​​​​39 A Malignant Fetch

THE BLUE-SKINNED SHRAED stayed close to Threadfin as they journeyed through dead forest and barren valleys. They encountered the odd form of life, once spotting a gigantic worm the size of a sydarag. On sight of Karun, it slithered underground. At one point, the shraed grabbed him, knocking him over. A flock of songbirds descended on an ugly beast, which resembled a boar covered in sticky horns. In seconds, bones remained. The flock took flight, passing over them. Karun spread its body across the mage.

‘Uh, thanks,’ muttered Threadfin, trying to get his head out of its armpit. ‘I think we’re safe now.’ He tried not to gag.

It got up and moved away from him. The shraed stank of piss, mould, and something he couldn’t place. Smells didn’t bother him, but the shraed’s armpit had left him dizzy. He kept an eye on it as they travelled, taking in its starved appearance. Strong muscles in its limbs suggested it would be unwise to underestimate it.

He wondered what Pole would’ve had to say. He grinned as he imagined telling him, ‘Yes, Pod, this is your replacement. My new Darken is a half-starved, blue-skinned, piss-ugly shraed. However, it does what it’s told unlike some, and knows when to keep its mouth shut.’ Podral would’ve had a fit to end all fits. Although he smiled at the thought, he placed a hand to his chest. It felt like something had hollowed out his insides with a spoon. His smile faded into sadness. No, it was too soon to remember the good times.

He tried talking to Karun, asking it questions, but for two days and two nights, it said nothing. Could it talk? Perhaps there were different types, like different virals. Something else he didn’t like thinking about. It proved difficult not to let his thoughts wander when he had nothing to divert them. He needed a distraction.

They never stopped to rest, neither requiring it. The blue-skinned demon seemed agitated the further they went. Its head bobbed up and down, dark feathery wings fanning and then closing as it sniffed at the dead ground. Threadfin picked up the odd rock and examined it. Some were obsidian, others were of clear glass. A great heat had washed across the surface a long time ago. He saw no sign of volcanoes, but he smelled sulphur in the air.

They followed a pathway up through a lifeless weathered range. Threadfin paused on the edge of a steep cliff, staring down on a strange landscape. His vision blurred as he attempted to focus on distant objects such as mountain peaks. Always, his eyes shifted to the right, to where he knew lay north. He understood now. I could walk in any direction, and I would still end up in Hell’s Teeth. Perhaps the shraeds had caused these changes, or Nalrost. Maybe, it was some natural oddity of this world.

By the third morning, having followed the cliff edge, they reached Balax. It was a gigantic lump of black rock. Jagged-edged but otherwise smooth, it rose from a broad flat-topped hill. Three concentric defensive walls, the outer one forty feet high, surrounded it. Each ring stood perhaps fifteen feet lower than the previous one. The fortress itself, within the walls, towered above all. As they neared the outer wall, Karun grabbed him.

The shraed’s talons dug into Threadfin’s dead flesh. Its wings thrummed with excitement or perhaps anticipation. It threw him onto the ground, which was becoming something of a habit. Karun’s talon-like hands rummaged through his clothing, leather pack, the pouch at his belt.

‘Hey, stop it!’ Threadfin shouted. ‘What’d you think you’re doing?’

‘Quiet,’ said Karun in a raspy voice, which took the viral by surprise. He halted his struggles, which had proved futile anyhow. The shraed was too strong.

‘So, you can bloody speak. There I was nattering to myself for days. You could’ve said something. What are you doing?’

‘Quiet,’ the creature repeated. ‘They hear. They come. We both suffer. Eternity. Armies near. Huge battle. Dangerous time.’

‘Fine, then,’ Threadfin whispered. ‘Can you tell me why you are robbing me? Not that I got much, but all the same. Would be nice to know.’

‘Not robbing,’ said Karun.

‘Could’ve fooled me, or is this how you lot flirt? You’re not my type, you know. Well, at least it’s something to tell the grandkids. Unlikely I’ll have any of those but you never know. Yes, my little ones, I got mugged by my guide, who was a blue-monster-type-thingy, outside a fortress belonging to a huge ugly bastard wearing my face. You couldn’t make it up.’

‘You talk much.’

Threadfin was speechless.

‘Helping,’ it muttered, as it pulled out a wrapped bundle from the satchel. ‘Not robbing. Helping.’

‘Here now,’ Threadfin croaked, realising what it held in its claws, ‘give it back.’ He made to grab it, but the creature avoided his clumsy attempts. ‘You know, if I had my magic ...’ A pointless thing to say, since he didn’t. Being helpless wasn’t fun. No wonder Pod had always gotten grumpy around magic. This must have been how he felt.

Ignoring the mage, the shraed unwrapped the bundle to reveal the snapped blade with the bone hilt. The one Astra had gifted him. ‘Fragment,’ Karun demanded as it grabbed hold of him, its cold talons raking withered flesh. ‘Give fragment.’

‘Okay, okay,’ said Threadfin as he fought to get it off him. ‘I’ll give it to you. Why didn’t you ask?’ Karun paused in his rummaging with a look suggesting he had said something odd. Perhaps asking wasn’t a concept it knew about. Reaching into a hidden pouch at his waist, Threadfin withdrew a second bundle, smaller and thinner. He handed it over since he didn’t have much choice. Let’s see where this goes, he thought. ‘Aren’t you going to tell me what you’re up to?’

‘Helping,’ said Karun as he laid the second bundle beside the weapon, and unwrapped it.

‘Yeah, so you keep saying.’ Maybe helping meant something different to a shraed.

The creature held the jagged edges of the dagger and the fragment in its talons. Touching the pieces together, its body glowed. Frost formed along its hide in patterns reminiscent of a strange language. The odd writings covered the shraed in seconds, as the frost reached its hands. A blue fire licked the edges of the blade fragments. Then, it was over. Karun stood in its awkward half-bent manner, massive wings fluttering. It handed him back the weapon, whole.

Threadfin examined it, but saw no sign it had ever been broken. ‘Good craftsmanship. You got skill, Karun.’

The shraed became shy, looking down and away, as though unused to praise.

‘You want me to use this, right? Look, my friend, my power doesn’t work here.’

Karun turned to face the fortress walls. No sign of life, no guards or anything suggestive of someone inside. Instinct warned Threadfin if he tried to get in by climbing the walls or something as crazy, he wouldn’t make it.

A horrible thought occurred out of nowhere. I love Lorn. The Fetch, or its face at least, is my reflection. How then, does it feel about her? Did it mirror Threadfin’s feelings in some sick parody, or did it reflect their opposite? I had, after all, brought her here first. He should have probed Manic and Mania for answers, but he’d been too eager to get going. ‘I have to get inside Balax. Do you know a way, Karun?’

His companion shivered. ‘Yes.’ It gave a human-like nod, full of meaning, towards the weapon.

‘I told you,’ Threadfin said, beginning to feel desperate, ‘my power doesn’t work. I can’t use it.’

‘No,’ said Karun, its thin lips peeling back to reveal what Threadfin decided was a smile. ‘Not your power. Her power. Broken, to enter this world unseen. Now, not broken.’

The mage glanced at the bronze weapon. It had to mean Lorn’s power, which she had passed to the girl, leaving Lorn defenceless. The dagger contained some of her magic.

Karun’s form rippled with waves of darkness as it waited.

‘Why are you here?’ asked Threadfin. ‘You could’ve done this in Endor and let me go on alone. You’re not here to rescue anyone, are you?’

‘Not rescue. Kill.’

‘Who?

‘Old master.’ The shraed trembled, as though reliving some traumatic memory. It seemed it had served the Fetch, and now belonged to Manic and Mania. Poor bastard had no luck.

Threadfin held the blade up and stared into its surface. His own reflection was thankfully missing. The last thing he needed was the Fetch interfering.

At first, the reflection he saw was of the sky, two cold suns and one of those strange spheres. Threadfin tried using his talent but nothing happened. The blade had a magic all its own, Lorn’s. He remembered the soul shards, and wondered if this was similar. Could she have placed a portion of her soul within the blade? If so, she had managed to steal the secrets of angels.

Lost in thought while peering into the metal, he didn’t acknowledge Karun’s hiss. The bronze had begun to swirl as the power within reacted. To what, he didn’t know. The shraed hissed another warning, and Threadfin looked up. Grey soil and rock erupted all around them. Dozens of emerging figures became hundreds, eyeless, earless, and mouths sewn shut.

Revenants.

To its credit, Karun wasted no time. It ripped into them with claws and teeth. Power wafted from it, a corrosive black miasma engulfing its victims, leaving charred bones. Ferocious, the shraed felled dozens of them in seconds.

Another figure rose in front of Threadfin, spewing a fountain of dirt. Unfortunately, this one wore a familiar face.

‘Todder,’ said the Fetch, with a nod of its misshapen skull.

‘Well, isn’t this remarkable,’ said Threadfin, fists on hips, attempting to appear brave or something. ‘Here I was looking for a way to knock on your front door, and up you pop.’

‘My master has a place for you in his collection,’ it said. ‘Your power is of great potential and use to him. You belong to the Grim.’

The battle between the lone shraed and the revenants drew closer. Dismembered and blackened bodies hurtled through the air. The shraed appeared to be enjoying itself at least.

‘You mean Rasnal bloody Nalrost,’ said Threadfin, ducking a flying body. ‘At least be honest about who he is. The bastard has a lot to answer for.’

‘You have gained allies, but it will not avail you, mage.’ Another flying body, but this one disintegrated from the Fetch’s touch, who turned to scowl in Karun’s direction. It turned back to glare at the mage. ‘I am to collect your soul, and join it with these others.’ It gestured at itself. ‘A fell gathering of power made whole and invincible.’

Ah, he thought, so that’s why you haven’t ripped me to pieces. Yet.

The revenants increased their assault, but the blue-skinned creature fought like something rabid. Its talons were like scythes as they severed arms, legs and heads, teeth ripping at faces and necks, its deadly emanations consuming flesh.

The Fetch’s skin hung in strips, flapping in the breeze. Swirls of black smoke enveloped it. ‘Come with me, Todder. I will take you by force if you refuse.’ It glanced at the repaired blade in the mage’s hand.

Threadfin gave a start, as he realised his hand was empty, the weapon in the Fetch’s grip. Lorn had been right. Whatever he held, it could take. ‘You know,’ said Threadfin, ‘I’ve always hated you.’

It lunged at him. Threadfin felt something tugging at him, as it sought to steal his soul. The mage managed to position himself near the cliff edge as he fought to get away. They toppled over, grappling for control of the dagger. The Fetch screeched as they fell, and Threadfin stared up in abject horror into his own face. For a second, he found himself staring down at his face too, which was full of horror. The juxtaposition made him feel nauseous, but he spotted his chance.

The two of them had begun to meld, at least mentally, until he saw from both sets of eyes. He began to kick and flail, until they separated. Immediately, he imagined himself holding the dagger and it was in his hand. The Fetch shrieked its rage. There was little time as the ground rushed to greet him. He looked into the bronze, and forgot he was falling. It swirled as though made of sand, not metal. The blade shimmered, its shape warping. The reflection appeared to be of black walls, and he became lost within it. He hit a stone floor with a wallop, before giving a snort of surprise and admiration.

He was inside Balax.