by K T Munson
Nanette gasped and lurched away from his ferocity. He held her upper arms in an iron grip as she recoiled from his rage. She had never seen him like that and for a moment she was afraid. She didn’t recognize him. He must have seen her fear because he released her and the vicious expression vanished.
“I’m sorry,” he said as she took a step back and regarded him with a wary eye. All of her trust suddenly was dwarfed by his sudden rage. Could he hurt her? Should she keep the truth from him?
She decided to tell him. Elisabeth could need them, and Nanette needed Ethan to get her there. “She’s going to the Nowhere Gate.”
He growled and took her hand, dragging her along instead of carrying her as he rushed toward the sand colored mountains. She bit her lip to keep her tears as bay. Never had Ethan made her feel like a mortal than in that moment. It made her feel small and useless. Elisabeth had never made her feel like that, even when she wasn’t herself.
Nanette’s gaze was drawn to the shimmering light of Morhaven as the clouds started to streak in the direction in which Elisabeth was running. Pushing her ash-laden hair out of the way, she could see people riding the silvery clouds. Fear clenched her heart. She didn’t need Ethan to tell her that the Wild Hunt had begun and that Elisabeth was running out of time.
Nanette’s lungs burned as they sprinted through the valley that cut between two of the mountains where she had seen Elisabeth disappear not too long ago. It was darker there, but the red light of the Netherworld still reached them. Ethan slowed down as they crept along the dusty path. The sandy particles stuck to the bottom of her pale flowing robes and Ashladian boots.
The sound of thunder passed overhead as they came to an opening. Elisabeth stood on the far side next to a gate, a solid piece of decorative stone, frantically searching the mountain’s face. When the air spiraled and a column of air arched down from the clouds, Nanette took a step forward.
Ethan’s arm wrapped around her waist, strong as an iron rod. She opened her mouth to argue as he hastily moved them back into the shadows, but he put a finger to his lips and shook his head. Before she could dispute his authority, the wind slowed and left an imposing figure. One look at the antlers on his head, and she knew instantly that this was Arawn, the one who had cut the gate in two.
“Elsariel,” Arawn said, his voice booming off the stone of the mountains around them, “you have taken something that doesn’t belong to you.”
“I traded for it.” Elisabeth’s hand encircled something on a chain around her neck. “Fair and square.”
Nanette swallowed as the muscles on Arawn’s arms rippled. “You were traded something only a Det Morian could give. King Nauberon has sent me to collect it.”
“Babayaga Det Mor traded a promise for the trinket,” Elisabeth said.
Nanette heard Ethan inhale sharply. When she turned to him, he looked at her with surprise. Nanette didn’t know who Babayaga was, but Ethan clearly did. Her fingers curled in his shirt as her attention was drawn back to the scene.
Arawn tilted his head. “Be that as it may, she cannot grant permission to use the Nowhere Gate.”
Elisabeth reacted so quickly that Nanette almost didn’t catch it. Whirling, Elisabeth pressed whatever was around her neck against the slab of stone. There was an explosion of power as Arawn leaped forward a moment before a light burst off the gate. Ethan wrapped his arms around Nanette and shielded her body with his own as a blinding light filled the clearing.
The light threw Arawn and Elisabeth back, and they landed in the sand. The clouds above them thundered. Nanette buried her face in Ethan’s chest. The moment the light faded, Ethan turned and she saw the gate start to draw in everything around it. It was enough to pull her hair toward the gate but not enough to move her.
Elisabeth sprung up to her feet and started running toward the gate, but Arawn tripped her and sent her sprawling. Nanette gasped and covered her mouth.
She took hold of the fabric on Ethan’s cloak. “Help her,” she begged.
Ethan appeared conflicted as Elisabeth attacked Arawn with a streak of pale blue light, which only succeeded in slowing him down. Nanette begged him with her eyes, and Ethan cursed in a language Nanette didn’t recognize before running toward the two as they wrestled on the ground—Elisabeth barely keeping Arawn at bay. Nanette moved along the edge of the clearing as she watched them struggle. Elisabeth was clearly losing.
Ethan’s grabbed Arawn and put him in a headlock. A moment later, Arawn tossed Ethan across the clearing.
Nanette covered her head as he hit the rocks not far from her. He landed on his feet but then fell to one knee, the hood from his cloak covering his head. When he slowly stood, he pulled out a long deadly looking spear, seemingly from the air. The urge to cover her eyes was great, but she forced herself to watch.
Arawn reached onto his back for a massive axe. When he advanced on Elisabeth, Ethan met his axe head on. The sound of metal on metal was drowned out by the other sounds, but Nanette could see the sparks from the force.
“Close the gate!” she could just hear Ethan yell over the sound of the thunder.
Elisabeth rolled over, scrambled to her feet, and propelled herself toward the gate. Arawn jerked his blade to the side, which caused Ethan to misstep. Arawn shouldered him to the side as he fell to the left of the gate. Without thinking, Nanette ran toward him.
“Ethan!” She wrapped both of her hands around his upper arm to help him to his feet.
“Get to safety,” he said, his breathing coming in short, fast spurts. He had a cut on his head from when Arawn had thrown him and a bloodied lip.
“He is too strong,” Nanette said, suddenly aware of what she had asked Ethan to do: Face the Lord of the Hunt, one of the most powerful beings in the known worlds.
“Elisabeth needs to close that gate!” Ethan yelled. He rushed toward Arawn as Elisabeth rolled out of the way of his blade.
As Nanette returned to the safety of the mountain, the pull from the gate beginning to make it difficult for her to walk, she saw Arawn get a hold of Elisabeth’s necklace and tear it free. Whatever had been on it broke off. In a sweeping arc, it landed a few feet to Nanette’s left. As it began to roll toward the gate, Nanette rushed toward it.
“Retrieve the pendant,” Arawn roared.
Falling to her knees, she took the strange looking metal medallion in her hand. It took her a moment to realize it was a watch. She started to get to her feet and heard someone yell her name. In the blink of an eye, the horde in the clouds was sweeping down toward her.
Nanette screamed as they knocked into her. She stumbled backward, her hand reaching out as Elisabeth jumped toward her. Nanette felt fingers brush against her skin, and a moment later she fell through the gate and was swallowed up in silence.
Chapter 26: Unknown World
It seemed that only the children of this world could see him, and they were afraid. They couldn’t hear him, just see him. Ever since he had come to this strange would, a shadow had followed him. It seemed to warp the air around it, and it made him sick. Whenever he was ill he world sleep, and time seemed to move by faster whenever he slept. Without a name, the empty voice of his memories had become overwhelming. Without recourse to find himself a name, he had taken to calling himself Nobody.
Though he didn’t know his name, he knew that the shadow creature was affecting the people in the strange little village. The man in charge, whom everyone called Ralph, talked about it being cursed. At first Nobody thought it was tied to him, so he had left. But soon he’d discovered that it was not a part of him—he had nothing to do with it. While it ate other souls, it did not attack him.
Perhaps the shade couldn’t remember what it was either. Perhaps they were both lost in this strange world that couldn’t see them. Perhaps they were both dead and the shadow creature was the spirit of someone who was evil. But what did that make him?
Nobody wasn’t sure. He remembered little else beyond the blonde woman. She kept haunting his dre
ams, and he had this strange feeling that she was important. Yet no matter how he tried, he couldn’t remember. Instead, she just continued to roam his dreams. He would wake fitfully to the world after weeks had passed. When he had fallen asleep last, they had just started building a fence around their village. When he’d awoken, it was all but complete. He’d sneak through the wood, which was solid to his touch. Instead, he had to creep through the gate when it was open or scale the wall. He found that he was surprisingly adept at climbing.
During the days, he would watch the villagers go about their business. At night he avoided the shadow that stalked him by staying close to the walls but not remaining within the settlement.
A stick broke near him, and he spun to his left. A dark-skinned man with red smeared on his face crept forward. He had an axe in his hand and his long hair was loose around his shoulders. He wore almost nothing in the warmth of the summer, and his eyes were firmly fixed on the wall that surrounded the little village.
Men dressed in shiny armor paced the perimeter with only the barest of torchlight. They did not see the other men with axes as more of them crept almost silently toward the walls. A man on the wall gave a cry, sounding the alarm, as one of the darker-skinned men released a warrior’s cry. It was a sound that he had never heard before.
The men rushed toward the wall. Arrows were loosed, and a crack of a whip filled the air. The noise drew Nobody’s attention to the men on the wall. They were holding strange weapons. Smoke billowed from the ends of the weapons as they bent to fill the shafts once more. One of the weapons hit a man squarely in the chest, cutting his war cry short, and he crumpled in a heap.
Nobody could feel the hair prickle up on his arms as he scanned the moonlit forest. Movement caught his eye as a shadow slithered through the trees toward him. Sidestepping the shadow as it rushed toward the fallen man, Nobody saw something pale and white began to leave the body of the fallen warrior. It took him a moment to realize that it was likely the man’s soul. Just as it began to ascend, the shadow swarmed around it.
In that instant, an otherworldly shrill cry pierced the night, forcing Nobody to cover his ears. He grimaced at the sound but noticed that no one else was affected by it. The soul fought back, and Nobody took a step toward them, but to his horror the shadow pulled pieces of the man’s soul apart. Once broken, the soul became a part of the darkness, and the shadow creature seemed to grow.
When an arrow struck home and a man in armor fell from the wall, the thing darted off in the direction of the fallen soldier. Unwilling to witness it consume a second soul, Nobody rushed toward the wall. The cracking whip sound from the strange weapons and the war cries of the painted men continued to fill the night air.
Another eerie cry filled the air as he put his hands around the wooden fence. Nobody scaled the settlement’s barrier with ease, as though he had done it hundreds of times instead of just a handful. When he was over the side, he rushed toward the pitch they used to fix broken roofs.
Without hesitation, he dipped both of his hands into the bucket. When he extracted them, the sticky blackness came with him. Most of it was falling through his hands—as though he was solid but not solid enough. He hardly made it two steps before the tar fell completely to the ground in two globs. Frowning, he tried again and only made it a little further. With a frustrated exclamation, he took only one hand full out and put his other hand below it. He made it halfway before a vicious cry stopped him in his tracks. Three souls had been lost now. If he had his way, there would be no others.
Continually moving one hand to catch the goop, he made it up the stairs to above the wall. He leaned over the side and wrote on the wooden fence. Nobody grimaced when he heard another warrior’s exclamation cut short. He knew what came next. His hands hardly scraped against the hastily bucked trees, but the tar stuck. He pushed it into submission before he was satisfied that all nine letters were readable. He resisted the urge to cover his ears as he stumbled away from the sound of another soul being eaten and toward a waiting torch.
Unlike the tar, the wood was solid, and although it took all his concentration and both hands, he was able to carry it. He nearly lost it once or twice, but both times he was able to pull it against his body. He felt the heat and the fire singed his hair, but he made it. When the tar lit up, men within the wall started yelling that there was a fire. The men on the other side, however, saw the word. The blind wish to kill was overridden by a greater fear. Apparently they knew what it meant—they understood enough, at least, to run away. The men bringing buckets of water to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the fence stared at them, confused.
It wasn’t until the next morning, when the singed wood no longer smoldered and the people within the walls felt safe enough in the morning light to venture past the safety of their wall, that they saw the hastily written words now burned into the fence. The men shrunk from it, and the boys who heard the word cried.
Nobody had written only two words, but he’d known it would be enough. Something told him they could read enough to fear it. Nine letters made the men grimace in terror: Soul Eater.
Chapter 27: Nowhere
Elisabeth groaned at the strange pressure on her head. She went to push herself up, but her hands sunk into the floor. With a gasp she extracted them, only to see a gray translucent floor that led to boundless blackness below. Searching the room without moving her body, she tried to get her bearings. All around her were gates shimmering images, everything from snow to deserts to the lushest green. Beyond the gates, the floor continued to extend into darkness.
Her eyes instantly shot to Nanette’s hands, where the watch was loosely curled in her fingers. Reaching up slowly, Elisabeth curled her fingers under the watch, and instantly the room solidified. The gates became clearer, and the floor was no longer thick goo. It was still an endless abyss above them, however, even with the watch. Apparently they both had to be touching the watch for the room to be clear.
“Nanette,” Elisabeth said, ignoring the continued ache in her head, “wake up.”
Elisabeth jostled her hand but held tight when Nanette tried to pull away. Her eyes shot open and instantly focused on Elisabeth’s face. Fear seemed to be replaced with apprehension. Her mouth opened with what looked like awe.
“Where are we?” she whispered.
“Nowhere,” Elisabeth responded. “You fell through the gate. Remember?”
Nanette instantly sat up. “Ethan!”
“Don’t move so fast.” Elisabeth tightened her hold on Nanette’s petite hand and the only thing that kept them tethered to the room. “We both need to be touching the watch.”
Dazed confusion filled her friend’s expression and a frown creased her face. “Why?” she finally asked.
“Because this room only exists for those who are touching it,” Elisabeth warned as Nanette inhaled sharply. Apparently Elisabeth didn’t need to explain what waited for them.
Cautiously they struggled to their feet while being extra careful to keep the watch between them. Once they were upright, they scanned their strange surroundings. Hundreds of gates stood open to them. Turning back, she could see the sands and the reddish hue of the Netherworld. Elisabeth jumped when she saw Ethan yelling from the other side of the nearest gate. When Nanette gave her a confused glance, Elisabeth tugged on her hand and pointed.
She seemed to come to her senses sluggishly. “Ethan.”
Elisabeth followed as Nanette went toward him. “I can’t let you go back,” Elisabeth said as Nanette reached the gate.
“I can’t leave him,” Nanette whispered.
“You can, and you will. He is a Det Morian prince. They won’t do anything to him, and they are more concerned with us. He would not want you to return to danger,” Elisabeth insisted as soldiers of the Wild Hunt seized him and forced him away, “where I cannot protect you.”
Tears brimmed in Nanette’s eyes. “How can you be sure?” Her voice broke slightly.
“Because he loves
you,” Elisabeth told her gently.
Nanette wiped her tears from her cheeks. When she faced Elisabeth, there was determination in her eyes. “I have to go back. I have to save him because I love him, too.”
She went to take a step forward, but Elisabeth caught her upper arm with her free hand. “Nanette. I need you more than he needs you.”
Nanette froze. Elisabeth hated to say it, knowing that it would tear her friend in two, but she knew for a fact that Ethan couldn’t protect Nanette. As long as Arawn stood on the other side of that gate, no one was safe. Elisabeth couldn’t let Nanette walk through the gate without being certain that she would survive the experience.
“He’ll be fine,” Elisabeth said again, trying to reassure her.
When Arawn suddenly appeared in front of them, they both stiffened. Her fear, even though they were safely on the other side of the gate, was immediate, and she resisted the urge to take a step back. His presence was enough to quell whatever protest Nanette had been about to make.
“I feel like he can see me,” Nanette whispered, as though he might hear her, too.
“He can’t.” Elisabeth wasn’t actually sure about that but wasn’t about to admit it. There was a reason Arawn was almost as feared as King Nauberon. “Don’t worry, we’ll get Ethandirill back.”
“After we get Ki,” Nanette said. Elisabeth was somehow startled to hear his name in the silence of that place.
Elisabeth’s chest felt tight as she hauled Nanette into a hug. Of all the people she wanted at her side to face the unknown, Nanette was right at the top of her list. There was nothing quite like a friend who felt more and more like a sister. The only difference was that Nanette was family she’d chosen. Elisabeth quickly gathered her wits. She patted Nanette’s arm awkwardly, and Nanette smiled with understanding.
Elisabeth nodded. “After we get Ki.”
Nanette turned, careful to keep the watch between them as Elisabeth continued to hold their hands. The shorter woman surveyed the many gateways. Elisabeth’s gaze fell on them as well. What exactly were they looking for?