The Death Seer (Skeleton Key)

by Tanis Kaige

  Kord smiled, then turned to me. He gestured toward the car. The man opened the back door for me and I slid in. I glared at the back of Kord’s head the entire ride uptown.

  We arrived at a tall building lined with windows all the way up. A doorman stood under an awning. The man got out of the car. Kord turned. “Wait here. I won’t be long.”

  I merely arched a brow at him and watched as he followed the man into the building. I got out and moved to the front passenger seat. There was nothing to do but stare ahead while my erstwhile childhood friend whored himself out for a car.

  He was right. It didn’t take long. He came out of the door, skidded to a halt to keep from running into a pair of well-dressed elderly women, and then jogged to the car, climbing behind the wheel. He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to drive a Beemer.”

  “Apparently.”

  He started the engine, checked his mirrors and over his shoulder, and pulled into traffic. “You sound a little condescending. You don’t approve?”

  “Of you prostituting yourself for a car? Not really. But I suppose it’s none of my business.”

  He chuckled. “What exactly is it you think that I did with that man?”

  “I’d rather not speculate.”

  “You can ask me, if you want to know. Ask a question and I’ll answer it.”

  I pondered for a few minutes. “Tell me about King’s Hall.”

  “You’ll see it soon enough. But it is what it sounds like. A place where dead kings go.”

  “Why should they get a special place?”

  “Well, they were kings once, weren’t they?”

  “They were also men. Isn’t death supposed to be the great equalizer? Why should they get a special place of prominence in the underworld?”

  Kord laughed. “I see. You misunderstand. It’s not Valhalla. It’s simply a building where former kings and a few queens go to hang out. I suppose they feel like they’re better than the rest of us. Or maybe they simply feel isolated and want to be around others who can relate to their plight. True, Death doesn’t discriminate. But the fall is further for men who have elevated themselves above others.”

  The traffic was horrendous. We kept starting and stopping, my body jolting forward and back over and over. “So, it’s like an Shriner’s Club?”

  “I’m not familiar.”

  “You know, where all the old men go. They put on their little red hats and gather together in their meeting hall.”

  Kord smiled, his dimples stretching. “Yes, I suppose so. It’s a private club.”

  “Then how will we get in?”

  “They always let me in.”

  “Because you provide special services for them?”

  Kord glanced at me, though the glasses still hid his eyes. “Yes.”

  I sighed. “I’d rather not lodge somewhere that has to be paid for with sex.”

  “I shall do my best not to have sex with anyone, then.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Suddenly, Kord took a hard right turn into an alley. Another alley with a brick wall at the end. He gunned the gas, flattening me into my seat. I knew from experience that not all walls were really walls, but I had yet to gain full faith in my guide. “Kord?” My voice pitched high.

  “Scared?”

  “Yes.”

  “You should be. If the door decides to move at the last minute, we’ll both be in a lot of pain. And I’m not sure if you can die here.”

  He floored the gas pedal. I closed my eyes and maybe screamed a little. There was a massive bump which caused me to shriek, and for a moment I was sure I was dead. But the car didn’t stop, it simply slowed.

  “You can open your eyes now. We’re through.”

  We were on a dirt road surrounded by trees. The road was fraught with ruts and bumps. Not at all healthy for the poor car.

  As we drove, the land seemed to incline. We were trending upwards and the ground became rockier. We came out of the woods and suddenly in view of an ocean, black under the reddish sky. Our road took us along the cliffs at the edge of the ocean. “Here, you’ll see it in a minute, if it’s still on the outcropping. Sometimes it moves. They fight over who had the best castle.”

  We took a turn round a particularly high cliff and then it came into view. A majestic castle situated on a small cliff jutted out into the sea. “Wow,” I whispered.

  I sensed him glance at me, but my eyes were glued to the castle. I’d never seen one before.

  We had to drive a long way around to get to it, but at last we were on the road that led directly to the castle. It was even more massive than I’d first noticed. A mishmash of styles ranging from medieval starkness to Gothic intricacy. Over here was a grand turret covered in gargoyles. Over there was a blank stone wall with narrow slits for windows.

  “Oh. Umm…you might wanna hang on,” Kord said.

  I searched to see what he was seeing. The castle abruptly flickered out of view and back again. It continued flickering, like a television screen on the blink. Kord slammed on the brakes and put the car in reverse. “This is why we don’t let them live among the people,” he said. “They can’t make up their mind about the landscape.”

  “What’s happening?” I shouted.

  “I don’t know. Hold on!”

  We reversed away from the castle, but not quick enough. There was a rumbling and shaking, a great earthquake. The ocean seemed to vanish before us, replaced by mountains. Everywhere I looked cracks expanded in the ground. Suddenly, we dropped.

  It wasn’t a long drop. We landed in water and began to sink.

  “We’d better bail out,” Kord said with a sigh.

  “What is this?”

  “A moat, I suspect. Out. Now.”

  The water was halfway up the door. With great effort I pushed it open enough to swim into brackish water. It stank of stillness and bacteria. I found shore and swam. Only it wasn’t a shore, but a steep wall of dirt, impossible to climb. I couldn’t even find purchase to hold on to, and ended up treading water.

  Kord appeared at my side, the ends of his hair wet and clinging to his neck. He’d managed to keep hold of his sunglasses, but our things were lost at the bottom of the moat. I looked back to see nothing but a surge of bubbles where our car had been. “My key,” I muttered.

  “Let’s survive the dragon, first, and then we’ll get your key.”

  “Dragon?”

  Kord shrugged apologetically. “Told you it was a great tourist spot.”

  Just then, there was another rumble. The land around us had settled. This sound was a roar, and the air around us grew warm.

  We clung to the mud wall of the bank, digging holes with our fingertips to keep from slipping further into the water.

  “We’re in the safest place, trust me,” Kord said.

  A burst of flame shot from somewhere on the bank over our heads and into the water not ten feet away from us. Steam sizzled forth from the point of contact. I looked at Kord.

  “Well, perhaps we should work our way over to the drawbridge. If it’s down, we can hide under it.”

  Another burst of flame hit the water a little to the left of before. The fire had a profound impact on my soul. “This is how I’m going to die,” I muttered, unaware of the words coming from my mouth.

  “Nonsense. Come on, now. That way.”

  Fire. Of course I would die by fire. I was being punished for all those living bodies I’d burned. “They were alive and I burned them. I didn’t even have feelings about it after a while. Just shoved them in the furnace and burned them.”

  Kord’s cold, muddied fingers wrapped around my chin, turning me to face him. “You’re not going to die. We need to get to shelter.”

  Gradually my eyes focused on him. “How do you know there’s a drawbridge?”

  “This is a mote. That’s a castle. There’ll be a drawbridge. And it’ll be down because Bay is probably already charging for the dragon. Let’s go.”

  My heart thundered in my ears an
d it wasn’t because of the dragon. “I think I might be a murderer.”

  “I’m sure that’s not the case, but let’s talk about it later.”

  Tears stung my eyes. “No. This is how I’m meant to die.”

  “For God’s sake, come on!” He gave me a shove, dislodging me from the mud wall. I sank into the water before bobbing back to the surface. This time I swam, Kord close behind, both of us staying close to the wall.

  The drawbridge came into view. It was, indeed, down. Flame torches lit either side of the opening and the turrets of the castle. The light rippled in the waters of the mote. There was a loud roar followed by another burst of flame, this one landing hard on the stone castle walls across the mote from us. I swam faster, at last reaching the shelter of the bridge.

  Underneath the wooden contraption, the darkness was nearly complete. I felt Kord before I saw him, his arm coming round my waist as he led me to the mud wall. This time we were able to hang on to a metal crosspiece beneath the bridge.

  “Well,” he said, breathing hard, “this is quite an adventure, don’t you think?”

  I was still catching my breath.

  “Really, I haven’t felt this alive in years.” He laughed, grabbed me by the back of the neck, and planted a firm kiss on my lips. “Thank you, Brenna. You always were good for this sort of thing.”

  My crisis of conscience momentarily forgotten in the shock of his kiss, I asked, “Good for what?”

  “Adventure. Remember our adventures?”

  For a moment, there was quiet. The water rippled and the wind blew, but I could hear our breaths, and so I lowered my voice. “I remember playing in your window sill.”

  “Yes, that was how it always started. But then we would go on adventures.” he whispered. “All kinds of adventures. We became whatever we wanted. King and Queen of a vast kingdom. Cattle rustlers on the Mexican border. Egyptian farmers on the Nile. My favorite was when I was a Hindu monk and you a nun. We lived in that monastery carved into the mountain and fell in forbidden love. If I recall, we lived several lives as forbidden lovers.”

  I didn’t know what he was talking about. The images of his mad, scrawled writing in the notebooks filled my mind, and for the first time since meeting him that morning, I questioned his sanity. But of course living in a world where the doors moved around and the landscape changed on a whim, who wouldn’t go mad? “Our pretend adventures,” I clarified. “Of course I remember.”

  “Pretend? How could all that have been simply pretend. Surely you remember more than that.”

  His smile had slipped only a hint. “We sat at your windowsill and pretended. Night after night. I never saw you leave that room. You were a prisoner, there.”

  His fingertips dropped from my chin. The water lapped against the mud wall next to us. “Of course,” he muttered softly. “It was only imaginary. Hundreds of years of lives lived in our imaginations. All those books you brought me.”

  “A child’s memories don’t necessarily reflect reality.”

  He barked a laugh. “Reality. You can use that word after the day you’ve had?”

  “Stand and face me, foul beast!” a voice echoed from above us. It was immediately followed by the thunder of hooves pounding across the drawbridge, a terrifying sound when you’re directly beneath them.

  Kord sighed. “At last, the hero arrives. He does like to relive his triumphs. Come on, I think we can slip into the castle, now.”

  “Who is that?” I asked.

  But Kord was already using the mud wall to leverage himself to the edge of the drawbridge. He got both hands on the wood planking and lifted himself effortlessly out of the water. A moment later, his hand extended down. “Hurry,” he whispered.

  I took his hand, and he lifted me out of the water. On my hands and knees on the planking of the bridge, I turned to see a man in full armor brandishing a sword at a fire-breathing dragon. I’d seen the fire, but even so, I don’t think I truly believed there would actually be a dragon behind it.

  “Let’s go. Unless you want turned into toast.”

  The fire burst form the dragon’s mouth, engulfing the hero. The flames were far enough away, but the heat hit me and I scrambled to my feet. Kord took my hand and we ran across the bridge and into the castle courtyard. A crowd gathered near the entryway. Each and every one of the people was lavishly dressed, although like the people in the tavern, they each looked like they came from a variety of places and eras. The kings and queens of yore.

  All their eyes were focused on the dragon fight until we entered their midst. At first there were startled looks, and then a near unanimous cry of, “Kord!”

  We were swarmed, the crowds of royalty reaching out to touch Kord like he was their savior. I was wedged out, getting further and further from him, squeezed out like toothpaste.

  “Whoa, whoa!” Kord’s voice rose above the throng. “I’m happy to see all of you, too. Please don’t trample my friend.”

  The crowd parted, leaving a clear path from me to Kord, who held his hand out to me. As I hurried toward him, I glanced side-to-side at the monarchs lined up for Kord’s attention.

  He gripped my hand firmly. “Can we take lodging tonight?”

  The crowd cheered.

  “You know I can’t tend to each of you.”

  “We’ll battle for you!” shouted an elderly king.

  “Choose me, Kord,” said a particularly lustful queen with breasts bound tight in a corset and peeking over the bodice. She slinked towards him and trailed her fingertips down his his chest and abdomen. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

  “Harlot!” someone shouted from the edge of the crowd.

  “Now, now, what’s this?” came a booming voice from outside the circle. Once again the crowd parted. A powerfully built king with short cropped brown hair and a strong chin came toward us, a bright smile on his face. He wore segmented iron armor, a skirt of some sort made of leather strips, sandals that laced up his shin, and an ornate red cloak over it all. “Well, look who’s here. Haven’t seen you in a while, boy!” The king brought Kord into a bear hug.

  “Gus, good to see you,” Kord squeaked, most of the breath having been squeezed from his lungs. As soon as he was released, Kord brought me to his side. “This is my friend, Brenna.”

  Gus grabbed me and crushed me in a hug. “Nice to meet you, Brenna.” He pushed me away, holding me at arm’s length, his brow furrowing. “You took a wrong turn, didn’t you?”

  I looked to Kord.

  “She did,” he answered for me. “We’re looking for her door.”

  “And you think it might be here?”

  “No, your majesty, this is just a stop on our journey. Would it be all right if we slept here tonight?”

  “More than all right. I insist on it.”

  Gus slung an arm around each of our shoulders and led us into the castle. We walked through a great hall. There were tables and chairs everywhere, all apparently abandoned by the crowd that was now trickling back in. At the front was a marble dais and a horse sitting on a purple cushion. A high-pitched cackle came from somewhere behind me. There was a man sitting in the corner lightly banging his head on the wall.

  “It’s a madhouse,” Gus said, as though reading my thoughts. He nodded toward the horse. “That’s the consul. We humor him. No sense trying to change people’s religion once they’re already dead. Are you two hungry?”

  “Always,” Kord said.

  I was about to object to the idea of food, but my stomach betrayed me. Gus laughed. He led us out of the great hall and up a wide, ornate flight of stairs. Water dripped from our clothes onto the stone floor. At the end of a long corridor were a pair of large, wooden doors. Gus swung them wide and ushered us in.

  To my left was a massive, four-poster bed piled high with pillows. Windows lined the wall in front of us, all shuttered. Off to the right was a large, copper tub filled with steaming water. On the table in the corner was a feast. A roasted chicken surrounded by potatoe
s, carrots, and parsnips; crusty bread and butter, a bowl of assorted fruit, a plate of small cakes of some sort…

  I walked straight to the table and grabbed a drumstick off the chicken.

  “I’d have gone for the bath, myself,” Gus said.

  “That’s next,” I murmured over my mouthful of food.

  “Thank you for your hospitality,” Kord said.

  “Anytime. You two get cleaned up and fed and I’ll tell the others that you’re retired for the night.”

  “Actually, I have a bit of a favor,” Kord said. “Our belongings are at the bottom of your moat. I don’t suppose you know of someone who’d be willing to fish it out for us?”

  “In this crew?” Magnus laughed. “You know better than that.”

  “What if I offered to spend some time with whoever retrieved our things?”

  My food turned in my stomach. “Jesus, Kord, don’t. You’ve been with four people already today.”

  Gus gave me a confused look.

  Kord simply chuckled. “She thinks I’m a prostitute,” he said to Gus, who abruptly burst into laughter.

  “Well, there are certainly some queens downstairs who would pay top dollar,” Magnus said.

  “They wouldn’t have to if they’d only swim down to our car and get our things.”

  Gus nodded. “Well, then, I’ll offer a challenge. The champion who brings back your luggage wins an entire night with Kord Grable.”

  “I couldn’t possibly last that long and be awake in the morning. Best make it an hour. That’s more than enough.”

  Gus agreed, shook Kord’s hand, and left.

  My appetite was temporarily stalled out. Kord moved toward the tub and dipped his fingers in. “Ah, perfect.” He gave a shiver and then started stripping.

  “Wait, what are you doing?”

  “I’m gonna warm up. Climb in if you want.” His shirt was gone, revealing a lean, toned torso. He unfastened his belt, followed by his jeans, and shoved them down.

  I turned away. “You’re just going to take off your clothes in front of me?”

  I heard the water splash as he stepped in. He moaned. “This feels so good. Come in, Brenna.”