Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy) (18 page)

Kane took a deep breath and tried to
ignore the irritation building amidst Syphon’s smug
attitude.

“
I suggest we gather the
remaining scrolls and keep them here for safety.” Kane watched the
Elders reactions closely. While some seemed open to the idea,
others appeared skeptical. Syphon just chuckled.

His eyes brimming with contempt, Syphon
seized his moment to humiliate the Prince. “Despite the obvious
fact that demons can’t touch the scrolls, how do you think you can
keep the others safe when our own was stolen so easily?”

Kane grit his teeth, knowing
Syphon was trying to bait him into an argument. It wasn’t very long
ago that Syphon had challenged Kane to a
Victus
, a duel for the crown. Thankfully, the
council sided against Syphon, vetoing the battle. Secretly,
however, Kane still harbored the desire to beat the Elder
senseless.

After clearing his throat, Kane calmly
replied, “I plan on keeping them hidden, until we can find all of
the pages and then…” He took a breath, then declared, “I’ll destroy
them.”

“
What?” roared Syphon,
bringing his fist down hard onto the table. “No! That’s an
outrage!”

“
You can’t be serious,”
Elder Ozen sputtered, his face paling.

“
If they don’t exist, Malus
can never open the chasm and turn the human race into shades,” Kane
stated. “We can’t allow her access to the Surface. Don’t you see?
The way it is now, we have a chance to defeat her.”

“
How? I don’t understand,”
Elder Midas asked.

Kane’s gaze panned over the room of
worried expressions, then spoke quietly, “We have Malus’s heir,
without her, Malus cannot transfer her soul from her dying body.
Without Fate, Malus will die.”

Flames rose from the tiny bird, filling
the cage with tendrils of fire, each licking the bars as though
probing for a way out. The more he sang his melodious song, the
further the wisps extended.

“
What…is this?” Fate watched
the creature with fascination.

“
He’s a phoenix,” Ever
responded, a smile playing on her ivory lips.

“
Phoenix,” Fate whispered
the word. “How? I mean, if you can’t leave the palace, how did you
get him?”

“
We have a sanctuary of
animals down here. It’s at the far end of the palace,” Ever
explained. “The shades have consumed so many of the creatures in
Dark World, my father decided to protect some of the
rarest.”

Intrigued, Fate asked, “What kind of
rare creatures?”

She tapped each of her fingers as she
counted. “Well, the phoenix for one, there’s about a dozen of
them—less one.” She waved her hand over the cage. “A couple of
unicorns, three griffins, one very old dragon, and hundreds of
pixies. I tried to get you a few of those, but I couldn’t catch
them,” Ever frowned.

“
Interesting,” Fate mused,
thinking back to the faded memories of her childhood. “You have
mythical creatures that the Surface writes about.”

“
Oh, they aren’t mythical at
all, in fact, they came from the Surface.”

“
What? How?”

Ever fiddled with the ruffles on her
wine-colored sleeves as she spoke. “A great earthquake shook the
entire earth, long ago. It opened up a huge chasm and swallowed a
piece of the Surface. It was an island called Atlantis. Thousands
of humans were brought down here, along with their collection of
exotic creatures, hence, our collection of exotic creatures.
Apparently these animals were a rarity on the Surface as
well.”

“
Wow! Atlantis!” Fate nearly
fell over with the revelation. “I thought that place was just a
myth.”

Ever smiled. “Nope, in fact, we’re
inside an Atlantean palace right now.”

Fate threw her a confused look. “How?
It’s completely underground.”

The princess nodded. “When the land
fell through the fissure, it landed on a sand swamp. Quicksand. The
whole thing sunk, burying itself in the quagmire. My father
discovered it on a hunt about a hundred years ago, it gave the
demons a perfect hiding place from the shades—and Malus.” She
winced as she spoke her grandmother’s name.

“
That’s amazing!” Fate
absorbed the lore. “Atlantis,” she said breathily, closing her
eyes, her obsession with mythology surfacing.

Ever’s eyes lit suddenly. “Oh, I almost
forgot about the Night Mare. Another creature in our
collection.”

“
Night Mare?”

“
Yes, a horse that…well,
you’ll have to see him for yourself, if he’ll let you, he’s pretty
grumpy. So…I gather you don’t want to eat the bird then?” the
princess stated, eyeing the cage lingering in Fate’s
hands.

Fate’s heart tore in two with the idea
of harming the little bird. “There has to be another way! Is there
nothing else I can eat?”

A thoughtful look consumed Ever’s face
a moment and she tapped her bottom lip with the talon on her index
finger.

“
Actually, there might be,”
she expressed. “Let’s go see Shaman Goretus.”

Fate nodded enthusiastically. There had
to be some other way to satiate her need for souls. There just had
to be. She simply couldn’t endure the notion of destroying a life
every few days.

The princess glided towards the door.
“It’s going to be tricky getting you out of here, just stay quiet
and let me do the talking, okay?”

Willing to do anything to spare the
baby phoenix, Fate set the cage beside her bed and trailed behind
Ever. As they reached the door, however, Ick awoke from his catnap
and upon seeing the girls abandoning him, let out an ear-piercing
squawk.

“
Shhh!” Both Ever and Fate
turned abruptly, fingers pressed against their lips.

Ick’s pushed-in face puckered
disdainfully. Scanning the room with narrowed eyes, his sight
landed on the gilded cage beside the bed. Fangs protruding and a
sly smile sliding across his mouth, he promptly marched to the cage
and began poking at the phoenix through the bars with his
knife-like claws. The little bird panicked, peeping and molting
fiery feathers which landed on the floor of his cage like a
miniature bonfire, then promptly exploded into ash.

“
Ick!” Fate hissed. “Stop
it! I’ll be right back.”

The little gargoyle flopped onto the
bed, crossing his furry, white arms over his chest.

“
Be good,” Fate mouthed,
then followed the princess out the door.

Nemesis

“
So, this…shade,” Syphon
spat the word with disdain. “She’s agreed to help us?”

Kane sighed, his large chest expanding
and retracting slowly. All eyes were on him, awaiting his
answer.

Finally, he responded, “Not
yet,”

Syphon scoffed loudly. “Do you see?” he
began, standing and waving an accusatory hand in Kane’s direction.
“Do you see? This is exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you. All
plan and no action.”

Kane narrowed his eyes, panning the
room, the Elders suddenly refusing to meet his gaze. A heat swelled
in his chest, a fury growing without his permission.

Have they been talking about
me behind my back?

“
He’s not capable of being
our leader,” Syphon continued, moving about the room. “He’s but a
boy.”

Kane’s fists clenched so hard he was
certain he drew blood from his palms. His teeth ground together so
tight, it made his head hurt. Syphon gave Kane a sideways glance,
his lips curling into a smirk, but he didn’t ceasefire.

“
Legion needs a real leader.
A leader who will take charge and lead an army to defeat Malus!” he
shouted, pounding his fist against the stone table, startling
several of the ancients.

Kane looked to Elder Ozen, his weary
expression read volumes.

Does Ozen agree?
Kane’s heart
fell.
Maybe
they’re right. Maybe I should hand the crown over to
Syphon.

“
Where is the Shaman’s
quarters?” Fate inquired as the two girls snuck down the hall.
Thankfully the guards watching Fate’s room were both so smitten
with Ever, she’d convinced them she’d be safe and that she and Fate
would return in a few minutes. Frankly, she could’ve told them to
eat live slugs and they would have gladly done it just to make her
pay them notice.

The hallway went on forever. Every so
often there would be an intersection offering them a choice of
either left or right, but Ever continued down the same
hall.

This place is huge!
Fate thought, her
eyes scanning every twist and turn of the endless
labyrinth.

As she followed the princess faithfully
down the corridor, Fate examined the artwork hung on the walls.
Most depicted war scenes or hunting expeditions where savages
slaughtered buffalo or deer. Again, it was always humans in the
pictures, never demons.

Atlantis,
Fate surmised.
This must have been
the artwork in Atlantis.

But why had they never changed it?
Didn’t the demons despise the humans? They were the precursor to
shades, were they not?

“
This way,” Ever called
back.

They approached a door on the right,
except for a dehydrated head of what appeared to be a goat dangling
from the doorknob, it was identical to the dozens of doors they’d
just past.

Fate swallowed. She desperately wanted
a cure for her fiendish disease, but something about this visit had
her stomach churning with dissention. It’s not that she didn’t
trust Ever, quite the contrary, but without Kane’s protective
presence nearby, she wasn’t sure how she’d be received.

“
Are you sure about this?
What if…the Shaman doesn’t want to see me? Shades don’t seem be a
local favorite.” Fate grimaced and endeavored to still the
apprehension within her voice.

“
Don’t worry,” Ever linked
her arm with Fate’s, a warm smile gracing her pale lips. “I’m right
here with you.”

Fate grinned beneath her mask, an odd
sensation rising within. She’d found something she didn’t even
realize she’d lost. Something she’d desperately needed—a
friend.

Kane took a deep breath. How was he
going to handle this? He didn’t want to be leader any more than
they wanted him to be. But he had an obligation. A duty to honor
his father’s wishes. He’d left Kane in charge.

Even though he was just a child when
his father died, it was his wish that Kane succeed him upon his
death. He had a responsibility, no matter how much he didn’t like
it—or want it.

“
I believe we should have a
vote,” Syphon offered, his boisterous voice owning the room. Lit
only by the incessant flickering of candlelight, shadows played
within every corner of the room, leaving Kane to feel as though
there were more eyes upon him than just the Elders’.

“
And, what would we be
voting on, Syphon?” Elder Ozen inquired, a twinge of skepticism
lingering in his voice.

“
Why…who should lead the
demons, of course,” Syphon stated, a sly smirk grazing his
lips.

“
We have a leader, Syphon, I
see no need for a vote,” Elder Ozen countered.

Many nodded, but to Kane’s dismay,
several wore expressions of hesitancy.

“
Please, counsel, I ask you
to have faith in me,” Kane began. “I may not be…my father, but I
still love my people and desire the same as you...our freedom and
our right to rule Dark World once again. Please, just give me that
chance, I need your trust in me, especially now.” Upon lowering his
eyes, he hoped they would find it in their hearts to see through
Syphon’s plot to disgrace him.

Most of the counsel members raised
their faces to him, their eyes lit with hope. For a moment, Kane
seemed to hold newfound respect from them—then Syphon’s poisonous
tongue lashed from across the room.

“
That is where you are
right…you are nothing like your father. If there’s one thing I’m
certain of, he’d be ashamed to call you son.”

The room was bathed in aromas
unfamiliar to Fate’s sense of smell. Long, black swags draped the
walls, perilously close to the hundreds of candles flickering
within the room. Reminiscent of the goat’s head hanging from the
knob outside the door, numerous decapitated animal heads, shriveled
and shrunken like large raisins, decorated the tiny
space.

A shuffling sound to the right startled
Fate and she spun towards it. Stifling a gasp, Fate examined an old
demon standing just a few feet from her. A dark-green cloak trailed
over his hooves, his hands met at his waist, clutching a lengthy,
gnarled wooden cane. Long strands of grey hair draped his shoulders
whilst a snowy beard cascaded over his chest. Wrinkles of wisdom
graced every area of his face, but particularly the corners of his
mouth. Warmth radiated from him. A calm and glorious aura of what
Fate could only describe as—peace.

At first glance, she surmised his eyes
were closed as there was no telltale glow of infrared stare. On
closer inspection, however, she realized he was blind, the radiant
burn behind his eyes extinguished. The empty spaces left dark like
fallen stars.