Strongest Incubus System

The sound came again.

Thum.

The stone vibrated beneath everyone’s boots. It was not strong enough to knock anyone down, but it was enough to make dust fall from the old wood reinforcing the entrance of the ventilation shaft.

Elin sobbed and clung to Morgana’s cloak.

"He is scared," the girl said.

Morgana crouched in front of her. "Your brother?"

Elin nodded, unable to speak.

"Is he hurt?"

"I do not know. The woman took him first. Said he was too small to resist, but ancient enough to hear."

Damon closed his eyes for an instant.

Ester held his wrist tightly. The internal lock was broken for good. There was no longer a lock, only fragments of thin ice clinging to the meridian, useless for containing a greater reaction. He could feel the Heart down below now. Not as a voice. Not as a clear call. Only the beat crossing through the rock and finding something inside him that wanted to beat along with it.

"I can go down," Damon said.

"No," Ester replied.

"There is a child in there."

"I know."

"Then we do not have time to argue."

"We also do not have time for you to become a door for that thing."

Morgana looked toward the ventilation shaft. The opening was partially blocked by the stone Damon had brought down, but there was still enough space to pass through crouched. The tunnel descended at a bad angle, with old wood and recent boot marks. Vara was frozen up to her knees in the ice, with the bell far enough away that she could not reach it. Ingrivid had already ordered two guards to tie up the man who had held Elin. Elizabeth was collecting the bell with a thick cloth, not allowing it to touch anything directly.

"How long to reach the chamber?" Morgana asked.

Aria opened the map over a smooth stone. "Through the ventilation shaft, maybe twenty minutes. Less if they know the way. More if there are old blockages."

"Does Vara know it?"

Vara laughed softly beneath the veil. "Enough."

Ingrivid placed the tip of her sword against her neck. "Then you will speak."

"To help you stop Seraphine?" Vara looked at Morgana. "You still think too small. The boy is already on the path. The bell already rang near the second key. The cold has already answered. Even if you kill me, the Heart heard."

Damon took a step toward her.

Ester held him.

This time, he stopped.

Elizabeth looked at Vara without hurry. "You speak like someone who wants to seem more important than she is."

Vara’s eyes narrowed.

Elizabeth continued, "Seraphine did not come. Darius did not come. They sent you with half a dozen men, a child, and a bell. If it works, they reap the result. If it fails, you become the dead fanatic at the mine entrance."

Vara did not answer.

Morgana noticed the crack. "Where is Toma?"

Silence.

Ingrivid pressed the blade a little harder.

Vara breathed through her nose. "They went down with him. Two men. A woman in a white robe. She knows the ritual."

"Name," Elizabeth said.

"Maeve."

Aria raised her head. "Maeve Korrin. She appears in old payments from the Duchess. Arcane assistant."

Ester let out an irritated sound. "Of course she does."

Morgana made the decision. "Ingrivid, you stay here with two guards, Vara, Elin, and the prisoners. If anything tries to leave, capture it. If you cannot capture it, kill it."

Ingrivid nodded, but looked at the tunnel. "You are going down."

"I am."

"Then I should go."

"You are the best person to hold this entrance and protect Elin."

Ingrivid did not like it.

But she accepted.

Morgana turned to the group. "Damon, Ester, Elizabeth, Aria, Captain, and two guards with me."

Ester’s expression darkened. "Damon is not in condition."

"I know," Morgana said. "That is why you are going with him."

"That does not solve it."

Damon spoke quietly. "If I stay here and the Heart reacts down there, you will not know until it is too late. If I go down, I can feel it first."

"Or you can be felt," Ester replied.

"That too."

The honest answer did not help, but it ended the lie. Ester took from her case a roll of dark thread, a few dull metal needles, and a leather strip with simple runes.

"Arm."

Damon offered his wrist.

She worked quickly. She tied the strip above his hand, passed the thread through three pressure points, and drove two shallow needles into the side channels. It hurt. Not much, but in an unpleasant, dry way, like locking a door with his own bone.

"This does not replace the lock," she said. "It only stops the first impulse from rising straight to the chest. If I tell you to stop, you stop."

"Yes."

"If I tell you to leave, you leave."

"Yes."

"If you lie, I will know."

"I know."

Ester looked at him for another second. Then she released his arm. "Then walk."

The tunnel was narrow and damp. The smell changed as soon as they entered: cold earth, old wood, wet stone, and something metallic that resembled blood, though it was not. The captain went ahead with a covered lantern. Morgana came right behind. Damon followed in the middle, with Ester close enough to grab him. Elizabeth came after, and Aria, even pale, kept the map open on a small clipboard.

No one spoke loudly.

Every few meters, the beat came.

Thum.

Damon stopped for half a second, breathed, and continued.

On the third time, Ester noticed. "Is it getting worse?"

"It is becoming clearer."

"That did not answer."

"Yes. It is getting worse."

"Great. Honesty in a cursed mine. My day improved."

Aria murmured behind them, "The slope matches the map. We are going to pass a right-hand branch. Do not take it. It leads to a collapsed gallery."

"How do you know?" the captain asked.

"Because the Duchess wrote ’bad death’ in a note."

"She wrote that?"

"Not exactly. But that was what she meant."

Damon almost laughed, but the next sound cut off any humor.

A child’s scream.

Short.

Distant.

Morgana sped up.

"Morgana," Elizabeth said.

"I heard."

"Too fast may be a trap."

"I know that too."

Even so, she did not slow much. They followed a low passage, then a stairway carved into the stone. The support wood was new in some places. Valcair had prepared the path. It was not improvised. The old ventilation shaft had been reopened, reinforced, and used before.

They reached a wider gallery. There were wheel marks on the ground, abandoned tools, and three lit lanterns. A man lay near the wall, alive, with his arm trapped beneath a stone. He wore a gray cloak.

The captain advanced to restrain him, but Elizabeth raised her hand.

"Wait."

Too late. The free man reached for his belt and pulled out a small silver disc. Damon felt the pulse of the object before he saw it activate. It was not a bell, but it vibrated at the same frequency.

He reacted without thinking, but not with the root.

He stomped hard.

Ice ran across the floor and covered the man’s hand before the disc completed its rotation. Ester gripped Damon’s shoulder at the same instant, stabilizing the excess.

The man screamed. The disc fell silent.

"Precision," Damon said, breathless.

Ester looked at him. "Acceptable. But irritating."

The captain kicked the disc away and tied the man up. "How many ahead?"

The prisoner spat blood. "You are already too late."

Morgana crouched in front of him. "If that were true, you would be running, not trying to gain time."

He shut his mouth.

Elizabeth smiled faintly. "Thank you for confirming."

They continued.

The gallery descended toward a natural opening in the rock. The air there was colder. Not winter cold. Still, ancient cold, without wind. Damon felt the needles in his arm vibrate. The leather strip heated against his skin and then cooled too quickly.

Ester touched his wrist. "Limit."

"I know."

"No, this is the limit."

He looked at her.

She was not threatening. She was informing.

Damon nodded. "Five more minutes."

"Three."

"Four."

"Two if you keep negotiating."

"Three."

"Three."

Morgana looked at the two of them. "Are you done?"

"For now," Ester said.

The opening led to an irregular chamber. It was not the Heart chamber. It was an antechamber, perhaps part of the fourth gallery. In the center, there was a circle drawn with white powder and fragments of blue crystal. Toma was kneeling inside it, small, thin, with red hair like Elin’s. His hands were tied, but he was conscious. Behind him, a woman in a white robe held a short blade over her own palm.

Two armed men turned when they heard the footsteps.

Morgana advanced first.

She gave no warning.

The captain and the guards entered with her. The first man tried to grab Toma, but Damon raised his hand and froze the floor between them. He did not touch the boy. Did not touch the circle. He only created a low barrier, thick enough to delay. Morgana used that second to strike the man in the face with the guard of her sword. The second was knocked down by the captain.

The woman in white cut her own palm.

The blood fell into the circle.

Thum.

The chamber answered.

Toma screamed.

Damon felt the root hurt as if someone had driven a hook into his chest. The needles in his wrist cracked. Ester held him with both hands.

"Closed," she said. "Stay closed."

The woman in white looked at Damon with wide eyes. "Conductor."

Elizabeth threw a short blade of dark energy that struck her hand, making the knife fall. Aria, trembling but quick, ran to the edge of the circle and threw over the crystals a bag of gray sand she had taken from her satchel.

"What is that?" the captain shouted.

"Ground stone," Aria answered. "Nera said to bring stone."

The circle failed for an instant.

Morgana entered, grabbed Toma by the shoulder, and pulled him out. The boy fell against her, crying. The beat did not stop. It only changed.

Thum.

Closer.

Damon fell to one knee.

Ester cursed and held his face between her hands. "Look at me."

He tried.

The chamber around them seemed to breathe. The blue veins in the rock glowed faintly, lighting and dimming to the rhythm of the beat. It was not beautiful. It was wrong in a simple way. Something very large was slowly waking.

"I am hearing it," Damon said.

"Then do not answer."

"I am trying."

The woman in white laughed, collapsed near the wall. "Too late. The second ear heard you. The third is calling."

Elizabeth stepped on her wrist. "Shut your mouth."

Aria looked at the map, then at the veins in the wall. "We need to leave. Now."

Morgana was already carrying Toma. "Everyone out."

The way back seemed longer. Damon walked with Ester’s help, hating every step in which he needed her and grateful that she was there. The beat followed behind them. Not stronger, but more defined. Toma cried softly in Morgana’s arms. Aria repeated the directions. Elizabeth came last, alert to any pursuit. The captain dragged the tied woman in white, because alive, she could still speak.

When they reached the entrance, Ingrivid was already ready with the guards. Elin ran to Toma as soon as she saw him, and Morgana had to kneel to release the boy carefully. The two siblings embraced. Elin cried loudly now. Toma did not have strength for it.

Vara Leth looked at the scene, still trapped in the ice.

"You think you stopped it."

Damon, pale, supported by Ester, looked at her.

"We stopped you."

Vara smiled. "Seraphine has more bells."

Ingrivid hit her with the hilt of her sword. Vara fell unconscious.

No one complained.

Ester examined Damon right there, without caring about dust, guards, or pride. "You passed the limit."

"I know."

"No, you do not know. You crossed it, came back, and pretended that counts as control."

"We brought the boy."

"That does not make your body less broken."

Morgana handed Toma to a guard and came to them. "Can he return?"

Ester looked at Damon with contained anger. "He can, if he does nothing else."

Damon breathed slowly. "I will do nothing else."

Aria, beside the entrance, stared at the rock. "The beat changed."

Everyone went quiet.

She swallowed dryly. "Before, it was every nine minutes in the reports. Nera said it had fallen to eight, seven. Now I counted a little over six."

Elizabeth looked at the dark opening.

"Then the countdown continues."

Morgana closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, the decision was there again.

"We take the children to the mansion. Prisoners separated. Vara, the woman in white, and any living agent. Aria, you record everything. Elizabeth, we prepare a message to the Council, but now without waiting for permission. Ingrivid, I want the mine routes closed before nightfall."

Damon looked at her. "And Seraphine?"

Morgana looked north, toward the mountains above them.

"Now she knows she failed."

Elizabeth stored the bell inside a box lined with ground stone. "Or that she tested enough."

No one liked that possibility.

Damon felt the root pulse one last time, weak, tired, following something coming from below. He did not answer. Not because of strength. Perhaps because of exhaustion. Because of stubbornness. Because of fear of giving that thing the path it wanted.

Ester held his arm before he could stagger.

"I am fine," he said, out of habit.

"Lie."

"I am alive."

"That is a very low standard."

"But consistent."

She did not laugh, but she did not let go either.

They began descending the trail with the children at the center of the formation and the prisoners bound. The ventilation entrance was left behind, dark and partially blocked. Even so, Damon knew it was not truly closed. Nothing there was truly closed.

Down below, beneath the mountain, the Heart kept beating.

Faster than before.