by Stone Thomas
“Only a desperate man kills his competition,” Gorinor said. He pushed my spear away.
Turns out, if you think someone’s attacking you, you might simply be mistaken. Paranoid even.
The crowd sat shaking their heads. I was losing them. “I’m not afraid of competition,” I said. “I’m not afraid of anything! Also, the Chalmaster is gallant and true. He’s a very nice man with a well-polished cranium. His teeth are the whitest in the land!”
It was no use. Fearlessness and compliments only went so far. A slow chant kicked up. “Gorinor! Gorinor!”
“Wait!” A man yelled at the tent’s door flaps. He was covered in blood and dirt. “Gorinor is the one behind the missing women. When I caught him in the forest, he attacked me.”
“Lies,” Gorinor said.
The Chalmaster raised a hand to silence Gorinor. “Continue.”
“I was gathering wood for a fire,” the man said, “when Gorinor came through with a pale woman in a short black dress. A few seconds later, she screamed, and when I ran to see what happened, she was gone. These glasses were all that was left.”
He held out a pair of thick black frames. I took them, then looked up at Gorinor. “What did you do with Vee?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“He’s the one,” the man said. “He had two shiny black familiars with him. He’s working with D—”
The man’s speech was cut short when Gorinor slammed his tambourine against his free hand, blasting a rocky spike from the ground beneath the man, impaling him. He was dead in an instant.
His death tore open a rift in midair, and Gorinor jumped through it before anyone could stop him.
+48
The gypsies all backed away from the rift. I peered into it, looking for any sign of Reyna, but I didn’t see her. The only living thing in the rift’s direct view was a varkind, coiling and uncoiling its massive red tentacles. It reached forward with one long sticky arm and dragged its massive body along the ground while its other arms reached toward the rift.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled Reyna’s name, but there was no response. The rift was already pulling closed, too quickly for the varkind ever to reach it.
“Savange,” I said, not caring who heard. “Where is she?”
“I think you would call it Valleyvale,” she said.
“What?” I asked. “That doesn’t make any…” I took out my map. The blue dot from my compass put me in the center of Barren Moon, an empty circle of green. The bassador’s temporary tents didn’t register as buildings at all.
Valleyvale’s original location was still a splotch of uncharted gray territory. As I zoomed out further, I didn’t see the city appear at all. Not in the elf lands, or the beastkin lands. Not nearby, and not in the unsettled wilds beyond.
When I looked up, the rift was gone. “That means…”
“That’s right,” Savange said. “Valona has a city at her feet, and Kāya to thank for it.”
“I didn’t know Kāya was capable of distorting the city’s location that far,” I said. “Why bring it to the underworld? Was she working with Valona the whole time? Was Reyna playing me?”
“Too many boring questions,” Savange said. “What’s done is done and I tire of gypsies. Show me something new.”
“We’re not leaving yet,” I said.
I turned back toward the crowd of gypsies. “Gorinor met with some of your leaders. Which ones?” A few gypsies raised their hands. “And which bloodkinds have had their women vanish?” Those same gypsies kept their hands up, and only them.
“So it is Gorinor,” I said. “How? He leapt through that rift like he knew what to expect, like all it would take is one quick murder and an escape hatch would open right up. He didn’t even hesitate at the sight of the varkind.
“He couldn’t have fed women through the rifts. That would mean too many dead bodies. Someone would have noticed that.”
“You have seen this rift before,” the Chalmaster said.
“Yes,” I replied. “Gorinor just escaped to the underworld.”
“We must put him to justice,” the Chalmaster said.
“Agreed,” I said. “It’s easier said than done though. It’s full of angry souls and strange creatures, and the goddess there is under attack by the rex fulmin, a beast of the wilds. It’s some kind of snake, cursed by the Great Mother.”
“Can you open a rift?” he asked.
“Not intentionally,” I said. “They open when a soul crosses planes to the afterlife.”
I started pacing the grassy area in the Chal tent’s center. The varkind’s thick red arms burned an image in my mind. I had seen something like that before, the same coiling appendages, the same scooping motion to propel itself along the ground.
“Mamba,” I said. “Do you remember the first time we encountered the darkwind?”
“It was your first time,” Mamba said, “not mine.”
“Fair point,” I said. “Do you remember what you said would happen if the darkwind caught us?”
“The stories all mention the netherworld,” she said, “but no one the darkwind caught was ever thrown back to tell for sure.”
“That’s because the darkwind isn’t a shadow creature,” I said. “It’s a creature’s shadow. Somehow, that red monster we saw through the rift casts its shadow all the way into our world.”
“It’s not just a shadow here,” Mamba said. “It has touched us before.”
“And it will again,” I said. “I’m going to feed myself to the darkwind.”
I left the tent and raced through the bassador’s twisted paths, tucking Vee’s glasses into my pocket. There, at the edge of Barren Moon, were the torches that kept that monster at bay. They cast a flickering light that forced shadows to dance at the forest’s edge, but one shadow moved of its own power instead.
“You will not take me back there,” Savange said. Her raspy voice was a sharp hiss in my ear. “I forbid it!”
My vision was suddenly clouded by darkness that closed in on all sides. I felt it now, cold rings of shadow around my eyes, pressing harder with each second, spreading thicker. I couldn’t help but laugh. “For all your secrets, that’s one you should have kept. I wasn’t sure this would really work until you just confirmed it.”
I walked forward from memory, sensing the torches’ flames as I got close. I let my hands be my sight, pushing past the torch poles and feeling my way through the trees.
“I will make your life hell,” Savange said.
“Odd word choice, considering,” I said.
“If you die there I will be trapped again!” she yelled.
“Then don’t let me die there,” I said.
Then the icy arms of the darkwind curled around me. I remembered this feeling. It was Gorinor that saved me, Cindra, and Mamba from its grips the last time, and now he was the reason I was back in this position.
Only now, I wouldn’t struggle against the frozen tentacles that curled up my ankles. I wouldn’t fight the suffocating sensation of drowning in ice water as those shadowy tendrils probed my ears, pressed inside my mouth. Every inch of my body was covered over. I was being smothered, smuggled into another world.
I shivered uncontrollably with every muscle in my body. Then I slid, down, gliding past slimy suckers on the varkind’s arms, and hit the ground. The monster made a slurping sound as it roved onward, leaving me behind.
Savange had restored my sight. I got to my feet and kicked at the boney fingers of two mucker-mites that reached up toward me, forcing them to wriggle back into the thick pasty mud they lived beneath. Then I pulled out my map. There it was, a few miles in the distance. Valleyvale.
“What did you mean,” I asked, “when you said my death would trap you here?”
“You’re the dangerous sort,” Savange said, “diving into hell and rushing into battle, untrained with your weapon of choice but for a few paltry actions you’ve unlocked at the base of your ski
ll tree. You can’t last long. You’re a fast pass to freedom.
“You let me bind myself to your shadows. I am their next of kin. Your death, sweet boy, will release me! I need that to transpire in the world of vibrant light. I need that freedom.”
“The Great Mother was right,” I said. “You are just a parasite.”
“Symbiont,” she said. “I’ve earned your shadows through my unique assistance. Now bring me back to your world where I can wait patiently for your life’s end.”
The wine-red sky brightened, the same way it had when Savange first proved her worth. The black ground lightened to gray, pocked with holes where mucker-mites had once pressed through the thick, viscous mud. A few dark creatures sat in the distance.
I knew the sky for what it was. Black. Empty. Yet in my view, that sky was a brilliant red with puffy orange clouds. Only someone with a swarthling swimming in their shadows could parse this world of darkness.
Someone like Reyna.
“My sister told her you approach,” Savange said. “Valona’s daughter is unhappy.”
The shape of a woman rose into the air, small in the distance above Valleyvale. Wide black wings spread out and then she dove, careening through the sky toward me. She flew quickly, cutting across miles of open space in mere minutes as bolt after bolt of lightning struck the city she left behind.
When she got close, she didn’t slow down. She swooped low, grabbed my vest with one hand, and arced up again with me in her grips. “Reyna—”
“You didn’t do it,” she said, flapping her wings and taking us higher. “You said you would help her, but you left Mournglory with nothing. All the time we wasted, hoping on you. I should Hell Bend your soul right now and force you to spend eternity here as penance!” She pressed her free hand against my neck.
“Not the neck,” I said, “Reyna, don’t do this!”
“You deceived me,” she said.
“And what about you?” I asked. “You sent me to clash with an army of undead elves while Kāya delivered you a city and a captive citizenry. Is Valona already in Duul’s pocket?”
“What good is a sinking city full of people here against their will?” Reyna asked, hovering with me a mile high. “My mother wouldn’t be a part of this. How dare you even think she could!” She pressed three fingers into my neck. I couldn’t pry her hand loose. “Kāya abandoned us long before you did. She was building my mother a shrine and now it’s just rubble.”
“That shrine was to Duul,” I said.
“You don’t know that!” she yelled.
“And what about the gypsy women?” I asked, still failing to move Reyna’s hand from my skin. “Gorinor and two of Duul’s familiars have been sending women here to feed your mother their souls.”
“I’ve been protecting those people until we can send them home!” she said. “See it for yourself. Valleyvale’s not far, and it’s where you’ll spend eternity once I tether your soul to this world.” Her fingers warmed as her skill began to activate.
“I’m begging you,” I said, kicking uselessly at the air. “Don’t do this. Don’t use Hell Bent on me. I did everything I could to help her. Reyna, please!” The crushing inevitability of Nola’s vision came crashing down on me all at once. “I’ll die!”
“That’s a little melodramatic,” she said. “Even if this works on a soul still inside a living body, I can’t keep you for eternity. The mark only lasts a year. You skillmeistered me. You should know.”
“Nola had a premonition,” I said, craning my neck. Reyna’s fingers were hot, on the verge of branding me. “The mark you leave on my neck is the last piece of it. In a matter of days, I’ll die in battle with Hell Bent right where your hand is now. I don’t want to die, Reyna. Please.”
A dark billowing energy engulfed her hand, licking at the corners of my vision. She pulled away and curled her fingers into a fist as her Hell Bent skill discharged without a target. After a burst of black flame, the energy dispersed and I exhaled deeply.
“Did Duul take over Mournglory?” she asked. “My mother’s temple…”
“Belongs to Hipna,” I said. “It has been hers for ages. Your mother has no followers left, but we stopped Duul from conquering the city.”
Reyna’s powerful wings beat slowly against the air, letting us drift toward the ground.
She dropped me into the muck and I lay on it, thankful for solid-ish ground. A few long spindly mucker-mite arms reached up through the mud to grab onto my legs but I brushed them aside. Reyna landed next to me.
“How far is it?” I asked, pointing toward the crumbling, sinking outer wall of Valleyvale.
She followed my gaze. “You can see that far? Normally the underworld is too dark… No, I know, but that’s only because you show it to me… What are you saying?” She took my chin between her thumb and forefinger, peering at the dark rings around my eyes. “You took a swarthling.”
“Yes,” I said. “And if you know how to get rid of her, I’m all ears.”
“What deal did you strike?” Reyna asked. “What limits did you demand in exchange for letting her in?”
“No limits,” I said. “I didn’t know I could.”
“Swarthlings are vindictive,” Reyna said. “Be careful who you trust.”
“I want to trust you,” I said. She hadn’t let go of my chin. Her large dark eyes bore into mine. “Scooping me up and yelling at me doesn’t really help.”
“No one stays,” she replied. “A few people find their way here when they shouldn’t, but they always beg to leave. Or get eaten by mucker-mites. Either way, they don’t stay. When you left, I wasn’t sure you’d ever look back. I’m still not sure.”
“Reyna,” I said. “I need to know.”
“The last time my mother stood on principle, she suffered too much for it. If Duul’s side is the only option, she’ll take it. And I’ll stand by her to the end. It’s not too late though.
“It’s quiet out here, but not inside the city. All those people with their warm bodies, huddled together in the temple. The Great Mother’s familiars gleaming brightly. It’s a magnet for the lumentorstarkgeistbegonnen.”
“And Kāya?” I asked.
“Gone,” she said. “She escaped through one of the larger rifts, but not before launching an exodus. She led a hundred of Duul’s lost warriors with her. I stopped as many as I could, but I wasn’t fast enough to contain them all.”
“A madwoman with an army,” I said.
The varkind continued to roll along the ground not far from us.
“That’s off topic,” she said over her shoulder. “Fine, I’ll just say it.”
“Say what?” I asked.
“I like your new outfit,” Reyna said. “It’s tight and cut just right to show off your muscles. My eyes keep pulling toward your warm, strong body.”
I was still lying on my back, my heart racing from our terrifying flight, but Reyna stood over me. Her gray skin was smooth, supple. Her every curve was highlighted by the bright red sky behind her.
“Are you objectifying me?” I asked.
Her cherry red lips pouted slightly. “Maybe. A little.”
“You missed me,” I said.
She climbed on top of me, digging her knees into the dirt by my side. Her perfect breasts sat bare on her chest except for the narrow ribbon of shadow that wrapped around her. I wondered if I could peel those shadows away, uncovering her body’s secrets as I went. My hands found her thighs and started gliding up toward her hips.
She leaned forward, tucking her long white hair to the side as her lips grazed my ear and her chest pressed down against mine. “I’m not so easily distracted, Arden. We have work to do. Blech. Bralch. Grulk.”
Those were not sexy sounds. I braced my hands against her shoulders and pushed her body upward. Her hands were at her throat, pulling at a thick snake choking the life from her.
Mamba’s voice rang out behind her. “Hands off my man.”
+49
“Mamba!�
� I yelled. “Stop!”
Reyna clutched the snake around her neck as two more slithered up her legs. Those snakes started to coil tightly, preparing to erupt in a damaging burst. I reached for the snake at Reyna’s throat to help pry it loose.
“Fight it!” Mamba yelled. “Think unsexy thoughts so the succubus will go away!”
“This is Reyna,” I said. “Valona’s demigoddess daughter!”
Mamba froze. Her snakes released Reyna and slithered in shame back to Mamba’s side. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m Mamba. I get… protective.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I couldn’t let you run off on your own,” Mamba said. “They’re my mommas. I’m going to help save them. And besides, if the rex fulmin is a wild snake, I want to meet it.”
Reyna rubbed her neck. “And who is that?”
The varkind bulged and spat out another woman now. Isilya.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Isilya said, brushing herself off and walking toward us. “I was trying to stop Mamba from diving into that monster, but I got caught up inside it.”
“Just make sure you give those mucker-mites a good kick if they try to grab you,” I said. “And don’t activate any skills or you’ll attract the lumentors.”
“Lumentors?” Isilya asked.
“Like ghosts, but less friendly,” I said. A thick bolt of lightning struck the center of the city, branching into a hundred smaller lines that zagged across the sky.
“Why does everyone think that?” Reyna asked.
“That lumentors aren’t friendly?” I asked. “Friends don’t disembowel friends, for starters.”
“No, that I’m a succubus,” she said.
“We could cover you up a bit,” Isilya said. “I’m an outfitter. Maybe a nice turtleneck?”
“Covering up is overrated,” I said. I finished making introductions, then we started the long trek toward Valleyvale.
“It looks… smaller,” I said.