Dark Consort

by Amber R. Duell

  The Watchmen followed the path of their weapons and reduced the forest to splinters beneath their feet. Each of their steps was worth two dozen of my own. My magic tugged at me, asking to go home, but I couldn’t leave Baku. The Watchmen wouldn’t kill me; capture me, maybe, and give me to Rowan, but she could never keep me. Baku was another story.

  I pried my leg out from beneath the rough bark with a strained scream. Run. I only had to make it out of range of the spears—there would be no prying myself out from one of those. But my leg threatened to crumble beneath me. Baku still hadn’t made it far enough to lose them, so I called on the rest of the sand in my satchel. It swept him up and carried him as far as it could before my concentration broke. I nearly vomited as I fell to the ground.

  “Over here,” I shouted to buy Baku more time.

  Using the trees to prop myself up, I hobbled back up the cliff-side. The thunderous footfalls of the Watchmen slowed. I let out a wordless cry to draw their attention, then found it ringing true as I slipped on a mildew-covered rock. Rocks and roots battered my body as gravity pulled me down a slick, muddy trail. When a fallen trunk finally brought me to a halt, I laid there for a long moment, groaning. Bone protruded from my lower leg. I sat up carefully, cringing, and tugged the small bag of emergency sand from beneath my tunic. There was just enough to heal my leg, or at least lessen the pain until I got home.

  A twig snapped behind me. Before I could even turn my head, someone latched onto my arm where the spear had ripped the fabric. Red silk flashed in my peripheral vision.

  Rowan.

  Her name was all I had time to think before the pain of her touch filled me. It cut and burned and suffocated. My magic clawed at the beach in a desperate bid for escape. With a final clear thought, I yanked it back. If I wanted to know what Rowan was doing, where better to be than the Keep? For the Night World, for Nora, the pain would be worth it.

  I drew a deep breath and let the agony in.

  When my vision cleared again, Rowan had my arms tied around a post at my back. The coarse rope grated against my skin, and the pain of my broken shin lit up my mind like a firecracker. But I stayed still. If I lost consciousness, my magic would drag me back to the beach. Rowan knew that too—it was an open secret in the Nightmare Realm—so she would be careful until she got what she wanted. Whatever that was. Now I simply needed to find something useful to make the upcoming pain worthwhile.

  Pieces of straw littered the floor, and I took in the otherwise empty space with growing disappointment. I was going to have to escape from this room and sneak through the tower to learn anything meaningful.

  “Hello, Sandman,” Rowan said from behind me, her breath hot on my ear. She smelled of licorice and blood. “I know you can hear me. Let’s have some fun.”

  I lifted my head, a gargantuan task, and met her red-flecked eyes as she circled to stand before me. “I think we have different definitions of fun.”

  “Of course we do.” She raised a knife to my chin. “I know what will happen if you pass out, but there are ways around that.”

  The knife left my chin and nicked my neck. It didn’t cut deep enough to hurt, but that wasn’t her goal. She plucked the now-broken string holding my bag of sand away from my neck. Her fingers skimmed my skin in the process, sending sparks of pain straight down into my marrow. I ground my teeth to keep quiet, instead directing my anger into my gaze as it followed the pouch. It didn’t matter if the sand was in her hands or mine—as long as it was in the same vicinity, I could call on it. But she didn’t know that.

  “There.” Rowan’s bright red lips lifted, and she tossed the pouch into the far corner of the room.

  Then I saw it.

  As Rowan turned to make the throw, everything clicked.

  Harsh lines marred the base of her skeletal wings, black and crackled, as if she had been burnt in a fire. I drew in a small breath. Kail had shown me how to defeat her. All this time, the information was right in front of me, but I hadn’t given it half a thought because of who it came from. Could he really want Nora to succeed? It was hard to realize everything could end without a single battle.

  “Now…” Rowan ripped open the front of my shirt with the knife and cocked her head at the sight of my tattoo. “That’s it? The source of your power? I thought it would be… bigger.”

  My jaw clenched. I had what I came for, so when the edges of my vision began to fade, I let myself succumb.

  A quick burning shock lanced my chest before I could fade out. I gasped, the room coming back into sharp focus. Rowan stood in front of me, licking my blood from the tip of the blade. I looked down with sickening dread. She had sliced just above the moon tattooed there. An inch lower and it would’ve taken months to heal. This would only take two days, maybe three. But I couldn’t let her see the relief on my face, so I hung my head as if I were defeated.

  “Get comfortable, Sandman,” she crooned, content. “We’ll be spending a lot of time together.”

  The distinctive clip of approaching high-heeled shoes filled the stairwell behind Rowan, and she rolled her eyes. “What is it this time?”

  A short woman covered in scales practically bounced into the room. Two tiny horns protruded from her green hair, and her dress was made from dripping seaweed. “There’s trouble in the courtyard, your queenship,” she chirped.

  Queenship?

  “It can wait,” Rowan snapped.

  “Unfortunately not,” the woman said. “The Devourer has eaten through half your guard already.”

  Red flared up beneath Rowan’s pale skin. “Your friend has come to save you?” she hissed, whirling on me.

  “He’s probably just hungry,” I said with as much defiance as I could muster. Baku, what are you doing?

  “Let’s hope your Dream Keeper is a bit more loyal, then.” She threw the knife to the ground and stormed up the stairs, the scaled woman following close on her heels.

  What did that mean? More loyal than who? I strained against the ropes. Whatever Rowan had heard about my tattoo, it didn’t need to be intact for the sand to call me home. It only hindered my ability to wield it—a rather large problem at the moment, but it could’ve been worse. By the time Rowan returned, I would already be cocooned by sand.

  Then I would find Nora.

  And she would kill Rowan without ever setting eyes on her.

  19

  Nora

  When Kail returned to the prison mid-afternoon with two horses in tow, I almost locked myself in the nearest cell. They were the same black creatures with clawed feet that carried me from the Barren the first time. Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t riding the one that once tried to bite me. My newfound pride wouldn’t allow me to be a chicken, so I swung into the saddle made of smooth bone and took the reins. My feet swung at the horse’s sides, my legs too short to reach the stirrups attached to the seat by a ball and socket joint. I considered altering it for a second, but the memory of the crumbling museum was too fresh to try.

  I glanced back at the brick prison hidden beneath climbing ivy. Concealed among the foliage were faces that screamed obscenities, but beyond that, inside, were the remains of two slain nightmares. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I wanted to feel guilty.

  But I didn’t.

  I was glad. Satiated.

  “Lady?”

  “Hm?” I forced myself to turn from the prison and my thoughts. Kail simply motioned me forward. “Bite me, and I’ll turn you into dog food,” I told the horse before nudging him with my heel. He didn’t show the slightest hint of defiance this time, but I kept an eye on the back of his head anyway. From my peripheral vision, I watched Kail. “Where are we going? And don’t give me a vague answer.”

  He smirked as if I stopped him just in time from doing exactly that. “The Blood Tower.”

  “What?” I asked in disbelief. “You do remember it was on fire the last time we were there, right? Is there even a tower left to go to?”

  He shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, but luc
kily, Halven and I have you.”

  “Halven?” I hadn’t seen him since he left me with Kail that first day. While I now realized that earned him points in my book, I wouldn’t say he had me. Nor Kail, for that matter. There was still his ulterior motive hanging over our friendship. I cringed at the term. Was Kail my friend? Or a reluctant mentor? “What does he have to do with anything?”

  “A lot.” Kail hesitated. “He’s my brother, you know.”

  I whipped my head sideways to look at him. His brother? They did have similar traits. The masks, the weirdly elaborate clothes. Halven was much more dramatic in appearance, but Kail made up for it with his sparkling personality. I snorted. “I didn’t realize nightmares had siblings. Is it one of those solidarity things between all nightmares or is he your brother-brother?”

  Kail was silent for a moment, and his hand absently moved to the center of his chest. He seemed to realize it and quickly grabbed the reigns. “He’s my brother,” he said stiffly.

  Oh. That clears things up. I leveled a stare at him. “So you both came from one cord or you were next to each other or—”

  “It’s not important,” he snapped. Then he took a shallow breath and, when he spoke again, sounded much calmer. “I’ll teach you that later. First we have to get your loom.”

  Interesting. I filed his reaction away. “I suppose you know how to weave?” I asked as if he hadn’t lost his temper for a hot second.

  “No, but you will.”

  “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t even know how to knit a scarf.”

  Kail sighed. “You didn’t know how to bring giant dogs to life or create doorknobs out of nothing before either, but you did it. Listen to the magic, not your doubts.”

  Was that… I scowled at him. Was he offering moral support? Did we cross into another dimension without my realizing it?

  “You’ll thank me for everything one day,” he said confidently after a moment.

  And there he was.

  If he was truly loyal—and that was a big if—letting him live would be enough reward.

  The threads shifted gently along my arm, and I startled. I had first noticed it during my time in solitary confinement: almost a caress where before they kept a vice-like grip. I couldn’t be positive, but it was almost as if they sensed my acceptance. That I now embraced the grin living inside me. That I wanted to be here. To harness their power. They could now relax without fear that I would rip them away as I might have before. No longer were they a parasite. Our relationship was too symbiotic for that. I watched the frayed end thump against the pulse point on my wrist, then suddenly something tickled the skin beneath my sleeve. The threads, now coiled loosely, slithered across my chest and circled my neck. My heart jumped into a frantic rhythm.

  “Kail,” I called, my voice wavering. Before he could answer, the other end of the thread settled peacefully in the hollow of my throat. When I looked over to him, he smiled wickedly. “What’s it doing?”

  “It just wanted more room.” He eyed the newly visible end as it beat to my pulse like the one on my wrist. “The Weaver used to work them into his clothes to avoid the whole necklace look, but it suits you.”

  “Was that a compliment?” I joked to hide my unease.

  He leveled his gaze at me. “We should use this time for another lesson.”

  I groaned.

  “Pay attention to your surroundings,” he continued. “Feel where we are and use it to guide you. The Nightmare Realm is large and has a tendency to confuse even the oldest of nightmares, but the Weaver could navigate it with his eyes closed.”

  “Does that include you?” I asked, searching my mind for anything that resembled a compass.

  He paused. “It never used to, but things change.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “If you’re talking, you’re not paying attention,” he said with a clip to his voice, and he spurred his horse ahead of mine.

  The faster I learned, the faster I could be done with his lessons. Then, once I had what was mine, I could see the Sandman again. My chest ached at the thought of him. Days passed since I’d seen him. What was he doing? Was he okay? I hated myself for sending him away, but he didn’t want to let me learn. To let me face the dangers. He wanted to fix them for me. That didn’t stop me from recalling the way his kisses felt or the way his fingers fit perfectly between mine.

  Focus, I reminded myself. There was more than one reason I needed to do this alone. Distraction was one of them. The grin appeared, sarcastic yet ready to help. There was no swirling darkness leaking out this time, but a knowingness filled me. It was almost as if the grin had sprouted limbs as my hands directed the horse to the right.

  “This way,” I shouted to Kail.

  The Blood Tower wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. Fire had scorched the outer walls, but they were still mostly intact, save for the bits of rubble cause by the impact of the fireballs. The front door lay bent on the ground outside, the hinges ripped from the frame. “This was broken from inside,” I said, stepping carefully over the dug-up gravel. “Maybe that means the dog escaped.”

  “Maybe,” Kail agreed. But he wasn’t looking at the tower. His gaze swept over the area surrounding us, eyes narrow. “Halven should be here by now.”

  “If he’s anything like you, he’s probably waiting to make a dramatic entrance.” I leaned through the doorway, blinking until my eyes adjusted to the dark interior. The stench of smoke permeated the air, and the walls inside were singed black. Dead tarantulas littered the floor like a carpet. No new ones had sprouted in their place. Good riddance.

  “We shouldn’t stay long,” Kail said, suddenly at my side. “I’ll do a quick sweep to make sure none of Rowan’s minions are inside while you fix it. If Halven hasn’t shown up by then, we get what we need and get out of here.”

  Before I could disagree, he disappeared inside. The spiders crunched under foot, and I placed my hand on the tower to see if I could feel how much damage was done. The blackened stone was still warm. I closed my eyes and searched for the ball of thread. And searched and searched. But it was nowhere to be found.

  “All clear,” Kail said between quick breaths. I opened my eyes and looked at him with wide eyes. “What?”

  “There’s no thread,” I said softly.

  “Look harder.” He moved around me and searched the surrounding area for his brother again. “If the thread died, the tower would disappear.”

  Look harder, I mimicked behind his back, then turned my attention to the tower again. A little help? I asked the grin. It surfaced slowly, almost reluctantly. Lazy, it seemed to accuse, but I felt it reach into the ruins of the Blood Tower. The withered, throbbing pain echoed through me, and I gasped. The thread was there. Huddled. Bound tightly into a tiny ball. I stroked the aching threads soothingly as if it were a wounded bird. The ball shivered and loosened before reaching out to greet me.

  The rest happened in a single breath. One inhale that seemed to burn my lungs to ash. The scent of sulfur exploded around me, and I tried to wrench my hand away from the suddenly scalding stone wall. I think a cry escaped from my throat, but it seemed as if I were only a passenger in my own body. Sounds dulled. Vision tunneled. The ground beneath me felt like shifting tiles.

  And then it was over.

  The stone was cold, the grin gone. I stumbled backward into Kail, tears streaming silently down my face.

  “Well done,” he said, impressed.

  Exhaustion washed over me as I blinked up at the tower. Blood flowed between the stones again with such force that droplets sprayed outward. The old door still sat on the gravel while a large, elaborate black steel door stood in its place. Red metal studs formed a swirling design.

  “My Lady,” said a painfully hoarse voice.

  I turned to find Halven bowing before me. “You’re late,” I said without an ounce of annoyance. I was too tired for that.

  “Forgive me. I underestimated how much slower traveling could be with an ar
my.”

  “A—what?” I looked between the brothers. “What’s he talking about?”

  “You told him you needed one,” Kail said, irritated. “And Halven lives to serve. Where did you think he was this whole time?”

  Scaring Dreamers. Lurking in dark corners. Off doing whatever it was nightmares did in their free time. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “You had to concentrate on your training,” Kail said. “An army is only as strong as its leader.”

  With a large enough army, I could crush the entire rebellion without using up all my current thread. My chest burst with hope. “Where is it?” I asked Halven.

  Halven pointed around the tower where the Blood Army once congregated. I raced forward, all trace of exhaustion gone, and froze at what waited there. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of nightmares sprawled on the ground. They were still alive—their shifting limbs and labored breaths proving that much—but they couldn’t crush a soda can, let alone Rowan.

  “What happened to them?” I asked, deflated.

  “Tired,” Halven groaned. “We walked for days.”

  “They’ll be ready to fight on schedule?” Kail asked.

  Halven nodded.

  “Good.” Kail turned on his heel. “Let’s go check your clock.”

  The brothers walked back around the tower together, but I stood there, staring. An army. My army. Guilt twisted my stomach. The Sandman said the Weaver relied too much on his nightmares. Look how that turned out. And here I was. Doing the same thing. Because, honestly, what had I done? Turned a thread into a giant dog? Altered a few buildings? Tortured nightmares? I wanted to be better than the Weaver, but I was following in his footsteps. When I became this, I told the Sandman we could create a united Night World, but now… Now I saw the power in what I had. Saw the potential in what I didn’t. All these nightmares spread out before me, ready to fight for me, because they believed I would do what was best for them. Or maybe because they were mindlessly loyal. Either way, I understood the Weaver a little more now. His connection to the nightmares warred with his longing for the Sandman’s friendship. He told me he wanted things to go back to the way they were before, and so did I. More than anything. The grin surfaced, a contemplative thing. I sucked in a deep breath and hurried after Kail.