Fragments of your Soul (The Mirror Worlds Book 1) (12 page)

“What do you mean?” Thoke said. He looked in the same direction as Arvid. “I can’t see anything.”

Although everything in front of them was quiet again, Arvid was convinced that the movement had not been an illusion. She felt that something was wrong, and a deep uneasiness took possession of her.

“Let’s go back to the soldiers,” she said nervously.

Thoke looked again into the darkness. “If you like…”

Arvid went so quickly toward the fire that Thoke had to run to catch up again. A terrible idea had already taken hold of her.

“So what’s going on?” asked Thoke. “What did you see?“

“I’m not sure… I have the unsettling feeling that demons are nearby,” replied Arvid tensely. She could not explain why she was so sure at once, but with every step her conviction and the feeling of fear in her grew. Thoke gave her a doubtful look, but Arvid was not deterred. Something unknown seemed to touch the calm lake of darkness inside her and leave tiny waves on it.

Without looking back once, they went directly to the group of guards. The heads of the soldiers turned in their direction as they approached, and one of the men slowly pushed himself up on his lance.

“Who are you?” he asked in an unfriendly tone. “You mustn’t stray too far from the building and the road. It’s not safe.”

“Then perhaps you’d better do your work!” said Arvid. “There are demons nearby!”

“What nonsense,” said the spearman, and several of the others laughed quietly. “How would you even know?”

“Why would I lie to you? I’m sure you can’t even see what’s going on around you from your fire!”

She felt Thoke grab her arm. “Arvid, are you sure…”

“I know what I saw!” she said sharply and broke away vigorously. “There was clearly something over there.”

Almost as to confirm her words, a long, high-pitched howl rang out from afar. Everyone jerked around. The man with whom Arvid had spoken looked at her in horror. “By the gods… You are right!”

Panicked movement spread through the guards as the spearman energetically began to yell commands. The air was suddenly filled with the clatter of armor and excited shouts. The fire was extinguished in wild haste.

“You run back to the school building immediately!” he called out to them, while the rest of the group began to storm off into the darkness. “Warn the others!”

No sooner as he had spoken, an enormous black silhouette appeared in the darkness behind him. Arvid was seized by paralyzing terror.

“Watch out!” Thoke shouted to the man. Simultaneously he grabbed her by the shoulders and they both fell in the muddy grass. A huge, scaly something had burst forth from the darkness and came at the man with the lance with a deafening roar. “Run!” he yelled to them, but Arvid was still petrified.

The demon swept the man’s weapon aside with a massive, clawed paw and hurled him into the mud effortlessly, as if he were a toy figure. Arvid’s heart gave a horrified jump when the demon pursued his victim and his monstrous jaws gaped open.

Suddenly, it was as if the massive body was struck by an enormous, invisible fist and flung aside. A figure in white had appeared next to the man, but Arvid did not have time to follow what happened next.

Thoke unceremoniously pulled her around. “We have to get out of here!” he shouted. From the corner of her eye Arvid saw the demon come roaring back to its feet. The sight was enough to finally make her start running.

As they rushed up the hill, they met more guards, who all ran toward the battle noise. Arvid realized with a shock that there had to be more attackers than she had believed. Polyphonic, deafening roars echoed through the darkness around them.

“Where are you going?” a man in a white tabard shouted at them. He came slithering down the slippery, muddy hill, sword drawn. “Back to the school immediately!”

“But our horses…” Arvid began, and was immediately interrupted by the man.

“No time!” he thundered. “You have no idea what’s going on here!”

More and more soldiers appeared above them, and suddenly they were surrounded by trampling steps and clashing weapons. Startled, Arvid looked around. What she saw took her breath.

The embankment had been transformed into a surging crowd of black shadows and red glowing eyes. The demons were still a long way away, but there were so many that Arvid stopped, stunned.

Thoke grabbed her again. “Go!” he gasped, “Back up to the school!”

They ran on, but Arvid’s feet repeatedly slipped on the muddy ground. The star lamps of Vero-Maghen were recognizable as dull smoldering patches in the distance, but it took forever until they seemed to get closer. Still, soldiers came running past them, some in white tabards, others in the colors of Black Castle. It looked as if every single fighter had been called up.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, Arvid was drenched in sweat. Thoke sank against one of the trunks with a groan when they reached the first fruit trees on the east side of the building.

“We should go,” Arvid gasped breathlessly.

Thoke nodded weakly, and this time it was Arvid who had to pull him with her.

They had to walk around the building to get to the main entrance, since the side entrances were locked. As the portal came in sight, the heavy wooden doors were flung open. A hulking man in a deep blue cloak stormed out, a huge sword in his hands. He had no hair on his head, but a bushy, fiery red beard. Behind him, at least a dozen armed men in the colors of the City Guard swelled from the gate. The giant didn’t even look at Arvid and Thoke, but several of his companions waved them to go inside with energetic gestures.

“Who was that?” said Arvid, after the heavy doors were closed behind them and they exhaustedly sank on the stairs.

“Borgarr,” replied Thoke, still out of breath. “By the gods, I have never seen so many demons. They will need his help.”

Even inside the school, there was a wild mess. Throughout the corridors, there were students excitedly talking and shouting. On the way to the great hall they met Gerdur.

“Everyone should come to the common room of their faculty,” he called to them. “It’s not easy get the word to everyone. Pass it on.”

It took some time before it got a bit quieter. Arvid and Thoke told everyone they met to go to their common room, but still there were students who didn’t listen to them. Some wanted to go up the stairs, some down. It seemed to Arvid like an eternity until she and Thoke finally reached their own common room and let themselves sink onto the floor in a corner. The room was crammed full, the air filled with noise and confused, excited voices.

Aleri soon came to them. She got paler and paler as Arvid told her about the events outside in a whispering voice. As soon as she had finished, steps could be heard and Master Coth entered the room. He didn’t even need to ask them to be quiet. As soon as he had arrived, everyone fell silent and all eyes turned to him.

“As you surely know by now, something very serious has happened,” Coth said loudly. “A few hours ago one of the biggest world transitions that have ever occurred in this area was observed over the eastern forest. Although riders were sent out immediately, we received the news very late,” he continued, “and the demons attracted by the transition had already come very close to Vero-Maghen.”

A restless murmur and whisper began to spread among the students. Aleri threw Arvid anxious glances.

“The situation is under control,” Coth said, raising his hands soothingly. “The City Guard and the soldiers of Asgard will fight the demons back. Remain calm and don’t leave the building. The headmaster is to announce further details in the evening.”

As soon as he left the room again, a deafening noise broke out. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, while some were trying to find the fastest way to the hallway to look outside through the windows.

Arvid also tried to see something, but gave up after a short time. Aimlessly, she wandered through the school building and between excited and restless students. Eventually she ended up in the great hall, where an unusually large crowd of students had gathered, considering the time of the day. At a table in the corner, she saw Gerdur sitting with two students she didn’t know. They also looked extremely worried.

“Nod is out there,” Gerdur said when she had sat down. “They would not let me go with him.”

“You couldn’t do much anyway,” said one of the others, a burly man with light brown hair. “Nod can take care of himself.”

“I hope you’re right, Eivin,” murmured Gerdur, but it was obvious that his friend’s words didn’t really calm him.

Arvid would have liked to say something to help Gerdur, but she couldn’t think of anything useful, and so she sat in silence while the others were talking. The conversation centered about the same things: the emergence of the world transition, the demons that had been attracted by it, and the question of whether everyone was all right.

“Why are the demons attracted by the world transitions anyway?” said Arvid, as the subject was mentioned once again.

“It is not known,” the man named Eivin replied. “As far as I know, at least. Or what do you say, Espen?” He looked at the blonde man next to him, who had been sitting in silence. It looked as if Eivin’s words just had ripped him out of a dream.

“Hmm, yes, no one knows exactly,” he said, giving Arvid a fleeting smile. “We don’t know much more than that it’s the case. As soon as a transition forms, demons turn up, as if they had been waiting for it. There are very few exceptions, even in remote areas.”

“Are you concerned with it?” said Arvid. “There don’t seem to be many who are familiar with this topic.”

Espen nodded. “The first three years of my education, I was in a special group that intensively worked with the world transitions.”

“What kind of group is that?”

“It no longer exists.”

Suddenly, voices were heard, followed by heavy steps. Everyone at the table turned their heads, startled. Barely a moment later chaos erupted. Dozens of soldiers surged into the hall, which from one moment to the other was filled by a deafening noise. Armor clanked and rattled; loud, trampling steps and excitedly roaring voices were everywhere.

“Make way!” shouted a man in the middle of the crowd.

Arvid, Gerdur and the others jumped up from their seats when the guards began to heave chairs and tables to the side with brute force, and still more of them urged inside. Many were so covered with mud and dirt that the white of their tabards was almost gone. Quite a few had bleeding scratches.

Arvid kept close to the wall to make room for the fighters. She watched as other helpers, mostly dressed in dark blue uniforms, rushed around and began spread blankets. Shortly thereafter, the first wounded were brought in.

Between the crowded and hectic hurrying people, Arvid could hardly see anything, but the little that she did see and hear was enough. There were screams and loud, pained groans, mixed with the voices of the healers, who tried to calm the injured or persuade them to hold still. There were more and more wounded brought in, so that Arvid soon stood with her back against the wall of the hall. Her heart was beating so hard, it felt as if it was about to burst. In a strange way she felt cornered, and something dark awoke within her.

Between the flowing robes of the helpers she could see a man who was covered with blood and obviously missing a big part of his arm. Arvid’s stomach clenched almost painfully. She had a strong desire to leave this place, but it seemed impossible in this crowd. She stood there, paralyzed with shock and numb from the noise and the screams. Again and again she was jostled by people bustling about, but no one seemed to take notice of her.

Eventually she felt someone grab her by the arm, and when she looked up, she saw Gerdur. “You have to get out of here,” he said. In the noise, Arvid guessed the words more than she actually heard them, but she nodded and let him pull her with him. They closely crouched along the wall, climbed over overturned tables and chairs and, after a while, finally managed to reach the door.

Even out in the hallway there was loud noise. Only in the entrance hall was it a little quieter. On the stairs and in the corners were scattered soldiers. They seemed exhausted, but they all seemed to be more or less unharmed.

“Have you seen Nod?” Arvid asked in a trembling voice, as they finally stopped in a corner. Only now she realized how much the things she had just seen and heard had gotten to her. Her hands were shaking and her legs felt soft and weak.

Gerdur just shook his head. “You better go upstairs and join the others,” he said absently. “It’s probably best you go to the common room and… wait. They say the battle is over, but…” He broke off and swallowed. His face was rigid and pale as porcelain.

Suddenly the door was flung open so violently that it gave them a start. With a loud rumble another group of dirt-covered soldiers surged inside. Ahead stormed a hulking man with disheveled hair and a fur cape, which was hanging in shreds.

“Out of the way!” he yelled, and roughly pushed two white-robed guards aside. He was closely followed by two men who dragged a smaller, screaming shape between them that was writhing in pain. Arvid turned away in horror when she saw that his leg was shredded beyond recognition and left a trail of dark blood on the ground.

Gerdur stared after the men and turned even paler. Then he turned back toward the door and froze in place. He uttered a cry and pushed Arvid aside. When she turned around, she saw that two other soldiers had come through the door. One of them was Nod. He was all covered with mud, but appeared otherwise unharmed. With an expressionless face he let Gerdur hug him. Even though Arvid rarely had anything to do with Nod since she arrived on Vero-Maghen, her heart jumped with relief as she watched Gerdur kissing Nod, unconcerned by the fact that his face was covered in dirt.

The next day Arvid felt numb. Classes had been canceled, and the lack of nonresident students made Vero-Maghen appear deserted and silent. The remaining students were called to the great hall. It was still a chaotic picture. Tables and chairs crisscrossed the floor, which had been hastily scrubbed, but still bore traces of dried blood here and there.

Borgarr had left for Asgard to ask directly for further assistance, and so it was Magister Coth who spoke to those present. Arvid only listened with half an ear, and at the end of the long speech she only seemed to have taken in that leaving the building was only permitted when escorted by guards.

Arvid was not the only one who was shocked by the events of the previous day. After Coth had fallen silent, many remained standing motionless, as if they didn’t know what they should do now. Some turned to go, while others came together in small groups and talked in hushed voices.

“May I ask for your attention for a moment,” Master Aeldjarn now called and took Coth’s place on the podium. “All volunteers for clearing the hill are to gather in the lobby in one hour. All others are asked to stay in the areas of their faculty.”

Aleri tugged Arvid’s sleeve and wanted to leave, but Arvid parried. “I’ll just be a moment,” she said to her, then she turned to Gerdur, who came in her direction at this moment. “What does he mean by clearing the hill?”

“The rest of the carcasses must be buried as soon as possible,” Gerdur replied flatly. “They might attract more demons, therefore any help is needed. I don’t know what it looks like out there, but… I’ve heard there are many.”

The idea of countless slain demons was anything but pleasant. On the other hand, Arvid felt a nagging uneasiness at the thought of again having to idly sit and wait. The demons were something she still could not place. For the people here they were an ever-present threat, mysteriously connected to the world transitions. Arvid suddenly had a strong desire to go outside and to see what these creatures were with her own eyes, even though she knew she would find nothing but dead bodies.