After a nice, long Lord of the Rings marathon, it sure is nice to see the ring-bearer and king of Gondor on another whirlwind adventure together, yes? There isn't much action in this chapter; just a lot of dialogue and sneaking around. But the next chapter will be... Um, something, alright.
This would have been done sooner, except that my laptop decided it was too old and senile to work anymore. So I had to drop everything and upgrade. Can anyone say IPAD? Honestly, how did I live before this thing? XD
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Monsters Are Due
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Now their party was four. And what's fourth Adar had turned out to be. He was the third clan's explorer-an important part of the group, indeed, because as they wandered the ruins, it was his job to go ahead of them and scout for danger. It meant long days of solitude, and the frightening possibility that if he did run into trouble, he would have to face it all alone. But over all, Adar was glad to serve his family so bravely. Perhaps the role of a leader suited some Bearers; but not Adar, who was happy to roam around freely, alone in the still and quiet of the Emptiness, where he could think great thoughts and ponder the mysteries of life.
His explorations had also instilled him with an expert knowledge of certain places in the ruins, especially the places where his clan liked to stay. This little suburban neighborhood was no exception.
"In fact, once upon a time, we liked this place so well because the first clan was close by," he explained as they walked quietly through a decaying house. "I know the fastest route to their home, all the shortcuts, and all the dangers. The way we're going may cut our traveling time in half, but the buildings we will pass through are old and treacherous. Stay very close to me, and be very careful."
5 felt his heart leap with excitement. Their original three-hour trip, cut down to about ninety minutes, give or take a minute or two. They would make it to the garage in plenty of time. If they were clever, they might even make it back to the third clan's camp before dawn.
Dawn. He had never thought of the dawn being particularly frightening. But it was, now. It was looming closer and closer with every minute, even if they were making better time. If they didn't make it in time, today's dawn would only bring death: to his woman, to his niece, and frankly to everyone who was still alive somewhere. Finding Pi's freedom in himself had been a windfall; but Delta was just a child. What if she didn't have a true love yet? What if she didn't have one at all? If they missed their narrow window of opportunity, he had no idea what they were going to do next.
If a Prophet joined forces with Alpha... Nothing could stop him. Not even us. The Machine might not have been able to stop an all-seeing, all-knowing force like that. It could spell the end of our kind...
"Tell me again, why you never told us about them," 7 was saying to 9. She didn't sound angry anymore, but she did still seem a little miffed, and unusually curious. 5 couldn't blame her; actually, he felt much of the same.
"I was dumb enough to owe them a favor," he answered sheepishly. "But all they wanted from me was silence. Considering everything I learned from them, it seemed like a fair trade. Keeping that silence for so long was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It wasn't easy, trust me. There were so many times I wanted to tell you all..."
"Then you should have just told us and gotten it over with. You could have saved us all a lot of confusion, you know."
"It's not that easy," he insisted. "They made me promise in the name of their God that I would never tell anyone about them."
7 shrugged and made a dismissive noise. "I don't see how that makes a difference. I'm your wife-how's their God more important than me?"
9 looked slightly horrified that she would take the matter so lightly. He stopped in mid-step and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"It makes all the difference. I've seen the things their God can do, and trust me: you don't cross Him. If He tells you to do something, you shut up and do it. And if you make Him a promise, you'd better keep it. I don't want to be the one who makes Him mad."
7 was stunned and confused, clearly not understanding what could have her fearless husband so frightened. But deep, deep back in his memory, 5 knew very well what his brother was talking about. He had forgotten-they were dealing with the children of Israel. Or at least, the little pieces of one of their noble souls. He had read a long time ago about their adventures and exploits, logged in the many Bibles that had been scattered around Sanctuary. The Bible had been one of the first books he had read, and the first after he had lost his eye; it had made for great practice, and he had flown through the whole thing in a few weeks.
The language had been very flowery and elaborate, and 5 didn't fully remember a lot of it. But there were several stories from the Old Testament that he remembered vividly, because he imagined it must have been a lot like what hey were dealing with, themselves. War, violence, destruction and death, everywhere they looked. It seemed like the Israelites had been constantly stuck in a state of war. As if it never ended.
But he also remembered that these people had been bold and resilient. And when they managed to behave themselves for more than five minutes, it was enough to move their almighty God to give them aid in various odd ways. Nisan had spoken about this before; she had called Him Yahweh, and mentioned that He would go before them on their adventure because Adar had joined them.
Remembering what kind of power their Yahweh was capable of in the right mood sent a shiver down his spine. If the same God from the Old Testament was now going before them, preparing a level way for their imminent success, there was no telling what was about to happen. And if they messed up, got out of line, strayed ever so slightly from their intended path, the same power that now protected them could turn on them and destroy them before they even got where they were going.
That was a terrifying notion. Even more terrifying was the fact that 7 was incapable of understanding, or worse, refused to even try to understand. Since Yahweh was going before them now, 5 decided to offer up a prayer for his stubborn sister.
Give her patience, please. And do something to make her eyes open up. I love her just the way she is, hard head and all; but if she ends up like Lot's wife, I don't know what we'll do. I'm scared, but I'm happy to let You take care of things, Sir. Don't let her be the one to put us on your bad side.
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A long time had passed, and Pi could finally hold her head up on her own. All the feeling and control had returned to her limbs, and it drove her mad that she couldn't use any of it. Locked in a cage, with her wrists tied securely to the bars, there was no point in wasting her energy by struggling. There was no escape; and struggling would only bring Alpha another measure of satisfaction with himself.
And anyway, she had a feeling she should save her energy for an epic push later. Even if she wasn't a priority to the fifth clan-which she couldn't imagine she could be, after the trouble she had brought them-Dixie was here, too. The paralysis would have worn off the others by now, as well; they knew where Alpha had gone, and certainly what he would do in the morning. She was more than sure that several of the fifth clan were on their way to the garage, intent on a daring rescue.
She wondered exactly which of them would come. 9 was sure to show up, of course; if no one else came, he would. Nothing was going to stop him from saving his child. She wondered if he would be able to talk 7 into staying behind; he was sure to try, but he was also pretty sure to fail. She was too good of a wife and too good of a mother to leave him all the danger and excitement. She kind of hoped they would bring 8 and his muscles, even though there wasn't much that sheer strength could do against the dark arts. Watching the giant beat the crap out of Alpha would be heartwarming, after all that had happened.
And 5 would come. It was a silly, romantic, childish notion to dream of a white knight swooping in to save her, but she wasn't thinking of it that way. She knew for sure that he had loved her deeply all along, and now she was more than happy to say that she now felt the same for him; but try as she might, she just couldn't picture her goofy, dorky love bursting in a valiant steed to rescue her on his own. She honestly had no idea how he would manage to get to her, even with help from his family; Alpha would be tough to get around, no matter how many of them came to fight him.
All she knew for certain was that her 5 was coming for her. She wasn't even sure how she knew it so well. Something in her just moved her to be still, be patient, and have faith in her love and her friends.
When they did come, if they did manage to get her out of this cage, she would need all her energy to make a run for it. She had never been able to outrun Alpha before; he always seemed to materialize in her way and block her. But this time, she had absolutely no other choice. If she couldn't outrun him this time, her own life wouldn't be the only one lost forever.
She had to ready. She had to be vigilant. So she forced herself to sit still and not be too angry about anything in particular that had happened that night. It was hard, though; Alpha was still sitting on his spider, parked in the middle of the room, where he, too, would be ready for anything. And he still had Dixie in his arms, tantalizingly out of anybody's reach. The child was very still, and Pi wondered if she had finally fallen asleep...
But she soon began to squirm and whimper again, and so Alpha muttered his paralysis spell again.
"The more one sacrifices, the better his fruits, in the end," he growled, aggravated, as the baby stilled once more. "Your brave little soul will serve me uncommonly well, indeed, 10."
Several clever comments came to Pi's furious mind, though she knew better than to open her mouth and say any of them. But she couldn't help the glare she aimed so hard at his big, stupid head. She wished she could bore a hole into his face with her stare. And perhaps it sort of worked; as if he could feel her rage, Alpha turned and looked at her with a calm, sly smile.
"Whatever is the matter, my dear? Uncomfortable?"
She chose not to give him the pleasureof a response. Instead she strengthened her glare, thinking, Use your oh-so-marvelous brain and answer that yourself.
Alpha tilted his head to one side, assessing her quizzically. "No comment? Nothing at all? How unusual. I'd have thought you'd have the most to say right about now, given the circumstances. And I'm clearly not going anywhere until dawn. I could use a bit of entertainment."
Entertainment, of course. That's all he had ever really wanted from her. Once again, she refused to just hand over what he wanted. Keeping her silence, she turned away and looked off into a corner.
"Tut-tut, so stubborn all of a sudden. That meddlesome fifth clan has ruined you more deeply that even I had realized. Oh well; it won't matter in a few hours, now will it?"
It was quiet for a moment, while she silently defied him. Not if my 5 has anything to say about it. We'll see what does and doesn't matter in a few hours...
She heard him chuckle cruelly, but she refused to look up to see what was so funny.
"Hm... I wonder, Pi... Haven't you stopped to wonder where your precious little sisters have wandered off to? I do need them, as well."
This time, Pi couldn't help glancing up at him. He was wrong, she had wondered several times why the triplets had made themselves so scarce. Not that she was very worried about them; he did need them for later, and he would need them alive and whole. Even if he was holding Gamma and Theta over Delta's poor head, threatening to hurt them if she didn't come quietly to her fate, he wouldn't actually hurt them. He never did. But that never mattered; they made excellent leverage anyway.
Plus, she thought, if anything happened to Delta, Gamma would be next. There was no way, not even in the depths of the place he had come from, that he could risk hurting the other girls. The very idea made her mechanical stomach clench.
"You should see how frightened Delta is," he continued casually. "She won't let the others come out; she doesn't want them to see us all like this, apparently. You should have a little chat with that one, Pi. Explain to her that there's nothing to fear, in the end. A brief moment of confusion is all that stands in the way between her and sweet oblivion. If only she could be convinced to let go, she would even lose the sense to understand what remorse is. You, of all people, could make her understand this."
Pi let her eyes narrow.
"She'll have to kill me first."
Alpha narrowed his eyes right back at her, and his sly smirk bent into a defeated scowl.
"Suit yourself, girl," he snapped.
Another long, tense pause passed, as they stared furiously at each other. It seemed they had reached a stalemate, where his triumph and her defiance collided.
"You must believe that you have the most clever friends," he said finally, changing the subject. "You must be under the delusion that they are coming to your rescue. You must believe that that one-eyed idiot is on his way to save your pathetic life, do you not? Don't try to deny it is true. Such a child."
"Yes, I do believe they're coming," she agreed evenly, since he had already called it. Pleased with himself, alpha resumed his grin.
"They will never make it all the way here in time. Dawn will have long passed by the time they reach this place."
"That won't matter to them. That just turns it from a rescue mission to a revenge hunt. You can't stop them that easily."
"Of course, like you would know," he said with a mocking tone.
"Yes, I would. You sent me to snatch them, remember?" She pointed out with a grin of her own.
"They're not coming for you," he growled, "and in your fickle female heart, you know it. No one is coming to save you, especially not your darling 5. You'll never see him again. You won't even get to say goodbye. What have you to say to that?"
Pi was slightly surprised to find that this didn't bother her like she had expected. He was only trying to shake her; none of what he had to say was true. No, she knew in her heart that they were coming. Nothing could make her believe otherwise.
And how would he know, anyway? He didn't have the gift of foresight, after all. Again, she turned away and stared into the corner. Seeing that he had failed to really faze her, he grunted his disapproval and returned his attention to paralyzed Dixie.
"She has her mummy's pretty eyes," he commented. "If only she weren't meant to serve me. She would have grown to be a great beauty. Do you not agree?"
Again, there were many disagreements she would have loved to give; but it was a deucedly better idea to keep her mouth shut and not look up at him. Off in the corner she was focusing on, something moved suddenly. She looked a little harder, knowing it had to be her sisters, and hoping they might show themselves.
It would sure be nice to see them as myself, before Delta has to kill me...
A moment of patience paid off. Finally, she saw half of Delta's veiled face ease out from behind that rusty old watering can, where they always hid when they were scared. Pi waved as best she could to her sister, hoping she was sending a message that she wasn't afraid, and that they shouldn't be, either. Delta didn't look convinced; but behind the veil, and so far away, it was difficult to tell.
Darn it, she wanted to see them. She wanted them to see her, too; maybe she could give them a little hope, if only they could see how much she had for herself. She beckoned Delta over with her index finger, hoping her sister could see it across the distance. The girl looked very afraid to come out, and Pi couldn't say she blamed her. But slowly, the littlest Prophet eased into the open and began to walk timidly toward the cage.
"Aha, so there you are, my little love," Alpha said loudly, even though his back was still turned. "I had begun to wonder if you cared that your sister was home again. Enjoy her while you can, Delta. You know I'll be needing her in the morning."
The girl winced, as if his attention hurt her-which it probably, physically did. But now that her cover was blown, she didn't bother creeping around like a specter. She sprinted across the space and slid to her knees in front of the cage.
"I thought he would do it himself," she said quietly, half a whisper and whale a whimper. "I didn't think he'd make me do it. I don't want to do this, Pi!"
"I don't want you to have to do this, either," Pi agreed, trying not to let her sister's fear get her down. She flexed her fingers, beckoning Delta to take her hands. The girl slowly laced her fingers into her sister's, and just sat there for a moment, breathing deeply.
"Everything's fuzzy," Delta commented quietly. "Pi, what have you done? Why aren't you afraid?"
"Because I have hope, Del," Pi insisted. "Alpha doesn't want us thinking about it, but the fifth clan is coming. They're on their way right now. They'll help us get out of this, I know it. Haven't you seen it yet?"
Delta shook her head vaguely. "I've seen other things. Frightening things. The dead were rising, walking around, but they weren't alive. I'm not sure what it means, but I'm afraid. The dead are supposed to stay dead! And you... You're not alone, Pi. There's someone with you."
"I don't understand. There's no one else here, Del."
"But there is..." Delta lowered her voice, and leaned as close to her big sister's ear as she could.
"Pi, you're not alone in your body. There's another soul inside."
Pi felt her heart stop for a long, painful second; when it beat again, it filled to overflowing with dread. If only she weren't trapped in a cage, awaiting a violent death, if only she were safe with her new family, she would have wept for joy. But now, she was suddenly seized with doubt and fear. If the fifth clan didn't make it in time... Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach.
"He doesn't know," Delta whispered, trying to comfort her. "He can't see or sense it. And he doesn't have to know it. Only we know."
"He doesn't know," Pi repeated, though she wasn't thinking of Alpha. "What if he never does? Why, of all times, did it have to be now?"
Naturally, Delta knew what she meant. "He will. If he's coming for you, he will know. He freed you. He will free you again."
"Delta... You knew it was 5 all along, didn't you?"
"I tried to tell you. But you were trapped. You didn't believe me."
That was true enough. Delta had spoken of their being free in the past, but could never see it clearly before. And the fifth clan had been discovered; after that, all her riddles had been in the form of numbers. She'd had reoccurring visions about 5 for the past six months, but Pi had hardly been able to stand hearing his name. She had refused to hear anything her sister had to say about him.
But now he had freed her from that terrible spell. She loved him too, now. And now she was carrying his child, and he had no idea. She lowered her head against the bars of the cage and sighed heavily, feeling her throat ache with tears.
"It was only one time... It was only 15 minutes of my life..."
"Was it worth it?" Delta asked quietly.
She looked back up at her, a bit of her confidence returning at last, and found a smile for her.
"They were the most beautiful 15 minutes I've ever had."
Delta gave her a vague smile from behind her veil. "...Okay, then."
Suddenly, her eyes widened and her pupils began to shrink as another vision came over her. She involuntarily reached for her veil, uncovering her pale face as she stared into space past everything. She sat still for a long minute, frozen like a statue.
Then it finally passed, and a wide, triumphant grin spread across her face.
"They're coming," she announced in a loud voice, which caught Alpha's attention at once.
"What's that?" He snapped over his shoulder.
Delta jumped to her feet and faced him with a courage she rarely had.
"The fifth clan is near," she said defiantly. "They're nearly here, and they have the aid of the third clan. Dawn will come, as you wished, but it will not bring you power. Today's dawn will bring your doom!"
A look of rage came over his face, and he pivoted around to rise from the back of the spider. He stalked up right into Delta's face, towering over her like a pillar of flame. But she was too empowered by her vision to be intimidated.
"Is this so?" He barked at her. "You believe they have the power to destroy me?"
Delta's silence was all the answer he needed.
"Nearly here, you say?" He sneered. "Bringing my doom, you say? Well I can fix that!"
He turned on his heel and stormed off, stopping only to set Dixie down on the stone alter, and recasting the paralysis spell on her again for good measure. He walked off a bit, and then stopped with his back to them. He flung his arms wide and loudly chanted a long, powerful spell in the mother tongue. It felt like the whole garage shook, as the terrifying energy of his spell filled it. Though the candlelight remained, it's light shrunk away, as if it were just as afraid of his magic as the rest of them.
Then it was silent. The light slowly came back, daring to come out of hiding, and the whole place was still, as if nothing had changed.
What has he done...?
A shape shuffled out of a shadow in the corner, from Alpha's sleeping space was. It was closely followed by another, and another, and another. And within a few minutes, all the empty, dead shells of his previous sacrifices had lined up before him, as if they were still alive. Pi recognized them all at once-all people she had known before, most of them victims of her own. She searched the crowd and quickly found what she had hoped she wouldn't find: Epsilon and Sigma were there, as well.
Alpha paced before his army like a general. "A force is coming to fight against me," he explained severely. "They are coming with a power that has the potential to destroy me, if not properly combated. They must not be allowed to reach this garage, and they certainly must not be allowed to enter it. Wait outside. Guard this place. Kill all who come near.
"Now go!" He commanded, pointing toward the entrance. Their faces still empty, the undead army shuffled of to do its bidding. But as they filed away, Alpha stopped one of them-the black-skinned body that had belonged to Marchesvan, one of the only two members of the third clan he had. Pi felt her heart sink even further. She had taken him herself; the offense had nearly cost her her life, before.
"Not you," Alpha said decidedly. "And not you, either," he added, stopping another. It was Sivan, a pale little girl that Mu had taken from the same clan years ago. Sivan's body had been sitting in the pit for a very long time, near its depth; her yellow skin was faded, stained with earth and mildew. The stitching of her arm seam had come undone, so that her arm hung loose and uselessly at her side.
"No, no, I need the two of you here. Someone has to guard me."
Having their orders, the two bodies stood at attention, awaiting a moment of use.
It was so hard to believe what she was seeing. Pi watched in horrified disbelief as the army of the walking dead shuffled past her cage and out of the garage. She wished she could call out to her mother and father, beg them to stop and wake from the spell, but her voice had left her. And inside, she knew that they weren't alive to hear her. Outside the cage, Delta fell to her knees, trembling.
"The dead have risen..." She mumbled numbly.
Pi wished with all her heart that she could reach out and touch her sister somehow. But there was absolutely no way. Alpha returned and stood over them with a wicked grin.
"Let us see your beloved fifth clan get past that."
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Adar had been true to his word. They arrived on the street they were looking for in just under the promised hour-and-a-half, cutting through a narrow alleyway between two houses and finding themselves on a new sidewalk. Far down on the end of the street, they could see where the road ended in a cul de sac.
"Maple Street," Adar announced, waving his hand grandly at their destination. "The first clan's garage is down this way. Follow me."
They dashed down the abandoned sidewalk together, passing the normal sights they would have seen in any other neighborhood in the city. Rotting fences, overgrown lawns, rusting cars (some still full of festering bodies that they refused to look at), and homes with shattered windows and peeling paint. Most of the lots on the street had been completely leveled, the houses that once stood in those spaces rendered to nothing more than mountains of splintered wood, broken glass and rubble.
Again, normal.
The garage was where the normalcy ended, and the strangeness began. It was the only structure on the street that looked to be have been completely untouched by the ravages of the war. It stood out like a beacon, protected by the warding rite of the witch who had once lived there. It was an easy and straight shot down the sidewalk. All they would have to do was cross the street, and they would be standing before it.
Can it really be that simple? Adar wondered to himself. I don't trust that for a second...
"Brace yourselves, everyone," 9 said cautiously, mostly to his wife and brother. "It's about to get tricky."
They both nodded wordlessly. 7 flipped her sparrow skull helmet back over her beautiful face, so Adar could only see her eyes from behind the scowling eye sockets, and she gripped her spear tightly. 5 reached over his shoulder and pulled his crossbow from his pack; it had been loaded all along, and the arrow had Alpha's name written all over it. 9 himself had borrowed one of Adar's bows and some of his arrows; rather being the brains of their party, he was one to fight more with wit than a physical weapon.
But Adar had laughed at him for being so underprepared, and loaned his friend his second-best bow. Adar had his best bow slung on his shoulder, but now took it and knocked an arrow to it, as they crept across the road, to where the garage was shielded from the street by the remains of a picket fence. As soon as they reached it, Adar felt a shiver go down his spine. Something was definitely not right.
"This place is giving me the creeps," 7 complained, rubbing her arm with her free hand. "It's infuriating that my baby is here..."
"Um, you guys might want to take a look at this," 5 said in a low voice, peering through the gaps in the fence.
He sounded horrified. The rest of them came beside him and looked through the fence, and Adar nearly screamed at what he saw. The yard was full of Stitchpunks-every face he saw in the moonlight was one he knew to be missing. They were ghostly and ghastly, standing stock still, staring blankly ahead at nothing in particular.
It was clear at once, that there were no souls in those bodies.
"An army?" 9 wondered out loud, but keeping his voice down.
"Of the undead," Adar agreed grimly. "He's prepared for war, or at least for a battle. He knew we were coming."
"Delta," 9 commented. "He's already taken her. What do we do now?"
"We fight. We break past this army, and we kill him. It's all we can do."
"How can we fight them all? There's so many of them!" 7 pointed out, sounding frustrated and suddenly a bit hopeless.
"Maybe we don't have to," 5 suggested, and knelt to pick up a small rock. He crept to a gap in the fence, careful not to be seen, and threw the rock as hard as he could toward the other side of the yard. It hit the ground with a clatter, and the four of them jumped at the noise.
"I don't think that's going to work," 7 hissed at her brother.
"No, wait," Adar interrupted, peering back through the fence. Every empty head had turned toward the source of the sudden noise, and began shuffling after it.
"It is working." He aimed his arrow through the fence, aiming at the wall of the garage. He let it fly, and it hit the brick wall with another loud clatter. The whole army turned at once to follow it, and now every back was facing them.
"Huh. Thank goodness, for the small things."
They scrambled through the fence and hurried across the yard, while the army was distracted. Every few paces, Adar fired another arrow in their opposite direction, keeping the army occupied and unaware of their presence.
What a stroke of fortune. Yahweh is going before us, indeed!