Blood, Blades and Bacon (Thorns of the Shadow Book 1)

by Matthew Roys

  “If you know why I’m here then you know why I need them,” Déaþscúa answered simply.

  “Indeed,” Ghodot said in a slow, cold voice. “They are your soldiers, your current instruments of death. Poor choices, I fear.”

  “Enough small talk,” Déaþscúa said, standing up to stare the fairy ruler in the eyes. “Will you create the faegate for me?”

  Ghodot laughed. The sound was musical yet sinister. “We will do anything for a price. The question is not will we comply but will you pay?”

  “What is your price?”

  Ghodot’s lips split and curved into a smile that revealed the front row of razor-edged teeth. “For you? People say that you know more than every other living being. I simply want your memories. All of them. Copies of course. They will be delectable. I will gain weeks of amusement from them at the least.”

  “Deal. You’re welcome to them so long as I don’t forget a thing.”

  “Deal,” Ghodot all but purred.

  The fairy removed a small scroll from a pouch at his side and quickly scrawled across it with a quill. Once he was finished, he handed it up to Déaþscúa who took a moment to read through it before signing. Satisfied, Ghodot returned the scroll to its pouch. He rose slowly into the air to hover an inch from Déaþscúa’s face then held out both arms to place his hands over Déaþscúa’s eyes. Nothing outwardly happened other than both men visibly flinching, but after a few seconds, Ghodot moved back to the balcony with a dazed expression.

  “The rumours did not exaggerate. This is wonderful yet oh so bitter. It will take me days to process all of this information. I will start at the beginning to see what makes a man such as yourself tick. Tell me, how do you live with yourself? So much guilt and grief. It is beautiful,” Ghodot whispered.

  Déaþscúa’s voice was hard as steel. “Answers weren’t part of the deal. Open the gateway.”

  “Not just yet,” the fairy said melodiously. “These two are wanting access as well, correct? Then they will need to make payments too. Also, you only made a deal for me to create a faegate. You never added in that you wanted to pass through it yourself.”

  “You bastard!” Déaþscúa growled. He looked on the verge of lashing out at the tiny man.

  “Now now,” Ghodot chuckled. “Calm yourself. Remember that you cannot leave this realm without my express permission. To strike out at me would mean never returning. What I want is simple. I want her body,” he said, nodding to KT.

  “You what?” KT blurted out. “You damn midget pervert. I’ll grind your bones to dust then set the remains on fire if you even think of touching me.”

  Ghodot held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Not like that, my dear. You see, we fairies are creatures of the ethereal. You are mostly water while we are mostly light. As such, we are not exactly physical. I want your body to be my own.”

  “You’re crazy. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m kinda using it. I don’t plan on giving it away,” KT told him testily.

  “That is my condition for anyone to pass through the faegate. Your options are to accept and carry out your plan or to go back home having failed.”

  “This is bullshit,” Kai snapped. “Think about it, shrimp. Do you really think you could stop us from finding a way out? Déaþscúa knows everything and we wouldn’t be afraid to butcher you all until we succeed.”

  Ghodot laughed dryly. “That would be a good bluff if Déaþscúa hadn’t just given me his memories. I can tell you for certain that he does not know of any way to escape. Look, you get to kill Black Annis and I get a nice new body. Everybody is happy.”

  “Except for me!” blurted out KT angrily. “What the hell happens to me in this scenario?”

  “You become a fragment of mind locked away in the back of your own head. At least until I can transfer your mind into a different body. I could give you any body you want. That would be part of the deal of course.”

  “Forget it,” Déaþscúa said. He turned his back on Ghodot and began to walk away.

  “Annis will win if you leave. That is fact,” Ghodot shouted after him.

  Déaþscúa held both his middle fingers up and pointed them back at the fairy. “Take your deal and shove it up your arse-”

  “Deal.”

  Déaþscúa froze in place at the word. Kai looked dazed as though he had just been struck in the head. Ghodot smiled a smile of pure triumph.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Déaþscúa finally managed to blurt out. He faced her with an intensity in his eyes that would have stunned her into silence when they had first met. “There’s no going back from that kind of deal. We’ll find another way, mark my words.”

  She shook her head determinedly. “No. We don’t have time. You said so yourself. If you don’t stop her now she may never be stopped. Who knows how long it is until she plans to open this Heaven’s Gate thingy and kill all of us powerless.” Before Déaþscúa or Kai could argue she placed her attention on Ghodot. “I agree to your terms. Let’s do this.”

  Déaþscúa ran back to get between KT and the fairy but hit an invisible wall. He hammered at it to no avail. Kai moved to grab his sister but was stopped too when the host of fairies circled around him like a tornado. Ghodot fluttered over to KT without hurry. The smugness on his face permeated from him like heat. He took another scroll from his pouch and handed it to KT once it was complete. She signed it without hesitation. After sliding the scroll home, he placed his hands on the centre of her forehead.

  “This won’t hurt a bit. You have my word. It may be very uncomfortable though.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “Good.”

  Ghodot started to make a low whistling sound almost like wind through leaves. His body was faintly glowing with a pale white light. Slowly but steadily, his hands sank into KT’s head, followed soon by his arms then the rest of his body until he was gone.

  KT stretched her limbs, a joyous look upon her face. She shivered violently then relaxed all of her muscles.

  “This is wonderful,” she said. It still sounded like her voice but the inflection of the words was all wrong. “The things I could do with a young, supple body like this.” Her hand tugged at her clothes, stroked her hair and groped her breasts. “The things I will do with this body.”

  The other fairies returned to their prior positions and the invisible force holding Déaþscúa back disappeared. Both he and Kai rushed forward but stopped before reaching KT.

  “KT?” Kai said unsteadily. His sister’s face smiled up at him but those eyes were cold.

  “She is gone,” Ghodot replied simply.

  Kai’s lips twisted into a snarl. “You bastard. What do you want from me, eh? My eyes? My kidney? My awe-inspiring sense of humour or my stunning good looks? My damn soul?”

  Ghodot stepped up to Kai then kicked him in the groin without warning. The young man made a strangled squealing sound and toppled over like a felled tree. The fairy looked appraisingly at the heavy boots on KT’s feet.

  “Consider that payment,” he told Kai’s quivering body. “These are nice boots. This girl had good taste.”

  “Indeed she does,” Déaþscúa said quietly. His voice grew louder. “She is also smarter than people give her credit for and is reckless beyond belief. Do you want to know the most important point in regards to her that you really should have knowledge of?”

  Ghodot eyed him, suddenly suspicious. “And what would that be. She is a powerless girl whose mind and personality have no bearings on me now.” Despite this, a look of concentration suddenly appeared on KT’s face as the fairy began to search through Déaþscúa’s memories.

  Déaþscúa flashed him a smile of his own. “You see, KT is more than likely an accipere resistant. I have no real idea how that would work with a fairy possession but I’m willing to bet she was confident that you wouldn’t be able to take over her. It did work against vampirism.”

  “I already control her,” Ghodot snapped. “I feel brilliant. Undefeatable. She
can do nothing. She IS nothing.” No sooner had the words left KT’s lips then she flinched. A frantic look crossed her face. Her eyes darted around wildly.

  “What’s the matter, King of Fairies?” Déaþscúa asked mockingly. “It looks like you're suffering from a bad case of indigestion. Maybe you should learn not to bite off more than you can chew.”

  “Impossible!” roared Ghodot. It came out as more of a screech in KT’s voice. “No! No, no, no!”

  A hoarse scream tore from KT’s throat and then there was silence. Déaþscúa, Kai, and all of the fairies stared at the girl’s body with held breath.

  “That guy wants his brain washing out with soap.” The voice and inflection both belonged to KT. “That was a horrible experience. I-” her words cut off with a yelp. She clutched her head in both hands and fell to her knees screaming.

  “KT!” Kai shouted as he ran to her side.

  “It’s too much!” she screamed. “My head! It can’t take it! Too many! So much pain…”

  “Do something!” Kai pleaded to Déaþscúa. “What’s happening. Is Ghodot taking control again?”

  Déaþscúa shook his head. “She has processed Ghodot. His thoughts and memories are hers now instead of the other way around. He had just taken all of my memories. Between the both of us, there is too much information flowing through her brain for a normal human to take. I can’t do anything. Once they’re stored away the pain will fade.”

  The screams continued for a few seconds then came to an abrupt stop. KT took huge, gulping breaths of air to steady herself. Sweat covered her and her body shook. Her muscles gave out on her and she fell fully to the floor, panting. Déaþscúa stepped up to her and offered a hand to help her up. She looked up at him and her eyes widened. She moved away from his hand.

  Memories coursed through her head like molten magma. Her own memories swam like tiny fish in a raging ocean of Ghodot’s memories, but both sets were dwarfed by those that could only belong to Déaþscúa. He was old. Older than KT could have ever imagined. She could remember both world wars as though she herself had fought in them. She could see bullets flying, shells exploding and bodies everywhere. There was so much death. She fled from those memories, delving deeper but she couldn’t escape the death. Battle after battle flooded her mind. The chain of memories continued back through time, through the Napoleonic wars, the Civil War and beyond.

  She watched helplessly as hundreds died at Déaþscúa’s hands. Most were in battle but innocents dotted the memories. More death surrounded those who stood at Déaþscúa’s side. Every single death evoked an overpowering pain within her. She watched friends and family scream and cry as they fell to blades or bullets. Images flashed from caressing smiling women to seeing them covered in blood. Laughing children flickered to broken corpses. Through every memory, blood stained Déaþscúa’s hands.

  Déaþscúa sighed and moved away from her. “Most of the memories will be forgotten once they’ve settled.”

  “How can you still smile after everything you’ve seen? After everything you’ve done?”

  Déaþscúa smiled softly at her. “If you don’t laugh then you curl up and cry in a corner until there’s nothing left. The pain wells up and drains you of emotion until you’re hollow and crave pain just to know that you can still feel. That’s no way to live.”

  He’s a monster, said a voice inside KT’s head. The surprise of hearing it jolted her from the memories. It was Ghodot’s voice. Can you really put your faith in a man like him?

  How are you talking to me, KT thought at the voice angrily. I was nothing but a mindless essence.

  I am a powerful fairy. You may have trapped me in here but you could never snuff out my existence. I can feel what you feel. I see through your eyes and can read your thoughts like a book, the voice answered. As such, I wish to direct you to a particular memory.

  Images flashed through KT’s mind once more but quickly came to rest on a small village made up of muddy paths and hovels. She watched through Déaþscúa’s eyes as he walked between the tiny homes. Men and women nodded their heads respectfully at him. His arms were strong but not nearly as muscled as they were now. He looked younger, less worn.

  He came to the largest house and opened the door, stepping into a small room with a lit fire. The air smelled of stew. A young child played with hand-carved wooden animals while a woman stirred the pot of stew that cooked over the fire. Both looked up at Déaþscúa’s entrance and smiled lovingly at him. Now that the woman was facing Déaþscúa, KT could recognise her features. Her skin was not blue and her eyes were not cruel but the face was beyond a doubt that of Black Annis. Déaþscúa scooped up the child with a laugh and hugged Annis with his other hand, bending in to kiss her on the lips.

  Déaþscúa began to speak in a garbled language. KT didn’t know the words but was somehow able to understand them all the same, her new memories filling in her ignorance.

  “We won a great victory today, my wife. They are strong fighters but we are stronger. A few more victories like that and we will be able to drive them from our land.”

  The memory slipped back into the recesses of her head. She realised that she was staring blankly at Déaþscúa. He had a sad look on his face and his eyes were locked onto hers.

  “You were married to Annis.”

  Déaþscúa nodded his head reluctantly.

  Kai’s fists whitened as they clenched. “You were what? You didn’t think that was something you should have told us?” he spat.

  The man turned his back on them. “That was a long time ago and Annis is no longer the woman I loved. Cliché I realise but that’s all there is to it.”

  “Bullshit! Tell us what the hell is going on!”

  Déaþscúa turned back to them but not because of Kai’s order. The fairies had begun to make a high-pitched whining noise that was growing louder and louder until it felt like a physical wave in the air. Each fairy drew back their lips and snarled, their narrow fangs bared. They started forward, enclosing around the humans from all directions.

  KT held up a single hand and the fairies stopped. “We paid your price and have done nothing that goes against our deals. Obey me and meet your obligations. Construct our faegate and allow us to pass through it in peace.” Her voice held a strange resonance.

  The fairies were still as they listened but the wailing had faded away. When KT had finished speaking they looked at her impassively. Then, as one, they flew to a nearby patch of dirt and began to busy themselves around it.

  Interesting. They listen to you now. Having you in charge of this body could prove to be infinitely more amusing than I imagined.

  Get out of my head, damn you.

  ‘I’m afraid that you are stuck with me from now on. You might not like it but I feel like I will love it.

  Her mental argument was interrupted when Déaþscúa walked away from the fairies.

  “Where the hell are you going? Oi! Answer me!” Kai shouted at his back.

  The man didn’t turn. Instead, he slumped into a sitting position with his back to a tree. “Faegates take a full cycle of the sun and moon to be completed.”

  Kai stood over him, his face still cast in anger. “Great. That’s plenty of time for you to explain to us what is really going on. Hell, I don’t even need to hear it from you. KT?”

  KT tried to dredge up memories relating to Annis but there were so many that trying to navigate through the images and emotions was near impossible. Just trying was reviving that stinging migraine. She shook her head.

  “Fine,” Déaþscúa relented. “It’s no big secret. Everyone knows, I just don’t like talking about it. Sit down. It’s a long story.”

  KT and Kai sat against trees facing Déaþscúa. The man seemed reluctant to start so KT prompted him.

  “You told us you were an Addonexus but you’re clearly older than that would allow.” She tried to fill the information in herself but could summon only pain from her mind. Having so much knowledge yet being unable to
access it was frustrating.

  “I was born in the year 607 AD in a small English village. My mother, a witch, gave birth to me while Halley’s Comet flew through the sky above. It was after the Romans had left the island. This had left a power vacuum. Kingdoms were formed while barbarians and bandits wandered the land. It was a dangerous time to live through.”

  “It quickly became apparent that I was not normal but it wasn’t until my village was razed to the ground by an invading army and I was run through by a spear that I realised my true abilities. I was taken in by another village where I worked for the chief doing odd jobs. He had a witch daughter who I grew to be close with. She was called Annis and was the greatest healer in a hundred mile radius.”

  “The chief was killed in a barbarian attack but I rallied the men and fought them off despite suffering wounds that would have killed normal men. I was given leadership of the village and married Annis. We had a child and I worked hard to make the village a safe, secure place for him to be raised.”

  Déaþscúa slowed, his eyes staring into nothingness. “I had won several battles against different armies and thought that I could consolidate my power and create a kingdom of my own. I led my men to battle against two forces that had allied with each other but a third had joined that covenant and attacked the village while we were gone. We won but when we returned home we were greeted by nothing but flames and corpses.

  “There was an old man who’d managed to hide who told us what had happened. It was a tale of bloodletting and rape. Even the children and babies didn’t escape it. Once the warriors’ lust had been fulfilled, every soul had been put to the sword. The old man had run at the first opportunity.”

  As Déaþscúa spoke, the words flowed through KT and she could see the burning village and the distraught old man. She could feel sorrow and hate coursing through her. Kai looked on, his features unmoving.

  “I couldn’t find the bodies of my son or Annis. The old man told me he had watched as she was raped and her throat slit and then raped again. He pointed me to the very spot but nothing was there but blood. Several bodies were missing though. Some were burned to an unrecognizable black husk while others were hacked to pieces. I had hoped with all my heart that they still lived and that the men had taken them captive. With pure rage filling our hearts we hunted down the murderers to seek our revenge.”