Dark Soul Silenced - Part One (22 page)

Pleased with his efforts Daniel called Jon over.  Sarah followed behind morosely.  Daniel was shocked to see tears on her cheeks, then cursed himself for having lost sight of what had happened.  He spoke to Jon first.

“Jon, can you sense the power in the block?”

“
Yes!  I couldn’t sense anything from the first block, the fire block, other than the tremendous heat it’s throwing out.  This one is different though.  I think I could draw energy from it.  Is it safe?”

“
I think so.  I pulled power from the other block.  Will you be able to work with the power from this one?”

“
Yes.  There’s enough here to finish healing William, though I still worry over the damage his brain has taken.  I can’t do anything to fix that.  As for Cal… if I tried to help I think he’d knife me.  For that matter, I think he might try that anyway.  We need to keep an eye on him.  Nathan too.”

“
I agree.  I will watch them both closely.  Now, do you need my help to draw power while you work on William?”

“
No, I don’t think so.  I struggle to draw power from our surroundings but this feels more ordered, more like the power you’ve lent to me when I needed it.  I’ll start now.”

Jon stood and walked towards William, already wrapped up in the thoughts of what he would need to do.  For the moment he was unaware of Sarah’s distress.  She made to follow Jon but Daniel called her back.

“Sarah, words cannot express how sorry I am for what has happened.  I meant it when I said I would not rest until Mary is safe.  Believe me, I
will
find her and she
will
be safe.”

“
But how?”  The anguish in Sarah’s voice tore at Daniel’s heart.  “How?  Even if we escape this god forsaken place, how will you find her?”

“
Right now I do not know, but I am still exploring the powers I have gained.  The first step is to escape this trap.  Clearly Rafael feared us — otherwise we would have found the crystal we thought was Mary dumped in the forest.  We have already killed many of his kind and will kill more, whether we escape or not.  That tells me that he fears we can reach him in time to interfere with his plans, and that means we can reach Mary in time to save her.”

Daniel studied Sarah as she absorbed his words.  She stood taller and a fierce gleam returned to her eyes.  She smiled a tight smile.

“Thank you.  As you say, the first step is to get out of this trap.  God help any vampire that stands between me and my daughter.  When do we start?”

“
Not yet.  Not till the morning.  We need to be able to put a decent distance between us and this place without the vampires stalking us.  Daylight will give us that chance.  I need to spend more time understanding the keep as well — the more I understand the better chance we have of getting free.”

Daniel expected her to be disappointed but she just nodded. 

“We need to rest too,” she said.  “It’s been a long day and we’ve all fought hard.  We need food and rest.  Tomorrow we can cut ourselves a path through those damned creatures.  I need to talk to Jon, tell him what you told me, and make sure he rests.  Healing takes a lot out of him.”

She said the last with a touch of pride.  As she turned away Daniel was struck by how much her attitude had changed in such a short time — from fearing, even hating, the power that Mary had shown to being proud that Jon wielded the same power.  Shaking his head Daniel turned back to his efforts to understand the keep’s strange structure.

Josef crossed to where Cal was still resting against the wall, to see how he was doing.  Nathan immediately came over too.  Both men were frostily polite, making it quite clear they wanted nothing to do with Josef.  He asked a few more questions then left them to it, knowing the growing rift was something he would have to tackle soon.

Next he went to where Jon had just finished further healing of William.  The injured guard still slept but his skin was a much healthier colour now.  Felix, the other uninjured guard, was sitting nearby, watching.

“How is he?” Josef asked Jon.

“
Most of the damage is healed now, the damage I can repair at least.  His brain took some damage that I can’t repair.  Until he wakes I have no idea what the impact will be.  For now his body needs to rest.”

“
Thank you — for William and myself.  I can’t claim to be comfortable with the power you wield, but without it both of us would be dead right now.  Maybe this is how the road to damnation starts but somehow I think not.  Though Nathan and Cal disagree I’m sure.”

“
Then they need to open their eyes and take a good look round,” Felix said sternly, to Josef’s surprise.  “Outside that door are creatures straight from the heart of darkness, and they are desperate to get in here and kill every one of us.  I’ve seen many things in my time, I’ve travelled to many places in the service of the Order, and one thing I’m sure of is that nothing in this world is black and white.”

“
I can count on your loyalty then?” Josef asked.

“
Aye, and if we get out of here I’ll make sure Samuel and the others know what really happened too.”

Josef nodded his thanks, greatly relieved.  With Cal badly injured that just left Nathan to worry about.  With Felix backing him up, not to mention Jon, Sarah and Daniel, he felt far more confident.  With luck Nathan would back down in the face of such odds, though Josef didn’t plan to relax his guard.  He wondered how things had got so bad, to the point that he feared a knife in the night from one of his own men, and more importantly how he could turn things around.

Daniel finished his final experiment, successfully infusing yet another block with power.  He sat back with a sigh, then realised that Josef was sitting nearby.  Daniel gave him a tired smile.

“
You’ve done well,” Josef said.  “I can sense the flows.  Each block seems different, each has a different… colour I suppose.  Is that how you see it too?”

“
Yes.  It is how Jon sees it as well, or at least how he sees the power he can manipulate — the energy with the green tint.  He cannot sense the others though.  I find it interesting that you can.  Have you tried reaching for the power, seeing if you too can draw on the power.”

Josef recoiled in horror.  “No!  No.  Sorry, but no.  I don’t think I could, but I’m not ready to try.  Maybe I never will be.  I’ve already accepted much that goes against what I was taught.  That would be a step, no a long leap, too far.”

“I apologise.  I do not have your background so I forget quite how difficult this must be for you.”

“
Except you do have my background, you just don’t remember it.”

“
Maybe.  Even if you are right, to me it is as if I do not have that background.”

“
So, you’ve managed to draw power through the keep,” Josef said, quickly changing the subject.  “Will it help us?”

“
Somewhat, though not much more than if I open the window and draw power that way.  I have tried pushing my senses out through the channels but with no success.  I still have no idea what lays beyond this room, or whether the vampires still wait for us — though I am sure they do.  I can draw enough power to lead the fight tomorrow.  I can use it to destroy several vampires at a time, or to shield us from their attacks, but there will still be far too many of them.”

“
Can you activate blocks as we go?  Use them to draw more power to keep the creatures at bay as we head downstairs?”

“
No.  It takes too long, and too much concentration, to do it while threatened.”

“
So we are left with our first plan, to use the sunlight?”

“
Yes, though even that will be of limited use.  We will need to move just after dawn, when the sun’s rays are nearly horizontal, and there will only be a short time that the sun will shine through the window and on through inner the door.  Indirect daylight will aid us against the vampires but it will not easily kill them or force them too far back.  They can simply withdraw to an area still in shadow.  The sun won't reach the staircase.  Even if we make it to the stairs we have six floors to fight our way down.”

“
You paint a bleak picture my friend.”

Daniel smiled at that, struck yet again by how much had changed so quickly.  From Josef’s prisoner to his friend in what seemed like a blink of an eye.

“Maybe, but we have hope.  When we open the door tomorrow it will be a complete surprise to those outside.  The sunlight will also buy us enough time to examine our surroundings.  I suspect the other rooms will also have doors that I can trigger, which may trap some of the vampires.  The sun may destroy a few too if we are lucky.  We could all have been killed when the ambush was sprung.  Everything now is a bonus.”

Josef nodded.  “Sarah told me your theory about Rafael, that he setup this ambush because he fears we could reach him in time to save Mary and stop his plan.  That makes sense to me, though I’m not sure how we can achieve it.”

‘Sarah’, Daniel noted, and ‘Mary’.  No longer ‘the girl’ and ‘the girl’s mother’.  Things truly were changing quickly.

“
No, at the moment I have no ideas either, but until we escape it is academic.”

“
True.  Do you think it has something to do with that jewel though?  Should we smash it?  Would the Seeker Amulet be able to track Mary then?”

“
I suspect not.  If that was the case Rafael would simply have had one of his minions keep carrying the jewel farther and farther away, leading us on a wild goose chase.”  He stood.  “We should examine it though.”

They walked over to the jewel which still rested in the crate, pulsing gently with it’s blue light.  Sarah and Jon joined them.  Daniel closed his eyes and focused on the jewel, letting his senses play over it.  Finally he opened them again.

“The jewel seems to resonate with something of Mary’s essence.  I fear destroying it may do Mary harm.  I feel that we should take the jewel with us and seek to return this essence to her.”  He saw Sarah tense and raised a hand.  “I am sure she is fine, that even if the jewel was destroyed she would survive, but it would be better not to.  I doubt the Amulet would track Mary now even if the jewel was destroyed.  Rafael must have known of the Amulet, and of how it works, and has ensured the part of Mary’s essence that it could track was removed from her.”

“
We should take it then,” Josef said.  “Will you carry it?”

Daniel shook his head.  “Sarah should take the jewel.  She carried Mary for nine months, it is only right that she carries this part of Mary.  We can wrap the jewel in cloth but I sense it is very strong — possibly as strong as diamond — so it shouldn’t come to any harm.  For that matter, even if we wanted to destroy it we would struggle to do so.”

Sarah cautiously reached into the crate, stopping several times before she finally placed her hands on the jewel, then she drew it out and gazed into it’s depths.  Finally she held it to her chest, tears flowing freely.

“
Yes, part of her is trapped in the jewel.  I can sense it.  It’s like an echo of my little girl.  We
will
find her, and we
will
return this part of her.  I swear it on my life!”

“
And I on mine,” Jon said, wrapping his arms around his wife and the jewel.

They ate a warm meal, deciding to eat well rather than preserve their rations.  They had enough for the morning and, one way or another, they wouldn’t be relying on what was in their packs after that.  It was a gamble but Josef knew they needed their strength.

William woke and was helped into a sitting position.  He was quiet, subdued, but seemed to be aware of his surroundings and was able to eat a little.  Josef decided not to push him — any confusion was as likely to be down to his ordeal as to any damage to his brain.  Soon William was asleep again, his body needing time to recover despite Jon’s efforts.

As everyone settled down to sleep, Josef spoke quietly to Daniel who said he could easily stay awake all night.  He would stand watch in case of any danger — from outside the group or within.  Nathan and Cal announced that they would share guard duties through the night, making it clear without speaking that they would be watching the other members of the group.  Too tired to argue Josef settled down to sleep.

Josef woke stiff and sore from his night sleeping on the floor.  The room was still warm but with no bedroll he had slept uncomfortably, though not enough to wake him from exhausted sleep.

Daniel confirmed that Cal and Nathan had been true to their word and between them had stood guard all night.  Josef just nodded, he’d expected no less.

“You’d better open the window,” he told Daniel.  Dawn should be close so I don’t think there’s any danger, and we can’t risk starting our breakout too late.

Daniel agreed and moved to the window, manipulating the flows of power so the window reappeared.  But instead of the pre-dawn light that Josef had expected bright sunlight poured in.  Not only that but the angle showed that it was several hours past dawn, the sun was already far higher in the sky than they’d needed it to be.  Somehow sleeping in the windowless room had thrown everyone’s sense of time.  Feeling sick to his stomach Josef realised they had missed their chance.  They would have to wait until the next morning, spending another day and night in this room, or risk breaking free without the help of the sun.  Josef started cursing both their luck and himself for oversleeping.  What were they going to do?