“But you got out?” Florian asked.
“Yes. I don’t know why. After they…they took him, the doors opened and we were allowed to leave. Shireen wanted to go back in, to try to rescue Thaddeus, but there were so many of them. We needed to warn you.”
“You did the right thing,” Jediah said.
“Yes.” Florian moved to the side board where he poured himself a cup of wine. “Yet, it seems that every time my house interacts with yours, Jediah, I lose someone dear to me.”
Shireen saw the quick grimace of pain that crossed Jediah’s face before he turned to Florian.
“Don’t cheapen his sacrifice, Florian,” he said. “Thaddeus saved them. If they had the ability, they would have done the same for him.”
“We still can!” Shireen leapt to her feet. “Gather your houses! Both of you. Bring every warrior, mage and priest that you have and we’ll get him. We’ll storm Rustling Elms, burn it to the ground if we must and save him.”
Florian looked at her over the rim of his cup, and then shifted his eyes to Jediah. Shireen saw the sadness in them.
“It wouldn’t work, would it?” he asked quietly.
“No,” Jediah answered. “Not if there are that many. All of our forces together wouldn’t be enough. This settles it. We need to go see Jamshir.”
Florian nodded and set his cup down. “Then let us go. Before other Houses meet the same fate.”
CHAPTER 26
The plan terrified Lacy. It was a good one, or at least she hoped it was, but her part in it scared her to death. Solomon would be facing the real danger, of course. She couldn’t imagine him having it any other way, but still, she’d be there, and so would…that thing, the Soul Gaunt.
But, if it went well, the thing would be dead, and she’d have Luke back. For better or worse, he’d be back. And even if they didn’t work out, even if Luke’s demons were too great to be beaten, at least he’d be freed from whatever was holding him to that thing.
“Are you ready?” Solomon came across the yard to the deck. He had been at the edge of the woods, finishing a part of the trap that he had set up. It still amazed Lacy that someone from an entirely different world would have any idea how to do the things he had done, and yet, he had. At least, it looked like he had, tonight would be the true test.
“You know what to do, right?”
Lacy nodded, her eyes already scanning the darkening woods, looking for any sign of Luke, but so far, she had seen nothing.
“Lacy,” Solomon’s voice was calm, yet serious. “Listen to me. It’s imperative that you stick to the plan. Even if you think it’s going to hurt me, you can’t worry about that. You have to go through with it. If not, I don’t think it will work, and both you and Luke will be in terrible danger.”
“I know,” she replied. “I’ll do it, don’t worry.”
“Good. I know you will. But listen, we haven’t talked about what happens if the plan fails.”
“It won’t.” Lacy was glad to hear that her own voice sounded steady and determined to her, rather than wavering and cracking with the fear she actually felt.
“I hope not, but there is always the possibility. If it does, you run, understand? You can’t face the Soul Gaunt alone. You run to your car and get out of here, as fast as you can, and you don’t come back.”
She looked at Solomon and nodded. Honestly, she didn’t think he had to tell her to run if the Soul Gaunt got the better of him. She didn’t think she’d be able to stop herself.
“I’m going in. You stay here, hand on the switch. You know what to do after that.”
He hugged her quickly, and then was gone, running into the gloomy woods as if he was heading out for an evening jog. She shivered as she watched him go, then took her place and settled down to wait, her eyes tracing all the electrical lines that now ran across her backyard.
The sun set, and the moon began to rise. It was close to full tonight and cast enough light for her to see across the yard without too much difficulty. But the woods were still in deep shadow, the leaves on the trees blocking the moonlight every bit as effectively as they blocked sunlight during the day. Anything could be moving in there, especially anything that happened to look like living pieces of darkness itself. The Soul Gaunt could be right there, right on the edge of the woods, watching her, waiting to flow across the yard, seize her and freeze her again. Maybe this time it wouldn’t stop with her arm, or when she passed out. This time, it would do to her what it had done to Ed.
“Stop it,” she told herself, and drew a deep breath. The night air was warm, almost a little muggy, but in spite of that, she shivered.
She couldn’t stop from straining her ears, trying to hear if there was the noise of someone running through the woods, crashing through the undergrowth and snapping twigs underfoot. Or worse, the sound of a scream, or a moan of someone in pain. Or even worse yet, the sound of a cold, dry chuckle. But there were only the normal night noises of insects humming against the outside light near the back door, and the occasional hoot of an owl.
The night passed slowly. Two hours went by, then another. Still there were no noises from the woods, and no patch of darkness detached itself and came across the lawn at her. No matter how she stared, or what she thought she saw at first. It was early morning now, and by all rights, she should be exhausted, but she remained alert. If there was one thing the pain and fear that remained from her encounter with the Soul Gaunt had done, it was to keep her focused.
Then, faintly, she heard noises. Was it?
Yes, the sound of footsteps, running in the woods. Heavy, but moving quickly. There was no indication that whoever was coming was trying to be quiet, or to hide in any way.
A moment later, Solomon burst from the forest, running full out toward her. Over his shoulder he carried a motionless body, clothed in dirty rags.
“Luke,” she breathed. He had done it. Somehow, Solomon had gone into the woods, found him, and pulled Luke out of there.
He panted to a halt in front of her, and dropped Luke to the ground, none too gently. Lacy looked at Solomon and saw that not only was he breathing heavily from his labors, but his left arm was covered in blood and hung at an odd angle.
“You’re hurt!”
“I’m okay. It’s a little sore, but I avoided the worst of it. Hold on to him, Lacy, and remember the plan!”
With that, he was gone again, running back across the lawn and into the woods. For a moment, she could hear him crashing through again, but then the noise of his progress disappeared and the night was silent once more.
Only this time, it was really silent, more so than any normal night had any business being. The bugs were no longer bumping into the light, there were no sounds coming from the forest. And it wasn’t as muggy, or as warm. Instead, the temperature was starting to drop quickly.
Lacy’s breath steamed in the air, and she realized that she was breathing heavily too, as if she had been the one to carry Luke out of the forest. But it wasn’t exertion that was causing it, it was the feeling of dread, of helplessness, that was creeping in on her.
She looked around her, found the switch that she was supposed to throw when the Soul Gaunt got close. Her hand moved toward it. If she threw it now, she’d be able to see better, and she and Luke would be safe, or at least safer. They could probably make it to the morning. Solomon could run here too then, right?
Her hand inched closer, but with an effort of will, she dragged it back.
“No, dammit! There’s a plan. We stick to it.”
“Huuunnnhh….whaaa?” Luke mumbled from the ground at her feet.
“Stay still, Luke,” she didn’t look down at him. The Soul Gaunt was not going to frighten her into ruining the plan. It would regret coming here and messing with her and hers. Her determination helped her to steady herself, and she stayed attentive, peering into the darkness of the woods.
Then, a small segment of that darkness detached, and moved across her lawn. It came in a steady, flowi
ng motion, as if it were floating slightly above the ground rather than walking upon it. It took its time too, allowing the dread around her to intensify.
She was panting, and Luke was starting to stir more loudly now, his limbs twitching and moans escaping from him. She squatted down, her one hand on top of the switch that Solomon had put on a stake that he had driven into the ground, and the other touching Luke’s shoulder. Her gaze never left the patch of blackness that came toward her.
“Come on, you sunofabitch,” she whispered, using the epitaph as her own encouragement.
The Soul Gaunt’s eyes flared, the sickly green color appearing near the top of the shapeless form. It hissed, and then that dry, cold chuckle issued from it.
“The Folk ran away,” it said, and Lacy shivered to hear the things voice. Hearing it made it feel as if spiders were running up and down her spine and into her hair. It was every vile and unclean thing in the world, come to life and approaching her. “He left you. Now you’re mine, and I’ll have you in front of my slave. Your fear and his anguish will be my fodder.”
“Then come and get it,” Lacy said, her voice cracking in spite of her best effort to sound strong.
The thing chuckled again and came on in a rush. It moved much faster than she had been expecting, and it almost made it to her. Her hand slid down the face of the switch, flipping it. Solomon had been smart, and installed it upside down, so that by simply slapping it, she was able to activate the lights.
All of them. Solomon had wired lights around the edge of the woods, shining in toward the yard. They were large, ultra-bright security lights and they flooded her yard with a brilliance that made her squint. She lost sight of the Soul Gaunt and everything else for a moment, but was rewarded with a loud hiss that she knew came from the creature.
She shielded her eyes and looked again. The Soul Gaunt was spinning in place, desperately looking for a way to escape the light. It was hissing like a tea kettle about to boil, it’s bone white hands thrown up in front of its face, as it moved across the yard, trying one direction and then another to escape the glare.
In the light, Lacy could see that what was formless in the darkness was a dirty, stained, black cloak. It was ragged and hung in tatters at the edges, and yet there seemed to be no end to it. Layer upon layer were draped over the thing, so that no matter how it spun or whirled, all that was revealed was more of the dark material. It had a deep hood that even the security lights couldn’t penetrate, and except for those clawed, white hands, there was no sign of any other human-like limb. It did float too, as it appeared to in the darkness, the ragged cloak staying a few inches from the ground with no sign of support.
But the hisses were becoming quieter and the spinning was slowing down. The hands stayed up in front of the hood, but now, in between bouts of hissing and spitting, the chuckle was starting to emerge again.
“Silly,” it said, finally coming to rest, facing Lacy and Luke. “Light hurts us, yes, but only an inconvenience. I’ll take your eyes, then destroy your cursed lights, and let you languish in my darkness for an eternity.”
Now would be a good time for Solomon to show back up, Lacy thought. But there was no sign of him as the Soul Gaunt resumed its advance toward her.
CHAPTER 27
Everything was darkness, fear, and pain. There was nothing else in the world.
At first, the pain had been where they grabbed him, their icy touch freezing the flesh beneath his clothes. He had known what he was doing when he gave the rest of his strength to get his friends to the door, but he had expected the soldiers of Towering Oaks to be able to keep him safe. That’s what they did, right?
But they had failed him, and let him be taken. The Soul Gaunts had grabbed him, their touch freezing his skin, and pulled him away. The last time he had seen light had been when the door had opened, and Shireen and Orlando had fled, leaving him to his fate. The scream that escaped from him then had been half at that, and half at a new stab of pain, as yet another Soul Gaunt grabbed him, pulling him deeper into the tree.
Finally, they had pulled him back up the stairs and into the room where the three of them had first encountered the Gaunts. They threw him down on the floor in front of the man crucified on the wall and left him. For a moment, he thought that they were going to leave him be, to allow him to leave as they had the other two, but no. Instead, they were toying with him. If he tried to stand, to leave, one of them would come flowing back out of the darkness, grab his arm and force him back to the ground, its touch burning him anew.
He couldn’t see, everything in the room was pitch dark, but he knew where he was none-the-less. They had made sure that his hand brushed against the man on the wall before leaving him. Now, he peered into the darkness, trying in vain to see, or hear, anything, but everything in the darkened tree was still and silent.
He scooted around, moving so that his back was against the wall. He shifted to the side to avoid the dead man’s foot and the pile of entrails below. He shuddered, aware that his fate was probably the same as this poor fellow.
But no Soul Gaunts came for him. Instead, he sat for what felt like hours, starting at every little sound. He was sure that they were playing games with him, creeping near and allowing the slightest noise to escape them, just to watch him grow more and more frightened. Well, if that was their game, it was going to backfire. You could only be so scared, then your mind started to fight back. Thaddeus’s mind was well trained, too. He was used to thinking in certain ways to get magic to work, or to interpret information coming into House Whispering Pines.
Conserving his strength was the key, so he stopped listening for every little noise, stopped trying to get some advance notice of when they would return. As long as he sat quietly, they seemed content to leave him alone, so that was what he did. Instead of dreading their return, he began to think of ways that he would pay back Shireen and Orlando if he was ever able to get out of here.
The dread that permeated the air inside the tree dropped off some, and the temperature warmed. Not as much as it should have, and the atmosphere was still oppressive, but better than it had been. To Thaddeus, that meant that the Soul Gaunts had pulled away, and were no longer in the room with him. Interesting that one of their most potent weapons could also be used to tell how close they were. That was news that he would pass on to Florian.
He realized that he was now thinking in terms of “when” he would escape, rather than “if”. There was no delusion on his part that he was still being watched, but he was beginning to think that this was part of their game. Cause him terror, then allow him to run home and spread it around, soften up his own people for when the Soul Gaunts attacked. They’d find tougher going if they came to Whispering Pines. His was one of the great houses, not a minor one like Rustling Elms had been.
At the moment though, no plan for escape came to him, so he sat and stared into the darkness, wishing for another stone to light the way with, or even a simple lantern. But even if he had a stone, there was no way that he had the strength to cause it to glow again. Even now, it was all he could do, in spite of his dire situation, to keep his eyes open.
He didn’t know how long he dozed off for, but he woke shivering. The cold was back, and with it, that almost overwhelming sense of dread. Thaddeus shifted back against the wall, pressing into it, eyes bulging as he looked into the darkness. They were back.
He could feel them, coming close to him and then flitting away. Every now and then, a frigid, sharp finger would touch him and the cold would cut into him. Yes, they were playing with him, but knowing that didn’t make it any better, and a quiet sob hitched in his throat.
They laughed at that. The cold, dry chuckle sounding from all over the large room. From the sound of it, there were several Soul Gaunts here. Enough to destroy all of the Greenweald, he was sure.
“What do you want?” he said, his voice cracking. It sounded loud in the darkness.
“What we have,” a voice whispered back. “Your fear. You
r anguish.”
Thaddeus sobbed again, but inside, a fire was starting to rage. He may not have slept for long, but it had been enough to allow him to recover a little of his strength. Not a lot, but some. Maybe enough to hurt one of them, anyway.
“Stay away from me!” he said, purposely sounding more desperate than he felt. His fingers worked the hem of his shirt, trying to find a loose thread. He didn’t need much.
“We’ll have it all, soon…”
Ah. There. A small tail of thread hanging loose.
“You’ll have nothing from me! I’ll die first!”
“You will. You will die. When we’ve had enough of you.”
A little more thread came loose. Now, he had a piece about an inch long. Not quite enough, he needed a little more. He tugged harder, but the thread stopped. If he pulled harder, he was sure it would snap, maybe leaving him with much less than what he had now.
“My friends will come back for me!”
They chuckled again at that, and Thaddeus felt sick at saying it. Friends? Friends wouldn’t have left him here like this. But it had been something to say. The Soul Gaunts seemed to be enjoying his false bravado. Fine, let them.
His fingers kept working at the thread, and finally, a little more came free, about twice the length that he had had. Enough. He grabbed it at the base and gave a sharp yank, tearing it free. Good! More came out with that final pull. He rolled it between his fingers, mashing it up into a tangled ball.
Now was the hard part. He couldn’t start to chant the spell, they would know it for what it was right away. He had to do it silently. It wasn’t impossible, but much harder, and he would need to concentrate. If they would only leave him alone for a few minutes.
He put his hands over his face, the little tangle of thread between two fingers and pretended to sob. “Leave me be,” he moaned, and collapsed onto his side, hoping that they would have had enough of their game for a few seconds.
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