Assassin of the Damned

— 31-

The top must have finally been near. After yet another circuit around the tower on these spiral stairs, I heard voices. They murmured. They sounded worried.

Voices equaled more than one, maybe many. I stowed the bag, straightened my clothes and gave them a quick brush. The busts had given me an idea. I settled my hood to insure it hid my features. Only then did I continue, now in a stately stride.

I passed an open door and entered a circular room. A widow admitted fiery light from the gargantuan flames in the sky. Braziers glowed with red embers. Bizarre etchings and lurid figures decorated the walls. The floor was a giant mosaic. The symbols surely held magical significance. In the center of the room was an ebon altar. A nude and terrified beauty lay upon it. Shackles held her ankles and wrists.

The murmuring stopped as I entered. There were several clumps of apprentices. They wore long, scarlet robes tied by yellow cords. Each bore ugly scars on his face, burn marks. I realized then that each mark had a counterpart on the wall. The burn was a magical symbol, likely branded on. Maybe the living flame had done that to each.

The sorcerer lacked facial scarring. He wore the opposite of them, a yellow robe with a scarlet cord. He had gnarled hands. He was short, bald and had the leathery face of an onion merchant. He seemed less like a sorcerer than an angry peasant. I took that to mean he was a master at his art. Maybe this was Erasmo’s most trusted servant. All the apprentices were taller than the sorcerer.

“Who are you?” the sorcerer asked. His voice was hoarse. He stood near the altar beside a small table. On the table were an assortment of knives. There was another thing there, but a yellow cloth hid it.

I stood silently. I doubted he could see my features underneath the hood.

The apprentices glanced at the sorcerer. He kept his leathery face impassive.

I wondered how to imitate Erasmo, and decided the more arrogantly I acted the more convincing. So I kept staring.

The sorcerer brushed his fingertips against his thumb. “Do you bring a message?” he asked.

I could draw my knife and attempt to kill them all. Instead, I wanted answers first. There was also the possibility that the sorcerer and the apprentices knew spells that could seriously harm me. I doffed the hood, and I continued to stare at the sorcerer.

The reactions startled me. Many gasped. The apprentices to a man averted their gaze from mine. In twos and threes, they knelt. The sorcerer bowed his head and he spread his arms outward. With much huffing and puffing, he worked onto his knees.

“My lord,” he said, “this is a surprise.”

I remained silent. I noticed that the sacrifice on the altar had screwed her eyes shut. Maybe I should order them all to lie on their bellies. I could kill them more easily then.

“Do you wish to speak alone, my lord?” the sorcerer asked.

“Confine them all to their quarters,” I said.

One apprentice groaned. Several turned chalk white. The boldest dared look up at the sorcerer with confusion.

The sorcerer hesitated. I had likely already blundered. But I couldn’t back down now. I narrowed my eyes. The sorcerer stiffened, and he clapped his hands.

With their eyes downcast, the apprentices fled the room. The last shut the door with the softest snick.

I walked regally toward the sorcerer. He swallowed audibly, and his leathery skin turned pale. He began to tremble.

“My lord,” he whispered, “I–I don’t understand. We awaited your signal. Everything is ready.”

I laughed grimly.

“The powers, lord…. What keeps them at bay? This shouldn’t be possible.”

“Do you think I tell you everything?” I asked.

He brushed his fingertips against his thumb. He frowned, obviously perplexed. I wished I knew what he was thinking. “My lord-my lord,” he said. “You’ve shaved off your beard.”

“I wondered when you would notice.”

“Lord, have I failed thee?”

“Quickly,” I said, “explain your part. Then you shall see how you’ve failed.”

He lifted his head and stared. A lizard-quick moment of understanding lit in his eyes. He bowed his head. He stopped trembling and color returned to his skin. “Lord-” he began.

I was upon him before he finished. With an arm around his throat, I dragged him upright. I pressed the deathblade against his stomach. Maybe Erasmo and I used the same face, but there were surely enough minor variations and word choices that alert people could pierce the difference.

“Who are you?” he asked. “Your features are uncanny, even to the tilt of his head.”

“Do you want to live?”

“Naturally,” he said.

I wondered at his cool. “Then you must answer me,” I said.

“I think not.”

“Then I have no use for you.”

“Nor will you have a use for me once I tell you what you want to know.”

“One means you die now,” I said, “another later.”

“Yes,” he admitted, “that’s a problem.”

I tightened my hold, and I whispered into his ear. “I have a knife. It has cut your master before. The wounds do not heal.”

He nodded because I gripped him too tightly for him to speak.

“Your death can be hard or quick,” I said, and I eased up.

He coughed hoarsely. I let go. He bent over, coughed and began to wheeze. He massaged his throat and straightened. “You look just like him,” he said. “You should have grown a beard, though.”

“Decide!”

“If you killed anyone entering the tower,” he said, “the body will soon be discovered. Guards will sound the alarm. The apprentices will come out of their rooms. They will talk. If nothing else works, our lord will unleash the powers against you.”

“What powers?” I said.

“Look outside. They’re the giant flames.”

“What are they?”

He shook his head. “I dare not say more.”

I had no time to dicker. He was tough minded. He was evil. A woman lay on the altar, ready for him to sacrifice. How many other women had he slain with his assorted knives? If I tied and gagged him, he likely had magical abilities to free himself. He had left me no choice. I was the Darkling. To show mercy now in this desperate place was folly.

I killed him, wiped my deathblade on his yellow robe and laid him on the mosaic. I would have to question an apprentice. The sight of the dead sorcerer might help loosen his tongue. I strode for the door.

“I’ll tell you want you want to know,” the nude woman on the altar said.

I whirled around. In my haste, I’d forgotten about her.

“The keys are on the knife table,” she said. “They’re under the yellow cloth.”

I found them, freed her and ripped his robe from him. She wrapped herself with it. She was young and beautiful, blond-haired, with startling green eyes.

“I’ve listened to them talk,” she said, as she knotted the cord around her slim waist. “They’re worried because things aren’t going right.”

“Go on,” I said.

“You won’t kill me, will you?”

“No.”

“On your word?” she asked.

“On my word of honor, my lady.”

“There’s no honor here,” she said bitterly.

“I’m a prince.”

She laughed. It was a hard thing, tinged with fear. “Can you spirit me out of here?”

“Not at the moment,” I said.

“Will you come back for me once you’re done?”

“If you help me,” I said. “If it’s possible.”

She nodded. “That’s better than anyone else is offering.”

“You must hurry.”

“Did you kill someone getting in?”

That told me she had been listening. It also made me wary. Who was she? I could have asked her a dozen questions and still know nothing about Erasmo and his plan. Time was precious.

“I killed the chief lycanthrope and I killed this sorcerer.”

“His name was Pandolfo Petrucci,” she said.

“I don’t care what is name is. Tell me what’s going on with the spell.”

She brushed back her golden hair. For a woman just freed from an altar, she had amazing poise.

“The flames in the sky are powers, lords of another realm,” she said. “They’re supplying magical might.”

“Keep talking,” I said.

“The Grand Conjuration has been days in the making. It’s a difficult spell. I’ve been chained to this altar three different times. This makes the fourth. The Lord of Night is injured, as you said. He slowly regains strength. Everyone is readied, and then he has a relapse. When the signal finally comes, I’m to be butchered along with many others. Then the Lord of Night will summon a being powerful enough to finish the Grand Conjuration.”

“You mean blow the Trumpet of Blood.”

She shrugged. “I haven’t heard about that.”

“They didn’t talk about it?”

“Not near me.”

“Why does he need these flame powers?” I asked.

“Do you think I’m a witch?”

I grabbed her wrist and dragged her to a window. It faced the massive tower.

“How hard is it to get into there?” I asked.

She brushed back her golden hair. “I would say it’s impossible.”

“How do you know?”

She tugged the robes more tightly around herself. “It’s a hard world out there. I believed an apprentice’s promises. They might have come true. Then the Lord of Night returned hurt. He tried to hide it, but we soon knew. Well, the sorcerers and apprentices knew. That’s when the plan changed and they needed-”

She turned to me. “Do you think I’m a virgin?” she asked.

I studied the massive tower, although I avoided looking at the giant flames, the so-called powers.

“I always thought sorcerers only sacrificed virgins,” she said. “I thought I was safe. Then my lover decided here was his chance to gain influence. They all vied with each other to offer their paramours to their sorcerer. They’re all dogs. He said he loved me. Then he told me I should understand. He said he was sorry. Can you believe that?”

“Go bar the door,” I said.

She frowned. Then she got the idea and hurried across the room, with her bare feet slapping tiles.

“Wait,” I said. “I left something in the corridor.”

I retrieved my bag, and I helped her push several chests against the door.

“This isn’t going to do us much good once the spell is finished,” she said.

I strode to the window. If only the central tower stood closer. If only I had wings, I could fly into Erasmo’s window. I struck the windowsill with my fist.

“Do you have a plan?” she asked.

“Who guards that tower?”

“You won’t break into it like you did here.”

“How do you know that?”

She laughed grimly. “Why do you care how I know?” she asked.

I studied the central tower. I stared at the bright window high up there. The sorcerer here had feared seeing me. He had wondered how Erasmo could be away from his central tower, what had anchored the powers while the Lord of Night wandered. That meant Erasmo had to be up there. His being there somehow chained the powers into place.

“You’re here to kill him,” she said. “You said you cut him once. Why do you look just like him?”

In the streets below, I saw no evidence of alarm. There were no rushing bands, no sounding gong. In fact, I didn’t see anyone.

“You’ll never kill him,” she said.

Should I run down the tower stairs? The wisest course would be to chain this woman back onto the altar.

“If the spell is interrupted,” she said, “horrible things will happen. That’s what has the apprentices so worried.”

“Should I sacrifice you then?” I asked. “Should I finish the spell?”

She brushed back her golden hair. “Take me with you. We must flee this place.”

I shook my head.

“I’m nobility just like you.” She rubbed my arm and pressed herself against me. “You’ll never regret saving me. I promise to make your life a living ecstasy. I’m very good at what I do.”

That building over there, it was near the central tower. I saw a window, too, one lower down. I had to decide now what I was going to do. I had to get into the central tower fast. If I dashed down these stairs…the apprentices were ambitious want-to-be-sorcerers. Several of them would either peer out their doors or have other means of watching what went on. Word of my presence-what they thought was Erasmo’s presence here-had likely spread to everyone in the tower. I needed those wings more than ever.

“Why do feel so cold?” she asked.

I wrenched my arm loose and tore into my bag. In seconds, I wore the Darkling belt and cut my silk line in half. I assembled my crossbow, loaded a bolt and shot it into this brick windowsill. Then I attached the line to the bolt.

“You can’t climb down that,” she said.

I broke apart my crossbow.

“Where did you buy that?” she asked. “I’ve never seen one you hook together.”

I tied the other end of the line to the spindle on my belt. Then I cranked the handle fast and wound up the silk.

“That’s ingenious,” she said. “But can it hold your weight?”

I attached the bag to my belt and leaped onto the windowsill.

“Wait!” she cried. “Take me with you.”

I stared into her green eyes. Terror filled them. She was pale and trembled. I realized she had chattered endlessly because of her fear.

I knew I should simply jump out. Then I wondered if she might race to the table and grab a knife. Maybe enraged that I’d left her, she would cut the line. I could kill her-the fastest course. Or I could chain her back onto the altar.

“Please.” She held out her hands. “I can help you.”

“How?”

“I can show you things. Help you avoid making a mistake. Please, don’t leave me here. They’ll kill me. Torture me to find out what happened.”

I didn’t know if the silk line would hold us both, although I expected it would.

“Hold onto my neck,” I said. “If you slip, you’ll die.”

She climbed onto the windowsill. I turned. She wrapped her arms around my neck. If I’d breathed, she probably would have choked me because she held so tightly. Then I stepped outside the window and began to unwind the spindle.