Shaper of Stone (The Shapers Book 1) (6 page)

I stepped forward, away from the rear
of the cell and into the light. Vatrale raised his own lamp casting
even more light into the tiny cell. He looked at me, giving me a
clear view of him in return. His skin was clear and looked healthy,
tanned even. His body was filled out and the wrinkles that creased
his face were no more. He looked thirty years younger. The frail, old
man I had known was gone.

He smiled as he noticed my reaction.

“You have looked better my boy.
Of course, we had little time to tend to your needs. I wished to
spare Abella as much as I could. She doesn’t need to be
concerned with your fate any more than necessary. The attack provided
a convenient way to explain our disappearance. It had to happen
sooner or later. Your power was growing faster than anticipated. It
was no longer safe to let you wander about on your own.

“I must thank you. As I’m
sure you noticed, I do look much better. I owe that to you. Or to be
more precise to that bracelet you are wearing. I’ve lost track
of the number of times I have used it to drain the essence from
another, but never have I felt such a surge as when you put it on. It
was... intoxicating. I lost control of myself.”

Now that I was closer to him, I could
actually feel the tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach that I
felt when he first drew power from me. This close it seemed to be
happening without conscious effort on his part. Looking down, I could
see a ghostly current in the air between us. Like waves of heat
rising above the asphalt on a hot summer’s day.

“You are doing it now aren’t
you? Draining me?” I asked in almost a whisper. I didn’t
know why I asked. I knew the answer.

“Of course I am. You put the
bracelet on willingly and as long as you have it on, I’ll
always be able to draw on you.”

“Stop it. Stop it now!”

“It can’t be stopped. As
long as you have the bracelet we’ll be connected. Your energy
will be mine to use as I wish. Only death will allow the bracelet to
be removed.”

I swore the old man grinned at me then,
“Oh yes, we mustn’t forget this. It also prevents you
from using your power. Honestly boy, I think you have more raw
potential than anyone I ever met and I couldn’t very well have
that now could I?”

The crazy old man was using me. With a
grunt I lunged for him through the bars. I couldn’t believe my
luck. I got my hands around his neck. Well, if only death could get
this bracelet off, then I was happy to give him a hand.

I squeezed as hard as I could,
expecting to feel his neck snap in my grasp, but instead I got
nothing. I might as well have been trying to choke a telephone pole
for all it seemed to be bothering him.

He raised his hand to stop the guards
who were rushing to aid him.

“My boy, I see you are
distraught. We’ll talk more tomorrow after you have a chance
for a night’s rest.” He took a small step backwards,
easily slipping out of my grip. It was almost like I never touched
him.

“One more thing Devin. Don’t
try something rash like that again. It won’t end as well for
you next time.”

Vatrale turned, waving for the guards
to follow him. Before leaving they doused the lights until only the
lamp Vatrale carried still burned. Even that dim glow vanished as the
echo of their footsteps faded away.

I was alone.

-o-

Sitting in the darkness, I tried to
replay the conversation in my head.

Vatrale picked me. was he responsible
for me being in this world in the first place? He said that Shapers
had become rare. Did he need someone with their power to survive? He
certainly looked a lot better now that he could drain energy from me.

Did that make him some sort of vampire?
He drained me to restore his health. It sure sounded like a vampire
to me. Oh man, if he drained too much, would I become like him?

Did Abella know? I hoped not. Meeting
her was the best part about being in this world. I didn’t want
to think it was all a setup.

I heard scurrying in the darkness. The
rats were back. There was no way I could sleep here. They would crawl
all over me as soon as I laid down. Instead I paced the floor. When I
moved they seem to avoid me. It was only when I stopped that they
came to investigate.

I couldn’t keep this up.
Eventually I would need to stop, to sleep, and then they would be on
me. I just needed to figure out a way out of this before it came to
that.

-o-

I lost track of the number of trips I
made back and forth across the cell. At one point I did try to sit
down and rest, but the rats were on me within minutes. Giving them a
quick kick scared them off for a little bit, but they always came
back.

I noticed the light first. It filled
the hallway as the men approached. Vatrale lead the way with the
guards from the other day following close behind. At least I thought
it was the other day. I had no way to know how much time had really
passed.

They stopped before my cell. I had to
shield my eyes until they grew accustomed to the light. Vatrale stood
back while a guard opened the gate and guided me out. It was Black
Tooth again. He pushed me across the hall to the other cell where a
second guard placed a tray on the table. The guard with the bloody
nose was absent, not that it made much of a difference. They still
outnumbered me.

There was soup, some bread, and water
on the tray. I didn’t know how long it had been since I had
anything to eat. It was the night before the attack. Was that two
days ago? I didn’t know. I sat down at the table and reached
for the soup. I stopped myself and looked at the old man who had
imprisoned me.

“What’s the catch?” I
asked.

Vatrale took the seat opposite me.
“There is no catch. I need you to keep up your strength, and
now that you had some time to consider your situation I thought we
could talk like two civilized men.”

I went ahead and tried the soup. It was
good. Still warm with chunks of vegetables and meat floating in it.
Eating the soup gave me a little time to think. I wasn’t
worried about being poisoned. When Vatrale said he needed me to keep
my strength up, I decided I believed him.

Vatrale was quiet as I continued eating
the soup, so I decided to ask a question. “Why me?”

“The ability to shape is fading.
Each year we grow weaker. I grow weaker. I must reverse that trend
before it is too late. I have found a way to supplement my power, but
it is a slow process and I am running out of time. And, it is not
enough. Not enough for what I need to do.

“I decided to look elsewhere, and
I found you. You were like a beacon in the night to my senses.
Finding you was far simpler than bringing you to me. It was a gamble
that required power that I had no wish to part with. A gamble that
has paid off tenfold.”

I finished the last of the soup as he
was speaking. “And what now? Am I going to be your prisoner for
the rest of my life?”

“Yes. From a certain point of
view I believe that is true, but there are many forms of captivity.
The form that you choose to endure will be up to you.”

He got to his feet and beckoned for me
to follow. Which I did. It didn’t seem like I had a lot of
options at the moment. He lead me out of the guardroom and down the
hall while the two guards followed.

“Devin, I was amazed that you
mastered our language. I never expected that to happen, and to be
honest had you not, this would be much more complicated. Now I see
new avenues that we can explore if you are willing to join me.”

“I didn’t think I had a
choice.”

“Everyone has a choice, my boy.
If you share your strength freely there will be so much more we can
do. Give yourself willingly and you will be like a king among men. If
you resist and I must draw it by force, the results will be poorer
and I’m afraid you will not find the prospect pleasant.”

We reached the bottom of a set of
stairs where a second pair of guards stood watch before a closed
door. They opened the door as we approached and let us pass without a
word.

We entered a room that was easily fifty
feet across and stepped onto what appeared to be a balcony that
wrapped around the wall to the left. It ended at another door.
Vatrale walked me over to the handrail at the edge of the walkway and
pointed below, into a pit filled with shambling forms.

“Before you came, these people
provided the power for my conjurations. The ones below are
recovering. As you may have noticed, drawing the essence can be
painful. It is even more so for one without the ability to shape. For
every day of service that they give, they are allowed two days of
rest. Even with that rest, few last more than a month. The strong
might last as long as two. We are constantly searching for
replacements.”

Standing over the pit, the stench was
overwhelming. The people were skin and bones. Many had clumps of hair
missing or showed signs of dark bruising. There was no place to sleep
or to relieve themselves. A trough along one wall looked like a
dumping area for whatever they were being fed.

I seriously considered tossing Vatrale
over the railing into the pit.

“If you cooperate with me, I will
no longer require the sacrifice of these people.”

“Do you really expect me to
believe that you’ll let them go.”

“Of course not. I expect you to
believe that you control their fate. If you join with me, then I will
leave their disposition in your hands. Leave them here, take them on
as servants, it matters little to me. You may share your freedoms as
you wish. Or not at all. That choice is yours.”

Vatrale turned away from the pit, his
steps echoed on the balcony as he made his way to the opposite door.
I lingered for a moment and watched the prisoners. Not a single one
looked up at the sound of his passing. I didn’t think they were
aware of anything that happened around them.

Black Tooth grabbed my arm and pulled
me along. I jerked my arm free and glared at him before turning to
follow after Vatrale.

-o-

Vatrale stopped our trek through the
tunnels before a closed door. A metal grate was set a little below
eye level on the door so that he needed to stoop to look through it.

“Look in there,” he
commanded.

I stepped forward and peered through
the opening. The room was empty except for what appeared to be a
metal gurney with a corpse strapped on it. The body looked dry and
brittle. The tight gray skin stretched over the bones gave it a
mummified look. Coils ran from a helmet on the corpse to a glowing
sphere about the size of a basketball. On its left wrist was a
bracelet similar to mine.

“That,” began Vatrale, “is
one of my students. He also was faced with a choice.”

“And you killed him when he
didn’t go along.”

“The man is not dead. Just
drained. As long as he lives he is a source of power, I need only to
allow a small part to remain with him to sustain his life force. The
rest is stored in the nerafpan sphere. Ready for when I need it the
most. This is the fate that awaits you should you choose to resist
me.”

As Vatrale was talking a man entered
the room from another door pushing a cart. He disconnected the
glowing sphere and placed it in a wooden box. He then removed another
sphere and connected it to the coil of wires. This new sphere was
dark.

In the brief seconds that the body was
free from the drain, color returned to it. It took a ragged breath.
He really was alive.

“My god, what sort of monster are
you.”

“My boy. I am only a monster
because I chose to act where others accept fate. Yes, my actions
might be distasteful to some, but I assure you I do only what must be
done to achieve my goals.”

“Distasteful! Is that all this is
to you? Haven’t you ever heard the end doesn’t justify
the means?”

“Only if you fail to achieve your
ends. For the victor all actions are justified in hindsight. That is
something you would do well to keep in mind. When my work is done,
death will no longer be something to be feared.”

Again, he turned from me dismissively,
signaling an end to this conversation as he moved away from the door.

“Come we have spent enough time
in these old tunnels. Let us go to the quarters I have prepared for
you. They should be ready by now. I am sure it will be more
comfortable, and we can continue this discussion there.”

-o-

Finally, we were above ground.

We wandered through tunnels and up
stairs until a lift took us the last hundred feet straight up. The
shaft was barely wide enough to accommodate the platform.

It was nighttime. The sky was burning
with stars and the moon was almost full. The light reflecting from it
made my eyes water, blurring my vision. I was seeing double. I wiped
my eyes and realized it wasn’t me. There were two moons. One
appeared full and the other, smaller one, was near quarter.

I gaped at the sight. This was the
first time I had seen the night sky. Nothing looked familiar. I’m
not an astronomy buff, but I could recognize the big dipper when I
looked for it, and it wasn’t there. I didn’t think I’d
ever seen so many stars. I certainly had never seen two moons before.

“There are two moons,” I
said in awe.

“Actually there are three.
Cladius is the brightest of the three. It is also called The Hunter
Moon. The quarter moon is Gladriel. She is a smaller and is always
visible behind Cladius. Gladriel is also called The Daughter.”

Vatrale then points to a spot in the
sky where the stars are absent, “There is Terash, the Shadow
Moon. It is always in darkness. It is said when Terash walks in the
light the demons will roam the world.”

Terash must be trapped in the shadow of
this world. That would explain why it was always dark. There were
probably times when the sunlight reflected off of the other moons and
struck it. I had no doubt there were all types of ghost stories about
what happens on that night.