That was fine. There was no real need for more words as we reached the far end of the chamber and entered another narrow tunnel. This one I remembered well. Where there were dozens, maybe hundreds, along the outer wall, there were only a small handful on this end.
And they all led to the cavern that would either prove to be our salvation or final resting place: The Source chamber.
CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND
Stepping from the tunnel into the vast chamber beyond was like falling into a nightmare from the past.
When last I’d been here, I’d been lucky to make it out. Not all of my friends had been so fortunate, including the one who was hopefully still hidden by the rocky floor beneath our feet.
As we emerged, I half expected to see the grinning stalagmite teeth and jack-o-lantern eyes of the Jahabich waiting for me, knowing if that happened I’d have likely screamed like a little bitch and shit myself.
Thankfully, my companions were spared that display of raw manliness.
I blinked and the past retreated into the far corners of my memory where it belonged, allowing me to behold what had become of this place.
Missing, thank goodness, was the perpetual blood-red twilight The Source had once cast upon this cavern, aglow for time immemorial ... at least until I’d come along. What can I say? I used to have a nasty tendency for fucking things up.
The Source had once lay at the far end of this cavern. Now it was merely a massive depression in the ground – an empty lakebed – the earth beneath it cracked and dry.
However, this place wasn’t as devoid of power as I’d thought. Above us, scattered throughout the ceiling, twinkling lights could be seen – crystals or bioluminescent lichen maybe. Those lights had been in the process of dying last time I’d been down here, slowly plunging this cavern into perpetual darkness. But now they were once again aglow, a testament to the fact that the assholes fucking around down here had been at least partially successful.
If that natural luminescence was the main source of illumination, I wouldn’t have been able to see much, but more of those high-powered work lights were scattered about, illuminating the small tent city that presumably housed the cavern’s current residents.
I’d been half expecting to find an army of angry Magi waiting for us, but maybe that was just my imagination running wild. That said, this cavern was definitely busier than the outside one. And, judging from the small sample of beings walking about, more varied, too. Just for the record, though, aside from a pair of oversized bipedal otters, nothing seemed to come close to the blob of eyes still slithering alongside us.
Speaking of ... it, more of those air bubbles formed inside its body, bubbling to the surface where they created the equivalent of words, just a lot more gross.
“Is it true what they say about you, Freewill?”
“My love is legendary in his feats,” Gan replied from beside me, close enough to remind me of a bad rash.
Ugh! Ignoring her, I glanced down at the creature to find half a dozen eyeballs staring at me. Damn, this thing was freaky as fuck. “Depends what they say.”
The thing quivered in place for a moment, then it slurped out some more words. “They say you slaughtered dozens, maybe hundreds of the Feet singlehandedly.” There was a breathy quality to its voice that hadn’t been there before, as if it were nervous or excited.
The Magi who’d been leading us turned toward Blobby. “That will be enough, Glen. This is serious business. Please don’t drop your guard.”
Glen?! The blob’s name was Glen? Sure, why the fuck not?
I looked down to find most of its eyes fixed straight ahead. But one or two swiveled in its gelatinous mass to stare up at me. Oh, what the hell?
“We can talk later if we get the chance, but I’d be happy to tell you about the time I dropped the mother of all Turds.”
Kelly snickered from up ahead of me. Even Christy dared a glance back my way, one eyebrow raised.
Sue me. Terrifying as some of my memories were, they were also pretty fucking ridiculous, too.
Last time I’d been here, I’d gotten some serious shade from just about everything present. Being the legendary Freewill had come with a few perks, but it mostly seemed to be a giant “kick me” sign stapled to my back. However, as we walked, I found myself split.
A part of me was disturbed to see the angry stares pointed in my girlfr ... err, Christy’s direction. But I can’t lie. A small slice of my subconscious was kind of relieved to see it directed at someone other than me for a change. Besides, once the juice was flowing again, Christy could handle herself against just about anyone looking to talk smack.
We stepped around what appeared to be a communications array – they really had gone all in with this endeavor – and I caught a clearer view of the empty lakebed that had once been The Source.
Or maybe not so empty. In the middle of it stood a single tent, away from all of the others.
Though I didn’t see any movement near it, I could guess who it belonged to and it gave credence that Gan had been right all along, damn the luck.
Goddamn it, Sheila. What the fuck are you thinking?
“Oh my God,” Kelly said. “Can you feel it?”
“Feel what?” I asked, pulled from my darkening thoughts.
“The power flowing through this place, through the people here.” She twirled her fingers and a small ribbon of flame appeared above her hand, despite the fact that we were between pulses. All at once, our escorts turned toward her, weapons raised.
“Oh, crap!” Kelly quickly doused the flame. “Sorry. It’s just...”
“Been so long?” the wizard leading us replied, not unkindly. “Catalysts such as yourself feel it most strongly in this place, attuned as you are to external energy. It’s like missing a limb, only to wake one day and find it regrown.”
She nodded, obviously following his rambling discourse. That was fine for her, but I was a little less forgiving of the fact that they’d nearly ventilated my friend.
I stepped in front of her. “Y’know, you could have just warned us without stuffing a bunch of guns in her... oof!”
Jasper slammed the butt of his rifle into my gut, dropping me to my knees. On the upside, without one of those pulses going on, it simply hurt instead of outright impaling me. “That’s enough talk.”
Beside me, Gan tensed up. Much as I might have enjoyed watching her feed this guy his own weapon rectally, it would have put a serious damper on any plans to end this peacefully. I grabbed her hand, more than aware that I was probably going to regret it later. “Don’t.”
“As you wish, my love,” she replied in a cool voice.
“Really?” the head Magi asked, a touch of disapproval in his voice as he addressed Jasper. “Was that necessary?”
“Don’t lecture me, Hershel. We’re not here to make friends with these people. Don’t forget what happened up top. They killed Abner.”
“I am well aware,” Hershel, presumably, replied. “Do not forget two of my brothers also failed to return. But, unlike you, I’m willing to allow that unfortunate misunderstandings are to be expected.”
Unfortunate mis...
Glen the blob slithered over to me, air bubbles popping out from the surface of his slime. “Are you okay, Freewill?”
Gross as he was, his concern was almost cute. “No worries,” I replied with more bravado than was warranted. “It takes more than that to take out the mighty Freewill.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” came a barely audible murmur from somewhere below my feet.
“What was that?” Hershel asked, one eyebrow raised.
Hoping to cover for my ghost-tard of a friend, I replied, “Sorry, clearing my throat.”
Thankfully, nobody’s super hearing was working at the moment.
“Let’s keep moving,” he said after a moment when nobody else offered up any objections. “The sooner we can conclude this business, the better it will be for us all.”
I wasn’t sure if i
t was because of Glen’s attitude toward me or something else – especially since I was pretty sure the two-legged members of this party could do it faster – but Hershel looked down at him. “Go and fetch the Icon. She’ll want to hear this.”
And just like that, eyeball blobs and angry vamps aside, I had a feeling my day was about to get even more stressful.
♦ ♦ ♦
Glen veered away from us, moving at a speed that one might expect from the equivalent of a three foot slug. I figured we’d be lucky if he returned with Sheila before we all died of old age.
However, as we were steered into a tent much larger than the rest, I began to suspect that was purposeful.
Inside, I saw a tack board full of charts and graphs. There was also a whiteboard covered in what appeared to be times and geological coordinates. I wasn’t exactly a tactical genius, but even I could tell this was a working command center.
A row of folding tables sat at one end. Several people were already seated behind them including – surprise of surprises – our old buddies Komak and Liz. To say they didn’t look happy to see us was an understatement. I couldn’t exactly blame him. Vamps didn’t like to lose, especially those who’d once worked for the First Coven. Failure simply wasn’t an option for that bunch. As for Liz, well, maybe she just didn’t like us.
A couple of others – either vamps or Magi, I couldn’t tell – sat with them. There was also at least one non-human among their number, a winged, four-armed imp. I’d seen his species before, although obviously it had been a while.
We were led to a spot in front of the table. There, Hershel and Jasper left our side to take seats with the others. The rest spread out behind us, no doubt to kill our asses if things went south.
It served as a harsh reminder that I was far more vulnerable than during my last visit here. It would probably be best to keep my tongue in check.
What the fuck had we been thinking? We’d marched right in and surrendered, and for what ... a fucking pipe dream that these guys would play nice once we gave them what they wanted?
Holy fucking shit. Why is it that bad ideas were never painfully obvious until it was too late? “Um, I don’t suppose you guys have a bathroom down here?”
“Latrine’s out back,” Komak said without much humor. “But I think that can wait.”
Fine, be that way. I at least comforted myself in knowing that if I shit my pants out of fear, it would be epic.
Liz glared at Christy. “Are you finally ready to admit that you want your life back?”
“No. But I am ready to admit that I’m outmatched. Know that I do this only to protect my daughter.”
“Don’t be so sanctimonious...”
“Wait,” Hershel said. “Her daughter? What does she have to do with...”
Komak held up a hand. “Later. Let’s stay on point for now.” He locked eyes on Christy. “Is it safe to assume you figured things out on your own?”
She nodded. “The ley lines.”
“Lizzy knew you would. She seems to hold you in high regard.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I said.
The imp stood and stared at me, his eyes black coals in his oblong head. “Why are you here, Freewill? Is it to give us the...”
“The spell on the wall?” Christy replied. “You know as well as we do that it’s useless to your cause.”
“Useless? What do you mean?”
Liz put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to ruffle his wings ever so slightly. “Sorry, Ux, but things have been ... busy. We’ve since learned that the spell we sought was only a precursor to what was actually needed. It required further ... refinement.”
“Refinement that you don’t have time for,” Christy added, “and which I’ve already done.”
“I see,” the imp, Ux, replied, taking his seat again.
“What she said,” I added lamely. “I’m just here for moral support.”
There came a beat of silence as everyone stared at me. So much for keeping my mouth shut.
Finally, Gan broke the impasse by, of course, changing subjects to something I was pretty sure nobody cared about.
“So is this your so-called Last Coven?” She glanced at Komak, then Jasper. “I sense only two of you. Or have you invited these Magi to sit...”
“The others are in the field,” Jasper replied, his eyes narrowed. “Unlike the First Coven, we don’t sit on our accolades and let others do our dirty work.”
“A new day dawns,” Komak said. “It’s a chance to rebuild our world from the ground up, but the right way this time, with cooperation. Pity you don’t seem to understand that. You could have been a part of it all, but now, thanks to you, there’s only twelve of our number left.”
Gan raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“If you’re hoping for an invitation, I’m sorry, but I think our sire will make a better candidate.”
“The Progenitor?” Gan asked, barely concealed amusement on her face. Oh yeah. She might have filled out, but she hadn’t mellowed at all. At her core, she’d always be an arrogant little psychopath. At least now, assuming everything worked out as planned, I could sleep better knowing that she’d do the world a favor one day and die of old age.
“Yes, where is he?”
“Ed?” I shrugged. “He had some errands to run. Groceries to buy, a little girl to keep safe from you fuckers, that sort of thing.”
“No matter. We’ll find him once this is...”
“Hold on,” Hershel interrupted. “That’s the second time they said that. Did you endanger a child?”
Komak turned to the mage, but Liz spoke first. “You knew she stood against the White Mother, Hershel.”
“As well as I understand the returned White Mother had become ... erratic in her teachings.”
Erratic? That was one way of saying it. Talk about putting lipstick on a five-thousand year old pig.
Liz nodded. “Perhaps, but this witch was almost directly responsible for plunging our world into the darkness we have lived in ever since.”
“I am well aware...”
“You have to understand, we needed to ensure her cooperation. Failure was not an option.”
“But a child?” Hershel asked, visibly disturbed. He wasn’t alone. Both Ux and one of the other mages in their number also didn’t appear to like what they were hearing.
The group began to squabble among themselves. Guess all wasn’t wine and roses in the new order. It began to paint a picture. All of these yahoos were aiming for the same goal. Problem was, some of their go-getters were a bit more extreme in their methods.
But I also saw they’d kept the others in the dark about it, no doubt hoping that the ends justified the means.
It gave me cause to hope that at least a few of these guys might not be in favor of going trigger happy on us once we gave them what they wanted. If so...
There came the rustle of a tent flap behind us. I glanced back to check it out and immediately felt my train of thought go flying off the rails.
Sheila stood there glaring at us all, an unreadable expression on her face.
She put her hands on her hips. “What have you done?”
TEST OF FAITH
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Komak said, indicating an empty seat at his end of the table.
The surreal aspect of the entire situation was only augmented by a vampire offering the Icon a seat instead of ordering her killed.
We truly did live in strange days.
“I asked a question.” Sheila stood there unmoving. Her blonde hair was up in a ponytail and she wore functional work fatigues, looking more like an archeologist than a warrior of faith. Though her expression remained neutral, I could see in her eyes ours was a reunion she hadn’t been looking forward to.
I couldn’t imagine why. I mean, she’d only dumped my ass, then set about kicking down a door that we’d all shed blood, sweat, and tears locking in the first place. Surely that wasn’t reason for this to be awkward.
; Oh well. Sue me for being petty but – unlike some folks in this room – I was only human.
Nobody said anything for several long seconds – a Mexican standoff at the Earth’s core.
My former infatuation with Sheila was over and done with, mostly. Don’t get me wrong, she looked pretty good doing a Lara Croft impersonation. It was more what had happened that had me all in a kerfuffle. Ending up single again had sucked, but I couldn’t say it wasn’t a road I hadn’t walked before. And hey, I’d rebounded pretty darn well, even if those waters were currently looking a bit muddied. Being back down here again, though, was a bit harder to swallow, made more bitter by the fact that she’d had a hand in it.
The impasse was finally broken as Glen came oozing in to, err, quiver at her side like the world’s freakiest Jell-O mold. The multitude of eyes in his body all blinked excitedly. “I don’t know if it’s too much to ask, but is there any chance you two could reenact your epic battle? I would so love to get a picture for my album.”
Something was telling me that I’d somehow attracted a seriously weird fanboy.
Sheila looked down at him. “Not now, Glen.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
Christy apparently had enough of this. She pushed past me and headed toward Sheila.
The guards in the back raised their weapons, until Sheila turned to them. “What are you doing? Put those down.”
“Belay that order,” Komak said. “They’re under protection of parlay, but make no mistake, they’re not here as friends.”
“And I wonder why that is,” I replied. “Oh, yeah. It’s because you threatened a small child, beat the hell out of my friend here, and murdered a bunch of innocent people. And let’s not forget kidnapping...”
“Enough!” He locked eyes with me. “As the least important member of these negotiations, I will remind you that you no longer have anything we need. I call you Freewill as a reminder of your past, but don’t think you hold any sway because of it. Your presence here is superfluous at best.”
I half expected Gan to make him eat his own tongue, but she held her ground. Oddly enough, she was keeping her cool, small miracle that it was.
Strange Days (Bill of the Dead Book 1) Page 22