by Taylor Leigh
‘Good luck with that!’ Amy scoffed.
Sickness raised his brow dubiously. ‘No I’m not.’
Roth stood to his full height. He casually turned the remote over and over in his hands, indulging in the creature’s growing nervousness. ‘Tell me, Sickness, do Denizens feel pain?’
The creature blinked. ‘Huh?’
Roth pressed the centre button on the remote and an electrical current branched down from the top of the jar, striking the little creature. The Denizen screamed and scrabbled against the glass, trying to get out of the way. Behind him, his fellow Myrmidons yelled in protest.
Roth dialled back the power and spoke over its cries. ‘Let go of the lamp.’
‘Never!’ Sickness gulped.
Roth turned on the power again. Sickness slammed his head down onto the cement floor and dragged himself across the ground, squalling at the top of his lungs. Smoke started to waft from his leathered skin.
‘Now, or this won’t stop!’ Roth shouted over him. ‘I don’t need you alive.’
‘It cannot be opened by you!’ Sickness wailed.
‘Why did it want to find Brock Turner?’ Roth asked patiently. He turned back the power and watched Sickness slowly sit up.
‘It wants the ring,’ Sickness stuck a finger in one ear and twisted it shakily.
‘Why? What’s so special about it? What is this ring?’ Roth tried to keep the eagerness out of his voice.
‘My master has been searching for it for a long time. The ring is one of two. It is a key and my master will use it.’
Roth studied the remote absently, noticing nothing but Sickness’s words. ‘What do you mean by that? Tell me. What kind of key? Is it a red stone?’ His stomach was sent into flutters. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The doorway was real. They’d found it.
Sickness let out a nervous laugh. ‘Oh, it wouldn’t tell me that, now would it?’
‘What was your god hoping to accomplish once it got its hands on this ring?’ Roth snapped.
Sickness gulped. ‘I don’t know that much about it. I was never allowed to know things in advance.’ The Denizen paused for a moment. ‘All I know is time is running out.’
Roth dropped down till he was level with the creature again. ‘Until the stars realign?’
Sickness scratched the inside of his nose and drew out a clawed finger covered in slime. ‘If my master misses the opening, it will not have enough strength to wait another five-hundred years. It needs more power to feed.’ He moped.
Roth rubbed his chin. ‘What does your master feed off of?’
‘You.’
Roth could almost hear the people around him swallowing.
‘The Darkness, the creature inside of that lamp, feeds off of people?’
Sickness nodded amiably. ‘Yes. Any soul will do. It pulls them in, like moths to a flame, a great blackness out in the void, where all the lost ones fall.’
Amy sidled forward. ‘Oh, he’s just talking nonsense!’
Sickness’s eyes shone with a wild gleam. ‘It will devour everything in the end. Even the Light will be swallowed. It already is. The stars are blinking out. One by one.’ He shuffled his three-toed feet and tittered in amusement.
Roth studied him for a moment. ‘I need you to hand over that lamp now.’
Sickness let out a nervous laugh. ‘I cannot give it up to you. I was tasked with keeping it safe. I would die before I saw it in the hands of a filthy human.’
‘Right,’ Roth said blandly. ‘Well, have it your way, then.’
He dialled up the power to max and strode from the room, shutting the creature’s dying screams behind him with a cold finality.
Chapter Twelve
Sam awoke stiff and exhausted. It took her longer for her to move than she’d have wanted but there was no sense of the dark entity pressing in on her. Small mercies. She groaned and pushed herself up, running her fingers through her unmanageable hair.
Her eyes were puffy and painful; no doubt from her quiet late-night crying.
Disgusted with herself, Sam tried to scrub at her face as best as she could.
She looked bleakly at the sandy floor. The wave of grief had smacked into her sometime in the night, leaving her breathless. It was so impossible to believe. She was a nobody; an ordinary girl from a boring life. How’d she get so messed up with this?
She slumped back against the rock wall behind her, unable and unwilling to get up.
‘Morning!’ Tollin cried, trotting into the cave, a large smile eating up his face.
Sam half-heartedly tried to return his greeting.
He strode to her. ‘And how are you faring this morning?’ his voice was compassionate. Sam got the impression he was rather experienced when it came to that emotion.
She swallowed, throat aching from dryness. ‘Great,’ she took a deep breath. ‘All things considered.’
He nodded, then reached into his pocket and pulled out an apple. He shined it on his red coat and then tossed it to her. ‘Breakfast!’
Sam caught the fruit and nodded gratefully. ‘Thanks. Don’t suppose you happen to have any water in that coat of yours?’
He frowned. ‘Sorry, no. Stream right outside, though. Promise the water is clean.’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘Right, I’ll keep that in mind.’
Tollin sat down on the cot beside her. ‘I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all of this. If there was a way I could have stopped it, really, I would have. I wish I could have saved your father, or gotten to you before the Daemons took hold. None of this would have happened otherwise if I’d found that ring before you. You had no way to know.’
She turned the apple over in her hands. ‘Yeah, I…know it’s not your fault.’
He nodded his head. ‘So can you trust me? Because this is going to be really, really difficult for both of us if you can’t.’
Sam bit her bottom lip and leaned back to look at him. ‘I dunno. I need some answers first.’
‘Ah.’
‘Tell me who you are.’
Much to her annoyance, his expression shut down immediately, closing up like an oyster. ‘Not that.’ He swung himself off of the cot and pointed himself towards the cave entrance.
Sam’s temper flared. She’d been through too much to put up with this. She stood in a surprisingly fluid movement, considering how she was feeling, and marched after him. ‘What do you expect, just sweep me off of my feet, take me out to the desert, away from everything and expect me to just go along, no questions asked? How do I know I can trust you? You could be just as bad as everyone else, how the hell am I supposed to know? Just tell me who you are!’
Tollin spun round in the sand and smiled rather nastily. ‘Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?’ His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his ridiculous red coat as he leaned forward in amusement.
‘What?’ Sam snapped.
Tollin made a thoughtful face. ‘A tall, dark stranger showing up in your life, saving you. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?’
‘What? No! And besides, if I did want someone like that, it wouldn’t be you! You’re too lanky and…weird.’
Tollin’s grin turned a little more genuine.
The events of the night before had faded to a numb blur, and his smile now frightened her. ‘I can’t believe I just up and went with you! For all I know you’re the one I should be afraid of!’ She threw up her hands. ‘I must be mad, and you clearly are. You’re acting like everything is just some big imaginary game where monsters are real and you’re god of the universe! There’s no such thing as Daemons. Why is it so hard for you to just give me a straight, reasonable answer about what’s really happening to me?’
Tollin glowered. ‘Right. Because your little human existence is the only one that matters. There can’t possibly be anything else out there that’s hard to explain, that’s strange. Daemons couldn’t possibly be real, could they? Because you can’t see them, you can’t feel them; they’re nothing mo
re that mythology, just as preposterous as Kazuul the Destroyer! It just all has to be right in front of you, biting you on the nose because all of you stupid humans know everything! Doesn’t matter what you’ve experienced these past few days. Still has to have a logical explanation. Well, you better wake up fast, because you’re with me now and that’s not how things work!’
She had to take a step back, unprepared for the vehemence of his tirade. But she recovered, well used to the occasional scrape. ‘“Stupid humans?” And what does that make you, then? Why are you so much better?’
‘I’m better because I’ve got a brain and I know how to use it, which is more than I can say for you lot!’ He pointed rather dramatically.
Sam stared at him for a moment in utter bewilderment, but Tollin had clearly had enough. He spun away from her and marched off to skulk. She pursed her lips. Their first day together was definitely not getting off to a good start. Sam didn’t dare press him again, for fear that he would completely abandon her. Instead, she turned around irritably and climbed the rocky slope till she found a good view facing the distant city.
As she sat in the sand, shivering in the morning air, she couldn’t help but ruminate over Tollin’s words. Perhaps she truly was an ignorant, stupid human. She’d never given much thought to anything beyond her little world of boyfriend, shopping and her mates. What else was out there that she was missing? There was more, clearly. Tollin was enough proof of that. The ring wrapped around her finger should have been more than she needed. But she wanted real answers. Things she could believe, things that fit.
She studied the artefact absently, watching the metal glint in the light.
It was funny how a new day could shine so much light on a situation. Her predicament was not some exciting adventure. She was lost in the desert, her father was murdered and she was with a mysterious man who wouldn’t tell her anything.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, hungering for answers yet much too stubborn to not ask Tollin for them. She almost didn’t hear him let out a huff of breath, almost a grumble, lost in some debate with himself. Whatever he was wrestling with, he clearly lost.
Sam really did want to ignore the sounds of his approach as he climbed up the sandy slope to where she sat. Her spine tightened and she wrapped her arms tighter around herself, feeling rightfully defensive.
She jumped as warmth enveloped her as Tollin draped his old coat about her shoulders. As much as she wanted to ignore him, she found herself pulling his peace offering closer around her. Despite being in the desert, it was bitterly cold, thanks to the giant green planet directly overhead. And she was finding it incredibly difficult to stay angry with him.
Tollin swung his legs round and sat next to her on the ledge. His lips were pulled into a tight line as he directed his gaze the same way as hers—the city. Her body annoyingly began to tingle, all too aware of his proximity to her. There was some strange, electric charge about him that she almost found pleasant.
They sat quietly for a moment, Sam desperately struggling with how to get the conversation going again, Tollin off, lost in unfathomable thoughts of his own. In the silence, it came to Sam that, as irritating as she found it, she was going to have to repair the damage if she wanted to get anything from him. He’d made the first move. It was her turn.
She sighed heavily. ‘Look, I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t mean to come across the way I did. I’m just scared. All that’s happened, I just feel lost.’
Tollin still wouldn’t look at her, but she noticed his tense shoulders relax ever so slightly.
‘You can’t really blame the student for being ignorant if the teachers are too, right?’ She laughed weakly. ‘After all, up until yesterday I didn’t even think Daemons were real.’ She bit her lip. ‘I just want answers. And you seem to be the only one with them all.’
Tollin finally turned to meet her gaze.
‘We’ll leave the personal questions alone for now, but I still do need to know some things. I need to know what you can tell me.’
Tollin sucked in a deep, reluctant breath. ‘Right. What do you want to know?’
Sam pressed her tongue to her teeth. The questions eating at her brain about him wouldn’t go away, as much as she wanted to ignore it, but she’d have to let those keep for now. At the moment, she had more pressing concerns. ‘Who killed my father? Who are these Myrmidons?’
The man sighed unhappily.
‘I need to know.’
He ran a hand through his hair and leant against the rock behind him, gazing up at the lightening sky. ‘They’re a cult, basically. Very secretive, been around for centuries. I’ve had to deal with them on countless occasions. We’re definitely not on good terms.’ He was turning more conversational with every word.
Sam’s stomach turned at the thought her father was killed by a cult. ‘Why did you come back?’
He paused for a moment. A soft, secretive smile pulled at his lips. ‘Because you weren’t wearing that ring the first time we met.’ He tapped the band with one of his long fingers.
Sam blinked at his words. ‘How d’you remember that?’
His smile became more wry. ‘Well, it’s always the first thing I look for when I meet a woman.’
Sam crossed her arms across her chest, scowling. She wasn’t sure if she should be appalled or unsurprised. ‘Why? Trying to see if they’re taken or something?’
Tollin cleared his throat intentionally. ‘No…I’ve got…other reasons.’
Sam raised her eyebrows and gave him a teasing smile. ‘I’ll bet you do.’
Tollin rolled his eyes and nudged her gently with his elbow. ‘Oh, knock it off, you. Anyway, you weren’t wearing that ring on the shuttle, and by the look of it, it’s clearly stuck, so I doubt you owned it long, otherwise, you would have had it on the flight; or you’d know not to put it on because it doesn’t fit.’ He gestured to the ring again, eyebrows raised as his face adopted a very superior appearance. ‘That ring you’ve got there is probably the most valuable item on Scrabia—or Scottorr, for those who actually know what it is.
‘I was halfway to the Bone Vault after we’d parted ways when it hit me. I guess I’d just subconsciously noticed the ring up till that point and it hadn’t registered in my mind with all of the excitement going on. Well, when I grasped what it really was, I realised you were in danger and raced back to the city. On the way I figured out where you lived and where your father worked. By the time I arrived, I was too late. The Myrmidons were already there. I overheard them talking. One of them mentioned your father was dead. So after that I just ran till I reached Bone Ridge. You know the rest.’
Sam let the words repeat in her mind, tried to come to terms with them. Beside her, he had turned introspective, quiet. He knew when to give someone time. He was too much of an expert on bad news.
‘If I’d just noticed sooner…I don’t often make mistakes like that. When I met you in the temple, I didn’t know why you were there. I wanted to keep you safe by sending you away from me. In reality I was just putting you in more danger.’
Sam let out a breath. His words were a stab of pain. She wasn’t sure how to accept it yet, but Tollin couldn’t be blamed. She knew that. All in all, she supposed he’d done more than she could have expected. ‘It’s all right. It’s not your fault. You’re not the one who killed my father, they are and I need to know more about them.
‘Why do the Myrmidons want it? Why were they so desperate that they’d kill my father for it? You kept mentioning an anniversary, what’s that all about?’
‘Ah, that. Well.’ Tollin frowned thoughtfully. ‘I’m afraid that it might all sound a bit fantastic to you.’
Sam shrugged. ‘Can’t be any more mental than what I’ve already been through.’
An amused smile tugged at Tollin’s lips which made Sam wonder exactly how much madder things could possibly get.
He let out a heavy breath. ‘That ring...it’s part of a set. Its sister is a larger piece of stone, whic
h has been, as far as I know, missing for centuries. Every five-hundred years, two stars in the sky align, forming a type of invisible doorway to another dimension. When those two stones are brought together, it can open the door.’
Sam supposed she should probably feel fear—if she actually understood what Tollin was going on about—but she just felt frustration. ‘You mean to tell me that there’s another world out there somewhere that this ring can help get to? Is it a planet? Who lives there…are they those…Daemons that you mentioned?’
‘Yeah,’ Tollin said heavily, drawn-out. ‘Sort of.’
She shook her head, baffled. He was right: this was too fantastic. ‘But there’s no such thing.’ Ghosts were one thing—but Daemons?
‘Why would I make that up?’ He cocked his head to give her a sideways look. ‘Even after all you’ve been through, you still want to deny their existence?’
Sam crossed her arms. ‘I’m…coming round to it. But I’ve just never imagined they could be real. I’ve been trying to find a logical explanation for it all!’
Tollin scratched his cheek. ‘Didn’t think they were real? Doesn’t everybody believe in Daemons?’
She shook her head. ‘Not these days, mate.’
He looked disappointed. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘that’s news to me.’
Sam turned to him. ‘So, why are you here? Why are you doing all of this? How do you know all of this stuff?’
Tollin’s eyes grew distant. ‘It’s what I was born to do. Daemons and I go a long way back. I suppose it’s my fate to hunt them down and make sure they never get a foothold here or anyplace else. All my life I’ve been jumping the Realms, doing my part, for the good of the innocent.’
‘How do you mean?’
He pressed his palms to his eyes. ‘Oh, it’s such a long, complicated story. Basically there was a long war a long time ago that was supposed to put the Daemons away for ever. Didn’t really work, they’re always trying to get through, but, overall, things have been under control, thanks to, well, mainly me. The Myrmidons are a problem however, they not only want, but they think it’s a good idea to open this portal. Completely mental, but they’ve never been the smartest lot.’