Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

12

Iawoke the next night from a dreamless sleep. And I could not disregard the disappointment I felt. Rolling over in his bed, I surveyed the dark sky beyond the forever drawn curtains and sighed. I was beginning to forget what the sun looked like. Even in my head I recognised the dramatic flare of my thought, but it was true.

Marius’s study had only conjured more questions I had for him. And looking at the star-filled sky beyond the dusty windows yet another question sprang to mind.

Why did he hide during the day?

Oh, and another.

Where?

I waited in bed for him to reveal himself. But his absence was obvious. The night before he had not long left after we arrived at his study. It was a change in mood that happened in a blink of an eye. Marius had offered his apologies and left abruptly, leaving me alone with the many stories of his. Stories in which I had started to read through, only giving up when the calls of hunger spasmed in my stomach. It did not feel right to take a book from the room. So I left them, promising silently to return again.

I dressed myself without a thought, pulling freshly folded clothes from the dark, chestnut wardrobe. Much like the outfit I had arrived in I opted for a familiar loose tunic and fitted trousers that buttoned up at my waist tightly.

I had almost expected to bump into him as I found my way into the prepared dining hall. But he was not there.

After I’d finished eating, only one thought passed through my foggy mind. I have to speak with Mother.

As soundless as I could, I moved through the castle, taking the route back to the charred room I had stayed in before I set it alight. There was no sign of Marius or the mystery servants that clearly hid among the dark rooms of this place.

Perhaps Marius’s strange power of darkness kept them hidden just as he had created the illusion over the wing of the castle that contained his study.

Still the scent of scorched wood clung to the air of the burned room. It was not as pungent as before, but strong enough to smell it before I entered its boundaries.

There the scrying bowl lay, where I had dropped it as I’d ran after Katharine beyond the now closed window of the room. I scooped it from the floor, feeling the warped body of the bowl. It was cold to the touch. Almost lifeless.

Marius could be anywhere, and I had to keep my magic hidden. But the urge to speak with Mother was intense. It was likely a better idea to wait for morning since I knew there would be no risk of him listening.

But that involved waiting. And I did not like the thought of that.

I raced back to his room, scrying bowl held protectively to my chest. The door shut behind me the moment I entered through it. There were many ways I could have kept it closed without a lock and key. I could have melted the ancient bolt. Raised the slabbed flooring inches from the ground until it blocked the door if it was opened from the outside. But this magic would leave such an obvious mark — and Marius would kill me the moment he knew what I was.

Just as he had warned.

As he had promised.

Be quick.I warned myself, nestling into bed with the bowl in my crossed legs. The door was to my back, giving me a moment to act if Marius decided to show himself.

I closed my eyes, inhaling slowly, as I called for the elements. Water. I imagined its cool kiss, forceful strength and guiding movement. Above my open palm I felt its trickling presence as I pulled the moisture from the air. By the time I opened my eyes the sphere of azure spun wildly, waiting for its command to enter the scrying bowl.

“Stop before he sees what you are.”

The water splashed across my lap and chest in an explosion. My entire body stilled, but the fire within me rose to the surface in response to the intruder that stood behind me.

I turned to face them, ready to rain my magic upon them. To turn them into cinders to prevent them from telling Marius what they had seen.

The figure was no more than a wisp of grey smoke, twisting tendrils of cloud that hung inches above the ground. A body so faint that I could see through it, to the wall behind. It was a small girl, no more than the age of eight, features captured in youth that rippled like the water of a lake.

My mind could not comprehend what I was seeing as the body materialised before me, not completely though as the edges of the colourless girl shivered.

I blinked, unsure what I was witnessing. Flames danced around my fingers, ready and waiting for my release.

“Your magic will not harm me.” She kept deathly still. “Calm yourself.”

I fisted my hand, closing off my connection to the fire. Everything was silent as I stared dumfounded at the girl.

“What…”

“A soul. A ghost. A spirit. Your guess is as good as mine, believe me. But I am already dead. Your magic will not harm me, so do not waste your time using it.”

I studied her shimmering figure, rubbing at my eyes in hopes that it would help make sense of what I saw when I opened them again. My mind could not fathom what I witnessed. Not as the child hovered from the ground in a billow of unseen wind.

Then it hit me. “It was you. The first day, it was you who gave me the key.”

“It was.” There was something aged about her tone. Her voice was light as a child’s, but the hidden undercurrent was anything but young.

“And with Marius.” The vision of the night I had followed him into the lower floors of the castle filled my mind.

“He was careless to let you follow,” she scorned. “But that is Marius. Careless and foolish. And it would seem you are not different, using your power in this castle, let alone at night when he roams freely.”

“I cannot let you tell him.” I stood, readying all the elements to wait for my word. All my training and I had never been told how to destroy a spirit. Souls of the dead did not linger on this plane. That’s what Mother told me. But here one stood.

“And what are you going to do?” she said, arms folding across her colourless body. “Set me ablaze like you did your room? Blow me away with some gust of stale air?” She almost laughed as she taunted me. “If you stop accusing me and actually listen you would know that I would not tell Marius what I have seen. If I wanted to ruin your plans I could have done so days ago.”

It was a strange feeling, being told off by a girl, let alone one that was not alive. “Why? Why not tell him?”

“We have watched you since your first day. If we wanted to inform Marius of your secrets we would have done so. I trusted you would be smart about concealing your power, but you risk exposure when using it during the night. It was a foolish risk you were about to take.”

It felt as though I was being scorned by Lamiere. Not a child.

I stepped forward, hands ready at my sides. I would try everything to end this… thing. “And why do you care if I succeed?”

There was no reason to hide the snarl of the beast that lived within me. The one poised and ready to kill when and if required.

“Because we want this curse to end. And I know why you are here and what you plan to do. I heard your last council with the woman in the water. I know you are here to take Marius’s life. It is time this ends.”

My brows furrowed as I closed in on the spirit. “We?”

“The rest of us agitated souls. We are trapped in this god forsaken castle as part of the dammed curse your bloodline put upon him. For years I have wandered these rooms, seeing others come and die. Only to join me in this haunting existence. It must end. And we will do anything to see it through.”

“I heard you speak with him. You are his closest… friend. Yet you would let me go on knowing that I will kill him?”

The spirit closed her pale eyes for a moment. “You will try to kill him and I do hope you succeed. There are countless souls in this castle that know what happens on that fateful night. How he changes into a…”

“Beast.” The elements slipped away from me as the realisation hit. Marius had killed her. Her name likely sat waiting upon the shelf in his study.

“His kind is nameless. The first of whatever he is. A twisted creature made by the same magic that runs through your blood and soul. Believe me, I do not wish death upon Marius in the manner you may think. I simply wish him freedom. As I want it for myself.”

My body grew heavy as I listened to the phantom. How her face was pinched in sorrow, all but her eyes that seemed to scream with a plea. Pleading for me to do what needed to be done.

“I feel as if I should know your name,” I said. “You know much about me, it is only fair.”

“Victorya,” she replied, blinking her wide, round eyes. It was impossible to imagine the colour they would have been. What shade her hair had glowed beneath the sun. Now she was only shades of grey and white.

“You told him not to get close to me,” I said. “I heard you, Victorya.”

“Because it is worse for us all. If you fail and your soul does not pass on as it should, Marius will be left with yet another painful reminder of what he did. You will wander the shadows. Unseen unless he requires your presence.”

“Where are the others?”

“Hidden. Marius keeps them that way. It has been years since he last let another soul manifest in the way I have. They keep to the shadows, doing what is needed, to set the scene of normalcy in this place.”

I felt my breath shudder as it all made sense to me. “It is you who prepare the food. Who fill the tub with water and provide me with clothes to wear. Why have you not shown yourself before?”

“Because Marius has forbidden it.” Victorya surged forward, a dusting of shadow left in her wake. “You must not tell him I revealed myself to you.”

It was not just her that pleaded to have her secret kept from Marius. And I sensed her fear as if it tugged on my own, overwhelming me.

“Just as you cannot tell him about me.”

“It seems we both hold leverage over one another,” she murmured. “As long as you follow your plans through.” There was something about the way she said it that screamed disbelief.

“You think I will not.”

“I have seen others fall into lust with Marius. You are following a similar path as they did. I fear that you may be our only chance to finally… move on. To wherever it is that waits for us beyond the boundaries of this place. Please…” Victorya’s light voice took a dive into something deeper, more feral and desperate. “You must finish this.”

I swallowed, audibly. “This is an act. A way to get close to him.”

“Is it?” Victorya floated back from me, inching towards the far wall of the room. “You will need to convince yourself first before you can convince me to believe that.”

I frowned, shaking my head in disagreement. But it seemed she was not ready to hear my counter for her comments. For she moved further away from me, as though she was a leaf caught in a gust of wind. Victorya drifted into the stone wall, her body passing through it in a single, shuddering breath. Leaving me alone, in silence, with nothing but the storm of anxiety blustering through my very soul.