The Cornerstone (17 page)

Lucas Morodai - being a canny negotiator as well as a power hungry lunatic - made sure that no more than a few thousand of the ravening, soulless creatures were allowed to come through, keeping their numbers more or less manageable. The gateway was snapped shut by his Wordsmiths before a deluge of Dwellers could swamp the Chapter Lands.

Those few thousand – marked by their smoke filled eyes and pallid faces - swarmed over Falion’s army, invading the minds of all they came across, feeding and growing fat with every stolen memory and emotion.

It wasn’t a pleasant process. The living purple and black smoke would erupt from the host’s eyes and shoot into the eyes of the next victim, accompanied by loud screams and convulsions.

Some of the monsters would stay in the bodies they first entered, content with their new homes. Others would move from victim to victim, until they found one they felt more suited to their purposes. It was like test driving cars for sale - only with more excruciating pain and less checking for rust under the wheel arches.

Thousands upon thousands in Chapter House Falion felt the horrific touch of the Dwellers, their minds consumed in an instant.

Human husks were left, devoid of all rational thought. They stared into space like zombies, occasionally letting out a quiet moan as they bounced gently off the walls.

It took roughly two days to subdue the Chapter House. With everyone in Falion’s land possessed, catatonic or dead, Morodai and his supernatural army then turned their attention to the next House.

When the attack came to Wellhome in the south, they stood no chance and fell even quicker than Falion - Chapter Lord Aaron Wellhome one of the last to be turned.

Within the space of a fortnight, an army of possessed humans, Wordsmiths and Chapter Guards stood on the borders of Carvallen land, waiting to be unleashed on the last free House.

- 6 -

Merelie looked out of her bedroom window at the enormous army that now stood before the gates of the city.

It looked slightly odd, as armies go.

Instead of the well armoured Chapter Guards being in the vanguard, thousands of bedraggled people stood in front, their smoky eyes fixed on the Chapter House and the city lying below it.

Why didn’t they listen to me?

Everything Merelie had feared was happening.

She’d heard the first few dispatches her father had received with mounting horror and certainty that her nightmares were coming true.

Jacob Carvallen had immediately locked down the whole Chapter House, allowing Merelie no contact with anyone other than Borne. There was no way to see Garrowain and no chance of recruiting someone from Earth before the evil hoard descended.

She naturally blamed Max Bloom for the entire situation.

If only he had listened and agreed to train as a Wordsmith, none of this would have happened. Instead, he had breezed off home with not a care for her or her people.

‘That’s not really fair is it, Merelie?’ her brain spoke up.

‘What’s not?’

‘Blaming Max for all this.’

‘Why not?’

‘He didn’t know this would happen. He had no proof you were right. Why would he care anyway? It’s not his world we’re talking about.’

‘It could be! If those things aren’t stopped!’

‘Maybe. Maybe not. But you can’t hate him for wanting no part of this. His people didn’t break the walls between worlds and come to the attention of those monsters.’

Which was an extremely good point. Merelie hated it when her brain talked sense as much as Max Bloom did.

She watched as her father’s Wordsmiths and Chapter Guards went out to meet the enemy. A few minutes went by as some brief negotiations took place, before a command was given from the opposing forces, and the Dwellers swarmed over House Carvallen’s finest like bees on a honey pot.

Merelie couldn’t watch - she’d seen it too many times in her dreams – so lay back on her bed, listening to the sounds of the one-sided battle as it progressed from the walls of the city, through its streets and into the Chapter House itself.

She wondered how long it would be until her father came lurching into her room, his eyes filled with Dweller smoke.

As it happened, it was Borne that smashed her bedroom doors open, scaring her as much as he had Max a few weeks previously.

There was blood caked on one side of his face and he held his left arm close to his chest, a nasty gash running down his forearm.

‘Borne!’

‘We have to get you out of here, girl.’

‘Where to? There’s nowhere to run from those things,’ she said with absolute defeat.

‘You can quit that tone of voice for a start,’ he ordered. ‘We’re not dead or possessed by those things yet.’

‘Then what do we do?’

‘If there’s nowhere safe in this world, then maybe another will do. We have to get to the Library and use The Cornerstone.’

‘But I’m not authorised - ‘

‘When’s that stopped you before?’

‘But what good will it do?’

‘You still believe somebody from that world can stop this?’

‘Yes… yes I do.’

‘Then come on!’

The massive Arma grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. Merelie gathered up a long dark green Carvallen coat and gave her room a last look. There was a small, scared part of her that thought she might never see it again.

The next fifteen minutes of Merelie’s life were quite awful.

They passed groups of Carvallen Chapter Guards mounting a desperate attempt to stop the intruders. They failed, but did manage to hold the enemy back long enough for Borne and Merelie to work their way down to the Library.

The screams of pain that echoed through the hallways were bad - the moans of pleasure that followed as minds and souls were devoured, were a thousand times worse.

Merelie word shaped as much as she could, sending smoke-eyed creatures, enemy soldiers and Wordsmiths flying in all directions. For his part, Borne wielded an antique cudgel ripped from a wall along one of the galleries, hitting anything he didn’t like the look of with studied precision.

Down flights of stairs they ran, missing capture or conversion sometimes by mere inches.

Arriving at the hallway leading to the Library came with a mixture of good and bad luck.

They’d reached their destination safely, but between them and the Library doors were several Chapter Guards fighting off multiple void creatures.

Merelie recognised one of them.

‘Writer,
no
!’ she cried.

‘What is it, girl?’

‘Look, Borne. It’s Elijah! Mother’s Arma has been possessed!’

Sure enough, Borne saw the lean and muscular form of his fellow Arma as he jumped onto a luckless Chapter Guard. The thing in his friend’s shape gibbered and laughed insanely as it grasped the guard by his head.

Thick purple-black smoke erupted from Elijah’s eyes and entered the guard’s. He twitched and screamed as it filled his head, the Dweller eating his mind with hideous relish (whatever flavour hideous relish is… brussel sprouts and celery have to be involved somewhere).

The guard finally stopped shrieking and started to moan, gazing blankly at the ceiling, all trace of coherent thought wiped from his face.

Merelie felt tears prick her eyes.

Damn you Morodai. Damn you and your dog for unleashing this and damn me for not seeing your part in it.

Putting her rage to good use, she word shaped with as much power and control as she could, sending the Elijah-thing pin wheeling down the corridor. He smashed into his brethren, who’d been temporarily pushed back by the Carvallen Chapter Guards.

Merelie noticed for the first time there was a single Wordsmith amongst those defending the Library.

‘Wordsmith!’ she called.

The young man, no older than twenty, spun around. ‘Lady Merelie!’ he said. ‘We had reports you’d been taken.’

‘Not likely. What’s your name?’

‘Kelvin, Lady. Kelvin Holderness.’

‘Related to Davina Holderness?’

‘My mother!’

‘Well Kelvin, I need your help.’ Merelie looked down the corridor to see the Dwellers massing once again, blocking her way to the Library.

Borne had taken up position against the wall with the remaining Chapter Guards and had picked up a stray bow-gun, which he fired down the corridor.

‘Anything, lady!’ Kelvin said.

‘I need your help forcing them back so I can get into the Library. Can you do that?’

‘I can try Lady, but the Library doors wouldn’t open for us. The custodians have barricaded themselves in.’

‘I can fix that Kelvin, don’t worry. Are you with me?’

Kelvin Holderness squared his shoulders.

‘I am!’

‘Then let’s get to it.’

Both Wordsmiths threw themselves into the battle and with the combined effort of Borne and the Chapter Guards, the creatures were driven back, leaving the Library exposed.

‘Keep it up!’ Merelie shouted and placed her hand on the huge double doors.

She whispered words under her breath that Garrowain had given to her - and her alone. No-one except the custodians and the Chapter Lord had free access to the Library. Garrowain had risked his job by telling her the passwords to get in.

The words spoken, the doors swung open silently.

Beyond was the familiar well-appointed entrance hall, this time filled with concerned looking old men dressed in the same garb as Garrowain.

‘No!’ one of them shouted, scuttling towards the door, ‘you cannot come in here! The books must be protected!’

Behind, Merelie heard Kelvin Holderness scream. She turned to see him go down under a mass of Dwellers. More of the creatures started up the corridor towards her.

Borne smacked one of them square in the face so hard it took the thing off its feet, sending it crashing into the others.

‘Merelie! Get inside!’ he ordered.

She turned back as the old custodian reached her, trying to yank the massive door closed.

Oh, to hell with it.

She muttered under her breath, word shaped and the old man went flying backwards. This would normally have been a crime punishable by a lengthy sentence in the Chapter gaol, but right now Merelie didn’t care.

Borne grabbed her round the waist, ran through the doorway and turned, slamming the door shut with his free hand. There was a whooshing noise as Wordcraft sealed the door.

Borne span round to address the custodians. ‘How long will that hold?’ he demanded.

One of the old men, who wasn’t completely shell-shocked by all of this, stumbled forward. ‘We don’t know! We’ve never seen anything with their power!’

‘No? I bloody have! Didn’t believe me though, did you?’ Merelie screeched. Borne had to hold her tight, otherwise she was liable to start whacking the frail old man around the head.

‘Calm down, Merelie!’ Garrowain demanded as he hurried across the hall, all signs of his advanced age gone. ‘They couldn’t see what was in the void any more than I could. Morodai did very well to block their existence from us.’

‘I should have known that bastard was behind this!’ Tears ran down her face. ‘My mother’s Arma is out there! He’s one of them! It means she must be dead!’

Garrowain smacked Merelie across the cheek.

This brought her to her senses immediately.

‘You hit me,’ she said in an incredulous voice.

‘Indeed. I’ll thank you to remain calm from now on, so I don’t have to do it again.’

‘How long will the door hold, Garrowain?’ Borne asked again.

‘Long enough to get you to The Cornerstone, which I trust is your reason for coming here?’

‘Yes!’ Merelie said. ‘We have to find someone who can help.’ A thought occurred to her. ‘Will you come with us?’

‘No. I would be no help over there. Besides, the books need protecting. Those things out there may have power, but we are not completely witless ourselves. But you must find someone who can be a Wordsmith from the other side, Merelie. You made the right decision in coming.’

‘It was Borne’s idea, actually. I was pretty much resigned to having my brains sucked out by purple void monsters.’

Garrowain tried to suppress a smile. ‘It seems young Mr Bloom has rubbed off on you a bit.’

‘Enough of this. Time is against us,’ Borne snapped, ending the conversation. He walked through to the Main Hub, where the Codex sat on its pedestal.

‘Your Arma is wise, child. We should go.’ Garrowain addressed the other custodians. ‘Try your best to prevent those fiends from getting in for as long as you can.’ He put his arm around Merelie and they followed Borne through to the Library proper, sealing the doors to the Hub behind them.

Garrowain’s staff lined up in front of the main doors and waited.

They didn’t have long, as a scrabbling noise came from the other side almost immediately. The monsters were trying to get in.

- 7 -

Get in they did about a minute later, while Merelie, Garrowain and Borne hurried to where The Cornerstone lay at the heart of the Library.

The elderly custodians fought bravely with their limited word shaping skills. They were used to moving books around and mollifying the incumbent guardian, not engaging in hand to hand combat with Dwellers in possession of the bodies of young, strong Chapter Guards. They were defeated in short order, leaving the Library open to abuse from the abhorrent creatures.

Led by the Dweller possessing Elijah, they swarmed through the entrance lobby, destroying the elegant furniture in an orgy of pointless destruction.

It was but the work of a few minutes to get through the doors to the Main Hub, where the ancient Codex was treated to a horrible level of abuse, and would definitely require a good scrub once all this was over.

Sniffing out their prey, the Dwellers crowded around the door that separated them from the corridor Garrowain had led Merelie and Borne down mere minutes ago.

 ‘They’re right behind us!’ Merelie said.

‘They’ll be through any minute,’ Borne agreed as they hurried along the aisle.

‘Stop!’ Garrowain ordered. ‘We have to slow them down.’

‘And how exactly do we do that? There’s too many to use Wordcraft,’ Merelie said, her eyes locked on the doorway, now far enough away to be almost lost in the gloom.