The Black Shriving (Chronicles of the Black Gate Book 2) (36 page)

Originally? I, along with my brothers, was harvested and bound into the bones of Starkadr to power its flight and other abilities. If Starkadr yet flies, then my brothers remain enslaved in the stonecloud's bowels.

Audsley released the hilt and staggered back, falling onto his rear. He stared blindly out at nothing as his mind spun.

Starkadr was powered by captive demons. Was it too much of a leap to assume that Aletheia was as well? The very thought revolted him, shocked him, thrilled him. Was that how Nous had emerged so improbably from the depths of the Eternal Sea? How Bythos was carved from the depths of the earth? How the very Solar Gates themselves still operated, centuries after their creators had perished?

Demons.

Audsley scrabbled forward and took hold of the hilt.

One of your number hunts me. Can I defeat it?

You cannot
, said the voice, and Audsley heard glee within its depths.
Not alone, unless you can bind as the Flame Walkers once did?

No,
said Audsley.

Then you are at its mercy.
The voice turned pensive.
Unless you were to enlist the aid of others like myself. Compel us to fight our own brother. Not an impossible task, given your strength of will and determination...

Audsley snatched his hand back and cradled it to his chest. Was the demon telling him the truth? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Could he torture it until he was sure? Perhaps. But what assurance did he have that it would tell him truthfully how to defeat its brother, even under duress?

None.

Carefully he reached out and took hold of the hilt once more.
How can you help me?

By making you the hunter
, whispered the blade.

Why should I trust you to help me with anything?

Just as you compel me to carry you, so can you compel me to aid you.
There was something falsely innocent to the blade's voice.
Do you not wish to wield the power of the ancients?

Audsley frowned and stared straight ahead. Could he do so? Hunt this demon with Erenthil's creations? The very thought excited him. Could he reach across the span of time and take the baton from Erenthil, continue is his noble steps, an heir to his intelligence and creations?

Audsley bit his lower lip. He had to think. He had to puzzle this out using his one weapon: his mind. What to do? He could feasibly stick his head through the portal to the Hold and call for reinforcements. Ask Ser Wyland perhaps to join him, perhaps a squad of Hrethings. Strength in numbers. But no; he would simply be damning them to the same eventual death that had stalked poor Meffrid and Bogusch.

No; he had to tackle this dilemma himself. Dared he trust this demon? Of course not. He was no fool! And yet. What choice did he have? No. There were other avenues to explore first.

Grimacing, he took hold of the hilt once more and forced the demon to fly the platform up and out of the great Portal chamber, through the passage into the air shaft, then up, up, up until they reached the library level. He landed, stepped off with enormous relief, and hurried into the stacks.

Here he found an illusory sense of safety, but he didn't rest. He hurried into the hidden central chamber and lowered himself with great effort into the lowest level, Aedelbert gliding smoothly down beside him. Panting, he wiped the sweat off his reddened palms onto his tunic and considered the dead librarians.

"Oh! If only you were alive to answer my questions!"

He needed answers. He needed information. Knowledge was his only weapon, his only shield. "Aedelbert, please keep a wary eye out for unwelcome visitors, would you?" If anybody could detect the approach of a demon, it was his firecat.

Then he scanned the book spines once more, reading them out loud to himself as he walked the inner periphery of the tight circular level until he reached a set of books that seemed promising. He pulled six down in short order, considered dumping a corpse out of its chair so he could use the table, and instead sat on the floor and began to read.

The rasp of Aedelbert's tongue on his cheek awoke Audsley, who startled and knocked the heavy book from his lap as he reached up to fix his spectacles, half-expecting to see a demon looming before him. But he found no such thing. Instead, Aedelbert fluttered up to the high back of the closest chair and peered down at him.

"Oh," said Audsley. His neck was cramped and his generous posterior was numb. "Had I - did I sleep?"

His mouth was stale, his eyes felt sandy, and he winced as he shifted his weight. Spread out around him were a number of books, some open to key pages, others tottering in high piles. Audsley winced. His head hurt. He felt as if he had indulged in Sigean soulfire, but knew instead it was the strange and bewildering concepts that he'd absorbed over who knew how many feverish hours of reading. No, not reading – consuming.

Audsley blinked and removed his spectacles. The new knowledge came flooding back. The nature of demons, and how they might be lured forth through the Black Gate and tricked into being bound inside false hosts. The various categories of Sin Casters - no, Flame Walkers, as he now thought of them - ranging from the Artificers to the rather horrific-sounding Flesh Burners. A smattering of history, though he'd forced himself not to indulge. He'd understood perhaps a tenth of what he'd read, but the little that he'd absorbed was fascinating, perilous in its implications, and shocking in its suppression.

"How? Why?" He looked up at Aedelbert. "Why erase such knowledge from the world? Leave it bottled up here, lost and forgotten, left to wander adrift in the bowels of this stonecloud?"

Aedelbert gave no answer.

"Still," said Audsley, gasping as he levered himself to his feet, "it's not lost any longer, is it? We've un-lost it, which I suppose means it's been found, but 'found' doesn't do it justice. Ah, Aedelbert. Does this discovery imperil my soul or cleanse it?"

He turned with dolorous resignation to the rope. "I wish I could get that damned platform in here. If I continue climbing in and out of here, I'm going to lose my manly figure."

Twenty minutes later he clawed back out onto the top level, gasping and red-faced once more. He made his way somberly to the platform, ordered it aloft, and ascended to the sleeping quarters. There, he found a bathing room where a cunning series of sluices allowed warm water to pour down in copious amounts over his head, submerging him completely. He couldn't bear to wear his old clothing upon emerging, so instead he tentatively donned the dusty black robes of a Flame Walker. He cinched the belt around his tummy, slipped the sandals onto his feet, then repaired to the kitchen, where he fixed Aedelbert and himself a quick meal.

All the while, he kept listening. Turning at random moments to check the space behind him. He doubted there was anything he could do should the demon present itself, but he didn't want to be taken unaware. So it was an awkward and hurried meal that he took, then he descended to the Portal chamber to open the Portal to Agerastos.

Nobody came through. Audsley formed a triangle with his hands and whispered a blessing for Iskra's success, then mounted the platform and bid it rise.

"I am not, I will have you know, dear Aedelbert, accepting the demon's offer. I am merely investigating further. We're returning to the laboratories," said Audsley as they sailed through the murk. "To learn what we can of Erenthil's successes. He must have been fearsomely brilliant to have wrested control over the demons without his power. Or terrifyingly brave. Or both. Perhaps there is something there that will benefit us."

He could sense the demon's satisfaction oozing through its prison of light. Audsley steadfastly ignored it.

Once again they sailed between the honeycombed walls, through the isolated hexagons of luminous green, to the end where the largest labs lay. He parked the platform on the ledge, averted his eyes from Bogusch's jaw, and hurried inside.

All was quiet. The corpses still lay before the breached block of lead. It was telling, thought Audsley, that all three were missing their jaws. Had they unleashed the same demon that was hunting him now? Shaking his head, fighting the urge to constantly check the entrance, he moved amongst the tables, picking up sheaves of paper to read the notes, squinting to make out the ancient script. It was hard to understand, so he set the papers down and took up the metal gauntlet that he'd seen during his first visit.

"Most strange," he said quietly, turning the massive thing over in his hand. There were no segments to the metal, in the manner of common steel gauntlets; this one was continuous, as if had been cut from lambskin, and the metal was eerily supple. Upon inspecting it more closely, he saw runes carved around its hem, where it would end just before the elbow.

Demon runes.

Audsley gulped, took a breath, and then slid his hand into the depths of the gauntlet. Immediately a demonic presence filled his mind, roaring with rage and thrashing inside the confines of his skull. Audsley had grown accustomed to the near acquiescence of the platform demon and cried out, stumbled back, and immediately felt the demon begin to pry his mind apart. Summoning his will, terror stabbing through his gut, he threw lances of light at the darkness, multiplied them by a dozen, then a hundred, and in a matter of moments had the demon impaled.

You are in MY mind, and you will do as I bid! Never dare again to assault me, or I shall cut you into slivers of shadow with a sword wrenched from the heart of the sun itself. Do you understand?

The demon snarled and stirred, but then fell silent.
It has been too long since a mortal tempted me.

Yes, well, that's no excuse to attack me.
Audsley felt that last was a bit lacking in gravitas, but there was no time to dwell on that now.
What is it that this glove does?

He got no answer. He stared down at the gauntlet and saw that the runes were now burning with fiery light along the hem. He flared his fingers and found the metallic glove a perfect fit. There was a nice heft to it, like that of a reassuringly dense dictionary.

Audsley frowned. It was awesomely impressive, but what did it do?

It was surprisingly difficult to read the incandescent runes, but the gist of them seemed to be something to do with binding. No help there. Carefully, he reached out and touched the table. Nothing happened, which was a bit of a relief. He'd been worried it might set the table on fire. He tapped the table harder, and the stone crunched beneath his palm.

That was... odd.

Audsley balled his hand into a fist and brought it down hard. His fist plowed through the table, dislodging a chunk of rock with a cacophonous
crunch.
With a cry Audsley danced back, narrowly avoiding his feet being crushed beneath the rubble. He stared at the glove, eyes wide.
Oh, my.

Casting about, he found a number of steel rods that were bound together with black rope. He drew one out, clasped it in his gloved hand, and squeezed his fist closed. The rod squirmed and bent to a roughly ninety-degree angle.
Astounding
.

He dropped the rod on the table and saw that, where it had bent, the metal was glowing cherry red. Frowning, he stared down at his gloved palm and saw a thin, fiery red line inscribing a rune nearly invisibly there. He peered down at it. It was the same kind of rune that was inscribed over the Portals, that awful amalgam of ancient Sigean and Aletheian. He cleared his throat and croaked out the word.

Fire rushed through him, and a rushing roar of crimson burst out of his palm and nearly took off his face. Audsley screamed and fell over, flailing his hand as he did so and causing a torrent of flame to sweep out over the lab. He screamed again, tried to rise, and pressed both hands to the ground. Immediately the fire spread out in a sheet along the stone floor, pouring over his boots.

Audsley screamed out the rune once more... and this time, the fire ceased. The darkness that rushed in to take its place was blinding. He fell onto his ass and kicked off his burning boots, panic filling his heart.

"Aedelbert? Aedelbert! Oh, Ascendant, please! Aedelbert?"

There was a terrified
mrao
from high up on one of the shelves, and Audsley's heart skipped a beat as he felt a pang of relief. He nearly wept. "Oh, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." He simply sat there for a long while, sobbing for breath, then finally opened his eyes and looked around the lab. Papers were charred, chairs were burning, shelving and books were crackling, and ashes were floating down from the ceiling.

Yes,
said the demon's voice in his mind.
That is but a taste. Ask for my help, and I shall grant you more.

Audsley snapped his hand into a fist and banished the presence deep into a prison of light.

Was it his imagination, or did the demon respond with less alacrity than before?

Rising to his feet, he cast around. There had to be other items here that could help him, other objects of power. Even if it meant imperiling his soul, he would find them, learn to use them, and then, with their help, he would hunt that demon. He would scour Starkadr until there was nowhere left for it to hide, and then he would destroy it.