“Bets on what you’d find if you cut it open?” Grigg murmured.
A man burst from the trees a dozen paces from us, an ax in his hand, face contorted in hate.
Yoshana brought her carbine around without unslinging it. The action of firing, working the bolt, and firing again was almost too fast to follow.
As the third round smashed through the attacker’s heart, a rush of Darkness boiled out of him and spread into the air. This time the Overlord showed no interest in catching it.
Instead she said, “Active perimeter. Some of them might be able to project. If they can, that’s next.”
A smoky triangle formed around our group, with Yoshana, Grigg, and Roshel at the vertices. The Overlord looked over her shoulder at me. “Stay inside if you want to live.”
Erev, Joav, and I crowded the center of the triangle. The two Knights had their guns drawn.
The hut we were approaching was no bigger than the others, perhaps twenty feet across. There was an opening with no door, and Yoshana clearly felt she needed no invitation to enter. Grigg and Roshel remained outside. Our shield of Darkness flowed around the doorway, half in, half out. I peered past our leader into the dimness beyond.
I wished I hadn’t.
There was only one person inside with Yoshana. Where the other two natives had appeared outwardly healthy, this was only a withered husk. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. It sat on a pile of rotting animal carcasses, slowly drooling from a mouth empty of teeth.
At its shoulder pulsed the thickest cloud of Darkness I’d ever seen. It was as large as a man, too dense to see through. Thick tendrils of its substance flowed into the shaman like obscene umbilical cords.
“Well. You’re more horrible than I expected,” Yoshana said.
The entity didn’t seem interested in banter. The cloud shifted and throbbed. Its human half drooled.
“As you know, we’re interested in a guide across the Sorrows. We can make it worth your while…” But Yoshana’s voice trailed off. Her eyes were locked on the ruined body squatting in filth. The Darkness could have filled the shaman with unnatural health. If it hadn’t, that was because it simply didn’t care. No human consideration would matter.
“There is only death here,” sighed the living corpse in front of us.
Yoshana nodded. “Yes.”
Her shot took the shaman between the eyes even as the cloud of Darkness rushed at her. The triangle of protection was gone, all the Darkness that Yoshana could command pulled into a barrier in front of her.
“Torches!” she screamed.
Any prudent traveler carried oil-soaked torches. Fire was one of the few things the Darkness feared. For all their mastery of it, Yoshana’s company took the same precautions. Grigg flung down his pack and busied himself with flint and steel.
Of course, that’s when the rest of the natives attacked.
Grigg was focused on his task. Yoshana had all she could handle battling the cloud. Roshel and I were watching her in horrified fascination. And the unnatural defenses that shielded us at all other times were gone, pulled into Yoshana’s struggle.
I could see why Yoshana valued Erev, mean-tempered bastard that he was. The crack of his carbine behind me was the first warning I had that we were in no less danger outside the hut than the Overlord was inside.
Joav fired too, and both their shots were true. But they didn’t have Yoshana’s inhuman speed or aim, and our enemies were creatures of the Darkness. Two staggered but didn’t drop. And there were a dozen more.
Roshel took the last available second to aim her gun while I dropped my staff and fumbled out my heavy, double-edged sword. Her bullet took a native in the face two strides before he reached her. The cloud of Darkness escaping showed that one was dead.
Roshel looked at the cloud, perhaps tempted for an instant to seize it and replenish what Yoshana had stripped from her. She snatched up my staff instead.
“Keep them at a distance,” she shouted.
They were on us. One swung a sharpened iron pole at me. I brought my blade up to parry, and the force knocked me staggering back, loosening my grip on my weapon. I had fought paleos, and I had fought a drelb. This was far worse - the human intelligence of the former blended with the inhuman strength of the latter.
To my left, Erev’s sword was a wall of steel, holding two attackers at bay. But Joav was falling, a native’s fingers sunk deep into his right arm. Roshel smashed my staff into one’s face, pivoted, and kicked a second.
Then the iron pole was swinging at me again and I gave ground. A weight hit my back, and an arm like a metal bar went around my throat. I stabbed blindly over my shoulder and felt the blade bite home. The savage with the pole thrust at me and I turned. The point slid by me and must have struck the creature on my back, because it released its grip. As it fell away, it kicked me in the knee, and I collapsed to the ground.
“Here!” Grigg bellowed. He held three lighted torches. Two he tossed at Yoshana. He drove the third into a native’s eyes and followed up with a disemboweling backhand with his blade. Two more jumped on him.
A ruined face crashed into mine, bloody mouth leering. The man who had been behind me, wounded rather than killed. I kneed him in the crotch and tried to kick him away. Over his shoulder I could see my other assailant looking for a place to stab me without skewering his comrade. Staring at his bloodthirsty grin, I wondered if he wouldn’t just impale us both.
There was a roar like thunder as the shaman’s hut exploded in flame. The native on top of me glanced over his shoulder, while the one with the pole turned to stare. That was the last thing he ever saw as Yoshana’s sword took his head off.
The Overlord sucked in the Darkness, ripping it from the natives around her and hurling it back at them. Where it struck, it tore at their faces and they fell screaming. She moved through them like a reaper scything wheat. Grigg cut his way free of the two that had seized him and hewed down a third.
The man on top of me realized the tide had turned and leaped up to run. A bullet from Roshel’s carbine caught him in the back of the head.
And it was over.
Erev was on his knees, exhausted but unhurt. He had held two of them off until Yoshana could finish them.
Joav rolled from under the body he had knifed a dozen times. He had been a quiet man as long as I’d known him, and all he said was “ouch” as he examined the deep holes the savage’s fingers had gouged into his biceps.
As the Darkness settled, I realized smoke was rising from Yoshana’s hair and clothes. For the first time since I’d met her, the Overlord looked like she’d been in a fight.
“We need a new plan,” she said.
6. All the Colors of Darkness
We camped several miles from the compound. Yoshana was fairly sure we’d killed everything in it, but there could have been hunting parties out. None of us wanted to chance it. And there was nothing in that lair of twisted life and putrid death that any of us wanted to see again.
The Overlord herself was tending to Joav’s arm. Eventually she shook her head, cut off a strip of her cloak, and wrapped it around the wound.
“It should heal. It’s cleaned, and I got the flesh started knitting itself back together. It’ll take time, though. Even under ideal conditions, the Darkness just won’t heal someone else the way it heals its master. I never understood why.”
She glanced over at Grigg. “Nearly killed me, that time I brought you back.”
“Pretty sure it did kill you,” the Select replied.
“No, that was the spear afterwards. Anyway, that was on a battlefield, but nothing like this cesspit where God knows what could happen if I let my guard down.”
She actually sounded apologetic, as if she truly regretted she couldn’t do more for the Knight.
“Thank you, mistress,” Joav said. He produced a tight little grin. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Get some rest,” the Overlord told him. “Erev, Minos, you too. Grigg, Ros
hel, and I will take the watches tonight. We’re not going anywhere tomorrow.”
“Don’t you want to put some distance between us and that place?” Roshel asked.
Yoshana shook her head. “Like I said, we need a new plan.”
I woke in the morning to the sun and the sound of birds. Roshel sat on a rock a few feet from the ashes of our fire. I quickly counted heads - no one had vanished in the night. Despite the horror of the day before, the forest seemed peaceful.
I sat up, and Roshel gave me a tired smile.
“Rough night?” I asked.
“Uneventful,” she replied. “But after we lost a sentry two nights in a row, I kept the perimeter on a lot higher alert than usual. I’ve killed five squirrels, two foxes, and an owl that got too close.”
She stood up and stretched. “Guess I’ll go collect them. We shouldn’t let the meat go to waste.”
“I’ll go with you.”
She shook her head, though her smile widened. “Better keep an eye on things here.” She nodded at the four sleeping figures around us.
“That’s a surprise,” I said. “I didn’t figure any of this crew for heavy sleepers.”
“Grigg and Yoshana kept the same kind of watch I did. There’s probably a bunch more dead animals that they took out on the perimeter. And everybody’s worn out after the last couple of days. Soldiers learn to sleep when we can.”
She moved off into the trees. I was disappointed I couldn’t go with her, but rather than examine that emotion too closely I looked at our slumbering companions instead.
In repose, only Grigg looked dangerous. He was huge, tall and solid as a rock. His white hair was cut close to his gray scalp, though I’d never seen him trim it.
Erev and Joav looked peaceful in sleep, the hard lines relaxed out of their faces. Neither was a large man - Erev was average height, lean and tough rather than bulky. Joav was smaller still. The younger Knight twitched and grimaced briefly in his sleep. His arm must have pained him. The wound was horrifying - crippling and perhaps fatal from infection without Yoshana’s intervention.
The terror herself had the smooth, unlined face of a young girl. It meant nothing - even a normal Select aged slowly, and the half of her that wasn’t Select was demon, and immortal. Between that and her mastery of the Darkness, I had no doubt she could look unchanged for centuries. But from what was known of her, she really was young, likely no more than thirty. And she was no taller than Roshel - for all her presence, she didn’t reach past my chin. Curled up in her bedroll, her long, white hair puddled around her face, there was nothing but her unusual coloring to suggest she was the most dangerous human being on the continent.
Grass rustled behind me, and I spun to see Roshel emerging from the trees with her arms full of small furred and feathered bodies, a fox dangling by its tail in each of her hands.
She dumped the collection of squirrels, rabbits, weasels, and birds near the remains of the fire. She looked down at the foxes regretfully.
“It’s a shame. I like foxes. But what’s done is done, and at least we can use the fur and the meat.”
She pointed back the way she had come. “Oh, and someone killed a boar about thirty yards that way. Can you go get it?”
“You sure it’s dead?” Wild boar weren’t something you messed with.
She laughed. “It’s not breathing, and it’s in the kill zone.”
“Not infected with the Darkness, is it?”
She sobered. “I’ve heard of the Darkness taking pigs, but it looked normal enough. Anyhow, infected or not, it’s dead now. If it comes back to life, just yell.”
Sure. Just yell. Help would definitely reach me in time if I was set upon by the living corpse of a boar animated by the malign power of the Darkness. Right.
You wouldn’t think a dead pig would be hard to find, but there had been no struggle, no disturbance of the brush. It took me a few minutes of searching to come across the body, lying on its side in a stand of tall grass next to an oak tree. It had simply fallen where Yoshana or Grigg had killed it, rupturing who knew what blood vessels or vital organs.
I watched the body for a time. Roshel had been right - it wasn’t breathing, and there was no indication it was anything other than a dead pig. A big, dead pig. I stepped up and grasped it by the hind legs. The beast must have weighed a hundred and fifty pounds.
It would have been impressive to sling the carcass onto my shoulder and carry it into camp like a conquering hero. I dragged it through the grass instead. That thing was heavy.
Everyone was awake by the time I got back. I hadn’t thought I’d been out that long.
“How about a new rule,” I gasped. “Whoever kills the big, heavy thing in the woods gets to bring it back?”
Grigg chuckled.
Yoshana said, “We need to talk.”
I held up my hands. “Hey, if it was you, I’m happy to carry it.”
She didn’t smile. Not the fierce, wild grin she had when she fought, or her tight little smirk of superiority. My stomach dropped. This couldn’t be good. For weeks I had played with fire. Now I was going to get burned. Maybe fatally.
I looked around the group. Grigg’s good humor had vanished. Erev was looking at me with a hungry intensity. Roshel offered me a small smile, but it was a weak effort.
“So let’s talk,” I said. I couldn’t run. There would be no escaping her, and no surviving in the Sorrows if somehow I got away.
Now the corner of her mouth quirked up. “It’s not like that. I said we need a new plan. If we’re going to make it through this, we need to be stronger. That was too close back there.”
I nodded.
“We need you to master the Darkness.”
Useless as it was, I backed away. I stumbled over the dead pig I had dragged into the camp, windmilled my arms, nearly went down. “What? I’m not letting that in me!”
Yoshana shook her head. “Don’t be foolish, Minos. You’ve seen people who control the Darkness, and yesterday you saw what happens when the Darkness controls people. This is what we’ve been trying to explain to you. We need to control the Darkness, and there aren’t many who can. You’re one of them. Either you help us, or we fail here. And you die, or it takes you.”
My heart raced. There was no denying I’d been almost useless in the fight. Even Joav and Erev, hardened veterans though they were, hadn’t contributed much more. Grigg, Roshel, and of course Yoshana had been the ones that made the difference.
He’s not a factor, Roshel had said about Erev. Was this what she’d meant?
And what am I? That depends on what you want to be.
I looked at Roshel. She nodded, just a little.
So, did I want it? Did I want to be a factor?
Did I have a choice?
Player or piece, that’s a game where you’re going to get hurt. I’m going to be a spectator just as long as I can. That’s what Furat had said. But if anything was true, it was that I wasn’t in a position to be a spectator.
“Not a lot of people can control it, Minos,” Grigg spoke up. “But a lot of Select can. We’re sure you’re one of them.”
Prophetess called the Darkness the physical manifestation of sin. The literal agent of hell on earth. I had never believed that, before I met her. Did I believe it now?
“If we live, Minos, you could build a bridge of peace between Our Lady and the Darkness Radiant,” Roshel said softly. It was like she was reading my thoughts. Maybe she was. “You’ve lived with Prophetess and understood her. Now you can understand us.”
The possibility of peace should never be ignored. You should do what you think is right.
Erev spat on the ground. “You’re going to make this one a master of the Darkness?” he rasped. “What’s your next trick, Roshel? Teaching a cow to juggle?”
He looked me in the eye. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I replied. I turned to Yoshana. “Let’s do it. I’ve always wanted to see a cow juggle.”
I s
at on a fallen tree. Yoshana was next to me. After weeks of traveling together, this was the first time she had been close enough to touch. It was disconcerting.
A sphere of the Darkness pulsed in her open palm.
My heart raced as I watched that shifting mass. It was the key to the power that set Yoshana, Roshel, and Grigg apart. It fascinated me - and terrified me.
The Overlord set her left hand lightly on my leg. “Pay attention. This is critical. The Darkness responds to human will. That’s how it was created. But your will doesn’t mean your surface thoughts. The Darkness reacts most strongly to your strongest feelings. That’s generally going to be fear, rage, and lust.”
I remembered the possessed miller’s daughter in the village of Brambledge. She had been a creature of wild, uncontrollable urges until Prophetess had driven the Darkness out of her. Yoshana’s description seemed about right.
“So you have to still yourself. The way you’re all keyed up now - that wouldn’t end well.”
I grimaced. “Grigg said sometimes you have to resist it.”
“You have to master it. You’ve heard us use the fire analogy often enough. It’s really pretty close. You have to keep it under control. For you, that’s going to mean centering exercises.”
“I can do that. I’ve had some training.” I looked straight into those shockingly blue eyes. “You say for me. Not for you?”
“No. Not for me.” I was surprised to see her face light up in a smile. “I’m special.”
“Um. Now? The centering exercises, I mean?”
“Unless you have somewhere else to go.”
I closed my eyes and breathed deep. And again. In my mind, I heard the long, slow tolling of a bell. I imagined myself a stone statue, and bit by bit my body lost its muscle tension, my jaw unclenched, my hands lay limp on my thighs.
With my body stilled, I returned my mind to the tolling of the bell. Slowly, slowly, my brain emptied of thoughts.
Passing Through Darkness- The Complete Cycle Page 27