A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1)(38)

“I don’t know.” He crossed his arms. “I fear we may be.”

“Believe me,” I said with a shudder, “my feelings are exactly the same.”

—

THE BLACKWOOD HOUSE LAY AHEAD, SHROUDED in mist. The hedge-lined path guided me up toward the front. When I broke through the mist, I found the sky clear and the sun warm. The circle of black forest all around was no more frightening than a make-believe monster in a children’s story. This was home, the surest sensation I’d ever had in my life. The great house was even more beautiful than it had been in its picture. With tears of joy, I ran up the steps to be welcomed inside.

Someone grabbed my sleeve. Gwendolyn Agrippa pulled me away, shaking her head and shouting. I struggled against her, but it was no use. She was fearfully strong. No. This was where I was supposed to be. This was where I belonged.

The church bells tolled.

I stood alone in the center of a circle of standing stones. Gwendolyn had vanished. I walked about, inspecting my surroundings. The stones were twice as tall as I was. There were twelve of them, each spaced several feet apart. Odd symbols had been carved into the granite faces, symbols that I had never seen before. A strange noise made me stop and press my ear against one of the rocks. There was a buzzing coming from inside. It was almost music. Like the stone was singing.

I stood there as the Seven Ancients arrived, filling in the gaps of the circle. There was no way out for me now.

The church bells tolled.

There was Molochoron, a perfect blob of filth and disease. It leaked rancid water, bristling all over with dark, sharp hairs. Black shapes moved and darted within it, like eels trapped in jelly.



How odd to see Nemneris the Water Spider here. She lived in the sea. She was beautiful, with long, delicate legs and a slender green-and-purple body. Her eyes were three shining obsidian orbs. If only she weren’t fifty feet long and absurdly venomous…

The church bells tolled.

Callax and Zem came next, the ogre and the serpent. Callax was twenty feet tall with a flat skull, an extended jaw, and arms that dragged to the ground. Those arms were very good for smashing through buildings. Zem, with his long lizard body and fiery gullet, would burn whatever stood in his way.

On-Tez perched on the stone above me and cawed loudly. Flapping her vulture wings, she bared her teeth. She was the size of a horse, and deadlier than a pack of wolves.

The church bells tolled.

R’hlem the Skinless Man stood across from me. Even though he was the smallest and most human-looking of the Ancients, he was terrifying. Perhaps it was because of the intelligence in his gaze.

And then there was Korozoth.

The church bells…

—

I WOKE TO A CACOPHONY OUTSIDE my window. Every church tower in London was ringing out a warning.

An attack.

I grabbed my wrap and ran out into the hall. Doors down the corridor burst wide, boys spilling out in different states of undress. Dee staggered half blind, putting on a top hat while still in his dressing gown. Only Magnus was ready. He threw on his coat as he raced toward me.



“They should have listened to you, Howel,” he said, nodding at the sleepy, unprepared young men. “If you and Rook thought there’d be an attack, I saw no reason not to be alert. It’s probably old Zothy himself. Won’t he love this coat?” Magnus took the steps at a rush, whooping with joy. I was stunned by how quickly everything had happened.

“Miss Howel!” Agrippa came up the stairs, his hair sticking wildly in every direction. “Stay in your room. You’ll be quite safe.” He tried to sweep me down the hallway toward my door.

“Is it Korozoth?” I suppressed my fear. After all, this was my destiny, or at least I hoped it was. “Let me help.” Below us, I watched Blackwood call for the Incumbents, organizing them as they arrived.

“Not yet. Stay here. We’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?”

“Trafalgar Square. That’s where the Order always meets. Stay here,” he said again, and took off after the boys. There was a flurry of activity, with servants in nightdress rushing about below, lighting the lamps and calling to one another. I didn’t see Rook among them.

“Rook.” I remembered his black eyes, how that hideous Familiar girl had called him “the Shadow’s chosen.” If Korozoth’s riders had such an effect upon him, this Ancient might call to him especially and irresistibly….



I ran down the stairs and past the servants, who paid me no mind. I fled to the kitchen, calling for Rook, but didn’t find him. Lilly sped past me in her nightcap. I grabbed her. “Lilly, have you seen Rook?”

“No, miss. What is it?”

“I need to find him.”

We ran upstairs to the servants’ corridor. He was nowhere to be found. We went back down to my room, just in case he should be there. He wasn’t, and I kicked the bed in frustration. “Where is he?” Lilly looked terrified.

“I need you to help me dress.” I threw open the wardrobe doors.

“Why?”

“I’m going to find him,” I said.

“Outside? The master wouldn’t like that, miss.”

“I know where he might go.” Sighing, Lilly pulled out my simplest dress. I wished I had a pair of trousers all my own. Corsets were not designed for battling monsters.