A Thousand Eyes

by Christian Leese

  Chapter 18

  Belloch Storme and Vek Tarosh stood before the Flame of Blackrose. Its heat stung the warts on his face, and he turned to see Tarosh staring at the ancient weapon.

  “The plans for the steam engine are in the safe over there,” said Belloch.

  “Yes, but I wonder, how did this Canis Rayne kill Kruger? What does he look like? Could you point him out to me?” asked Tarosh.

  “He’s got the face of a boy but the body of biggest bastard you ever saw. We broke his leg and threw him into the pit, but he emerged, his leg healed, and tore Kruger’s head from his body.”

  “And I hear he took on a Warden? It’s all anyone has to talk about. They think he’s going to be the one to stop the Scourge and the Iron Hands, but if they join forces, they’ll have too much power.”

  “Canis has turned on Mortalo, so I don’t think you have to worry about that, but I think he’ll have enough power by himself. If the survivors of the broken Companies flock to him, he’ll be the most powerful Company leader Blackrose has ever seen.”

  “You’re right, little man. Ugly, but right. Get me the plans for this steam engine of yours.”

  Belloch labored to the safe. His muscles burned with fatigue, and the combinations on the safe looked blurred. Orange light bathed the room, flickering in a random dance that made sleep seem like a good idea. The heat from the Flame of Blackrose caused his burned hand to hurt and it went into spasm. He felt Tarosh’s gaze upon him and fiddled with the strongbox.

  I hope Canis kills you and the Scourge.

  Chapter 19

  Canis Rayne couldn’t move, even with Beatrix Thorne screaming at him. The Fallen were headed to the heart of the city, but he needed to see if Mortalo really was dead.

  “Canis!” Vann Xan shouted, bending down to pick him up.

  “What news of Mortalo?”

  “I got as far as Mortalo,” Vann said, holding the Butcher’s Cleaver in front of him. “But he’s dead. There’s nothing I could do. Everyone started fleeing. He’s dead. You should be happy.”

  “Happy? I don’t know how to feel anymore.”

  “Let me help you.”

  “Get off me!” Canis replied as he pushed him away, energy pouring back into his limbs as if Bane had been holding it back.

  Canis rose, breathing through clenched teeth.

  Van step back. “We have to go. This whole area is going to be swarmed. We need to get to safety.”

  “I need to see Mortalo for myself!”

  Thorne slapped Canis. “Are you high on mooncap? A moment ago, you were cursing yourself for sending Vann after Mortalo, and now you want us to go! After everything he’s done, you want to charge into the middle of a horde to look upon a corpse?”

  Canis shook his head. “I need to bury him.”

  “She’s right,” said Vann. “Have I ever let you down before, little brother? Come on. We have to go.”

  Canis heard the words but didn’t believe them. He imagined Mortalo rising from the ground, fighting back the Scourge he had sacrificed his whole life to counter. If he did bury him, he couldn’t imagine Mortalo staying underground. He peered into the smoke. Scourge wove in and out of each other, half of them marching after the Fallen Warden, ignorant of the dead below. The Fallen Warden created a different kind of Scourge, but they all looked the same.

  “Don’t listen to them,” said Bane. “You need to see it for yourself. Bury his body and say goodbye.”

  What?

  “You need to see for yourself.”

  Canis shut Bane out of his thoughts. Why does he want me to get closer to the Scourge? Endanger myself, when moments ago, he was calling for the destruction of the Fallen? He’s speaking through me again! Bane tried to reply, but Canis forced him away like rising bile, swallowing it.

  “Come on. I’m sorry,” said Canis. “We have to get out of here.”

  Thorne and Vann looked at each other but didn’t argue with him. He heard their footfalls as they chased behind him as he raced to join the shadows of Blackrose’s narrow streets.

  He led his friends through the cobbled turns and intersections, just as Mortalo had led him when he’d first gone to the secret trapdoor. An alley to his left invited him in, the complete darkness more of a lure than the timid shadows. He dove inside. The high buildings blocked some of the sounds, but the chittering of the Scourge-freaks scraped at the walls of his mind. His right eye twitched.

  “Are you okay, Canis?” asked Vann, handing him the Butcher’s Cleaver.

  Canis nodded and accepted the axe. “I’m okay, I think. We need to figure out what to do.”

  “We can’t plan anything here; they could find us plotting in the dark.”

  Canis squeezed the axe’s handle. “Plotting in the dark? You make it sound as if we are the invaders. This is our city, Vann. Ours.”

  “Guys,” said Thorne from somewhere in the black. “Stop screwing around. There’s a door here. Let’s get inside and decide what to do. Maybe there’s some food.”

  Canis followed the sound of her voice, using his hand as a guide. The stone of the alley wall was smooth on his skin. He felt his way to an edge and fell into a gap. Vann bumped into him, and he entered the building, pulled in by Thorne.

  They ascended steps, dull light seeping through cracks in the door at the top. Thorne stopped him with an extended arm and pushed it open with her other, dagger in hand. He turned, Vann’s black hair framing his strong chin. Vann smiled before moving past Canis and into the room ahead.

  Canis stopped a moment. Don’t ever leave me, Vann. I don’t think I could do this without you.

  Thorne and Vann argued as Canis entered. He went to sit in the corner of the dusty and dim room. He observed the passion in their eyes and couldn’t help but wonder what the point was anymore. With Mortalo dead and the rogue Warden in control of what looked like a new enemy—the Fallen—he longed for someone to tell him what to do.

  A rat sniffed the air in the corner. Agrim leapt from atop Canis’ head to secure its dinner. He shuddered at the thought of what might wash out if he lived to see another bath. The others ignored his spider’s feeding habits as they continued to argue.

  “I have something to tell you,” said Canis.

  Thorne and Vann didn’t pay him any heed, and Canis had to slam his axe into the wooden floor. Splinters flew, energy flowing inside the glowing tubes on the hilt, sparks coming to life with soul energy.

  “I have something to tell you,” he said again.

  Thorne cocked her head, her red hair falling in front of one eye.

  “Canis?” asked Vann.

  “I’m infected,” said Canis, and Bane contracted around his spine, but he kept the creature silent with experimental control.

  “How do you know? Are you okay?” asked Vann.

  “I’ve been infected ever since I re-entered the city.” He shivered. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be stupid, big’un. You’re nothing like them,” said Thorne.

  “Mortalo was right. I am strong. My body was able to resist it, but it’s still inside me. I think that was his plan all along, but he didn’t foresee their invasion and he didn’t see it being led through me.”

  Vann shook his head. “I’ll kill it!” he said, pointing his gauntlet at Canis’ belly. “That’s all. I’ll just kill it.”

  “If you do that, I’ll die.” Canis brushed his hand against his neck, felt the tiny vibrations coming from Bane. “It’s been helping me. Without it, I would’ve been slaughtered out there and never made it back. Without it, without Bane, I am nothing.”

  “Bane? You gave it a name?” Vann spat on the floor. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “He speaks to me and, although he was difficult to deal with at first, I think I can control him.”

  “Him? The thought of it…”

  Canis nodded, agreeing with everything Vann had to say, but his brother couldn’t understand unl
ess he had one inside him. Maybe he would understand if he could see him, speak to him? Can you speak with them, Bane?

  “I don’t know. Can I show myself to them?” it asked.

  You can.

  Canis raised his hand in an effort to extract some kind of patience from his friends. Bane moved, nibbling on his stomach wall. His body itched as the parasite healed what it damaged behind it.

  The hooks and thin limbs clung to his windpipe as they felt their way out of his mouth. He gagged, choked, unable to breathe for a moment. It was as if a fist full of glass was being pushed out of his throat and, as Bane forced his jaw open, black ichor spluttered onto the floorboards.

  Vann and Thorne recoiled, their eyes unblinking and their weapons raised. Nobody said a word, and Canis tried to get eye contact with them, to show them it was okay.

  “I am Bane,” said the parasite using Canis’ vocal chords, the sound coming in strained vibrations.

  Thorne put her hand to her mouth and turned away, choking at the sight of the thing.

  “Get out of his body or I’ll rip you out, monster!” demanded Vann.

  “If I die, he dies. If he dies, I die,” it said.

  “Maybe that’ll be best for everyone.”

  Thorne regained her composure and turned her gaze back. “Vann, what the hell is wrong with you? How could you say that?”

  He ignored her.

  “You need Canis,” Bane said. “And you need me. You cannot kill the Fallen by yourselves. We must leave the city and get more help from my kind. I think I can get them to join you if it means killing the Fallen. We can live as one.”

  “You mean like that?” Thorne asked. She pointed to Canis. “Big’un is a slave to you things.”

  “He isn’t. Canis is his own man now. I don’t deny trying to control him, but he’s able to resist me. All I can do is join him, join you.” The creature snaked its appendages around the edges of Canis’ mouth. “If we don’t kill the Fallen Warden, then everyone will die. It’ll keep reproducing until the entire city is destroyed. It will infect more Wardens too.”

  “Canis!” said Vann. He shook his head. Covered his eyes. “Put it away. I don’t want to see or hear that thing again.”

  Canis pushed on Bane to retreat, and he did so. His jaw clicked back into place, his eyes watered, and his face tingled. “I’m sorry,” Canis said. “I had to.”

  Vann’s face screwed up. “It’s the Scourge who should be sorry. And you can forget about leaving the city to join them.”

  Canis coughed. “You’re right. This is our battle. We have to kill the Fallen ourselves or we forfeit Blackrose to them anyway.”

  “Leave Blackrose to us,” said Bane to Canis. “There’s nothing here for you anymore. Get your people and leave.”

  “I’ll save Blackrose and its people,” said Canis, looking to Thorne. “I’ll save you all, no matter what.”

  “Well, I’m with you,” said Thorne. “If we don’t do something, then we’re done for. What’s the plan then, eh?”

  Canis shrugged. “To see what the rogue Warden wanted from the heart of Blackrose. What’s so important it tramples over its own kind? Do you think it wants control over the soul lines?”

  “We’ll have to be careful,” said Thorne. “Those Scourge and the Fallen are everywhere. They may be against each other, but I’m guessing they’ll forget their feud to kill us.”

  Bane went to speak but teetered in Canis’ mind.

  Canis nodded. “I know. We’ll gather the survivors, as many as we can along the way. We’ll be the light they never had. That’s if they follow me.”

  Vann laughed. “Your name has been on everyone’s lips. You took on a Warden, survived outside Blackrose, defied the King of Demons, and now you wield his axe. If I were them, I’d follow you, Canis Rayne, and our brothers should be around somewhere. Maybe we should start there, go back to Mortalo’s citadel? If we can find Teller, we can get some kind of order back.”

  Canis shook his head. “There are other people who need our help more. If we don’t get to them first, they’ll never survive. Our brothers can handle themselves, for now. We need to convince them, not order them. They must decide.”

  “Let’s get going,” Thorne said.

  “Where are we?” Vann asked.

  Thorne shrugged. “Somewhere in the third Company, I think. I dunno. It’s not my neighborhood, but getting to the clock tower should be simple enough. You can see it from any roof in Blackrose.”

  “It’s not finding it that worries me,” Canis said. “It’s what we might find there. Like you say, everyone can see it, including the Fallen.”

  Vann and Thorne stared at him, eyes narrowed, perhaps waiting for him to finish.

  “Those Wardens file in and out of there at every hour of the day. Nobody knows anything about what’s inside.” He looked over his shoulder. “And if one of them has been taken over by the Scourge…”

  Thorne nodded. “If the Wardens are preoccupied with the Fallen, we might be able to get in unnoticed. To see what’s going on.”

  “Let’s find human survivors, get everyone to gather at Mortalo’s citadel. We need to fight as one if we’re going to survive. While they wait, we can see what’s going on at the clock tower.”

  “We’ll do that, Canis, but something’s troubling me,” Vann said.

  “What’s that?”

  “When the Fallen Warden was tangled with the horde, it hesitated when it could’ve destroyed them with ease.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it could’ve smashed through the wall and crushed the whole lot of them.” He folded his arms. “But it backed off instead, weaved around the buildings.”

  Canis stared at him, not sure what to say or what Vann wanted him to say.

  “It was odd. Just odd, that’s all.”

  Thorne edged to a peephole in the wall. “It looks like things are starting to die down outside.”

  Canis considered what Vann had said, but everyone was fatigued and in no mind to pursue dead ends. Thorne slid out. Canis stayed close behind. They crept, keeping their profiles low.

  The air vibrated and the clouds above the mesh of thorns parted. From the sky emerged an airship.

  “Look out!” shouted Thorne, but Vann and Canis stopped and stared. “Guys?” They continued to look up.

  The airship left storms behind as it glided toward the city. As it neared the center, the front section widened and it scooped up the souls of the dead hovering above. Everything went black. Without the souls’ or the moon’s glow, the ship caused an eclipse. The entire city was silent, not even the sound of breathing could be heard. The ship’s mouth closed, and the craft drifted off into the distance.

  “Guys?” Thorne slapped Vann.

  “Ow!” said Vann.

  “What was that?”

  “That was what got Mortalo so obsessed with leaving Blackrose in the first place. Every time there’s a battle, or more souls than the city’s heart can manage, the airship swoops down and collects the dead.”

  “So, there is life outside of the city?” asked Thorne.

  “Or it’s just another autonomous machine,” added Canis. “False hope dressed in metal as if alive, when really it’s a visual representation of our dead dreams.”

  “Or that…” said Vann. “C’mon. We have to get out of here whilst everyone is distracted.”

  Canis grunted as Vann dragged Thorne forward. You missed it, Mortalo, but I’ll make sure your dreams didn’t die with you.

  Chapter 20

  Belloch Storme moved out of the way as Vek Tarosh pushed the fat net-thrower into the wall. They had been fleeing from the Scourge, and since Mortalo’s death, were on their way to the citadel.

  “If I tell you we’re going to storm the citadel, then we’re going to storm the citadel,” boomed Tarosh.

  “What about Mortalo’s men…” the fat man said, but he should have kept his mou
th shut as Tarosh rammed the Paws of the Dead into his gut.

  The man screamed, and Belloch had to clamp his hand over his mouth. Scabs ripped off, and the man slumped to the ground. Belloch tried not to like the smell of human flesh, but it was meat, and he had learned to appreciate its taste under the Black Guard.

  “Cook him.” Three of Tarosh’s men dragged him away.

  “What’re we going to do?” asked Belloch.

  “Hold up here, defend all the alley exits.”

  “Then what?” asked Belloch.

  “Then I’ll rip off your head and feed you to my men, that’s what!”

  Belloch flinched. “I’m sorry, Tarosh, I didn’t mean to offend. I have an idea.”

  “Oh,” said Tarosh, his rage subsiding.

  “Join forces with the other Company leaders.”

  “You’re funny, little man.”

  “We’re not going to get anywhere like this. I think going to the citadel is a good idea, and we can defend it well, but there’s a horde of Scourge to think about,” Belloch advised.

  “Go on.”

  “Bring the Company leaders together. Lay claim to the citadel, make sure we get there first, and invite the others. If you can have them join you now that Mortalo is dead, the likes of Telsa Reinhart and Viper Blackmane will be at your mercy.”

  “This is my best plan yet. Go, spread word to the Company leaders and tell them of my idea.”

  “Me?” replied Belloch.

  Tarosh laughed. “You came to me as a scout. You offered your services as a scout. Now get to it, or I really will feed you to my men. Understand? I have the Flame of Blackrose now. Don’t cross me.”

  Belloch nodded and left Tarosh behind. Damn my stupid mouth! He passed some Black Guard as they roasted the fat man over the Flame of Blackrose, the fire turning blue as the skin melted and the grease dripped into the flames.