Read Dark Soul Silenced - Part One Online
Authors: Simon Goodson
Dark Soul Silenced - Part One (24 page)
Chapter Twenty Five
Josef sat by the fire completely exhausted. Later they would need to seek shelter from the night, but Daniel had suggested a perfect solution. They could rest within the keep’s entrance tunnel. The inner entrance would remain sealed. With the outer entrance also sealed they would be completely safe from any attack.
Nathan would have been sure to object, but that was no longer a problem. They had all been overwhelmed with relief and joy after their unexpected escape. Even Nathan had joined in. It didn’t last for long though. Soon after Nathan had called together all the members of the Order and had denounced Josef, accusing him of witchcraft and being possessed by darkness. Cal had agreed with him, of course. Felix argued against Nathan, while Josef could only state that he did not believe he had been tainted.
After hearing the arguments Samuel had sided with Josef, and two of the guards who had stayed outside joined him.
Nathan, simmering with righteous anger, condemned those who refused to follow him. Realising he had no way to enforce his demands that Daniel, Jon, Sarah and even Josef be placed in chains he declared that he would return to Hammersgate, to carry news of Josef’s betrayal to those there. Josef wasn’t happy but what could he do? If he ordered those loyal to him to seize Nathan would they obey? And if they did he was sure Cal and the other guard would leap to Nathan’s aid. Josef felt so tired, so very weary. He couldn’t face any more conflict.
“Go then,” he said tiredly. “Go and tell them what you must. Our quest is far more important than any stories you may spread. I would ask one favour though.”
“
What?” asked Nathan suspiciously.
“
Don’t worry, I simply ask that you take William with you. Despite the healing his mind is not fully recovered. I cannot take him into more danger.”
Nathan relaxed again. He nodded. “That I can do, and will do with pleasure. You are right — he has been through enough. And do not worry, I will see him safely back to Hammersgate where the Order can decide if he has been corrupted. I have not forgotten the lesson of Ser Gerome.”
“Yet you judge me.”
“
I judge you by your actions Ser Josef,” Nathan replied stiffly. “Actions I do not believe you would ever have taken had you not been tainted.”
Josef hadn’t had the energy to argue so had simply seen them on their way. Indeed in a way he felt Nathan had a point. Not that he had been corrupted by darkness, but that his views had been changed by what he had been through. For now though all he wished was to rest.
Safely hidden from the dangers of the day, Rafael cursed in the darkness. He was too far from the keep to be able to command his blood children, or to receive reports from them, but he could sense their deaths. So many deaths! When he’d set the trap he had never imagined so many would die. It would take him decades to replace those he had lost.
At least the ambush had worked. It must have. Many of his blood children in the keep still lived, and for one brief moment he had received an image of their quarry trapped with nowhere to flee. All of those Chosen still lived so they must have destroyed the mortals.
Rafael glanced to the side, easily making out the unconscious form of the child he had kidnapped, and he smiled. The child was more than worth the cost. The power he would gain when the time came would make any sacrifice worthwhile. Still grinning he lay back to sleep away the remainder of the day.
Once darkness falls,
he thought,
we will reach town. Then nothing can stop my plans.
Sarah stood staring out at the forest, not really seeing it. Her thoughts were far away but she had no idea where. She clasped the gem which held part of Mary’s essence to her chest, desperately trying to sense which direction led to her daughter. No matter how hard she tried she gained nothing other than a sense that Mary was still alive. Alive and, for the moment, unharmed. It was something but not enough.
After a while she realised that Daniel stood beside her, patiently waiting for her to notice. He studied her face as she turned to him.
“
No success?” he asked.
“
No. I can sense her, tell she is still alive, but I have no idea where. What are we going to do?”
Daniel sighed. “We must seek the answer from those who know. Or I must.”
“But who knows?”
Daniel turned and nodded towards the keep.
“They do. Somewhere in the keep will be a vampire who knows what we need to know. I will have to find him, or her, and gain the knowledge.”
“
You plan to go back in there? Alone?”
He nodded grimly, then smiled slightly. “But not tonight. It grows late and the sun will set soon. We all need to rest, even I. Tomorrow though I will enter carrying the power of the rising sun with me, and I
will
get the answers we need.”
Even as his words warmed her heart the look on his face sent a shiver run down her spine. She had no doubt that any vampire crossing Daniel’s path would tell him every secret it knew… and that it still might not be enough to satisfy him.
Dark Soul Silenced – Part Two
The story concludes in
Dark Soul Silenced – Part Two
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