“Ragenoz Rako.” The words escaped her lips.
“What did you say?” Theseus shouted as he rummaged through another chest, pulling out a pair of golden, jeweled gloves.
“Nothing.” She didn’t know what she had just said or how she knew them. She tried to remember the words, but couldn’t. “What are those?”
“They’re called ‘Titan Gloves.’” He slipped them on, grabbed two longswords off the wall closest to him, and swung them with no strain, as if he held thin branches fallen from a dead tree. He slung one of them onto his back and returned the other. “Once activated, the gloves allow the wielder to hold heavy weapons in each hand, making them as light as knives. Plus, they make the wearer as strong as a Titan when they’re wielding lighter weapons.” He gestured at Pearl’s sword as he removed the gloves. “What have you got there?”
“A bastard sword.” All she knew of the blade.
“Ah, one and a half handed sword. A very middle ground weapon. Versatile. That might come in handy. Make sure that’s not your only weapon. Consider something with some range to it. Throwing knives, a lance, a bow, anything that can hit that which your sword can’t.”
In the end, Pearl decided to take a bow made of white wood and a matching quiver of arrows. According to Father Alexander’s book, the bow guided its archer, making it near impossible to miss, and the arrows, with a bit of mana to ignite them, turned into bolts of burning light. Theseus took the two pistols from the table where Pearl found her golden sword. ”I made these before I started working on the rifle model. Couldn’t figure out how to make the rifle sturdy enough, so I lent them to Gen to see if he could crack it.”
“It fires mana blasts, just like the rifle?”
“Correct. Mana flows from me into the chamber, where it’s shaped into a sphere, and then fired. It shoots as fast as I can pull the trigger, which can be dangerous. If I’m not mindful, I could shoot myself to exhaustion.” He pulled the longsword, wide bladed with a simple handguard giving it the appearance of a cross, off his back and ran it across his throat. Pearl screamed, reaching out to stop him, but he laughed as he revealed his uncut neck. “This is Caliburnus Minor. The blade can never harm me, and while it is in my possession, all but my severe wounds will heal faster.”
“I have something for you, Pearl.” He sheathed his sword and searched through one of the piles of weapons he made. From among the swords, axes, and other weapons, Theseus pulled out a necklace, a ruby veiled with gold set in a dark metal base on a chain made of the same metal. When Pearl placed it around her neck, the ruby pulled some mana from her body, before reversing the flow back into her. Theseus placed an identical necklace, save for its sapphire gem, around his neck. “It’s called a ‘Hungering Stone.’ Just as your body naturally absorbs the mana in the air around you, the Stone does so at an accelerated rate, increasing the flow of mana into your body and refilling your mana stores faster. You should already feel it feeding you mana.”
Before Pearl could thank him, Theseus turned away and picked up two identical swords he had set aside. He threw the one in his left hand to Pearl, and drew his sword to show it to Pearl. The slender blade, sharp on only one side, had a slight curve to it. Pearl drew her sword and noticed hers had a circular, silver guard and a dark blue hilt, while Theseus’s had a square, gold guard and a red hilt. Though light in her hand, Pearl could tell the blade could cut through most materials and block even the strongest blows without breaking. “They’re called ‘katanas,’ used in the country of Japan in the Far East. I spent a long time there during my travels for the Brotherhood. Lived there actually, but…circumstances demanded otherwise. My…friend gave me this katana as a gift. She named it ‘Akuma no Satsugai-Sha’ or ‘the Slayer of Demons.’ With every blow this blade deals to a Khaous, I become stronger and faster.”
Theseus stared at the light dancing on the blade before pointing to the katana in Pearl’s hands. “Years after I received my blade, I created one of my own and copied my blade’s magic into the new one. It…I…The…” Theseus seemed stuck in his thoughts, his tongue incapable of producing words. “I wanted to see if I could replicate the magic as Father Alexander had done with all of the weapons in this room. It…I was not wholly successful, as your blade’s magic is partially bound to my blood. So, in your hands, it will not have as great an effect, but it will still augment your strength and speed. Not to mention, it’s a damn fine blade, if I may say so.”
“What’s its name?”
“…Hānta no Musuko. Son of the Hunter.”
“It’s amazing. Thank you.” A sword hung from each of Pearl’s hips and she strapped her new bow and quiver onto her back. When Theseus suggested she arm herself with a few more weapons, she refused. “I have my speed, not your strength. I don’t need any extra weapons or armor weighing me down.”
Theseus couldn’t deny this. Not that much fit Pearl anyway, all of the equipment and armor created for men. Gloves fell off her hands and her feet shuffled within every pair of boots she tried without moving the boots an inch. Her simple cloth shoes with their flexible, yet stable leather soles, black cloth pants, and white cloth shirt satisfied her needs. She abandoned the wide-brimmed hat of the Lamplighters, which obscured her vision looking up, and tied her hair back into a tail to keep it under control. At Theseus’s suggestion, she wore a pair of fingerless leather gloves that reached to her elbow.
Theseus, on the other hand, covered himself with weapons and equipment. His longsword strapped to his back, his katana hanging on his left hip, his two pistols tucked into his belt, the Titan Gloves slipped over his hands, a chainmail shirt beneath a leather vest on his chest, and several throwing knives concealed inside his jacket. He walked over to a golden shield hanging on the wall and stared at his reflection until another face, a woman’s, appeared on the shield surface.
“Greetings, Argonaut. It draws closer,” the woman’s face on the shield sang, before she disappeared. With a sigh, Theseus lifted the shield off the wall and placed it on his back.
“Ready?” he asked. Pearl nodded and followed him out of the room, staring at her reflection in the shield. After a few seconds, the woman’s face appeared on the shield.
“Greetings, jewel. It will come with the end of the next cycle.”
Once outside, Theseus estimated they had a few hours of sunlight before they had to prepare a camp for Nightfall. “Let’s try to put as much distance between us and these ruins before then. Let’s follow the sun.”
Pearl refused to look back as they entered the forest once again, but the screams of the dead called out for her, filling the woods with echoes only she could hear. She shifted her jacket and pulled it shut to fight the chill crawling over her.
Chapter 11
The sensation of being watched returned the moment they left New Bethlehem. Theseus laughed when Pearl alerted him to this, but as the hours passed and they journeyed deeper into the forests, Pearl noticed his head turning from side to side more and more often. His right hand rested on the hilt of his katana and Pearl sensed the mana gathering in his left palm. Pearl watched their rear, her hands resting on both of her swords. She saw nothing among the trees, but every time she looked, she swore something moved beyond her field of vision before she could see it.
“Stop!” Theseus’s hand caught Pearl’s shoulder like a vice and pulled her backwards onto her rear.
“Why the hell—?!” Pearl shouted as she stood, rubbing her buttocks.
“Watch where you’re going, instead of worrying about our stalker.” They stood at the edge of a deep pit trap, filled with sharpened logs standing erect on the bottom. The scattered bones of those animals unfortunate enough to have fallen in and the pit’s decomposing grass cover littered the floor between the log spikes. “If it hasn’t attacked us yet, I doubt it ever will.”
“Who dug this hole?” They walked along the pit’s edge to circumvent it.
“The villagers of New Bethlehem. They knew the Khaous came from the for
est, but didn’t know how to deter their attacks, so they created these primitive defenses.”
She remembered the childhood warning of not going far into the woods. “They didn’t want us going deep into the woods because they didn’t want us falling into the traps.”
“I’m sure they just didn’t want you getting lost after Nightfall. These traps were quickly forgotten after Father Alexander created the Lamplighters.” Once on the other side, they continued west. An hour before Nightfall, they stopped in a small clearing to camp for the night. On one side of the clearing, a large fallen tree provided some measure of protection as a small wall. On the opposite side, a thinning among the trees allowed them to see anything approaching them, though they didn't need to worry about an attack. Theseus took both of the lanterns and adjusted the blinders to cast a shell of light around them, shielding them from any Khaous once Nightfall fell, much like the lamps of New Bethlehem. A layer of fallen leaves, most of them from the fallen tree, acted as a thin, unforgiving bed over the grass kept short by the animals of the forest.
They ate the night’s rations of their provisions: dried meats and berries, roasted nuts, cheese, and a thin, dry bread of Theseus’s own invention. He claimed it never staled or went bad, though Pearl wished it would do either or both, just to add some flavor. They washed all of this down with careful sips from their waterskins. This might be our last supper, Pearl thought. Though she knew many, there was no dish she would rather have. A breeze shook loose a shower of leaves over their little camp, the chill biting at Pearl’s coat. Then the forest returned to its silence, as it waited for Nightfall.
“I have an idea.” Theseus stared at the lanterns, his eyes shining with their brilliant light. “Gather some firewood. Fallen sticks if you can find them. If not, cut some from the trees. I’m going to hunt for some fresh meat, so we can have a proper meal tonight.”
The idea of a hot dinner warmed Pearl and she jumped to her feet. By the time Theseus rose to his feet, Pearl already had a handful of broken sticks. Her enthusiasm waned as she moved out of the lantern light and the sensation of being watched returned stronger than before, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. A malicious aura radiated from something nearby. Rustling in the trees above drew her attention and she dropped the sticks in her hand to draw her sword.
“Theseus,” she called out, but only the rustling replied. Through a hole in the foliage, Pearl saw the figure of a creature more than half her size leap from one branch to another. Something on its forelimb shone in the dying light of day. It circled her from above, watching her sword.
“Theseus.” The creature ignored her cry and instead looked out into the forest away from their camp. It raised its human-like head, as though it heard something else. Then it pounced at Pearl.
“Theseus,” she screamed as the creature landed on top of her and the two of them fell to the ground. The creature’s hands, one of them hard and cold like metal, struggled to take hold of Pearl’s arms to stop the wild swings of her sword. Pearl managed to raise a knee between her and the creature, and kicked it off of her. She leapt to her feet and raised her sword at the creature. A boy, about half Pearl’s age, stood before her. He kept thrusting his arms out at Pearl, begging her to stop, though he never spoke a word. Slim muscles, more than a boy his age should have, toned his tan body. Black fuzz layered the top of his head. He wore a shirt and a pair of trousers, both made of deer skin and lined with fur, as well as an armlet made of a white metal, but no shoes. An upside down white handprint covered his face like a mask, making his dark brown eyes stand out.
“Who…who are you?” The boy didn’t answer, and looked away at something Pearl couldn’t see. He ran to her side and tried to pull her back towards the camp. “What are you doing?”
Theseus ran into the clearing, his Titan Gloves on and a sword in each hand. He placed himself in front of Pearl and the boy, without noticing the latter, defending them from the forest. “I heard you scream. Are you okay? Were you attacked? Where is it?”
“Theseus, there’s nothing out there.” She pointed to the boy. “Nothing except him.”
“Theseus turned and noticed the boy for the first time. “Oh, him.”
“Who is he?”
“A native of this area. One of the Ghost People.”
“Ghost People? I didn’t know there were other people in these lands.” In New Bethlehem, during what served as schooling, the children learned they lived in unclaimed, unsettled land, belonging to no one.
“Since long before we knew this land existed, the Ghost People called these woods their home, though I don’t know how far their land stretches.” Theseus grabbed the boy’s right hand and studied his armlet. It seemed unremarkable to Pearl, but Theseus took great interest in it. “Where did you get this?”
“What’s wrong? It’s just an armlet.”
“But I don’t recognize the metal or the craftsmanship. IT appears to have seams in it, as though it can come apart.” To the boy, he asked again, “Where did you get this?”
The boy remained silent. His eyes moved from Theseus to Pearl, then to something behind them. His eyes widened and he grabbed Theseus and Pearl by the arm, trying to pull them back to their camp. Pearl broke free, turned around, and saw nothing.
“Gather up the wood.” Theseus walked back to the lanterns. “It’s too late to go hunting or fishing, but at least we can be warm tonight.”
Pearl kept an eye on the boy as she picked up the sticks she had dropped, but he paid her no mind and scanned the trees, expecting to see something.
“What’s your name?” Pearl wanted to break the silence handing in the air, but the boy didn’t answer. “Do you even understand me?”
The boy nodded.
“Then will you say something?” The boy shook his head.
“And why not?” The boy didn’t answer her and resumed his watch. His head started to turn to the right, when it snapped back to look past Pearl. He leapt forward and pulled on Pearl hard enough to shake the sticks out of her arms.
“Why did you do that?” She stomped her foot and looked down on the boy, her hands resting on her hips. The boy took a step away from her, then pointed over her shoulder. “Would you stop? You keep looking and pointing, but there’s never anything there. You better pray to God there really is something behind me or I’ll—“
A slender man twice Pearl’s height, with pale skin and arms reaching down to his knees and dressed in his best black clothing, stood behind her. Pearl felt his gaze, even though his head lacked any features or indents meant for his ears, mouth, nose, or eyes. Whispers filled her head, drowning out the rest of the world. A long buried memory clawed its way to the light and a name came to her.
“The Grey King,” Theseus’s voice cut through the whispers. Pearl shook them out of her head, the forgotten memory remaining lost. Theseus, with the boy hiding behind him, approached the Grey King. “Grey King, we met once, long ago. Do you remember? It was shortly after your creation and on the eve of my departure.”
The words ‘Grey King’ echoed from the depths of her mind, but she didn’t understand their significance. The figure, the Grey King, stared at her, even as it answered Theseus’s question with a nod. Magic surrounded him, rippling the air like water.
“Who…what is it?”
“I mentioned the Four Guardians of the Black Hill some time ago. In an effort to combat the Khaous around New Bethlehem, Father Alexander performed a powerful and arcane ritual to create four homunculi, artificial beings, with powers beyond any homunculi before them. Once created and released, the Guardians wandered the forest, killing any Khaous they encountered. Unbound to their creators by design, they were rarely seen after their creation. It was assumed they had disappeared into the western lands. Yet, here one stands.” Theseus gestured at the Grey King. “I’ll sleep easier tonight, knowing a Guardian still hunts the Khaous in these woods.”
As Theseus returned to his leaf bed, the boy tugged Pearl’s arm, urging h
er to follow. She flicked free of his grasp and picked up the twice dropped sticks. With the boy and the Grey King, the two things in the forest watching them present, Pearl felt safe, though something about the Grey King killing Khaous disturbed Pearl. A wave of cool washed over her, the way a light breeze feels on a hot summer day, comfortable and peaceful. A faint humming filled the air, and Pearl assumed it came from her. The boy still pulling on her arm, didn’t annoy her so much anymore. His touch grew lighter and lighter, and soon he let go of her completely. The humming and the soft voices speaking comforting words to her in a language she couldn’t understand silenced all else. The forest faded away and she opened her arms to the serenity promised to her. She felt nothing, not even the ground under her feet.
The Grey King moved closer to her, its long arms branching into long, shadowy tendrils wrapping around her. She danced within them, jumping and twirling with joy. The Black Hill held nothing but death for her. All she needed she had here with the Grey King. She wished Theseus and the boy would join her, but they busied themselves in the lantern light, Theseus speaking to the boy and the boy gesturing towards Pearl with aggressive urgency. Theseus looked at Pearl, his eyes widening, his mouth moving in wide motions as he yelled. Why yell? With everything at peace, what warranted yelling? Everything… peaceful… good… sleepy… Her eyes and body heavy with sleep, Pearl fell backwards, certain the Grey King would catch her. His many arms collapsed upon her like a cold, but welcomed blanket.
Chapter 12
Pearl floated in a sea of darkness. With no horizon, sky and sea fused together as one. A lone star shone on Pearl. She couldn’t see him, but she knew the Grey King watched over her, bringing peace and safety. She said his name aloud over and over again, hearing the word leave her mouth and hearing nothing at the same time. The star’s light stirred a memory within her as she spoke his name. A forest grew around her and she stood next to a woman. She too knew of the Grey King’s power and grace, and took Pearl to him.
The Lamplighter (Lamplighter Saga Book 0) Page 11