Chapter 16. In which Riddick Enters the Underverse.
Binky launched himself up, galloping directly towards the tiny moon, gaining speed with ever step. Riddick held on grimly. The raven's talons were digging into his shoulder, but now was not the time to deal with that.
With a burst of speed, something happened. Reality went fuzzy. After what seemed like hours, Binky was cantering to a stop in a dark pasture. No one was around. Quoth eased the pressure on his shoulders.
"Where is she?" Riddick growled, glaring at the trees like they had betrayed him personally.
"Squeak," the rat said, soothingly.
He pulled out the book, but in the darkness, even his eyes couldn't pick up the text. "Jack." He whispered. Binky nickered, softly. "Why aren't we there already? Doesn't the horse know the way?"
"Yeah. All us occult figures, we can find anyone in the book. Eventually. But it's not our realm, guv," Quoth responded. Riddick closed his eyes. "Binky's doin' his best, but he's exhausted. I don't think he can apparate very precisely here. Which means you could end up in a wall. That wouldn't bother the master in his own realm, but I'm not sure about here and you. We'll have to walk the rest of the way."
Riddick slid to the ground. Binky looked grateful. Riddick closed his eyes. 'Jack," he whispered again.
"Look," Quoth said, "me and the rat, we'll do some reconnaissance while Binky rests up. You stay with him."
"Why?"
"He's the way out, you know.
"Right." Riddick sighed. Gave Binky an affectionate pat. Started to unsaddle him in the dark. "Right." The Death of Rats took one last look at her book, mounted the raven, and they were gone.
0o0
Kyra woke up, her hands bound behind her, chained by the feet in stone cell. The Necros were being damn sure she wouldn't escape again for a while. There was a guard outside, though he wasn't moving. And there was a rat in the cell squeaking at her earnestly.
She expected rats.
She hadn't expected rats wearing little cowls and carrying scythes at their hips.
This one also had a key. "Squeak?" It seemed to be inquiring solicitously.
I'm finally going crazy. I think this rat is trying to talk to me.
Fuck that. I think the rat is wearing clothes. I have gone crazy.
The rat moved with exaggerated care, key gripped carefully. It was moving around her. Then, impossibly, the key was being fitted in the lock on the manacles binding her hands behind her back. "Squeak," he said, soothingly.
"Squeak?" Kyra tried. The locks clicked open.
"Don't patronize the rat, monkey-girl," a raven said, crossly, waddling over looking very self satisfied. "He's doing his best."
The rat scurried around. Kyra took the offered key, cautiously opened the manacles on her ankles, stood up. The rat scurried back to the guard. There was a noise, and it had another key. It offered it to her with a bow.
"Door key, monkey," the Raven said with a hint of asperity. She took it, bemused, opened the cell door.
"You're a bird."
"Smart monkey. Come on." The raven smugly stalked down the hallway. The guard was still because he was a corpse. One without eyeballs. She stopped long enough to steal the long knife she knew, intimately, that the guard carried. Followed the raven. Seemed the thing to do.
It was dark very outside. They kept silent until they'd slipped out of the castle's perimeter, into the dark woods that surrounded it. Whatever passed for a moon was not penetrating the tangles, and they moved with agonizing slowness. Finally, Kyra asked, cautiously. "Where are we going?"
"Catch up with Riddick."
Riddick. Her heart leapt. And fell. If he was going to come for me, he would have by now. And since when does Riddick hang out with ravens?
She started to laugh. Of course he hangs out with ravens. He creates corpses.
"Squeak?" the rat said, concerned.
Kyra collapsed, pulled herself into what felt like the roots of a giant tree. She managed to stop laughing. "I need a break. I can't see anything."
"I'll check it out." The raven launched itself into the air, disappeared. The rat took up station in front of her, on guard. My guide and savior, Kyra thought, hysterically. She closed her eyes, must have dozed off because when the raven came flapping back, she almost jumped out of her skin.
She could hear the raven flapping on the branch above her, but it was pitch black. "No pursuit," it announced. It, apparently, could see her. "You look awful."
Kyra nodded. "How much further?"
"About an hour at monkey speed." The raven hesitated. "Look, if you want to rest, we'll go get him."
"Thanks," she said, gratefully. "Good idea. I could break a leg out here. Then you'd have to shoot me." A hysterical giggle burst from her lips. The raven looked at her sharply. There was a flurry of sound, then things went still.
She closed her eyes again, her brief mirth dying in the pitch blackness. Let's see. Since last time I died, I've been raped, beaten, stabbed and starved. I'm hysterical.
About an hour walk. It'll take them a while to find him, a while to find me.
She pulled out the knife she'd taken from the guard. Stared hard at it. I hurt everywhere. Dawn wasn't long. Less than an hour. She could do this, and be back before he got there, reborn and strong. If this was real.
No reason to wait. I'm tired of hurting. She pushed back into the deep roots of the tree as well as she could, just in case. Then she drew the knife hard across her own jugular.
0o0
Once the moon set, it was too dark to read, even for him. Riddick decided to stay put until daylight. He fell asleep leaning against a tree, cradling Jack's book in his lap.
"SQUEAK!" He opened his eyes to find a rat inches away.
"We found her," the raven said smugly. "Broke her out. She's waiting." Riddick's eyes widened. Looked over at Binky, who blinked at him, sleepily.
Riddick padded over to Binky. "You up to this? If I guide you?"
Binky nickered softly, nuzzled him. "Okay." Riddick shook himself, made sure he had everything. Saddled Binky, took his reins, walked quietly in front of him. The rat scrambled onto the saddle, the raven landed on his shoulder. Felt right they were there. With the raven issuing cross commands as a guide, they made their way through the darkness.
It took an agonizingly long time before the raven said, softly "Oh, bollocks." Flapped down, stalked its way into a tangled tree. Riddick followed.
Jack. Kyra. Whoever the fuck she was. Tangled in the roots of the tree. Dead.
He wormed himself in. Jack's body was sticky with blood, almost cold. He gathered her into his arms, crying, really crying, not caring that anyone could hear him. There was no one to hear him but a horse, a rat, and a raven, and who fucking cares? Who fucking cares? I loved her and she's dead. Dead again. I can't bear this.
The night was lifting. In the soft light, she looked like she was sleeping. He cuddled her close, shuddering.
The sun rose. A soft, warm light penetrated the gloom.
Jack took a deep breath. Her eyes blinked open. She smiled up at him.
"Hey," she whispered. She touched his face wonderingly. "Did you – did you die too?"
He started to laugh. That's right. I knew that. The sun rises, people do too. "Holy fuck, I thought you were dead Jack – Kyra –"
She started to laugh too, hysterical. "Riddick, you can call me anything you want." Instantly she stilled. "Wait – seriously, are you dead? You didn't--" She touched his neck, still wonderingly. "You didn't convert. What – how are you here?"
He jerked his head towards Binky. "I came for you. We – we came for you."
She looked at the horse, mystified. Clearly, she decided she didn't care, because impetuously, she kissed him. After a shocked instant, he kissed back, hard. After an eternity, she pulled away. "You're alive."
"Yeah,"
"But I'm dead. This is the land of the dead."
He nuzzled her. "A land. Yeah. We should get out of here."
She pulled away She looked at the horse. Looked back at him, baffled. "Get out of here? How?"
"Yes, how are you planning on doing that, my last Lord Marshal?"
Shit.
Five heavily armed men stepped out of the underbrush. Riddick was on his feet in an instant, the scythe back in his hand. Jack made a mournful noise, scrambled to her feet holding a large bloody knife.
Riddick eyed the man in the lead. "Irgun."
The man bowed ironically. "You remember me! I am honored, my Lord Marshal."
"Read you killed her." He jerked his head back towards Jack.
The man blinked at him, slightly unnerved. He could also sense the unnerveness flowing of Jack. Ignored it. Irgun bowed. "I think we all have, my Lord Marshal. And now we're going to kill you both, bring you both back, and tomorrow morning, when you rise, the real Lord Marshal can decide what to do with you."
"I don't think so, Irgun."
"One of you. Millions of us. Kill us, we rise again. Kill you, you rise again, contained."
At that Irgun launched himself at him. Riddick swung the scythe, and Irgun disappeared. Four more blows, and no more Necros.
Riddick turned back to Jack, smiling. She stared at him, wide eyed. "What the hell did you just do?"
"Babe, I thought you liked playing who's the better killer."
She shook her head. "It's not so much fun here, what with dead the rising again, often real pissed off. But – but you didn't leave anything to rise again."
"Explain to me how that works. Like some sort of fuckin' game? You get more lives?" He frowned at the knife in her hands. It was covered in blood. Thought I taught her to clean her weapons.
That's right, she killed herself with that thing. Hard to clean things when you're dead.
She looked at him shakily, grimly, her eyes wide. "Yeah. When you die here, your body wakes up the next day, good as new. There was this one time they cut me into four pieces--" she stopped at his dark look "the next day I was all back together. But there was always a body. But when you did it, No bodies . . ."
"Squeak squeak SQUEAK!"
Jack stared at the rat, baffled. Looked back to Riddick. The raven broke in helpfully. "Rat says that Riddick has become death, the destroyer of worlds."
"That's not helpful, Quoth," Riddick growled.
"I don't understand," Jack said, woefully. He sighed.
"You died. I – we -- killed Zhylaw. I became the Lord Marshal. I sent the fleet into the threshold. Bad idea. Caused – caused a type of black hole. It sucked. Started sucking the universe in. Started sucking a lot of universes in. I ended up in one of them. Then it got complicated."
She stared at him. Squared her shoulders stalwartly. He wanted to kiss her again. "Have you gone fucking crazy?"
"Yes. Yes, I think I might have. But I have a plan."
"Really?"
"Save you. Stop the suck, if I can figure out how."
"Save me," she whispered, the stalwartness flagging. She shook slightly, looked anguished. "I stopped hoping you'd save me a long time ago."
Ouch. He frowned at her. "What, you think I got something better to do with my life? Saving you has pretty much been my only motivation since we left that god damn monster planet."
"You used to be better at it," she snapped. Then her expression softened. "How do we stop the suck?"
"I don't know. I think I'm supposed to kill my father."
She laughed. "Never thought of you as having parents. Kinda figured you sprung from a dragon's tooth or something."
"Squeak squeak squeak SQUEAK SQUEAK squeak!"
Riddick stared at the Death of Rats. "I almost understood that. I have to kill my father . . . medically? In a pipe?"
"SQUEAK!"
The raven sighed theatrically. "You monkeys. He said metaphorically. And, he was using another metaphor. Rat says that this place is like a clogged drain, and the Lord Marshals are the clogs. Says Riddick's gotta remove them all with the scythe."
"Goody. I've got a couple I'd like to do the honors on," Jack smiled, low and dangerous.
"SQUEAK!"
The raven danced a nervous dance. "The rat says no. Riddick has to."
"Why?"
Everyone looked the rat, who emitted an enormous amount of squeaky noise. The raven laughed. "'Cause he's the Lord Marshal already, and he's not stuck here. You kill one of them, you become one of them. Clogging this place again. And he'd have to kill you to save the universe."
"Fuck that," Riddick growled. "I'd let it die." Then the words hit. And that's it. That's what the Licentious Astrology professor meant. Tear out the root and burn the ground. Kill my father. Kill the Lord Marshals, all the way back. He looked at Binky. "You in?"
The horse nickered. "Jack? You up to being a good guy? Even if you gotta leave the best killin' to me?"
"It's Kyra," she snapped. Then she softened. "Oh, hell yeah. I hate these guys. Let's save the universe."