“What are we this time?” I asked.
“Alley cats,” Aeron whispered. “Keep quiet, or you’ll break the illusion.”
The scent of metal, dust, and coal did nothing to mask the tang of rot. The demons were following but staying out of sight.
“Where to now?” Michel asked.
“The train to Raven’s Keep doesn’t leave for another twenty minutes,” Aeron said. “We have to grab whatever is leaving now.”
“I suppose it doesn’t matter where it’s headed as long as it doesn’t lead us to more demons,” Michel grumbled.
I pressed my lips together. I’d had my fill of demons, but if I convinced Aeron to go with me into the Bonelands, chances were good this would be far from our last encounter.
We followed the rails, pausing at breaks between the cars to look for people or demons. It came as no surprise to see two men appear from around the end of a train. They stood out in their wool suits and bowler hats.
“Slowly,” Aeron whispered.
Michel crawled under a boxcar, motioning for me to follow. I shimmied my way to the far side. The pack on my back shifted, and I lost my balance, knocking against the iron wheels of the train. The heavy thud was a dead giveaway that more than alley cats roamed the tracks.
“Did you hear that?” one of the men asked.
“It came from the other side,” came the reply.
Michel grabbed my hand and squeezed. Together, we dashed around a nearby engine and hid in the shadow of a stack of barrels. Aeron joined us a second later. The song of his illusion built into a crescendo of kettle drums that pounded through me.
A whistle shrieked and shattered the silence as another engine started its slow chug.
“That’s our ride.” Aeron was up and away, sprinting toward a train.
I followed, Michel hot on my heels. Around a series of boxcars, past switches and engines, over the uneven rail ties until we ran parallel to the train. A shout from behind us drove me to sprint faster.
Aeron grabbed the handle of an open door and swung himself up.
I pumped my legs, trying to gain speed as the train lurched forward in a groan and clatter of metal. The pack thumped against my back, throwing me off kilter as I ran. Michel kept pace, his long legs an easy match for mine.
Two steps. Three, and jump.
My hand wrapped around the handle of the door and for a moment I hung suspended before Aeron caught me by the waist and heaved me inside. Michel joined us a few seconds later, hauling himself into the boxcar with ease.
The train rumbled onward, slowly picking up speed. I prayed that our pursuers had been left behind. We settled in amongst the freight. The heavy scent of smoked fish and oil lingered in the air, wafting from the wooden barrels and crates that surrounded us.
Aeron sat by the door, his eyes scanning the passing hills. “Where are we headed?”
I brushed the dust from the label on one of the crates. “Coltrap Junction.”
“Void take it, we’re headed away from where we need to be,” Aeron grumbled.
Michel sighed. “It’s better than where Ris wants us to go.”
“What are you talking about?” Aeron asked.
I quickly outlined the fight on the beach, Aris’s memories, and the Lady’s urgent request. The vision of what would happen should I fail to reach the Heart pounded through me, heightening the urge to do as the Lady asked.
Aeron’s eyes narrowed and his lips pursed the longer I spoke. “No,” he said flatly. “That’s insane.”
I crossed my arms. “It’s not. If the Darkness gets the Heart—”
“You’re crazy, imp. I won’t let you do this.”
I looked away. “I need your help, Aeron. But I’ll go with or without you.”
“Now, you’re just being stubborn.” Aeron glared daggers at me. “I thought you were smarter than this.”
Suddenly, I saw the world covered in Darkness. Piles of bodies. Death and destruction everywhere. The need to stop it from happening clamped down ruthlessly on me and refused to let go. Anger at his stubborn refusal to help built and hazed my vision. I tamped it down. I needed to get Aeron on my side, not drive a wedge between us. “Why won’t you listen to me?”
“Because what you’re suggesting is reckless and stupid.” Aeron’s jaw hardened.
All of my pent-up fury escaped my control. “Reckless? Stupid? Whose fault was it that I ended up in Tolbert’s hands?”
Aeron winced.
I’d meant to hold the accusations back, didn’t mean to confront him when I knew the truth from Aris’s memories. Ruin had planned it all, but that knowledge didn’t stop the feelings of betrayal and hurt. My protectors had failed me. Had left me vulnerable.
“Where were you when I was being tortured?” Tears grew dangerously close to the surface. I pushed them away. “Where was Bran?”
Michel cleared his throat. “Ris—”
“Do you know what happened to the last three vessels, imp?” Aeron’s gaze held mine, his eyes filled with pain and a demand to let the argument go.
“Do you know what happened to me?” I countered. “I know what waits for me if I fail.”
“They wanted to go to the Bonelands, imp. All three went looking for the Heart.”
I ground my teeth together to keep from swearing. The Lady hadn’t corrupted them. I knew that. Her call had sent them to their doom, but only because the Darkness had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Just as Ruin had waited for me.
Aris’s memories told me everything. Bran, angry and demanding. Telling Aris she couldn’t go. Aris sneaking out in the dead of night. I knew Bran. Once Aris returned as Ruin, he would have done everything to keep the others from going to the Bonelands. He would have locked them up and thrown away the key. Stifled and caged them as he had me. Aris had gone into the Bonelands because she knew the truth. The Heart had to be found, or the Darkness would destroy the world. She’d been hopeless and filled with despair when the Darkness finally claimed her.
“They failed because they were alone.” I let my words sink like a rock into the angry silence.
Aeron shared a look with Michel, one that said my words made no sense.
Michel tipped his head to the side and studied me. “What do you mean?”
“They didn’t have anyone to stand beside them as they faced the Darkness,” I said.
More silence stretched between the three of us. Vast, brittle, and cold.
Old memories danced across Michel’s face. I’d played my hand, and it was as rotten as the one Emmy had thrown at him. “You won’t go alone.”
Michel’s simple statement relaxed the tension in my chest.
“Demon’s balls, imp. That was….” Aeron grabbed a handful of his hair and blew out a breath.
“Promise you will come with me.” I crossed my arms.
Aeron glared at me, his lips pressed together. “Fine. I promise. We’ll do this your way, but it’s on your head.”
I blew out a breath. “It always has been.”
Aeron stared out the door. His refusal to look at me a sure sign that I’d hurt him with my sharp words.
I closed my eyes and focused on the rhythmic clatter of the train on the rails. Thoughts and memories that I didn’t want to deal with threatened to intrude. The constant threat of another demon attack wore on me. This wasn’t how my life was supposed to be.
“How do we go about getting to the Bonelands?” I fiddled with the straps on the pack.
Michel pursed his lips. “The best bet would be to head toward Camp Restin.”
“What’s that?” I asked, more to break the somber silence than because I wanted to know what it was.
“It’s a supply depot and paladin outpost,” Michel replied, “but, I don’t know what we’ll find when we get there. We’ll have to get off at the next stop and hope there aren’t any demons nearby to catch us.”
I shivered. I�
�d seen what happened when a town was overrun by demons. Half of the people caught as they fled. Turned into ghouls or devoured while the other half cowered in their homes, praying that they survived long enough for help to arrive. Bran had taken me to that particular town to show me how to fight the voracious undead. Ghouls were almost worse than demons. Mindless in their search for blood and flesh, they destroyed anything in their path.
“That won’t work,” Aeron said quietly.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Aeron fished in a pocket and pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper. “There’s a bounty on my head.”
I took the page from him, scanning the contents of the letter. “Light, how did this happen?”
Aeron stared out the door of the boxcar, his eyes distant. “The Voice dug up information from before I became a paladin.”
Curiosity tickled my brain. Aeron never talked about his past, and the accusation of murder was not something I’d expected the Lady to forgive.
“Is it true?” I asked.
Aeron swallowed hard. “It’s in the past and I swore my oaths to the Light after the Lady pardoned me.”
“Demon’s balls,” Michel whispered. “How in the Void did the Voice find out about that?”
“There’s more.” Aeron’s hands curled over his knees. “No one but Bran, Cre, Llyr, and I knew about Ris’s heritage and where to find her, but somehow the Voice knows everything.”
Michel rubbed his forehead and looked at me. “Raven’s Keep isn’t any safer than the Bonelands. Now that I know we’ve got corrupted paladins in our ranks, I’m even more certain you won’t be safe there.” He let out a tired sigh. “Light, it doesn’t look like anywhere will be safe.”
I stared out the open door, watching as the barren hills passed in a blur. Michel and Aeron talked quietly, their soft words and rumbling laughs comforting. After so many weeks of pain and silence, the easy camaraderie the men shared was a balm to my bruised and battered spirit.
“Why are you so determined to do this?” Aeron finally asked me. “It’s not like you.”
I pulled the worry stone from a pocket and traced the familiar curves of it while I struggled to find the words. “The Lady showed me what would happen if the Darkness gets the Heart.”
Aeron shook his head. “Light, imp, you know as well as I that you can’t trust the Lady. What if you’re tainted already?”
“Emmy didn’t find any signs of corruption.” Michel’s voice barely carried over the clatter of the train.
Aeron scooted closer to me, our shoulders brushing. The familiar scent of leather and citrus soap that surrounded him calmed my frazzled nerves. I was a little sister to him. There had been many nights when I couldn’t sleep because of fear of what I could become. He’d understood my need to talk it through. He would sit beside my bed and listen, tell me stories and play with my hair until I drifted to sleep.
“Do you believe this dream of hers?” Aeron asked Michel.
I ground my teeth together. While I understood his concerns, the indignity of him talking as if I wasn’t there made my blood boil.
Michel gave me a look of apology before he answered. “I don’t know. She was on the path of dreams when she had the vision.”
“It was real.” I gave Aeron a withering look. “I’ve been on the path of dreams enough to know the difference between a simple dream and a vision.”
Aeron took my hand and squeezed it. “Sorry, imp. I know you have. Old habits die hard and with everything that’s happened….” He shrugged.
Michel leaned back against a burlap sack, hands behind his head. “So Cre planned for me to bond to her, huh?”
“What!?” Surprise washed over me followed swiftly by consternation. Cre was a sly one. A gentle bear of a man that hid his cleverness behind his down-to-earth appearance.
“He hoped it would work,” Aeron answered. “Something about a vision.”
“Did Cre foresee all of this?” I asked.
Aeron shrugged. “If he did, he wouldn’t share it with the likes of me.”
Michel raised an eyebrow. “Why did he choose me?”
Aeron gave him a wry smile. “I might not know what Cre saw, but Heinrich was the only other choice, and Bran doesn’t trust him.”
Michel picked up a bit of debris from the floor and tossed it at Aeron. “Bran doesn’t trust anyone.”
Aeron laughed. “He trusts you, he just doesn’t like you.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Michel grumbled. “Did Bran learn anything from Tolbert?”
Aeron glanced sideways at me. “Tolbert was possessed.”
Horror crawled over my skin. Aris’s memories had supplied that information, but I hadn’t shared it with Michel. Ruin had been responsible for corrupting the man. Keeping my secret from Tolbert hadn’t mattered. He’d already known everything.
“Light,” Michel muttered.
Aeron rested his hand on my head. “It kills me to think of you in his hands and knowing he was possessed makes it worse.”
Michel grunted. “Tolbert has always been a power-hungry bastard, but he wouldn’t have passed the Test of Light if he’d been possessed when he’d taken it.”
Aeron raised an eyebrow. “Unless—”
“Don’t,” Michel warned, “I don’t want to go down that road unless there’s proof. If we start accusing each other, it won’t end well.”
Aeron rolled his eyes. “For a man with a reputation like yours, you sure are being cautious.”
“Reputation?” I asked.
Michel shrugged. “I’m a bit of a lone wolf.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Aeron winked at me. “He’s a cocky bastard who works alone because no one is as good as he is.”
Michel pressed his lips together as his hands curled into fists. “Says the thief and con-artist.”
I reached over and squeezed Michel’s hand. I had a good idea of why he worked alone. The pain on his face when he talked about Ollie’s death was still fresh in my mind.
“I can’t help what I was,” Aeron muttered, looking out the door of the box car in sullen silence.
Michel shifted the conversation to a more pleasant topic. They relived the glory days and exploits of their youth. It was hard for me to fathom that they were old enough to have witnessed the cataclysmic events that had changed our world forever.
Their murmured conversation lulled me into a half-sleep, and I wasn’t aware of how much time had passed. The train’s brakes screamed, and the boxcar jolted, forcing me upright. Another thud and the squeal of metal had me reaching for a weapon that I didn’t have. The train shuddered and stopped moving.
“What’s going on?” I extended my senses, and several violent curses sprung from my lips. Demons surrounded us. How had they caught up?
Michel crouched on one side of the door to the boxcar, rapier held at the ready. Aeron stood on the other side, paladin’s flames dancing over his daggers. Sharp yips and barks signaled that the demons were moving closer. I grabbed my pack and joined Michel, who passed me his pistols.
“We’re going to jump,” he said. “Try to stay out of the way.”
“Have a little faith in me,” I retorted.
Aeron rolled his eyes. “She’ll be fine. We’ll have to make a run for it.”
At least the train was stopped this time.
“One.” Michel peered around the edge of the door.
I grabbed hold of my magic. It slipped and slithered away, the descant of water refusing to mesh easily with my fire. Something lingered on the edges of my magic. Something new that begged to be used.
“Two.”
I corralled the errant music, pushed and fought the notes, tried to create a harmony between the trumpets and violins.
“Three.” Michel launched himself out of the open door and sprinted toward a group of three demons.
The magic refused to cooperate. It hungered for something, but I could
n’t tell what. It reached out without my guidance and I yanked it back. Light, what was going on and why did it have to happen now of all times?
A ghoul scrambled up the side of the boxcar, its gruesome face rabid in its frenzy to get to me. I aimed the pistol and fired. The ghoul slipped backward as the bullet hit it, but the creature caught itself before it fell completely. I kicked it in the face, cranked the lever on the pistol to arm the next shot, and fired again, hitting the ghoul in the head. It fell to the ground and lay still.
Thank the Light ghouls could be killed with normal weapons.
I jumped from the train, my knees protesting the drop, and looked for an opening to run. A chaotic tangle of bodies and magic surrounded me. The paladins’ flames danced over their blades, green and blue fire, eager to consume corruption.
Aeron was a blur as he used his illusions to disorient the demons. His daggers whipped through the air, leaving trails of green fire. Demons screamed when his blades touched skin and the Darkness inside burned. The air grew thick with wet ash and the acrid scent of rot as they exploded. Three demons became ten as others joined the fray.
Ghouls prowled the edges of the fight, waiting to eat whatever was left over. Once, they had been a human without magic until demon poison corrupted them. The creatures retained only a smattering of human appearance. Their slit pupils and razor-sharp teeth gave them a reptilian look, and their leathery, grey skin hung loosely on their skeletal frames.
I cranked the lever of the pistol to reload and waited for an opening.
There.
I fired and hit a ghoul in the leg, black blood spraying into the air. It fell to the ground, part of its leg gone. It pulled itself toward Michel, but the other ghouls leaped on it, ready to feast.
I reloaded the pistol, keeping track in my head of the number of shots. Three fired, four left.
Something grabbed me and spun me around. Frantic, I instinctively wove my magic around the corruption in the ghoul and burned it. The creature recoiled before it dissolved like a soap bubble, leaving behind the rancid stench of rotten meat.
The scent called to me. Tugged at my magic, demanding that I burn the taint from the creatures that surrounded us. A haunting song rose from the world. A longing song. It called for me to surrender and join it. To burn away the corruption that filled it.
A Sea of Broken Glass Page 12