Categories > Original > Fantasy > Tradewinds 10 - "Reflection"
XXI
As Shades turned from the elevator to the next door, he instead found himself looking deviously at his new assault weapon. A street-sweeper. A room-broom. Even Master Al didn’t have one like this anywhere in his collection.
There seemed to be no one else about on this island, so he decided to have a bit more fun with his new toy. Turning the knob and kicking the door open, he shouted, “Freeze! Police!”
Not only did he point the gun through the doorway but, on impulse, he fired off several rounds. It had been a couple years since the last time he went to the shooting range with Master Al, preferring to focus on unarmed combat rather than on weapons he was never entirely comfortable with, and he was still taken aback by how much kick an automatic weapon had. How it jolted him into squeezing off several more rounds before he could stop, jerking his arm upward with each shot. He just stood there for a moment, feeling more than a little sheepish at how quickly he had grown accustomed to just doing whatever he wanted during his Harken escapades.
His sheepishness quickly passed into shock and unease, though, as he looked around.
The room itself was a cavernous chamber, possibly even a natural cave, the walls all of rough stone, the ceiling reaching high enough to encompass the level above. In the center of the chamber was a raised circular dais bearing the mark of the pentagram with the dragon’s head in it. All around the room, geometrical patterns were etched, half-burned candles tipped outward at certain points. Yet what truly held his attention was that the walls and floor were marked with blood, long-dried blood.
Next to the dais lay a pair of charred human skeletons, their bones totally blackened.
“No way! That dude was [I]seriousI]…” Shades breathed, taking in this gruesome scene. This was enough for him. He turned to catch up with Justin, wondering, [/What has he found up there? Muttering, “No wonder Dominion can’t get rid of this place…”
Shutting the door behind him, he remembered that there was still one more door left. He struggled with himself for a long moment, but since ending up in this dimension, he found his already near-feline curiosity now bordered on insatiable. Concluding that whatever happened back there had happened too long ago to have any bearing on the present, he decided to finish what he started before he caught up with his friends. After what he had just seen, he couldn’t believe he was still doing this, and that feeling of pressing his luck returned, but his morbid curiosity turned him toward it anyway.
I really am going to find another Book of Fate if I’m not careful…
There was no light switch in the next room, but the reason was apparent enough, and just a tad disconcerting. This room contained shelves of lit candles, blazing warmly, illuminating an enormous silver statue of a four-horned dragon, the same as the one depicted on Justin’s coin, its jeweled eyes a burning, fiery red. By now Shades didn’t even have to look to know what the inscription on the base of the thing said.
He gasped, slamming the door shut, and backed away from it slowly.
What the hell was that all about? he demanded of himself, wondering what it was about that room he found so disturbing. Then he realized what it was. The candles in there. Were still burning. And if that was so, then there had to be someone around here to keep them all lit. It was the only way.
Deciding to stay cool, he headed back to the stairs. Wondering whether or not to keep his new weapon handy, finally just setting the safety and shoving it in his jacket pocket. So certain had he been that the place was deserted, largely convinced himself that there was nothing down here but the creepy experiences he brought in with him, he was dismayed, but not overwhelmingly surprised, that he hadn’t even given any thought to what to do if Justin’s little treasure hunt ran afoul of anyone here. Or, for that matter, just who still was lurking on this morbid estate, just what kind of person this was.
Realized that he need only wonder for a moment why no one showed themselves when they first arrived. On an Ocean like this, he would probably hide, too, if a boatload of armed folks just showed up on his own doorstep, and it made him wonder why Abu-Sharrah hadn’t said anything about it. The image popped into his head of the old man just ditching them here, but he quickly shunned it, unable to seriously picture their benefactor just up and abandoning them. Mostly, though, he worried about whether or not Justin had managed to get himself in trouble with the current occupant(s?) yet.
On the landing of the first basement level, both Shades and his train of thought came to a grinding halt between steps.
Hovering before him, in thin air, was another assault pistol, likely the same model as his, pointed right at him. Without thinking, he stepped slightly to the right, cursing himself even as he did so, the gun tracking him perfectly. Forcing himself not to make any sudden moves, he looked down to see an ominous red dot on his chest, covering his heart.
It took Shades a second to start breathing again, glad that at least it was too dark in here to peer down the barrel this time. Trying to cast his mind to some other line of thought than that heart-stopping moment back at the Mall, he instead found himself recalling something he also could have done without. Years ago, when he was still in grade school, he had gone out for a walk, and a wasp flew up from out of nowhere and lit on his face. Much like now, it had seemed to take forever as that little black-and-yellow bastard made a point of traversing every square millimeter of his lips, feeling the sharp little hooks of each of its legs sink in with every step. For him, time crawled almost to a halt, holding perfectly still until it finally flew away…
Forcing that image out of his head with an effort, he very slowly raised his hands behind his head, in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Or something like that, it was all he could think of to do. As he began to master himself, he found that at least now he was starting to get an idea of just what was going on around here.
“Don’t shoot me!” Shades blurted, thinking even faster than he spoke, and just hoping he didn’t get himself shot, “Justin’s the one who’s got your amulet!”
Even as he said this, he felt an impression of distraction— at least he hoped it was distraction— and made his move for better or worse. Before it could fire a single shot, he threw himself at the floor, rolling underneath it. Passing through cold (not just thin) air, as he somehow expected to.
With what precious little time he felt that bought him, refusing to give his mysterious foe any openings on his account, Shades bolted up the steps, taking them two or three at a time. Several shots tracked him up the stairs, and he could glance over his shoulder to see that red dot closing in on his shadow. After he turned at the next landing, the gun went silent, and he envisioned it changing its mind and chasing him up the stairs. Feared it could move faster than him— knew the bullets could, if nothing else— so he had no choice.
At the next turn, Shades wheeled around, whipping out one of his stun-sticks. Sure enough, the gun was in hot pursuit and gaining, but he caught it completely off-guard as he lashed out at it. With the cutting blade on he struck the weapon, cleaving it in half and sending the pieces spinning and clattering back down the stairs. Wasting no time, knowing full well that this thing must surely have other nasty surprises to spring around here, he slammed the door behind him at the top of the steps.
Now that he had a moment to hear himself think, Shades couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that, if this entity was already after him, almost certainly because of this Amulet, that it must surely have found Justin by now. The first thing to do, he decided, was to go back to the ship. Anyone else who had managed to escape this thing would likely already be there. That, and he needed to warn Abu-Sharrah, they owed the old man that much. After that, he would try to figure out how to help Max, if he wasn’t already there when he arrived.
If he played his cards right, he could at least save Max, and have a fast getaway.
As Shades turned from the elevator to the next door, he instead found himself looking deviously at his new assault weapon. A street-sweeper. A room-broom. Even Master Al didn’t have one like this anywhere in his collection.
There seemed to be no one else about on this island, so he decided to have a bit more fun with his new toy. Turning the knob and kicking the door open, he shouted, “Freeze! Police!”
Not only did he point the gun through the doorway but, on impulse, he fired off several rounds. It had been a couple years since the last time he went to the shooting range with Master Al, preferring to focus on unarmed combat rather than on weapons he was never entirely comfortable with, and he was still taken aback by how much kick an automatic weapon had. How it jolted him into squeezing off several more rounds before he could stop, jerking his arm upward with each shot. He just stood there for a moment, feeling more than a little sheepish at how quickly he had grown accustomed to just doing whatever he wanted during his Harken escapades.
His sheepishness quickly passed into shock and unease, though, as he looked around.
The room itself was a cavernous chamber, possibly even a natural cave, the walls all of rough stone, the ceiling reaching high enough to encompass the level above. In the center of the chamber was a raised circular dais bearing the mark of the pentagram with the dragon’s head in it. All around the room, geometrical patterns were etched, half-burned candles tipped outward at certain points. Yet what truly held his attention was that the walls and floor were marked with blood, long-dried blood.
Next to the dais lay a pair of charred human skeletons, their bones totally blackened.
“No way! That dude was [I]seriousI]…” Shades breathed, taking in this gruesome scene. This was enough for him. He turned to catch up with Justin, wondering, [/What has he found up there? Muttering, “No wonder Dominion can’t get rid of this place…”
Shutting the door behind him, he remembered that there was still one more door left. He struggled with himself for a long moment, but since ending up in this dimension, he found his already near-feline curiosity now bordered on insatiable. Concluding that whatever happened back there had happened too long ago to have any bearing on the present, he decided to finish what he started before he caught up with his friends. After what he had just seen, he couldn’t believe he was still doing this, and that feeling of pressing his luck returned, but his morbid curiosity turned him toward it anyway.
I really am going to find another Book of Fate if I’m not careful…
There was no light switch in the next room, but the reason was apparent enough, and just a tad disconcerting. This room contained shelves of lit candles, blazing warmly, illuminating an enormous silver statue of a four-horned dragon, the same as the one depicted on Justin’s coin, its jeweled eyes a burning, fiery red. By now Shades didn’t even have to look to know what the inscription on the base of the thing said.
He gasped, slamming the door shut, and backed away from it slowly.
What the hell was that all about? he demanded of himself, wondering what it was about that room he found so disturbing. Then he realized what it was. The candles in there. Were still burning. And if that was so, then there had to be someone around here to keep them all lit. It was the only way.
Deciding to stay cool, he headed back to the stairs. Wondering whether or not to keep his new weapon handy, finally just setting the safety and shoving it in his jacket pocket. So certain had he been that the place was deserted, largely convinced himself that there was nothing down here but the creepy experiences he brought in with him, he was dismayed, but not overwhelmingly surprised, that he hadn’t even given any thought to what to do if Justin’s little treasure hunt ran afoul of anyone here. Or, for that matter, just who still was lurking on this morbid estate, just what kind of person this was.
Realized that he need only wonder for a moment why no one showed themselves when they first arrived. On an Ocean like this, he would probably hide, too, if a boatload of armed folks just showed up on his own doorstep, and it made him wonder why Abu-Sharrah hadn’t said anything about it. The image popped into his head of the old man just ditching them here, but he quickly shunned it, unable to seriously picture their benefactor just up and abandoning them. Mostly, though, he worried about whether or not Justin had managed to get himself in trouble with the current occupant(s?) yet.
On the landing of the first basement level, both Shades and his train of thought came to a grinding halt between steps.
Hovering before him, in thin air, was another assault pistol, likely the same model as his, pointed right at him. Without thinking, he stepped slightly to the right, cursing himself even as he did so, the gun tracking him perfectly. Forcing himself not to make any sudden moves, he looked down to see an ominous red dot on his chest, covering his heart.
It took Shades a second to start breathing again, glad that at least it was too dark in here to peer down the barrel this time. Trying to cast his mind to some other line of thought than that heart-stopping moment back at the Mall, he instead found himself recalling something he also could have done without. Years ago, when he was still in grade school, he had gone out for a walk, and a wasp flew up from out of nowhere and lit on his face. Much like now, it had seemed to take forever as that little black-and-yellow bastard made a point of traversing every square millimeter of his lips, feeling the sharp little hooks of each of its legs sink in with every step. For him, time crawled almost to a halt, holding perfectly still until it finally flew away…
Forcing that image out of his head with an effort, he very slowly raised his hands behind his head, in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Or something like that, it was all he could think of to do. As he began to master himself, he found that at least now he was starting to get an idea of just what was going on around here.
“Don’t shoot me!” Shades blurted, thinking even faster than he spoke, and just hoping he didn’t get himself shot, “Justin’s the one who’s got your amulet!”
Even as he said this, he felt an impression of distraction— at least he hoped it was distraction— and made his move for better or worse. Before it could fire a single shot, he threw himself at the floor, rolling underneath it. Passing through cold (not just thin) air, as he somehow expected to.
With what precious little time he felt that bought him, refusing to give his mysterious foe any openings on his account, Shades bolted up the steps, taking them two or three at a time. Several shots tracked him up the stairs, and he could glance over his shoulder to see that red dot closing in on his shadow. After he turned at the next landing, the gun went silent, and he envisioned it changing its mind and chasing him up the stairs. Feared it could move faster than him— knew the bullets could, if nothing else— so he had no choice.
At the next turn, Shades wheeled around, whipping out one of his stun-sticks. Sure enough, the gun was in hot pursuit and gaining, but he caught it completely off-guard as he lashed out at it. With the cutting blade on he struck the weapon, cleaving it in half and sending the pieces spinning and clattering back down the stairs. Wasting no time, knowing full well that this thing must surely have other nasty surprises to spring around here, he slammed the door behind him at the top of the steps.
Now that he had a moment to hear himself think, Shades couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that, if this entity was already after him, almost certainly because of this Amulet, that it must surely have found Justin by now. The first thing to do, he decided, was to go back to the ship. Anyone else who had managed to escape this thing would likely already be there. That, and he needed to warn Abu-Sharrah, they owed the old man that much. After that, he would try to figure out how to help Max, if he wasn’t already there when he arrived.
If he played his cards right, he could at least save Max, and have a fast getaway.
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