Keeper of the Realms: The Dark Army (Book 2) (5 page)

Charlie gaped in astonishment as the Stoman bishop swept up the side of the wall, hands and feet actually sinking into the stone, giving him an unbreakable grip. Clinging first to the side of the courtyard, then the underside of the hanging eaves, he swung on to the roof then sneaked forward from gargoyle to gargoyle.

Charlie couldn’t help but think that he moved like a creeping spider. She shivered in disgust and also a little in delight; it was like watching an evil superhero in action. The excitement of the moment briefly washed away her weariness and for a while she felt like her old self.

‘Charlie,’ hissed Nibbler.

‘What?’ she whispered, eyes firmly fixed on the events unfolding in the courtyard.

‘I know we need to work with this guy, but he’s powerful, I mean really powerful,’ continued Nibbler. ‘Do you really think we can trust him? What happens if he decides to turn on us?’

Charlie was quiet for a minute as she considered Nibbler’s concern. As promised, she had explained the deal she’d struck with Darkmount as they’d approached the courtyard. The Winged One had not been pleased with the arrangement, and after witnessing the bishop’s display of stonesinging power Charlie wasn’t too sure how she felt about the matter herself.

After a moment’s consideration Charlie had to admit that Nibbler was right; Edge Darkmount was brutally powerful, stronger than anyone she’d encountered since arriving in Bellania. As Charlie continued to weigh up her options, she reached for the pendant hidden round her neck. All she knew was that her parents had been kidnapped by Bane for the secrets it held and now they were trapped in his macabre Tapestry, which kept them in a terrible state of suspended animation. The Tapestry itself was beyond reach, heavily guarded by Shades and Stomen deep within the darkness of Bane’s Throne Room. Life had played a cruel trick in leaving
Charlie’s parents’ fate in her hands. Surely parents were supposed to rescue their children, not the other way round? Charlie’s knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on the pendant.

‘I don’t think we’ve got a choice,’ she said with resolve. ‘We need to know what the pendant does – without it we can’t move forward. As for trusting him, I don’t.’ Charlie could still remember the beating that Lady Narcissa and her twisted sons, the Delightful Brothers, had given her in pursuit of the bounty Bane had placed on her head. It would be a long, long time before she was stupid enough to trust a stranger again.

‘And what if he turns on us?’ insisted Nibbler.

‘I don’t think he will.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because he needs me to get his “god” for him. If he turns on us before then he’ll lose out. Until I actually hand this vessel thingy over to him we should be safe.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘No!’ chuckled Charlie with a wry laugh. ‘I’m not. Nothing ever seems to go the way I hope, at least not in Bellania. But it makes sense. Edge Darkmount knows he’s on to a good thing with me; it’d be crazy for him to do anything stupid before he gets his half of the deal. Besides, I think we’re stressing too much. As soon as Sic Boy, Kelko and Jensen are back, he’ll be outnumbered and outmatched. Right?’

‘Right … I guess, but don’t let your guard down. I don’t like the feel of him. He’s hard and he’s cold, and even I know that’s a bad combination.’

‘Yeah, tell me about it. But you watch my back and I’ll watch yours.’

‘Always.’

Nibbler raised his paw, Charlie raised her hand and the two of them exchanged a high five. Sharing a grin they turned to watch their formidable, but uncertain, ally in action.

Darkmount had nearly reached the pair patrolling the courtyard. Slinking head first down the wall he paused just within arm’s reach and waited.

Silent. Still.

Then he blurred into action. Grabbing one guard by the head, he slammed his unsuspecting victim against the wall. Snapping his hand back, he gripped the second guard before he had a chance to react and knocked him unconscious in a similar manner. Checking to see that the soldiers guarding the gate hadn’t noticed his ambush, he stuffed his catch beneath an arm, retreated back up the wall, on to the roof and out of sight.

Charlie’s mouth dropped open. She shut it, then opened it again. First the fight in the dungeon and now this.

‘Have you ever …’ she began, blinked, then shook her head in disbelief. ‘Wow. That was amazing. Just amazing.’

‘That’s one bad man,’ agreed Nibbler.

‘No kidding, it’s like he’s part ninja or something.’

‘What’s a ninja?’

‘You know those guys that dress in black, do
Hong Kong Phooey
and get all sneaky at night?’

‘Huh?’

‘Ninja!’ Charlie slipped into a bad impression of a martial artist, ‘You know, kung fu! Hi-yaaa!’

‘What are you going on about?’

‘Aw, I don’t know why I bother,’ grumped Charlie. ‘Ninjas, they’re deadly assassins that creep around, a bit like Darkmount was doing just now, they –’

The unconscious body of one of the soldiers slammed down between them, making them both jump in shock.

‘What is it with you two?’ hissed Darkmount as he crept down the wall with the other guard still firmly in his grip. He glared ruthlessly at them. ‘Every time something needs to be done you two brats open your squabbling, petty mouths.’

‘Squabble? We weren’t squabbling we were talking about –’

‘Enough! I am not interested. Now be quiet while I interrogate this faithless fool.’

Darkmount removed the guard from beneath his arm and shook him like a tambourine.

‘Er … are you sure that’s the best way to wake someone up?’ asked Nibbler, looking on with wide eyes.

‘Knocked out many Stomen lately?’

‘Er … no, I tend to flame them.’

‘So you haven’t knocked any out and had to revive them?’

‘Um … no.’

‘And would you consider yourself intimate with the physiology of the Stoman body?’

‘I’ll, er … just shut up and leave you to it, shall I?’

‘Answer the question!’

‘Ah … no.’

‘Well, why don’t you close your prattling mouth and leave
this to me?’ snapped the bishop. Bending over, he glowered at Nibbler. ‘Or would you like to spend the rest of the day standing around cracking foolish, immature jokes?’

‘Stop picking on him,’ said Charlie, stepping forward. ‘He’s sorry, I’m sorry and I’m pretty sure that guard is going to feel sorry when he comes to. Let’s just please get on with it. I need to know what’s happened to Jensen and Kelko.’

‘Hey, he’s waking up!’ Nibbler pointed enthusiastically at their prisoner.

‘Gaaahh,’ groaned the guard, his head lolling around and his eyes unfocused. ‘What happened to me?’

‘I happened, you unrepentant worm,’ rumbled Darkmount, the baritone of his voice rolling off the wall like an avalanche.

The soldier, realizing his predicament, reared back his head and opened his mouth. Darkmount slapped him before he could cry for help.

‘Enough of that nonsense! Tell me what happened to the two Tremen being guarded here or I’ll stuff your head into that wall and leave you hanging there like a festive ornament.’

The guard’s eyes flashed to the wall then back to the bishop’s serious face. It didn’t take him long to crack.

‘They’ve been taken to the Soul Mines of Zhartoum,’ he babbled, then flinched as Darkmount raised a threatening fist.

‘When did this happen?’

‘This morning,’ gabbled the soldier. ‘They got processed pretty quickly and –’

‘And what of the dog that accompanied them?’

‘It went with the Tremen!’

‘You mean they’ve gone?’ asked Charlie, putting her hand on the soldier’s wrist.

‘Y-yes!’

‘So they’re not in the city?’

‘No.’

‘Well, where is this mine?’

‘It’s to the north-west of –’

‘Be silent,’ snapped Darkmount. He gave the guard an idle shake to emphasize his demand, then turned to Charlie. ‘If your friends have gone then that is that. It no longer affects us.’

‘What do you mean it no longer affects us?’ protested Charlie.

‘It means that they are beyond our immediate reach.’

‘Well, we’ll just have to go after them then!’

‘There is no “we” in this matter, little girl!’ spat Darkmount. ‘I agreed to help you in this matter provided that they were still in the city.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘Pah! Your ignorance is despicable! We have a deal. I have done my half now it is up to you to honour your side of the bargain.’

‘What! But my friends need help, we need to go after them, we need –’

In a fit of anger Darkmount smashed the guard against the wall. ‘Listen, child, a deal is a deal! You. Will. Uphold. Your. Side. Of. The. Bargain!’

Charlie and Nibbler backed off at the sight of the enraged
bishop. Black waves of anger shimmered above his head, shoulders and clenched fists.

‘A deal is a deal!’ he repeated. ‘If you want to find out what your pendant is capable of you will hold true to your side of the bargain or I will walk, right here, right now and you will never – so I swear by Rock and Crystal –
never
learn its secrets!’

Charlie staggered backwards as she stared at the incensed Stoman. Thoughts and emotions cascaded through her heart and mind. Jensen, Kelko, Sic Boy, her parents, Bane, Bellania, her grandma, Lady Dridif and all the other tangled threads in her life. What could she do? She stared at Darkmount and knew, just knew, that this was a make-or-break moment. If she wanted the pendant’s secret, she’d have to go with him, but at what cost?

‘Nibbler.’

‘I’m here, Charlie.’ He was hunched into a taut, streamlined pose, as if he were ready to spring on Darkmount at any moment.

‘If I go with him will you sort out the others?’

‘No.’

‘What?’

‘I said no.’

‘Nibbler, this isn’t the time to be joking! I need you to do this.’

‘I’m sorry, Charlie,’ he said with genuine concern in his eyes, ‘but I’m not going to leave you to do this by yourself. No way, no how. Kelko and Jensen can look out for themselves, they’re adults, they’ve got Sic Boy with them and they’re experienced. They know what they’re about and they
know how to survive. You’re a Keeper, you’re new to Bellania, you’re my responsibility and above all you’re my friend. I’m not leaving you.’

‘But –’

‘No buts on this one, Charlie. We’ll do this together, we’ll do this right and then we can get the others later.’

Charlie stared at him: all proud, loyal and every inch a dragon. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to kiss him. She settled for a little sigh instead.

‘All right, Darkmount, we’re with you. Let’s go get this god of yours.’

5

An Unwelcome Surprise

The Shade was almost shaking with fury. First the Keeper had managed to escape and now the Winged One.

‘What happened?’ it hissed as it surveyed the wrecked dungeon.

The guard swallowed as he warily eyed the angry shadow. He looked for some support from his friends, but after Edge Darkmount’s brutal attack he was the only one still capable of standing. ‘She had a Stonesinger with her – a bishop, I think, but strong, stronger than any other I’ve seen.’

‘Sssss … a renegade?’

‘Yes, he … well, you can see for yourself. He cut through us like a flame through a haystack.’

The Shade eyed the carnage, listened to the moans and groans, watched as a soldier tried to lever himself off the floor using his axe as a crutch.

‘Uselesssss!’ it snarled. Coiling and spiking its black flesh in frustration it quickly took stock of its options. They were limited.

It reared up on its back limbs and stretched open its mouth. A scream of hunger, need, desire, hatred and, above all, fury, spat from its jaws. The sound snapped around the
dark recesses of the room, shivered through the bricks, sank into the rock, slithered into the earth and reached into the dark places where the Shade’s brethren waited.

His call was answered.

The crying and echoing call of his siblings grew nearer, filling the dungeon with dread and horror. The bruised and battered soldiers huddled closer to their companions, clenching their weapons with white-knuckled fists, and stared uncertainly towards the dark corners of the room, which began to move, tremble and shake. Heaving and writhing, Shade after Shade leaked out from the cracks and gullies and other secret entrances hidden in the ancient stonework to join their brother. They slunk into the light, covering the floor as they gripped and groped at each other like a mound of blackened and rotten fruit.

As the noise grew to almost unbearable levels, the soldiers flinched from the snarling pack of Shades. Then, with a final hiss, the mound of constricted black flesh broke apart and, like a rushing river of black silk, the Shades sped off in pursuit of Charlie and her powerful new guardian.