Chapter 17
Shivvy was careful to mark her route as she grew nearer and nearer to the source of those painful cries. The last thing she wanted was to get lost in the maze that was this ancient castle. Up ahead she saw a sliver of light around a partially open door and knew this was where her quest would end.
Before she could take more than a step or two towards her goal, Shivvy heard the heavy tread of someone moving along the hallway. Silently the girl slipped into a curtained window seat across from the doorway, planning to hide until whoever it was passed by. Unfortunately the footsteps began to slow as they reached the door, and Shivvy held her breath lest any sound or movement betray her presence.
"What's this I hear, little mouse, trouble sleeping?" The cold, creepy voice sent shivers of fear up the shadowhunter's back. Moving carefully, Shivvy look through the crack in the curtains and saw a tall, thin man push the door open wider to reveal the cowering body of a familiar, three year old boy, Aiden Lightwood!
It was all the shadowhunter could do to suppress the gasp that threatened to escape as she saw the terrified child. She knew she would not be able to help Aiden if she were caught spying, and resigned herself to watching the macabre scene play out in front of her.
"I've brought you a present little mouse;" The man said towering over the trembling child. He snapped his fingers and a small plush teddy bear appeared in his hand. "Don't be shy;" He added holding the toy out as the boy backed away from him. Another snap of the warlock's long, thin fingers and his victim was frozen in place. "I did so hope I wouldn't have to do this. You have no idea how precious you are to me, or at least your blood is;" The man laughed, a high, cruel, tuneless sound that sent a shiver down the spine of the girl silently watching. Picking the child up, the warlock placed him on the bed and removed a large needle from the pocket of his robe. "This won't hurt a bit;" he chuckled seeming to enjoy the fear he saw in the boys eyes, and that his tiny mouth was open in a silent scream, as Gorgon began drawing blood from the boy.
Once he had as much as was safe to take, Gorgon looked into the terrified child's eyes and said; "You really have nothing to worry about. This!" He said pointing to the vial of blood; "Is your guarantee of safety. It will keep you alive and make me one of the richest and most powerful of warlocks." With another snap of his fingers, he released the boy from his paralysis and put him to sleep.
"Well, I must be off little mouse, so much to do, so little time!" The warlock said smiling. "It wouldn't do to be late to the Devil's Ball. what would the Abbot say, but I forget, you don't know the Abbot yet, a pleasure for another time. Sleep well little mouse, while you can." With that parting remark Marcus Gorgon swept from the room.
Shivvy waited until she could no longer hear Gorgon's footsteps before leaving the shelter of her hiding spot in the window seat. She moved quickly into the room and over to the bed that held the sleeping boy. Reaching out in a gesture of comfort, she swept the boy's black hair off his forehead and bent down to kiss him. "I don't know how you came to be here Aiden;" she said softly; "But, by the Angel, I will get you home to your daddies if it's the last thing I ever do!" Knowing she would not be able to rouse the boy from his magically induced sleep, she slowly pulled the covers over him, a sob almost escaping as the child nestled toward her familiar presence. No one here must know what she had found. Shivvy slipped quietly from the room, intending to retrace her steps, she needed time to think, to plan how to get Aiden away from these mad men.
Moving quickly down the hallway, Shivvy's mind was swirling with unanswered questions; how had Aiden ended up at Eilean Donan? Where were Magnus and Alec? How was she going to get the child out of here when she hadn't even been able to send Daniel a message for days?
It was the sound of laughter, and the sinister strains of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet that brought the girl to a sudden sense of her present surroundings. Nothing about this hallway looked familiar, and Shivvy realized she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. On her left she saw double doors which seemed to be where all the noise was coming from. Opening one door, just a crack she saw what looked to be a dark, empty balcony high above a ballroom filled with extraordinarily dressed guests.
Creeping onto the balcony, Shivvy saw a dais at one end of the room which held a large, ornately carved, wooden chair. The man sitting on the throne, for that is what it truly looked like, wore a long black frock coat over tight black trousers. The coat was lined in bright red fur, but his chest was bare. A plain white mask covered the man's face, and a headdress of red fur with two black horns jutting out on either side covered his hair. The whole effect was dramatic and rather sinister. It took Shivvy several minutes to tear her eyes away from the image and look at the rest of those assembled for the macabre masquerade ball. Most of the guests wore masks that prevented her from making any identifications, although some of them appeared to be shadowhunters if the glimpses of runes on their skin was anything to go by. The girl's eyes widened in shock as she caught sight of several guests who wore no masks at all, in fact they didn't wear much of anything, and were cavorting among the crowd on the dance floor, inciting a frenzy with each touch of a clawed hand or brush of moist red lips. Demons! There were demons at this party!
Shivvy's mind tried to rebel at the images she was seeing, demons were not invited guests in the home of a shadowhunter, this couldn't be! But no matter how she rubbed her eyes, the horrifying images remained the same. Suddenly the man on the dais rose to his feet and called the unruly crowd to order. As silence engulfed the room, he spoke in a loud, commanding voice; "Bring in the novitiates!"
Double doors at the far end of the ballroom swung open at his words and a group of six people in black robes was led through the room and lined up in front of the dais with the guests at their backs. A murmur rose up from the crowd and they began to surge a little as if to get closer to novitiates, to touch them, engulf them.
The man on the dais called the crowd to order again, saying; "They will be among you soon enough." Then he addresses the black robed figures directly; "You know what is expected of you this evening. We will be watching, don't disappoint!"
As his words died away, the six figures turned toward the crowd, and Shivvy caught her first look at their faces. Oh God! It couldn't be! But it was, there was Daniel, her Daniel, one of the novitiates in this hateful place! She couldn't believe it, what had happened to the kind, gentle boy she knew, the boy she loved? Without another thought she turned and fled from the balcony.