by M. R. Forbes
She laughed and put her hand to his cheek. "I'll wait for you up ahead. Don't worry, I won't look."
Their eyes met one last time as she walked past him.
Was it disappointment he saw?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Eryn
"It isn't locked," Eryn said, pushing against the door and watching it swivel open without a sound. The inside of the tower filled with sudden light.
There wasn't much to see. A stone dais extended forward past the archway and ended in a large, dark hole. On either side of the platform were plain iron slats that twisted around the shell of the tower, rising up into the high reaches of the structure, and falling down into its depths.
They made their way to the edge and looked up, but without any windows the light could only make half the journey. They looked down, and again saw nothing.
"Which way?" Wilem asked.
Eryn put her hand up and closed her eyes. "Do you feel it?" There was a pulsing in the air around them, a steady rhythm that she could feel in her soul. It reminded her of the forge, and of days spent with her father.
"I don't feel... wait." He too closed his eyes. "Yes, I feel it."
"Down," Eryn said.
That was where it was coming from. That was where they were being pulled.
A light appeared in Wilem's hand, small at first. It grew nearly to the size of his head, providing enough illumination for them to see the steps clearly. There were no rails, no guides. One slip would send them tumbling to their death.
They started the descent. Eryn took the lead, navigating slowly at first, but picking up speed as she became accustomed to the distance and angle between the iron beams. They spun around the tower, making their way downward, but still not finding the bottom.
They had lost sight of the entrance when they heard the first bang. It came from the depths, and echoed up the tower, sending a vibration through the iron at their feet, and shaking their courage to the core. It came again a few seconds later, and then was joined by a second.
"What is that?" Wilem asked.
Eryn stopped moving. "Do you think someone is alive down there?"
"I think we should check ahead, just to be sure it's safe." Wilem guided the light away from them, floating it further into the dark below. He weaved it from one side of the tower to the other, until it threatened to be absorbed by the black. Just as he started to pull it up, Eryn pointed at something.
"Do you see that?"
He followed her finger down until he found it, against the wall near the light, a dark red smear.
"It looks like blood."
"It looks like fresh blood," she said. "It's still moist." She looked back at him. "Bring the light back so we can go down to it."
Another bang shook the beam. Two more followed close after. Wilem's light floated back towards them.
"This is taking too long," Eryn said. She starting running down the steps, her feet light and agile along the iron bars.
Wilem hesitated for a moment, and then continued behind her.
They raced around the inner wall of the tower, feet treading lightly on the steps, which shook every few seconds from the pounding below. Around and around they went, Wilem's light joining them and guiding them down to the spot where they saw the blood.
Eryn stopped when she reached it. She leaned in close, smelling it to make sure it wasn't the strange black liquid of the ircidium man. It wasn't. It was blood, she was sure. It was smeared along the wall like whatever had left it was injured, and had bumped against it on its way down.
She drew her sword.
"I don't know if whatever left this is a friend or a foe. Be ready."
The banging continued, so much louder than it had been before. It vibrated the beams so strongly that her vision shook with each strike. She noticed that the strange rhythm had grown stronger too, turning into a throbbing like a heartbeat.
They continued down, circling and circling, the pounding growing in pitch and intensity. The darkness below finally began to subside, and now they could see a ring of light at the bottom of the tower, It was surrounding a large stone disc positioned in the center of the floor. There was no sign of anyone else, and no more bloody stains.
"We're almost there," she said. Her legs were tiring from the descent, but she felt rejuvenated by the sight of the ground. They rounded the tower another twenty times or more, and then finally reached the bottom.
The center of the floor was occupied by the disc, a single stone block only inches deep, resting on the ground between flat, round stones from which the light was emanating. To their immediate left was an archway, and on the right side of the wall was another. The glow revealed a handprint on the frame of that entry. A bloody handprint.
"It looks human," Wilem said. He clutched his ears as the banging continued. Now that they were at the bottom, it was loud enough to drive them mad.
Eryn walked across and examined it. "Still damp." She winced at a particularly loud bang.
"Do we follow?" Wilem joined her at the arch.
"Of course."
They moved through the archway, into a long corridor lined in what looked like a mixture of iron and ircidium. It twinkled against the magic light, making it look like they were walking among the stars.
"If I wasn't so scared, I would think this is beautiful," Wilem said.
The corridor went straight for a hundred feet, and then split in half. The passage on the left ended at another set of steps. The right went on into the darkness. Another handprint was on the wall near the stairs.
Bang!
The noise was louder, and they could tell it was coming from down the stairs.
"Maybe whoever is in here is making that noise," Wilem said. "Maybe they're trying to scare us off."
"I don't think they would know we're here," Eryn replied. "The banging is too loud for them to hear us on the steps." She walked to the stairs and went down. It dropped at least another hundred feet,
The banging stopped.
It had been with them so long that the sudden silence was more frightening than not knowing where the noise was coming from. Eryn held her breath, feeling her heart pounding and gaining a new sense of the throbbing she had experienced when they had entered. It was stronger now, much stronger. Underlying it was a renewed feeling of discomfort, similar to what she had felt in the mist.
"I think there's another metal man down here," she said. She could tell by Wilem's face that he felt it too. "We need to concentrate on keeping our magic under control."
"At least we'll know when it gets closer, and we can try to get away."
Eryn wasn't sure. She had thought she had seen its face in the mist before the fear had gotten too strong. What if it was watching them right now?
They kept moving, following the corridor back the way they had come. The steel and ircidium was gone now, replaced with flat earth, as though the dirt that had once occupied the space had been compressed around the open area to create the shaft. The flat white stones were embedded in the ceiling over their head, casting an eerie light that allowed them to see the length of the corridor.
"I think we're back under the center of the tower," Eryn said when they passed out of the hallway and into a large room, similar to where they had landed at the bottom of the spire. Instead of a stone disc in the center of the floor there was a steel lattice. Or, what used to be a steel lattice. The iron curled outward, leaving a wide hole through the grating to whatever waited below.
They approached it cautiously, inching over to the opening and looking down. The thick mist rose up from the depths and was being pulled into a dozen holes encircling the floor below them.
"Something came up from down there," Wilem said.
"What could have made a hole in iron like that?" Eryn asked. The metal man's warning echoed in her head.
It hides. It hides. It hides.
Was it still here?
"Eryn, look. More blood." Wilem pointed to another passage on their l
eft. Sure enough, there was a small red smear at shoulder height.
She swallowed her fear. If they hurried, maybe they could get out before anything could find them, or before they could find it. "Come on."
They walked quickly, following this corridor until it ended in a large, open room.
"This doesn't look good," Wilem said.
Wooden tables had been arranged in a barricade, pushed over so the tops faced them, and stacked together to give them height. A number of chairs lay in pieces around the room, many broken into sharp spears. The earthen walls were dented and impacted with bits of stone and pieces of the chairs, and dark stains of dried blood caked the floor. There was a red hand-print on the corner of the barricade. Whoever had gone through had pulled themselves over it.
"They were trying to defend themselves from something. Like they knew it was going to get through the floor."
Only, there were no bodies. No clothes. The stains were the only sign that people had died there. What had taken them away?
Eryn held her sword in front of her and approached the barricade. She leaned over when she reached it.
The other side was clear. No bodies, nothing.
Wilem joined her there. "I'm beginning to think the bones we passed outside... they were running away from whatever got in here. The metal men, they haven't been able to stop it, or catch it."
Eryn planted her hands on the table and vaulted over. "If they couldn't stop it, we can't either. Let us hope if its still here, that we can stay out of its path."
Wilem's face was pale. "We don't even know where we're going. We're following someone's blood, for Heden's sake. I'm sorry, Eryn, but this is making me think coming here was nothing more than a big mistake. We aren't going to learn about him down here. We're going to die."
Her voice was a harsh whisper. "If you want to leave, the exit is back that way. You can wait for me up on the ridge, or you can go back to Edgewater. Even if there's nothing down here, Silas didn't die for us to give in to fear. Davin and Saretta didn't die so we could put our faith in our cowardice. I'm going to search this place until I'm satisfied. If I live, if I die, that is in the hands of Amman."
She stood there, staring at him, fury in her eyes. How dare he suggest that they leave after all they had sacrificed to get here? She would rather be dead than abandon the promises she had made. If Wilem had learned anything from their time together the last few days, he should have learned that.
"Well?" she asked. "Are you going?"
He took a deep breath, and then reached out and wrapped his arms around her. Before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers, pressing against them with a mixture of fear, passion, and desperation.
She didn't resist him this time.
His lips were warm and soft, and they tasted like salt and heat. She had never kissed anyone before, and in the moment she forgot almost everything else. Almost. She pulled away as abruptly as he had swooped in.
They looked at one another in silence.
"What was that?' she asked him at last.
"I didn't want to die without having kissed you again." His face flushed. "You kissed me back."
She tried to ignore the pounding of her heart. "I didn't want to die without having kissed someone."
The statement made them both laugh softly, their tension and nerves finding the release they needed.
"Like I said before, I'm not going to leave you. Not now. Not ever. I'm sorry. I let my fear get the better of me."
"You're still here. That's what matters. Come on."
They passed through into the next room, finding another mess of furniture and stains of blood.
The banging started again.
It was close, so close. Close enough that they jumped in fear and turned around, facing back towards the twisted metal grate.
Bang!
It was a little louder.
Bang! Bang!
Louder still.
They were sure it was coming from the depths, from the mist below. Only now they weren't moving, and it was getting louder.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
It vibrated the floor. Bits of dirt and dust shook loose from the walls.
Bang! Bang!
They ran back towards the barricade together, ducking down behind it and peering over when they reached it, sure of one thing.
Something was coming.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Wilem
Wilem glanced over at Eryn. Her eyes faced forward, her jaw set in defiance. She was so strong, so brave. He took a deep breath, and tried to counter his desire to run. He pulled Silas' sword from his hip, holding it at his side and trying to remember his lessons.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
It sounded like it was right on top of them, but they couldn't see anything. The broken floor was visible in front of them, bathed in the light of the flat, white stones. His own light faded out of existence.
"If we need to fight, we'll fight," Eryn said. "Be at peace, Wilem. I won't let anything happen to you."
He was surprised by the sentiment.
I'm supposed to be taking care of you.
A hand appeared on the metal.
It wasn't a human hand. It wasn't the hand of an ircidium man.
It was grey and scaled, the fingertips ending in sharp points. It was large, larger than a man's hand by three at least. It was followed by a muscled arm, and then a grey head with sharp, tall ears and a bony face. Dark eyes peered out on opposite sides of a wide, flat nose, which led down to a large mouth.
It rose past the hole, and shifted forward on its hands and feet. Massive, claw-like feet attached to huge, bent legs. It wasn't wearing any clothes, but there was nothing to indicate that it had a sex.
It lifted its head into the air, looked back and forth a couple of times, and then motioned with a claw. A whole group of the things climbed out.
That can't be what was causing the banging. They're too small to make so much noise. Besides, how can anything hide being so loud?
Eryn tapped on his shoulder. "If they come this way, we need to ambush them. I can create a distortion field and we can kill them all before they can move."
"You'll use up your strength," he whispered.
"My strength won't matter if I die, and anyway you have the cure."
He didn't like it, but he nodded. He leaned up to see past the barricade. The monsters had moved away from the grate, but he could hear their hands and feet scraping on the ground.
Bang!
The noise sounded near the floor.
Bang!
Wilem didn't understand the banging. Why were they doing that?
A creature appeared in the doorway. Wilem ducked his head, his breath catching in his throat.
"They're coming," Eryn whispered. "Get ready."
His heart was pounding, and he could feel a cold sweat forming. He held the sword ready and tried to calm himself enough to summon his magic. He would need it to not be left outside of the field.
He looked over the tables. All of the monsters were moving towards them. One pointed at them. No, past them. To the blood stain on the wall. They shrunk back for a moment, as if the sight of it frightened them.
"Get ready," Eryn said again.
He could feel her power growing. He summoned his own. The monsters' ears perked up, and they looked at the barricade as though they could see right through it.
"They can sense it," Wilem said.
"Chronus," Eryn whispered.
He felt the wave as she released her energy. It ran through him, and he focused, fighting to keep himself in sync with her power.
They planted their hands on the tables and vaulted over. The monsters were still, motionless, caught in the field.
Except a new monster had joined them.
It was ten feet tall, with a broad, sharp head of points and ridges, and pale blue eyes set deep under a heavy brow. Its flesh was a dark, mottled gray, its limbs angled and stiff, as though it w
ere fashioned from stone or wood itself. It bore a resemblance to the ircidium man in size and shape, like one had been modeled after the other. It too was devoid of clothing or gender.
They hadn't seen it climb out of the depths. It hadn't been there even a moment ago. It saw them, and smiled.
"Wizards." Its voice found their minds. It was cold and rich, almost melodic. "Not what I was expecting to find."
Eryn didn't hesitate. She charged the creature, her sword coming down in a quick stroke that would have bit deep into its side.
If it hadn't caught her wrist.
A long arm reached out, so fast it made Wilem wonder if they were trapped in a distortion field of their own. It held Eryn's arm tenderly, and used its other large hand to disarm her, careful only to touch the hilt.
The blue eyes stared into hers. "Could it be?"
"Eryn!" Wilem started to charge. The creature's head swiveled back towards him.
Then it was gone.
So was Eryn.
Everything began to move at regular speed. The distortion field had fallen, but somehow the... thing had kept Eryn in it and made its escape. Or had it? Maybe it was still there, invisible outside of the altered timeline.
Wilem stumbled to a stop. He was surrounded.
He felt the wetness of his blood on his cheeks. He gripped the hilt of the sword a little tighter.
The Curse was shifting inside of him.
It was afraid.
"It is near."
The monsters around him cried out, and an ircidium man erupted into the room behind them, blocking their escape. They ignored Wilem, launching themselves at it in a flurry of weight and claws, desperate to escape it.
It punched one in the side with its free hand, launching it into the wall with such force that Wilem could hear its body shatter. The huge sword cut another in half.
"It is near. It is near."
The monsters jumped on it, pushing it backwards. It reached up and pulled one off, crushing its head in its massive hand. The sword swung in a tight circle and killed another.
There were only three left. Wilem swallowed heavily. Eryn had to be alive. It had taken her, but she had to be alive. How was he going to find it, if it was invisible outside of a distortion field?