Rage (Scarlet Dawson Book 3)

by Nicola Chadwick

Chapter Fifteen

  After our descent of the cliff, we are given fifteen minutes to pack any bags that will remain with the camp and gather any essential items that we need to take with us in our backpacks. We all quickly follow the directive, and each team gathers outside the main tent.

  I ignore the stares from the other teams as we are all passed a selection of maps from The Neutral who finally tells us his name is Zeke. While Silas grabs our maps and begins to study them with Phoenix and Lykos, I study Zeke. I am pretty sure he is an Elder Fae of some kind, and a hybrid too. Those fangs of his are a little disconcerting and too large to be Fae, they are more like teeth from a prehistoric animal or Demon. That’s it. He is part Demon. He has to be.

  His gaze swings to mine and he frowns before I turn to Silas and busy myself with the maps. It wouldn’t do to piss off the neutral guy.

  Silas holds three maps. One is more like an ancient blueprint and it shows a series of straight black lines that intersect all over the place. I grab the map from her hands and study the thick, aged parchment then pass it to my left to Trenton.

  He looks at me and says, “What am I meant to do with this, wipe my ass?” I give him an exasperated huff then pull it out of his hands and shove it into Jackson’s waiting hands, so they can both read it. I then move to grab the next map from Silas.

  This one is in a more familiar style and shows buildings and streets, my best guess is that it is the original map of the city. It is also on ancient weathered parchment.

  Before I can look at the next map Zeke’s voice booms out. “Each day the next camp will be marked on your map by a red cross, you will not be able to plan the next leg of your journey until fifteen minutes before you are due to set out. As no clue has been offered for the first leg of your journey, I will offer you this advice. The maps in your hands are thousands of years old as is the land you are about to navigate. I would neither trust your eyes nor the maps, but then only the maps can show you the way.”

  I turn back to Silas who is frowning at the map in her hand. “Oh, lovely,” she exclaims, “more cryptic bullshit.”

  She hands me the map, frowning at Aylesbury as he points to the glimmering red cross on the map he holds. I ignore the males now gathered around him and look down at the final map. I can only see symbols that are scattered over the page accompanying small dots.

  I move over to Lykos and say, “Can you read any of this?”

  He squints at the writing and moves the paper around and around. “These aren’t Fae symbols that I’m aware of.”

  “No, I think they’re ancient celestial cartography symbols. My real dad once told me that we used to make maps of the stars and their alignments to our homes,” Silas tells us, we then look at Lykos as he’s the eldest person in our midst for confirmation.

  “Don’t look at me, what she says is right we did use to do that, but that art form died out thousands of years ago,” he says with a look of disdain. “And it wasn’t really something I cared to involve myself in back then.”

  I swing my head back to Silas, she narrows her eyes at me then says, “I have no clue how to read it either, but I can attempt to figure it out.”

  Bastian takes that moment to gain our attention, the other teams are both setting off.

  Bastian crouches to the ground, spreading the street map out in front of him and says, “I’ve been listening in to the other teams and they are going to follow this map to reach the next camp. We are not.” I frown at him, but he ignores me and carries on. “Zeke said not to rely on the map or our eyes but that we would need the map to reach the next camp. Rather than following an ancient street map I say we start walking in the general direction of the next camp. I think the maps provided are to offer slight help to overcome any obstacles we might face.”

  I must admit he’s got to be right, otherwise, why provide three maps. I decide to say, “So if one map is the city as it was, and the other is a map of the stars in correlation to the city, then what is the final map?”

  “If we have a map of the city and a map of the sky, then logically it can only be what lies beneath the city,” Jared says, studying the intersecting lines.

  We now just needed to figure out how to read them in correlation to each other.

  Everyone stands and hoists their backpacks to their shoulders. Bastian heads into the tree line first, and we all follow. I fall into step with Aylesbury and step into the dense forest.

  From the cliff, you could see that the trees densely populate the scenery and they grow in and around crumbling stone structures, but from that vantage point, the decaying structures were few and far between. As I enter the forest, I can see that there are even more ruins visible from beneath the treetops.

  The roots of the ancient trees have begun to twist in and out of the old stone structures, in some cases the roots are the only things holding the buildings together. The earth below our feet is rocky, uneven and, in places, completely disappears into the ancient sewer systems below.

  Bastian leads us up and down, and in and out of the structures until we come to a huge church. I blink as we all stop and stare at what looks like an exact replica of an old English church. I blink my eyes again a few more times before saying, “Is that an actual church?”

  Adam frowns at the building in front of him and replies, “Looks like it, but why is it still standing and what is it doing in Faerie?”

  “It doesn’t really matter what it is or why it’s here we’ve got to go through it. It’s the quickest route,” Bastian says, taking a step forward.

  On one edge of the church is a deep ravine and on the other side a steep incline leading up to a sheer cliff face. While I agree with Bastian, the thought of walking through the creepy church sends a shiver down my spine.

  I remain outside the church until only Aylesbury and I are left.

  “What are you waiting for, Red?” Aylesbury says to me as he reaches my side.

  I scan the building again unable to put my finger on what feels so off about the place. The structure is still mainly intact and quite large. Its dark-grey, stone walls are smooth and interspersed with many stained glass windows. Most of the windows are smashed in places but the ones that remain depict scenes from the old Christian bible.

  Human religion declined when the Veil opened between worlds but there are still a lot of devout followers. At our school, we suffered through religious studies that encompassed everything from Christianity and Hinduism to Wicca and various Demon and Fae sects. I can honestly say I didn’t pay that much attention to the class, but I now wish I had.

  My eyes land on the hole where I assume a large wooden door once stood. It’s off to the side and looks like there should be a few steps leading up to it. There was something familiar about this place and it was really creeping me out. I tear my gaze away from the doorway and look at Aylesbury.

  “I have a bad feeling,” I say back to Aylesbury, and start walking towards the opening to the church, Aylesbury bringing up the rear.

  Inside the church is dark, but you can clearly see the tree roots that have broken through the flooring. Wooden pews that have rotted through are scattered about, creating a maze from one end of the room to the other. A ceramic effigy of Jesus still takes centre stage on the main wall, but his body is smashed in places.

  If this place really is thousands of years old, then it surely predates the Christian religion? Yet again I ask myself, why is it here?

  Bastian and Lykos are standing near an archway which I assume the others have already gone through.

  Bastian frowns at me as I reach his side and says, “Are you alright?”

  I don’t answer his question, instead I say, “Something’s not right here, Bastian.” I don’t meet his eyes or Lykos’s. Instead, I step through the darkened archway onto the steps winding upwards.

  With each step I take, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of foreboding. I try to force it away once we reach the top of the staircase and I see the others exiting through a ho
le in the roof. The hole looks to have been created by rocks falling from the cliff side, which in turn has created an easier route for us to reach the top of the cliff.

  Phoenix and Adam are about to climb through when Bastian clears his throat and Phoenix stops Adam’s ascent.

  Phoenix looks at me and motions with his arm, “After you,” he says.

  I grab his offered hand to help me climb up the first boulder then start climbing from boulder to boulder until a hand reaches down from the top to pull me the final few feet.

  I feel a sense of relief as Jackson pulls me to my feet. Something about that church freaked me out, I just couldn’t quite put my finger on why?

  Silas is sitting a few feet away with Trenton and Jared studying the maps. I shout over to her and ask, “Any luck?”

  “Once you have a landmark, it’s easier to see where you are on the map, the only problem is all the crumbled stone and bare sewers between make it impossible to link two areas. I’m pretty sure I know where we are on two of the maps though. Not that it’ll be much help because the entire landscape has changed and, in some places, completely moved. For example, this church wasn’t here back then,” she sighs and folds the maps up, tucking them in Jared’s backpack.

  I turn back to see Bastian leaving the church, everyone else is now on the cliff waiting. As he begins his climb, I see someone standing behind him, a figure shrouded in grey with an elven face that’s pale and drawn. I immediately go on alert and draw Neria from my hip sheath.

  “There’s someone down there,” I say to everyone.

  They all rush to the cliff’s edge to see, but only myself and Silas have drawn our weapons.

  Before Bastian reaches the top, he notices that we are all now searching the opening and turns around to check for danger. When he turns back, he frowns at me and makes his final climb in a matter of seconds, hoisting himself up right in front of me. I angle myself around him searching the hole in the roof for the figure.

  “I can’t see anything, can you, Jared?” I hear Aylesbury say as the others shuffle about, I don’t look at them because my eyes are glued to where I saw the figure.

  “There’s no one there, Scarlet,” Bastian says to me.

  “I’m pretty sure I just saw some kind of Fae, watching us climb,” I say back to him not willing to sheath my sword just yet.

  “We would hear them if there was someone there, Scarlet,” Jackson says from my side.

  “Exactly where did you see this person,” Aylesbury says, sounding like he’s the only one that believes me out of the group.

  “I saw a Fae male, wearing grey, standing right in the roof’s opening,” I say slowly pointing my sword.

  Bastian frowns and says, “If there was someone standing at that spot then we would have heard the crunch of stone under their feet.” He turns his head to Phoenix and says, “Did you hear anything?”

  “Not a thing,” he says with a shake of his head.

  “We didn’t hear anything either,” Trenton says, followed quickly with, “That doesn’t mean that we don’t believe you, Scarlet, maybe whoever it was can hover.”

  I turn around and narrow my eyes at him. Jackson’s not looking at me, so I know Trenton can’t physically see my reaction, but when his face changes I know that somehow, he can feel the change in my demeanour.

  Even though I know there is someone down there and I know we are being watched I decide to brush the incident off for now so that we can carry on with this leg of the journey.

  Chapter Sixteen.

  Bastian leads us up and down hills and valleys, around, over, and even sometimes, through the ruins until we reach a flat section. The area looks like it was once paved with cobble stones, and the stone structures that once stood proud are now just low walls with piles of crumbled stone lying at their base. There aren’t many trees growing through the old cobbles but a lot of ivy winds over the floor and up the walls that remain.

  Bastian decides that we need to stop for a while. We gather against the base of one of the larger walls so that we can see the rest of the open area.

  I unhook my arms from my backpack and throw it to the floor at the side of a rock that’s the perfect size for me to sit on. As I sit, I scan the area looking for things that aren’t there. I was really starting to doubt myself because after the church I had seen three more Fae, either following us or waiting and not once did anyone else in the team notice that anyone was there. I was starting to wonder what the hell was going on.

  Silas drops down beside me on the rock and says, “I thought we were never going to sit. My legs have never ached so much before.”

  Jackson and Trenton sit in front of us their faces lighting up with a mischievous smile. “Well, precious, you could always come over here and sit in my lap while Trent rubs the ache out of those lovely legs of yours,” Jackson says, his voice low and smooth, while patting his legs.

  Phoenix chooses that moment to walk up behind his brothers and slaps them both around the back of the head before walking off.

  “Why is he always hitting us, Jax?” Trenton says pathetically while rubbing the back of his head.

  “I’m pretty sure this is child abuse,” Jackson shouts after Phoenix.

  Phoenix doesn’t turn back around, just flips them the bird and says, “You haven’t been children for fifty years, grow a pair.”

  The twins turn to each other and both throw their arms around each other at the same time. “Don’t worry, brother, we’ll always have each other.” Then they both start mock crying.

  A giggle bubbles up from Silas and I turn to stare at her. I don’t think I’d ever seen her laugh, at anything, ever. I look over to Bastian who’s now sitting with Adam. Both are staring intently this way, only I’m pretty sure Adam’s staring possessively at Silas. Bastian beckons me over then starts rummaging through his backpack. It only takes a few steps to reach him and when I’m standing in front of him, he passes me a box containing bread, cheese, fruit, and some leftover bacon from breakfast. I don’t realise how hungry I am until my stomach growls at the sight of the food.

  I begin to move away from Bastian, but his arm snakes out, and his hand grabs my wrist, pulling me down to the ground at his side. I roll my eyes at him then ignore him as I savagely devour the food.

  I look around and see that Jared, Aylesbury, and Silas are all eating while studying the maps in front of them. The twins are still sitting where we left them and are shovelling food in their mouths like they haven’t eaten in months, and Phoenix is watching the twins with a look of disgust on his face. I’m sitting between Adam and Bastian, but I can’t see Lykos anywhere until I look behind me and see that he’s standing behind us all, staring off into the distance with his arms folded across his chest.

  I finish the last of the food and stand to brush the crumbs from my legs. I walk over to Silas to hear her saying, “I think we’re here.” She points to the map and Jared nods his agreement. “For now, I think Bastian has the right idea to just walk in a straight line to the camp. At some point, though, we will need these maps.”

  Aylesbury swipes the maps and moves to tuck them into his backpack. I walk back over to the twins and grab my own pack, hoisting it up and quickly tucking my arms through the loops. We are all getting ready to move back out, so I start to walk over to Silas with her pack and as she walks towards me, she disappears in a puff of beige dust.

  She makes no sound as she goes. I call out, “Silas?” I drop both our packs then take a tentative step forward before seeing a small hole in the ground. Trenton and Jackson are quickly by my side, peering into the hole as I shout down again. “Silas?”

  As the others gather around the hole, I hear a faint, “I’m okay, but it’s really dark down here.”

  I look at Aylesbury and Phoenix who are getting various ropes and harnesses out of their packs. When I hear Silas’s voice again. “Scarlet, I really don’t like the dark, bad things happen in the dark in Faerie.” Her voice wobbles a little with what I assu
me is fear.

  I flick my gaze to Jared’s, but he’s already on it and pulling out a quantum torch, The Guild Hunters all carry them and they’re the best that money can buy. They stay charged, running off a fusion mix of magic and technology and they contain more lumens than any torch or flashlight ever made prior to their invention.

  He switches the torch on and lays over the small hole thrusting his arm in and dropping the torch.

  Before the torch even hits the floor Silas screams. I shuffle forward on my belly to the hole to look in at the same time as Jared when the hole gives way and we both begin to fall. I land on the floor hard, a piece of rock breaking my fall and sending an excruciating pain through my shoulder blade.

  I blink the dust out of my eyes and see that Silas is unconscious on the floor next to me, her head bleeding. I can only assume a piece of falling rock knocked her out, I quickly check her pulse and breathing then look up at the hole. Jared is dangling in the air a few feet from the opening which I can only guess is around fifteen feet above me. A rope is caught around his ankle and he is hanging from it upside down, alive, and conscious, swinging back and forth.

  I move my head to the side and the pain in my shoulder intensifies so I hold my arm close to my body to make sure I don’t jar it too much.

  “Scarlet, are you okay?” Jared asks.

  “I’ve hurt my shoulder and Silas is unconscious. There’s blood coming from a small wound on her head,” I shout up to him.

  “Hang on a minute, we’re sending Jackson down,” Bastian shouts down to me.

  They start hauling Jared back through the opening, so I turn my gaze back to Silas. I bend to check on Silas again sending a wave of sharp pain through my shoulder. She makes a low moan but doesn’t wake up.

  A flash of movement makes me look up and I stare into a snarling leathery face that drips and oozes, its fangs dripping with spittle and snapping in front of my face. I scream from shock and admittedly from fright, the thing was hideous, and it is only a foot away. I quickly grab Silas with my good arm and start to drag her in the opposite direction. She’s heavy and the thing is fast, so I lower my other arm even though the pain makes me dizzy. Using both hands I drag her body towards the wall at my back.