Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) (9 page)

He strode over to the table that she was
strapped to and smiled down on her while she opened her eyes. She
squinted in the light, and blinked painfully as her eyes adjusted
to seeing once more.

She parted her dry lips to speak, but only
managed a weak cough. After a few moments she was able to see more
clearly and her confused gaze rested upon him before hardening into
recognition. She struggled against the bonds that held her firmly
to the table.

His smile broadened. “Welcome back, Jezebel,”
he said, waving a hand over her eyes before making his way back to
the circle and blinking himself back to the familiar countryside
that once he called home.

He was momentarily nauseated by the internal
tug that traveling by magic caused, but soon reoriented his senses
to the new surroundings. He strode quickly towards the flickering
lights that marked the town. The first person he came across was a
farmer, and Nathair moved to intercept him.

“Where is the ruin that was just unearthed?”
he asked him.

The farmer looked at him quizzically,
shrugging and mumbling an annoyed, “I don't have any idea as to
what you're talking about, stranger,” before pushing past him.

“I asked you a question. Answer it.” Nathair
commanded of the man.

The farmer immediately turned back to him,
and responded in a monotone voice, “Follow me.” He dropped the bag
of goods he had been carrying and walked towards the fields.
Nathair smiled at his own skill and he fell into step behind the
man, noticing that the damage out here was nothing compared to the
devastation in the city. He made a mental note to make sure that
they were not requesting more assistance than was actually
needed.

In short order they came across the rubble
where a section of earth seemed to have fallen into itself, and a
passageway could be made out beneath a large boulder.

“Has anyone been down there?” Nathair
asked.

He was pleased when the man answered, “No
one, Master, the boulder was too big to move. Besides which, there
are stories about evil things down there so no one wanted it moved
anyway.”

“Excellent.”

Nathair pulled a dagger from beneath the
folds in his cloak, and in a swift motion sliced the man's throat.
The man clutched at the wound and gurgled as he fell to his knees
in an attempt at self-preservation. It was a futile attempt, and
the blood poured out in between his fingers, taking with it the
man's life.

Nathair reached greedily for the power it
released. A more ritualistic blood-killing would have gotten him
much more, but that was time-consuming and Nathair was eager to
find what was down in the hole. He flicked his wrist to ignite the
body. He hated leaving evidence behind.

He easily moved the boulder out of the way,
and sent a ball of light to illuminate his path as he made his way
carefully down into the passageway. The remains of a large beast
were squashed underneath one of the fallen sections of ceiling.
Nathair stepped over this carefully, though judging by the amount
of its insides littering the floor; it was unlikely to be going
anywhere anytime soon. There were remnants of spells around the
beast that appeared to have been blasted into oblivion when the
wave of unleashed power washed over the area, but he could detect
no others still intact. He was alert for additional dangers along
the way, but the long stone passageway appeared to now be devoid of
magic barriers or traps and seemed to draw him towards the end
welcomingly.

It wants to be found
.

He came to the end of the passage, and his
ball of magical light revealed a door. He reached for it, but
before his hand touched it, it opened before him. He stepped
through excitedly.

The room was largely empty, and a single
pedestal stood in the center. A shaft of light from above shone
straight down on the top of it, at first obscuring his view with
the bright reflection. Nathair squinted in the glare and moved his
head to the side to get a better view, and was awed at the
sight.

It was the most perfect magestone he had ever
seen, the clarity and quality of it was flawless, and it shone a
brilliant bright red. It pulsed with power, power that invited him
to take it and Nathair reached for it.

As his hand touched the stone, he felt a
tingle through his fingers and he held it before him, admiring it.
The door clicked shut behind him and he whirled around, clutching
his treasure to his chest, but stopped his attack before he started
it in amazement of what he saw.

“Mother?” he asked incredulously.

The woman bared her teeth. “Hello, Son,” she
greeted him and Nathair felt a sharp stab of pain in his cheek.

CHAPTER 4

Gryffon stirred, and Layna rushed to his side
once more as he sat up. “Are you alright?” she asked worriedly.

Gryffon nodded and gave her a wry grin. “I am
not having a good year. What the blazes happened? Are you two
alright? Did something happen with the border?”

Layna nodded that they were alright and that
they had been successful taking the border down. Then she filled
him in on the bad news about his life-sucker, ending with the dead
end that she had just stumbled across with Aileen. “So it seems
that it must be from Jezebel, but since she's already dead...”
Layna trailed off, and shrugged her inability to explain.

“Are you sure she was dead?” Gryffon asked
after a moment of thought.

Layna cringed at the memory of Jezebel being
torn apart and answered, “I don't see how she could have survived
injuries like that. Besides, her magic was all burned out.”

Aileen spoke up. “Having her magic burned out
wouldn't necessarily stop her. The spell is self-supportive once
it's cast, so it could have used Gryffon's life-energy to keep
itself active, even if she was badly injured and would continue to
do so even if she hasn't regained use of her magic.”

“Is there any other possible person who could
have done this to you?” Layna asked desperately, not ready to face
the possibility of Jezebel having survived being ripped apart by
her own hellhounds.

Gryffon raised his eyebrows as he wracked his
brain. “I don't think so, so let's assume for the moment that
somehow she did survive and it is from her. In which case, what do
we do to get rid of it?”

He and Layna both looked to Aileen who looked
back at them regretfully. “I don't know the exact procedure. I know
that you have to eventually face the person, but more than that I
cannot tell you. Blood-magic is most definitely not my specialty.”
She held both hands out before her.

“But you said it shouldn't do - that,” Layna
widened her eyes and nodded to the ground, indicating the suffering
Gryffon had just endured, “again. Right?”

“It shouldn't. More than likely she doesn't
know that she has cast this spell and therefore cannot consciously
activate it. Only if she is in dire need would the spell have taken
it upon itself to drain you, and even then only if some outside
source initiated it with the right conditions. Like the energy
surge.”

“Brilliant. Are there any other side-effects
of this project that we should know about?” Gryffon asked her
blandly.

Aileen shifted rather suspiciously, but
didn't answer. She was busy looking off across the landscape. Layna
followed her gaze and caught sight of a figure coming towards
them.

A beautiful black horse with shining silver
mane galloped across the fields, closing the space between them
with amazing speed. They all stood transfixed, hypnotized by the
pattern of its gait. It reached them far too quickly by Layna's
estimation, and it raised a cloud of dust as it dug in its shining
hooves to pull to a stop before them. It stood before them for a
long moment.

-
Hail,
- said a flowery voice in
Layna's head. She looked wildly around for the source, but both
Aileen and Gryffon were staring directly at the beast.
The horse
is talking to us!
She realized incredulously.

Gryffon stepped forward and bowed to the
thing, though Layna noted that his motion was rather stiff. He was
obviously still recovering. Layna watched him with confused
curiosity.

“Greetings,” he welcomed the horse. “I am
Gryffon Longshadow, servant to the Ieldran of Endlyfta. We bear
tidings that must reach them as swiftly as possible.”

The horse's gaze traveled the length of him,
before nodding. -
What became of the barrier?
-

“We needed to get through so we took it
down,” he answered her humbly.

The voice grew harsher in her mind and Layna
winced. -
You
what?
-

“It was my fault,” interjected Aileen,
stepping forward, “I decided it was time for it to come down.”

-
You decided it was time for it to come
down?
- the voice repeated incredulously, the pitch starting to
cause Layna's head to ache. -
What gives you the right to
decide?
- The horse stepped towards Aileen menacingly and gave
her the same stare she had done to Gryffon moments ago.

The horse was so close to Aileen that Layna
could see the woman's graying hair whoosh out as the beast's breath
snorted out at her.

The high pitched whine in Layna's head
subsided, and the horse took a step backwards. -
Oh, it is you. I
should have known
.-

Aileen smiled. “That's all the welcome I
get?”

-
You are lucky you do not get a swift kick
from me, Elder.
-

Layna gave Gryffon an entreating look. On top
of everything else, she now had talking horses to wrap her mind
around.

“I assume you two know each other,” he said
to Aileen and Echo, then turned to hold a hand out to indicate
Layna. “This is Layna Nyx. She is my traveling companion and also
has information that is vital for us to carry safely to
Endlyfta.”

The horse fixed her appraising stare upon
Layna now and she felt a probe. She strengthened her newly erected
shields reflexively. Gryffon had trained her in shielding after the
episode with the King, and she was glad for it now. She had no
desire for this strange being to explore her thoughts
uninvited.

She felt the probe gently push against the
shields, but they did not budge and it retreated. The horse gave
her an odd look.
As odd as a talking horse can look
anyway
.

-
She is…-
Echo started in their minds
but Aileen swiftly cut her off, making Layna wonder what it was
about her that Echo was about to comment on. Did the horse already
know her terrible secret too?

“She is one of the ones who went up against
Gelendan’s new King and he seems to have taken a fancy to her. I
also recently learned that the King may actually be the offspring
of the Draconi gypsy tribe and a knight from the House of the
Phoenix.” Aileen gave the horse-woman a pointed look as though this
information was relevant and Layna felt that if the horse could
have raised her eyebrows she would have. “It appears that the time
is upon us, and as you know, the stone has gone missing. My fear is
that it has been moved to Gelendan. We cannot afford further
isolation. It would only prolong Treymayne’s demise. If there is
any hope of stopping him, it needs to be done now, with all the
resources we have.”

Both Aileen and the horse stood there
silently staring into one another’s eyes for several long moments
and Layna wondered if they were still conversing.

Gryffon finally broke the silence. “Layna,
this is Echo. She is an honored guest at our palace and provides
wisdom for the Ieldran, our council. She is very secretive, but as
far as we can gather, she is actually a mage who found a way to
turn herself into a horse and simply preferred to stay that way.
Her guidance has been priceless of late.”

The horse - Echo - bowed her head in
acknowledgment of this compliment, and then turned to Layna and
winked.

“She was quite feisty in her youth. Age seems
to have mellowed her,” commented Aileen with a mischievous glint to
her eye.

Echo lowered her head towards Aileen and
Layna's eyes widened as a clear, sparkling horn sprouted from the
blaze of white on her forehead and steadily grew. It lengthened,
pointing straight at Aileen, until it just brushed up against her
chest. Layna would have feared for the woman's safety was it not
for the broad smile pasted upon her face.

“I see she hasn't lost her temper
though.”

Layna looked from Aileen to Gryffon. “The two
of you really need to work on your information sharing.”

A tinkling musical sound issued forth from
the mage-beast, sounding rather like laughter, and the voice
sounded in her mind again. -
Knowledge is a most powerful weapon.
It is prudent to guard it
.-

“Yes, yes, yes,” said Aileen, waving a hand
in the air, “but perhaps we should have warned you, dear, that a
horse would suddenly being talking in your head.”

“It would certainly have been appreciated,”
Layna squeaked out. She was beginning to feel like a character from
one of her adventure novels.

“Well, now that introductions are out of the
way, shouldn't we be getting on our way as well?”

Echo lowered her head and raised it again in
agreement. -
Indeed. Do you require anything before we
begin?
-

Aileen answered for them. “Actually yes, us
simple folk need to pack a few belongings and gather up the last of
our party.” She paused, the glint back in her eye. “And we seem to
be one horse short.”

-
She looks light,
- Echo observed,
pointing the sharp horn in Layna's direction.

“Too bad, she has a horse. You're stuck with
me, old friend.”

Echo whinnied and stamped her hoof into the
ground. Layna was unable to decide what kind of emotion prompted
this action, and she stayed silent.