11 DRACHEHOLM
The creature had been duly taken to Malekh’s laboratory and dissected. The lizard-like mutation turned out to have possessed a venom that could kill a mortal agonizingly within minutes. Remy blanched at the idea that he could have been poisoned in his ignorance.
Malekh had instructed his soldiers to clear all the bodies outside the Morgana as soon as the fog lifted, and arranged that the lakes surrounding the castle be dredged and tested to ensure the venom had not compromised the waters. “We have nets in the moat to drag the unwanted out,” Yolanda informed Remy. “The meshes are wide enough for fishes to escape their confines, but large enough to properly dispose of corpses and creatures alike. Fortunate that this is not where we take our drinking water from.”
Many of the other residents were already hard at work looking through some of the fortifications and checking for repairs.
“I want everyone to stay within Morgana’s walls until we return,” Malekh said to the other commanding officers. “There is no telling what else abounds.”
“Do you think that the Night Empress has found access to her own laboratory to create these?” Remy asked.
“It may be less complicated than that. The vampiric tree we burned at Meridian Keep is not the only one of its kind within these lands, though we have taken steps to eradicate the rest. The more ancient of its species have been found capable of not just rejuvenating fatal wounds, but also reconstituting them to better survive the current conditions where it resides. The creatures’ venom share similarities to its sap.”
“So what you’re saying is that these mutations were also part tree? That she stuffed corpses into it, and they turned into… whatever those were?”
“An oversimplification, but yes. The salinity levels in their system match samples I’ve taken from the region in past travels. The Night Empress appears to have been using the bloodwood for more than just her healing cocoon.” Malekh frowned. “All the more reason to go to the Allpriory to take samples of the Fount within.”
“The Fount? The vampiric tree at the Allpriory?”
“The temple clan views it as an important relic of sorts. I believe its husk remains carefully preserved.”
“I could ask the Night Empress about it the next time I sleep.”
Malekh just stared at him.
“Or we can wait,” Remy conceded.
The youths were sad to see Remy leave. “You’ll come back and give us more training, won’t you?” Caid asked, his eyes hopeful.
“Gaius and some of the men offered to take over your training while I’m away,” Remy reassured him. “I won’t have any of you slacking off just because I’m not here to track your progress.”
“But you will come back?” Barnabas persisted. “We—” He paused and glanced over at his other companions, who nodded. “We’re going to miss you,” he said, looking down. “You’ll return with Lady Song and Lord Malekh, won’t you?”
“Once the business with the other courts is done, we’ll be back,” Remy said, unable to promise more than that, and was immediately drowned out by loud cheers as Renzo and Barnabas pounced on him, followed by the rest of their friends. For the first time since their training, they managed to unseat him, and Remy found himself sprawled on his arse with the sprouts all over him, wrapping their arms around his midsection, his legs, any place they could reach.
“They love you,” Xiaodan said with a laugh once the younglings had finally dislodged themselves from him and ran off. Her smile faded when she saw his expression. “Are you all right?”
Remy’s throat felt suspiciously tight. “I’ve never had anyone—anything like this back in Elouve. Even with the other novitiates, no one’s ever…”
Xiaodan helped him to his feet and slipped her arm easily through his, the move practiced and welcome. “I’m glad it’s happening now.”
Despite the initial delays, Xiaodan and Malekh were ready to leave within the hour. Speck, Wits, and three other kindred were to make up the rest of their entourage: a pretty woman named Shiragiku, plus two burly fighters named Aunoir and Diethnir.
“Thousands of years of history and information within those walls,” Speck said, rubbing his hands happily. “All to be made available to us.”
“The number of vampires waiting for us there doesn’t worry you?” Remy said dryly.
“Because I’m not kindred? A little. But I am sure it won’t be much of a problem. We’re under Lord Malekh and Lady Song’s protection, after all.”
“Where did you find that?” Remy asked Shiragiku, who was holding a fire lance not unlike the ones Reapers carried.
The vampire grinned at him and swung the weapon cheerfully. “Picked it off one of the hunters some time back and took a shine to it. I see why you Reapers are fond of them.”
“This is your last chance,” Xiaodan informed Malekh lightly. “We can still stay here at the Fata Morgana and damn to hell with what the rest of the courts decide on.”
“You know it is out of our hands, Xiaodan.”
“No, this just means you’re too noble to bow out and be selfish like I wish you would.”
Nothing could convince Lady Rotteburg to remain behind. Lorien had been reluctant to leave her for all his protests against her going, and Malekh conceded that the Allpriory would likely be well defended and a safe enough sanctuary. They had opted to bring the carriage and the helhests to ensure the lady’s well-being.
“Please be safe,” Agatha said earnestly, pressing several packages into Remy’s hands. “A parting gift from Sanlea. Foodstuffs to tide you all over till the Allpriory, and then some.” A small crowd had gathered to see them off, the sprouts included, and they waved cheerfully at the departing travelers as they cantered past the gates.
The stallions were as swift as ever, but Remy was growing much more accustomed to their speed, because it took another hour or so after the Fata Morgana was lost to their view before the familiar nausea started settling in. Lady Rotteburg had taken medication that allowed her to sleep off the worst of their breakneck pace, and the ride remained uneventful.
They stopped for a bite to eat around midday—or rather, they stopped to give Remy and Speck a chance to cram a few more pastries into their gullet, and for Lorien to encourage his mother to have a few pieces of bread. The other three had taken advantage of the well-stocked blood supply Agatha had brought for them, despite the marks along Remy’s neck as proof of Xiaodan’s and Malekh’s overindulging the night before.
“We should have more than enough time to visit the ruins of Dracheholm,” Malekh said, looking up at the sky, which was as dark as ever despite the afternoon. They had encountered no other mutations since their departure, and Remy was grateful for it.
“What do we do when we find Elke?” he asked. “I’m reluctant to leave her alone, especially with all these strange new beasts about.”
Xiaodan and Malekh glanced at each other. “We thought to ask you if she would be comfortable accompanying us to the Allpriory,” Malekh said.
“I thought only court leaders and their retinue were allowed to take part in the meeting.”
“There are extenuating circumstances where she is involved. She is the only known survivor of the Fifth Court, and by our own laws that makes her its oldest member—and potentially a candidate to be its leader.”
“I doubt that she would accept.”
“Even so, she has the seniority on all matters related to the Fifth Court. She can make her wishes known at the temple, and they will listen. If she chooses not to travel with us, then we can at least accompany her to one of the nearest towns to see her safely off.”
“What possessed her to go to Dracheholm? I understand what you mean when you say she wants closure, but the place is an abandoned ruin.”
“There is no rationality needed for it. We deal with grief in different ways, and the manners by which we do so can only be held accountable on our own terms.”
It wasn’t long before they arrived at what remained of the Fifth Court castle. Like Meridian Keep, Dracheholm was a crumbling edifice that had by some miracle managed to remain upright despite the years and the fires that had gutted it from the inside, turning the gray walls black from soot—and in some parts of the fortress, leaving barely any walls at all. But unlike the Second Court lair, there were no twisted roots or branches of some vampiric tree trickling from its entryways and windows. Instead, the fortress stood faded and forgotten, just like the kindred that had once occupied its walls.
Lorien had been reluctant to remain in the carriage, but agreed that his mother should not be entering the Fifth Court premises, abandoned or otherwise. Malekh had instructed the rest of the vampires to guard them nearby. “We won’t be long,” Xiaodan told them. “We’re only looking for an old friend.”
It was clear that numerous battles had taken place within its halls, judging from the partly smashed walls and broken floors when they entered, making their footing all the more precarious. Remy nearly planted a boot right through a rotting wooden plank when he attempted to ascend the grand staircase, the remaining highlight of the castle interior. Both Xiaodan and Malekh fared better, using their natural agility to leap from one solid-looking foundation to the next despite the distance, at times carrying Remy along despite his half-hearted protests.
They found no one else within the crumbling towers, and the rooms were for the most part bare, either stripped by passing robbers brave enough to search for kindred treasure or destroyed by the Third and Fourth Courts long before. Most of the Fifth Court vampires had been past their first century, and so no bones marked their passing, but Remy could spot bits of femur and skull pieces in between rotting furniture and glass. Black cloth still clung to more than a few of them, the only indication that Reapers had died here, too.
“She wouldn’t be up here,” Remy finally said, berating himself silently for not having realized it sooner. “She was the Fifth Court’s best blacksmith. She would have spent most of her time at the forge.”
They proceeded to the lower floors, then toward a set of stairs leading them farther underground. Here were the castle dungeons and prisons, and he saw with revulsion that the traces of death were clearer here than in the upper landings. They walked past broken metal bars and stone rooms with rusting manacles. Little of the light outside passed through the tiny windows overhead. The vampires could see well enough in the darkness, but Remy found a torch still braced up against the cold walls and lit a fire to guide his own path.
“He died here,” Xiaodan said with grim satisfaction. She walked into one of the gaols and pressed her boot down on a spot on the floor, heel grinding down on it as if she could still stomp down on the Fifth Court leader’s corpse. “I killed Etrienne Sauveterre right at this spot. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
“Never do that again,” Malekh said gravely. “Not even his death was worth losing you.”
Xiaodan smiled. “Always the romantic.”
“Romantic as my left ballsack,” Remy muttered, shivering in the gloom.
The forge was located in a smaller room past the cells. Remy knew enough of Elke’s past to understand that she had been a prisoner of the clan more than a member, and the proximity of the gaols to where she had worked was not lost on him. “How exactly did the Fifth Court leader die?”
“I don’t have many memories of the killing myself,” Xiaodan said. “I tore him nearly to pieces, but that was mostly a blur. I remember feeling him come apart.”
“How long did he suffer?” Remy could not quite keep the bloodthirstiness out of his voice.
Xiaodan gazed back at him. “He boasted about what he would do to my clansmates once he’d gotten his hands on them,” she said, “going into sordid detail. I delivered onto him some of what he’d fantasized about so freely. So yes, he suffered greatly.”
Remy looked around at the shackles and the heavy stains on the walls and floor. He was wrong. Time hadn’t completely erased everything within Dracheholm, though he wished it had. “Good,” he said fiercely.
They found Elke perched on a small stool beside the now-cold hearth. She had laid out several tools, all neglected and corroded, on the floor before her and was studying them intently. Occasionally she would pick one up to examine it closely, as if she meant to see whether it could still be of some use, before setting it back down again.
Xiaodan and Malekh hung back, waiting while Remy drew nearer to his best friend. “Elke,” he called out softly.
The redhead didn’t look up. “It’s odd,” she said, her tone conversational. “I thought I would be angrier when I returned. I imagined I’d be frightened, that I’d weep. But try as I might, I feel nothing. I’ve felt more anguish at seeing my old hammer and tongs reduced to worthlessness than remembering what I’d been made to suffer within these rooms.”
Finally, she looked up at him and smiled. “I didn’t think you would find me so soon,” she said. “You are a lovely sight, Remy.”
Wordlessly, Remy knelt beside her, folded her into a tight embrace. She clung back, and a faint sob finally burst from her. By the time he had relinquished his hold, she had taken back control of herself, though her eyes were still unnaturally bright. “Did you receive the little present I left you?”
“I’ve had to leave it with most of my possessions in storage with Lewis and Leeley’s. Once I find a more permanent residence, it will be the crowning glory of my mantelpiece.”
“Storage?”
“I sold Kinaiya Lodge.”
“Oh, Remy.”
“Don’t oh, Remy me, Elke. The place has fulfilled its purpose, and it’s time for a change.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“Looking for you, you little minx,” Remy said affectionately. “There are fresh mutations about. The Rot may be evolving faster than we feared. Once I learned you were in Dracheholm, did you really think I would make any other decision?”
“I suppose not.” Elke glanced back at the hearth, and then at the vampires behind him. “Thank you both for taking good care of Remington.”
“We try,” Xiaodan said.
“I am glad to see you well, milady. I’ve had little news of you and Lord Malekh since I left. But I don’t suppose that this is merely a courtesy visit?”
“I am afraid not. The other courts are convening at the Allpriory, and they may have plans to bring back the Fifth Court with a new leader of their choosing.”
Elke’s face hardened. “I do not think that would be wise.”
“Neither do we. We are wondering if you might like to accompany us. Perhaps put forth any objections you have.”
“It’s happening, then? They’ve finally decided to do something about the Night Empress?”
“It’s still undecided whether they’ll attempt to take her down or install her as their new overseer,” Malekh supplied dryly.
“We found her cocooned inside some fucking vampiric tree, Elke,” Remy said, angry. “She had wings. And it looks like she’s created more mutations herself and bent them to her will. She’s turned Kerenai villagers—”
“What?” Elke was staring at him, paler now. “What’s this about a tree?”
“We know little of this particular strain,” Malekh said. “Only that it’s capable of healing wounds—”
“And that it can extract blood for kindred to consume?”
It was Remy’s turn to gape at her. “Elke?”
“The bloodwood was one of Etrienne’s pet projects, and one that he was the most pleased with.” Elke rose to her feet, tugging Remy back up along with her. “I should have known,” she whispered. “I thought that when Dracheholm fell, it had perished in the fires along with it. But I could be wrong. Some seedling, perhaps, or saplings that someone uncovered and borne away.”
“Sauveterre created this tree?” Xiaodan asked, aghast.
“Rather a deadlier variation of it. It had escaped my mind these long years. I’d heard no news nor reports of it festering anywhere else, and when I arrived here and saw no traces of it, I made assumptions. But we must go farther underground.”
“Underground?” Remy looked around, baffled. “I thought we already were.”
“There is more not in plain sight. It’s always been like Etrienne to store his revolting experiments in places only he had access to.” Elke paused before one of the walls, fingers exploring the crevices within. “I was the only one he made privy to some of his more grotesque inventions. A sign of his devotion to me, he said.” She snorted. “He knew I would have little chance to tell anyone else. There was one hidden latch here that he always used to—ah, there we are.”
There was the sound of stones grinding upon each other. A portion of the wall slid backward, revealing another dark passageway with steps leading down into shadows. “In the years since, I’ve tried not to give any of this much thought,” Elke said. “I had no idea any other kindred would have found his secrets.”
“It seems to me that no one else discovered his hideaway, and your conscience should be clear. If the Night Empress already knew, then nothing would have stopped her from seizing his inventions for her own.” Cautiously, Xiaodan stepped through, Malekh following.
“You look happier,” Elke said to Remy. “Much better than I’d even hoped. I trust that things have been going well with you and your loves, even if everything else is imploding about us?”
“I’ve missed you too, Elke.”
The vampire kissed him on the cheek. “I thought to find another place to settle at,” she said. “But I couldn’t stop my own aimlessness, wandering from town to town and finding fault with each, giving myself reasons not to stay. It’s also because you weren’t there, Remy. I’m so glad you came to find me.”
The bottom of the stairs ended at a narrow corridor, which widened into what appeared to be a laboratory not unlike Malekh’s, though long abandoned. Remy could see shards of glass and wood littering the floor, shattered and smashed beyond recognition. Few implements remained on their shelves—beakers, measuring cups, syringes. The area was covered in blackened soot from some explosion that had ripped through the place before it had been taken over by the roots.
And the roots grew everywhere. If any equipment had remained after Etrienne died, it had been crushed beyond repair. The thick foliage squeezed its heavy tendrils around all the laboratory’s machinery, twisted and crushed in its grip. Some of the large vines still writhed and curled like large pythons.
“Fuck you, Etrienne,” Elke whispered into the room.
“There was no sign of this place from the outside,” Xiaodan said. “Sauveterre sealed the place better than the Second Court did.”
Malekh had his saber out, having pinpointed the tree’s center within a smaller room. The entrance was barred by the rest of the roots that covered the passageway, giving them little space to proceed.
“He said fire was the easiest way to kill it,” Elke said. “He kept many volatile liquids here, and I don’t know if those compounds are still active. Flames could cause another explosion.”
“Taking us all out along with the tree,” Remy said darkly. “Light, Elke. What was he thinking when he created this damned thing?”
“He sought a means to heal quickly, should he ever sustain fatal wounds, though he never used himself to test those theories. Many a time I saw some poor lackey dragged here, kicking and screaming.”
“Did he ever find a way to use the tree as some healing fount?” Xiaodan asked quietly.
“I’m not sure. He claimed that he was close to succeeding. He claimed to have enlisted volunteers to speed up the process, though I doubt any of his test subjects ever submitted willingly. You besieged the castle before he could finish, though I don’t think any of your people ever breached this laboratory.”
“An explosion looks to have happened here, but not one of our doing.”
“Yes, and I should have done a better job of it. In my defense, I’d been near death myself.”
“You blew this place up?” Remy asked, horrified.
“It looks like a failed attempt, given that his hideous tree survived.” Elke smiled briefly. “I didn’t want anyone to find Etrienne’s experiments and continue what he started. I crawled upstairs and resealed the passageway before your clansmen arrived. Do you remember?”
“I remember,” Xiaodan said softly.
“You were kind. You brought me back upstairs, told me to get out quickly while I still could. And I took your advice.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
“You still had Etrienne to worry about. I stuck around long enough to confirm for myself that you’d really killed him. I didn’t care what happened to me after that. I just wanted to watch him die.” Elke looked at the thick branches covering the walls, at the roots spreading through what remained of the Fifth Court leader’s works. “I want to exterminate the rest of his legacy, and I won’t leave until I see this tree as dead as he is.”
“We need to cut it down as best we can,” Malekh said. “The heart of this tree undoubtedly lies within this passageway. Breaking down the walls may cause the rest of the castle to collapse on us. We’ll have to do this the harder way.”
“Off to work, then,” Remy said with a grunt, his scythes jutting out of Breaker with one flick of his wrist.
It was far more time-consuming than he’d expected. The roots and vines thrashed about as they were cut down as they cleared the way into the inner recesses of Etrienne’s laboratory. An hour had passed by the time they’d finally carved out a path, and Remy’s arms were feeling the strain. “We should have asked the others to assist us,” he grumbled.
“Lady Rotteburg’s safety takes priority,” Malekh said, slashing through a particularly thick trunk.
“Lady Rotteburg?” Elke echoed. “Is that who I think it is? And she’s here with you?”
“Long story.” Remy chopped down another vine. “I’m sure she’ll be more than happy to tell you once we’re out of here.”
As with its fellow in the Second Court lair, a large cocoon lay at the center of the room they finally managed to enter, thumping and jerking like a beating heart. The tree itself had twisted to conform to the room’s size, gnarled and bent but massive enough to take up nearly every inch of space.
“Do you think there’s something inside this one as well?” Remy asked with a shudder.
Xiaodan frowned. “There is, but it isn’t her.”
Malekh had already swung his saber, cutting through the moving cocoon. Three more slashes and it broke open abruptly, portions of it falling away.
Remy could not describe the… the thing that lay within. It had been human at some point in the past, but its skin now resembled the same rough texture of the tree it resided in. What should have been a face instead resembled heavy grooves on thick bark, as if someone had carved out a semblance of features upon it with a knife. It had tufts of what could be hair on its head, though bald in places, as if portions had been ripped out. Its body appeared fused to the tree’s entrails, the outlines of arms evident, but immobile, like some grotesque wooden sculpture left half-finished.
It was moaning. It turned its misshapen head to and fro, clearly in pain. It angled its horrific excuse of a face toward them, sensing their presence. “… ghsaaa…” it groaned, sounding like wind whistling through a hollow instead of a voice. “… ehlee…”
“Wait,” Malekh said, when Remy immediately leveled his scythes at it. “It’s in no shape to attack us.”
“What the hell is it?”
Wordlessly, Malekh gestured at the creature’s legs. Remy looked and saw the scaled skin and tail. “The mutations that attacked the Morgana,” he gasped out.
“It appears that at least one of them was made within this cocoon,” Xiaodan said grimly. “You were right, Zidan. The Night Empress didn’t need a laboratory when this one did just fine.”
“It’s more than just that,” Malekh said. “Elke, did Etrienne ever use his own blood for these experiments?”
“… ehlee,” the thing whistled, the carved sunken hollows that should have been its eyes shifting toward Elke. “… ehlee…”
“Etrienne,” Elke whispered, eyes widening.
“Are you fucking jesting?” Remy gasped. “Elke, how can you even tell that it’s—”
“Elly is what it’s been trying to say. It was what Etrienne called me. As if a pet name would forgive everything else he’d done.” Elke moved closer. “It’s you, isn’t it?” she asked. “Or some copy of you, something with your essence stamped upon it. I was too optimistic, thinking you would never survive the ire of both the Third and Fourth Courts.”
The figure moaned.
“I killed Sauveterre,” Xiaodan said. “All that was left of him was ash and soot.”
“Etrienne was always searching for true immortality, a means to return from the dead even after being ashed. I don’t know if this is truly him.” Elke reached down her boot and pulled out a dagger. “But he’s close enough to the original. And we can’t let it live.”
Nobody stopped her when she thrust the knife straight into the creature’s heart. It shuddered, the hole that might have been its mouth opening and closing.
“Ehlee,” it whimpered.
“Thank you for living long enough to let me finally stab you myself, Etrienne.” There was no pleasure in Elke’s voice. If anything, she sounded sad. “Rest in peace, and take all your demons with you.”
The whole tree shook. And then the figure within it sighed. Its head lowered, its body disintegrating before their eyes until the cocoon stood empty before them.
The dagger was still embedded inside the hollow of the trunk. Elke left it there, stepping back. “We have to burn this,” she said in a voice forged from steel. “Everything must be consigned to the flames until nothing remains.”
MALEKH AND Xiaodan had been thorough, as if they were accustomed to committing acts of arson on a daily basis. The laboratory had been liberally drenched in a liquid that Malekh had called an accelerant, and Xiaodan had started a small fire within the tree hollow itself, all making their escape in haste before the flames could spread. The fire was not yet evident from where they were standing a mile out from the castle, though the vampire lord said it would take awhile for its effects to take hold.
Lord Lorien was curious, then horrified, once he’d been told everything. Lady Rotteburg took the news with quiet grace. “Redwald never liked him,” was all she said.
Speck had been stunned as well, but more disappointed that he’d been unable to see the bloodwood himself. “I know that it’s both unethical and terrifying that someone would willingly go so far in the name of science,” he said. “Still…”
“I am worried,” Elke admitted to Remy. She glanced back at the nearby woods. “He talked about keeping trees all over the lands,” she said, “or so he claimed. I thought little of it, but you encountered one at Meridian Keep. If there are more of these things, then he could not have done it alone. What if he was working with others to perfect his experiment?”
Remy had little opportunity to answer. A sudden blast had him crouched low on the ground, the sound ringing in his ears despite the distance. He heard Lady Rotteburg gasp.
When he looked back again, it was to see the castle of Dracheholm burning merrily, lighting up the darkening night sky like the world’s largest bonfire.