Jyx looked down at the pterosaur before him. The ritual circle faded, leaving nothing but a light dusting of green powder on the floor. Jyx thought of the ritual broom, and his heart sank. He’d used a ritual circle without cleansing it first. Still, it didn’t seem to have affected the pterosaur—it stretched its wings, and flexed its feet.
“Hello, little man. I’m Jyx. Jyximus Faire. I’m your master,” said Jyx.
The pterosaur screeched, swinging its head back and forth as if searching for the source of the sound. It scuttled backwards, its claws skittering across the floor.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to be frightened,” said Jyx. He reached out towards the pterosaur but it screeched again, a shriek full of fear and panic. He looked at its reptilian face, and a cold fist of dread punched him in the stomach.
The pterosaur’s head snapped from side to side, still hunting for the threat, its dead eyes staring but seeing nothing. It was blind. Jyx’s thoughts skipped out of the room towards the cabinet of vials and potions, particularly the Aperuit oculos salve. He slapped his hand across his mouth.
“I forgot to anoint the eyes.” Jyx forced the words between gritted teeth.
The pterosaur tore at the air with its wings and heaved itself off the floor. It flapped to one side, the joints in its left wing seizing solid. It crashed into the table, and a tall vase of glass lace toppled over. The vase exploded against the floor in a cloud of shards, spilling its fake floral bouquet. Glass blooms lurked among the velvet blossoms, adding their coloured fragments to the powder on the floor.
“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to panic!” Jyx pleaded with the pterosaur as it worked the kink out of its wing and lurched across the room. It slammed into another table, sending yet another vase flying, which cracked apart into hundreds of porcelain slices.
“No!”
Jyx dived across the room, his fingers missing the pterosaur by a hair’s breadth. It howled, a prehistoric sound never before heard by man. With a mighty flap of its wings, it launched itself through the archway. The tip of its wing caught a third vase on the plinth beside the door. Jyx threw himself to the floor and caught the vase before it made contact. He shoved it back onto the plinth before plunging through the archway in pursuit of the pterosaur.
The living fossil made a beeline for the doorway leading back to the main Vault. It let out a series of piercing screams, and Jyx made another grab for its leathery body. The Wolfkin had surely heard the noise, and they would soon be striding through the Vault. The Wolfkin would waste no time in destroying the pterosaur before destroying Jyx too. He caught himself before he could unleash a volley of contemptuous curses, aimed mostly at his own stupidity.
The pterosaur dipped and swooped across the Vault, its claws catching at the mummies on the slabs. Its blind gaze raked across the blank walls, its tongue trying to taste freedom in the cold air. Jyx shouted a warning but the pterosaur failed to pull up in time; it smashed into a table of alchemical apparatus, demolishing the set-up in seconds. Shattered glass covered the floor, and the mixing of the chemicals released noxious fumes. They hung in a dark mist above the stone slabs.
Jyx vaulted over a slab, apologising to its inhabitant. He rifled through his memory, hoping he’d learned some kind of incantation to protect property from damage. Nothing sprang to mind, and he dived to the floor to catch a mummy before it fell from its slab. The ancient king was heavier than Jyx expected, and they landed together in a twisted heap.
“Stop it! Stop destroying everything!”
Jyx threw off the mummy’s cadaverous embrace and leapt to his feet. The pterosaur wheeled and flew alongside the wall, its wings brushing the cold stone. It crashed headfirst into the main experimental table, sending flasks and braziers to the floor. Jyx howled, watching the destruction play out. The pterosaur, startled by the noise, flew upwards. It scraped over the gallery rail and smashed into a glass-fronted cabinet of potions.
The pterosaur fell backwards, away from the gallery. It landed on a mummy’s stomach with a soft thump. Jyx ran the length of the Vault, his mouth hanging open and tears streaming from his eyes. He reached the pterosaur to find it wasn’t dead, simply stunned from the impact.
He scooped up its body and made his way between the slabs to his own quarters. He hurried into his bedchamber, where Bastet still sprawled on the floor, snoring quietly. Jyx put the pterosaur into the empty sarcophagus and scooped a handful of sleeping sand from the floor beside the cat. He sprinkled it over the pterosaur, and its laboured breathing slowed and grew calm.
Jyx stood up and pushed his hands through his hair. He bent to inspect Bastet, but wakefulness would be a long way off for her yet. Perhaps he would have time to clean things up before Eufame got back. He would need to think of an exceptional reason why the pterosaur was missing, but maybe things would be all right.
Jyx walked back into the main Vault. His mouth dropped open as he surveyed the scene. Broken glass littered the floor, and the tables holding the shattered alchemical apparatus smoked under the weight of their chemical burdens. A necromantical residue smeared the walls and most of the surfaces, tracing the pterosaur’s destructive path. Jyx didn’t even dare return to Eufame’s chambers to check on the breakages in there.
A slow, heavy tread on the spiral staircase turned Jyx’s blood to ice water. He stared around at the immense damage. The Wolfkin would punish him for sure. They were too loyal to Eufame not to—and there was nothing he could do to change their loyalties. Unless…
Jyx ran the length of the Vault and crouched in the shadow beside the archway. The descending Wolfkin grunted with each step, and Jyx fancied he could already feel its hot breath on the back of his neck. He steeled himself, and held out his trembling hands. He stared at the patch of stone floor immediately inside the doorway, and visualised a glowing red net of energy.
“Misit hoc rete, misit fortis, capere umbra, eam mea,” whispered Jyx. The scarlet strands of power pulsed as they settled across the stones. The net faded, but Jyx heard it hum as it earthed itself. If he squinted, he could see its faint outline. He pushed himself as flat against the wall as he could, as if he wanted to become part of the stones themselves.
The Wolfkin reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped through the archway. Jyx recognised its sleek white fur and smooth muscles. Eufame didn’t refer to them by name, or even their specific function, but the white one seemed to most frequently shadow the necromancer general in the Vault. Where that Wolfkin was, Eufame was sure to follow.
Jyx reached out to withdraw the enchantment but the net flared into life, sending crimson sparks skittering into the air. The Wolfkin’s head whipped around and its eyes focused on Jyx. Its snarl was cut short as the net became a trap, snapping closed around its shadow.
The fire in the Wolfkin’s eyes dulled to a glimmer, and the anger melted from its face. It stumbled backwards and slid down the wall. Its head lolled to one side, gentle snores emanating from the once-fierce head. Jyx stared down at the docile guard, torn between amazement, pride, and fear.
“I’ve done it… I actually did it. I’ve taken over a shadow.”
Jyx pulled himself to his feet, and peered down at the Wolfkin. Beside it, a Wolfkin-sized shadow swelled to occupy the guard’s standing position, its outline tinged with red fire. It flickered before Jyx, but he got the distinct impression it was looking at him. The faint scent of burnt fur hung in the air.
“Hang on, if I can bend a Wolfkin to my will…”
Jyx turned around and looked the length of the Vault. Row upon row of mummies, potential able-bodied assistants, lay before him. His mother had always told him that many hands made light work—surely this many pairs of hands would make the work almost non-existent. He had to try.
“Okay, you. I don’t know what your name is, but I know how strong your kind is. You might break free of my net, for all I know, but for now, you do what I tell you. Do you understand?”
The shadow made a movement Jyx took to be a nod. He nodded in reply, and strode off through the Vault. He paused when he reached the central cross point of the aisles, and looked towards Eufame’s chambers. Part of him told him to double check his incantations. He shook his head to dispel the doubts. He turned to address the shadow, glad of someone to talk to.
“I know I should check the incantations but I really don’t have time. Miss Delsenza could be back at any time, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take to raise a whole room of mummies.”
Jyx paused to count them. He didn’t think he would need all of them—possibly only half. Maybe even just ten of them would do. They could be sweeping up the broken glass while he laid protective enchantments on the spilled chemicals to prevent them doing any more damage. If they were quick enough, he could even form new glass from the shards to re-glaze the cabinets in the gallery. He couldn’t rescue the enchantments from the broken bottles, but that couldn’t be helped. He’d never seen Eufame use them so far; perhaps she kept them more for show than for practical use.
“I think it’ll be fine. After all, everything worked on the pterosaur; it only went wrong because it couldn’t see, so it panicked. I’ve anointed their eyes so they’ll be able to see. Besides, look how easy it was to ensnare you.”
Jyx pinched himself, unable to believe that he was freely talking to a shadow—and a shadow of a Wolfkin, at that. If only Dean Whittaker could see him now! Apprentice to the necromancer general, and master of a shadow—he would have to make the wall of alumni now.
Jyx fetched the ritual broom from its perch over the doorway to Eufame’s quarters, and handed it to the shadow. Jyx paced the floor around the slabs, careful to draw the correct sigils at the correct points of the circle. He frowned that he couldn’t draw an exact circle, due to the arrangement of the slabs and the dimensions of the Vault, but he was sure it wouldn’t matter. As long as the circle was complete and the sigils were in place, it should be fine. The shadow followed him, sweeping the broom from side to side. Jyx couldn’t hear it speaking the words of banishment, but he felt them resonating all the same.
He returned to his starting point, and the circle manifested in a blast of green energy. Jyx heaved a sigh of relief and turned to the shadow. He took back the ritual broom and returned it to its place above the door.
“You see? That was what I did with the pterosaur, but I need you to go and keep watch. Do not let anyone in, you understand?”
The shadow gave another imperceptible nod and drifted towards the doorway. Jyx made his way to the centre of the circle, or as close as he could get to it, and closed his eyes. A magickal current thrummed in the air, like a sustained bass note, and Jyx took a deep breath.
“Oh great ones, masters of eternity and guardians of the dark places…”
His consciousness slipped sideways with every beat of the incantation, and he fought the urge of his spirit to lurch to the west. His mind’s eye snapped open, and the grey mists of the World Beyond filled his vision. The shades of those who had gone before hovered on the edge of his perception.
A second incantation sprang to his lips. He danced along a sparkling silver cord, flitting from shade to shade in the World Beyond. He invited the souls of the departed royalty to return, to find their old bodies and to live again. The souls massed as shining figures of gold and silver, starlight dancing in their eyes. Even in the World Beyond, Jyx heaved a sigh of relief. They could see.
The third incantation poured out of his throat. He still didn’t know what the notes signified, or what power they held over the dead, but they’d worked on the pterosaur, and now they’d work on the mummies. The figures loomed closer, the starlight seeming brighter and more intense, as the World Beyond faded from view.
Jyx opened his eyes to see a series of silver shadows drifting between the slabs. The shades peered down at the mummies, ignoring the ones they didn’t recognise, and clambering up onto the slab when they found themselves. Sweat snaked down Jyx’s back, and he realised he hadn’t spoken the final incantation yet. They were getting ahead of him.
He allowed his lips to form the fourth and final incantation. Power coursed through him, and out of him, charging the air with palpable energy. The faint tang of ozone filled the room. The souls lay down to meld with the mummies on the slabs, disappearing into the desiccated bodies within seconds. Their collective gasps for air tore apart the silence of the Vault, and Jyx’s ears were filled with the dry, hitching chokes of bodies seeking to breathe.