Shadowcry (18 page)

Some said the circles allowed the restless souls of the dead to enter a body and take physical form. Others said that by standing within one of the circles, people opened their minds to the voices of the dead, which would follow them until the day that they died. And a few even speculated that the circles had somehow been responsible for the bonemen's disappearance, through a death ritual that had gone horribly wrong.

The only aspect of the circles that most people agreed upon was that they were carved in places where the veil between life and death was at its thinnest, and that they were made to pierce through the veil and let the Skilled see deeper into the world of death itself. Standing next to a real one for the very first time, Kate sincerely hoped that every story she had ever heard about them was untrue.

If she had known what they were uncovering she would never have begun, but most of the work was already done. Many of the floorboards were heaped up against the walls, revealing the full span of the circle, which looked completely intact. It was at least thirty feet wide, with four narrow lines radiating out from it at the points of the compass, and where the lines reached the walls a further row of smaller symbols circled around the edges of the room. Kate did not know what those outer symbols were for, but she stepped into the central circle and read a curve of words carved neatly along its northern edge.

Wintercraft
suddenly felt heavy in her pocket, as if the circle was trying to pull it down toward the floor. Kate pressed her hand against it and a gentle vibration thrummed along her palm.

“I don't like this,” said Edgar. “I don't like this at all.”

“This is Da'ru's work,” said Silas, standing on the other side of the circle. “She found this circle, restored it, and put it to use in some of her earliest experiments. You are going to finish what she started in this room.”

“What is he talking about?” Edgar whispered, as Kate pulled the book out into the light. “Is that . . . ? That's the book Da'ru's after, isn't it? It's
Wintercraft
!”

Kate did not answer him.

“This is bad, Kate. Silas being part of some experiment definitely explains a few things, but that book is serious trouble. Da'ru talked about it all of the time. It should be kept hidden. If the wardens, or even the Skilled, find us with it, and Silas here too—”

“They won't,” said Kate, opening the book.

“How do you know?”

“Because that's why I'm here. Silas wants me to kill him.”

“You!” Edgar tried to keep his voice down. “Silas could stand in front of the Night Train going at full speed and it would come off worst!”

Kate did not know what she was looking for, but she was drawn to
Wintercraft
's final section, the only part she had not yet read, and she looked at Edgar with the same cold expression he knew from Silas's face. Her eyes were no longer the bright blue he knew so well. A thin shadow of black lay across them as the effects of the veil started to close in around her, magnified by the presence of the circle.

“Maybe I can't do it,” she said, feeling the energies tingling in the air around her. “But
Wintercraft
will.”

“Oh n-no. That can't be good,” said Edgar, backing away and pointing to her eyes. “What just happened there? What's going on?”

“The spirit has to be sent back. Just stay out of my way.”

“The spirit
what
? Listen to me, Kate. This is a very bad plan. Maybe you should think about this. You're not yourself. I don't think you know what you're doing!”

Silas squeezed Edgar's shoulder, silencing him at once. “If anyone comes through that door, shout a warning
before
they kill you,” he said. “You do remember how to take orders, don't you, servant?”

“Kate, please don't do this.” Edgar had heard enough about the veil to be glad that he had never shown even the slightest hint of being able to see into any world other than his own. He had enough to contend with in life without worrying about what came after it. But as much as he wanted to avoid the listening circle, he needed Kate to stay clear of it as well. Somehow he doubted that was going to happen.

Kate was already standing in the center of the room, reading the book while Silas prowled around her like a stalking cat. She was biting her bottom lip, the way she always did when she was concentrating. Edgar didn't know if she had even noticed Silas, but Silas was not taking his eyes off her. Edgar retreated so he was nowhere near the carved symbols, and Kate looked up.

“I think I know what to do,” she said.

Silas took off his sword and coat and joined her in the circle. “Then do it.”

Kate nodded and a brief flash of anxiety crossed her face. The look lasted only a second, but Edgar saw it and it gave him hope. He knew Kate well enough to know something was not right. She was hiding something.

Kate read one of the green-inked pages again. The experiments written in those pages were more rushed and random, as if the Walkers had tried to squeeze in as much as possible in a short space of time. If the main sections were daunting, the last section looked almost impossible and the warnings accompanying each technique were very clear.

One warning was written in small letters tracing around the edges of the current page, where someone had slipped a thin black feather next to an experiment called the “Most Dangerous and Permanent Binding of a Soul.”

The warning read in tiny green letters:

Beware this binding most of all. For once this deed is done there can be no reversal. The soul shall remain evermore tainted and broken, unable to walk fully the path into death. Trapped in perpetuity, half within the veil, half without, bound and subject to thee and thy blood.

No endeavor yet attempted has released a soul bound in this way.

There exists no method to apply.

Kate did not know what to do. She had never considered that the book would not tell her what she needed to help Silas. She tried to look confident, and if Silas knew she was lying to him, he showed no sign of it.

If what the book said was true, there was no way anyone could end Silas's life. He was a creation outside the usual laws of the veil. Even if she managed to open a pathway through the veil, it would never accept him. And if she could not send him into death, what was to stop him ending her life and Edgar's instead?

She couldn't give up. She had to do something.

She turned back to the section called “Life & Death,” taking care not to let Silas see. If she could at least try to help him, maybe he would accept that she had done her best. Maybe then he wouldn't—

“Wardens!” cried Edgar, pointing to the broken door and six black-robed men who had just reached the top of the museum steps.

Silas turned to face them, leaving his sword on the ground.

The patrol leader spotted him from the doorway and immediately gave his men the order to attack. Silas tightened his scarred hand into a fist. “Now, Miss Winters.”

The wardens spilled into the hall all at once, daggers out, but Silas stood his ground, ready to take them one by one. Two of the wardens headed right for Edgar, who ran into the circle to protect Kate.

She was out of time.

Kate concentrated hard, summoning up every ounce of will left in her. Frost glittered on her skin as the chill of the veil spread around her and, with a feeling that was a mixture between hope and dread, she reached out into the veil.

Chapter 18
The Half-Life

K
ate felt the floor shudder beneath her as the symbols around the circle began to glow. The floor was shrouded in a soft blue light that seemed to rise up out of nowhere, and any of the Skilled nearby would have felt the pulse of energy swell outward as the lines spreading across it throbbed into life.

Edgar cried out in fright as frost whipped up his arms and face, and Silas's gray eyes shone as the circle fed from Kate, infusing her energy into its carved symbols and spreading its own ancient power into her. He had seen this happen before during Da'ru's many experiments into the veil and he held out his scarred palm and traced its burning pattern: the place where Da'ru had once burned her blood into his.

Da'ru thought that the knowledge written in the pages of
Wintercraft
would give her exactly what she had wanted: the perfect protector, as much a slave to her as any that was bound by a chain, but Silas could no longer be controlled by someone who had stolen his freedom and torn apart his soul. Da'ru's blood had forged an unnatural bond between them. Now that bond was about to be broken.

Kate struggled to keep control of the energy around her. The veil descended across the entire hall, hanging like white mist that gathered upon the ceiling and crept slowly downward, smothering everything in the room and making the outer symbols around the walls flare into life, marking the boundary beyond which it could not pass. The wardens stopped their advance and lowered their weapons, too busy staring upward to do anything else. Silas smiled. He knew what to expect, so when the circle's energy reached its peak, he was prepared.

Kate, Edgar, and the wardens were not.

The blue light beneath the floor intensified, making the mist glow brighter until it flared suddenly into an immense burst of dazzling silver light. A shockwave of energy blazed out from the central circle, striking the wardens hard enough to slam them against the wall, knocking them into unconsciousness, while Kate and Edgar covered their eyes with their arms, shielding themselves from a glare so powerful it was like looking into the sun. Then the light began to dissipate, fading slowly back to a transparent ripple that hung in the air.

Kate checked the book. Everything was exactly as it was meant to be. According to what was written, everything within that room was about to be exposed to the unpredictable realm of the half-life, and only people who were standing inside the central circle would be protected from its full effects. The protected area was marked by the blue light that was still rising from the floor, forcing the mist back until it was moving gently around them like a gathering storm. The mist hung like a soft wall just a few feet from their faces and Edgar stared at it with fascination, reaching out to see what it felt like.

“Don't touch it!” shouted Kate.

Edgar snatched his hand back at once. “What is it?” he asked.

“It is the veil,” said Silas, standing perfectly still as the strange cold sank into his skin, trailing through his fingers until they were bristling with ice. “This is as substantial as it can appear to the human eye. Beyond this room, the world no longer exists. We are standing in a place outside the laws of time.”

“Kate?” Edgar said warily. “What is he talking about?”

“The book says that this circle acts as a gateway to the half-life,” said Kate, reading as she spoke. “It's like we're standing in a viewing room. The circle on the floor will keep us safe so long as we stay in the middle of it. Out there is a different story. The veil drains life out of anyone who doesn't have enough Skill to resist it. Without a physical connection to someone grounded to the circle, any normal person—even a Skilled—would be vulnerable out there. According to this, the spirit could become trapped and the body would die.”

Edgar took a step back, keeping his hands well away from the mist. “So, what happens now?” he asked. “I know Da'ru used to be obsessed with circles like these but I never saw her actually use one.”

“That should be obvious,” said Silas. “The circle has been opened. The shades are coming.”

Kate and Edgar followed Silas's eyes up to where the mist was thickening quickly, spreading out as if it were being kept from their heads by a clear glass dome. Then, like a silent wave gathering speed, the room flooded with moving shadows as the veil opened and the shades poured in. There were hundreds of them, all massing together until the mist was filled with twisting wisps of black and gray. They swept around the circle, moving in quick short bursts, speeding around desperately like insects caught in a jar.

“What are they doing?” asked Kate.

“The half-life is filled with lost souls,” said Silas. “Their spirits are trapped here inside the veil. Part of them is still bound to the living world so they are unable to pass fully into death. They know you are in control of the circle. They are waiting to see if you intend to help them or harm them.”

“What should I do?”

“Exactly what you came here to do,” said Silas.

The shades moved together like dark fish, shifting in one writhing mass.

“The circle is ready,” said Silas. “It is time to finish this.”

Kate realized that she could not just stand there. She had to take control. So, with the book in one hand she ignored her own warning and stepped forward, reaching out to touch the misty surface of the veil. It felt like pressing her palm into a bank of snow, cold and soft. There was no resistance and, as she stepped across the protective line, the shades gathered close to her hand.

“Kate, don't!” Edgar tried to grab her, but Silas held him back.

The half-life claimed Kate's senses and nothing could have prepared her for what she felt in that place. It was not cold or warm, dark or bright. There was no feeling of any kind. No smell of bone dust that usually hung in the hall. No sound beyond her own nervous breathing. The shades moved around her, existing in a silence so complete that Kate found it disorientating. She had no real sense of there being a floor beneath her feet, the air was still and dead, and the mist that had seemed so dense before had now lightened enough that she could see Silas and Edgar clearly inside the circle. Her heart felt hollow, her mind detached and slow. This was not the same place she had entered when Da'ru had forced her to return Kalen's spirit to life. Using the circle had opened her to a far deeper level of the veil. It was not peaceful, it was not frightening. It just was.

The shades swarmed gently, pushing past each other and brushing softly against her skin. Each touch carried with it a burst of half-forgotten memories, tiny glimpses into the lives of each shade that came close enough, along with something else. Fear.

Every one of those souls was afraid of her.

“. . .
help us
. . .” they whispered.

“. . .
release us
. . .”

Kate tried not to listen. This was not what she had come to do. She couldn't help them. She didn't know how. She looked back at the central circle, and beyond it—just a few feet behind Silas—she sensed what she was looking for. She could not see it yet, but its energy was unmistakable. The invisible current that threaded through the half-life. The path leading directly into death.

The shades drew back from her and parted as she walked between them. Silas stayed perfectly still, his eyes following her. Standing where they were, Silas could do anything to Edgar if Kate let him down. She had to give him something and she still had no idea what.

The shades' whispers became louder the closer Kate got to the surging current. She held out her hand to feel for the shift in energy, not wanting to wander into it herself, then a rush of movement ran across her fingertips and she stopped walking, knowing she was close.

Kate kept her fingers inside the current and with one perfect wave of clarity she sensed the presence of every shade still bound in Fume. There were spirits everywhere, wandering the streets of the Cities Above and Below, many of them clinging so strongly to their old lives that they could not leave the houses they had once known, or the graves of loved ones they had mourned but never truly let go. Some of them did not know they were dead, others were confused, not knowing what was meant to happen to them next, and some were sealed away, their names lost forever, never to be spoken of again. Those were the souls trapped in the spirit wheels, the souls time had truly forgotten, and she heard their voices distantly upon the veil, sad voices, speaking words she could not understand.

The shades were prisoners, trapped between life and death by the powerful energies of the ancient city. Some were there because of Da'ru and her experiments, but many more had become bound there through neglect. Without the bonemen to see their souls safely through the veil, most of them had simply lost their way.

Somewhere in Albion's history something had gone very wrong.

Kate stepped back from death's current and felt the shades' tug of desperation as she reluctantly closed her mind to them. She looked back at Silas, seeing the expectation in his eyes. He wanted death even more powerfully than the shades. He
needed
it and she still did not know why. She walked back to the central circle, stood in front of Silas and held her hand out to him through the mist. Edgar was shouting something, but the silence of the veil swallowed his words before they could reach her. Silas held his head high, took her hand and let her lead him into the half-life.

The veil reacted to him as strongly as it had before. A void of darkness gathered around him and the shades backed away, not daring to come close. Silas was much taller than Kate and the darkness made him look even more intimidating, making it difficult for her to do what she was about to do next.

She reached up and pressed her fingers on either side of his head, just as he had done to her the first time he had taken her into the veil. She let his void surround her and then she listened, searching out the memory that would tell her why Silas wanted death so badly. He did not resist her. Their thoughts merged into one, and the memory she was looking for played out.

Kate was Silas, walking into the museum's main hall as it had been twelve years before. He was a soldier then, but in the reflection of the glass door, he did not look a day younger than he did now. His blue blade marked him as a warden of the highest rank and he had risen quickly to a position of responsibility by proving his worth in countless battles against the Continent's men. Da'ru had summoned him to the old museum, but he had no reason to be suspicious. She was new to the High Council and known to be a Skilled of some ability. Meeting in unusual places was often their way.

Kate saw Da'ru standing in the center of the circle with Kalen at her side, and she felt Silas's hand twitch instinctively toward his blade. Kalen was well armed, too well armed for a simple meeting, no matter whom he was protecting. Something was wrong.

Silas was suddenly wary of the new councilwoman and her guard, but to put his hand upon a weapon in her presence would be seen as treason. Da'ru greeted him in the formal way and he did the same, dropping to one knee to show respect. But when he lowered his head, Kate felt the cold stab of metal as a needle sank deep into Silas's neck, his hand closed weakly around the hilt of his sword and a flood of poison pulsed swiftly through his veins.

The rest of the memory came in patches. The blaze of light as Da'ru opened the circle to the veil, the cries of the shades swarming overhead and the confusion Silas felt when the current of death drew close to him. Kate had assumed that Silas had participated willingly in the experiment that had altered his life forever, but now she saw how wrong she had been. Silas had not even been one of the Skilled when he had entered that circle. The veil was as new and impossible to him then as it had been to Kate the first time she had looked into it. And despite his nature, despite a life spent defending Albion against its enemies, Silas was afraid.

Da'ru had the book,
Wintercraft,
with her in the circle and she used its knowledge to bind Silas's spirit to her blood. He was to be her greatest achievement. One that would secure her place in Albion's history forever.

Kate felt Silas's fear rise into rage as Da'ru dripped her blood onto his palm and seared it with a red-hot blade, blending it with his own. The current of death retreated from Silas, but his soul was broken. Kate felt the tearing emptiness as part of his spirit was dragged back to his body, leaving a greater part of it behind, trapped forever inside the half-life at the very edges of the veil. Silas's lungs breathed again, his hand burned with pain, and Kate shared the moment when he looked through his dead gray eyes for the first time to witness the cold look of triumph on Da'ru's face.

After that, the memory shifted. Kate saw the stone walls of a tiny prison cell and sensed the cutting bite of chains gripping Silas's wrists. Da'ru was standing in front of him, and Kate saw the countless flashes of a green glass dagger, sending cut after cut searing across Silas's bare chest. Da'ru tested his resilience, burned his skin with flames, and forced him to drink vials of venomous bloodbane just to witness its effects. Silas's muscles twitched with pain, and Kate watched it all, feeling his hate for the councilwoman growing deeper with every strike.

Kate pulled back from the memory.

Da'ru was Silas's enemy. The bond she had created between them on that night had condemned him to a life with only a fraction of a soul. For two years he had been a subject of her experiments, and since then he had suffered constant pain as his spirit struggled and failed to rejoin its two halves.

Silas had learned to endure that suffering over time but the rituals in
Wintercraft
had bound him to Da'ru, letting her cruelty and hate drip into him day after day. He could sense her spirit inside him, even when she was not there. He could feel her anger and taste the venom of her thoughts, as if an echo was traveling through the veil, feeding directly from her spirit into what was left of his.