The Dread: The Fallen Kings Cycle: Book Two

by Gail Z. Martin

  Ed nodded. “It’s no different than staying in the tunnels. They sealed our fates when they sealed up the doorways.”

  In the lightless underground, day and night became meaningless. Brother Albert cheered considerably when Cal and the musicians began to play, and he took Ed and Aidane at their word and put them to work.

  “Here are some herbs and a few elixirs I’ve mixed up,” Brother Albert said to Ed, handing him pouches and vials that Ed stuffed in his pockets. “Why don’t you take the room on the far side of the entranceway, while I take the room on the right? If you need me, just shout.” He then handed Ed a pitcher of water, a rag, and a goblet. “Some of them can take a little water, and if they seem to be in great pain, add some herbs. It will help them sleep. For the worst cases, I put enough herbs in the water so they’ll just drift away peacefully without waking up. There’s nothing you can do for the fever except the water.”

  Brother Albert shook his head. “Some nights, it’s like a madhouse in here. Especially up against the north wall. Don’t know what it is, but lately, they howl like wild things.” He drew a ragged sleeve across his forehead.

  “It’s been a bit better this week. Things reached a frenzy and then got quiet again.”

  Aidane shot a glance at Ed. “When did that happen?”

  Brother Albert thought for a moment. “About two nights ago. Why?”

  The night Buka died. Maybe all his killing really did tie into the dark magic that’s been about. Aidane shrugged and looked away. “No reason. Just wondered.” She straightened her skirts and dusted off her hands. “Now, where would you have me start?”

  Brother Albert shrugged. “Wherever the ghosts pull you, I imagine. When you’re tired, go upstairs. You’ll find several open rooms; take the one you like. Rest when you need to. There will be patients aplenty when you come back.”

  Cal, Nezra, and the other musicians had set up on the landing of the stairway, and soon the lively strains of a popular tavern song filled the air. Despite everything, Aidane smiled, swaying with the music for a moment. But soon enough, the spirits clustered around her, as if they, too, were drawn to the tune.

  Take my message first!

  No, mine!

  My mother is dying. I need to reach her before she’s gone.

  The spirits crowded around Aidane shouting so loudly in her thoughts that she covered her ears and closed her eyes. Quiet, all of you! I’ll work with all of you, but you’ve got to take turns.

  After a few moments, the spirits calmed, and Aidane chose one of the nearest ghosts. He was a short man with thick, dark hair that stuck out in every direction and a scraggly beard. That’s my wife over there. She doesn’t have much longer to live. Please, tell her that I’m waiting right beside her, and that I’ll go with her to the Gray Sea.

  Aidane nodded and made her way carefully in the dim light among the moaning forms. The man’s ghost guided her to the side of an emaciated woman who lay under a ragged blanket. The woman’s skin was mottled and covered with blisters filled with dark blood.

  Tell me your name, Aidane said to the ghost.

  Noris.

  And what is her name?

  Ella. Her name is Ella.

  Aidane nodded. “Ella,” she said quietly. The woman stirred slightly. “I have a message for you from Noris. Can you hear me?”

  At that, the woman slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes were unfocused and watery. “Ella, Noris’s ghost is here with me. He wants you to know that he’s next to you. You can’t see him, but I can.”

  The ghost nudged Aidane. “Noris doesn’t want you to be afraid of dying,” Aidane went on, speaking in a calm, low voice. “He says he’ll wait right here for you, and walk with you to the Gray Sea. You won’t be alone.” Aidane listened for a moment as Noris added to his instructions.

  “Noris said he believes the Lady will honor all the offerings you made to her, and she’ll let you and Noris cross the Gray Sea together to your rest. Do you understand?”

  The woman made an almost imperceptible nod. “Thank you,” she said in a voice that was a low croak, the syllables stretched out along her whole, weak breath. She twitched a bony hand toward Aidane, and it when it brushed against Aidane’s skirt, Aidane could feel the heat of the woman’s fever.

  “Sleep now,” Aidane said gently. “When you wake, you’ll be with Noris.”

  The woman visibly relaxed, and her lined face smoothed as if her pain had eased. Aidane looked up at Noris’s ghost, who knelt beside her.

  Ella was a strong one, but no one’s stronger than plague, Norris remarked. He met Aidane’s eyes. Thank you, seer. I’ve been trying to talk to her for days now. You’ve done us both a great kindness.

  Aidane swallowed back tears as she got to her feet, leaving Noris sitting beside Ella. Before she could turn, the ghosts crowded in on her again.

  Candlemarks passed, and Aidane moved through one room and on to the next, following the direction of the spirits. Finally, when she was overwhelmed with exhaustion and light-headed from hunger, Aidane sank down on the bottom step of the staircase to listen as the musicians played.

  Cal wound his drone in a steady hum and played a clever fingering that was a perfect counterpoint to the melody Nezra coaxed from her dulcimer. Bez sat behind them, drumming with a look of relaxed bliss, eyes closed, body swaying to the music. Thanal played a counterpoint on his flute. The music gave Aidane a mental image of trees swaying in the sunlight of a summer day and birds in flight, and she realized that she was unlikely to see either of those things again.

  Just then, Brother Albert appeared with a tray of wooden bowls filled with soup. “The broth’s a bit thin, but it’s warm. I baked some bread, and there’s more than enough to go around.” Brother Albert gave a self-conscious smile. “Looks like it was a good thing that I ventured up above to get some supplies before they sealed us in. I bought enough to last for a while.”

  Perhaps longer than we will, Aidane thought. She accepted the soup gratefully. A few minutes later, Ed joined her, and Brother Albert reappeared with a bowl of soup for Ed and hot, flat flour cakes wrapped in a stained cloth.

  “I really never expected to have dinner guests,” Albert said with a chuckle.

  When the minstrels finally stopped playing, Aidane realized she felt as tired as if she had put in a full day’s labor. Even Brother Albert looked exhausted, but he waved his new guests upstairs, saying he would be along in a bit.

  The upstairs was musty, filled with cobwebs and dust from disuse. Aidane could glimpse the old high-water mark on the plaster walls. It was clear that no one had bothered to make the empty rooms habitable, except for the small room Brother Albert had claimed as his own. Aidane ventured back downstairs to fetch a broom, and before long, she and Nezra had swept out two of the rooms. Any furnishings had long ago been looted, so they made do with their cloaks. Brother Albert supplied them with two small oil lamps and a flint. Aidane was tired enough that sleeping on the floor did not bother her in the least.

  She woke at the sound of Nezra’s uneven breathing. The older woman was restless, quietly moaning in her sleep. The next time Aidane woke, the others were rousing and stretching. Aidane cast a worried glance at Nezra, but the old woman said nothing. They made their way downstairs to find Brother Albert awake and singing cheerfully to himself in an off-key tenor. He motioned them to follow him down the hallway, where he led them to a small, smoky kitchen. A dented cauldron simmered over a small fire in a sooty fireplace.

  Ed cocked his head and looked at where the fireplace and chimney met the ceiling. “Think there’d be enough room to get out that way? Above ground?”

  Brother Albert chuckled. “Nice idea, but no, the passageway is partially collapsed. What I can see on this end is an opening no wider than my fist.” He motioned them to take seats on the floor, and proceeded to ladle out a thin gruel into a few dented bowls. Then he set a pitcher of water out for them to drink.

  “Not much variety down here, but you won’t star
ve,” Albert said cheerfully. He worked at the stove as they ate and accepted their gratitude for the meal with a self-conscious smile. Already, Aidane could feel the spirits clustering around her with more requests. When the group finished their breakfast, Cal, Nezra, and the others took their places on the steps with their instruments right after breakfast, launching into a vast repertoire of tavern songs. Ed followed Brother Albert from room to room, falling easily into the role of assistant. Aidane found a routine, moving from one huddled patient to the next, holding out a ladle of water or offering words of comfort if the patient had a ghostly visitor with a message to convey.

  Aidane heard a series of soft thuds from the front hallway and heard Cal cry out in alarm. She set her water bucket aside and ran to the front. Nezra lay in a heap at the foot of the stairs. Cal cradled her in his arms calling for her to wake, but Aidane could see Nezra’s spirit, disembodied and confused, hovering near her still body.

  “She’s gone,” Aidane murmured. Bez and Thanal had rushed to Nezra’s side, but Aidane shook her head.

  “She can’t be dead,” Cal argued. “She’s not even feverish.”

  Aidane remembered Nezra’s restless night, and she listened as the ghost murmured to her. “It’s not the plague; it’s her heart. She’s been having pains for a while now, but she didn’t want to worry you, seeing how there was nothing you could do.”

  “I would have taken her topside to a healer. I would have done something,” Cal cried.

  Again, Aidane listened to Nezra’s spirit, and then looked back to Cal. “She was afraid to go above ground, afraid of Buka, and of the mobs. She wants you to know that the pain is over now. She’ll stay with us, until it’s our time to go,” Aidane said.

  Cal bowed his head, and Bez put an arm around the older man, comforting him as he wept. Thanal rose, walked a few steps to retrieve his flute, and then began to play a lively tune that had been one of Nezra’s favorites. It was a spirited piece often played at parades during feast days, especially on Haunts, the Festival of the Departed. After a moment, Bez joined Thanal, adding the rhythm of his drum. Brother Albert and Ed had quietly slipped up alongside the group. Aidane knelt next to Cal, slipping an arm around his shoulders, while Albert and Ed wrapped Nezra in her cloak and Brother Albert said the passing-over litany. Then Brother Albert and Ed gently lifted Nezra’s body and headed for the door. Cal came next, leaning heavily on Aidane, while Thanal and Bez took up the rear, still playing their jaunty song, keeping up the tune until Nezra’s body was laid to rest in the building across the street.

  Aidane thought that Cal might leave them for the solitude of the rooms upstairs, but when they returned to the hospital building, Cal squared his shoulders, sniffed back tears, and took his place on the steps beside Nezra’s abandoned dulcimer, playing his drone.

  Another “night” passed, and when Aidane awoke and came downstairs, she was alarmed to see that Ed was not with the others at breakfast.

  “He said he was beginning to feel poorly last night,” Brother Albert said, ladling out porridge. “He slept down here, in the hallway. When I came down this morning, he was flushed with fever and soaked with sweat. He’s in the second room, with the others. By the sound of his cough, he may not make it until evening.” As Aidane scanned the room for Ed, a ghost slipped up beside her.

  Can you take a message to Ed for me? I’ve been waiting a long time. Startled, Aidane regarded the new ghost. She was a young woman with long, dark hair and a pretty, sad smile. Just then, Aidane spotted Ed, and she motioned for the ghost to join her.

  Picking their way across the crowded room, Aidane made her way to where Ed lay. Flushed with fever, Ed lay still, breathing shallowly.

  Tell him Cora’s come back for him. I promised him that I’d come back for him.

  Aidane wiped Ed’s forehead with a cloth dampened with cool water, and he opened his eyes, managing a weak smile of recognition. “Sorry to leave you like this,” Ed said in a raspy voice. “I thought I’d last longer.”

  “Cora is here. She said to tell you she’s come back for you.”

  Ed’s eyes widened, and then he focused his gaze on where the woman’s ghost sat next to him. “Good,” he murmured, closing his eyes. “It won’t be long now.”

  Cora reached out a ghostly hand to pat Ed’s chest. We were married when we were young, many years ago. I took sick from bad water and died two winters after we were wed. I told him on my deathbed that I’d come back to him when it was his time to cross over. He kept the ashes of my bones in a pouch with him, so that I could travel beside him.

  “That’s how he knew so much about spirits,” Aidane murmured.

  Cora’s ghost nodded. Over the years, he learned how to draw me close and keep bad things away. She met Aidane’s gaze. Go on. You have others to care for. I’ll stay with Ed. He’ll be all right.

  Weary with sadness, Aidane nodded and began her rounds. Her throat, which had been scratchy when she awoke, was rapidly growing sorer. It hurt to talk, and she found herself whispering. Aidane busied herself with the influx of new refugees, meeting them at the doorway and directing them to where there was room.

  There were enough newcomers that Aidane had stopped looking at faces, just noting the numbers on a tally and pointing to direct them. A man stopped in front of her.

  “There’s room to my left,” Aidane rasped without looking up.

  “Aidane.”

  With a gasp, Aidane looked up to see Kolin standing in front of her. “What are you doing here?”

  Kolin steered her out of the crowded front entrance and into the quiet of the hallway. “I came to look for you. I came to bring you back to the palace.”

  “But the tunnels were sealed up. How did you get in?”

  Anger glinted in Kolin’s eyes. “I brought a contingent of the queen’s guards and smashed through the wall. You have to believe me; the queen never ordered those entrances to be bricked up.”

  Aidane nodded. “I know. It was the topsiders. They’re afraid.”

  “We’ve been helping all those who want to leave find other lodging,” Kolin said. “I came looking for you.” He paused. “Why did you run away?”

  Aidane sank down on the floor and Kolin sat next to her. “I heard the talk in the palace. My presence was hurting the queen. Berry has so much to worry about now, with the war and the invasion. I didn’t want to give anyone a way to hurt her.”

  “I tracked you to a tavern near the edge of town. I knew you were there, even though the innkeeper lied,” Kolin said, and he reached out to gently smooth the hair back from Aidane’s face. “It was too crowded for me to come in and take you back. I feared there would be an outcry about vayash moru kidnappings. The Truce is too fragile; I couldn’t risk it. When I rose the next night, you had disappeared, and by the time I realized that you must have gone into the tunnels, they’d been sealed.” He paused. “Scian and the ghost blades confirmed that they had seen you. Because of you, Buka is dead. The queen is grateful, but she’s also beside herself with worry about you.”

  “I’m not that important.”

  “You’ve saved the queen’s life, averted a bloodbath at the coronation, and provided the key to destroying Buka. You’re a hero.”

  Aidane swallowed with effort, trying not to grimace at the pain. “I’m sorry, Kolin. I didn’t think anyone would bother to come after me. But I can’t go back. I don’t feel well. I can’t take the fever back to the palace.”

  Kolin looked at her in silence for a moment. “All right then. I’ll stay here with you. Plague can’t hurt me.” He reached out to take her hand. “I love you, Aidane.”

  Aidane stifled a cough. “This is why you shouldn’t fall in love with a mortal. We break too easily.” She lifted his hand to her cheek and kissed his fingers. “Goddess help me, I love you, too.”

  Aidane insisted on carrying messages from the ghosts throughout the afternoon. By evening, Cal’s drone had fallen silent, and the musician lay slumped on the stairs with Nezra�
��s ghost attending him. Thanal looked pale and sweaty, and Aidane noticed that he was missing more notes on his flute. Bez kept up a steady beat on his drum, his eyes distant, as though he were far away in thought.

  Aidane stumbled, and Kolin caught her. “You’re hot with fever,” he murmured. He sat against the wall and cradled her in his arms.

  “I never thought I’d see you again,” Aidane murmured. “Will you stay with me?”

  Kolin held her close against his chest. Aidane knew that with the heightened senses of the vayash moru, Kolin was well aware of her slowing heartbeat and of the shift in her temperature between fever and chills. “Did you mean it, when you said you loved me?” he murmured from behind her ear.

  “I love you. Forever.” The words came out as a raspy whisper.

  “Then I will stay with you. Forever.”

  Aidane gave a slight gasp as Kolin’s teeth closed on her shoulder. She sank back against him, feeling the fever and plague slip away from her with her life blood, growing drowsy in his arms. Her heart slowed, skipped a beat. Kolin turned her so that she lay across his lap, and her head lolled. He lifted his left forearm and tore back his shirt sleeve, and then he dug a fingernail into his wrist, opening a slit from his wrist up his forearm. Dark ichor welled from the gash.

  Kolin looked into her eyes. “If you love me and you want us to be together, then drink.”

  Aidane pressed the wound against her lips and let the cold ichor slip down her swollen throat, managing to take in several mouthfuls before she felt her heart stagger to a stop and her breath leave in a ragged gasp. The last thing she saw was an expression of pain and hope on Kolin’s face.

  Aidane stirred. Panic filled her as she searched her memories.

  “You’re safe.” Kolin’s voice was quiet, nearby in the darkness.

  “Am I dead?”

  “Undead.”

  “Where are we?” Aidane realized that she could not feel her lungs expanding with breath and that her heart did not beat, but her senses told her that the air in this place was cold and fresh.