The Dark Rider

CHAPTER Twenty-Four



A low buzzing began to infiltrate the hotel doorman’s consciousness. In his dream he was sitting in his house, but it wasn’t his house, for it was much bigger. He was having a party and the girl from his street that he fancied was sitting on the sofa with him. He was staring into her eyes, their lips coming together, the anticipation making him tremble. Then a giant bee appeared, droning lazily around the room and the girl started screaming and then somehow turned into his mum. Annoyed he got up and was trying to swat the bee but no matter what he did it would not stop buzzing.

Opening his eyes the doorman jerked upright. His phone was vibrating on the desk in front of him. With a spark of annoyance, he grabbed it and then read the message from Jason. A flutter of apprehension made itself known to him in the pit of his stomach. The description of the girl fit perfectly with the one that the guest had brought in late last night. He did not know Jason that well but he knew that he was someone who had a lot of dodgy friends, the sort of people you did not want to cross. He reread the message. Its tone left him in no uncertain terms as to what would happen to anyone who was found out to be withholding information. His hand went to his pocket where the twenty-pound note was neatly folded. The guest had been specific. Tell no one about the girl.

“Shit,” he thought, why did this have to happen to him? It was for people in big city hotels or on the TV, not him. He was just working part-time in a back street hotel, while training to be a plumber. He put the phone down on the counter and stared at it. The guests would be gone this morning but he had to live with Jason. He hesitated for a few moments, knowing what he should do, but then he was someone who always got caught out if he tried anything risky. A certainty was growing within him, namely that if he hid the presence of the girl from Jason somehow he would get found out and then Jason would make his life hell. Telling himself that he had no other option he leaned forward, his hands closing around the plastic shell of his phone. He hesitated for a moment.


*****


Nicola awoke. For a few moments her mind was empty of everything and calmness and warm contentment enveloped her as she stretched her arms above her head and pushed her legs down, her body shuddering in the pleasurable feeling of release. Then, as she opened her eyes and found herself lying in dishevelled clothes in an unfamiliar room, images and memories suddenly returned to her and she pushed herself up quickly seeing the outline of Paul sitting in a chair by the window. His feet were resting on a table, his eyes that haunted her so much turned towards her, their surface reflecting the faint predawn light.

“It was not a dream,” she whispered, her voice shaking.

“Did you want it to be?” questioned Paul’s voice, disembodied within the shadows of the room.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

They fell into silence, the only sound that of their own breathing.

“Where are we?” she asked eventually.

“Still in Penwryn.”

“The wolves. Are they gone?”

She heard the chair creak, saw him shifting his body slightly.

“No,” he responded.

She felt a chill run up her spine.

“Will they find me again?”

For a moment he did not respond and she wondered if he had heard her. Then he spoke, his voice low, emotionless.

“They can’t sense you while I am here.”

She thought about this for a few seconds.

“Can you sense them?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Where are they now?” she questioned.

“Near the Oak in the wood. They hope you will go back there, to complete the awakening.”

“And will I?” she asked him.

Again there was silence. She found she could see him more clearly now, light from the coming dawn beginning to define the room.

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“How can you be so sure?” whispered Nicola.

“Because I will make it happen.”

“And then?”

“And then,” said Paul jumping up, the chair falling back behind him. His hand was against the wall, arm out straight in front of him. His other hand was balled tightly into a fist which he held in the air by his side. His head dropped towards the floor.

“Do you know what you are Nicola?”

Slowly she shook her head. He turned to look at her his eyes burning with intensity.

“You are the last of them, the last Warder.” Paul began to tremble. “He made me kill all the others.”

Nicola felt the blood in her veins turn to ice.

“Do you know what I am?” he asked her as he pushed himself away from the wall and approached her.

“Don’t do this Paul,” she whispered backing away from him. “Please stop this now.”

“I am something bad, something tainted with evil. I have done things already I could never have foreseen. I am commanded, Nicola,” he was standing in front of her now. “To finish what he has started, to destroy you and finish the Light.” He remained standing there, his eyes locked onto hers, his right hand moving silently to his jacket pocket, fingers curling around the hilt of the knife. His body was tensed, poised like a cobra waiting to strike, while his mind fought for control with all his might, to suppress the compulsion that held him. Long seconds passed, the moments frozen as if waiting for some signal. Outside the sound of an approaching garbage truck grew louder, the clinking of bottles and rattling of trash cans competing with the whine of the garbage compactor and the occasional comments from the workers, one of whom was whistling intermittently, and then after a few minutes the noise died away again. Within the room neither had moved.

“Why don’t you do it then?” asked Nicola breathlessly.

“Because I love you,” he said tears flowing freely down his cheeks. He backed away from her and sank to the ground, his head in his hands.

Nervously she went to him pulling his head into her chest.

“I found out about our dreams,” he said, his voice muffled. “You were called Amalia. It is a beautiful name.”

Nicola heard the sad smile in his voice.

“I was called Arachar.”

The smile was gone now. She held him close, not wanting to face the anguish she could feel burning within him.

“There is one. His name is Myrkur. He captured me and turned me into the Rider.”

Paul pulled his head up. His eyes were like blue flames boring into her soul.

“But you saved me, Amalia.”

Paul’s worlds and memories were slipping and merging and he did not know who he was.

“You found the part of me that still existed and you saved me.”

Nicola stared transfixed. There was nothing but him.

“I need you, Amalia,” he said quietly pulling himself back into her embrace. “I need you to save me again.”

Nicola held him, unknowing of what else she could do. Then he spoke, so softly she did not hear him at first.

“My sister is dying.”

Nicola felt her chest constrict.

“How is this possible?” she asked her voice barely a whisper.

“It was done to save them and you. To save the Light.”

“I don’t understand,” said Nicola.

Paul lifted his head. A tear fell from his face onto her arm, a single track of moisture tumbling slowly across the smooth skin.

“Gwen called Alex to her. Through my sister they discovered what had happened to me. They knew I was coming for them.”

Nicola saw the torment burning within him.

“Gwen knew I would stop the awakening, so she placed the power that should have gone to you into my sister’s head. Now it is killing her.”

His eyes hardened, becoming blue steel that shined in the half-light.

“So you see Nicola, I must finish the awakening. It is the only way to save you both.”

Nicola shuddered, seeing nothing but darkness in his gaze.

“You’re going to leave me aren’t you?”

“I have to find my sister. It is the only way.”

“Will you come back this time?”

He saw the challenge in her eyes.

“I escaped, Nicola. He tried to turn me again but I escaped. I don’t know how much time I have left.”

“No,” Nicola sobbed clutching him against her. “It can’t end like this.”

He let her hold him, feeling the warmth of her body against his, hoping against hope that he would be able to feel it again.

“He will find me.”

Silent tears fell from Nicola’s cheeks.

“At least this way I have a chance.”

Suddenly he made the connection in his mind. The thing he had sensed Falk carrying was his sister.

“I have to go,” he said pulling away from her, like he was wrenching himself away from life.

“So you must,” said Nicola quietly.

“Do not leave this room. At all costs you must stay here.”

She looked at him in confusion.

“I have weaved a deception. It means the wolves can’t sense you.”

Slowly she nodded.

“So you will return.”

He smiled weakly.

“I guess I have to now”.

“I love you,” she mouthed to him.

With his heart in his mouth he stepped away from her.

“I know,” he responded.

Closing his eyes, he touched specific weaves of energy and slipped into the underworld.