Dark Soul Silenced - Part One (23 page)

Chapter Twenty Three

Daniel stared out the window in disbelief.  He’d been certain it was no later than dawn.  None of the others had even stirred until he and Nathan started to wake them, thinking dawn approached.  Being completely closed off from the outside world must have disturbed their perception of time.  As the shock faded he realised they faced an important choice — whether to wait for the next day or try to fight their way free without help from the sun.  He turned at the sound of Josef cursing beside him.  When the curses subsided Daniel spoke.

“
We cannot change what has happened.  The question is, do we wait till tomorrow morning to try to escape?  Or do we push ahead with the plan as best we can?”

Josef glanced round at the others, all were listening closely.  “I don’t think we can wait.  I can’t stand the thought of being stuck in here for another day and night.  I doubt anyone else can.”

Nodding heads greeted his words.

“
I won’t wait another day to start searching for Mary,” Sarah said firmly.

“
Then we push ahead with the plan,” Josef said.  “Grab something quick to eat, prepare your packs and ready your weapons.  As soon as everyone is ready we move.”

They all started to do as Josef said, except Daniel who had already prepared.  He walked to the window again and looked out over the forest, stretching his senses out.  He knew this might be his last chance to see the outside world.  Their plan had been risky to begin with, now it was even more so.  Josef was right though, they had no choice.

Sarah joined him at the window, passing over a chunk of bread and cheese.  “You need to eat,” she said.

“
Thank you,” Daniel replied.

They ate in silence for a few moments, then Josef joined them.

“So we can’t rely on the sunlight to keep the creatures back,” he said.  “Daylight may still slow them, make them shy away, but that isn’t going to get us far out of this room.  This is all going to rest on you Ser Daniel.  I want to keep you shielded behind the rest of us.”

“
I cannot let you…”

“
Yes you can!” Josef interrupted.  “If they break through you’ll get your chance to fight.  You have to stay focused on doing everything you can to get us out.”

“
All right.  I will do what I can.”

“
Is that what how low you’ve fallen,” Nathan asked Josef angrily, striding over.  “To entrust our escape to a creature of darkness.  To rely on its dark powers?  You don’t deserve to lead us.  You don’t deserve to even be in the Order anymore.  I’m taking over now.  The others see it too, don’t you?  Felix?”

“
So what’s your plan Nathan?” asked Felix.

“
We make our own way out.  We get this agent of darkness to open the door.  Then those of us still following the Order’s ideals hack our way out past those creatures.”

“
That’s it?  It would be suicide and you know it.”

“
Better that than to fall into the darkness.  Besides, once we return to the true path the Almighty will be on our side.  None can stand against his powers.”

Felix shook his head.  “You’re mad.  Count me out.”

“Traitor!” hissed Nathan.  He turned to William who had been following the discussion with a confused look on his face.

“
William, what of you?”

William gazed back for a moment then shook his head.  “Josef is the leader.  You are not.  I follow Josef.”

It was the first time Daniel had heard William speak since being injured.  While it was amazing the guard was even alive, let alone conscious and speaking, it was clear that Jon’s fears were well founded.  Williams speech was slow and methodical, clearly a struggle.

Nathan turned away in disgust, settling his gaze on Cal.  “Cal, are you with me?”

Cal looked uncomfortable as he shook his head.  “I’m sorry Nathan, but no.  Felix is right, it would be suicide.  Too many important things have happened here.  We need to get free and carry word of them to the Order.  Not least the fact the night walkers can be active by day, even if it is only where they are sealed off from daylight.  That goes against something the order has been certain of for centuries.  If we are wrong about that, what else might we have wrong about them?”

“
Fools!  Idiots!”

Nathan stomped off into a corner, muttering darkly.  Daniel glanced at Josef who shrugged his shoulders.

“We need him,” Josef said quietly.  “We need every blade we can muster.  But I’m making damn sure he’s at the front of the formation.”

“
Will he do it?”

“
That’s what I need to find out.” 

Josef sighed then walked over to where Nathan steamed with anger.  Daniel couldn’t hear everything that was said but the body language, the waving arms and the pointing at him and the others made Nathan’s feelings pretty clear.  Finally Josef returned.

“He’s not happy, but he’ll do it.  He insists that once we reach the forest, or hopefully the guards we left with the horses, he is leaving us to the darkness.  To be honest I’ll be glad to see him go.  Now, are you ready?”

“
Yes.  We can make our move whenever you want.”

“
Then let me round up the others and we’ll go.”

Within a few minutes all were ready.  Nathan and Josef would lead.  Felix and William would cover the right, Jon and Sarah the left and Cal — fighting awkwardly with his weak hand — would cover the rear.  Daniel would be sandwiched between them all, protected for as long as they could manage.

They formed up by the door.  Daniel took a deep breath.  “Ready?” he asked.

“
Ready,” confirmed Josef.

Daniel reached out and delicately shifted the door control’s flow of energy from one conduit to the other.  The door shot up into the stone archway, completely disappearing from view.  The party charged into the large room beyond.

Several vampires waited just beyond the doorway, but they had clearly been surprised when the door opened.  They turned towards the charging party and screeched in pain, using hands and arms to cover their eyes from the daylight flooding through.

Josef and Nathan fell on them before they could recover, striking them down quickly.  Looking around Daniel saw many more vampires.  He saw movement in the side rooms too, but it seemed that most of the vampires were still in the large room.  Stretching out he quickly triggered each of the doors, sealing away the vampires in the rooms.

The remaining vampires recovered quickly, turning to face the new threat.  Most hung back but others started to close on the party, shielding their eyes against the indirect daylight.  As the party started to move into the large room other vampires started to close in behind, meaning they no longer had to look towards the daylight.  For the moment none attacked, but Daniel knew that couldn’t last for long.  He noticed movement on the stairs and realised that more vampires were climbing from below.

“
Daniel, do something!” Sarah shouted.

Daniel desperately started to search the walls for any other controls, for any hints of power, for anything he could use.  The vampires continued to close in, then with a yell the first one charged.  Others were close behind.

Daniel finished his search of the walls having found nothing but door controls.  He thought about searching the floor but couldn’t imagine why there would be any controls there, then he glanced up at the shadowy dome above.  Of course!  There might be windows up there.  If so the extra daylight would slow the vampires.

The first vampires crashed into the defenders and were met by steel and determination.  Several wheeled away hurt and one collapsed to the floor but others soon took their place.  Daniel continued to search the roof desperately but couldn’t find a single control.

The vampires continued their assault.  Sarah responded with the rage and strength of a berserker, only Jon’s insistent voice kept her from charging off.  Josef and Nathan fought like men possessed in front of Daniel.  To the other side Felix was struggling to cover for William who fought hard but with little finesse, the head wound he’d survived seemed to have stolen some of his martial skills.  On Felix’s other side Cal struggled to keep vampires at bay wielding his knife right-handed.

Daniel finished his check of the roof, there had been nothing.  What else could he try?  He realised he’d assumed the controls would be high up.  He hadn’t scanned the section where wall met dome in any detail.  Gritting his teeth he returned to the scanning, while around him the others fought for both their lives and his.  He was sure that the diffuse daylight still shining through from the room they’d spent the night on was the only reason they weren’t being overwhelmed.  The vampires could survive the light, but they found it hard to tolerate.

He’d scanned half the area he needed to without finding any controls when the vampires tried a new approach.  They charged the party on mass from one side, succeeding in shoving Daniel and the others several paves to the side.  That pushed them well out of the daylight spilling out of the smaller room.  The vampires stood taller, able to relax now they stood in the gloom.  They knew the tide had turned in their favour, the defenders did too.

Daniel desperately resumed his search.  In his haste he almost missed what he was looking for.  He found a single control, mounted on the wall just below the dome.  As the vampire horde charged again he flicked the flows of power to activate the switch, praying it would open a window close by.  He doubted it though — the switch was over on the west wall, if it opened anything the window would probably be too far away to seriously impair their attackers.

The vampires crashed into the defenders at full speed and with nothing to weaken or distract them.  They struck the defenders and the screaming started.  It wasn’t from the defenders though.  Light flooded the huge room, light so bright that it blinded Daniel and the others for a moment.  They were completely defenceless, but it didn’t matter.  The vampires around them crashed to the floor, screaming and writhing. 

As Daniel’s sight returned he saw that many vampires were burning.  Understanding flooded through him.  Looking up he saw nothing except blue sky.  The dome was gone.  Somehow the switch he’d flicked had caused the entire dome to disappear.  Sunlight was streaming in on the far side.  The vampires caught in the daylight were smoking ruins already.  The others weren’t faring much better as indirect daylight reflected off the rooms walls and washed over them.

A few lucky creatures had managed to dive into the stairwell, Daniel could still hear their cries, and he was sure others lurked below.  The party wasn’t free yet, but the odds had improved greatly.

Daniel pushed out from the protective ring of the others and studied one of the vampires as it died.  Despite his loathing of what they had become, despite the evil they represented, he still felt some sympathy as they writhed in agony.  He still remembered his time on the beach when the blazing sun had burnt through him.  The agony both outside and in.  The blazing power that had scorched its way through body and mind.  The difference was that he hadn’t fallen, not completely, so when the darkness was burnt away his soul still remained.  Every one of the writhing creatures surrounding him was seeped in darkness, ruled and sustained by it.  The burning was more intense and lasted longer than it had for Daniel, and when it finally finished all that it left behind was a charred husk.

Looking back at his companions Daniel saw mixtures of fear, surprise, satisfaction and joy.  For a moment he resented them for their lack of sympathy, then he realised that without his own unique experience there was no way they could understand.  Daniel looked at the dying vampires and saw himself, or what he could so easily have become.  He wondered how many of those now dying had, like him, been attacked and turned — changed into something twisted and dark against their will.  He suspected it would be many of them.  As the vampires died he bowed his head, tears running down his cheeks.

Chapter Twenty Four

Josef stared at the scene around him with a mixture of amazement and satisfaction.  He’d started to worry that everything he knew about the night walkers was wrong.  With them wandering around during the day he’d even started to wonder if they could tolerate daylight.  They couldn’t.  That fact was being demonstrated all around.  The sights and sounds were overwhelming, hundreds of night walkers shrieking and writhing before collapsing into burnt out husks. 

Deep down Josef was unsettled by the sight.  The creatures were pure evil and needed to die, but the slaughter was on such a scale it became inhuman.  Dragging his eyes away he studied the other members of the party.  Sarah was in Jon’s arms, face buried against his shoulder as she sobbed.  Jon looked sickened by what he saw too. 

William seemed unaffected, a blank expression settling over his face.  Josef felt a stab of guilt — William had been badly wounded following Josef’s orders.  In many ways it was worse than losing a man, William would be there every day as a reminder.  Alive yet reduced. 

Josef quickly moved on.  Felix studied the scene around them grim faced, eyes constantly moving as he searched for any new risk.  Cal was smiling and Nathan was grinning fiercely, the destruction of so much evil making both men happy.

Once the night walkers had twitched their last, Josef called everyone back together.

“Truly the Almighty has favoured us today, but we still have to get down to the ground floor and out of the keep.  I think the daylight will filter down the stairs for at least one level, but we are still going to have to fight as we reach the lower floors.”

“
You think there’s more of them?” Felix asked.

“
I am sure of it,” Daniel answered.  “We may have an advantage though.  The rest will have felt what happened here, felt their fellows dying, but most won’t know what happened.  If we move quickly enough we may get free before they risk attacking us again.”

“
You’re sure?” Josef asked.

“
I am.”

“
A desperate charge down the stairs?” Nathan asked.  “Anything that gets us out of here quickly sounds good to me.” 

It was clear he also meant anything that got him clear of Josef and the others, though he didn’t say it.  Josef glanced at everyone in turn, measuring their mood.  They all seemed fired up, ready to go.  He made a decision.

“Then let’s do it.  Now.”

They formed up again, except this time Daniel insisted on taking point between Josef and Nathan.  Josef expected Nathan to argue but the guard just shrugged his shoulders.  They moved towards the hole in the floor that marked the stairs entrance.

As they neared Josef saw that he was right, daylight flooded down the stairs for some way.  They would be safe from attack for a short while at least.  With Daniel leading the way they began to descend.  By the time they reached the next floor the spiral staircase had blocked all view of the sky, but reflected daylight still made it quite bright.  Daniel raised a hand and the others paused.

“
What is it?” asked Josef quietly.

“
I hoped there would be a switch here, a way to seal the staircase off.  There is not.”

Josef took several steps into the room the staircase led into.  No night walkers were in sight, for the moment Daniel’s theory was proving correct.  Many passageways led from the room, as they had from each of the rooms below that led off from the stairs.

“How about the doorways leading off of this room?”

Daniel concentrated for a moment, then smiled.  One by one doors slammed down blocking off the doorways.

“An excellent idea Ser Josef.  This ensures we cannot be attacked from above as we descend.  If we can seal each floor we have a mutter better chance to escape.”

“
Down to the next floor then?”

“
Indeed.”

On the fourth floor they found no trace of night walkers again and Daniel quickly sealed all the doorways.  They descended once more.  On the third floor they saw their first night walkers.  Three stood near a doorway as far from the stairs as they could get.  When the party appeared the night walkers quickly departed the room, casting fearful glances over their shoulders.  Daniel quickly sealed the door they had fled through, then the others.

Once more the party descended.  The lack of opposition should have been encouraging, but Josef found it worried him instead.  Were the night walkers truly that scared?  Or were they preparing a trap.  If they knew what had happened on the top floor then any trap would be set on a far lower floor, probably with the expectation of further allies attacking the party from above.  Daniel’s efforts ensured no such support, but there still might be a strong force waiting below.

The second floor was once again empty, though Josef was certain he caught hints of movement behind several of the doorways.  Nothing appeared though and all the doors were soon sealed.

“Two more floors to go,” Felix said nervously.  “Is it me or has this been too easy?”

That drew nods from everyone, even Nathan.  For the moment they were united.

“If it stays this easy it won’t be any fun,” Josef replied with a grim smile.  “Shall we go and find out?”

Again, more nods.  They moved off down the stairs.  By now the only light came from the flickering lanterns they carried.  With every step down Josef felt his heart beat faster.  He wiped sweat from his brow. 

Surely we can’t be this lucky
, he thought. 
We can’t just walk straight out without a fight.

As they reached the first floor landing he realised he had been right.  They hadn’t been that lucky.  Night walkers packed the room, thirty or forty at least, and they didn’t look cowed at all.  For a moment everyone froze — the night walkers included.  Then Nathan broke the moment with a yell.

“Down!  We must get out!”

Putting action to words he charged down the stairs.  Cal and William followed immediately, the others stood uncertainly.  Josef cursed.  He’d wanted to lead the party back up.  With the floors above sealed they could have mounted a strong defence, slowly wearing down the night walker force — especially while the enemy still expected reinforcements from above that would never arrive.  The party was already too small though, they couldn’t afford to lose another three men.  Josef cursed again.

“Follow them!” he shouted.  “Down!  We go down!”

Josef and Daniel led the charge, Jon, Sarah and Felix close behind.  For a few moments Josef had lost sight of Nathan and the others, as he reached the bottom of the stairs he nearly ran into them.  They’d stopped dead.

It wasn’t hard to tell why.  Josef could see the entrance tunnel, could dimly make out daylight at its end, but in front of it stood at least a hundred night walkers.  They stood six or seven deep.  There was no way to break through.  Shouts from behind told him the stairs offered no escape now.  He glanced around the room.  Doorways to other rooms might give them a brief respite if they could seal themselves in, but he dismissed them.

“
Move!” he ordered, pushing Nathan and Cal forwards.  “We need to get away from the stairs.”

Reluctantly the two guards moved forwards.  There was plenty of clear space in the room, all the night walkers clustered around the entrance tunnel.  They looked like a sea of glowing red eyes and glinting incisors.  Most were smiling, a chilling sight.  As their group moved away from the stairs Josef turned to Daniel.

“Seal the doorways.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes!  Just do it.”

Daniel nodded and then concentrated.  Doors slammed closed around the room.  A few of the night walkers smile’s faltered, but most shrugged it off.  They knew they still had an unbeatable advantage in numbers, even without their brothers and sisters who were now flowing out of the stairwell.

Josef knew it too, so did the others — he could feel the mood of the group darken.  To have got so close to freedom and then to be denied was too cruel.  Josef knew they would fight to the death, but the slumped shoulders showed they all expected that fight to be brief.  He couldn’t see any reason they would be wrong.

“
Any tricks left up your sleeve?” he asked Daniel.

“
I can take some of them, maybe ten or fifteen, but no more than that.  Probably not that many if they attack as a group — we will be overwhelmed too quickly.”

Josef nodded glumly.  He met each persons gaze in turn before speaking again.  “If this is it then let’s make the bastards pay!  For Mary!”

That did the trick.  Dismay was replaced with angry defiance in every face.  Josef knew it wouldn’t change the outcome, but it meant a lot to him.  And maybe one of them would get a chance to slip out the tunnel during the fight.  He knew how unlikely that was, but he also knew how fickle battles could be.

As Josef tightened his grip on his sword, preparing to give the order to charge, he heard a deep rumble of thunder.  Somehow it felt appropriate, a dramatic backdrop to their desperate fight.  Then he realised how strange it was — the skies had been clear blue when they started down the staircase.  While it felt like many hours ago it could only actually be minutes.  How could a storm have blown in that quickly?

And the thunder wasn’t fading, instead it was growing louder.  He saw several of the night walkers glance behind them, down the tunnel.  Then they started to shout and push.  A few managed to get clear, the rest were sent flying as mounted riders crashed into them from behind.  The charge was so fast that it swept all the night walkers clear of the entrance.  For a moment Josef thought he and the others would be trampled too, but the riders managed to rein in their mounts just in time.

“
Mount up!” Samuel shouted at the dazed party.  “Mount up before they recover!”

Josef realised that what had seemed a charge by a troop of cavalry was actually just four men, Samuel in the lead, accompanied by the mounts Josef and the others had left behind.  Someone gave him a shove, he didn’t see who, and the shock was broken.  He grabbed the nearest riderless horse and mounted up.  Around him the others followed suit.  Then they were wheeling the horses and urging them back towards the entrance, not that the steeds needed any encouragement.  Between darkness and the unnatural forms of the night walkers the horses wanted nothing more than to get back into the daylight.

A few night walkers had recovered and moved to block the entrance.  Seeing the pounding mass of muscle and flashing hooves charging towards them they quickly dived back out of the way, leaving the entrance clear.  Most of the party, and the guards led by Samuel, were ahead of him.  Josef risked a glance back and ice settled into his stomach.  William stood alone, dazed and confused, with no mounts remaining.  Any unclaimed mounts had followed the others towards the entrance.  Josef considered reining his in but realised there wasn’t enough space.  He would block the two riders behind him, dooming someone else in a useless attempt to save William. 

Josef cursed himself for not having thought of the injured guard.  With such a fast changing situation the poor man had simply been unable to cope.  While the others grabbed the chance of freedom he must have stood trying to understand the chaos around him.  And now William was going to pay with his life for Josef’s mistake.  Even as Josef watched, a shadowy shape crashed into William, sending him tumbling towards the ground.  Despite the danger of doing so Josef kept his gaze fixed behind, trusting to his mount to get him clear.  He owed William that much at least.

William didn’t hit the floor, the night walker that had attacked caught him mid fall then in a flash reversed direction, charging after the fleeing riders.  For a moment Josef could not understand what was happening, then the fast moving figure made it into the tunnel.  Josef laughed with relief as the increasing daylight showed him his mistake.  It was no night walker that had attacked William, indeed he hadn’t been attacked.  He had been rescued — by Daniel.

As Josef watched Daniel slowed for a moment, then gestured towards the tunnel’s wall.  With a deafening crash a massive door slammed down sealing the keep end of the tunnel — and with it every one of the remaining night walkers.  They were safe!