Page 29 of Trick Of Light

He didn’t have to worry. I wasn’t going back outside. “May I sleep on a chaise?” I asked, because while they looked small, it was better than sleeping on the floor.

“Of course,” he said, chuckling. “As long as you can stand the noise.”

I didn’t understand what he meant until the door opened and several female creatures came in. They weren’t human women, but they could have been taken for that from the waist up. From the waist down, they were snakes, wolves, goats; others weren’t even human-looking at all, simply what looked to my eyes like animals. Baz stripped quickly, was naked in moments, and I saw that he was covered in old scars and fresh wounds. He was bleeding in places and covered in dirt and grime. Even so, he climbed onto the bed, and the others followed, some almost feeding on him, licking and biting. When the snake woman mounted him. I turned away.

Beyond the main room was a smaller one, and I could see the floor was covered in blankets. Large pans of water and seven platters of raw meat had been placed on the floor. I took the dogs through, and as they ate, my own stomach growled. My portion, that Baz had ordered, was in the room as well, set higher on a windowsill so I’d understand that it was for me. It was the same raw meat as the dogs had, only a smaller amount. Since the only raw food I indulged in was sushi, I added mine to the dishes of the two dogs that liked me. Luckily, thanks to Malic, I’d placed several energy bars in my cargo pants before we left, because as he’d reminded me the night before, what did angels eat? “Take some bars with you,” he’d suggested, and now I was so very glad I’d listened.

A pitcher sat on a shelf, left there probably by whoever had put the food and water out for the dogs. The water was clean, and I drank greedily after eating two bars.

The dogs were asleep as soon as they ate, and I felt pretty safe in the room with only one way in or out and with seven of them between me and the door. When I sat down in a corner—I wasn’t about to sleep on the blankets with the dogs; they might get hungry in the middle of the night and take a bite out of me—I was surprised when the two that had first approached me, and I’d given my supposed dinner to, brought their blankets over to me. I hugged them both, and they lay down beside me, one on each side, and finally, I was warm. I closed my eyes just to take a quick nap.

I had a dream about falling and woke up alone. The door was open, and when I got up and peeked into the main room, I saw that several of the creatures who’d been in bed with Baz were now dead. I had no idea if that was why he was gone, but staying in a room with mutilated corpses and standing pools of blood didn’t seem smart. I had to get out.

Moving quickly and quietly, steeling myself not to vomit, I slipped out into the hall and went back down to the lobby. Or tried to. The issue was, the stairs weren’t the same at all. I had to descend them like a ladder, using the edge of the steps like handholds. It was slow going but finally I reached the opposite side of the same lobby. I was surprised, I was certain I’d wind up somewhere completely different.

Going to the door and looking outside, I saw a bonfire several women were dancing around. Looking to the parking lot, I noted animals that could have been coyotes making their way slowly toward the revelers. Thinking I should warn them, I was going to open the door and run over, when the first of the animals reached the fire and rose up on its back legs before stretching grotesquely to the size of a man. The dancers, whirling in a circle, unclasped their hands so the creature could join them, then simply continued on like it was all completely normal. Turning away from the door, I was surprised by a woman standing there, staring at me. She was beautiful, at least the half of her face I could see. The other side of her face was shrouded in darkness.

“They won’t dance long,” she told me. “They have to make the sacrifice before the fog comes or they’ll all be devoured.”

“Sacrifice?”

“That’s you, Baz said.” She shrieked and lunged at me, her mouth huge and wide, full of rows and rows of needle-sharp teeth.

Hurling open the door, I bolted outside, and the creatures in the parking lot, coyotes, wolves, I wasn’t sure, immediately gave chase.

It only took me a second—because I was the guy who yelled at the people in horror movies to make better decisions—and then I leaped high into the air, swam up into the sky, higher than I managed earlier in the night. Everything on the ground was snarling and yipping like hyenas, and I pushed even higher as I saw the fog beginning to roll in. Since I wasn’t sure what came with that, I used my arms and legs to move the thick air and kept rising above the clouds until I saw the stars.

It was comforting until I kept lifting, like a balloon, up and up, until there was nothing above and nothing below. I was floating in a great nothingness and then suddenly drowning. The water hit my skin, and I couldn’t breathe, it was so icy cold. At the same time, light nearly blinded me as I came up for air in what appeared to be a fast-moving river.

Bounced around, hitting rocks, going under again and again, hurled sideways, tumbled under the rapids, when I saw only sky in front of me, I knew I’d reached the falls. The drop was endless, but I kicked out, away, so I made an arch instead of being crushed on the rocks at the bottom. As I saw the water rushing up to meet me, I knew I was going to die despite my best efforts. I hit hard, the air was knocked out of me, and I was certain, if I remained in the water much longer, that I’d be pulverized. Scared for a second, as I floated down into the deep, dark water, I was at peace. It would take only moments to drown, and then I wouldn’t be afraid anymore.

Raphael.

If I died, he would die. And maybe, as he was really an angel, an archangel no less, he wouldn’t. Perhaps those were just empty words he had to say because he’d been disguised as a kyrie. But somehow, and I didn’t know why, I thought perhaps it was true. And if all that blood he’d been taking from me hadn’t been that, but instead him infusing me with his angelic grace, maybe he didn’t have enough, not to live through the vessel that held his grace dying. I didn’t know the answer, but I certainly wasn’t going to chance losing him, even if I’d never see him again.

Pushing with all I had left, I exploded up from the deep, only to drop back down into the placid lake. It was surprising. Normally, I would have risen and been able to leap from the water to the land. My usual strength was gone. It was alarming, and yet not, as I’d been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours and had no idea what effect the hell dimensions were having on my body. I had been able to fly, or at least levitate and glide in the last one, in Kur, but here, wherever this was, I had none of that power.

After several moments of treading water, I had enough air to swim to the shore. Once there, I turned over and closed my eyes, happy to be out and breathing. I was reasonably certain no bones were broken, but I was freezing.

“I found another one!” someone yelled, and I didn’t try and move, even when a heavy net was thrown over me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open for even one more second.

As I came to, I realized I was in a wagon even before I managed to sit up and peer through the wooden bars at the countryside. Looking around, I saw a lot of men there with me, all of them filthy, in little more than rags, most of them emaciated. Apparently, from what the guards riding along beside the wagon said, there had been an escape during a transfer from one mine to another, and they were picking up those who’d run. It was easy, as many of them were weak, and no one wanted to give refuge to runaway slaves who belonged to the king.

I tried to break the cuffs and wasn’t surprised to find I couldn’t. The verdict was in: I had no more strength than a regular man here. Wherever I was, this dimension rendered my warder power moot. If I wanted to get away, I had to count on my brain, not brawn.

By nightfall, we were crossing a bridge leading into a camp. When we stopped, we were all unloaded and made to stand in a single file, and I was last in line. One by one, the men before me were led to a pole, where first they were made to take off their shirts, then their wrists were put through loops that were quickly tightened, and finally a huge bear of a man gave each five lashes with a long, thick bullwhip. When the punishment was done, each was given a bowl of stew, a large piece of bread, and they were sent down a hill, I was guessing to wherever it was they slept. When it was my turn and I was pushed forward to face the man in charge of the mine, his brows furrowed instantly.

“What is this?” he asked the guards. “It’s not one of mine.”

“It must be,” another guard assured him.

“It’s too clean,” he said, grabbing my jaw. “Open.”

When I did, he checked my teeth, then huffed out a frustrated breath. “This belongs at the manor. Take it there and see that they pay you for its return.”

“And if it doesn’t belong there?”

“Then bring it back and we’ll put it to work. But if it belongs in the manor, then taking it back will give us silver coin, not bronze.”