Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) (17 page)

“They’ve been breeding people?” Layna asked
with disgust.

Gryffon jumped in, “What exactly is the goal
of the Order? We’ve been aware that there was some sort of
organization, but haven’t been able to figure out much about what
they’re doing. Other than find people with the mark. Seems like
there’s more going on than making sure the Dark King’s bloodline
stays alive.”

“Indeed there is. There are unique properties
that come with the bloodline. Some of them are improvements to your
body and your talent, and it is also true that you could access his
memories.” Aileen’s eyes searched Layna’s face and she must have
been satisfied with her look of horror at the thought. “We don’t
know how you would do this, nor would any of us want you to. At
first, this was what the Order was after. They were looking to
breed a sort of super-human with all the god-like powers of the
Dark King, but under their control.”

Aileen looked to Echo, as if determining how
much to tell them, and the horse nodded her head once. “Echo has
just heard from one of her informants that the culprits behind the
Bloodstone’s disappearance were members of the Order. One of them
was found and interrogated, and it seems that the Order has been
branching out even farther than we had anticipated. They apparently
discovered the power that the Bloodstone holds and are hoping to
use it for their own purposes as well. But they have no idea the
danger that it poses. It is not just a magestone to draw power off,
nor even just a tool to awaken the greater evil. Your mark growing
darker and larger indicates that the Bloodstone is active. And that
is very, very bad.”

“So you think that the Order has control of
it?”

“I almost hope that is the case,” Aileen
answered, “if they are still in control over it, then it will take
longer for the host to be subverted to the Bloodstone’s whims and
there is the small hope that the Order will be wise enough not to
allow it to fully awaken. If it chose the host itself…”

“If there are that many people with the mark,
how is it possible that we’ve made it this far without this greater
evil being awakened?” Gryffon’s voice held an edge of disbelief,
“and why if this Bloodstone is something greater than the evil of
the Dark King does it care about that particular bloodline?”

“There are many factors involved. Suffice to
say that there are certain requirements necessary for Nuko to be
fully awakened, one of which is fulfilled by all those bearing the
mark. One other has only recently become available to it.” She
didn’t seem inclined to give them any more information on that
particular subject.

“Seems like there’s a lot more than even this
going on,” Gryffon stated, obviously not convinced. “Not that this
threat doesn’t sound pretty dire, but even before you say the
Bloodstone went missing there was already bloodbeasts beginning to
show up and King Nathair was already on the throne. Am I
wrong?”

“No, you warn’t wrong there laddy. An’
there’s more abrewin’ by the minute. We don’t think it was just
your beast-lady that had hellhounds either,” Charles jumped in,
having obviously been privy to Echo’s and Aileen’s private
conversations.

“We’ve had reports from all over about
different creations running loose,” Aileen confirmed, “The darkness
is spreading faster than we could have anticipated. It’s not just
those marked who are being influenced anymore, it’s as if anyone
who may have had any sort of predisposition towards evil is
flinging themselves fully into blood-magic and the dark ways.”

“What does that mean?” Layna asked
fretfully.

“I don’t know,” Aileen told her soberly, “but
I do know that we have to do something about it, and quickly.”

“Except that ‘parently we hafta somehow make
every single one of them numbskulls on that there council think it
too before anythin’ll get done.” Charles snorted his contempt at
the council’s apparent inability to decide on a course of action
quickly.

“That’s true,” Gryffon answered before Layna
had to ask. “For something as serious as possibly starting a war
with Gelendan to get rid of King Nathair, they would need the
approval of every single council member. If even one voted ‘no’,
they would continue to hear reasons and debates from both sides
until they could be swayed to agree.”

-
I have been trying to make them see the
evil that was reawakening, but some of them have been quite
stubborn. They think that if they just hide behind their barrier
and their walls and ignore the problem, that it will just go
away.
-

“How convenient that someone took down the
barrier to disabuse them of this notion then,” Aileen put in rather
smugly.

Echo gave her a sharp look, and swung her
head around at her making the horn that still protruded from her
forehead come dangerously close to Aileen’s face. -
Indeed,
-
she said shortly. -
Though perhaps more of a discussion before
taking such a drastic move would have been more prudent.
-

“Nonsense,” Aileen said cheerily, batting at
the horn, “it worked perfectly. They need to have no choice but to
prepare for a war.”

“Is a war really what we should be trying to
push them towards?” Layna put in, “I’m from Gelendan after all, and
I don’t really want to betray my country more than I already
am.”

“You aren’t betraying your country,” Gryffon
defended, “You are recognizing the evil that is taking root in the
government there. Hopefully, we’ll be able to convince your
countrymen of this same fact, and we can all work against a common
enemy.”

“I hope so.”

“Besides which, it won’t be us that’s
starting the war,” interjected Aileen, “we will just be more
prepared for when the war is brought to us.”

*

Katya sat on a branch and watched the couple
as they worked together in their garden. They laughed freely and
spoke affectionately to each other. The woman was pulling weeds
while the man gathered the vegetables which had reached their peak
ripened condition. It made her heart ache for the childhood and the
family that was stolen from her.

She wondered how to best approach them. She
had so many questions to ask them, but she wasn’t quite sure how.
Somehow, broaching the subject by telling them that she’d seen
their faces while shifting through memories she’d only recently
been able to access since getting rid of a collar that made her a
slave assassin didn’t seem to be her best option.

Her last connection with Karl had revealed
that everything she had thought about who she was was actually a
lie. In those last few moments she had ripped from him the keys to
unlocking her earliest memories, and within them lay these two
people’s faces. But other than that she had no clues to work with.
Were they friend or foe?

Thunder boomed in the distance, and they
looked up at the sky, observing the dark clouds to the west. They
hurried along in their work. As the thunder sounded again,
obviously closer this time, they started gathering things to bring
into their small but cozy-looking house. They cleaned up from the
garden chores and moved the animals into their pens, preparing them
for the impending storm. Since the quake, the weather had been more
intense, and no doubt they were preparing for the worst.

When everything outside was ready, the two
went hand and hand into the house, where shutters started being
pulled closed. As the windows shut, one by one, Katya felt more and
more alone and isolated and the urge to go and talk to them
overwhelmed her.

She jumped down from the branch she had been
perched on and strode to the door. She raised a hand to it and
knocked.

The man opened it with a smile. “Hello,” he
said, “Can I help you?”

Katya felt a twinge of disappointment that
she had not been recognized, apparently her connection to them
wasn’t that simple, and her curiosity would not be so easily sated.
She shook the feeling aside. “I’m Katya,” she told him, “I was
hoping you might let me weather the storm in your barn?”

She saw the woman look up from the pot she
had been stirring over the fire and the woman’s warm eyes looked
her over. “Hello,” she greeted Katya kindly. The spoon she had been
holding clanked into the pot as it slipped from her fingers, and
she hastily brought her gaze back to her task, rescuing the handle
before it disappeared under the bubbling liquid. When she had it
firmly back in her grasp, she looked up again. “We wouldn’t think
of making you spend the night out in the cold, please join us for
dinner, we have an extra room upstairs you can use for the
night.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Katya bowed
her head in appreciation, “Are you sure? I really don’t mind being
in the barn, this storm just looks a little too strong to spend out
of doors.”

“We insist,” the man stated in a no-nonsense
voice, pulling her inside and shutting the door against the wind
which was picking up. “Please,” he pulled out a chair and waved her
into it, “have a seat. My name is Gerald and my lovely wife here is
Evelyn.” He punctuated her name with a kiss to the tip of her nose
and Katya smiled.

“Pleasure to meet you both,” she said, taking
the offered seat. Marak was squeezing her arm - hard - but she
ignored him. He didn’t take kindly to strangers and wasn’t shy
about sharing this feeling with her, but she wasn’t about to let
his unease stop her from getting some answers.

Thunder crashed outside and the rain started
as if the heavens had suddenly cracked open and spilled down their
contents upon them. It beat against the roof, but inside it was
still pleasant and the fire crackled cheerfully.

Evelyn set the spoon on the side of the
hearth and wiped her fingers on her apron, turning towards Katya.
“So where are you from, Katya?”

“From Naoham,” she answered as the woman
opened up cupboards, gathering plates and utensils and setting them
out on the table. “My contract there just ended so I’m making the
rounds to see where my services might be needed again.”

“Oh?” the woman asked with sincere interest,
“What kind of services?”
“I’m a mercenary,” Katya answered without hesitation, though the
slightly unnerved look on the woman’s face made her momentarily
regret the choice. For some unknown reason, she had the urge for
these people to like her.

“That’s an interesting profession for a
woman,” commented the man, “Not that I have any doubt that you can
handle yourself,” he said as her hand flew instinctively to her
knives, “but aren’t there a lot of inconsiderate louts you have to
deal with?”

Katya laughed, “Yes, yes I guess there are.
But I’ve learned to give it back to them as good as they give
it.”

Marak squeezed her again. Harder this time,
and it
hurt
. She continued to ignore him, but flicked him
with her finger when Gerald and Evelyn weren’t looking.

“Do you have any children?” Katya asked
them.

“We had a daughter,” Gerald answered with a
pained look on his face and Katya’s breath caught in her throat.
Could they be…?

“We
have
a daughter,” Evelyn corrected
him, admonishing his statement by batting at him with the napkin
she was holding before refolding it and setting on the table.
Katya’s heart sank. “She decided to try her hand at the city life
and moved to Naoham a few months ago. We haven’t heard from her in
a while so Gerald here thinks she’s forgotten all about us. I’m
sure she’s just busy now that her mistress is a big-shot on the
council.”

“Hopefully that’s all it is,” Gerald
mumbled.

Rain beat down on the roof and the wind could
be heard whipping up against the walls.

“Quite a storm out there,” Evelyn commented
from the fire where she had picked up the spoon she had abandoned
and was once again tending the pot.

Katya nodded, and suddenly went stiff. There
was something else out there making noise. Something that wasn’t
part of the storm. Marak was squeezing her arm again in a pulsating
motion, as if saying that he had been trying to tell her all along.
Katya let her assassin instincts take over and went on
hyper-alert.

Evelyn and Gerald were oblivious to the
danger and the woman continued, “You don’t happen to know her,
do-“

“Shh!” Katya had to cut her off. There was
something there all right, and its intentions were sinister. She
sent out a tendril of magic, and was repelled. Harshly. She cringed
and let out a low growl. The woman looked up at her, alarm written
plainly on her face.

“Something’s out there,” Katya informed them
and Gerald immediately took a protective stance over his wife and
glanced at the door.

“No,” Katya said slowly trying hard to
pinpoint the source despite the magical interference, “Not the
door-“

She was interrupted in her search by a
powerful explosion that knocked her off her feet. As her head
struck the opposite wall and stars danced before her eyes, she saw
with horror that a man was stepping through the now-gaping hole in
the wall. He was barely inside when he threw two mean-looking metal
objects at the couple with an ease that told of years of
practice.

One thudded into Evelyn’s chest and the woman
fell to her knees, grasping at the spot even as Gerald was hit in
the stomach.

Katya stepped forward to help them both, but
the intruder had already reached into his cloak again to withdraw
another object which he then threw at her, forcibly halting her
movement. Her feet felt as though they were glued to the floor, and
she rounded on the man by twisting her torso and throwing her arms
out so that Marak was launched at him. The tiny snake arced towards
him, but was deterred by another thrown object. He let out a small
hiss as his body collided with it, and his limp form flopped
motionless onto the floor.