‘What does she plan for?’ I asked him.
‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ll not help you with that. I have a hunch, but it might be it will benefit me not to tell you.’
‘Fine,’ I hissed. ‘But we wish to leave.’
‘Yes, I see. Wise, as no saa’dark ever leave this place.’
‘What?’ Ulrich dared ask. ‘She is selling us to the elves.’
‘Shut up, fool. You are saa’dark. That means …’
‘She sells people to the elves,’ I supported Ulrich. ‘Saa’dark are like maa’dark, unfree, but useful. Maa’dark means the Gifted Hands. Saa’dark …’
‘No!’ he laughed. ‘You fool! I am her power. She has me by the Pact. My abilities make her high. It gives her time to spin her plans, to achieve her goals. The powers keep her safe. In addition, they are vast, hugely vast powers. I am not modest, but it is the truth. Yet, even a dragon can starve.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, confused by the apparent change in subject. Then it came to me. ‘She needs us to …’
He laughed. ‘Yes. She needs you, girl and finally has you. But while looking for you, she has been harvesting food for me. She gives me flesh sacrifice. That is what saa’dark means. Dead Hands.’
‘But what flesh?’ Ulrich asked and blanched. ‘Not us?’
‘Yes, you. Dimwit. Dragons,’ he said with some enjoyment, ‘must feed every two years. I happily eat Nox’s fare weekly, but to keep up my magical powers, I have to devour things that are more than flesh. I have to feast on the flesh of a magical being. Many, in fact.’
‘What?’ Ulrich breathed. ‘Us?’
He threw his hands in the air. ‘Why, every two years she gives me the surviving, trained and powerful saa’dark. Anything from five to six of the most powerful survivors. I eat them. I remain strong, my powers renewed. So does she, by default, as she owns them. However, it seems she has been searching for a way to grow even more powerful. And she found you.’
‘She has plans,’ I confirmed. ‘And we are not here looking for a place to take a piss at, are we? We want a solution to our plight. Will you, can you help? In any way?’
‘Help?’ he said slowly. ‘I will be free when she is dead. Can you do this?’
‘No,’ I gritted my teeth. ‘You know this damned well. She is too powerful. A First Born. Perhaps something that cannot be killed.’
He smiled. ‘She can be slain by magic or blade, but not fully and truly. Her body will vanish, and she will reappear in time. No, she has to die a very final, very nasty death,’ he told me. ‘You will need a weapon of the gods for that, my little one,’ he said unhappily. ‘But now, it seems I need to give you some trust, no? So you would save your friends and one day, perhaps, me? Perhaps you shall stumble on such a weapon one day and then, with luck, slay her?’
‘I would go and save my friends, all of them, yes,’ I told him incredulously. ‘And perhaps you.’ I felt a heavy weight of responsibility weighing on my chest, sure the dragon was going to make it very hard for me to renege on any promise I gave. ‘Finding you was very hard. We have very little hope. You are our sole hope.’
He shook his head. ‘And you are mine. It's no coincidence that you, young mistress, are here. You are here because the dead boy led you to a book.’
‘How do you know this?’ I whispered.
‘That book is called Markawion. It is a Gift created wonder, crafted by the dwarves of yonder age, and master smith Brokkr hammered the pages with a chisel of gold and the skin of a traitor. It is…’
‘Your book?’ I breathed. ‘You …’
He waved a hand. ‘She took my servant and my treasures as well as my powers. Moreover, I see the dead as you do. I see them and hear them …’
‘Able was here?’
He denied me with a shake of his head. ‘No. I sense the dead and knew he was about. There are others, hiding in the tower. The boy was confused and scared and would not let you out of his sight that first year. He yearned to go as most do, but the dead dream as well, and I visit those dreams. I gave him hints of your coming deaths and nudged him to stay with you until the day you asked him to help. He did not heed Hel’s call for he was sure you would die soon. The dead are loath to travel alone, you see. Finally, in the end, he dared to explore the tower at your request. The book was not truly hidden, no. Nox knew where it was, and I think you found out as well, clever girl, by fooling the bitch. But I had a problem.’
‘Problem?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. My servant is oath-bound neither to speak of her secrets nor to show them. That was part of the Pact. Nor could the ghost touch the book. However, I sensed he loves you, in a childish, endearing way. Like he would a mother. Therefore, you were the key. And Euryale is a beast. She has base yearnings and feeding is one of them. I sensed the time was right, for she was starving, and you were there, so close to her. I pushed her.’
‘She bit me again for you? You don’t have powers, do you?’ I asked him, my fist clenched.
‘I can push, touch, strong emotions, girl, enhance them. The closer the person, the easier it is and so as she was far, it took me a supreme effort to nudge Euryale to bite you. A small suggestion sneaked into her thoughts when she was unwary. It worked. Then, the ghost got mad. I knew he would and made him even madder. I suggested Albine would suffer like you did. In the end, luck served us as he nudged the book into sight. Most ghosts can do this if properly motivated.’
‘What if the book had not fallen?’
He laughed. ‘Perhaps Nox had cleaned it so the books were unstable, but he did not break the Pact for the book was hidden before your ghost helped you. Cauldron forgave Nox his help there. My brave servant.’ The tower rumbled again, dust fell from the roof. The dragon-thing looked up. ‘As for the commotion? I think your Able caused something terrible up there. Good, very good.’ The Masked One then shook his head, with a twitch of his hands. ‘But if my treasures are gone? My book? I shall visit him in Hel one day and flay his undead hide.’
‘What if I had never seen the book?’ I asked. ‘And we had tried some other method of escape? I only spied it that first time by chance.’
‘Ah,’ he said sadly. ‘In that case, I would have had Nox tell you of me and all this charade would have been needless.’
‘But the Pact,’ I breathed.
‘He would have died for me. Sad, of course, but there it is. The Cauldron would have punished him, hopefully after he managed to betray the Pact. I’m what you call evil,’ he said steadily. ‘I’m happy you saw the book, though. It is a thing to attract attention. It calls to you, in a way. She had likely been scourging it for information on silvery fetters before she called in on you.’
‘I’ll not forgive you the bite,’ I told him sullenly. ‘But you wanted us here and have been playing long enough. We have no time for such games. Give us any solution to this problem and…’
He ignored my arrogant posture with a dismissive gesture. ‘It is a near unheard of thing for a dragon to hope to gain redemption from a mere human, but there it is. And I can indeed help you though perhaps not the way you would wish to be helped.’
‘I would like to be rid of these bonds. She will never release us, never, even should I do her bidding,’ I spat.
‘Probably not,’ he allowed.
‘Hel can release them?’ I asked. ‘These fetters? Or the elders? Such as …’
‘A dragon,’ he agreed. ‘I said no, already. And Hel is not here, sadly.’
‘Can you harness the Shades?’ I asked with a shout. ‘Dip the Cauldron? At all?’
‘No,’ he told me irascibly. ‘She has my power. That was the Pact. Ah my, you are a fiery one,’ he giggled. ‘I am her slave. Her unwilling vessel. However, I can do something. I too hope the … Eye returned and her slain, so I am no longer bound and gagged by my mistress. I will make a deal with you, and I also wish you to return the eye. I do think you should. The Eye to Hel. We shall have to make a deal. A dragon can make them, no matter their
depravity and degradation.’
‘A deal, a dragon …’
‘Pact,’ he allowed.
‘You want to curse me like you are cursed?’
‘A curse and a Pact, the latter sounds more reasonable, girl, for it gives both something. And before you start to tear your hair out, or mine, remember where you are now. In deep shit!’
‘What will you ask for?’ I asked with a small, quivering voice. ‘Is not setting you free enough?’
He laughed hugely. ‘It seems we are in a situation where a dragon tells another: “I’m sitting at the summit.” I can demand anything, for I have nothing to lose. In addition, it is in our nature to be greedy. Wouldn’t have it any other way. I do not know yet what I will want for. Perhaps I lack imagination? I will know when I will know. Nevertheless, these two promises I ask for. Kill her and then, when I wish it, grant me my wish. Refuse and perish here.’
‘This all depends on what you can help us with,’ I shouted. ‘Can you remove the Fetters?’
‘I cannot remove the Fetters,’ he sighed. ‘I grow tired of repeating it.’
‘Is this your idea of a joke?’ Ulrich spat, and the Masked One’s head turned his way. I heard Ulrich whimpering and cursing as he fell on his knees.
‘Let him be,’ I told the masked beast.
He waved a hand, dismissing my demands. ‘I gave him a headache and some modesty, that is all. He dreamt of waking up as a girl, and it did not sit well with him. The Fetters. I can wrest them off Euryale by the power of the Pact. Ah, she will be unhappy!’
‘You can … take them?’
‘They were forged on the Anvil of Brumal. They are magical and part of the Cauldron. If we make a Pact, they will obey me for the Pact can command things made of Cauldron.’
‘But you cannot make them disappear by this Pact?’
‘I might,’ he allowed, ‘but the Pact is a funny master. It might be too much to be asked for, for the Pact must be in balance. I was given life in return for my powers. It was fair, for life is a great gift. You would be given the freedom for the paltry, unlikely promise of slaying Euryale? I think the Cauldron would rebel against the Pact.’
‘I see,’ I fumed.
‘And why would you be a better master than she is?’ Ulrich asked painfully, not looking at the beast.
‘One day, I might not be,’ he allowed, ‘it is so. You know this. Yet, is it not also so that in life one must take chances? No?’
‘Yes,’ I said with a small voice.
‘Do you agree?’ he asked.
‘Wait,’ Ulrich hissed.
‘Silence, you gutless puddle of slime,’ the dragon-thing said. ‘Do you?’
‘Whatever she does, we might not agree!’ Ulrich spat.
‘She decides for the lot of you, lout,’ the Masked One said. ‘Yet while your fetters will be mine, she carries the heaviest burden. You just dreamt of waking up without your toy. Shall I make it so it is no longer a dream?’
‘No,’ Ulrich said with a hiss.
I had no choice. I looked around, seeking for an escape. All I saw were damp cobwebs fluttering from once mighty and beautiful columns, and the flicker of faraway torches.
‘Well?’ the dragon asked, a hint of impatience playing in his voice. ‘Shall we make a Pact?’
I breathed out, realizing I had held my breath. ‘I agree to grant you your wish the day Euryale is slain, and you are free and in return you will wrest the Bone Fetters to your control.’
‘So be it,’ he grinned. ‘You, worm.’ Ulrich perked up. ‘Fetch your kind. Leave the giant outside. I detest the lesser jotuns.’ Ulrich stared at me balefully but went out, and I stood next to Dana, who was coming to, slowly. Her eyes had been open, but only now they focused. I waited for the others, sure Euryale would arrive any moment. I stroked Dana’s face, wondering at her beauty and remembered all our history. She had been my only friend once.
She suddenly sat up, taking deep breaths. Her eyes widened at the sight of my armor. ‘It is I,’ I calmed her.
‘What did you do? Shannon?’ she asked softly.
‘I got caught,’ I told her.
‘Caught? Why didn’t you just leave the others? You only had to care for our needs? Why? Why did you …’
‘Silence, little lamb,’ the Masked One sighed. ‘They are here.’
And they were. Albine shuffled forward, her eyes lost. A kid, for God's sakes. Ulrich was bringing Anja forth, the blonde woman who had lost both her brothers and was thrust into a hall of madmen. She had a haunted look and clutched Ulrich’s hand painfully hard. Cherry crept to me, her short hair bobbing as she came to stand near, considering the masked man carefully, and he stared back at her. Then there was Lex. He looked wild and upset and did not enjoy Ulrich’s proximity. He sized up the dangerous master in the shadows, ogled at me, and I gave him a small, reassuring smile, and he answered it coldly.
Yes, I cared for the boy. Loved? Not sure.
But I loved Dana. Despite everything, she was part of me. She was sitting up, her thick, dark hair coiling down to the ground as she gaped at the supple armor I was wearing. ‘We are here,’ Ulrich said.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Lex.
‘He will take our Bone Fetters, and he will control them,’ I explained.
‘He will? What the devil is he?’
‘No!’ Dana yelled. ‘I don’t wish to …’
‘Euryale will not let us go, ever, sister,’ I said tiredly. ‘Can’t you see that? Moreover, we have to escape,’ I said, and she stared at the Masked One, struggling.
‘You damned snake,’ Dana hissed at the dragon.
‘Yes, Dana, that I am,’ he answered her with a warning. ‘Behave, or you will suffer, no matter what takes place.’
‘I don’t like this. I don’t wish to be held by anything ever again,’ Anja whispered.
‘She is right,’ Ulrich growled. ‘I say we take our chances and force Bilac to help us along.’
‘You didn’t leave the giant with her?’ I stated more than asked.
Lex shrugged. ‘She gave us the Shades back. That thing, the jotun said he will toss her while he waits.’
‘He will toss her head,’ I complained. ‘She is gone.’
‘A giant?’ Dana asked, confused.
‘That is a dragon,’ I told her. ‘Therefore, a giant is a minor wonder. And I shall make the Pact. We will all pay the price if we cannot fight. He can give us what we need.’
‘He is her slave,’ Ulrich complained. ‘If she tells him to cut us off, he will smile like a drunk being offered free grog and he will obey her.’
‘Don’t upset him, Ulrich,’ I growled as the Masked One stared at us bickering. ‘He has already said I will be the one to make the call.’
‘Your call,’ Anja spat, ‘got my brother killed.’
‘And nearly her as well,’ Ulrich added.
I whirled on them. ‘And it might get the lot of us killed still. We will all rot in this dungeon until I shall be used in her schemes, and you will be fed to this one, perhaps, or die in some other sadistic game of hers. There is no freedom here. There is no hope without these fetters gone. None! You wanted to escape. We tried it too late. Perhaps that is my fault, perhaps not and perhaps none of us actually trusted each other before the testing. It cost me friends and you brothers. Now we must act. He,’ I thumbed towards the dreadful man standing behind me, ‘can help us now.’
‘We cannot trust him any better than Euryale, but it will be better to fight that battle later than die here,’ Albine said with a childlike whimper. ‘Do it.’
‘Come, Shannon,’ the Masked One said. ‘To me. Ignore the fools.’
I walked forward, clutching the sword pommel. It felt cold and clammy in my hand. I stopped before him, and he raised a hand to stroke my cheek. It was a warm touch, a large, powerful hand. ‘By Tiamox the Eldest, you shall enter into a Dragon Pact with me. You shall give me what I desire, and I shall aid you here today.’
‘I will
,’ I said softly.
He grasped my face. ‘You have been infected by the Rot,’ he whispered.
‘I have,’ I agreed. ‘Many times. But it’s healed now.’
He seemed doubtful but shrugged. ‘You will slay Euryale and grant me a wish. I shall free you from Euryale’s fetters now. Fail and the Pact will shrivel your heart. Say you agree.’
‘I agree,’ I whispered.
He pressed a finger to my chest, and I felt a brief ache there. ‘Remember. One day, the day Euryale dies, I will wish for something. Or you shall die. Perhaps others.’
‘I can hardly forget it. I’m hunted by Euryale the Night Devourer, my friends are to be fed to you if I fail, my sister is in mortal danger, and the world of elves I hope to escape to has never seen a human Hand of Life and detests the very race I belong to. And now this.’ I massaged my chest.
‘It is a challenge indeed,’ he chortled. ‘Agreed?’
‘Agreed, by …’
‘Tiamox, the god of the dragons,’ he nodded, coaxing me.
‘By Tiamox,’ I whispered, and he grinned under his mask, the mouth’s outlines showing. ‘I make the Pact.’
‘So be it,’ he said and lifted his finger. My chest was pained again, briefly. There were no spells involved, but we all felt a burning in our arms and then blood was flowing thinly, curiously from the skin, with no apparent wounds. It was uncomfortable, then nearly unbearable for all, and then it was over. ‘Here,’ he said, snapped his finger, and we all lost the Shades.
‘See?’ Ulrich hissed. ‘Betrayal.’
The Masked One snapped his fingers again, and we were restored. ‘Merely testing the Pact. A dragon can be out of practice, and the Cauldron is unpredictable, at times, as I said. Now, none of them can deny you this birthright of yours, not the lesser things, nor the greater evil. Only I can. Or a god, perhaps. Go. And Shannon?’
‘I remember my oath,’ I told him tightly.
The Dark Levy: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 1) Page 37