Dark Soul Silenced - Part One (17 page)

“
Perhaps they are mistaken.  I find it fascinating that you can now sense the power I use.  I can assure you that it is totally different to the power that comes from darkness.  I know because…”

As Daniel related his tale Josef listened, fascinated despite himself.  Hearing Daniel’s firsthand experience of the dark power, the hunger, how close he had come to feeding left Josef cold inside.  Then Daniel related his experience on the beach when the rising sun had burnt the darkness from his body, and described the powers he was just starting to learn to control.  When he finished he fell silent, giving Josef time to absorb the story.

“Ser Daniel… I must confess that I am conflicted, that I have doubts.  I feel I should trust you, that the world may be far more complex than the Order teaches.  If that is true I hope it means the world is more complex than the Order knows, for the alternative is they do know but keep that knowledge secret.  Having found how deranged Ser Gerome was I am not so certain the Order is infallible.  Yet is that just a sign that I have been compromised?”

“
Ser Gerome?”

Now it was Josef’s turn to tell a tale.  He briefly explained Gerome’s background, then spoke of the innkeeper’s granddaughter and Gerome’s admissions, of Gerome’s death and then his attack on the camp.

“I am afraid I cannot help you there,” Daniel said when the tale was done.  “The creature that attacked last night is like nothing I have faced, though it was riddled with dark power.  Then I have never faced vampire’s before last night either — except their leader on the night he tried to turn me into one.”

“
Vampires?  Is that your word for those creatures?  We call them Nightwalkers.”

“
Vampires is… the word for them.  It is not mine, yet I know it.  I think that I gained more than just power from my transformation, there seems to be some knowledge too… but I can only access the smallest part of it.”

“
Was it one of the Nightwalkers that took the child?”

“
Mary.  Her name is Mary.”  Daniel’s voice held a touch of reproach.

“
Sorry.  Mary.  Was she taken by one of the Nightwalkers?”

“
She was.  Rafael, the one who tried to turn me, took her.  I was pinned down by many of them, unable to help her.  Sarah and Jon were frozen by Rafael’s power, unable to move.  Somehow he was able to leap far into the air with her.  I do not know if his powers allow flight or simply a huge leap.  He has her now, though with the sun up he must have gone to ground.”

“
Unless he passed her to someone else, or something else.  Someone that could travel during the day.”

“
No.  Mary is with him.  I do not know why, though I have many fears, but she was of great importance to him.  He hates me, loathes and fears what I have become, yet he passed up the chance to finish me in order to grab Mary.  She will be wherever he is.”

“
Then we need to find her as soon as we can.  The Amulet can show us the direction.  We should be able to reach them before dark.”

“
Maybe, but he will have been moving far faster than you can imagine.  Possibly as fast as a running horse on the flat despite the darkness and the forest.  Even so, the sooner we leave the closer we will get.”

“
Then let us break camp.  If my men will still obey me, and don’t throw me in irons.”

“
Is that likely?  I hope they are not foolish enough to try the same with me.  I wish them no harm, but I will not tolerate them slowing my search for Mary.  She is my responsibility and I have failed to protect her once.  I will reach her before she comes to harm, no matter the cost.”

Josef studied Daniel, sensing the determination and the anguish underlying it.  His own emotions and thoughts spiralled around.  His training cried out that Daniel was an abomination, that he was corrupted by the use of power.  Yet every instinct told Josef to trust Daniel — told him Daniel's power was different.  He had no idea which was right.  Frustrated he turned away and walked towards his men.  Samuel nodded slightly as he approached.  Several of the men fidgeted, looking uncomfortable.  Josef decided to grasp the nettle.

“Samuel has spoken to you, told you what happened to me.  I hope he stressed both that I feel as I always did, and that I do not know if I can trust that feeling.  We have to proceed as we would normally, we need to find the girl.  All the more so now — we already knew she had great power, now a creature that is undoubtedly mired in darkness has taken her for what cannot be good reasons.  Yet I have to ask you to travel with others that have shown themselves to wield powers we also consider dark.  I cannot let them ride off alone.  I cannot risk them reaching the girl first. 

And I have to admit I have doubts.  Having seen true darkness, having had it nearly swamp my soul, I sense a difference to the powers our new companions wield.  Their power seems… different.  It doesn’t carry the feeling of corruption, of darkness.  But maybe that’s just a sign that I am already falling under their influence. 

Whatever your choice, I intend to keep following the girl.  Mary.  And, if at all possible, I want to return her to Hammersgate.  To the Order.  As I see it, all reasonable choices lead the same way right now — to finding the girl.”

“
You worry about our new companions striking out on their own and catching the girl, but going with them is not the only option,” Samuel said quietly.  “Two have shown they possess unnatural powers, and the other is mother to the girl we seek.  In the eyes of the Order all three are already damned.  If necessary all three could be given the final release.”

At first Josef was surprised at Samuel for asking the question, then he realised by the way they nodded that several of his men clearly felt that way.  Samuel was airing the idea so it could be dealt with.  Josef shook his head.

“No — for several reasons.  First, I am not comfortable with taking that type of action unless it is absolutely necessary.  That is the road Ser Gerome travelled and we all saw what that led to.

The second reason also involves Ser Gerome.  We gave him the final release, yet it was anything but final.  He returned to face us consumed by a dark power.  These three already have significant power, and we have seen that our blessed items have no effect on Ser Daniel.  He was able to remove the pendant, to access his power while still wearing it.  I would rather have them by our side where we can watch them than be continuously worrying that they might have risen from the dead and be closing on us from behind, or waiting to ambush us.”

This got nods from most of the men, even some of those who had been behind Samuel’s suggestion.  Josef pressed on.

“
The third reason is that, much as I hate to say it, we may need them as allies.  If Ser Daniel hadn’t come to my aid last night I would be dead now.  Or far worse — twisted into something evil, as Ser Gerome was.  If we encounter more such creatures where our weapons are useless then Ser Daniel may be our only hope of surviving, our only hope of seeing our mission through.

Lastly, just how would we deal with them anyway?  Ser Daniel has shown himself to possess significant power, power that our weapons and wards cannot touch.  Even with superior numbers I doubt we could subdue Ser Daniel, or even stand against him.”

“He wasn’t so tough last night, when we had to cut the Nightwalkers off him!” one of the men said.

“
No.  I believe they caught him out, and there were many that attacked him.  From what he has told me these powers are new to him and I believe he is becoming more adept at using them all the time.  However in this I will defer to your judgement.  If any of you wish to face him, to attempt to bring him down, then do so now.”

Josef studied the men carefully.  Two, three of them shifted uncomfortably.  Clearly they were ready to face Daniel down, as long as someone else took the lead.  No such leader appeared.  Josef noted the three involved, knowing they could become a liability.  Once he was certain no one was going to take up his challenge he gave orders to break camp, then started to pack his own things.

Chapter Nineteen

Once everyone was packed Josef realised they had a problem.  Ser Daniel and the girl’s parents only had one horse between them.  With the loss of Rolf there were two spare horses, but one of those still had an injured leg.  He doubted it could carry a rider for any distance.  He explained the problem to Daniel, who smiled back.

“
That will not be a problem,” Daniel said.  “Sarah and Jon can ride with you.  I can keep up with the horses.  In fact I could probably move faster in a day than they can.”

Josef was sceptical but Daniel seemed convinced so he settled for a shrug of his shoulders.

Once everyone except Daniel was mounted, Josef took hold of the Seeker Amulet.  He felt slightly nervous, wondering both whether it could still track Mary and whether it would respond to his wishes.  If it didn’t would that prove that he was tainted?

Taking a deep breath he steadied himself.  Raising the Amulet he focused hard… and nearly dropped it.  The gem at its heart flared into its usual bright blue colour, but this time Josef could sense far more.  As he focused on the Amulet it was drawing power from him, a steady flow of power with a strong blue tint to it.  Now he understood why using the Amulet could be so draining, it literally was — power was drained from the user.

Forcing his attention back to the search Josef moved the Amulet in wide sweeps, then in smaller sweeps once he had discerned the rough direction to Mary.  His heart sank.  He’d hoped the path would lay along the coastal path, either to the north or south.  Instead it pointed roughly north-north-west — into the immense forest.

Letting his arm fall he relaxed, noting that the energy flow from his own body slowed to a stop.  Now he was looking closely he could tell that a trickle of energy was still being drawn into the Amulet, a slow but constant thread of whitish power being drawn from the sunlight falling upon it.  Josef gestured Samuel closer.

“Samuel, I want you to use the Amulet.  To confirm that it isn’t being influenced by something dark within me.”

“
Ser Josef, is that necessary?”  Samuel looked concerned, nervous. 

Josef wasn’t surprised, the guards would never normally be given such a powerful tool of the Order.

“Yes.  It must be done.  While there is a chance of my being corrupted we must take nothing for granted.  Please… just take it and concentrate on the gem at the centre.”

Samuel took the Amulet reluctantly, then stretched his arm out as far as it would go before concentrating on the gem.  He let out a gasp as the Amulet burst into life.  Josef studied Samuel and the Amulet carefully.  He saw the same flow of energy from Samuel into the Amulet.  Somehow he was sure that what he saw was real, not the result of his being touched by Darkness.  The tiredness he’d observed when Gerome used the Amulet and he’d felt himself backed up his uncanny ability to watch the energy flows.

Having confirmed the Amulet gave the same result as it had in Josef’s hands Samuel quickly stopped using it and handed it back to Josef, acting as if it was a dangerous beast.  In fact acting as if it contained a power he didn’t wish to be around. 

The image stayed with Daniel as they started picking their way through the forest.  Was Samuel’s reaction to the Amulet, blessed by the Almighty, that different from his reaction to Ser Daniel’s powers?  Samuel accepted using the Amulet because it was blessed, yet he still seemed to fear it.  How would he feel about an item that was still useful but wasn’t touched by divine influence?  Would his fear lead him to describe it as cursed, as evil?  Could the same have happened to anyone displaying power, regardless of the source?  And if that spread through the Order then could innocent people have been declared as evil, not because they were sunk in darkness but because they were feared?

He wrestled with his worries as they picked their way forwards, sometimes riding, other times leading the horses.  They relied on compass readings to stay on the right track, Josef couldn’t risk the Amulet running out of power before they found the girl.

That led him into even more worrying thoughts.  If the Amulet was truly blessed, if it truly worked by the power of the Almighty, then why had he seen it drawing power from the sunlight and the one who used it?  Was that how the Almighty expressed his power?  Or did it mean the item wasn’t truly holy.  Was it instead simply another object of magic, and if so how could the Order make use of it. 

He sunk further and further into his worries as the morning progressed.  After an hour or so of travelling Daniel joined him.  They were leading the horses again, but even on the few occasions they’d been able to move at a trot Daniel had happily kept pace, running ahead and warning of any hidden dangers like rabbit holes or patches of swampy ground.

“
Ser Josef, I worry about our course.”

“
You wish to check the Amulet again?  We are heading in the right direction.  I can only check five or six times today, after that it will be exhausted and we will be travelling without a guide.”

“
I do worry that we may miss Mary, we could pass within a few hundred paces in these forests and never know it.  I worry more though that we won’t pass close, that we will follow their exact course and stumble unprepared into an ambush.”

Josef considered Daniel’s words.  He had been so caught up in worrying over the nature of the Amulet’s power that he hadn’t considered their current actions sufficiently.  He cursed quietly.

“Damn.  Yes, you’re right.  I don’t see what we can do though.  The Amulet can only be used so many times in a day, then the charge is gone.”

“
I believe I can solve that.  The Amulet draws particular types of power.  I believe I can recharge it.”

“
Blue from the wielder, white from the sunlight,” Josef said before he could catch himself.

Ser Daniel looked startled for a moment then composed himself and studied Josef closely.

“Indeed.  Are you able to sense them?”

“
You said you can recharge the Amulet?” Josef said, brushing over his newfound insight.  He was still coming to terms with it himself and didn’t want to discuss it with anyone, especially not with Ser Daniel.

Daniel accepted Josef’s avoidance of the question with no more than a raised eyebrow. 

“Yes, I believe I can feed it sufficient power.  That would allow us to use the Amulet far more often.” 

“
I can see how that would help make sure we don’t miss the girl, but how does it prevent us walking straight into a trap?  If anything it makes it more likely as it will guide us straight to any trap.”

Ser Daniel smiled.  “My memory is very patchy, but I remember some skills.  One is related to making a map.  If you can see two landmarks whose location you know and you have a compass to plot the direction then where the two lines intersect on a map is where you are standing.  We can reverse that.  If I take two readings some distance to the left and right of our path I can estimate how far it is until they cross.”

“I know the first trick, I’ve travelled areas with no roads often enough.  Are you sure the second will work?”

“
Yes.  I’ve managed to work out some estimates in my head, though I have no idea whether that is a new skill to me or an old one.  If I take readings from a hundred paces either side of the path then a deflection of five degrees between the two would place Mary roughly two or three miles away.  A smaller angle means she is farther, a larger one means she is close by.”

Josef struggled to picture what Daniel described.  He
thought
the idea made sense, but he couldn’t begin to do the calculations in his head.  He doubted that he could do them even given pencil and paper.  The thought of being ambushed by more creatures like Ser Gerome sent a cold shiver down his spine.

“
So to do this I need to trust you with the Amulet?  The one item that allows us to track the girl.  The one thing that keeps you with us right now?”

“
Not the only thing, but I see your concern.  No, I don’t need to use the Amulet.  If you come with me I can supply the power.  It would be faster if I did it alone but the delay won’t be too great.  What do you say?”

Josef didn’t have to think about it.  They were already heavily dependant on Ser Daniel, and he didn’t honestly believe he could keep hold of the Amulet if Daniel decided to take it.  If he needed honesty and trust from Daniel then he was going to need to give it in return.

“All right, I’ll come with you.  Not because I don’t trust you.  Some of my men already have doubts about me.  If I hand the Amulet over to you then I might lose them completely.  I want Samuel to come with us too.  He’s among the most reasonable, and the doubters will listen to him.”

“
Do you think they will cause us problems? I do not want any conflict but I will not let anyone stand in the way of finding Mary.”

“
Not at the moment but if things change, if I seem to be falling under the spell of darkness or we lose more men, then maybe.  I’ll be watching them closely, but you should too.  Just in case.”

Daniel nodded.  “I will.”

Josef called a halt and signalled for his men to come closer.

“
Time for a short break.  See to the horses and eat something, you need to keep your strength up.  Samuel and I are going to try to get a bearing to estimate how far ahead the girl is.  I want Ser Daniel with us so we can keep an eye on him, and to split their group up.  Nathan — you come with us to.”

Josef was pleased that there were no objections.  Nathan, unlike Samuel, was among the more hostile of the guards.  Josef had decided to take him on the spur of the moment.  He’d realised that if he spent too much time alone with Samuel and Daniel then rather than reassuring the guards it might make them question Samuel too.

Once Daniel joined them the four set out towards the right, heading nearly due north.  Within thirty yards they had trouble seeing those they’d left behind.  Samuel focused intently on his compass, only sparing enough attention to avoid tripping on the many roots and low bushes.

“
You need not worry,” Daniel told Samuel.  “I can easily find my way back.  Even if we had to take a different route, the location is fixed in my mind.”

“
Without wishing to be rude Ser, I’d rather rely on myself.” 

Samuel’s tone was slightly hostile, reminding Josef that while Samuel was more reasonable than some of the other guards he was far from happy with the situation.  Daniel just smiled gently and nodded.

When Daniel called a halt it felt as if they had walked several hundred paces, but when Daniel said it was one hundred Samuel agreed.  He’d been counting their steps whilst keeping track of the direction.

Josef took hold of the Amulet, once again concentrating on it.  This time almost no energy flowed from his own body.  Josef could sense Daniel pulling the energy in from his surroundings, then pushing it into the Amulet.  For a moment he stood entranced, once again wondering how power that so clearly came from the natural world could in itself be evil.

“Ser Josef.” 

Samuel’s rough voice broke into Josef’s thoughts.  Shaking himself he started to use the Amulet, turning it from side to side.  He quickly narrowed down the direction the child lay.  The reading was almost identical to the bearing they’d been following.  It was disappointing but not devastating.  They might be within a mile and just slightly to the side of the course they should have taken.  Josef checked his reading against Samuel’s then dropped the arm holding the Amulet.  The drain of using it was far less than before, reinforcing his impression that Daniel had supplied most of the energy required.

Josef turned to head back towards the others and with a shock realised he had no idea which way to go.  A moment later he tried to calm his breathing, remembering that Samuel had the directions.  Still, the difficulty of navigating the forest was brought home to him.  True to his word Daniel was able to lead them unerringly in the right direction.  He didn’t quite set an arrow straight path, and soon Josef noticed that Daniel was leading them around the most difficult terrain.

The sight of the main group brought a lump to Josef’s throat and a swelling in his chest.  Those feelings were tempered with a cold chill at the thought that he would be leaving them once again, even if only briefly.

As they set out towards the south, to the left of their earlier path, to get another reading Josef found himself studying his own compass carefully.  He was so intent that the hundred paces seemed to pass far more quickly than before.

Josef raised the Amulet once again, quickly establishing the direction the child lay in.  With a sinking feeling he realised it was within a degree or two of their first reading.

“Not as close as we hoped then?” he asked Daniel.

“
No, though it is as I feared.  We can close much of the distance, but I doubt we will catch them by tonight.  We still have an advantage though.  Rafael has no knowledge of our ability to track Mary.  He may move more slowly tonight, allowing us to close the distance again tomorrow.”

Josef just nodded, fighting the frustration inside.  He’d been certain they would catch the night walker before nightfall.  Now Daniel had ruled that out.  Josef felt Daniel told the truth.  He couldn’t replicate the feats of calculation Daniel had managed, but he could just about picture in his mind how far away their quarry must be for the lines to be so close to parallel.