Very well. Then you won’t mind if I dispose of her now, will you? She has been such an irritation this last day.” Aon dug his claws into her throat, just hard enough that it sent small rivulets of warmth trickling down her throat. A few drops of blood—but enough.

  Rxa snarled. “Wait.” The fingers of his hand twitched. “Fine. I think I’d rather like to rip you to pieces personally, anyway. Let her go, and we fight mano a mano.”

  “Grand. Let’s get on with it, shall we? I have a busy afternoon scheduled.” Aon tossed Ember aside like a broken toy, easily knocking her off balance. Despite his lean appearance, he was inhumanly strong. She supposed she shouldn’t have been so surprised.

  Tripping, she hit the steps of his estate hard and grunted in pain. She lifted her head in time to see Rxa gesture out to his side with his hand.

  She wondered idly if she would ever get used to seeing people of Under summon objects from thin air.

  Shimmering from nothing, a huge and deadly scythe appeared in his grasp. It was rusted and jagged, cruel and deadly looking. The blade was long and curved, and etched on its unevenly tarnished surface was more of Under’s esoteric writing. The handle was that of a traditional farmer’s sickle, bent with a smaller secondary handle. It was there that Rxa held it.

  The bandaged madman looked at the blade and let out a loud laugh. “Huh! Nifty. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all.” He waved it in front of him, testing the balance. “I still miss my chains, but this’ll do.”

  Ember scrambled up to her feet and backed away toward the door. She took her new spear off her back and held it tightly in both hands. She didn’t know exactly who she was supposed to use it on, but she was pretty sure that all of them might be an option.

  Aon had warned her about his putting on a show. But that didn’t mean she trusted the King of Shadows as far as she could chuck him.

  “Little dove? Do you mind going inside? I’d hate for you to get caught in the crossfire.” Rxa’s tone softened oddly when he addressed her. She didn’t know what to think about that.

  “Do as he says, Ember.” Aon didn’t look at her when he spoke, keeping his attention focused on his foe.

  Getting to safety was the last thing she was ever going to argue. The two men were basically demigods. She’d be a fly under a rolled-up piece of paper if she got caught between them. She ducked back inside the door.

  I should run.

  But to where?

  The house is surrounded by drengil. I don’t even know where I’m going in this giant labyrinth. And where are Lyon and Lydia?

  Something in her wanted to stay and listen to the fight in the hope that maybe, just maybe, she might be useful to Aon if he got close to defeating Rxa.

  At the sound of metal scraping over stone, she winced. She could hear the two men talking again, and she peeked out of a nearby window to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

  “You killed me, brother.” Rxa had his blade down against the smooth stone walkway leading to Aon’s front steps and was dragging the rusted metal along the surface. “You killed me. You are a traitor.”

  “Rich words from a man who betrayed my friendship and Lydia’s.” Aon laughed. “You are the one who stabbed her in the back. A frightened woman, seeking nothing but normalcy. You, who claimed to be the compassionate one.”

  “She is an abomination!” The bandaged king hissed his words angrily.

  “And now…what are you?” Aon gestured his black clawed hand toward him. “Look at what you have become, old friend. Give up this war. Stand down. We will find a new way forward, like we always do.”

  “Like you always do!” Rxa screamed, his voice cracking in his agony. “You always find a way forward. You always survive. This place is your playground. Built for you. Designed for you. They give you everything you could ever want! Under is yours. Not mine. Not ours. Never…ever ours.”

  “You’re talking nonsense. You’re ill, Rxa. Lower your weapon, stand down your army, and I can help you.”

  “Help? You and Lyon are both now claiming to help me. Any help you’d pay me would come in the form of a shallow grave, like the one you gave me before.” Rxa lifted his scythe and sliced the air in front of him in a wide arc. Ember could hear it. “I plan to return the favor.”

  “Killing me dooms the world.” Aon held his ground. “You know that.”

  “That is entirely the point, I’m afraid! Now, enough of this. L
et’s dance.”

  “Very well.” Aon clenched his fist. And in that moment, the darkness around her seemed to deepen. As if everything around her grew…darker, somehow.

  When Rxa swung his scythe for the King of Shadows, Ember ducked beneath the window, hiding her head underneath her arm.

  Glass shattered. She heard rocks tumbling and wood splintering. The sound of a battle raged for what seemed like an eternity, yet an instant at the same time. Fire roared, and she held back a cry. The same cry that finally escaped her as a body flew through the large double doors, sailing down the hallway, and tumbling to a stop.

  Rxa.

  He climbed unsteadily to his feet, laughing quietly the whole time. Several of his bandages were now blooming in fresh blood—a dark, blackish-yellow substance. He held his scythe tightly in his hand. The long blade was spattered in blood. Judging by the bright red color, it wasn’t his.

  Aon walked in after him, limping. She could see wetness against the black clothing he wore. Pulling herself back up to her feet, she wedged herself into the corner of the room but kept her escape routes open. If she needed to run, she wanted options. Even if she knew she really didn’t have anywhere she could go.

  Lyon, where are you?

  “Do you want to continue this stupidity, Rxa?” There was pain in Aon’s voice.

  If Aon lost…she didn’t know what to do. Shit, shit, shit! She hadn’t thought about a backup plan.

  “Aren’t you having fun?” Rxa giggled. “I’m having a blast!”

  “Can we settle this like adults, instead of like children on the schoolyard, trading fists?” Aon sighed tiredly. “This is pointless.”

  “I think it has plenty of point.” Rxa gestured the blade of his scythe at the other king. “And you always did like to whine when you were bested in a fight. Usually when Edu was the one who put you on the ground. Oh! I almost forgot to ask.” He lowered his blade a few inches. “How is the big idiot? I miss him. Shame I’ll have to kill him, too.”

  “Is that your goal, then?” Aon laughed derisively. “To destroy us all, one by one, starting with me?”

  “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” Rxa tilted his head to the side, blond tendrils limply falling in front of the empty dark eyes of his mask. “Although I would have liked to end it with you. Make you watch as I destroy everything. But…honestly, you’re not the one I’m trying to hurt the most.”

  “Oh? Who, then?”

  “None other than your doting, devoted parents, of course.”

  After a moment of silence, Aon shook his head. “You cannot destroy the Ancients. That isn’t possible.”

  “Isn’t going to stop me from trying. And I really, really have nothing better to do than to try. Maybe they’ll finally have to speak to me once I burn this whole world to the ground along with every damnable soul in it!” Rxa’s fury broke off quickly as he grabbed his side with one hand. “Ow. Shouting hurts. Note to self—shout quieter.”

  Aon took the opportunity and dashed toward Rxa, moving so quickly he was barely more than a blur.

  Rxa’s scythe cut through the air in front of him with a loud woosh.

  For a second, she couldn’t tell what had happened.

  Aon and Rxa stood facing each other.

  For another beat, no one moved.

  Ember had seen a lot of gore in her life. A lot of death, and a lot of disgusting ways to die. She had seen a horse eaten by a pack of drengil. She had seen people dismembered and mutilated, tortured and flayed.

  But she had never witnessed anything like what she now saw before her.

  First, Rxa looked down at his chest. Aon’s metal gauntleted hand was buried there up to the wrist. With a sickening slorch, the King of Shadows yanked his hand back out. And it didn’t come alone.

  He had ripped out Rxa’s heart.

  The bandaged king collapsed into a heap at Aon’s feet.

  But it wasn’t the sight of Aon holding a still-twitching heart in his fist that made bile rise in her throat.

  It was the fact that Aon had not struck the only blow.

  Slowly at first. Then a little bit faster…Aon’s upper body slid off from the rest. Sliced through the midsection at an angle, the two parts thumped to the ground beside the king in rags.

  Ember covered her mouth with her hand and debated getting sick. She hadn’t ever thrown up from seeing horror. Not through all her training or years as a hunter in the wild. This is what they can do to each other. Again and again, over and over. What kind of nightmarish world is this?

  She didn’t have a long time to debate the thought. A noise filled the air—one she recognized. The sound of bodies moving.

  The sound of drengil.

  With a sinking feeling of dread, she looked out the window. There they were, shambling toward the door with bared teeth and reaching hands. With Rxa dead—at least temporarily—it seemed the force that was holding them frozen in place and following orders was gone.

  The sound of crashing glass over her head had her ducking instinctually. In a flash of turquoise light, Lydia was standing by Aon. She looked up at Ember and smiled sadly. “You’ll be okay. I know you will.”

  Ember blinked. “What?”

  Without answering, Lydia’s form changed. Ember watched, agog, as the other woman became the smoke-like snake with the glowing turquoise wings. She scooped up Aon—both halves—in the coils of her tail.

  Two flaps of her powerful wings, and she was gone, smashing through what was left of the large window over the door that she must have destroyed coming in. The drengil beneath her reached for the creature that was already out of their grasp.

  When someone grabbed her Ember’s arm, she shrieked and went to crack her spear into their face. A hand caught it before it could hit paydirt.

  “Lyon!” she exclaimed. “Where have you been? What’s going on? Why didn’t you and Lydia help him—”

  “We are. This is the plan.” He frowned down at her and let go of the gold spear.

  “What?” She yanked her arm out of his grasp.

  “I will explain later. Come, we need to—”

  An enraged scream and the woosh of a scythe cutting through the air was the first thing she registered. The second was that Lyon had pushed her to the ground.

  The third was that Rxa was once more, impossibly, on his feet. And the fourth was that he was furious. “I will kill you here and now!”

  Lyon staggered backward, barely able to dodge and deflect Rxa’s wild attacks. But he was running out of room to move.

  The drengil had reached the door.

  Blocked from two sides, there was nothing he could do. There was only one way out. And it didn’t include her. “Ember—forgive me—”

  “Go!” she screamed.

  Lyon exploded into a swarm of white bats. They swirled through the glass over the door. He was gone. She was alone.

  Alone with a million hungry drengil at the walls.

  And Rxa.

  Ember turned…and ran for her life.

  25

  Ember didn’t know where she was going. She didn’t know which way she could go that would make any difference at all. The estate was surrounded by the largest horde of drengil she had ever heard of, let alone witnessed.

  She was trapped. Helpless. Mortal in a world where she was nothing more than an insect.

  Live for every second.

  She would not give up. She would not surrender!

  Two drengil fell from her spear as she fled deeper into Aon’s abandoned estate. Then a third. Then there were too many to fight. She turned and ran once more.

  The rooms flew by as she ran through them, ducking around corners and avoiding the hungering corpses that were swarming into the building. Rounding the corner into yet another room, she jumped over a sofa and careened into the next space.

  A balcony.

  A gods damned balcony!

  She impacted the stone railing and bit back a dismayed wail for two reasons. First, it was too high off
the ground to safely jump.

  And two…

  Beneath her was a sea of the dead. Packed shoulder to shoulder, they filled every possible space in the courtyard and the grounds, clambering over each other in their need—their desperate need—to get inside.

  To find something to kill.

  To eat.

  Namely?

  Her.

  But being torn apart and having her innards devoured was probably a better fate than if—

  “Little dove! There you are.”

  The simple sound of his voice made every ounce of hope for a relatively quick and pseudo-painless death vanish in a puff of smoke. Ember shut her eyes and swore with every ounce of effort she had. Because it was the only thing she could do.

  “I don’t even know half those words! That’s fun. You’ll have to teach them to me later. Sorry it took me a few seconds to find you. I had to stop to steal some pants. Feels nice to have pants again. Does everyone who works for Aon always wear all black? Is it, like…a requirement or something? Oh, well.”

  Gripping her spear in both hands, she prayed to the gods. She prayed to them, not knowing if they were even still alive. But it didn’t matter. If they, or anyone out there, could hear her? It was worth doing.

  She whirled and thrust her golden spear at Rxa. With a sickening crunch, it punctured his lower ribcage. The sound must have been one of them fracturing as she rammed it straight through him.

  Rxa sighed. “I don’t like today. Today is too stabby. Oh!” He poked at the golden spear that was sticking through his ribs. “This is shiny. How cute. Who gave it to you? Lyon? I bet it was Mr. Sappy McBeanstalk. Looks like his work. Do you mind taking it out now?” His voice lowered dangerously as he tilted his head ten degrees to one side as he gripped the spear in his hand and yanked it from his own body. She could hear the slide of metal on bone. “It stings a bit.”

  She staggered away from him, letting go of her weapon. He dropped it to the ground with a clatter. “Rxa—”