Dawn of Darkness: Part 2 of 4 (Where The Shadows Stalk Book 1)

by Adam Watson

  "Not so quick you brute.” Vuko looked at her slightly perplexed. “You have to learn how to treat a lady,” she continued. “Take your time, don't rush in like a hot-headed youngling. Now sit down." She commanded him like a teacher to a pupil and shoved him back; he had no choice but to sit back down in the tub.

  "Have you ever seen a lady dance?" she asked, slowly swaying her hips in front of him. "I'm not like these tramps you're used to …" she stated. The light in her eyes told Vuko she had just thought of something funny. "… the ones that you find in the alleyway."

  "Hahaha." Vuko laughed, it was funny because they both knew that was the last place Vuko would visit to find a girl.

  "You like me dancing for you, don't you." Her body gyrated as her hands ran over the smooth skin of her breasts, Vuko smiled and nodded. "I can tell," she continued with long, lingering look between his legs. She slowly bent down giving Vuko an eyeful, and reached down into the water. "Oh my, you do like it, don't you?" Vuko reached up and took her breasts in his hands, pulling her nearer so that he could kiss her.

  "I like it very much," he whispered. She kissed him hard and mounted him in the water.

  Vuko was in ecstasy. He could feel her sliding up and down him, kissing him, placing her tongue in his mouth. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down, penetrating her deeply. One hand slid up her back, and the other slid down as she began riding him.

  She rode him faster and faster, it was a state of passion and ecstasy. As they kissed hard Vuko could see the steam rising in the room around them. At first, he thought it was from the passion, but something about it was strange. Yes, the water was hot, and steam should come off as it entered the coolness of the room, but this seemed more like a mist, it was making him feel lightheaded, and it appeared to be getting thicker by the second.

  He pushed Tasia back, away from his face; she looked startled, and her rhythm slowed. It wasn’t until she leant back, did Vuko realise his vision had started to blur. His head was swimming, and her face was out of focus. Had that kiss poisoned him? Had there been something on her lips? He wanted to grab her by the throat and demand answers, but he was too weak and slumped into the tub. No Tasia, you better not have betrayed me. Tasia started to speak as his mind began to lose consciousness.

  “Vuko, I don’t feel so …” she slumped forward onto him, her head buried in the side of his neck. Vuko couldn’t move to check, but there was no question in his mind - she was unconscious. He was almost relieved, he wasn’t sure he could have born betrayal from Tasia.

  What good would that knowledge do him now though? They were both exposed and vulnerable, with no way to defend themselves. Vuko tried to will strength into his body, to make it stand and die fighting, but there was no use.

  Darkness descended into his mind as everything began to shut down. He had just enough strength to open his eyes one last time. So, this is my assassin? A figure stood at a distance on the far side of the room. Watching, biding their time, waiting for him to lose consciousness.

  The last thought Vuko had before he drifted into the black void was one of recognition. Yes, he knew who that was, he knew all too well who that was, and a smile began to slowly form on his face - a sweet, sardonic smile, a black line that cut through the gloomy shadows. Finally, what he had been waiting for had come.

  10. TORAC AND THE ORACLE: ESCAPING THE UNDERGROUND

  Dray opened his eyes. He was awakening from a deep slumber brought about by exhaustion. He could feel the Oracle’s body laying on the ground next to him. He knew that she was in good health, and didn’t even have to look to know that she still slept – the bond between them worked mysteriously; it was a gift from Tempus himself.

  It must surely be the next day by now, he thought. The darkness of the underground made it hard tell, but he was sure that night had passed.

  They had made their way from the Temple of Kara the previous day, then slowly worked their way down to the catacombs below. The Oracle had told Dray that the tunnels led out of the city at some point, but the place was like a maze, and the exact way out was still unclear.

  There it was again, the noise that had woken him; movement in the corridor. The niche in the wall may have kept them out of view of any passersby, but it wouldn’t provide any protection if someone discovered them. The danger level had risen, the situation tense and volatile – that noise meant that they were not alone.

  “Kayla! Kayla!” he whispered, gently shaking her awake. The Oracle slowly blinked her eyes open, she too had been sleeping deeply after the previous day’s ordeal. “Shh!” He pressed his finger against her lips to stop her from speaking. “Someone’s here.” The Oracle quickly sat up, and they huddled together in the shadowy corner of the niche.

  A few moments later footsteps could be heard, and from what Dray could tell, there may have been as many as five or six individuals. The weight of their footfalls didn’t sound heavy though, and for that, Dray thanked the gods - it meant that their owners were not the gigantic beasts he had encountered in the dungeon below Kara’s temple.

  The catacombs themselves may have been located even deeper underground than the dungeon, but probability dictated that the owners of the footfalls were going to be human, even so, they stayed concealed; watching and waiting to see what happened next.

  “This way leads to the main exit tunnels,” came a voice. “Most of the people will be heading through there … at the end, we can reach the surface.” The voice was unknown, but it was clearly male. The words gave both Dray and the Oracle renewed hope - at least now they knew for sure that there was a way out.

  Five sets of legs walked past as the couple stayed low, Dray could see that it was a Karite Inquisitor and four Acolytes. Images flashed into his mind. Images of pain induced, images of suffering, suffering he had endured at the hands of their brethren. He wanted to charge out and slay them all, but the Oracle put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

  “Don’t do anything rash,” she said, in a barely audible whisper. Dray nodded in reply, knowing she could feel his anger through the bond. “If we’re careful we can follow them at a distance.” Dray nodded again, despite his anger, he knew he had to play it smart. He couldn’t afford to be reckless now – not if he wanted to get the Oracle out of the city. It seemed that the followers of Kara were abandoning their Temple and making their way to the exits below.

  Dray and the Oracle followed the Karites for the next two hours, keeping plenty of distance between them and themselves. The Karites weren’t very stealthy, they made a lot of noise and left footprints on the muddy floor allowing Dray to track them easily - even though they were not always easy to see in the dim light.

  The Oracle was puzzled. Why were the tunnels even there in the first place? The walls were made of stone, but the floor was still dirt; they seemed to be part sewer, part catacomb. I guess they were indeed made as an escape from the city.

  Ahead the light seemed to be getting brighter and the noise louder. It appeared that the tunnel they were in was a small offshoot of the main system - one of hundreds, if not thousands, that connected underneath the city.

  “Keep together, there will be thousands of people down there,” said the Inquisitor, pointing to a ladder that led down. “If we get separated in the throng, it will be nearly impossible to regroup.”

  Dray and the Oracle watched from the shadows as the five men went down the ladder one after the other. They waited another ten minutes before deciding it was safe for them to leave.

  “Should we follow them?” asked Dray. The Oracle shrugged, there were surely other ways out further ahead, but would they find them? Could they be relied upon? There was a reason the Karites went down this particular exit.

  The massing throng could be heard down below, it sounded like half the city was down there.

  “What choice do we have?” she answered. When Dray shrugged his shoulders, they descended down the ladder.

  Down below was just as busy as it had sounded. The Karite
Inquisitor and his four minions were nowhere in sight. Dray wasn't so sure that was a good thing, after all, they did seem to know the exact way out. He sighed, the opportunity to follow had passed. Now they had to rely on the throng to show them the way out. Great! Did they even know where they were going?

  The tunnel felt like it had half of the city's citizens in it. It was a raging mass from one end to the other, and so jam-packed that Dray was hesitant to even to enter.

  “We should go around,” commented the Oracle, as she eyed the swarm of people. There was a lot of green in that sea; the green robes of Kara standing out amongst the bland colours of the throng. Most of the crowd looked to be traders and shopkeepers, all fleeing with their friends and families. Perhaps they had secret access to the tunnels from within their shops - the fact these people were still alive after the Creedic onslaught meant that they were the lucky ones.

  “How do we go around? There’s no way unless we go back up, and I don’t want to do that.” The Oracle nodded, she didn’t want to do that either.

  “Then we have to push our way to the front as quickly as possible, the further back we are, the more dangerous it becomes.” This time it was Dray who nodded in agreement. The mass of people continued to stream by even as they spoke, every second they delayed would mean more and more people in front of them - he grabbed the Oracle by the hand and pulled her in behind.

  Keeping her close, he stayed near the wall; there were a couple of inches between them and it. It wasn’t much, but in a space so densely packed, that little leeway could mean the difference between life and death.

  “Stay close, no matter what.” The Oracle held his hand tight, she had every intention of doing that.

  Dray weaved and turned, everywhere he looked there were people in his way. He could feel the anger welling inside, he had been in the throng for less than two minutes, and already he wanted to lash out. He kept pushing them away, but they kept coming back - there was simply not enough room in the tunnel for that many people.

  People pushing into him was bad enough, but when they started pushing into the Oracle as well, dark thoughts descended into his mind. I'll kill everyone in here. He pushed the man in front of him to the side and quickly slid past with the Oracle behind him. The man turned around to confront his aggressors, but they were already gone; making their way through the next group of people.

  Dray looked ahead, trying to see where this exodus ended. The mass of people stretched as far as the eye could see, and the same sight greeted him when he looked back behind him. Welcome to your nightmare, a mischievous voice whispered in his head. He pushed more people out the way and moved further forward.

  Got to keep moving. The throng was moving at a snail’s pace, it was infuriating. He could feel the Oracle behind him, he didn't even have to look to know where she was; the newfound bond that they shared told him that, and it even told him her mood.

  There was a certain sense of urgency to it. Something was wrong, he could sense that she wanted to tell him something. He stopped dead, and she stopped right behind him - almost as if she knew what he was going to do, and perhaps she did.

  "What is it?" he asked, only slightly shocked that he had accepted the bond so easily.

  "I don’t know," she answered. "But something doesn't feel right." Dray could almost feel it too, it was like something was on the edge of his senses. “Darkness and devastation are coming.” From anyone else he would have put that comment down to a gross overreaction, but that comment didn’t come from just anybody; it came from the Oracle of Tempus - the words were practically prophetic, and needless to say, it wasn’t what he had wanted to hear.

  “How certain are you?” he asked, looking the Oracle right in the eye.

  “I feel it in my blood.”

  “Move along you two,” came a voice from behind. “You’re blocking the way.” Dray turned and started walking, and the Oracle followed; he didn't want to stand still anyway.

  “So, you’re fairly certain then,” he shouted, sarcastically.

  “Yes,” answered the Oracle, softly with a small smile on her face; even in a raging throng, there was still humour to be found. Dray continued to push ahead.

  For the next few hours they continued, slowly pushing their way through the crowd. Most people didn't even notice that it was Dray pushing them; it seemed that after many long hours in the throng, people were starting to accept pushing as the norm.

  Those that didn’t accept it gave Dray a long, hard stare, and when they stared too long, he would simply flash his newly pickpocketed switchblade - so far no-one was willing to take him on.

  Dray was quite impressed with his new acquisition. It was the first time he had ever pickpocketed someone, and it was a resounding success, in fact, he found that he was quite chuffed with himself.

  He had got the idea an hour earlier when he saw an eight-year-old girl lift a coin purse out of a fat man’s robe - the ease with which she had done it left him impressed.

  He had only noticed her because she was an eight-year-old girl making her way through the crowd, and he worried that she would get crushed. She had meandered her way around; snaking in and out of the people, ducking under arms, bobbing down, and even going between the legs of some of the taller men.

  She had walked right up to the man in front of Dray and pretended to bump into him. He hadn’t taken any notice of her, but when she pulled away - a small pouch was in her hand.

  She was gone before Dray could say anything. Even though he thought stealing was wrong, a little smile formed upon his face; a smile of admiration. A little sneaky smile for a sneaky little sneak. Yes, he smiled at the sheer audacity of an eight-year-old scoundrel. Desperate times call for desperate measures, he thought, but for this little street urchin, it was business as usual.

  He snickered wildly, he didn’t even know why he found it so funny, but once he managed to contain himself, a mischievous glint appeared in his eye. These were desperate times, and this situation did call for desperate measures; from this moment forth he would just take what he needed - just like an eight-year-old street urchin. Fifteen minutes later the switchblade was in his hand - pickpocketed from his own fat, balding man.

  More time passed. This is getting repetitive, Dray thought, as they continued to make their way down the tunnel. The pace had slowed down somewhat and up ahead seemed to be getting more and more congested. We’re coming up to a damned bottleneck. He had thought the tunnel itself was bad, but whatever was ahead was much, much worse. Unless we’re coming to the end of this hell. That little bit of hope made him smile.

  Up until this point, all he had focused on was getting further and further ahead in the crowd. He hadn’t really thought about much else, except maybe how to procure himself a sword, but they were a little difficult to pickpocket, and if he got caught, which he almost certainly would, the crowd could easily turn on him.

  Dark thoughts descended into his mind now that he had time to think; the words of the Oracle were haunting his mind. ‘Darkness and devastation are coming.’ It could mean anything. Darkness usually meant the night or the absence of light. What? Night-time is coming? That in itself wasn’t a reason to be scared. But it’s what comes in the night, isn’t it? That’s what you need to be afraid of.

  And what did come in the night? The Creed? Bats? A legion of demons? No, they had already come. Devastation. No matter which way he looked at it, that word coming out of the Oracle’s mouth is what worried him. If devastation came to them in that tunnel, it was certainly going to involve a lot of death. All he could hope was that it didn't involve his or the Oracle’s, as time passed, this thought consumed his mind.

  ***

  Passing through the bottleneck was putting Dray on edge, if the crowd stampeded now, it would be an absolute disaster - there was nowhere to go, being crushed to death was a certainty.

  On both sides were thick stone walls that jutted into the tunnel. As he passed through them he wondered what they were for; he h
ad a feeling there had been a massive gate there at one time. It must have been a defensive measure. He was glad when they finally got through it.

  The more he thought about it, the more disturbed he became; the words of an Oracle were akin to prophecy. ‘It’s in my blood,’ she had said. He could feel her certainty through the bond and felt he should ask her about it.

  “How long before darkness and devastation come?” Even as he uttered the words, a titanic roar reverberated from one end of the tunnel to the other. The ground and everything attached to it trembled wildly. Dust flew up, and bits of masonry fell from the ceiling; the crowd went into a shocked silence. “Never mind.” The question seemed to have answered itself.

  Another roar came from the back end of the tunnel and moved through the crowd like a gigantic shockwave; shaking the passageway and sending people to the ground. The air was thick with dust, and Dray coughed as he picked himself up off the ground.

  "Are you all right?" he asked, helping the Oracle back up to her feet.

  "Yeah, I think so," she answered. "What in the Seven Hells was that?" Dray grabbed the Oracle by the arm and pulled her closer to the wall.

  "A prelude."

  "A prelude to what?" A third roar, deafening and louder than the others, rolled down the tunnel bringing with it fear and an icy wind that smothered the light from one end to the other.

  “That.” Smoke filled the room as the sconces smouldered. “The darkness cometh.” Dray could feel the crowd around them beginning to move; writhing like a fetid mass. He was worried that it could turn into a panic at any moment, panic would send them running. In the darkness, in such close quarters, there would be chaos, and in such chaos, death would come easy.

  “We need to get back and behind those fortifications.” Dray motioned to thick slabs of wall that cut into the tunnel. They would be relatively safe there, huddling in the corner.