A Soldier of Shadows
Page 42
Corrine scowled.
As a hushed silence fell about the chamber, I feared perhaps Aisha’s words might come true.
I swallowed hard, then looked toward Corrine, Aisha and River.
“I think it’s best if the three of you step outside and leave the two of us alone to talk.”
Although I had phrased it as a suggestion, I didn’t give any of them the chance to protest. I ushered them out of the room and then closed the door behind them. They would stand just outside, and it wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to hear everything that we said anyway.
Then I turned around again, my eyes falling on the oracle who was still closed up in a corner like a clam. I approached her cautiously. I stopped about three feet away from her and lowered myself to her level.
“Please,” I said, in as calm a voice as I could manage. “I need you to explain to me exactly what you’re saying.”
I feared that she was about to go on another manic tirade, but I was relieved when this time her voice was much steadier as she spoke, although her words were no less chilling.
“You will understand soon what I’m talking about. The symptoms will begin to manifest.”
“Hortencia, I’m already experiencing the symptoms that…”
My voice trailed off as the oracle shook her head slowly, a look of melancholy taking over her face.
“Oh, no, vampire. The symptoms you’ve experienced so far have been simply the tip of the iceberg.”
Chapter 23: Ben
Simply the tip of the iceberg.
It felt like my world was crashing down around me. Feeling unsteady, I grabbed hold of the rocky wall for support. My throat felt so dry it was painful to swallow.
Hortencia stretched out her legs and stood up. She moved back to her chair and sat down at the table, her palms spread out flat against the surface, her back turned toward me.
“What most who venture here don’t realize is that seeing is a curse, not a gift,” she said softly. “Something to be repulsed by, not desired… Do you really want to know exactly what’s up ahead of you, boy? Glimpsing the future is not conducive to the health or happiness one still has a chance to grasp in the present.”
“I need to know,” I rasped. I walked over to the table so that I could see her face, and planted my own hands down in front of hers. “Please, tell me.”
She inhaled deeply. Then, to my surprise, she removed the silver visor from her eyes for the first time… only to reveal that she possessed no eyes. Where they should have been was just smooth, pale flesh. I tried not to let on to my horror, but I was sure that she sensed it. A small smile appeared on her lips.
“I would any day swap my unbounded knowledge of the universe for mortal eyes… But I see your mind is bent on your request.”
She stood up from the chair and then grabbed my arm, her grasp surprisingly strong. She pulled me down to sit in her seat while she remained standing at the opposite end of the table.
Goosebumps ran along my skin as she began, “Let me start by telling you something of the war that broke out between the Elders and the Hawks. You heard that the two sides fought each other so severely that both were left with a crumbling kingdom. But you don’t know exactly how the Elders were weakened, and understanding this is key to understanding your own situation.” She walked over to the stove and planted a pot on top of it. Grabbing a jug, she poured in some murky-looking water and lit a fire beneath it.
I wished that she would just sit down and give me her full attention.
“When it came time for the two sides to go at each other’s throats, so to speak,” she continued, “while the Hawks were planning their attack on Cruor, they knew that they had to take a twofold approach: destroy the vessels the Elders had remaining, as well as ruin their vast supply of blood. Remember at this time, the Elders and Hawks believed that all the gates leading to Earth had been closed. Given that, the Hawks believed that if they managed to wipe out the majority of the Elders’ vessels—who they used in combat—as well as their blood, the Elders’ strength would evaporate.”
She paused, raising a thin brow, as if prompting me to ask any questions on what she had said so far.
“How did they get so much human blood to begin with?” I asked.
“During all those years those spirits had access to Earth, they amassed an enormous supply of blood and stored it within the bowels of their black mountains.”
“Elders don’t have a physical body,” I said, trying to remember what my parents had told me of the subject. “What use to them is blood? I don’t understand why they would have so much.”
“For Elders, blood epitomizes energy and life. It’s their food, their sustenance, and without it, they are reduced to more or less dormant spirits. Elders draw life from blood in two ways—the first being via a vessel. That is, a human they have turned into a vampire—a mutation of themselves. They are able to enter the infected human and use his senses to relish the blood as if they were the Elder’s own. Secondly, even without vessels, Elders can draw benefit from it. Since blood is the very essence of what life is for them, just being within close proximity of the substance, even though not able to consume it directly, gives them strength. Consequently, the Hawks targeted these two things—vessels, whom they used not only in combat but also to consume blood, and then the masses of blood itself.”
“And they were successful?” I asked.
“It was a slow, painful battle,” Hortencia replied, pouring out the hot water into a metal cup and moving back toward the table. She picked up the visor that she had left there and replaced it to cover her eyeless face. “But yes, eventually the Hawks managed to wipe out many—if not most of—the vessels, and then contaminated every single one of their blood chambers.”
As a hushed silence fell about the chamber, I feared perhaps Aisha’s words might come true.
I swallowed hard, then looked toward Corrine, Aisha and River.
“I think it’s best if the three of you step outside and leave the two of us alone to talk.”
Although I had phrased it as a suggestion, I didn’t give any of them the chance to protest. I ushered them out of the room and then closed the door behind them. They would stand just outside, and it wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to hear everything that we said anyway.
Then I turned around again, my eyes falling on the oracle who was still closed up in a corner like a clam. I approached her cautiously. I stopped about three feet away from her and lowered myself to her level.
“Please,” I said, in as calm a voice as I could manage. “I need you to explain to me exactly what you’re saying.”
I feared that she was about to go on another manic tirade, but I was relieved when this time her voice was much steadier as she spoke, although her words were no less chilling.
“You will understand soon what I’m talking about. The symptoms will begin to manifest.”
“Hortencia, I’m already experiencing the symptoms that…”
My voice trailed off as the oracle shook her head slowly, a look of melancholy taking over her face.
“Oh, no, vampire. The symptoms you’ve experienced so far have been simply the tip of the iceberg.”
Chapter 23: Ben
Simply the tip of the iceberg.
It felt like my world was crashing down around me. Feeling unsteady, I grabbed hold of the rocky wall for support. My throat felt so dry it was painful to swallow.
Hortencia stretched out her legs and stood up. She moved back to her chair and sat down at the table, her palms spread out flat against the surface, her back turned toward me.
“What most who venture here don’t realize is that seeing is a curse, not a gift,” she said softly. “Something to be repulsed by, not desired… Do you really want to know exactly what’s up ahead of you, boy? Glimpsing the future is not conducive to the health or happiness one still has a chance to grasp in the present.”
“I need to know,” I rasped. I walked over to the table so that I could see her face, and planted my own hands down in front of hers. “Please, tell me.”
She inhaled deeply. Then, to my surprise, she removed the silver visor from her eyes for the first time… only to reveal that she possessed no eyes. Where they should have been was just smooth, pale flesh. I tried not to let on to my horror, but I was sure that she sensed it. A small smile appeared on her lips.
“I would any day swap my unbounded knowledge of the universe for mortal eyes… But I see your mind is bent on your request.”
She stood up from the chair and then grabbed my arm, her grasp surprisingly strong. She pulled me down to sit in her seat while she remained standing at the opposite end of the table.
Goosebumps ran along my skin as she began, “Let me start by telling you something of the war that broke out between the Elders and the Hawks. You heard that the two sides fought each other so severely that both were left with a crumbling kingdom. But you don’t know exactly how the Elders were weakened, and understanding this is key to understanding your own situation.” She walked over to the stove and planted a pot on top of it. Grabbing a jug, she poured in some murky-looking water and lit a fire beneath it.
I wished that she would just sit down and give me her full attention.
“When it came time for the two sides to go at each other’s throats, so to speak,” she continued, “while the Hawks were planning their attack on Cruor, they knew that they had to take a twofold approach: destroy the vessels the Elders had remaining, as well as ruin their vast supply of blood. Remember at this time, the Elders and Hawks believed that all the gates leading to Earth had been closed. Given that, the Hawks believed that if they managed to wipe out the majority of the Elders’ vessels—who they used in combat—as well as their blood, the Elders’ strength would evaporate.”
She paused, raising a thin brow, as if prompting me to ask any questions on what she had said so far.
“How did they get so much human blood to begin with?” I asked.
“During all those years those spirits had access to Earth, they amassed an enormous supply of blood and stored it within the bowels of their black mountains.”
“Elders don’t have a physical body,” I said, trying to remember what my parents had told me of the subject. “What use to them is blood? I don’t understand why they would have so much.”
“For Elders, blood epitomizes energy and life. It’s their food, their sustenance, and without it, they are reduced to more or less dormant spirits. Elders draw life from blood in two ways—the first being via a vessel. That is, a human they have turned into a vampire—a mutation of themselves. They are able to enter the infected human and use his senses to relish the blood as if they were the Elder’s own. Secondly, even without vessels, Elders can draw benefit from it. Since blood is the very essence of what life is for them, just being within close proximity of the substance, even though not able to consume it directly, gives them strength. Consequently, the Hawks targeted these two things—vessels, whom they used not only in combat but also to consume blood, and then the masses of blood itself.”
“And they were successful?” I asked.
“It was a slow, painful battle,” Hortencia replied, pouring out the hot water into a metal cup and moving back toward the table. She picked up the visor that she had left there and replaced it to cover her eyeless face. “But yes, eventually the Hawks managed to wipe out many—if not most of—the vessels, and then contaminated every single one of their blood chambers.”
