Chaos Lives in Everything - 29. Chapter 29

The sun was just starting to rise, throwing splashes of pink and vibrant orange across the sky, when Skold came home to find the seer waiting for him. She sat on his sofa, looking out the window.

Skold stopped. “Invading someone’s private property is a crime, you know?”

Annabelle stood, turned, and smiled at him. “I have never been good at following civil laws. You wanted to speak with me and so here I am. Sit, let’s talk.”

Skold bit back the snide comment that danced on his tongue; he did not like being invited to sit in his own home. None the less he sat across from her.

“What is it you want to talk about?” Annabelle asked pleasantly.

“You already know what I want to talk about. I want you to tell me everything about the necromancer.”

The seer tilted her head back slightly. “You think that if I tell you what I know about him then it will help you defeat him? It won’t. I told you that he’s too powerful for you. You found that out the hard way the other night, didn’t you?”

“Maybe not on my own, no. But if I brought a few friends to the fight then I just might. Regardless it doesn’t matter. Something has to be done. How much of the future have you seen?”

Annabelle stood up and walked over to the window. Her face glowed even brighter as the morning light hit it. “I have seen the end of the world. It is near. As I’ve told you, this is just the beginning of something much bigger. Even if you stop this war from occurring it will only divert the end of all things it won’t actually stop it. Even then I am not certain of everything. No seer, no matter how powerful she may be, has the ability to see the future in its entirety. With every second that passes, with every decision that is made, it can change in the blink of an eye.

“Alas, I will tell you about Bane. Granted, I don’t know much. No one does. A long, long time ago he was an elf just like you are. In the days when human beings were just starting to emerge from their caves and becoming less and less savage, Bane had a different name. Glaubigen the Faithful he was called, for he was a monk, a faithful deciple of the spirits of Valhalia.”

Skold’s eyes widened in surprise. “You mean to tell me that the thing I fought the other night used to be a monk?”

Though Skold could not see her face in its entirety he could tell from the sound of her voice tha Annabelle was smiling. It was a knowing smile. “Yes, surprising isn’t it? It’s proof that even the brightest, most innocent of souls can be cast into shadow, become warped and deluded. In those days Bane or Glaubigen shall we say, was the most devout of the monks. He did not harbor the same ill will towards our inferior cousins as most of us do. There was not a poor, starving soul that he turned away whether it be human or fae. But moreover his heart belonged to the spirits of Vahalia, our creators. Through them he was a guide to the souls here on earth could too join and become part of Vahalia and gain the power to wield Cerbyndueng. But not everyone serves the spirits of Vahalia as you know. There are some that serve the Frrey Mann.”

“Sacralists,” Skold said.

“Yes. Glaubigen’s temple was isolated from the rest of the world. It would make sense that the deciples of Vahalia did not want the outside world to interfere with their ways. It is also what made them vulnerable. The Frrey Mann ordered his disciples to go to the temple and slaughter Vahalia’s disciple...all except one. Glaubigen. They tortured him for days, destroyed the temple, and left him for dead, to deal with the merciless cold of winter.

For days Glaubigen wandered through the icy desolate landscape, slowly starving and freezing to death. He prayed to the spirits of Vahalia to save him, provide him shelter and food just as he’d prayed to them to save his fellow desciples...only to find that his prayers were unheeded. He became furious with the spirits...and who can blame him? He’d lost everything. There was only one way to survive: He killed himself and as he took his last breaths, offered his soul to the Frrey Mann.”

Just like Faust did with Satan, Skold thought. Both stories are almost exactly the same.

The seer continued with her tale. “The Frrey Mann, though the most monstrous looking of all fae, was no fool. He knew how devoted Glaubigen was to the spirits of Vahalia. Rather than claim his soul for all eternity he wanted to claim Glaubigen in another way: Use him against the spirts of Vahalia, for it was they who cast him down to the underworld for all eternity. So he remade Glaubigen and in remaking him he renamed him. I think you can guess what his name became.”

“Bane,” Skold said.

“And with his new name came a new, far greater power than anything Bane had ever known in his first life: the ability to raise and control the dead. Death magic. Over the many, many centuries since then Bane’s soul whithers more and more. Now you can’t even recognize him. It is as if his flesh has been burned by the hottest flame. He has died many times and each time the Frrey Mann has brought him back as something more monstrous.”

The seer turned to face Skold. “Parts of your story are not so different from Bane’s. This you already know but only in a sense. You’ve only heard it from other people’s mouths, rumors and legends and mixed truths. And yet you know the real truth in your heart. You went to the necromancer and you sold your soul to him the same way that he sold his soul to the Frrey Mann. In the end he taught you Death Magic. For a time you were lovers but your lover was just a farce to trick him. Once you got what you needed from him you left to end Paladin and his long and bloody war. And now he’s after you. Now he seeks vengeance. Speak it. Say what you know to be true.”

“Yes, it is the truth,” Skold said. The words were almost impossible to say. He could feel them trying to burrow deep down inside of him. The truth had been there, trying to come out ever since his encounter with the necromancer at Samhein’s party.

“Even if you were to defeat him the Frrey Mann would only give him a new body,” the seer said. “As I said you would only delay what is to come.”

Skold stood up. “We cannot worry about the future if there is not a future to worry about. So what if he comes back later? If it buys us time then so be it. Right now the only thing that matters is defeating him now. And you could help us do that.”

Annabelle shook her head sadly. “I am already doing more than I should be. Seers are not supposed to interfere directly with the course of fate. It goes against the laws of Cerbyndeung just as death magic does. It is a sin, you understand.”

“I care not. Rules are meant to be broken.”

“Yes,” the seer said with a nasty sneer. “And look where that has gotten you. You are but a shadow of your former self. A ghost. That is the price you paid for your actions.”

“And it is a price that I would pay a thousand times over if I had it to pay!” Skold retorted. “Underneath that guise you are nothing but a cowardly old bitch and not even the most powerful glamor spell can change that!”

With a shriek Annabelle lunged at her, her feet floating several inches off the ground. As she glided towards him her glamor skin fell off, her hair falling off and disappearing before it hit the floor. Underneath of her false guise was an old hag straight from the pits of the underworld, a nightmarish thing.

Skold pulled out his Colt and pointed it directly at her forehead. She came to a stop.

“I will rip out your tongue!” she snarled.

“Go ahead. My cock and balls and memories are gone. Do you really think the ability to speak means anything to me?”

The seer said nothing.

Skold drew back the hammer of the Colt. “Tell me, where is the necromancer? Where can I find him?”

“He lives amongst dead things in the tunnels beneath our feet. The entrance to his domain is in an old crypt within the city’s cemetary.” The seer’s face transformed back into the guise of a young woman, her wrinkly flesh disolving into smoothness. She was sobbing and fell to her knees, her hands clasped together in fear. “Skold, you can’t go down there. He will kill your friends. He will torture them first just so that he can make you suffer.”

Skold regarded her thoughtfully and cocked the gun back, stowing it away. “Not if I can help it. Be glad that I am trying to turn over a new leaf for if not I would blow your brains through the back of your skull. Get out of my apartment, seer. And unless you change your mind do not come back or I will kill you.”

Bowing her head, the seer disappeared in a flash of purple light.

Skold sat down suddenly feeling very exhausted. He set the Colt on the coffee table and leaned his head back. No sooner than he closed his eyes someone knocked on the door. He did not have the energy or the care to get up and see who it was.

“Come in,” he called.

It was Dom. “I thought I would come and see how you were doing. You look tired. Do you need me to go?”

Skold shook his head and smiled; the sight of Dom lifted his spirits. “Stay. I could use your company.”

Dom sat next to him and delicately brushed a strand of Skold’s hair out of his face. “You look tired.”

“I am. Things with the seer did not go well.” Skold sighed, feeling hopeless, yet another feeling that was unfamiliar to him. “She will not help us.”

“So what will we do?”

“I will do what needs to be done. I will face the necromancer again or die trying.”

“You mean we.”

“I will not ask you or anyone else to risk their lives for what could be a suicide mission.”

“I’ve told you many times before and I will say it many more times if I must but where you go I will go. Without question. Even if that means we must walk down the road of death together then we will do so hand in hand. When do we go?”

“Night fall. The seer gave me a clue as to the necromancer’s location. He lives underground. Apparently there’s a passage that leads underground in an old mausolieum in the cemetary.”

Dom chuckled. “That’s still rather vague.”

“It is. However we will find it all of the same.”

“Until then we both better get some sleep. We have a long night ahead of us.”

Yes, Skold thought as Dom took his head and led him into the bedroom. Sleep sounds good. But first I must call Rebecca

Five minutes later Skold followed Dom into the bedroom. He pulled the curtains over the windows so that the room was almost completely dark. He fell asleep with his head resting on Dom’s chest, his face looking peaceful.

Rebecca’s arm fell down at her side, cell phone in her hand. She felt sick to her stomach. What had she gotten herself into? She glanced over her shoulder at Melanie. Melanie who laid on her mattress, snoring quietly, peacefully asleep. Last night had been nothing short of magical, making love in the dark, the smell of her perfume, the way Rebecca’s skin tingled when Melanie touched her. And this could be the last time that I see her, Rebecca thought

“I don’t want you to come,” Skold had said on the phone, sounding exhausted. “It will be dangerous and there is no guarantee that I can protect you.”

Despite the terrible twisting in her stomach Rebecca had told him that she would go regardless of the risks; after all she was part of the team.

I am nothing if not comitted, she thought.

She sat down on the edge of the mattress being careful not to wake Melanie up. She watched her face, the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Rebecca was reluctant to wake her up. She shook her gently.

Melanie rolled towards her. Her eyes fluttered open, face relaxed. Her soft, pink nipple brushed against Rebecca’s wrist. “I hope I wasn’t snoring,” she said.

“No, you weren’t snoring. I’m sorry to wake you but I have a client that I have to meet.”

“Oh.” Melanie sat up. “Do you need me to go?”

Rebecca shook her head. “My place is your place. You can stay as long as you want, sleep in if you need to. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“I might just do that. I don’t have to go over to Dimitri’s until four.”

“What are you doing at Dimitri’s?”

“We’re going through some new songs that I wrote. I wish you could come with.”

“I wish I could too but duty calls. If I don’t have anything going on I’ll come next time.” If there is a next time.

“Just make sure you’re safe, okay? If you need anything call me. I’ll come running.”

Rebecca said that she would and kissed her deeply just in case it was their last.

Skold could feel the anticipation as Candestine drove the van through the night. On this night it seemed especially dark, the wind sharp and cutting as if hinting at the dangers to come. Even he was tense and full of dread.

All too soon it seemed they were at the city’s cemetary. They climbed out of the van. Everyone was armed with weapons including Rebecca. She carried a Glock with several magazines of ammo and a sword. Skold made sure to show her how to reload several times until he was sure that she could remember.

Skold led them through the cemetary past rows and rows of gravestones. His eyes scanned the darkness searching for signs of danger. He stopped when he saw the seer standing over by a solumn looking oak tree with bare branches; the branches shook in the wind, making the sound of brittle old bones knocking into one another. Instead of wearing her white dress Annabelle wore a dark hooded cloak. Skold would not have recognized her if it had not been for her bright red hair.

Annabelle pulled down her hood. “I have come to offer what help I can.”

“What changed your mind?” Skold asked

“I thought hard about what you said,” Annabelle replied, “and all that you sacraficed for victory, and how you said if you could it all over again you would pay the price gladly. I suppose they lit a spark within me. The best way that I can ensure the future is to fight alongside you. I am sure that there will be consequences for no good deed goes unpunished; but whatever the price is I will pay it. And I seek your forgiveness for earlier.”

Skold nodded. “You are forgiven.”

Annabelle glanced at the others. “I know where the mausolieum is. I will take you to it. The passage is in the oldest mausolieum here in the cemetary.” She moved gracefully, almost seeming to float. If the chill of the wind bothered her she did not show it.

Rebecca looked around before asking the seer, “Are you really here? Like, really?”

“In the flesh,” the seer replied with a curl of her lip.

Rebecca let out a breath of relief. With the seer in their company their chances of surviving the night was probably much higher.

The seer led them to the mausolieum in question. It was in the back of the cemetary where gravestones were older and more worn. There were cracks in the stone. An ancient stone angel guarded the mausolieum silently, holding a trombone to her lips. At the front of the mausolieum was a grated door.

“Hmmm,” Skold said, running his fingers over it. “The padlock is new.”

“How else would the bastard get in and out?” Candestine said sarcastically. Her smirk turned into a thoughtful grown. “I’m not sensing any wards around the mausolieum. What about you, seer?”

“None that I can sense. That does not mean that the necromancer is without protection.”

“We are wasting time,” Skold said. He waved impatiently at the grated door. “Dom if you would be so kind.”

“Gladly.” Handing the shotgun he carried to Skold, Dom grabbed the bars of the door in both hands and pulled hard with a grunt. Bits of mortar crumbled to the ground as the door came free. He set the door aside and wiped his hands on his pants to get the dust off.

Together the group filed into the mausolieum.

The inside of the mausolieum smelled strongly of dust and rotting flowers. A large cobweb clung to the corner of the entrance where a fat hairy spider watched them balefully. Dom grunted in disgust and slapped it away with the muzzle of his shotgun.

“The passage is there.” The seer pointed at an ancient crypt.

Skold pulled out his flashlight and walked around the crypt, studying it. Gripping the edge of it he pulled, prying the top of it. A set of stone steps led down through the passage. Skold shine the light on it. The darkness was thick, impenetrable. It was impossible to tell how far down the steps went.

Rebecca covered her mouth and nose. “Do you smell that?” she said, voice muffled. “That’s awful. It’s like there’s a thousands of dead bodies in there.”

“He lives amongst dead things,” Skold said, repeating Annabelle’s words. He looked at Rebecca. “Are you sure you don’t want to go home? Now is the time to change your mind if so.”

“Nuh huh.” Rebecca shook her head, pulling the Glock out of its holster. She pointed the muzzle towards the ground like Skold had shown her. “I said that I was going with you and I meant it.”

Skold nodded. “Down we go, then.”

With Skold taking the lead the, group began to make their way down the steps into the necromancer’s domain.