Beltan took Nim from Deirdre, holding the girl easily under one arm as he ran.
“Are those things back there what I think they are?” Deirdre said between ragged breaths.
“They are if you think they are
gorleths
,” Vani answered. “I am not certain how many are following us.”
Travis tried to count the shadows he had seen. “Too many,” he said, and ran faster. The
gorleths
were abominations spawned by the Scirathi, creatures pieced together from the blood and flesh of multiple beasts. Their strength, hunger, and desire to kill knew no limits.
“Where are we going?” Beltan asked as they rounded a corner.
Travis pointed. “There. The Tube station. We can catch a train to the Charterhouse.”
They pounded the last hundred yards to the entrance of the station, and Travis uttered a constant litany of runes as they dashed down a flight of steps. It was late, and there was no attendant on duty in the booth next to a bank of turnstiles. Deirdre stopped, searching in her pockets.
Travis stared at her. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for a ticket. Ah.” She pulled a small cardboard rectangle from her pocket, put it in the slot, and passed through the turnstile.
Vani jumped over the turnstile after her. Beltan handed Nim to the
T’gol
and followed suit, as did Travis.
Deirdre grimaced. “Well, if I had known we were going to be a gang of hoodlums, I would have saved the fare.”
“Come on,” Travis said, grabbing her hand.
They dashed down the steps that led to the southbound platform of the Jubilee line. They could take the train to Westminster, then catch either the District or Circle line to the Blackfriars station. From there it was only a few blocks to the Seeker Charterhouse.
And what if the Scirathi know where the Charterhouse is?
What if they’re staking it out?
Travis set aside the question. They could worry about that on the train ride there. They halted at the edge of the platform. Travis leaned out, peering down the lightless tunnel, hoping to feel the puff of air that would indicate an arriving train.
“How long until a vehicle comes?” Vani said, cradling Nim. The girl seemed unable or unwilling to blink.
Travis peered at the electronic sign over the platform. It was blank. There were no other passengers in sight; the platform was deserted.
“I don’t see a schedule anywhere,” Deirdre said, gazing around. “The trains don’t run as often this late at night.”
“Or maybe not at all,” Beltan said. He knelt to pick up a length of yellow plastic tape from the tile floor—the kind of tape often used for police or construction barricades. The blond man held out the tape. Words were printed on it: DO NOT ENTER. CLOSED FOR MAINT—
“Great Spirit protect us,” Deirdre murmured, gripping her bear claw necklace, but Travis knew it was too late for that, that there was nothing to protect them now.
Vani turned, arms locked around Nim. “We were herded here. This is where they wanted us to come all along.”
Even as the
T’gol
spoke, the first hungry, guttural sounds skittered along the curved tile walls of the station.
13.
There was a stairway at either end of the platform; the growling noises emanated from both.
“Get ready, Vani.” Beltan said as he raised his sword. Travis hadn’t realized the knight had carried it all this way.
“Deirdre, take Nim,” Vani said, handing the girl to the Seeker. “I must be free to fight.”
“I don’t want you to fight the
’leths
,” Nim said, then began to cry.
Vani caressed her damp cheek. “You must be brave, daughter.”
Nim nodded, her sobs ceasing if not her tears, and Deirdre hugged the girl tight, looking as if she was trying to be brave herself.
“Travis,” Beltan said, alternating his gaze between both stairways, “can you speak any runes that might help us?”
Travis was so tired. Speaking runes on Earth was like running through water: great effort for little effect. “I’ll try.”
The first dark forms appeared at the foot of both stairways. They were the size of apes. But then, the
gorleths
had been apes once—or at least part of them had. Chimpanzees were one of the animals the Scirathi used in fashioning the
gorleths
here on Earth. What other animals they had used, Travis could only imagine. Muscles writhed under the skin of their humped backs, their digits ended in curved talons, and knifelike teeth jutted from their maws.
Beltan and Vani each faced one of the stairwells, with Travis, Deirdre, and Nim between them. The first
gorleths
had already covered half the distance across the platform, their talons scraping against the tiles, making a sound like fingernails being dragged across a blackboard. Their pale eyes shone with hungry intelligence.
“Not to rush you, Travis,” Beltan said, holding his sword ready, “but now would be a good time for those runes.”
Travis drew in a breath, but he felt so weak—just like rune magic did here on Earth.
By the Lost Hand of Olrig, that’s no way for a Runelord to
think!
Jack Graystone’s voice thundered in his mind.
You’re a
wizard, Travis, on this or any world. Now speak a rune.
Gelth
should do nicely, I think.
This time Jack was right. Travis clenched his right fist, knowing without looking that the silvery symbol—three crossed lines, the rune of runes—had blazed to life on his palm.
“
Gelth
,” he intoned.
Again he felt the deep wrenching sensation inside, as if someone had just punched him in the gut. The rune had no effect.
Beltan tightened his hands around the hilt of the sword. “Travis . . .”
There was love in the blond man’s voice, and urgency. The
gorleths
were so close Travis could hear their whuffling, could smell the putrid reek of their breath.
“
Gelth!
” Travis shouted, straining with all his being.
This time a thousand voices chanted the rune in his mind, and he felt a hum resonate through him like a tone through a pitchfork. Instantly, tiny, glittering crystals precipitated out of thin air, frosting the
gorleths’
dark fur, and sheeting the tiles of the platform with a glaze of ice.
On Eldh, Travis would have been able to conjure an ice storm; he could have frozen the
gorleths
solid. However, in some ways, the coating of ice was equally effective. The curved talons of the
gorleths
could find no purchase. The nearest creatures let out shrieks of fury as they fell, skidding across the platform.
One slid close to Beltan, and the blond knight took the opportunity to swing his sword, lopping the beast’s head off. Another
gorleth
flew over the edge of the platform. There was a sizzling sound as the creature struck one of the electrified rails on which the trains ran.
Vani gazed at the smoking
gorleth
, then glanced at Beltan. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
The blond man snorted. “I think everyone is thinking what you’re thinking.”
Three more
gorleths
remained close by and were starting to slowly crawl toward them, while five or six of the beasts clustered at the foot of each stairwell, testing the ice with their talons; it was already beginning to melt. They could fight four of the creatures, maybe five. But not a dozen of them, not even with Beltan and Vani.
The
T’gol
prowled toward one of the nearby
gorleths
, moving across the ice as surefooted as if it were rough cement. Beltan started to do the same, but he swore as he nearly lost his footing, only catching himself by digging the point of his sword into the ice.
Travis knelt and touched Beltan’s boots. “
Krond
,” he murmured.
“What are you doing?” Beltan yowled stamping his feet. “That’s hot!”
The ice melted through to the tiles where his boots touched.
“Oh,” he said, then started toward one of the struggling
gorleths
, able to move across the ice now, if not as quickly as Vani. The creature reached for him, trying to rake open his stomach, but Beltan swiped with his sword, sending the beast’s arm spinning across the ice. He kicked, and the
gorleth
flew over the edge of the platform, striking the rails. Again came the sizzle of electricity, a sound that continued as Vani heaved first one, then another
gorleth
over the edge. However, one of them raked its claws across her leg, and she limped as she came back toward them, trailing a line of blood.
“It is a scratch,” she said in answer to their looks, but her words were more for Nim’s benefit than theirs. The ice was growing slushy beneath her feet, not just Beltan’s.
“
Gelth
,” Travis said, pressing his hand against the floor, murmuring the rune over and over. The tiles froze again, but they began to melt almost immediately. Despite the chill that radiated from them, Travis was sweating, and he couldn’t stop shaking. He kept speaking runes.
A group of
gorleths
edged away from one of the stairwells. They crept across the ice, pressing themselves against the wall at the end of the platform for support, moving toward the edge.
“What are they doing?” Beltan said.
Vani’s gold eyes narrowed. “They’re learning.”
When they reached the edge of the platform, the beasts lowered themselves into the trench where the trains ran, careful to avoid the electrified rails. Slowly, the
gorleths
began making their way parallel to the rails. Creatures from the other end of the platform were following suit. Travis knew what would happen when they reached the center of the platform. They would climb back up; and then there would be no escaping them.
Deirdre eyed the advancing monsters. “Travis, stop it with the ice runes. I think we need to run for the stairs.”
However, even as she said this, several more
gorleths
appeared at the foot of each stairwell. Vani and Beltan stood at the edge of the platform, ready to try to fend off the creatures when they started to climb up, though there were far too many of them. The snarls of the
gorleths
echoed off the curved walls of the tunnel, a cacophony that drowned out the voices of the Runelords in Travis’s mind. He stopped speaking the rune of ice and knelt on the tiles, bowing his head, exhausted.
A puff of air caressed his cheeks—warm rather than cold, smelling of steel and soot.
In Castle City, Travis had often stood on the boardwalk in front of the Mine Shaft Saloon, facing toward the mountains. He would feel an ache of possibility in his chest as he waited for the wind, wondering what it might blow his way. Only he knew what this wind was bringing. Already he could feel the tiles vibrating beneath his knees.
“Vani, Beltan! Get back!”
The two hesitated, then stepped away from the edge. Travis stood and grabbed Deirdre, pulling her and Nim back. The first
gorleths
, three of them, started to scramble up onto the platform, their eyes glowing with malice. They opened their fanged maws and roared.
The roar grew louder, deeper, filling the tunnel like thunder. The
gorleths
shut their maws, but the roar continued. Their pale eyes flickered with confusion, and they turned to look down the tunnel—
—just as the oncoming train struck them.
Two of the
gorleths
went flying through the air, their bodies limp and broken before they crashed onto the tiles. The third was caught between the train and the platform, its body smearing into a stripe of black jelly. The
gorleths
in the trench shrieked, then their cries were cut short.
Beltan, Vani, and Deirdre all stared, motionless with shock, but Travis knew they only had a moment. The ice had melted. Already the
gorleths
from the stairwells were loping toward them across the platform. The train slowed, wheels screeching in protest.
“Everyone!” Travis shouted. “Get into the train!”
His words shattered their paralysis; they started moving. The train rattled to a stop, and a set of doors whooshed open before them.
Anders stood on the other side.
“Hello there, mates,” he said in his cheery, gravelly voice. As usual, the Seeker wore a sleek designer suit that could barely contain the bulk of his shoulders. His close-cropped hair looked freshly bleached—an unnatural contrast to his dark beard and eyebrows.
“Anders,” Deirdre breathed. “How—?”
Travis shoved Deirdre, pushing her through the doors.
“Mind the gap,” intoned a voice over the loudspeakers. The
gorleths
snarled as they drew close. Vani and Beltan jumped into the train, Travis on their heels.
“Close the doors!” Anders shouted into a black walkie-talkie.
The doors whooshed shut just as the
gorleths
struck them. The train rocked under the blow. Vani and Beltan stumbled back, and talons slipped through the crack between the doors, wrenching them open. A snarling head shot through the gap, and before Travis could scream, the thing’s maw clamped around his upper arm.
The
gorleth’s
teeth sank easily into his flesh. He could see the creature’s gullet moving. It was suckling, pulling blood out of the wound with terrible force, swallowing it. A buzzing noise filled Travis’s ears. The world began to go white, and he no longer felt pain.
He watched through a veil as Vani and Beltan shoved on the doors, closing them, catching the creature’s neck as in a vise. It opened its maw to let out a hiss, releasing Travis’s arm. Travis stumbled back, and Beltan’s sword flashed. The
gorleth’s
head rolled to the floor, and the doors clamped shut. Outside the windows of the train the creature’s decapitated body slumped backward onto the tiles.
Vani took Nim from Deirdre. The girl was not crying. Her face was ashen and her eyes were circles of fear as she stared at Travis.
“Anders,” Deirdre said, grabbing her partner’s arm, “get this train running again.”
“You got it, mate.” Anders raised the walkie-talkie and pressed a button. “Eustace, take us out of the station. Now.”
The train lurched into motion, pulling away from the platform. Travis caught one last glimpse of the remaining
gorleths
on the edge of the platform, swarming around the headless body of their kin. Then the train passed into the darkness of a tunnel, and he felt strong hands lowering him into a seat.
“Travis, are you all right?” It was Beltan, his green eyes worried.
“He has lost much blood,” Vani said.
Before Anders could react, she tore one of the sleeves from his suit coat and bound it around Travis’s arm.
“Hey, now!” Anders said, annoyance on his pitted face. “You don’t just go making bandages out of Armani.”
Travis shook his head. The fog was beginning to lift. “I’m fine, really. I just got dizzy for a moment.”
But was it the loss of blood that had made him dizzy, or the smell of it? It filled his nostrils now: the rich, coppery scent. Were the
morndari
still sated? Could he not call them to him with blood such as his?
“Travis?” Beltan touched his cheek.
He focused on the blond man’s face, letting the desire to work blood sorcery fade away. Only it didn’t, not completely.
Deirdre slumped back against one of the seats. “How did you find us?” she said to Anders. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
“I got your message, mate,” Anders said, gripping a pole as the train rattled around a corner. “I must have just missed you, only when I called back you didn’t answer. It sounded like you’d gotten yourself into a bit of a scrape, so I decided to investigate. I went to the Bond Street station to hop on the Tube to Travis and Beltan’s neighborhood, and I knew something was definitely wrong when I ran into this chap.”
The Seeker picked up something resting on one of the seats: a gold mask. There was a small hole between the mask’s eyes.
“Needless to say, I was a bit surprised,” Anders continued, clearly enjoying telling the story. “This fellow here wiggled his fingers at me, and I suppose my heart should have exploded. Only I think something made his magic go all wonky. He got flustered, and I took the chance to get a shot off. Turns out their masks don’t stop bullets so well. Eustace showed up then. You remember him, Deirdre—the new apprentice you met the other day, scrappy lad. He had caught some chatter on the police radio scanners, something about a commotion at the Green Park station, and right away we had a pretty good notion what was up. So Eustace headed to the front of the train. There was no sign of the driver, but he got the train running, and here we are.”
Deirdre stood and gave Anders a fierce hug.
Surprise registered in his vivid blue eyes and—for a moment, Travis thought—a note of wistfulness. “Now there, mate, that’s enough of that. You would have done the same for me. Besides, I don’t think partners are supposed to fraternize quite like this.” He gently pushed her away.
“Are we heading to the Charterhouse?” she asked.
“On the double. I’d say it’s the only safe place in the city for these folks right now.”
“I do not understand this,” Vani said, sitting next to Travis. Nim was curled up on her lap. The girl’s eyes were closed now, but Travis was certain she was listening to every word. “There is no way the Scirathi could know I brought Nim to Earth,” Vani went on, her face hard with anger. She looked at Travis. “How could they have followed me across the Void, let alone to your home?”