From The Dark Read online

  Lost in his thoughts, Logan missed the sound of Vincenzo approaching. When the Italian man spoke, it caught Logan by surprise.

  ‘I expected you would venture out ill-prepared.’ Vincenzo said with a disarming smile, holding out a bland jacket to Logan. ‘Not much but should keep the morning chill at bay.’

  Logan took the jacket and admired the tailoring. To his surprise, the coat was the perfect size for Logan, and as he slipped it on, he noted the symbol emblazoned on the left breast.

  ‘I’ve seen this before.’ Logan remarked as he traced the symbol with his fingers.

  An ornate letter M sat with the left-most stem of the letter descending into the outline of an eye.

  ‘It is the original symbol of my order.’ Vincenzo offered as he stepped past Logan.

  Walking towards the massive outcrop of rock towering upwards he beckoned for Logan to follow. Dismissing the symbol on the jacket, Logan followed Vincenzo to a door at the base of the cliff.

  ‘Do you know what I am about to show you?’

  ‘I have an idea.’

  ‘You have read the book by the late Professor Bee?’

  Logan nodded, his attention drawn to the ornate door that appeared to have been etched into the rock. Someone had carved the same M and eye symbol into the solid wood. In the rising sun’s light, Logan could make out remnants of the gold-leaf that had once been applied to the symbol, long since weathered and worn.

  ‘It said this place once kept a Magdon imprisoned here.’

  ‘That’s correct.’

  Vincenzo reached into his pocket and withdrew a unique looking key. The shaft was made of notched and twisted metal and ended in a star-shaped head. Logan could see the weight of the key as Vincenzo aligned the head to the matching hole in the door and pushed it into position. With the key secured, he turned it, and Logan could hear several locks moving with the movement of the key.

  ‘Why would you imprison one here? Surely you are all about releasing the Magdon to its rightful place?’

  ‘Nothing is absolute my boy,’ Vincenzo chuckled as he removed the key and pushed the door open. ‘If it were all so simple do you think I would have brought you here?’

  ‘Meaning what?’

  ‘Meaning I see in you a future that, perhaps you had never considered.’

  Stepping through the door the air beyond was far more refreshing than that in the courtyard. Logan felt his skin ripple with Goosebumps, and he pulled the jacket closer to his body.

  ‘So why would you imprison your master here?’

  ‘I wouldn’t.’

  Logan stopped dead in his tracks at the top of a long staircase that descended and around back the direction he had come. Although Vincenzo was very much the welcoming host his inability to answer Logan’s questions was becoming a frustration.

  ‘Is it too difficult to ask for a straight answer?’ Logan snapped.

  ‘I would prefer to show you.’

  Logan hesitated, fighting back the urge to protest at Vincenzo’s desire but instead agreed. Pushing past his host, Logan descended the stairs and followed their path deep down into the bedrock that supported the castle.

  ‘Care to slow down a little?’ Vincenzo asked from behind, but Logan paid him no mind.

  As the staircase rounded another corner, Logan found his way blocked by a pair of massive doors. Searching the face, he soon located the same star-shaped hole in the centre of the right-hand door.

  ‘May I?’ Logan asked, thrusting his hand out towards Vincenzo.

  The older man surrendered the key and watched as Logan stalked to the door and slid the key into position. Twisting it with more force than he had expected Logan heard the door unlock until the key completed its turn.

  Tossing the key back to Vincenzo Logan pressed his hand against the damp wood and pushed.

  Both doors moved with little effort from Logan, and the sight that greeted him took his breath away.

  ‘Welcome to Heligtum der bestie, the shrine of the beast.’

  The tomb before him was impressive. The outer walls were laced with the stone support columns that took the weight and structure of the castle. Fused with the natural stone, it was a hybrid look of man-made structure and nature. Plants had merged with the brick; tendrils of roots and vines dangled from the walls and moved in the breeze that blew through the now open doors.

  Suspended from the domed ceiling of carved rock that Logan could make out was an enormous cage. Bars of formidable rusted metal were etched and scratched. The vines and plants that had grown from the walls had long ago descended the four chains that attached to each corner of the cage roof. The latticework of metal bars had become a mix of metal and plant.

  ‘Is it empty?’ Logan gasped as he took in the sheer size of his surroundings.

  ‘Indeed my boy, it has been for some time.’ Vincenzo sighed. ‘Some eighty years or more we are to believe.’

  ‘But why is it here, what use is it?’

  Vincenzo stepped up to a long walkway that led out across the vast expanse of nothingness that sat beneath the suspended cage. Joining him, something overcame Logan with a feeling of vertigo. With no sides and no sign of the floor, which he presumed was hundreds of feet below, he felt very vulnerable.

  ‘What do you think The Veks are about Logan?’

  ‘Releasing the Magdon, returning her to her rightful place above humanity and laying waste to us all.’

  Vincenzo laughed, the venom of Logan’s words caught him by surprise.

  ‘You are not afraid to speak your mind.’ He said with a warm smile. ‘And before you get defensive, that is not a bad thing.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘The Veks have always sought to protect the Magdon, yes.’ Vincenzo stopped at the end of the narrow walkway and waited for Logan to join him. ‘But for no other reason than respect for what she is.’

  ‘A monster.’

  ‘indeed, but a monster as ancient as the earth itself. She has endured evolution’s advances and remains as true to her original form as she did in the age of the dinosaurs and before that. Is that not reason enough to protect her?’

  ‘They have museums for stuff like that.’

  ‘But she lives, should we kill her only to place her carcass and remains behind a glass box to be admired but never understood?’ Vincenzo kept his voice calm and level. ‘Who are we to say our time is any more important on this planet than her? In comparison, she has seen many species come and go yet she has endured.’

  ‘A parasite.’ Logan spat.

  ‘A god!’

  Vincenzo turned to face Logan, his eyes burning with intensity in the dim light in the tomb.

  ‘The Veks are protectors of the Magdon but not for our power.’

  ‘You would imprison it?’

  ‘We have for centuries done that very thing. It is writ that there shall only ever be two alive at any one time and why do you think that is?’

  ‘Because any more and they’d wipe out the world!’

  ‘Precisely!’ Vincenzo placed a hand on Logan’s shoulder, ensuring he had his attention. ‘If she were a beast of death and destruction as they have led you to believe then would the not have reproduced and created a world where they rule?’

  ‘So why lock it away?’ Logan pulled his shoulder from Vincenzo’s grip.

  ‘To protect her, it is not us that are the villains here. Those of you that would seek to destroy her are the ones that defy nature, defy evolution to seek something you fear and do not understand.’

  ‘But Viktor said...’

  ‘Viktor had his own agenda, something far different from the true order of Veks. True, he had the ability to communicate with the Magdon, but that made him believe he was higher than others within the order.’

  ‘I have heard it too, he wasn’t that special!’

  ‘I know, but there are few who can link with her. We are more than aware of your gift, and that is another reason I wanted to bring you here, to Aggstein and to the Shrine.’<
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  Logan waited as Vincenzo turned to admire the workmanship of the surrounding tomb. It was an immense sight to behold, a fusion of nature and man, metal, stone, plant and brick all working together.

  ‘Of all those I have seen face her, you have emerged strongest.’ Vincenzo spoke, his voice only just above a whisper. ‘For years I would have hoped to hear her, but I not meant it to be. When Viktor rose, we could all see they broke the Trident. When he killed the others, it was clear it corrupted him.’

  ‘You all allowed him to get there, you must have things in place?’

  ‘That could be said of many things through history Logan. The rise and fall of Hitler, the atomic bomb, dictators the world over. The masses do not realise until it is too late.’

  Logan could not deny the logic.

  ‘You still haven’t answered about the cage.’

  ‘That is there to keep her safe but also to tame her.’

  ‘Tame her?’

  It was not lost on Vincenzo that it was the first time Logan has personified the Magdon, it gave him a glimmer of hope he was connecting with the boy.

  ‘Those that can communicate with her, that are connected have always been sought so they can elicit a true connection.’

  ‘To control her, but to what end?’

  ‘To an end where we can co-exist. She has survived millennia on base instincts of survival. We have always hoped bring her closer and allow it to unify us as a species.’

  ‘I need to go.’

  ‘Wait.’

  Logan turned and stormed across the narrow walkway back towards the open doors.

  ‘Where will you go Logan?’

  Vincenzo’s voice echoed around the vast tomb, but Logan chose not to answer.

  23

  Blurring The Lines

  Lymington port was populated by a handful of passengers, and they had driven aboard the ferry to the Isle of Wight with ease. As they were travelling outside of peak times, they found only half of the ship filled with cars and motor homes.

  ‘What say, Claudia, I and our little passenger settle for a coffee on the main deck?’ Archy asked as he lifted himself from the back of the car.

  ‘I think I’ll take a walk on the deck,’ Gabe replied as he secured the car.

  The ferry staff showed them towards the main stairways leading into the ship and requested all passengers leave their vehicles in situ.

  ‘Mind if I join you?’ Nahem asked, catching Gabe by surprise.

  ‘Suppose not.’ Gabe shrugged and looked at Claudia. ‘Make sure nobody sees him, I somehow expect half the old people wouldn’t quite understand a half-dead pint-sized monster.’

  ‘Yebot hides within his cage hides himself from those of age.’

  Gabe could not hide his wry smile at Yebot’s song.

  ‘You’ve got my new number, call me if there are any problems.’

  ‘We’ll be fine.’ Claudia grinned and walked with Archy towards the heavy metal door to the starboard stairwell.

  ‘Shall we?’ Gabe motioned towards the narrow walkway beside the vehicles and up towards the main deck.

  The ferry ride would take around half an hour and would see them cross The Solent and dock at Yarmouth port on the north-western side of the Isle of Wight. Gabe had made this journey many years ago with Sara and the children but never returned. As he climbed the narrow staircase, a wave of memories washed over him.

  Emerging on the deck, the ferry jolted as it pulled free from the dock and chugged out through the wide mouth of the bay towards The Solent.

  ‘Have you been here before?’ Nahem asked as they moved towards the railing at the front of the ship.

  ‘Once, a long time ago.’ He replied, resting his arms against the rough metal railing deep in thought.

  ‘You have sadness in your eyes.’

  ‘I was here with my wife and both my children.’

  ‘I see.’

  Gabe observed Nahem. Her expression was hard and devoid of emotion. Her grey eyes seemed to analyse of every inch of him, but there was nothing beneath her gaze. It was an odd sensation, the feeling she elicited in him unnerved him.

  ‘You’re not too good with people are you?’ Gabe quipped as he returned his attention to the water.

  The shallow water broke at the front of the ship and while the sky was clear, there was a crisp sea breeze that whipped around them.

  ‘I am not familiar,’ Nahem started. ‘Customs from my people differ greatly from your own. It has never required me to share or understand. I was always in the background observing and reading people.’

  ‘To what end?’

  ‘I am the shamen’s granddaughter but that role, in my culture, can only ever fall to a man. Through my birthright, I am forced to advise the shamen as a whisper from the background.’

  ‘And how do you know Archy?’

  ‘Your great-grandfather?’

  ‘That’s the one.’ Gabe still did not feel comfortable with the change of circumstance with Reg and the revelation of their kinship.

  ‘My own relatives aided him on his journey in his youth. I have listened and advised on matters relating to his quest. When the time came for us to help him once again they decided it required a new face for your new age.’

  ‘And they chose you?’

  ‘You sound disappointed!’

  ‘Not at all,’ Gabe corrected. ‘I wondered why they picked you.’

  It was Nahem’s turn to admire the view from the bow of the ship. Seagulls ducked and dived in the streams of the wind, their wings flapping to keep them from tumbling to the surface of the water.

  Gabe stole a look at Nahem and for the first time took in her appearance. She was tall, muscular in frame and her striking grey eyes seemed to draw his attention. Her olive-tanned skin looked soft, yet something told him she was older than she looked.

  It took until the ferry had pushed past the mouth of the bay allowing the land to fade away behind them before Nahem spoke again.

  ‘I am one of eight children, three sisters and four brothers. We have, all of us, partaken in your journey.’ Nahem began. ‘For me, with the help of Archy, I could get a Western education and moved towards deconstructing the dividing walls between our cultures.’

  ‘That makes sense, I expect where you’re from is a little different from this?’

  It had piqued Gabe’s curiosity, and the world of Nahem’s past was intriguing and a welcome distraction.

  ‘I come from a very traditional village, and yes my transition into your culture was far from easy. But at the behest of my grandfather before his death,’ Nahem paused for a moment at the painful memory.

  ‘I’m sorry, how did he die?’

  ‘The same man who killed your wife executed my grandfather and murdered my village.’

  Her words silenced Gabe. She took her time to turn to face him, her expression impossible to read and emotionless.

  ‘Viktor?’

  ‘Indeed.’ She replied. ‘When my grandfather returned Archy’s diary to you it was when he had heard the uprising of the Veks and the fact they had discovered the resting place of a Magdon in hibernation. He returned it to you in time as not long after he came to my village demanding it.’

  ‘But it was gone, with me by then?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Surely he knew, he didn’t need to kill them.’

  ‘Viktor never had a need for anything, it was another way to establish his power influence among the Veks, show his power.’ A flicker of emotion crossed her face. ‘He did it for no other reason than he could.’

  Gabe did the only thing he thought was right and placed his hand on her shoulder. He felt her tense to his touch, but he kept his hand in place. Nahem looked, for the first time, vulnerable and she dropped her grey eyes to the deck, avoiding looking at Gabe.

  ‘I know your pain, albeit my loss has been but a single experience. I cannot imagine how it must feel to lose all of your family.’

  Standing there Gabe realis
ed how lucky he had been. In all of his self-mourning, he had not understood that his life had not been the only one affected by Viktor’s actions. In a way, he had become absorbed within his own loss at the expense of realising, in the grand scheme, he was not alone, and he was not the worse off in all of this.

  ‘You have felt the stab of sorrow both for losing your wife and seeing your son walk away from you.’

  ‘Logan will come back.’ Gabe replied.

  ‘That is one reason I am here.’ Nahem lifted her gaze to look at him again. ‘I realise that I have moved your son further away from you and for that I am sorry. I never meant it to be that way.’

  ‘Revenge.’ Gabe sighed. ‘It was revenge that brought you both together, a desire to seek vengeance for the man that took everything from the pair of you.’

  ‘Viktor’s death was my intention.’ Nahem confessed. ‘I never intended to see him follow the path we once set Archy upon as a young man.’

  ‘What’s done, is done.’ Gabe said through gritted teeth. ‘I cannot blame you for the choices Logan has made.’

  ‘That is good,’ Gabe cut her off.

  ‘But I can blame you for offering him the chance at revenge, you used your common enemy to facilitate a vengeance that benefited you with the least risk.’

  ‘It was never about that.’

  ‘He was a boy,’ Gabe released her shoulder and stepped back. ‘He was my boy, not yours to bend to your will.’

  ‘Logan ceased to be a boy long before I found him.’

  Gabe fought his frustration, turning around he caught sight of Claudia and Archy sat high above in the main seating area of the ferry.

  The two of them looked deep in conversation while they sat the small pet carrier against the window allowing Yebot a view out of the panoramic window.

  ‘What did you think would happen Nahem?’ Gabe asked, his voice almost drowned out by the wind. ‘When Viktor was dead did you expect him to come back to his family and return to normal?’

  ‘I didn’t expect or want him to delve further into this world. I hoped that vengeance would see an end to his journey and yes, yes I expected him to come back to you.’