Silence inside as well.
It took time for our eyes adjust to the murk and while we saw there were figures sitting on their haunches down below, it was not easy to make them out. Finally, we saw there were Bone Fetters glowing down there. Then I saw a face. Albine looked up towards us. Cherry was on her knees next to her, and Lex was before them, eyeing the shadows carefully.
I walked down, holding the sword. ‘Lex?’
His eyes glanced my way, brilliant and happy for a briefest of seconds, and then he shook his head in a terrified warning. Puzzled, I walked towards them. Cherry was not moving, only staring at the darkness, and I stopped at the bottom of the steps. Ulrich came to stand next to me, leaning on my shoulder, fatigued, and I had not realized the poison of Bilac had left him so harrowed. Albine shrugged and spoke gently. ‘You would not, by any chance, have access to the Shades?’ she asked weakly. ‘We need some careless applications of the Fury.’
‘I …’
A voice, deep as mountain’s hole spoke from the shadows. In fact, it was one shadow, and it moved.
‘Deep as night, old blood, as old as blight,
grimy to touch, with a terrible rasp,
you shall heed Thak and run from his grasp.’
The creature was huge, as big as a small house, entirely black of skin. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, though thick as many elephants and a head as large as a small vehicle. It walked forward, shackles pulling behind it, strong and thick, and it was halted short of us. The shadow went to its knees, and we saw it was wearing blue, faded pants. Its hands reached forward as it went on all fours, the face emerging from the shadows. Its hair was thick and white; beard long enough to hang to its waist, and its physique impressive, a rippling mass of muscle. Its eyes were deep and brown, and it sniffed at us, a few feet away.
‘What the hell is that?’ Lex whispered. ‘It’s been mostly sitting there, giggling, and there are damned bones strewn on its side.’
‘It can't reach us,’ Albine said. ‘But as the bitch said, perhaps people eventually rather let it eat them than suffer pain and hunger.’
‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘It is a jotun. A giant. Thak?’
‘Jotun?’ Lex asked, noting Ulrich. ‘Anja?’ he mouthed at me, and I shrugged, shaking my head. He nodded, staring at the huge man with unbridled suspicion, family or not.
‘Giant,’ Ulrich said incredulously. ‘A damned giant.’
‘Thak,’ said the creature, grinning happily. ‘Thak of the Scorched Hold. Presently and lately a prisoner of the Betrayer.’
‘Mistress Euryale?’ I asked. ‘She did tell me she has many names. All appropriate, no doubt.’ I was moving carefully next to Albine as the creature shifted its massive weight.
He rumbled and scratched his armpit, a feral smile on his face. ‘Mistress? Offal I call her in my loneliness. She is a harsh one, is she not? But I do not have to tell such stories to you, the simpering fools of the Dark Levy.’
I shook my head at him. ‘Indeed.’
‘A whole class?’ he grinned. ‘One of you must have dropped a hot coal on her toe, eh?’
‘I tried to …’
‘Free the lot?’ he asked with pity. ‘Well, well,’ he grinned and roared suddenly, stretching forward, his huge, clawed fingers burrowing stone before us. He cursed and grinned, like a mad thing.
‘He keeps trying,’ Albine whispered, shaking in fear. ‘Though as Lex said, mostly it just stares at us.’
‘Hungry, girl. That I am. What I would not give for a feast of the jotuns,’ Thak grimaced. ‘Oh, I would love to chew on a fresh whale if I could.’
‘I suppose I won’t free you,’ I told him. ‘Seeing we have no whale to occupy you.’
‘She is going to come back, girly,’ Thak said with a muttering voice. ‘There is something peculiar about you. Matters not.’
‘You would slaughter and eat us if we freed you, you starving bastard,’ Lex told him bravely but blanched as the thing grimaced at him.
‘What makes you think I wish to be freed?’ he rumbled.
‘You wish to stay here?’ I asked him.
‘Do I wish to stay here?’ he mouthed. ‘Oh, let me see. What choice do I have? Yes, yes! I can come with you and run around the cells, playing hide and seek with the mistress of pain until she finds the lot, flays some, and breaks the others. Perhaps me! Yes!’
‘You are entirely negative for a jotun,’ Albine grumbled.
‘What do you know of jotuns?’ it asked back.
‘We are learning they are morose cowards,’ Lex added.
It pulled in a huge breath. Albine nearly fell forward with the power of the inhaling wind. ‘I! Coward! You bastards. Fine. What shall we do with this thing?’ He showed me the manacles, vast and forbidding. Ulrich and I both looked at his skeleton key and both shook heads. ‘Indeed, you runts,’ Thak said with a miserable huff.
‘Look, we have a plan. It’s a terrible idea, but if you help us, perhaps we can free you and take you with us …’ I told him and considered his size. He would never fit the Dark Prayer.
‘You don’t know the spells, do you?’ Thak complained. ‘Spells she uses to travel the Fanged Spire. You will have to leg it, and there are a hundred gorgons in this tower. All maa’dark. Casters. Fury Whips of the Dark Clans.’
‘I know the spell,’ I told him. Cherry and Albine turned to look at me, and I took a long breath. ‘I can hear and see what spells others cast and learn them.’
‘Oh?’ Thak said, suddenly intrigued. His eyes took on a calculating, excited look, and for a moment, his orbs were on fire, flaming and so were the ends of his hair. A fire giant? That’s what he was, I decided. ‘I know you have more people to rescue,’ he said finally and grinned, looking like a smiling mountain. ‘I doubt you will escape here. But what the Hel. I shall try to amuse myself a bit. Will be hard. After all, I’m still chained.’
‘We shall get our friend. She can open any lock, and …’
‘No no,’ Thak rumbled. ‘You will die in that room. It holds an army of would-be rescuers.’
‘Rescuers?’ I wondered.
‘Tried to rescue this poor girl once. Now mad as hell the lot,’ he said. ‘The mistress has a habit of slaying elves, you see. Most often she hunts for the Hand of ...’
‘Life,’ I added.
‘Indeed,’ the thing said softly, eyeing me from under its eyebrows. ‘One she captured once and brought here to play with. So, the brother of the poor girl came after her with an army. What remains is there.’
‘And Anja is there with them?’ Ulrich said with desperation. ‘What have they done to her?’
Thak looked at him distastefully. ‘Nothing but terrorized her. Not a thing more. They could not, even if they wanted to. There is a host of mad elven sailors there, some women. The army is not important, no. But the captain is. Her brother.’
‘An elf maa’dark,’ I stated.
‘Red Rooster,’ he told me. ‘His name is something fancier, of course, but he favors red and looks like a bloodied rooster. A deliciously tasty morsel he is, but still powerful. He could beat you raw. Free me first.’
‘And if we free you?’ I asked suspiciously. ‘Though I don’t see how without Anja.’
‘I’ll take on the Red Rooster, the scrumptious little pirate,’ he confirmed, ‘I’ll eat them all. And shall not share. No.’ He looked suspicious.
‘What kind of a jotun are you, anyway?’ Albine asked suspiciously.
He brightened. ‘How many kinds do you know, my little snack? Fine! I come from Muspelheim, young lady. Land of thick fires and soot-black foes. Do we have a deal?’ he asked with a feral grin.
‘What can we do to free you, beast?’ Ulrich asked.
‘You cannot,’ he said sullenly. ‘But you can give me room to run around in.’ He nodded at the doorway, and there was a lever by it. ‘That will give me a lot of chain to drag around. They use me to clean the cells, the bastards.’ That curse came out so murderously it shook us.
/>
‘I can burn the lock, perhaps,’ Ulrich mumbled. ‘But not sure it is a very good idea. It seems as chaotic as Euryale.’
‘It's not, and I am,’ Thak said happily, ‘but do you have a choice? No. And you cannot burn this lock nor the chain.’ He rattled his chain. ‘It’s been made to resist fire. Fire is what I’m made of, after all. Oh, it will hold me, but I shall need you to release the chain, and if your lady is still alive, she will free me.’
‘What do you think?’ I asked everyone.
‘I say we take our chances without the beast,’ Lex told me sternly. ‘That thing …’
‘Is needed,’ Baktak yelled hysterically from the top. ‘Free him.’
‘Fine,’ I said and ran up the stairs.
‘You asked us! Not the lecherous door!’ Ulrich complained, but I gazed at the intense eyes of Thak and imagined him striding through molten pools of fire in his homeland. ‘There is a lord amongst you, Thak. Surtur. Swear on his honor, you will obey us.’ I had read of Surtur with Euryale. He was a giant who was a mighty lord of Muspelheim, his sword molten fire and one day, he would slay Odin. ‘That you will follow me.’
‘You know Surtur, perhaps?’ he asked carefully. ‘Few humans find Muspelheim hospitable.’
‘I …’
He thumped his fist on the ground so hard our ears rang. ‘Fine! I so swear,’ the thunderous thing agreed, raising himself up to his knees. In the dark, his eyes and hair seemed alight with fire. ‘I swear on Fire Pants himself I will do your bidding, and I shall feast very, very well.’
‘So be it,’ I said heavily and pulled the lever.
A rattle of chain. It ran free of some holes in the walls, and more and more of it heaped around the giant. This had a remarkable effect on it. It whooped and jumped, landing in the middle of our group, scattering the lot. Its hand flew for me, and it grasped me up, leaving only my head free inside its huge, dark fist. It brought me level with its eyes. ‘I shall tell you, young one, a sad fact. There are a thousand lords of the fire jotuns, and Surtur is my lord’s enemy.’
‘A liar and a traitor,’ I said in his tight hold. ‘Like Euryale.’ I felt Ulrich gathering strength for the flame whip, a pitiful weapon against the thing.
‘Do not, boy,’ Thak said, pointing a thick finger at Ulrich. ‘Do not make such a mistake, for you cannot harm me. Fire is useless, did I not tell you so?’ He shook his head at us, his mane of hair sweeping the floor as he roared. He tossed me down on my rump. ‘But I shall humor you and myself, little ones. Red Rooster is the lord of the lunatics, and I shall deal with them. Why? Because I love battle, and I doubt I am going anywhere after her vileness kills the lot of you. I want peace, and the Rooster’s wailing idiots keep me awake. Follow and fight for yours.’
He got up and ran for the door, swift for such a large creature. He dived for the doorway and went through it in a surprisingly agile way, leaving us blinking, and the rest of us could only stare at each other as we ran after it, avoiding the rattling chain, which managed to trip Cherry in any case.
‘What the hell did you do?’ Albine asked dubiously. ‘It’s like a gigantic, evil child.’
I spat. ‘I tried to get us out of here.’ I grinned as we followed Thak. ‘Still am.’
‘Well done,’ Albine said.
We found Thak, and he was staring at a red door. He was yanking at the chain, gathering lots of it as he licked his lips. He seemed slightly smaller than he had in his room. Then, when he was happy with the amount he had gathered, he roared so hard our ears thrummed.
‘Gods, be quiet, you fool!’ I yelled.
‘Gods are quiet,’ Thak rumbled. ‘I’ll make up for their timidity. Let me have my fun.’ Then he kicked at the door. It exploded into splinters with an enormous boom. Only the magical lock stayed in place before falling to the rubble.
‘Mad thing, mad, mad,’ Baktak the door complained. ‘Make your prayers.’
‘This was your idea, Baktak!’ I screamed.
Thak entered the room, shrinking to fit the doorway. He could alter his size. We followed him and stared at a bizarre sight.
Anja was unshackled in the middle, sobbing, her face buried in her arm. She had freed her locks and chains, but she could not move.
Around her were many creatures. Elves, possibly, for some had the remains of thick hair.
They turned to stare up at us.
None had arms. None had teeth. Nor tongues. All were clothed in red rags, huddling around her, others speaking to her sweetly, some venting vile, slobbering threats and some just asking her name, repeatedly, their words barely comprehensible. They were all mad, their eyes full of terror, envy, and hate. Across the door of the circular cell stood a throne made of small bones. A figure was sprawled on it. Thak smiled wickedly as his size increased swiftly. ‘That is the Red Rooster. A pirate and a maa’dark, elven lord and mighty caster of spells. A lord of the second house, Malikar! Maa’dark noble and a fool who tried to challenge Euryale to release his sister and rob her of the island. These are his followers. And my dinner. Here, Rooster!’
The figure on the throne stood up, chained to it. He wore red all across his thin body. His crimson boots and pants were worn and dirty, and he wore a curious, pink feather-crested hat. We could all see he was very, very fair, sort of ethereal and strangely angular, his eyes silvery white, hair dark and hugely thick and long, and his piercing voice made a kind of surprised, fateful oath. ‘Intruders!’ He was mad, crazy as his men.
‘An elf?’ Ulrich breathed and then things began to happen.
The elf cursed, and Thak jumped down in the midst of the hundred strong throng of maniacs like an angry hill, burying some. The elf lord grasped a spell of Fury with both hands and a sort of a fiery shield surrounded him, similar to what I had seen in Trad, leaving a circular, vague figure in sight, dancing and casting more spells. Thak took no note of him as he stepped on the maniacs, sweeping his claws across, tossing remains of the helpless, handless enemy around like broken toys. A sizzling hot wind tore across Thak’s chest, ripping at his hair, but had no effect on his thick, fire-resistant skin. The giant grinned at the elf’s mistake. He grabbed a handful of charging, handless maniacs, crushed them into pulp and picked up Anja and tossed her behind him. We ran down to retrieve her.
‘Ulrich, drag her away!’ I yelled.
‘You’ll need me!’ he complained.
‘We need you later,’ I said and stepped forward, not sure what to do, how to help Thak, who was apparently having an enormously happy time.
‘Where are you going?’ Lex asked desperately. ‘You have no spells against such as them!’
But I did.
The elf was dancing on his throne, the fiery shield moving back and forth as he tried to break free of his shackle, muttering madly, his mind broken even if his spirit for a fight was not in any way cowed. He was gathering spells, this time of frigid wind and ice, and I saw what he was doing. Suddenly, ice spears grew up from the ground, splitting the room in two, impaling the mad elves by the dozen, their stubby arms flailing in the air as they rose up, spilling blood on the ice. Thak was still gleefully kicking the mad, skittering crewmembers of Red Rooster around and seemed oblivious to the caster. ‘Thak!’ I screamed, and the giant turned to look at the impending doom of the spell, blanching. He moved, but too late. A dozen such spears rose from under him, spilling madmen and stones, and one impaled his foot. He screamed and fell, cursing at the sharp weapon lifting him up by the wound, leaving him hanging upside down. I ran to him, slicing my sword across a hollering madman running heedlessly at me, leaving him dying and kicking. I did not give it more thought as I went forth.
‘Shannon!’ Lex screamed after me.
‘Get back here, you stupid, red-haired idiot!’ Ulrich agreed, having dragged Anja to the doorway.
Thak was squirming in pain, tearing at the ice holding him and managed to break the icicle, spilling him to some squirming madmen, flattening the lot. Thak was rolling and trying to get up, but
he was in trouble. The elf was apparently laughing happily inside his sphere of protection. A dozen madmen, their handless arms flailing, turned to me. Lex was next to me, grasping at my shoulder, but I pushed him away. I remembered what Cosia had done to push and pull us around and I harnessed the Fury and felt I overdid it, for I felt weak as I pulled at tumbling ice and whirring wind. I failed the spell, the winds barely tossing my hair around. The elf was releasing another spell, one Bilac had used, and a dozen icy hands protruded from the ground and grasped at Thak, tearing at his sides, and some even held him doggedly down. The giant bellowed in incredulous anger. I grunted and mimicked the elven spell.
I wove a similar spell he had and then released the power. We saw misshapen icy hands grasp at the madmen, clawing at them, all of whom fell, shrieking in pain, blood flying as the hands kept gouging at the twitching foe. The elf turned to look at me in surprise, and the ice spears reappeared, grew, and changed direction for me. They were cracking, becoming thinner and sharper as the elf perfected his craft, and the dangerous spears looked near sentient as they raced for me. I released the spell of the icy hands, and in my mind saw the intricate spell he had used, and knew what to do.
I touched his spell and unraveled it.
I tore at it, interrupted it and left it in ruins, and a chill wind was all that remained and the elf flew on his back as his icicles stood sullen and silent, still for now. It was an enormous effort, but surprisingly successful. It left me exhausted, however, and on my knees. The elf moved to a seated position, his face hard to see through the guardian spell, but there was likely an acute look of disbelief on his features.
The Dark Levy: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 1) Page 34