Promise: Caulborn #2 (12 page)

He paused. “I think so.” He didn’t sound too sure about it.

“C’mon, Herb. I saw you blow away those pirate ghosts and that wight. Are these that much different?”

“Oh, heck yes,” Herb replied. “Corporeal undead are always harder to banish than incorporeal, because you have to penetrate their physical shell to get to the animating spirit beneath. Think about it like armor; if you’re going to go through the trouble of building a suit of armor, you’re going to make sure it offers you a measure of protection against attacks. A wight’s armor is tough, but now tack on the amount of magic the draugr possess, and the varying nature of that magic, and you’ve got yourself a formidable guardian. I can probably banish them, but I’ll need to see them to know what kind of bindings to craft. And to do that, I’ll need some time to study them without them trying to eat me or drive me insane.”

“So if I were to make myself a target and fend them off for a bit while you watched from a safe location nearby, would that provide you with what you need?”

A pause. “Yes, that should work.”

“Great, when can you come by?”

“Not until later tonight. I promised one of my clients I’d be over this afternoon.”

“More ghost busting?”

“No, bookkeeping.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m an accountant, Vincent. I do taxes and give financial advice to retirees who can’t afford it.”

“Seriously?”

“Sure. There are a lot of people out there who take advantage of senior citizens; stealing their pensions or Social Security by convincing them to invest in some cockamamie scheme. I don’t charge for my advice, so they trust me because I don’t stand anything to gain.”

“So how do you make a living?”

“Well, the kids and grandkids of those seniors need financial help, too. A lot of them have come to me as paying clients. I could charge a lot more, but that’s not what I’m after. I just want to help people.”

“That’s very noble, Herb.” I wasn’t sure what else to say to that. We set up a time and place to confront the draugr and hung up after another minute or two of conversation.

Megan smiled at me. “Isn’t he great?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think he’s growing on me.”

“Good,” she said, her smile widening. “Because I think he and I are going to spend a lot of time together.”

I thought back to what Mrs. Rita had said and bit back a snarky remark. Instead, I said, “Don’t rush into anything, Meg.”

Her dimple appeared. “You’re so sweet. Trust me, Vincent, I’m a big girl. Herb is a big teddy bear. Did you know he spends his weekends working at the Haley House soup kitchen? He’s genuinely a gentleman. I was trained to read people and their intentions. Herb is the real deal.”

“Okay, well, you, me, and our gentleman necromancer have a date with some undead Vikings later tonight,” I said. “Meantime, I need to pop over to the Bright Side for a bit.”

“I’ll hold down the fort until you get back,” Megan said with a smile.

I caught the train back to the Children’s Museum. On the way, I placed a call to Frank Grady. “Frank, some stuff’s going to go down this afternoon at Monument Park; it’s related to the events at the Museum of Science. Some of my associates and I are going to deal with our large blue friends, and I’ll need you to cordon off the area so no one gets hurt.”

“You got it, Mr. Corinthos.” I hung up, jogged down the alley behind the Children’s Museum, and stepped through Aviorla to the Bright Side. The sky, normally lit by twin suns, was a dim purple. The suns had moved closer to one another and now resembled a giant glowing peanut in the sky. To the right of them, another celestial body, one of this world’s moons, was inching its way across the face of the rightmost star. The few Urisk I saw were thickly covered in viscous amber and were slowly making their way to their homes, presumably to wait out the eclipse.

I found Lotholio inside the cathedral, his body oozing more of the amber stuff, which was making it difficult for him to light the candles he was placing at the altar. He bowed as best he could to me and gestured to the empty rows of pews. “The people stay in their homes now, Lord,” he said. “The encasement is upon us, but the Urisk do not fear, for they believe in you.”

I nodded. “I can feel it.” The Urisk’s prayers were as loud and clear as ever. “What will happen while you are encased, Lotholio?”

He shrugged his narrow shoulders, the amber rolling with the gesture. “We sleep a dreamless sleep. Disconnected from the world.” He shuddered. “If not for you and Aegeon, we would be completely defenseless. The shell will protect us from the eclipse, but not from anything else.”

“Don’t worry, Loth,” I said. “I’ve got you covered.” I felt his faith in me radiating off of him like heat from a furnace.

“I light these candles for those who have fallen,” he said as he turned back to the altar. “That they may know we have not forgotten. And that we will have peace in the coming days.”

I put my hand on his shoulder, the liquid amber
schlorping
around my hand. Surprisingly, the stuff didn’t stick to me. Maybe it was because my skin was different from an Urisk’s. “The fallen rest in peace in Robac,” I said. “And they know of your devotion. I will do everything I can to ensure peace for the Urisk in the Bright Side, Lotholio.”

The doors to the cathedral flung open, and a lone Urisk ran inside. “Lotholio!” he cried. His eyes went wide at seeing me. “Oh, Lord Corinthos, blessed is your name, my family needs help, please!”

“Daimin,” Lotholio said. “What is wrong?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” Daimin said, grabbing me by the elbow. He looked down, realized he was touching me, and then flung himself to his knees. “Forgive me, Lord Corinthos. There is something wrong with my family’s chrysalises and I beg for your aid.”

“Lead on,” I said, gesturing to the door.

Lotholio and I followed Daimin to an Urisk hut. The dome shaped building was made of tan clay and stood perhaps fifteen feet tall at its highest point. Large windows spaced about three feet apart ran around the building, but were tinted to offer the occupants a measure of privacy. We stepped through the doorway and into the Urisk equivalent of a living room. Thick pillows and something like beanbag chairs were arranged around the room, each one next to a small table stacked with books. Three chrysalises stood in the center of the room. From what I could see, they held an adult and two children.

Lotholio stepped up to one of the chrysalises, squinting at it. “What are those, Lord?” He asked. I moved up to the first chrysalis and peered at it. Bands of darkness writhed within the chrysalis, wriggling around the heads of the Urisk. I stretched out a hand and touched the chrysalis. Instead of being a hard shell, the amber squished like a rotten mango. I resisted the urge to pull my hand away and closed my eyes. I focused my attention on the bands of darkness and saw a series of writhing maggots; they had burrowed their way through the chrysalis and chewed their way into the back of the encased Urisk’s head.

I snapped my hand away in revulsion, and turned to put my hands on the other two tainted chrysalises. Same thing. I cursed. I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth. Think fast, Corinthos.

“Lord, please, help them,” Daimin pleaded.

Lotholio shushed him. “Let Lord Corinthos work,” he said gently.

Okay, first thing to do is get the Urisk out of the amber. I formed a bubble in the amber around the maggots in each of the chrysalises, hardened them and pulled them out. They popped with a wet schlorp, and I telekinetically hovered them to a spot on the floor. Now for the Urisk themselves. I waved my hand and dissolved the amber, telekinetically lowering the Urisk to the floor. Daimin jumped forward to kneel with them, but Lotholio held him back.

I knelt at the head of the first Urisk, Daimin’s wife, presumably, and put my hand on her forehead. I had positioned her body so that Daimin couldn’t see the injury at the back of her head, and focused my attention on that. Sending in a pulse of energy to kill the maggots was easy enough, but I had to be delicate so I didn’t accidentally hurt her. I was preparing to begin when Daimin piped up.

“Lord,” he said, his eyes suddenly shining with happiness. “Lord, whatever you’re doing, it’s working!” He pointed at the Urisk children, whom I hadn’t done anything to.

The children moved spasmodically, their limbs twitching against the floor. Their eyes flew open and flared red. They shrieked, their mouths now filled with row upon row of razor-sharp teeth. Knowing that wasn’t standard Urisk dental work, I braced myself for a fight as they flopped over and pulled themselves up on all fours.

Daimin cried out and tried to run to his children as they convulsed, the bones in their arms and legs breaking and reforming. They looked sort of like hairless dogs now, snarling as their jaws separated and a third row of teeth came in. They lunged at me with more force than should have been possible. They must’ve still possessed some measure of telekinesis and used that to augment their leaps.

In Boston, this sort of thing might’ve scared me. Here on the Bright Side, I’m literally a god. It’s kind of hard to get the drop on someone who can alter the laws of physics on a whim. I made the air in front of me solidify into a sheet of diamond, and they struck it with yelps that were more animal than humanoid. I wove the diamond over them, encasing them in an indestructible dome.

“Lord!” Lotholio squeaked.

I spun and put a shield up around him and Daimin. The third Urisk, the mother, had not turned into a demonic wolf. Her limbs and jaws had extended, but she was even ganglier and taller than she’d been before. Her tongue, covered in purple and blue pustules, snaked from her mouth and twitched about as if it had a life of its own. Tentacles burst from her arms, and snaked toward my neck. I dodged to the side, my switchblade dropping into my hand, and slashed through the tentacles. The mutant screamed and whirled away from me, a blast of fire shooting out from her mouth.

I waved the flames away and willed the ground beneath her feet to turn to quicksand. She flailed against it, but that only made her sink faster. Once she was up to her neck. I solidified the ground around her, then put a dome of diamond over her head.

What the hell had happened here? Daimin was wailing, throwing himself against my shield as he tried to run to his family. I couldn’t think straight with all the noise he was making, and I couldn’t risk him hurting himself, so I pointed at him and willed him to fall asleep. Lotholio caught him and gently lowered him to the ground, and I removed the shield.

I rubbed my temples as Lotholio stepped up beside me. “Will they be well, Lord?” he asked.

“They will be,” I said. “I need a moment, Loth.”

He bowed and stepped back as I let out a breath. Now that no one was trying to kill me, I could focus on the problem. I dulled the injured Urisks’ pain receptors and put them to sleep. Healing energy flowed from me into them: bones popped and snapped back into their original configurations; extra teeth faded away; and after a few minutes, I’d restored them to perfect health. A few extra probes told me that no maggots remained in their systems.

“Loth, come here, please.” He stepped up to me, and I touched the viscous amber that was on his skin, learning how it was made. Another wave of my hand and Daimin’s family was re-encased in chrysalises as if nothing had happened.

I got to my feet and woke Daimin. He looked around, obviously disoriented. Then he saw his family and scrambled over to them.

“They are fine, Daimin,” I said. “Restored to health and the safety of their shells.”

Daimin flung himself at my feet and pressed his head against the ground. “Thank you, Lord Corinthos, thank you!” The level of faith radiating off him rivaled Lotholio. I bade him rise and smiled.

“Be blessed, Daimin,” I said. “And know that I keep the Urisk safe.” As Daimin bowed and praised my name, I gathered up the maggot-filled amber balls I’d pulled from the chrysalises earlier. I conjured a sort of viewer into the first ball, magnifying the image of the maggots thousands of times until they could be seen clearly.

“What are these, Lord?” Lotholio asked. “I have never seen anything like them.”

“I have,” I replied. “They’re paranormal silk worms.” Apparently they’d eat more than just the dead. How the hell had these things gotten onto the Bright Side? Maybe they’d hitched a ride on my clothes? I slammed my fist against my thigh and Lotholio jumped. “This cannot be allowed to happen again,” I said through clenched teeth. My mind raced. I toyed with the idea of somehow altering the ooze the Urisk made to create the chrysalis, but I wasn’t sure what that would do to them. Instead, I knelt down and pressed my hands against the floor of the hut.

Aegeon,
I sent.

I stand ready, Lord.

Good. You’re going to have a few new friends soon.
I sent my mind into the ground and churned the atomic bits of metal and earth into what I wanted. A few moments later, a colony of crystalline spiders rushed from a small mound in the floor. About thirty of them crawled up to the ceiling and stopped as they all turned to regard me.

“Lord,” Lotholio said. “What are those?”

“These are Watchers,” I said. “They will watch over each chrysalis once it’s formed and if a worm tries to penetrate it, they’ll pop on and eat them. They’re mentally linked with Aegeon, so if one of them detects a worm infestation, it will tell Aegeon, who will in turn tell you.” I relayed this on to Aegeon, who acknowledged his understanding.

Lotholio swiped at a patch of ooze that was running from his side. The amber was thicker, more like molasses, and its surface crackled as Lotholio brushed at it. “My shell comes, Lord,” he whispered. We said goodbye to Daimin and walked to the cathedral, Lotholio leaving soggy amber footprints. His limbs seemed stiff, but he politely refused my help as we went to his chambers on the second floor. The ooze was glistening on his skin and in his feathers. “I will see you soon, Lord,” he said. The amber sheen began to harden and envelop him in its protective cocoon. I set some Watchers over him and rubbed my temples. I wanted to stay and watch over all the Urisk personally, but I had business to attend to back in Boston. Reluctantly, I left the Bright Side.