The Lost Ruins, Chapter 9

Now that she was armed, Elena felt far more confident as she nudged the door open with her toe, then aimed into the hall. It was still empty. She gave brief thought to going after Sonya and Renwick in the next room over, but then decided not to press her luck. She had no idea how fast the vampirs could move, and she didn’t want to try and face two of them at once until she knew more about them. It would be better, she decided, if she instead continued to sneak and tried to pick them off one by one when she saw them. She was just about to go and check another room in the hall when she heard a commotion from the direction of the entrance hall. Someone over there was yelling.
She ducked back into the storage room as the door to one side opened, allowing Sonya and Renwick to run back into the hall. Elena prepared to shoot at them if they stopped, but both passed through the door leading to the entrance hall without so much as a pause.
Now that she was alone again, she paused once more. She wondered if she should use the commotion from the entrance hall as a distraction to look for Marcus and the other captives. The problem with that particular plan was that she had no idea where to look for her friends. The commotion, on the other hand, was likely caused by a member of her team trying to escape, or perhaps attack the mansion, if any of the group had managed to survive the revenant attack without being captured. If she could lend a hand there somehow, she knew she had to try.
Elena moved out from the storage room and towards the door to the entrance hall. She quickly opened it, leaping back a pace as she brought her bow to full draw. Her caution was unnecessary, as there were no targets for her on the far side of the door. She stepped into the entrance hall, glancing left and right to see where the vampirs were. There were two of them up on the same level as her, both of whom had their attention wholly focused on the ground floor. Elena could hear screams and the clashing of weapons from that direction. Above the din, a loud Eisen battle cry rose.
Nic!
She did not hesitate again. She drew and fired twice, both of her arrows sinking into the vampirs up on the same level as herself. One of them flew backwards from the railing, a shocked expression visible on her face for a brief instant before she fell out of view. The other pitched over the railing, falling to the ground floor with a yell that was quickly lost in the cacophony echoing up from below. With those two targets dispatched, Elena moved up to the railing herself, readying another arrow as she did.
When she reached the railing, she saw the battle that was taking place below. Just as she had determined earlier, Nic was down there, leading a ragged band of four expedition survivors against a few vampirs. Nic’s massive tarnished sword was in his hand, driving his foes backwards with each great sweep. The other members of his group were not having nearly as much luck. It seemed to Elena that the vampirs were actively drawing back from Nic’s sword, while they had no such reservations about the weapons carried by the other members of the expedition. The weapons were still cutting, but the vampirs seemed to be able to resist more punishment than a normal human could. At the moment, some of the vampirs and members of Nic’s team were staring in shock at the body of the vampir that Elena had just shot off of the balcony.
All of this registered to Elena in an instant as she prepared to fire. She aimed at one of the vampirs who was attempting to flank the group. Her arrow struck him squarely where his neck met his shoulder, and he collapsed. One of the expedition members looked up in the direction that the arrow had come from and broke into a cheer as he saw her. Elena almost didn’t notice, as she was lining up another shot. This time, her arrow caused her target to slump sideways, though he got up again almost immediately. Her third shot was similarly ineffective. She was about to fire yet again when she heard Nic shout a warning to her, and she saw something approaching fast from the edge of her vision.
She turned and fired at the shape, but her shot went wild. The vampir – who had the build of a massive Eisen man – did not give her a chance for a second shot as he slammed into her. He did not have a weapon in hand, so he simply grabbed Elena and hoisted her up into the air. She lost her grip on her bow, and it tumbled down from the balcony as her attacker shoved her over the railing. He held her up by her throat, effortlessly cutting off her air as he held her dangling over the drop to the floor below. She clutched at his arm, simultaneously trying to pull herself back to safety and pry his fingers off of her throat. Unfortunately, he was far stronger than she was, and her efforts were in vain.
“No…” she gasped. “Don’t…”
The vampir’s eyes narrowed in anger as he continued to choke the life out of her. His fingers tightened, and Elena wondered if he was going to try and break her neck before dropping her to the floor below. She clung to his arm, desperately trying to save herself from dropping. By now, her vision was beginning to swim, with patches of light popping into existence before her eyes. She tried to inhale, but nothing came. She used all of her strength, but it was no use.
As her strength was beginning to fail entirely, she caught a glimpse of the vampir’s belt. He had a knife in a sheath there, and she felt a last rush of strength. She twisted rapidly, reaching for the blade. Her move caught the vampir off-guard, and she got her fingers wrapped around the hilt of the knife before he could adjust to keep her away from it. She whipped it free and brought it up. Her desperate strike drove the knife into his neck from the side.
The vampir’s eyes widened in shock, and the air left his body in a distorted hiss that immediately cut off with a gurgling noise. He fell forward, Elena’s weight pulling him down even as his fingers loosened from her neck. He pitched over the railing, and Elena frantically grabbed at it to keep herself from being pulled down with him. She barely managed to get a grip, clinging to the wrong side of the second floor overlook as the vampir’s body fell past her. With a last burst of energy, she reached up and pulled herself up and over the railing, back onto solid ground. She slumped against the railing, coughing and gasping as she sucked in air for the first time in too long.
A shadow fell across her face, and she looked up. Nic stood above her, wearing an expression of concern. “You okay?”
Elena had to cough violently once before she could properly answer him. “I’ll be fine. What took you so long?” She hoped the question sounded jaunty, like she meant it, rather than accusatory.
“I don’t have a good excuse. We came as fast as we could.” He offered her a hand, easily pulling her to her feet when she took it.
“Your timing was great,” Elena said, rubbing at her throat. She coughed twice more, weakly, then took a deep breath. She was feeling far closer to normal now, though she suspected that she would have an impressive bruise before too long.
“Not as good as yours, though.” Nic’s expression twisted a bit as the rest of the other expedition members reached them. “Without your interference, we probably wouldn’t have been able to hold our position.”
Elena glanced at his band of survivors. Jamieson, Lena, Kataya, and Quin. Each of them had been on at least one other expedition with her before. She felt a small measure of relief at seeing each of their faces, though none of them looked particularly well-off.
Quin was holding Elena’s bow and a handful of arrows that had fallen from her quiver while she was dangling from the railing. He offered them to her, and she took them. She thanked him, then glanced around the upper floor. “What happened while I was busy? Where are the others?”
“We tried to defend ourselves from the revenants,” Nic explained. “I tried to keep everyone together, but some people had already run for what they thought was safety. The survivors and I organized as quickly as we could and came to try and rescue as many people as we could. We’re all that’s left.” His face fell somewhat.
“You five are the only ones still alive?” The reality slammed into Elena with the force of a thousand mountains.
“Those things killed most of us before we had a chance to react,” Lena said. Her voice was devoid of its usual chipper tone.
“Some of the others were killed by the vampirs,” Nic added. “We found them bloodless not far from the edge of the manor.”
“Bloody hell…” Elena’s voice gave out.
“We know that Catlín, Sabrina, Richard, and Cosette all ran for the manor,” Jamieson added, “but we don’t know what happened to them afterwards.”
Nic spoke again. “Once we had driven the revenants off, we went back to where you were and saw the ghost and the priest. When there was no sign of you two, I feared the worst.”
“They knocked me out and brought me here,” Elena told him. “Marcus too, though I haven’t seen him. They treated me like a guest, even offering me some kind of porridge to eat. I think they were trying to convince me that I wasn’t in any danger.”
Nic’s face had gone slightly pale at her words. “A black porridge?”
“Yeah, it was. How did you…?”
“And you didn’t eat any of it?”
“I didn’t touch it. I feigned a bout of stomach distress and declined. They didn’t press the issue.” Elena frowned. “I think Marcus may have eaten some, though. I overheard one of the vampirs mention that he had.”
Nic shook his head. “This is bad. Very, very bad.”
Elena felt her heart sink. “What is it?”
“Funeral porridge, most likely. A Hexenwerk Unguent. If you eat it, it will slowly poison you. And if you die within some time of eating it, you will return as an undead creature under the control of whoever prepared the Unguent. If Marcus has eaten any of it, he is in terrible danger.”
“We need to save him! Him and the others!” A twinge of desperation floated into Elena’s voice, unbidden.
“We will. Do you have any idea where the others might be held?”
Elena shook her head. “I don’t. I know where I was, but that’s the best that I can suggest. Maybe in the same hall?”
“We can start there. Lead the way. And keep an eye out for other vampirs. I don’t know how many of them there are.”
Elena turned and led the group with her along the upper floor of the entrance hall, back to door that she had snuck out of only a few minutes ago. Nic walked beside her, a hulking presence that made her feel secure and fully confident. With her companions and someone so knowledgeable in the ways of the Horrors they fought, it was hard not to believe that things would be easy. Even knowing how dangerous the vampirs were, it still seemed like an impossibility that they would fail.
When they reached the door, everyone moved out of a direct line with it while Elena pried it open. As soon as it was open more than three inches, someone came barreling through it, twin daggers glinting in the candlelight. Elena was behind the door, which bought her a precious few seconds as the vampir attacked. Nic met the rush with his sword, plunging it into their attacker with an almost casual thrust. He withdrew it almost as quickly, spraying blood across the reddish carpet as the vampir fell. The exchange took perhaps five seconds, and Nic stepped over the body with the air of a noble who was avoiding a stain on the ground. Elena followed him into the hall, keeping her bow at the ready for any other enemies that they might encounter.
As they entered the hall, Elena noticed immediately that most of the candles in it had been extinguished. Despite this, she found that she could still see around them. It took her a moment or two to locate the source of the white light.
“Uh, Nic? Is your sword supposed to be glowing?”
The glow of the blade reflected off of Nic’s grin. “Yes. It’s a dracheneisen sword. The fact that it’s glowing now means that it is becoming more purified. It also means that a monster is close.”
Elena had heard rumors of dracheneisen weapons from one of her former traveling companions. She did not remember much about them, but knew that they were particularly effective at fighting off the Horrors of Eisen, according to the legends. She did not have time to further question him, however, so she nodded and crept forward.
She indicated one of the doors in the hall. “That was my room.”
Nic immediately turned to the others. “We take each room one at a time. Don’t try and be a hero and open a door alone. We must all work together if we are to succeed here.” No one questioned his authority. Before the start of the expedition, Elena would have been offended by his actions. Now, she felt relieved that someone knew more about the situation than she did.
Elena tried the door and found it locked. “I can pick it open,” she said, reaching for the lockpicks in her pocket.
“I have a better way,” Nic said. He took three steps back from the door, lowered his shoulder, and charged. He slammed into the door, and it sprang open with a crash. Elena shelved her surprise for the moment and ducked through after him.
The room beyond was lit only by a single candle. Nic’s glowing sword helped, providing just enough light to show the woman kneeling on the floor, bent over a prone figure. The woman looked up as the door crashed inwards. It was Sonya. Her lips and chin were stained scarlet. She laughed, but her light tinkling laugh came out twisted and feral.
“You’re right on time!” she spat.
Elena fired, her arrow flying directly at the vampir’s heart. Sonya stood, unnaturally quick, and the arrow only grazed her leg. Nic lunged at her, but she leapt backwards with another laugh, leaping back through the window. It shattered immediately, sending shards of glass raining down below. Sonya fell, but only for an instant. She caught the window ledge and immediately vaulted up, somehow flying up past the window to land somewhere above. Her laugh echoed down to the room as Nic ran to the window and looked up. He immediately ducked back as something flashed through the light too fast for Elena to identify. He cursed as the other survivors entered the room.
With the immediate danger gone, Elena moved to the body on the floor, dropping to her knees beside it. She turned the head towards her, seeing the lifeless eyes of Cosette. The body seemed to be entirely drained of blood. “No…” she whispered.
Jamieson called out from somewhere to her left, and Elena turned. She saw him carefully examining someone tied to a chair, mostly hidden in the room’s deeper shadows. As he carefully prodded the form, Elena heard the groggy voice of Richard, the second lost crew member.
“Let me go, you monsters…”
“Richard, it’s me, Jamieson.” Nic walked closer, allowing the light from his glowing sword to fall on the pair. The light revealed a bloody red wound on Richard’s neck. Jamieson did not waste a second, taking a bandage out of his pocket and immediately pressing it against the wound. “It’s okay, we’ve got you. You’re safe now.”
Nic crossed back over to where Cosette’s body lay. He bent down to get a closer look. After a moment, he said, “We should make sure that she won’t rise as an undead.” He reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a small vial of some liquid and carefully poured it onto Cosette’s forehead. “That should take care of it.”
“Another Unguent?” Elena asked. Nic’s reply was only a nod.
Jamieson helped Richard to his feet, supporting him as they exited the room again. This time, Kataya led the way to the next door. As the group’s only member from Ussura, she was nearly as large as Nic, and carried her sword with similar confidence. She stopped beside the next door, listening for a moment.
“I hear voices,” she reported. “Sounds like it might be Sabrina and Catlín.” She banged her closed fist against the door. “Hey!”
After a moment of silence, the group outside heard a quiet reply from inside. “Kataya? Is that you?” The Innish accent identified the speaker as Catlín.
“It’s all of us! We’ve come to get you!”
“We heard the noises and thought the revenants might be back. We’ll unblock the door.” The sounds of furniture shifting came from just inside the door, then the handle rattled. Its locked condition did not surprise Elena, though the coarse Innish curse from inside suggested that Catlín was.
“Step back,” Kataya said irritably. She waited for a few seconds, then solidly kicked the door, which sprang open, part of the wall tearing out along with the lock. Nic raised an eyebrow in admiration, then turned to look behind him for any approaching threats.
As the last two members of her group joined her, Elena looked around as well. There was no sign of any approaching enemies, but she felt certain that the vampirs were still around somewhere. She turned her attention back to the others, who were staring dumbfounded at the others while being told that they had been captured by vampirs. After a few seconds, both Catlín and Sabrina looked ashamed.
“We should have remembered that,” Sabrina said. “We were warned often enough.”
“We still need to find Marcus,” Elena said. “Once we have him, we can get out of here.”
The others nodded, readying weapons as Elena led the way down the hall, Nic close behind. One by one, they checked each of the doors in the hall, but none of them contained their last missing companion. Elena was just beginning to fall into despair when she found the last door in the hall locked. She looked to Nic, who repeated his door-shattering charge from earlier, and swept into the room. Elena followed him.
There, at last, she saw Marcus. Her friend was lying on a couch in the middle of what appeared to be private library where all of the books had long since rotted to dust. A vampir stood over him, long knife held poised over Marcus’s throat.
“One more step, and he dies!” When he spoke, Elena recognized his voice as the one that Sonya had called Renwick.
The others moved into the room, fanning out, but none of them approached Renwick. Elena kept her arrow trained on his heart, but dared not fire. The knife was so close to Marcus’s neck that she feared Renwick would be able to kill Marcus before her arrow could stop him. She was about to try anyway when she heard the noise from above.
Something clattered across the roof above, and Sonya dropped into view just outside the library’s open window. She swung herself inside, grinning wildly at the sight of so many people. She pulled a dagger out of her belt and twirled it between her fingers. Elena’s heart sank. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.
“Fancy seeing all of you here.” Sonya’s eyes glinted in the moonlight. “Why don’t you all leave now, or we’ll have to snack on your friend there.”