Burn Bright

Markes held a glow band to her face. ‘Open your mouth!’ He gave her a strained but genuine smile that only a few passes ago she’d have braved demons to see. Right now it gave her only small comfort. But she did as he said, and he dropped something on her tongue which fizzed. ‘I kept one of the beads. In case.’

She tasted the bitter coffee flavour and almost immediately the pain receded, and a vein of energy opened inside her. She sat up and blinked.

The Danskoi narthex was unlit except for the dim glow bands of the Leaguers as they worked frantically to barricade the door with a heavy row of pews.

‘We’re inside?’

‘The other gangs came from behind. Their torches scared the Night Creatures back long enough for us all to get inside.’

‘What gangs?’

‘The Wings and the Freeks.’

‘Kero? Krista-belle?’ Her eyes sought them out in the melee, but only found Eve, Joel, Charlonge and Suki on the other side of the entrance hall, trying to lever apart the doors that separated it from the nave.

‘You’re bleeding,’ said Markes.

Naif looked at her ankle. The torn flesh gaped and blood trickled freely, yet she felt detached from the pain.

He untied his bandana from around his neck and tied it around her ankle. ‘What you did out there was either the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen, or the bravest.’

‘I … I knew they would stop and would listen. They’re curious about us. And we just needed a few more moments for Rollo to get the door open. Joel and Eve couldn’t hold them off.’

Markes shook his head in wonder. ‘When Eve tells you to do something you just want to do it. And the way she fights.’

Naif couldn’t disagree. She climbed to her feet and hobbled towards the side wall of the narthex. Between pillars she found the narrow opening to the gallery stairs. She began to climb.

Markes followed her. ‘I mean,’ he stumbled over his words, ‘what you did was amazing too. It’s just that she does what she believes in – all the time.’

Naif stopped and turned to him. ‘And I don’t?’

He seemed dazed by her question. ‘I-I’m not sure. You don’t seem to know what you believe. You’re with Lenoir then you’re with the League.’

‘Well … what about you? What do you want?’

He lifted his shoulders and shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

Naif started climbing again. It wasn’t the time for such conversations. More important things weighed on her, drew her.

Like the gallery.

It stretched wider even than Agios but the space was cluttered with the heavy wood furniture that normally occupied the nave. She climbed a table and shifted chairs in order to reach the railing. But then she stopped absolutely still.

‘Markes!’

The shock in her voice brought him sliding across the table and straight to her side.

‘What?’

Strange floating globes lit the nave below – not candles. They hovered like levia-flies above rows and rows and rows of four-poster beds. A jumbled mass of tubing ran between beds as if connecting them.

‘What’re you doing up there?’ Rollo called from the stairs. When they didn’t answer he climbed across to join them.

‘I saw you come up here. Naif, where did you … oh my fross …’ He leaned so far over the balcony Naif thought he might fall.

‘What do you think it is?’ she whispered.

His shook his head. ‘It looks like some type of … distillery for lava?’

‘Lava?’ said Markes. ‘But why all the beds?’

‘Not for lava,’ said Rollo. He pointed to the figures lying with their limbs entangled on each bed. ‘For people.’


‘That’s just stupid,’ said Markes.

But Naif scrambled between the stacked chairs over to the wall hutch where the church binoculars were always kept. One damaged pair lay inside it. She hurried back to Markes and Rollo, fingers shaking as she spun the focus wheel.

‘Let me look,’ said Rollo, impatiently.

‘Wait!’ She braced the binoculars against the railing. The image came to her in pieces as she shifted her view. First a girl, anyone, but young like her or Suki or Charlonge, lying still on the bed. The girl seemed peaceful.

She moved the glasses, to the next bed. Another girl. No. Someone she knew. Lottie.

Naif shifted the glasses lower.

Something clung to the dead girl’s cheek. No, not clinging. Attached. It was sucking at her skin through a large, puckered crease that could have been a mouth. A tentacle strayed over the girl’s neck and chest, stroking tenderly, lovingly.

A Night Creature.

She shifted the glass lower again, expecting to see Lottie’s lower torso and legs alongside the curled body of the creature. But as she moved the lens down, their abdomens appeared to be melded together, tapering down to just one set of human legs.

Naif lifted the glass higher again.

Saw Lottie’s head and lifeless face.

Across.

The Night Creature’s skull shared Lottie’s pillow. Pale fluff, the beginning of hair, and the pale pink of new skin intersected by oily flesh. Chests melded as well. Skin merging into skin.

Changing!

Lottie’s body was being subsumed into the Night Creature the way a spider would drain an insect.

Naif dropped the glasses in shock and they spun far below to smash on the stone floor.

A globe left its hovering position and skittered across the nave. It shot out a beam of blue light that burned the binoculars where they lay.

Naif turned to Markes and Rollo. ‘Stop Eve from forcing the main door open. They mustn’t go in there. The globes are weapons. They’ll be killed.’

Markes reacted first, throwing himself across the jumble of furniture. Rollo scrambled after him, ‘Dark Eve! Dark Eve!’

Naif followed more slowly. Despite taking the black bead, pain shot up her leg every time she put her foot down. It affected her balance and she banged against things. A bubble of nausea pressed up under her ribs. Soon the pain would take over her mind altogether.

She struggled to bring back the lessons she’d learned, separating the pain from the rest of her mind. Think past it.

Each step became a miracle of concentration. By the time she reached the first swing of the stairs, hell had disgorged into Danskoi.

The outside door had breached and Night Creatures clamoured over each other to enter.

‘Eve!’ bellowed Rollo, who was ahead of her. ‘Don’t open the inside doors!’

But by the time Naif reached the second swing of the staircase she saw the glow of the armed globes pulsing across the narthex like the strobes at the clubs.

The Leaguers and the other gangs were in there, dodging the globes and fighting the tide of Night Creatures trying to enter. Their screams of pain filled the church.

Naif joined Markes against the wall at the bottom stair.

‘Over there!’ He pointed to Eve and Joel.

Dark Eve and Clash had chopped and slammed their way back towards the outside door. Eve held her shield high with one hand deflecting the beams from the globes, while she wielded her hammer in the other. Joel fought to keep a circle of space around Charlonge and Suki. Suki thrust and slashed with one of Eve’s long knives.

‘Where are they going?’

‘There are lights in the sky outside. I think it’s Ruzalia. I can see the echo-locaters.’

Through the open doors Naif glimpsed spotlights wheeling across the ground, sending the Night Creatures scuttling for darker places.

And something else: the outline of a metallic shape on long spidery legs.

Lenoir!

Naif.

‘Watch out!’ Markes shouted in her ear.

Some of the Leaguers, forced into the corners of the narthex away from the globes, had found the gallery stairs. They began trampling each other to climb them.

Naif and Markes pushed against the rush towards Eve and Joel. They climbed the fallen pews, helping each other over. Screams followed them, and so did the smell of blood.

A Night Creature dropped from the ceiling, knocking Markes to the floor. It attached to his neck like a leech. Markes tried to pull it off but it slipped a tentacle around his neck and tightened it to form a slipped knot.

Markes began to gasp.

‘Help!’ screamed Naif. Without thinking, she jammed her fingers into the Night Creature’s oily maw, trying to break its sucking seal, but it freed another tentacle and wrapped it around her, crushing her against Markes.

‘No!’

There was a shout in Naif’s ear and something metallic sank deep into the creature’s pulpy chest. Its tentacles spasmed then loosened from them both and it fell still at their feet.

Kero and Rollo stood over it, slick with blood, both holding knives.

‘Kero, you came? Why?’ asked Naif.

‘Maybe I just needed someone to show me how to be brave enough,’ he replied with a hint of a dangerous grin.

‘Where’s Krista-belle?’

‘Here.’ Kero turned and pulled his girlfriend around from behind him where she guarded his back. She was as filthy and bloody as him, and carried a thick piece of wooden railing in her hand.

Naif stepped over the fallen Night Creature and clutched Krista-belle tightly for a moment. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

‘Your fight is our fight,’ whispered back Kristabelle. She hugged Naif and then moved back close to her boyfriend.

‘What’re those light things?’ asked Kero.

‘They’re protecting what’s inside the nave,’ said Naif quickly. ‘The church is full of dead or dying Peaks. I recognised one of them.’

Rollo continued for her. ‘The Ripers are bringing the Peaks here and having ’em sucked dry.’

‘Dry of what?’ Kero’s voice rose.

‘I don’t know. But each one has a Night Creature attached. It’s like they’re using the Peaks to give life to the Night Creatures,’ said Naif.

Right then a tentacle shot up from the Night Creature they’d thought was dead and lodged tightly around Krista-belle’s throat.

Before anyone could react, her head flopped to one side. She didn’t make a sound.

Krista-belle! Naif lost all the sensation in her body.

Kero started from his shock and began to stab the creature with all his force until its body was a mess of severed dark flesh. Then he fell to his knees alongside Krista-belle and wrenched her free from its grip.

Her head lolled against his chest and he roared with rage.

Rollo, who was still holding Markes up, stared, speechless.

‘No!’ cried Naif.

She went to fall alongside Kero when metallic legs crashed down on either side of her. A door hatch opened abruptly and hands pulled her inside a cocoon of leather and velvet.

Only her.

‘Rollo! Markes! Kero!’ she rasped. ‘Lenoir, don’t leave them.’

‘Naif, listen to me!’ Lenoir’s voice stung her out of her daze. She tried to focus on his pale face. ‘I’m taking you outside to Ruzalia. You must leave here.’

She tried to make sense of his words but she could only think of the others. ‘Not without them,’ she screamed.

Lenoir made an angry noise and disappeared.

A few moments later Markes sprawled across the floor of the carriage as if thrown in, followed by Rollo.

Lenoir climbed over him and shook Naif. ‘The Night Creatures want your life in return for Leyste’s. We won’t be able to quell them while you remain here.’

‘Where’s Kero?’

‘He won’t leave her and we cannot wait,’ snapped Lenoir.

The carriage jerked up on its legs, sending Lenoir sliding across the seat into her. Markes and Rollo crashed into the opposite door. Then it tossed them all back the other way as it juddered across the narthex out into night.

Through the window she saw the sky now swarming with levia-fly trails as they buzzed protection around the bulky lines of a zeppelin. The zeppelin’s incandescent spotlights had converged on a single spot, giving protection to a small group of figures.

The spider took them straight to Joel and Eve on the path beneath the balloon-ship. Naif saw Joel swaying, barely able to stand. Charlonge gripped him around the waist, helping him stay upright. But Eve still prowled the edges of the light, swinging her hammer at the Night Creatures.

The carriage stopped on the edge of the pool of light and re-folded its legs. Lenoir opened the door of the carriage and leapt out.

Eve spun towards him and her hammer lifted menacingly. Her intention spurred Naif to climb out. ‘Eve! Stop!’

Rollo helped Markes follow her.

‘Look!’ shouted Joel, pointing.

The five of them stopped and stared up at the platform descending from the belly of the zeppelin.

Joel pointed his blood-wet sword at Lenoir. ‘What do you want with my sister?’

‘To keep her alive,’ said Lenoir. ‘I can’t restore order among the Night Creatures while she stays in Ixion. She’s the cause of their distress.’

Eve lowered her hammer and shield at his admission. Sweat poured down her bare arms. ‘Why are … you helping … us?’ she panted.

‘She’s not one of you,’ said Lenoir. ‘She’s bonded to me and I’ll do much to ensure her safety.’

‘Bonded!’ spat Joel. ‘You’ve perverted her!’

‘Call it what you like but she’s alive. Either she leaves now or the Night Creatures or the renegade Guardians will harm her. Her badge has been revoked. It was the only way I could keep my majority. Varonessa insisted.’

Naif looked at her palm. The oily badge had turned a charcoal colour and had begun to peel. ‘You were fighting … Modai and Brand. What happened?’

‘Modai is injured. But he and Brand escaped and are hiding.’ He stared into the dark as if expecting them to appear. ‘If you wish everyone here to be safe then you and the musician must leave now. I will only be able to subdue the Night Creatures when you’re gone. Hurry.’

The platform dangled only a short distance above them now.

‘Clash,’ said Eve. ‘Talk to her.’

Joel limped over to Naif. ‘Go please, Ret,’ he said. ‘You never wanted to come here anyway. It was just for me.’

‘Wait, where’s Suki?’ cried Rollo suddenly.

Charlonge began to cry. ‘She fell at the door. I couldn’t pick her up, and then I lost sight of her when everyone pushed to get out. Naif, I’m sorry. I don’t know if she’s still … alive.’

Suki. Naif wanted to run out into the dark and find her friend.

But Eve grabbed hold of the swaying platform and steadied it. She waved up at the figures peering from the zeppelin’s under-cabin. ‘Get on. Both of you. Now!’

‘Lenoir lied to me,’ she said to them all as she helped Markes aboard.

‘What lie?’ the Riper protested.

She felt his desire for her to leave there, like fingers squeezing her flesh, but beneath that was honest puzzlement.

‘The Peaks. You said it was better. A better place that they went to.’

‘But it is.’ And he believed that. She knew.

‘Did you see inside Danksoi?’ she asked Eve and Joel.

Joel shook his head. ‘As soon as we got the doors open the globe things attacked and then Ruzalia came. We never got inside.’

‘It looks like they’re using the Peaks to grow the Night Creatures,’ said Naif.

‘What do you mean?’ demanded Eve.

‘It is part of our process,’ said Lenoir.

‘What process?’

But Lenoir cut Eve off as a tentacle lashed at them from the dark. ‘There is no time for this!’

Naif turned to Joel and reached out with both arms. ‘Come with us,’ she begged.

‘No, Ret, I need to stay here. The fight isn’t over.’ He leaned over the edge of the platform and hugged her. ‘I’m proud of you. You’re not the person I thought you were and I’m glad. Be safe,’ he whispered. Then he let go of her and took Charlonge’s hands. ‘Char, you can’t stay either.’

‘Joel’s right, Char. Withdrawal is death.’ Naif looked at Joel. ‘Everyone must know that. Tell them all. Promise me.’

‘I promise,’ he said and helped Charlonge onto the platform. ‘And you must tell Ruzalia what you’ve seen in Danskoi.’

Naif nodded, then beckoned Lenoir close to her so she could lean down close to his ear. ‘Tell me why the Night Creatures blame me for Leyste’s death?’

His expression changed. She saw the sadness again; felt it blanket her like a fall of snow. ‘Because I am one of them, and they do not kill their own: even a transformed one who has harmed them. So it’s you they must blame,’ he said softly. He took hold of her hand and kissed it in a desperate way.

Naif’s head spun with confusion. Lenoir had lied. Or had he? If the Night Creatures were somehow using the Peaks to transform into Ripers then maybe, to Lenoir, they were going to a better place.

But she had no chance to ask him more. The platform jerked upward as its ropes began to rewind, pulling her from his grasp.

‘Naif,’ called out Rollo.

‘Find Suki,’ she called back. ‘Find her for me, Rollo.’