Shine Light (22 page)

At first no one noticed her. She didn’t move or speak but simply stood there, watching the sea of lace and leather and satin and silk; all the textures and reflections of the beautiful clothes. The clothes they wore now would be the last Ixion gave them.

‘Hey,’ shouted a voice. ‘That’s her!’

Another voice joined the first and the call spilled across the cruciform until all the faces were turned to her. She waited patiently, outwardly composed, until curiosity forced them to quieten so they could hear what she had to say.

The well of emotion she’d long kept covered burst from inside her, lending her voice strength and conviction.

‘I’m Naif. Sister of Clash from the Cursed League. Some of you have heard of me.’

A spray of catcalls rose and sank, shushed by others who wanted to hear more.

‘I’ve returned from Grave by way of the pirate Ruzalia. Between us we have learned truths about Ixion.’

The quiet intensified so deeply that she was able to lower her voice. ‘Ixion exists because of a pact between the Ripers and the Grave Elders. When we are withdrawn we do
not
go to a better, more beautiful place. They take us to Danskoi and drain us of our life fluid and use most of it to help evolve Night Creatures to Riper.’

‘What’s a Night Creature?’ called out someone.

‘In the dark, on the paths, you have felt their presence. They are the eyes you feel upon you but can’t see; the breath on your neck. They are beasts and to them we are food, and that is all. What is left when the Ripers drain us, they give to the Grave Elders to keep them young. It has been that way since Ixion began. It is why Ixion became. But now you have a chance to save your own lives. The uthers who feed and sustain you here will do so no more. The Ripers have killed their queen. There will be no food, no clothes, nothing.’

She paused to let that sink in. Most of them knew that the uthers had disappeared. A murmur spread across the floor and met the noise of an influx of more young ones through the doors.

Naif counted ten breaths, giving them time to settle.

‘The Ripers will come for us soon, and so will the Night Creatures that lurk in the dark. Without the uthers both will be forced to harvest what they can from us.’

She heard their gasps but plunged on. She could not lose their concentration now. ‘I have found a way to end this but you must help me. All of the Cursed League has been taken to Danskoi to be harvested, along with those who have already been withdrawn. We must go there together and surround the church. Stop them. Let them know we won’t stand for it. We have to buy time for our friends until my plan works.’

‘What’s your plan?’

‘I cannot say out loud for the Ripers must not know. But it’s in place now. We just need time. Trust me.’

‘I have no friends in the League,’ shouted a girl at the front. ‘Why should we care if they die?’

‘Me neither.’

‘Nor me!’

‘What about the ones being withdrawn? Soon that will be you. All of you. Even if you escape the Ripers and hide, your badges will expire and you will die. I’ve seen it on Sanctus, the pirate Ruzalia’s island. All the young ones she rescues still perish,’ said Naif.

‘How do we stop that?’

‘The uthers can reverse the badges. Come with me to Danskoi and they will help you. Abandon us and hide and they will not.’

The final words were out. A threat, and a promise she was not sure she could keep.
Please, Ufur. Please come!

‘And if we don’t?’

‘The Ripers will be hunting soon. They will find you. Your safety lies in numbers now. Stay close to each other. The Freeks and the White Wings are coming. They bring weapons.’

Shrill calls began to spread across the room. The noise level soared and from it came a cacophony of shouts:

‘Danskoi!’

‘Danskoi!’

‘Danskoi!’

Naif’s determination lifted on the wave of their energy and she pointed to the doors. ‘Light your torches! Bring something to defend yourselves with.’

They began snatching up ornaments from Los Fien: heavy candlesticks, brass urns, whatever they could carry.

‘We go together!’ she cried.

‘Together!’ they shouted back.

They marched the path to Danskoi, a long column three, sometimes four abreast, swinging their torches at the night, warding off what lurked out there.

Naif and Rollo took the lead; side by side and grim. Naif held her torch high, moving it in a constant arc, eyes sharpened for the signs of glistening skin or a tentacle. She wished she had a flare like Eve had used. Something that would shed light to the distance so she could see how many of them watched.

‘I’m guessing it’s best we can’t see them,’ said Rollo quietly. He jerked his head over his shoulder. ‘They’d panic for sure.’

Naif considered what he said. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps a flare would cause more damage than good.

She looked ahead. The lights from Danskoi grew closer as the path grew steeper. Not long until they reached its surrounds – but an age of worry.

She hastened her step, driving her legs forward as quickly as the terrain would allow. The night seemed close, windless now, and the stars were dimmed by thin cloud. The moon hadn’t risen.

We’re coming, Clash. We’re coming, Suki.

A scream from behind caused her to stop mid-stride. She turned, and looked back. The light trail ran back to Los Fien. But close to her and Rollo, a girl had become agitated.

‘What is it?’ Naif called.

Another girl answered quickly, ‘A boy’s been taken. Vanished into the night in an eye-blink.’

Naif grimaced. ‘Keep moving. Hold your torches high. There is nothing we can do for him.’

‘We need weapons,’ said Rollo, straining to see. ‘We’re too vulnerable.’

‘The Freeks and the Wings will come.’

‘We should have waited for them!’

‘No,’ said Naif. ‘We couldn’t.’ The crawling sensation on her skin told her the Night Creatures were amassing quickly now. She began climbing again, using one hand to steady her balance, one to hold the torch. She closed her mind to the girl crying for her lost friend.

Lead them on. Lead them quickly. Do not hesitate.

Rollo spoke constantly to her, voicing his doubts, arguing her decisions. But she ignored him. Her focus narrowed onto the lights of Danskoi, the spires that towered above them like night sentinels. Not sanctuary, she thought,
land’s end
. The place they would stand and maybe fall.

I’ve brought them here. I must not falter.

She forced herself on until they reached the immense double doors. They sat firmly locked, repaired by the uthers after the Cursed League’s attack; those frantic moments when the League had fought the Night Creatures and Naif and Markes and Rollo had discovered what Danskoi was being used for.

‘Can you open them again?’ she asked Rollo.

‘We’ll break it down this time.’

He signalled to a group of boys carrying a heavy brass candlestick between them. They came forward quickly and assembled in front of the door.

‘Now!’ said Rollo.

They ran at the lock, using the brass as a battering ram. It broke apart on the first hit.

Naif asked two boys crowding in behind them to hoist her onto their shoulders.

‘Spread along the wall. Lean your backs to the brick. Set your torch at your feet. Make a perimeter of light. Pass the word.’ She repeated the message over and over as the crowd spilled past her and took their positions around the base of the church walls.

And as they began to spread out, she followed them, answering questions where she could, lending courage. A full circuit of Danskoi took time. And each time she turned, more young ones joined them, until they sat in rows four deep.

When she returned to the door, Rollo stood there waiting for her.

‘We couldn’t breach the cruciform last time because of the weapon of light.’

Naif picked up the iron ring that had been broken in half by the candlestick and handed it to him. ‘One good throw.’

He got her meaning and nodded.

She pointed to the boys who had lifted her on their shoulders. ‘Go up to the gallery with Rollo and you will see the truth of my story. Come back and tell the young ones what you see in there. All of them. They need to hear it. They need to use the knowledge to give them courage.’

As I have used it
, she thought.

The horror of what she’d seen in Danskoi had given her the strength to return to Grave. The strength for everything she’d done since.

‘What will you do?’ asked Rollo.

Naif cocked her head. Above the settling noise of the young ones and their talk, she heard something that made her stomach shrink and harden.

‘Carriages. The Ripers are coming.’ Then she saw the thin streams of light flashing upwards, not needing the paths to reach them. ‘Ten of them at least.’ She held her hand out to Rollo. ‘Give me your torch, then go.’

Taking the burning baton, she stepped out past the rows of bodies, creating a pool of light around herself.

The Ripers’ carriages drew to her like moths. She kept her gaze ahead, not allowing herself to look down at them.

They must come to me.

And they did, their carriages shuddering still and sinking to the ground in a half-circle in front of her.

Modai stepped out of the middle one, followed by Brand. Varonessa emerged from the carriage to the left, her long hair pulled high and plaited, making her face seem thinner and more skeletal than Naif remembered. Other Ripers joined them, flanking one or the other. Test was not among them. Nor the rest of Lenoir’s followers.

‘Lenoir’s little bat has returned,’ said Varonessa. Her voice was a hoarse whisper that carried far in the still night.

Behind her the young ones had quietened. She felt their collective fear and willed them to stay where they were. If any of them broke away to the paths either the Night Creatures or the Ripers would hunt them down.

‘We know your arrangement with the Grave Elders. We know what happens in Danskoi. You can no longer control us,’ said Naif clearly. Loudly.

‘Is that so?’ replied Brand. The scarred Riper glided closer than Varonessa, her expression a sneer. ‘And you think
you
can make us compliant?’

It had been some time since Naif had been this close to the Riper who had torn her obedience strip from her and left her bleeding to death, and she felt a wave of terror.

‘Wanting to live full lives is our right and by deception you’ve taken it from us. You are a brutal and heartless race.’

Brand bared her teeth, a hissing noise escaping her mouth. ‘This time you will pay for your insolence.’

‘Where is Lenoir, your rightful leader? What have you done to him?’ Naif countered. ‘My bond tells me he is hurt.’

The Riper’s expression became cagey.

Varonessa shifted next to Brand before Naif was even aware she was moving. ‘Answer her.’

Brand tossed her head. ‘Lenoir led us poorly, Varonessa. He weakened us with compromise. You would have voted against him.’

‘I make my allegiances in my own time. Your instruction was not to harm him. Now tell me where he is!’ Power seeped from Varonessa’s voice. Naif’s skin burned with the sound of it, and the young ones gasped aloud in pain.

Even Brand was not immune, buckling over as though kicked.

‘Tell me before I slay you!’ Varonessa hissed.

‘In-side,’ Brand managed to choke out.

‘You are draining Lenoir? One of your own kin?’ Something happened to the air around them as Varonessa spoke again.

Brand looked to the ground, teeth gritted. ‘He is not my kin. He killed Leyste.’

‘He protected our agreement with Grave, which Leyste put at risk by his obsession with her.’

A hissing sound filled the air. Naif swallowed as the Ripers fell upon each other; Varonessa’s clan against Brand’s. Naif had seen it before; ferocious speed and ruthless fury beyond comprehension. This time, in the open, it was worse. Dark blood sprayed from their wounds, and their howls curdled her blood.