“He’s not a daemon,” I told Mawlik.
He leaned his head back, then scrunched his brow into a questioning look.
I saw the boy’s eyes flicker toward us. He moved them back to the valley, barely turning his head in the process. I couldn’t immediately tell what it was, but his eyes were odd. Whenever they looked toward us, and then back away, something happened to their colors under the light.
“It is weird for just a boy to be here by himself,” Elsa said. “Or really, anyone. I would have thought it more normal if we saw a…” She looked around, searching for the right words. “A giant… white… hairless werewolf here,” she finally said, looking surprised at the effort it took.
“Even stranger that he doesn’t seem bothered by anything,” Jahlil added, pointing to the boy. “Not exactly a common pastime, to be sitting in the middle of the Dwah Forest during a blue moon. Doing nothing. At the very least, he should be feeling out of place. Trying to get out of here or calling for help.”
“Let me go first,” Nikhil said, stepping in front of me. “Just in case. Dina, stay here.”
I held a hand out. “It’s the Vannadray boy,” I said, looking at Elsa. “He’s not a daemon. You said my Taa saved him last night?” I turned to the other three. “His name is Avisynth.”
Nikhil and Mawlik looked at me doubtfully. Jahlil shrugged, then made a motion like he were presenting the boy to me.
“Dina, you know best,” Jahlil said.
Elsa squinted her eyes at the boy. “Are you positive?” she asked, taking a few steps toward him to get a better look. “It doesn’t really look like him.” She craned her neck forward. “But I also can’t see well in the dark.”
The boy’s eyes flickered toward us again but he continued to sit motionlessly.
“I’m positive,” I said. “It’s him.”
“Be careful,” Jahlil said. “Maybe someone brought him here like your sisters. Remember, it looked like they were going of their own will to the forest when we saw them. And the way they moved. It didn’t look normal.” He turned to Elsa, who nodded thoughtfully.
“Maybe,” I said. “Don’t follow me until I tell you to. It might scare him off if we all go together. I need to see if he knows where my sisters are. We can’t risk him running off or falling down the hill.” I pointed ahead of them. “Keep going. I’ll figure out what to do after we see what’s happening down there. Keep your heads low, and don’t do anything that might bring attention to us.”
“Dina, be careful,” Nikhil said. “The boy comes from a family that was harboring vampires. He could be one himself. It’s not safe.”
“I doubt that,” I replied. “I’ve seen him out in the sun.”
“Half-vampire,” Mawlik said. “Feratu. They look identical to humans, but they’re even worse than regular vampires. Trust me, Dina, I have a feeling for these things. Just like you can… well, you know.” He waved his hands around us, pointing to nothing in particular. “Tell things about things. The way you know things.”
“Yes Mawlik, we’re quite familiar with the sharpness of your instincts,” I replied. “You spent part of the day before a blue moon voluntarily feeding a vampire.”
“Slight miscalculation,” Mawlik muttered, looking away.
“We’ll follow behind you in a few minutes,” Nikhil said. He gripped my hand tightly before I left. “We’re right behind you. Say if you need anything.” He watched me carefully as I moved toward the boy.
I kept my hands out and open so he could see I had nothing in them. It didn’t look like it would have made a difference. He didn’t react to my coming, or even turn to look at me when I sat next to him.
CHAPTER 8
The scene beyond the hill caught my attention before I could say anything to the boy.
There were twelve creatures circling a fire, and a much larger creature asleep in the center of them, right in front of the flames. Each looked like they were half-man and half-animal. They were all disfigured, but not in the way of an accident or an amputation. One had a single arm that slid around the floor like a snake—as thick as a tree branch and twice as long as his body. There were pins stuck all over the arm, and fragments of arrowheads and daggers, like someone had tried to tame it by poking holes into its skin. Another had a second small head sticking out of his shoulder and three legs, each one ending in dark hooves rather than feet. Another rolled on the floor with no legs at all, but with eight hands that stretched out from a wide, oval stomach, clutching at anything they could grab on the floor. Each of the men held a different instrument. Some held more than one, and despite their movements, which seemed erratic and uncontrolled, they each kept their rhythms in perfect harmony with one another. Some wore animal masks over their faces, pulled straight out of carcasses with blood still dripping on the backside. Others wore nothing, and their faces looked almost normal except for slight abnormalities you could catch when the light of the moon or the fire hit them. Eyes that were disproportional, or ears that drooped so low they looked ready to melt off the sides of their faces.
The fire in the center shrieked and swayed along with them, just as alive as each of its worshippers. A face would appear inside of it, then vanish, then appear again. It whistled and yelled into the air with a voice as high as a flute’s, but with the strength of a drum. The trees all around the valley moved as well, but in the manner of an illusion. If you looked at them, they appeared to stand still, but if you looked away, you could see them move in your peripherals. When you looked back, they were always standing differently, sometimes reappearing in an entirely different spot. The gaps in the center of their trunks looked like mouths from a distance, with pieces of wood sticking out for teeth. Animals fell from their branches and then disappeared in the tangle of their roots, leaving behind only spots of hair and mingled bones.
All the while, the creature in front of the fire slept, or was dead. This one wasn’t anything like a man at all, though it had a face. It had four long legs. If it had stood up, it would’ve been as tall as four men standing on top of one another. Its legs were wooden and sculpted like totem poles, with different faces on each one. They led to a round body with a face plastered right in the center, looking out of place without a real head. I couldn’t tell much about the face, but it didn’t look to be made of flesh. It glossed in the dark like wet clay, and under the blue moon it was the color of pearls and faded chalk. Thick lips stuck out from what looked like a wiry, loose tongue. Stringy and curled, like a candlewick. The men howled and cried at the creature and the fire, playing bone and wooden instruments as perfectly as a practiced orchestra, but moving about like caged daemons.
“Ahh, excellent,” I said, coming to sit next to the boy but not facing him. I kept my eyes on the valley. “A free concert, then?”
He said nothing.
I swayed to the music, bobbing my head to the shrieks coming out of the fire. A glance over my shoulder showed me Elsa, Nikhil, Jahlil, and Mawlik watching along with distracted expressions, unsure if they should follow yet or not. Their eyes alternated between the valley and me. Elsa pointed to the ritual and jerked her head forward, trying to ask if I was seeing what she was seeing. I nodded slowly, then held a finger up to tell them to wait a bit longer before coming over.
“You come here often?” I asked. “The music is okay. I don’t know about the ambiance though.” I made a show of looking around the valley. “A bit peculiar, you know?”
The moon beamed, the fire screamed, and the men played toward a crescendo.
Still, the boy said nothing.
“You know the band?” I asked, pointing to the ritual. “This is my first time here. Pretty good song. Never heard of them.”
The boy coughed. I could tell he had been trying to hold it in. It came out like a choking sound, something between a sneeze and a gasp. He was listening to me, even if he wasn’t replying. His eyes were distant and dazed, but still conscious. He looked like he was recovering from shock. It wasn’t a surprise
, given what had happened the night before, but I wasn’t certain how deeply he was spaced out.
“I’m sorry, my grandmother often tells me I try to be funny when I shouldn’t,” I said, speaking louder now. “You’re Avisynth? From the Vannadray family. Are you all right? I don’t think it’s safe here.”
His eyes regarded me for only a moment. It was long enough to see what was odd about them. They were a deep violet when he looked directly at me, but they changed color under different lights and angles. They were a dark grey under the light of the moon, a light blue in the light of the fire, and sometimes even flashed amber or a vivid red. The other colors lasted for only a few split seconds, and I could barely catch the changes unless I was looking out for them. Otherwise, it just seemed like his eyes were flickering oddly in the light.
He was fair skinned like a Xenashi, but not pale. Compared to the cinnamon color most Chayan people had, I imagined he would still look out of place here. His hair was soaked in rain and soot. His face looked equally dirty, but with streaks of clear skin where he had wiped at it. He looked like he had been crying for a long time, but had stopped just recently. He was young, but he didn’t have a boyish face. It’s not that he looked older than he was, just more resolute and sedated than someone his age should be. I’m sure what had happened to his family was playing a part in his expression, but I also had the feeling that he looked like a less severe version of this on a regular basis. His teeth weren’t oversized fangs like a vampire’s, but they were sharper than usual, like a dog’s or a wolf’s. Like his eyes, you wouldn’t notice the difference unless you were looking for it. He was my age, give or take a year.
“Your grandmother saved me,” he said. He spoke in a plain tone, as though he was just realizing the fact for himself now, and wanted me to know as well. He quickly turned back away.
“Taa?” I asked, in surprise. “Is she down there?” I held my lips with a finger, feeling like I had spoken too quickly. Taa and Mother had taught me how to talk to people in shock. You had to let them speak on their own, not try and pull information out of them, even if it was important. It was a lot like speaking to people in the Royal Court. You had to get answers slowly. Coax them from indirect conversation, mannerisms, and gestures.
He waited several seconds, then gave a single, deliberate nod. He pulled his legs up from the hill, but continued watching the ritual with keen eyes.
“Dina, is everything all right?” Elsa asked. The other four of them were stepping closer to us two. I watched the boy, making sure he wasn’t afraid of them approaching. He wasn’t. He continued to sit there impassively, giving no indication he noticed anyone else.
“You—you’re the Vannadray boy?” Nikhil asked. He hesitated, stepped forward, then continued, “your family protects vampires?”
The boy turned to him—suddenly serious looking and coldly sober. He said nothing, and then turned back to the fire. The quickness of the gesture had added tension to the air without a word in between.
I shook my head at Nikhil, then held a finger to my mouth for the rest of them.
“Are my sisters here?” I asked Avisynth. “Did you see two girls? One eight, the other nine. I’m looking for them. If there’s anything you could tell me.” I bit my lip. I have to get better at this, I thought. My voice was shaking. My hands were clenched. Taa had taught me well, but it didn’t matter if I didn’t use her lessons.
Avisynth shrugged, then pointed to the opposite side of the hill. There was a cave there. A doorway carved into a boulder that looked like it led underground. The floor in front of it was jagged and broken, with sharp green crystals that stuck out from pebbles like chunks of broken glass. Alchemical lights were coming from inside the cave, glowing dark hues like colorful shadows. There weren’t any traces of clear footsteps, but there was a flattened path that looked like it had been walked just recently. Bats hung from the mouth of the cavern, and the sides were filled with clumps of moths. A single effrit worm lay lifeless near the entrance. Only the bare outline of its body was visible under the glint of the crystals. It was a squat and heavy looking worm with a brown fur carapace you could’ve mistaken for the tail of a beaver.
Mawlik and Jahlil came to sit next to me. Elsa and Nikhil sat behind.
Mawlik studied the ceremony with weary eyes. “Shit, Dina, they’re worshipping Satan himself,” he said, pointing to the men in the valley.
“You don’t know that for certain,” I replied. “Don’t jump to conclusions.”
“SATAN-SATAN-SATAN!” the men bellowed.
“Okay, you might be right,” I said, nodding my head eagerly.
The men were all between six and eight feet tall. The hunched over ones could have been bigger. They weren’t muscular, but their flesh swelled from their bodies like chunks of inflated meat. The flame in the center screamed into the night, making the five of us jump back. Its tips were scarlet red, and its body moved fluidly without flickering. It had no distinct shape, first curving thinly through the air like an eel, and then erupting into a twisted, tapered stiletto like the tail of scorpion. As the chanting grew louder, it began speaking to the people around it. I couldn’t understand its words, but the language sounded familiar. The guttural accents, the coarse and exaggerated tones of every word. The voice was muffled by the spewing of flames around it, but the sounds were clear enough to make out.
“Dina, your sisters are in that cave,” Nikhil said. He sniffed the air, bending over the hill. “I’m certain of it. Their scent is coming from down below. The other side.”
“I think you’re right,” I said. “That’s what Avisynth just said.” I glanced to see if he would react to his name, but he didn’t.
“We’re not getting through twelve half-men, half-daemons,” Mawlik said. “I think those are ghouls in the making.”
“Dina already has a plan,” Elsa said, holding her chin up. “Right?”
I nodded. “It’s coming together. Few more seconds.” I glanced at the items Mawlik was carrying.
“Let’s not rush into anything,” Nikhil said. “It will be dangerous, whatever we choose to do. I can fight one of them with my sword, but not even the biggest one. What about the other eleven?” He gave Mawlik and Jahlil a speculative glance, then turned to me, shaking his head in warning.
“Don’t worry,” I said, flexing my fingers. “I’ve got it. It’ll be easy getting past them. Or at least figuring out where they’re keeping my sisters.”
“Is this going to get us killed?” Mawlik asked, with an expression that looked more frustrated than frightened. It was true that my schemes didn’t always go according to plan, but to be fair, I always made them far more elaborate than they needed to be. This time it was different. My sisters were in danger, and I wouldn’t do anything risky unless I thought it could save them.
“They’re going to kill you,” Avisynth said, without looking at us.
Elsa and Mawlik moved back, caught off-guard by his voice.
“If you go down there, they’re going to kill you,” Avisynth continued. “Those are daemons, not men. Daemons in the bodies of men, waiting for the moon and their master to come out.” His voice sounded detached. Not in shock, but rather, thoughtless and casual.
The movements of the men made sense now. They walked and rolled awkwardly, like they weren’t used to their bodies. Their skin had long lines of stitches, like their limbs and organs had been sewn together piece by piece. Thick bars of thread and loose string ran across their arms and legs like laced wool. Needles hung out from the ends of detached lumps of skin, sticking out of open wounds and scrapes.
“You see, Dina?” Mawlik said. He turned to Jahlil and Elsa, shaking his head. “The boy has more sense than a Chaya princess. He understands the danger of going down there. How will she be queen, sending people off to dancing daemons to die?” He pointed angrily at the valley below. “Imagine the shame at our funerals. Here lies Nikhil Huq, who passed from defending our great kingdom from the clutches of an undead
flute player.”
“Wherever she sends us, we go,” Nikhil said in a hard voice. “No matter what’s there.” He pointed to the caverns opposite the men. “Her sisters are the jewels of Chaya, and if we have to die trying to save them, so be it.”
“I’m with you for whatever you do,” Jahlil said. “What is the plan, Dina?”
Elsa looked tense, but nodded in agreement.
“Do you still have the rope?” I asked Mawlik, ignoring his protests. “It might come in handy after all.”
Mawlik groaned but passed it over. I tied Elsa, Nikhil, Mawlik, and Jahlil together with the rope. It was a false knot. They could escape easily, but it looked real enough. I held a finger to my mouth whenever they asked what I was doing.
I explained their parts in my plan once I was done.
***
We walked down the hill together, leaving Avisynth in place. The four of them ran awkwardly, tripping several times over each other’s feet as they tried to move in a synchronized pace. Mawlik swore under his breath the whole time while Nikhil, Jahlil, and Elsa did their best to look scared. It wasn’t difficult—I’m sure they were frightened enough of the half-men, but I needed them to hold exaggerated expressions if this was going to work. I hadn’t given them details, but I told them if they acted their parts well, it would be simple to get past the daemons. And if not, we’d have to use the banefire to try and find a way to escape. I kept an eye on Avisynth as we went.
There was, of course, no real plan B, but that only added to the thrill of plan A. And anyway, we weren’t going to run. I wasn’t going back to Chaya without my sisters.
We made our way to the ritual. Nikhil, Elsa, Mawlik, and Jahlil dropped to the floor like I had told them to, whimpering and moaning quietly. I walked slowly to the center of the ceremony, as casually as I could, acting as though I didn’t notice the fire until it was right next to me. One of the half-men turned to me. He stared, first in confusion, then in disbelief. Then another turned, and then another. One by one they each stopped playing their instrument until there was no music at all. The face in the fire flashed alive for a second, then disappeared. The flames shrunk. A perfect stillness started to come about, the kind that made it awkward to breathe, or even blink. I said nothing, regarding the daemons one by one like I was sizing them up. The blue moon peeked out from a cloud, shining in the space right in front of me. It was the most luck I could have asked for.
Vermilion Dreams (Book One of A Vampire Fantasy Epic) Page 10