11.
 As Kanon walked along wide open, sunny streets, wind blew in his hair. He felt the sphere in his coat, and it seemed to warm toward him like a living thing seeking his qualities. Was he a good or bad person? Would he help the sphere organism survive? It seemed to ask where he was going, and he admitted (telepathically) he had no idea—just away from here.
Go back to the place you know, the sphere thought urgently into him.
Seduced by its logic, he nodded and crossed great streets and ran down broad boulevards until he came to the necropolis.
Don't be afraid, the sphere emanated. The unmen only hunt by night.
"The key," he said out loud. "The beast had the key."
You have that key.
Staggering and walking down the halls to Rin's tomb cell, he took the psionic key from the great building from his pocket.
We will help you make the key fit.
"We?" he asked as he jogged ever deeper into the musty smelling, drippy, slimy corridors of this world of the dead. He didn't expect an answer.
We are the many, the sphere pulsed, we are the hidden who died. We wait to live again.
Kanon showed his teeth grimly. The key almost traveled into the iron keyhole on its own, and it turned lightly in his hand. The door creaked open.
Safe here, the sphere emanated gratefully.
"Whoever you are, whatever you are," Kanon whispered, "we will help each other." He placed it gently behind the abbot's stone face and threw a rag over it. Then he walked over and closed the door.
He slumped down with his back against the cold wall and sat on his haunches. He was still weak, and feeling a deep sadness at losing the dream that had come with Rin, the faint promise of female companionship in his lonely quest. He gagged again.
Think, the sphere pulsed.
He thought about the sphere—some object of great power, perhaps a kind of magical key in itself, and he was its possessor now. No, its partner.
The sphere seemed to like that thought and pulsed warmly: Yes. And: Think.
He looked at the key in his hand as if it were the key to a puzzle. He rose, unlocked the door, and stepped outside.
Somewhere distantly, a voice howled.
Locking the door to keep the sphere safe, he retraced the steps he'd taken with Rin last night. After a few wrong turns, he smelled the carnal death again, the corpse odor.
What had Rin said before pointing to his nose? There is unmen near here. Especially a female. She stores meat near here.
He followed the unbearable smell of death, which hit him with hammer blows so that he coughed and choked and held his sleeve over his mouth and nose. He found himself in a black room glistening with that same faint tomb-light, which flickered on the ghastly walls here. He saw the shapes of animals and people hanging on hooks in various stages of decay.
In particular, he saw a slight figure hanging motionlessly.
Rin?
|
Thank you for reading. If you love it, tell your friends. Please post a favorable review at Amazon, Good Reads, and other online resources. If you want to thank the author, you may also buy a copy for the low price of a cup of coffee. It's called Read-a-Latte: similar (or lower) price as a latte at your favorite coffeeshop, but the book lasts forever while the beverage is quickly gone. Thank you (JTC).
|
TOP
|
MAIN
Copyright © 2018 by Jean-Thomas Cullen, Clocktower Books. All Rights Reserved.
|
