‘We will see,’ she said heavily, shaking her head. She looked away and nodded. ‘Ulrich will take a shot at Dana when we are free. If we are ever free. He expects me to help him, for we are …’
‘Lovers,’ I finished for her.
‘Love,’ she said with a sad smile. ‘Imagine finding one here, but never a proper one at home. An Austrian, no less! Yes, lovers. We are that. In love. But if you make sure my brothers survive,’ she told me calmly, articulating each syllable carefully, ‘both of the idiotic chimps survive, I shall not help him, when he makes his move.’
‘How is this different from Dana’s deals?’ I asked her sadly.
‘It isn’t,’ she said. ‘And I don’t lie. If Ulrich asks me to help him, I will tell him no. For them.’
‘How can I help them?’ I spat. ‘I’m nearly as helpless as you.’
‘I think you have been promised something, something that only involves you two. And your sister is the hostage.’
‘No,’ I told her, looking away.
‘A lie,’ Albine said softly behind me, and I turned to look at her in surprise. Cherry shrugged from the stairs. Albine was staring up at me. ‘You are not speaking the truth.’
‘Everyone coming here?’ I asked, exasperated. ‘We should probably just stay here until morning comes and then …’
‘I asked her to come here,’ Anja told me.
‘She came here to accuse me of lies? Hardly …’
‘She wanted to talk to you in private, but she is here for another reason, as well. As I said, Dana lies. When we made the deal to work together, she lied.’
‘And she knows this?’ I asked her angrily.
Albine nodded. ‘And she has lied so many times. And you just lied about you and a deal you have to set you free. With her.’
‘It’s her skill,’ Anja said grinning.
I stared at them, uncomprehending until it came to me. I rubbed my forehead. ‘To know when someone lies?’ I asked, cursing the small Albine. ‘When have the others lied, Albine?’
‘Many times,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘The boys especially.’
‘I see,’ I said and looked carefully at Albine. The dark face grinned for a moment, and then she shrugged as she visibly calmed herself. I continued. ‘And she is a liar?’
‘She is,’ Albine said. ‘But you are not, not usually. No, you lie when you say you don’t know if she is dangerous, for you think she is. Something happened when you came here and so, we know without a doubt she is not to be trusted. While the boys lie about their girlfriends, she lies about her past. And the future. She is not to be trusted. Not even by you, new Shannon. The old one had no choice.’
‘And I am trustworthy, even if I am mad?’ I laughed bitterly.
‘Yes,’ Albine said, ‘and you are not mad. Not really.’ There was a tear in her eye, and I stared at her.
Anja hugged me briefly, shocking me out of my scrutiny. ‘She says you are not, told me the reason, and so I believe her,’ Anja smiled. ‘You will be shocked. I was. Am. And freaked out.’
‘Can she hear us?’ Albine asked and looked at Cherry.
‘She can’t,’ I said and shrugged at Cherry, who was looking worried. I thought about it, looking at their eyes, and decided not to lie any longer. I shook my head. ‘I have been promised something, yes. The prize is high. Yesterday … But what are you asking me? That I give up on this promise by our damned, hell-spawned mistress? To do what? To keep Alexei and Dmitri alive? I will do that as well as I can. I promise that.’
Anja pulled me close. ‘I think it's better to be a slave Ten Tear than sell your soul to that thing. I’d rather die fighting altogether than save my chops alone. I think Dana would not agree, but do you?’
‘I am not sure,’ I told her softly. ‘To fight?’
‘She lies,’ Albine said in a bored voice.
‘I know Dana would not agree,’ Anja stated, and I kept my mouth closed, doggedly. She nodded, finally. ‘You know what I am offering. I say all or none. I think you are a good person.’
‘I’m not always sure I am,’ I whispered.
‘True,’ Albine told us, and Cherry looked down, smiling. She could hear us.
‘Fine,’ Anja said. ‘But think about this. If she gives you what you want, freedom, Dana, we will die. You know this. The thin-faced runt, Albine there, my brothers and I, Lex even? Your happiness and freedom will taste like shit in your mouth. If you are even given it. We have to help each other.’ She leaned forward. ‘Let us agree to try to escape this very night. Before they test us.’
I stared at her incredulously. ‘How?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘But there is something we possess that will help. Something that might …’
‘We cannot go now,’ I said in a panic. I was thinking about the Rot and about Dana and the fact the Bone Fetters tied us. ‘Just like that? These Fetters tether us. We have no idea what is out there. We are helpless.’
‘We have a secret,’ she said with a whisper. ‘I told you. Something that might help us flee. Will you trust me? We will go, find a way to freedom, a way to shed these shackles. But we should go.’
We stood there for what felt like a long time. I opened my mouth to say yes. Then I closed it, and her face was clouded with doubt.
‘Very well, old Shannon. You need time.’
‘I do,’ I whispered. ‘New Shannon might as well. What is your secret?’
‘It’s a weapon, a chance to fight,’ she said. ‘At least if we are not faced with too many foes.’
‘Sounds very dangerous. Very unlikely to succeed. They told us there are no boats on this island,’ I said, my mind whirling.
She nodded sadly. ‘Fine. It is a long shot. Perhaps we have to endure the test, then, and I’ll keep our secret until I know you will help us. That you are one of us. Not just Dana’s sister.’
‘I need …’
‘Yes. Nevertheless, here is advice for you. If we survive what she has planned for us, and you decide to be a Tear, you will be our second secret. It is up to you to get close to the mistress of this Fanged Spire, tower of hell. Find ways to her confidence. Find ways for us to escape. To be free. Albine can help you. Let me know.’ I opened my mouth, thinking about Euryale’s words about my enemies pretending to be friends, asking for favors that will doom me.
I struggled. I thought of agreeing with her, and then I hesitated. Finally, I turned to the small girl. ‘Albine?’
Anja sighed, left, and pulled Cherry with her. Cherry fought her, ripping her arm free, and I shook my head at her. ‘Please. Let me speak with Albine. Alone.’
‘Come, imp,’ Anja hissed. ‘She does not need you now.’ I gave her a long look, and she got up and went with Anja, sullen as a child.
Albine came to stand before me, staring up at me. She placed a hand on mine. I crouched before her and whispered to her. ‘We should go. They might come by and then we are in for it.’
‘We can tell them we are sleepwalking,’ she giggled.
‘You have not told us any jokes this past year and now you begin?’ I asked her incredulously. ‘But we should go, indeed.’
‘Yes, in a bit,’ she agreed. She took a long breath and then spoke. ‘Do you see my brother?’
‘Able? Not now, no,’ I told her, craning my neck to stare at the darkness. ‘Is he lost?’
‘You could say that,’ she told me with a sad smile. ‘It’s been a fascinating, terrible year. When they sent us on our way, it was to spare us. I was so angry I cursed them for the past year, but I know Aunt was dying of some lung disease indeed, and we are the last ones, you see? They thought this would be the last chance for us.’
‘I see,’ I told her with a smile. ‘You were beautiful kids. But you seem much older now, though it’s been but one year. This place changes all of us.’
‘I began to grow the night we arrived.’
‘We all did,’ I said. ‘Anja said you can help me? To help you?’
She grinned. �
��Yes. I know what your skill is.’
‘What?’
She poked me. ‘Perhaps you have others and this healing is a fine, fine thing, apparently, and, of course, it is. You are a miracle amidst miracles. You are also kind, compassionate, and I often think when two people make a family, and the kids arrive, there is a bucket with this … this soul.’
‘Bucket of soul, eh?’ I said.
‘Don’t mock me!’ she said unhappily. ‘Bucket of something. One kid is kinder than the other, the other one has the brains.’
‘You saying Dana has the brains, and I’m the kind one?’ I poked her back with my finger.
‘No! Yes, I mean you certainly have all the kindness in your family.’
‘You never saw Dana when she was holding me when I was crying and miserable,’ I admonished.
She agreed. ‘That is the old Dana. Sorry, but I do not like her. And I think they gave brains to you two in equal measure. Moreover, she got all the cruelty and vanity.’
I held my face, so tired of the topic. ‘You don’t really know her,’ I said. ‘Grandma told me she is not all evil.’
‘That would mean you are not all kind and then we are both right,’ she said and sobered. ‘Perhaps so. What do I know? Yet, for one year I have seen you trying to get Able to help me, to make me and him both take part and you are so worried about both of us.’ She sobbed suddenly and took deep breaths, holding her hand over her face. ‘How is he?’
‘How is he?’ I asked, totally confused.
‘Is he happy?’ she asked, clutching my hand.
‘What the hell are you talking about? You’re scaring me,’ I said, but she did not relent, squeezing my hand until the blood was not flowing. ‘Is he fine? No, he’s brooding and unhappy and …’ I raised my face to look over Albine’s shoulder and saw Able standing on the stairs. ‘Able? Come here and deal with this. Finally.’
Albine stiffened. She glanced behind her and then looked at me. ‘You have a skill. Perhaps it has something to do with this healing gift. Perhaps not. Perhaps you have other skills as well, as I said, for you are different, as we all know. You should find out what they are. In addition, I think he might be able to help you and all of us. If you choose to try to help the lot of us get out of here.’
‘I don’t understand, Albine,’ I told her tersely. Able was walking towards us.
‘You don’t?’ she said. ‘Touch Able.’
I did. He was cool and clammy, and I held his hand. Albine’s eyes followed my hand, my fingers stroking Able’s hand, and she burst into tears. Ever so slowly, she moved her hand towards Able and grasped at him.
Her fingers went straight through him.
I let go of Able and took staggering steps back. I hit my back on the door, fell on my ass and stared at them.
‘All through your years, Shannon, you have probably had that … skill. You walk somewhere between heaven and earth and talk to people who are going away or staying for some reason. Did he stay for me?’
‘I …’ I sobbed, staring at Able, who seemed suddenly sinister to me. He shook his head and said nothing, unable to explain.
‘He wore the robe we all wore,’ I told her incredulously. ‘He wears it now. He sat with us, slept with us.’
‘You have been speaking with him for one year. Passing that ball of rags to him. Probably you did this back home with people, at your village and they all called you crazy but never told you why,’ she said with a small voice. ‘People are like that.’
‘He wears the same robe we do!’ I said again with a small panic attack making me sound hysterical.
She took a deep breath and shrugged. ‘I don’t know about the world of the dead, but it certainly has to be different from ours. They might mimic things we do, just to amuse themselves? Just because the things are familiar. Perhaps they do things they don’t ever realize? So he slept, ate and wore whatever we did.’
‘He ate with us!’
‘Did he?’
‘I …’ I began. No, he had never eaten with us. He had sat with us but never held the ladle.
‘You can actually touch him?’ she asked, her voice breaking.
‘I can. But …’
‘This is your skill. You mind does not understand the differences between the dead and living. You might have people in your life you never understood were gone. Did he stay for me? You see, the night we arrived, he fell on a stalagmite. He was pierced and bled in my arms.’ I nodded. Albine had had blood on her. ‘He was a sweet boy who used to play soldiers with his friends and he loved practical jokes, like the Russians. Now, he either waits for me or is worried about me.’
‘Able?’ I breathed.
He shrugged. ‘I … worry for her. And wait for her. For I doubt you will make it,’ he said. ‘I dream of a dragon, Shannon. Every night. It eats you. Tortures you.’
‘What did he say?’ Albine asked as she stared at the emptiness.
‘He waits for you,’ I told her hollowly, not telling her about his dreams. ‘He thinks we will die.’ I got up and staggered for a moment, holding my head. ‘My God, I cannot ever know who is gone, and who is not. They think ... they thought I was crazy. The people that approached me in our village? In addition, I spoke with them. While everyone looked on.’
‘I loved and love him,’ Albine said, sitting down and hugging her knees. ‘I wish I could go with him.’
‘You must not,’ I said. I took off my shirt and approached Able. He looked at me curiously and stood his ground as I approached. I hesitated and pulled the shirt on him, tugging at it until his cold face emerged and the shirt fell around him though not on him. ‘Do you see? He stands here.’
‘Yes,’ Albine said, holding her hand to her face.
‘Why didn’t you tell me he was dead? You had one year to do so,’ I asked her, without looking at her.
‘I didn’t wish to lose him,’ she said. ‘If … I don’t think he should wait. He should go to …’
‘Hel. Hel’s kingdom,’ I said bitterly. ‘That’s where the mortals and even some gods go, those who die of disease or old age, or accident, I suppose. The gates are closed to the other planes. And we all go to Hel.’
‘Is it a dangerous place?’ she asked as she got up.
‘I doubt it's worse than Aldheim,’ I said sourly, seething with anger and sorrow both. ‘For a human.’
Albine approached the specter of her brother, and she reached out to stroke the boy standing in the middle of the fabric bunched around his invisible legs. I walked away from them. I went to the stairs, and Albine stayed there, whispering to the unseen kid. I walked away, covering my breasts against the cold until I came to our room. I avoided the looks of Cherry and Anja and settled down to sit in the corner. I waited until Albine appeared and came to me with my shirt, and I was half surprised to see Able follow her.
She stood there before me. Anja’s eyes were boring holes in me.
‘We wish to survive,’ Albine said.
I nodded.
‘He might be able to help you,’ she added.
‘We are fettered,’ I said, hopelessly.
‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘I think you are right to refuse to leave this night. We are helpless. Therefore, we must be unfettered. Or just leave this night. If we stay, we have to find out their secrets.’
I stared at Dana, asleep. My family. They had never told me I speak with people they can’t see. Never. But I had made a promise. She was my sister. My blood. I took a deep breath. ‘Give me time to think.’
‘We don’t have much time,’ Anja whispered in the dark and stroked Ulrich, who was stirring. ‘Hopefully it won’t cost us too much.’
Next day brought death, and the price for my reluctance was heavy indeed.
CHAPTER 14
Cherry crept close to me as I tried to get some sleep. I put my hand on her cheek to see if she was cold and clammy, but she was there, curling next to me, very much alive, and the others saw her. I ran my hand through her short hair. She was my frie
nd, probably half mad as were the lot of us, but alive. I traced my finger on our chess game, wondering at my life. I felt both relieved and terrified and laughed out loud. I gazed at the ceiling, wondering at Able, who was lying down, apparently asleep, or perhaps just thinking he was. I decided the knowledge that death was not final was somewhat relieving, and terrifying both, for Able was real, lingering, not really alive, not really dead. He saw nightmares.
He might be able to help us.
Able might be able to do that, indeed. He would stick around until we either died or something changed. He had dreamt of a dragon eating the lot of us? Hopefully, that was not part of our test. A dragon. If such things existed. Surely they did.
Ten Tears.
They wanted me to help them. I wanted to. But what if that got Dana killed?
Euryale had promised us. She had promised us freedom. More. Power. I thought about Albine’s words about buckets and traits and thought there was a part of me that had thought about more than freedom. Power for the one who is powerless, has been forever?
How could it not entice one?
Dana would find it strange, but we could be equal, happy, sisters, and rulers of our destiny.
Or dead.
Especially if I grasped at the mad schemes of the Ten Tears. They had a secret that might give us a small chance, Anja had said. Small chance? Bah. The Dark Levy was just that, a levy of people unwilling to be there, and I was sorry for them. But to risk all for them? The Rot and Dana? I could not ignore these things.
Then the memory of death Cosia had spread in Trad came to me. The bits of the lovely man I had kissed raining down. The dead dancers. The boy.
I fell asleep, dreaming of Elor.
Early that morning, Lex woke me up and I nearly shrieked, for I thought Elor had come back from the dead, like Able. Lex was very close, on his haunches, and his eyes scourged me as he was shaking me. ‘Shann?’ he hissed. I bolted up, staring around me in bewilderment. I saw Able still, and he was lying on his back. It had not been a dream. In fact, I had dreamt just for an hour, likely. ‘Come on,’ he said and we got up. I groaned softly for my back was aching. Cherry was still snoring, holding her knees in a fetal position. ‘Today’s the day, eh?’
The Dark Levy: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 1) Page 23