Page 8 of Cursed Shadows

I turn to see Eilish and Cambion close behind us, their knees wobbly and their eyes tired. This realm is taking its toll on them. Yes, Grimreap is the exception to the rule, but they were weak before they ever arrived here and they are becoming weak again. I pause until Eilish reaches me and then I lift her into my arms. There’s no reason for her to exhaust herself when she weighs next to nothing and won’t slow me down any more than the manticore’s venom already is.

“Are you going to carry me, Thoradin?” Cambion asks with a raspy laugh.

“Fuck you,faerie,” Thoradin responds.

Baron ducks into an empty side alley and follows a dark, covered stairway that has no apparent end—it merely fades into blackness. EmployingDevil’s Sight, I’m able to extend my vision into the darkness one hundred twenty feet in front of me. It’s still not enough; all I can see are more steps.

“Where is he taking us?” Eilish whispers.

I don’t respond other than with a nod to let her know I trust Baron but I don’t have an answer. Well. I trust Baron as much as you can trust a man who should be dead but clearly isn’t.

We continue downward into the increasing darkness, and the sound of running water follows us as we go. Finally, torches along the wall illuminate our path and we turn to enter a small wooden door that, even crouched, Thoradin and I struggle to pass through.

CHAPTER THREE

EILISH

Grimreap

Shadow Realm

Inside, there are several cots and a small, robed man sitting beside a burning fire. His face is turned away from us; all I can see is the shine of his bald head in the low light of the flame. After my eyes adjust, I notice several other details about the room—the most alarming of which is the man lying on a bunk in the darkest corner of the room. He’s still, as if asleep, but his arms and legs are bound to the cot beneath him.

“Ah, Revenant,” says the man without turning to look at us. “You brought friends.” Then, he faces Dragan. “And one of them is wounded.”

“Wounded?” I ask, looking up at him in surprise. He places me on my feet.

“The manticore infected him,” Baron says to the old man, with no emotion in his voice. He reaches inside the leather satchel around his waist and hands the old man a vial of something clear.

“Come,” the old man orders, and Dragan approaches him. It’s then that I notice his limp. I’m shocked that he’s carried me all this way when he was injured the whole time.

The man removes the cork from the vial and faces Dragan. He reaches for the gargoyle’s right leg and lifts it. In the low light of the fire, I can see the rip in Dragan’s black pants, just below his thigh. The old man rips the rest of the pants to get a good view of the wound. It’s glaringly red and dripping blood.

“This will burn,” the old man warns before he dumps the clear liquid from the vial onto Dragan’s leg. The liquid immediately begins to bubble up in a misty foam. Dragan’s hands clench into fists and he closes his eyes, sealing his lips ina tight line. The liquid, meanwhile, has stopped foaming and is now steaming up the air.

“It will take a few hours to heal completely,” the old man says and nods quickly to Dragan.

“You have my gratitude,” Dragan replies in a deep, low voice before he turns around and faces the others. Everyone has been quiet as we’ve watched the old man tend to his wounds.

Cambion speaks, and his voice sounds exhausted. “You go by Revenant now,” he says to Baron, but his inflection doesn’t pose this as a question, just a statement. Baron doesn’t respond.

“What is this place?” Dragan asks, but he receives no response. Instead, Baron removes the numerous bags he’s tucked underneath his jacket and places them by the fire. He doesn’t seem to have heard Dragan.

Suddenly, the man I assumed was asleep lets out a gagged scream; if in pain or fear, I can’t tell. The legs of his cot grate against the floor as his arms strain against the bindings, his body violently seizing. He shakes his head back and forth, his eyes clamped closed, and he continues to yell into the rag that covers his mouth. Then, as quickly as the screaming began, it ends. The man’s head rolls to the side as he appears to find sleep once more.

A feeling of foreboding washes over me.

“I have brought… people in need of help, Master Ash,” Baron says, finally.

I notice Cambion and Dragan watching the interaction with pointed curiosity and surprise.

“How did you find us, Baron… Revenant?” Dragan asks.

“Find you?” asks the vampire, seemingly confused. The more he looks at both of them, the clearer it is to me that he doesn’t recognize them.

“Don’t you know who we are?” Cambion asks.

Baron looks at Cambion quizzically but remains silent. He turns to Master Ash. “They require a room and food,” he says. “Can you… will you accommodate them?”

---