Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (26 page)

“
Ready sir?” the carnie asks once the
coaster comes to a stop.

“
What?” he asks, tearing his gaze from the
girl as he turns back to the carnie.

“
Are you ready to ride?” the carnie asks.
He stands there at the edge of the coaster and holds the
restraining bar up so James can enter the car.

He makes to hand his ticket to the carnie
when the sight of the golden haired girl once again draws his
attention. Just as the carnie is about to take the ticket, he
snatches his hand back and says, “Maybe later.” Turning around, he
runs back through the waiting area for the ride and moves to follow
her.

She’s made her way to a ride on the edge of
the carnival and is getting into a boat. Before he can reach her,
the boat she’s in begins to move down the narrow waterway and
toward the opening of the Tunnel of Love.

Again the feeling of being here before comes
over him. Not knowing why he feels the need to catch the girl, only
that he must, he races after her and comes to the carnie in charge
of the ride. Handing the man his ticket, he takes a seat in the
waiting boat and is soon on his way toward the opening.

The golden haired girl has already entered
the tunnel and he can barely make her out in the darkness within. A
large heart with two white lights is upon the wall just within the
entrance. The light coming from the two lights within the heart is
the only illumination within the tunnel. Once he passes through the
entrance, his eyes grow adjusted to the gloom and he sees her
riding in the boat ahead of him.

“
Hello!” he hollers to her but she fails
to respond. “HELLO!” he cries at the top of his lungs, but again
his cry goes unheeded. “Damn!” he curses to himself as he sits in
the boat as it makes its way through the ride. He thought about
getting out of the boat and wading up to the girl but decided
against it, might be too unsafe.

There’s not much to this ride really, some
soft music playing in the background, he thinks it might be some
Carpenter’s song without the words. Scenes begin appearing on the
walls of the tunnel. One is of two people, a man and a woman
sitting side by side with their heads leaning upon each other.
Another is of the same couple dancing at a merry festival.

Taking his eyes off the scenes upon the
walls, he looks ahead for the golden haired girl but can only see
darkness ahead. Anxious not to lose sight of her, he strains his
eyes but is unable to see her.

His boat moves inexorably toward the
darkened area and the temperature begins to drop, his breath
misting in the coldness. The music playing starts to change subtly
at first then moves into a more haunting melody and the tranquility
the previous portion of the ride had induced fades away.

As he reaches the darkened area, the light
fades altogether and he travels in complete darkness. The darkness
seems to deepen and the coldness becomes more pronounced as does
his feeling of unease. Holding out his hand, a glowing orb suddenly
appears and dispels the darkness.

He gasps as he sees shadows moving along the
fringes of the tunnel, none seem to pay him and his glowing orb any
attention. They appear to be moving in the same direction as is the
ride. When his gaze falls upon the shadows a shiver of fear runs
through him, he’s seen them before.

With uncertain dread, he peers forward in an
attempt to locate the golden haired girl but the light from his orb
doesn’t pierce the darkness far enough ahead for him to be able to
see her.

“
This boat is moving too slow,” he thinks
to himself. “I’ll never reach her in time!” In time for what he’s
not sure but the feeling that time is running out rises from deep
within. Taking hold of the edge of the boat, he vaults over and
splashes into the water.

As it turns out, the water is only two feet
deep. Glancing at the moving shadows one more time, he begins
sloshing his way through the water in an attempt to reach the boat
bearing the girl.

The tunnel remains dark except for the light
of his orb. Off to either side he’s able to make out vague outlines
of the scenes which should be illuminated but are now only dark. He
rounds a corner where the ride makes a sudden right turn and finds
the boat that had contained the golden haired girl sitting askew on
the ride. It continues to rock from side to side as the chain below
it which should have been moving it along rubs against the
bottom.

He looks around the darkened tunnel, but all
he can see are the dark shadows continuing to move along the walls.
Unwilling to risk drawing their attention by shouting, he leaves
the boat behind as he quickly makes his way along the tunnel.
Staying alongside the center of the ride, he occasionally brushes a
leg against the chain moving under the water. Once, his legging
became caught by it and only by ripping a large hole in it when he
tore it off was he able to get loose.

The cold of the tunnel grows in intensity
the further along he moves. From up ahead, he hears the girl, at
least he thinks it’s her, singing a soft melody. At last he sees a
glow and within it is the golden haired girl. She’s walking as he
is, along the center of the tunnel and is totally oblivious to the
shadows moving along the sides. Quickening his pace, he tries to
close the distance to her. But no matter how fast he moves, he
fails to gain any ground.

All of a sudden the tone of her melody
changes, becoming more sad and tearful. Altering her course, she
begins moving from the center of the waterway and makes her way
toward the right side of the tunnel. The glow around her appears to
keep the shadows at bay as she steps out of the water and moves
upon a raised platform holding one of the ride’s attractions.

As she moves onto the dais, the movement of
the shadows alters and they begin converging on the platform.
“Watch out!” he cries as the shadows move toward her but the girl
pays him no heed.

The shadows halt at the edge of the platform
and become still, malignant hate radiates from them as they stand
and watch the girl. Upon the dais, the glow which seems to surround
her illuminates what looks to be a man hanging by his wrists from a
rope that descends out of the darkness above. His features are hard
to make out, though the blood, cuts and bruises dotting his body
are not. This man has been treated badly and doesn’t look like he
can survive very much longer.

Her song stops and sobbing can be heard as
she reaches a hand out to touch the tortured man’s face. As she
touches his face, a tremor more felt than seen runs through the
shadows watching. Whatever is going on, they don’t care for it.

James comes to within ten feet of the edge
of the ring of shadows and stops in the water. He feels as if he
should know the man hanging at the end of the rope but recognition
does not come. Unsure how to make his way through the ring of
shadows, he remains there in the water.

A waft of nauseating air suddenly surges
through the tunnel from the entrance and James turns his attention
in that direction. Another boat is coming through the tunnel toward
him. He peers intently to see if there is anyone riding within it
and only when it comes closer does he see something that causes his
breath to catch and his heart to practically freeze in his
chest.

Riding within the car is one of the
monstrosities he saw when he had been on that other plane of
existence. That time when Igor had showed up and rescued him.
Unlike the shadows which had traveled along the edge of the tunnel,
this monstrosity sees him. Its red eyes are fixed directly upon
him, steeling the will and strength from him by the second.

Suddenly, it gives out with a mammoth roar
which thunders through the tunnel and makes jelly of his muscles.
He begins backing away down the tunnel from the approaching
nightmare. That’s when he notices the shadows have begun to leave
the edge of the platform and are now making their way toward
him.

Fear courses its way through every nerve in
his body. It’s all he can do to keep his legs moving. He turns and
starts running down the tunnel when his legging again becomes
ensnared by the chain pulling the boats along. Losing his balance,
he falls into the water and once he rights himself, frantically
tries to pull his legging from the chain.

Back down the tunnel, the monstrosity is now
out of the boat and coming toward him quickly. There’s no way for
him to escape. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the girl
turned toward him, a look of pleading upon her face. Then the
shadows block the sight of her as the monstrosity draws near.

Evil, malignant evil, radiates from the
creature as it reaches its hand out toward him. His heart freezes
in his chest and a scream is ripped from his throat as the
creature’s hand draws near.

AHHHHHH!!

He starts awake and bolts upright on his cot.
His breath comes in rasps as the fear continues to course its way
through him.

His tent flap opens and Jiron rushes through
with a knife in either hand. “What happened?” he shouts as he looks
around for an attacker.

“She needs my help!” he cries as he begins to
calm down. His breath continues to be labored as the fear starts to
dissipate.

“Who?” he asks as others crowd the entrance
to his tent to see what the commotion is about. “Who needs your
help?”

“I…” he starts to say but the memory of the
dream is already beginning to fade. “I… don’t know.” Like sand
slipping through your fingers, the dream which had been so clear
earlier is now all but gone. All that’s left are small fragments:
golden hair, fear, and a sense that something needs to be done and
done soon. But just what eludes him.

“I can’t remember,” he tells them as he puts
his face in his hands. Breathing steadily, he brings his nerves
under control.

Putting his knives away, Jiron turns to the
others congregating at the tent flap and says, “He’s alright. It
was just a dream.”

From outside the tent James can hear the
sound of the others muttering as they head back to their tents. He
takes his head from his hands and sees Jiron, Delia and Miko there
just within his tent. “I appreciate your concern,” he tells them,
“but I’m alright.”

“You gave us quite a fright,” Delia says,
worry still in her eyes.

“Was it a vision?” Jiron asks.

“I don’t know,” he replies. “I can’t
recall.”

“Dreams of that intensity usually are,” Miko
says in a tone sounding very sure of what he’s saying. “Try to hang
onto the memory next time, it could be important.”

“I’ll do that,” he says. To Jiron he asks,
“How far away is dawn?”

“Still a couple more hours away,” he replies.
“You should try to get a little more rest if you can.”

Laying his head back on his cot, he glances
over to them and says, “I doubt if I’ll be able to right away.”

“Get what you can,” Delia tells him and then
gestures for everyone to leave the tent.

“I’ll try,” he assures her as they file out
through the tent flap. The last thing he sees before the tent flap
closes is Devin’s face gazing in at him with concern, then the flap
closes.

Lying on his cot, he tries to recall the
dream but is unable. After awhile, he yawns and actually returns to
sleep for a little bit before the call comes for the camp to
awake.

Despite repeated questioning by the various
members of their group, he’s still unable to recall anything but a
vague feeling of unease about the dream of the night before.
Finally he just quits trying.

It doesn’t take them long to pack everything
and be on their way shortly after sunrise. James continues checking
his mirror frequently for any forces which may be heading in their
direction. The force behind them that had trailed them throughout
the day before continues to keep a discreet distance behind them.
From what the mirror shows, their number has swelled dramatically
through the night. Their plan must be to crush Black Hawk between
their force and those waiting for them at Al-Zynn.

James scrolls the mirror as far south as he
can and finds units moving in the general direction of Al-Zynn. It
appears all is going as planned, the Empire believes they intend to
sack Al-Zynn and are moving every available unit there.

They keep a moderate pace, neither rushing
nor being too slow. As best they can, they try to maintain a course
that will take them a little west of Al-Zynn rather than directly
toward it. If the Empire realizes they are not entirely on a
straight heading, with any luck they will simply write if off as
they don’t know the exact way.

By late afternoon, James has been able to
acquire Al-Zynn in his mirror. The flurry of activity surrounding
the town shows that they believe an attack is imminent. Troops are
moving toward it from all directions, including a sizeable force
from the direction of Korazan.

“Hope that’s the majority of the garrison at
Korazan,” Illan says when James informs him what is transpiring
there.

“With any luck, they won’t realize what we
are up to until it’s too late,” replies James.

“When they do,” comments Jiron, “everything
at Al-Zynn will be sent after us. They aren’t likely to allow us
much time at Korazan for what we intend.”

Nodding, Illan says, “That’s why we are only
hitting the slaver’s compound, killing all the slavers and freeing
the slaves. Those who wish to come with us we’ll arm with the
weapons found at the compound.”

“Can’t imagine anyone wishing to remain
behind,” states James. “They would only be made slaves once
more.”

“Never know,” Illan replies.

All day long there are no further
opportunities for attack. The caravans and patrols must have been
diverted to prevent them from falling to them as they head south.
By early evening, it’s determined that Al-Zynn is a little over
four hours away. Scouts have reached the city and reported back
that breastworks are being dug between where their force now lies
and the walls of Al-Zynn.