A Fall of Night

"Intruder."

Another figure on the stairs below her, between her and the light. Dorien pulled up short, Anna pressing against her back. Oh, fuck. Now what?

Anna screamed, a shriek of fear, deafening against her ear.

She spun about. For a second Anna was behind her, eyes wide, bulging petrified, strange clawed hands twisted in her hair, around her neck. Then she was gone, dragged backwards into the darkness, disappearing quickly into the blackness as if she'd been swallowed - her shrieks quickly diminishing.

For a second Dorien hesitated, torn between plunging into the dark after Anna and running for her life, then she was charging down the stairs at reckless speed, panic spurring her steps. She couldn't help Anna, she knew that. Nick, she needed Nick.

In her panic she'd forgotten about the figure ahead of her until it loomed out of the darkness. She couldn't stop, careered into it, bouncing off it as if she'd hit a brick wall. She grunted, her breath rushing from her body with the impact, then she was falling, sliding and tumbling down the stairs in the pitch black.

She knew she'd reached the bottom when she stopped. Her knee throbbed with a glassy pain, her shoulder felt like it was on fire and she could taste blood. Both her hands were stinging where she'd tried to save herself during the fall. For a second she sat dazed.

"Intruder."

A shadow moved in the dark, night against the void. Sobbing with fear, she scrambled backwards, heels scratching for purchase, hands stinging as they struggled to push her away.

A clawed hand - dark, bony, twisted - reached out of nowhere, closed on her leg with a cold so deep it burnt her. Screaming - part in pain, part in terror - she struggled to pull her leg free, thrashing uselessly.

Slowly, inexorably, it dragged her into the dark.

She lashed out, kicking at it, twisting, reaching for something, anything to stop her slide. Her fingers brushed something - a cobweb, a feeling of static - grabbed it, her hand tingling with the strange sensation.

From out of the dark the thing's head appeared, twin eyes like point of light in a cloud of swirling mist, a cowl lending it some semblance of human shape. It seemed to breathe fear into her - like a cold lump in her chest, its weight crushing her - she couldn't breathe, her body felt like ice, cold spreading like death from its fingers.

And all she could think of was Nick, how she wouldn't be with him after all.

Inch by inch it dragged her into its embrace. She couldn't feel her leg at all now, the cold numbness reaching her hips. Fear paralysed her, she was going to die, die in the dark and the cold all alone...

It wasn't fair, she was so close, so close to him.

No!

Nick was close, very close, she could feel him, his presence like a shard of warmth in her heart. This thing wasn't going to finish it for her, she wasn't going to let it end - not here, not like this.

With renewed determination she lashed out with her good leg, kicking futilely at its iron grip. "Nick!" she screamed, over and over again, her lungs burning with the effort, her throat aching.

Still it dragged her, rising above her like death himself.

Finally, in an act of utter desperation, she threw the cobweb, a last act of frustration. She felt her hand crackle with energy and a bolt of golden fire lit the night, searing onto her night adapted eyes with a physical pain. She gasped, blinded, felt her ankle released, the fear lifting with a shocking abruptness.

She didn't waste the opportunity. In a moment she had struggled to her fours, her one leg numb - dulling the pain of her knee - her lower body tingling with pins and needles. From the corner of her eye she saw the wraith suddenly lurch upright, its eyes dazzlingly bright, sucking light from the air about it, as if were surrounded by a nimbus of void, of unreality; its own event horizon.

Gulping breath, she stumbled away from it, towards the steady glow of the light she'd followed down the stairs, sensing with every faltering step its presence chasing her, reaching for her.

The glow filled an arch, a short tunnel, at its end a grand wooden door. It was utterly incongruous, deep below the earth, hidden at the end of a short tunnel, a wooden door twice her height, wide enough for three men to walk abreast, varnished as black as night.

She reached it just as the wraith reached her, fumbled with the handle as its freezing hands closed on her shoulders, its voice hissing in her ear. She staggered, whimpering in pain and shock and fear, her numb fingers frozen, struggling with the damned catch.

The numbness seeped into her chest, as cold as the grave. It had her. Gasping with the pain she fell against the door, knocked the catch, and it opened.

Her eyes took in the scene in a fraction of a second, Nick stood with his back to her, to each side a file of strangers, at the far end the woman. A chamber, like a cathedral, something floating in the air behind her - a bizarre symbol made of fire.

"Nick..." she said, her voice a frozen whisper.

It was enough. He spun about, his eyes closing on hers. She tried to smile, her face too numb, too frozen to respond. His eyes opened slightly, surprise or something else.

He didn't hesitate, even before he started to move he lifted his hand, his face hard, gesturing toward the wraith - power leapt from him, a golden wave of fire that extended form his hand like forked lightning, flowing over her, around her. One moment the wraith had her, its hands freezing her, killing her, the next it was gone, utterly gone as if it had never existed.

She dropped to her knees, her body numb, unfeeling. Then she was in Nick's arms, crushed to his body, feeling his warmth seeping into her. She clung to him, helpless, but exactly where she wanted to be, her face buried in his chest breathing his scent, life returning to her frozen body.

"Dorien! My God, are you okay?" He knelt, holding her, his eyes searching hers, his arms warm around her.

She nodded against him. "Nick, Anna - still out there..."

"Oh, God... Father, Salah! Someone else is out there. Help her... Quick!" he shouted, looking back over his shoulder. She felt movement, people rushing, and suddenly the area beyond the door was as bright as day, the sound of shouting, concern.

"Dorien, how... why are you here?" Around them she was aware of the buzz of conversation, murmuring amongst the gathered people. She didn't look, her eyes fixed on Nick.

"Nick, I couldn't leave it, not the way it was," she said quietly, arms clutching him, pressing herself to him, luxuriating in the feel of his warmth. "I had to tell you... Tell you that I was sorry-"

"Dorien, it's okay, not now-"

"No! Let me finish Nick, please, I need to say this..."

His eyes closed, his head resting on hers, holding her gently.

"I wanted to say sorry, but more than that, I wanted to tell you... To tell you that I love you," she said, looking up at him nervously. "I love you, Nick, I'm not going to lose you, not over this, not for anything..."

He pulled her tighter to him, kissing her head, holding her. "Oh, Dorien, what fools fate has made of us." She looked at him, her heart in her mouth. "It is me who is sorry, I... I lost control, in the apartment... I never wanted to...never would...hurt-" She stopped him with her hand, her fingers on his lips.

"Shh. Don't talk about that, I know you would never hurt me," she said.

He looked at her, his eyes intense. "You're not going to lose me," he whispered, this fingers stroking her skin. "I promise... But you may not want me after..." He looked around. "This."

"No Nick, you don't understand - I love you... No matter what happens here, or anywhere, do you understand?"

He nodded, his eyes intense.

They brought Anna in then, staggering between Alexandrov and another man with olive skin, aquiline features. She looked white, waxy, but she was alive, if barely.

With reluctance she loosened her grip on Nick, turned to go to Anna. As she did so he pulled her back, arms wrapped about her chest, holding her close, whispering into her ear, "Dorien, I love you, too. No matter what you see here, what you think of me afterward. I will always love you." She leaned into him briefly, pressing her head against his chest, then he released her and she went to Anna.

"Well, this is most irregular," a thin voice said, a man his skin almost as white as his hair. "I thought the idea of the guardians was to prevent exactly this."

"Fuck off, Simon," Nick said, rising gracefully to his feet.

"He's right though," another voice added, a man with the bluest eyes.

"Maybe," Alexandrov said. "But the question is pointless, they're here and we have to accept that."

"Ivan is right," the woman said. "Nikolay's girlfriend's presence is irrelevent. I suggest we put such distractions aside and concentrate on the matter in hand."

Dorien held Anna, she felt cold but she seemed to be recovering, still shivering but attempting to smile a little, squeezing Dorien's arm. With the woman's comments the murmuring anger had subsided and a sense of order was imposing itself on the gathered men.

They were a disparate bunch, she observed. Aside from Nick and Alexandrov she counted thirteen men and the woman. Different races, different styles of clothing. Apart from that recent exchange, in English, they spoke to one another in a language she didn't recognise - something liquid, flowing, elegant and entirely alien.

The room itself was as alien. It resembled nothing so much as a small cathedral, a low domed ceiling above, pillars of stone in a circle about them - beyond that walls of rough stone. Every surface was decorated with friezes of dragons in different hues - the ceiling home to a huge pattern of serpents apparently writhing over and about one another in reptilian profusion.

Then there was the symbol. It hung in the air behind the woman, a twisting pattern of fire, ever moving, but in contact with no surface. And, beyond it, a yawning void - a black hole.

******

It was with reluctance that he turned his back on Dorien, tending to Anna near the door.

As he'd known he would, he stood alone.

To his right the seven members of the Alliance stared at him, their gazes variously accusing or curious. To his left the others, never so conformist as to agree a name, stood like vultures - waiting for him to die so they could feast on the spoils, he thought.

And his father? How did he look? he wondered. Was he happy with what he'd done?

In the end he spared neither side a look, staring straight in front of him, at the Keeper. She stood, slim and elegant, at the front of the gathering, both the least and the most powerful of them. Behind him he could feel Dorien's presence, could feel her concern for him.

"Nikolay, am I to understand that you wish to change your vote?" she said, speaking in Iltari, the one language they all shared.

"Yes." He swallowed, choking on the words, his father's compulsion like a vice on his chest. "I wish to vote to have the seal removed."

That caused the murmuring to start, the buzz of conversation between the members of the different factions.

"Lyoka, what are you doing?" Salah said, aghast. "We agreed... What has happened?" His face was concerned, worried.

Nick looked at him, mouth opening and closing, unable to find the words to speak. Salah watched him, his own face curious - unable to understand, unable to help. Nobody would understand. How could they believe that anybody would be so foolish as to allow another access to his seed. He almost sobbed in frustration.

In the background the buzz of conversation had grown louder, more outraged.

"If that is your wish?" The Keeper said.

"It is." His voice quiet.

The murmuring was angry now, individual comments made at him, at members of the opposing factions. It was ever the way.

"Then let us, for the sake of form, count the votes," she said, her voice hardening. "The forms will be observed!"

In truth little counting was required. Fifteen of them stood in the chamber, fifteen. Seven had united in the Alliance, giving their votes to maintain the integrity of the seal. Seven, the seven vultures, had dedicated their votes to having it removed.

As he had known he would, he stood alone.

There was nothing he could do - Dorien had seen to that. With his seed in his possession his own father had compelled him, compelled him to change his vote - the power like a steel band constricting his chest, crushing his heart.

"I vote to remove the seal," he said. The words uttered by his mouth, but not of his own volition. His free will in this taken from him.

"So be it," she said, voice cutting through the angry muttering, the exhaled breath marking the end of tension from the vultures. "The seal is removed."

******

Anna seemed to be improving, her breathing was more normal and her skin was warmer, a pink shade returning to her face and hands. Dorien cradled her on her lap. She didn't know what was happening, they were speaking in that strange language again - quickly, some angry. Whatever was happening, Nick was at the centre of it and she had an intuition that she was the cause of the problem.

Oh, God. Wasn't this ever going to go away?

She stroked Anna's head but she burned to go to Nick, to stand with him, to stand by him. As she watched the woman spoke again and it seemed as if a vote of some kind took place - Nick seemed to be all alone.

Whatever they were voting on, there was no mistaking the significance. As soon as it was done the woman spoke again and the chamber crackled with such energy that Dorien imagined she might see sparks leap between the pillars. Even without knowing the language she could sense a new tension in the air.

Then suddenly the symbol was gone. One second it hung in the air behind the woman, glowing with a red light, humming with a barely suppressed power - then it was gone, seeming to dim before blinking quickly out.

Nick crossed to her, but she noticed that none of the others had moved, staring as if dazed into the void that had been covered by the seal.

"Nick, what just happened?"

"Is Anna okay?"

Dorien nodded. "I think so."

"We removed the seal," he said, wincing as he did so. "Watch and see, all will become clear."

Dorien watched. Little seemed to be happening. The gathered men and the woman stared into the void, their attention so intense that not a word was uttered. Dorien couldn't see the fascination. It was a black hole, like an infinitely dark tunnel mouth.

"Is something going to come out of there?" she asked, looking at Nick. He was crouched, watching her, not the void.

"Watch."

She looked back. Was it her imagination or was the void less dark? No, it was definitely getting lighter, changing.

"My God."

It was as if the tunnel was getting shorter, collapsing in on itself to reveal the light at the end. No, that wasn't right. It was as if a window, an opaque window was gradually clearing to show what lay beyond.

And what lay beyond was another world.

"Nick?" She reached out, took his hand, holding it tightly.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

The view was clear now, an open grassed space within the confines of stone walls - the walls shattered, fallen, affording a view out over thick forest - the sun high in the sky. Other things were noticeable, too. The sound of birdsong drifting through the - what? - portal, opening, hole. A cool breeze, fresh and sweet.

Gradually the gathered men started to walk into the new world, some hesitantly, some quickly, but all went. All but Nick. The lone woman stood quietly, watching them.

"Nikolay, will you not join your brothers?" she said.

He looked over. "With Dorien or not at all," he said.

The woman nodded. "And Dorien, will you step over?"

"I don't know... Nick, I don't understand, what should I do?"

"The portal is open now, the gate will remain until we work to seal it again. I'll be there - we don't have to stay, but I have to show you something, something you need to see to understand."

"Okay, what about Anna?"

"I'll tend her until you return," the woman said. "She is already recovering."

"Okay. Nick?"

Holding her hand he drew her to her feet and together they crossed to the portal. For a moment she stood at the edge, feeling her skin tingling with the power, her hair standing on end. There was nothing to see, it was as if someone had opened a hole in the wall at the back of the room and she was looking out. Air moved freely back and forth, a cool breeze, sound travelling equally freely.

Nick stepped through and, for a moment, he was stood holding her hand from the far side. It felt strange, as if pins and needles were running up her arm. Pausing for only a moment she followed him - again the feeling like passing through cobwebs of electricity, tingling over her skin.

The space beyond appeared to be the courtyard of an old castle, an open grassed area now long overgrown, the walls around it little more than ruins. The portal, on this side, was flush against one of the ruined walls, as if it were an open door through into the castle beyond - little more than a dark chamber visible from this end. All of the men that had passed through were present still, standing in a reverent silence, as if they stood not in a ruin but in a church or a library.

"Nick, what is this place?" she whispered.

"It was the castle of Caertwr before we left," he said, breathing it into her ear. "It seems little more than a ruin now, not something we'd anticipated."

She looked about. What was left of the castle stood on a crag rising from a surrounding woodland, trees falling away below it on all sides but one. On that side a road appeared to have been cleared through the woodland, stretching away into the distance. There was no sign of any people, but the woods seemed alive with animal life, birds - their sounds drifting through the quiet.

"So, Salah, this is what your policy of isolation has reaped... Ruin!" Alexandrov said, his voice loud, bitter, cutting through the peace like a knife. "What other harm has been done in our absence?"

She knew that he spoke in that strange language they shared, could hear the sounds of it in her ears, but, somehow, holding on to Nick's hand, she understood every word.

The man called Salah looked around, seemingly stunned. "It hasn't been long enough. I don't understand - what could have happened?"

"I suggest we find out," said Simon, the white skinned man. "Before it's too late."

"A week. I propose a week for us to explore, then return here to share what we find..." said a man with red hair like fire, his voice deep, crackling.

"That seems eminently reasonable," Alexandrov said. "Lyoka, will you join us?"

"Is that an order, father?" he said, voice quiet. "Because I have things to do, things to put right with Dorien, if you'll grant me that."

It seemed to Dorien that Alexandrov flinched slightly at that. "Yes, Lyoka. I will grant you that," he said, equally quiet. "Miss Janssen, then, until next time."

Alexandrov stepped backward, then he seemed to leap into the air. For a second the light about him shimmered, shifting, changing, then, where a moment before Alexandrov had stood, a dragon twisted into the air, enormous wings beating - knocking her back with the downforce. Its scales were a gleaming, iridescent silver - beautiful and magnificent and terrifying and... Oh God!

For a while it hung in the air above the castle, circling, then it screamed - the sound drilling into her bones, setting her teeth on edge, throbbing in her chest and gut -a sound of power, of challenge, of victory, as if Alexandrov announced his return to this world. Quickly thereafter it flew out of view, streaking across the sky like a jet fighter.