Give the Dark My Love(94)

Without stopping, I turned to the revenants closest to me. “Bring my ship,” I ordered. They left wordlessly. I smirked, remembering the silly captain who had been sent to arrest me.

Forty-two revenants and a ship with two cannons. And me and my crucible.

I was ready for war.



* * *



? ? ?

Our ship sliced through the water like a knife. As we grew closer to Blackdocks, Grey tugged at my arm. “They’ll see,” he said.

It was late, the moon high, the stars silent observers. But there would still be people awake, wandering the city. There always were.

“Let them see,” I said.

The boat bumped against an empty slip, and I led the way, careful not to lose my balance as I descended the steep gangway. My revenants moved behind me.

I took the main road.

My connection with my revenants meant that I was aware not only of my own thoughts, but also of theirs. It wasn’t all-consuming, but it was present. I felt what they felt about the church halls we passed, a mix of joy and sorrow. Their shared hatred of the factories. A memory of a kiss stolen in one pub; a fight in another. This city belonged to each of them, and that did not change just because they were dead.

The only one I couldn’t sense was Grey. His skin was pale, his eyes wide with a sort of silent terror. But he walked beside me, and that was enough.

Dimly, I was aware of the commotion we were causing. Forty-two revenants and the girl leading them to the castle. Alarm bells clanged.

But no guards came.

I wondered what had happened to the captain of the warship after I stole his boat. Did the guards not come now because they were cowards, or because they had been instructed to give us clear passage to the castle?

Lights flared in the windows of the houses we passed as we crossed the poor district, and the cobblestones gave way to smooth pavers. Curtains shifted as people looked down at us. One door opened, and a servant let out a large dog, teeth snarling. But as my little army of revenants drew closer, the dog’s growls turned to whimpers. It scratched the bright blue paint of its owner’s door, trying to get back inside, before fleeing in terror.



* * *



? ? ?

The entire Emperor’s Guard stood on the steps of the castle, their red coats stark against the white stone. I knew now why they hadn’t stopped us at Blackdocks; they were waiting for us here.

“Halt!” a woman cried from the top of the stairs. Her insignia indicated she was a general; the fact that she was as far away as possible from us indicated she was a coward. She did not look down at us but instead stared straight ahead as she barked her orders. “We have been informed that you intend to harm the Emperor. Stand down.”

Beside me, I could feel Grey’s fear radiating from him.

I wondered how the Emperor’s Guard knew what we were coming for. There were about a hundred guards on the steps to the castle; perhaps a hundred more inside.

Mentally, I reached for my revenants. Protect me, I said.

I strode forward, confident. The first row of the Emperor’s Guard swung their pikes into a defensive line.

I twitched my fingers. A dozen of my revenants raced forward. It didn’t matter if they were pierced, hacked, or sliced.

Nothing could stop them.

I smiled.

Nothing could stop me.





SIXTY-FOUR


    Grey



Blood sprayed over Nedra’s face. It wasn’t hers. She wiped it away and mounted another step, her small feet stepping over the bodies of the Emperor’s Guard who had not fled.

A man in a red coat screamed, sword raised, running toward Nedra. She didn’t pause or even flinch; one of her revenants just shifted in front of her, taking the blow. He plucked the sword out of his shoulder, where it stuck in the bone, and then turned it on the man who’d attacked.

Nedra strolled forward.

A body slammed into me—a revenant or an Emperor’s guard, I wasn’t sure—but before I could fall, Nedra’s sister caught me.

“Thanks,” I muttered, trying to find my footing on the stone steps slick with blood. Nedra’s sister said nothing. She had not helped me; she had merely been following Nedra’s orders to protect me.

Nedra mounted the last step. Through the open doors of the castle, more guards waited, their eyes so wide with fear that I could see the trembling whites. Nedra paused, turning to the steps and the straggling guards who remained.

She lifted her hand.

The fallen bodies of the Emperor’s guards rose in the air. Their heads sagged on their shoulders, and their limbs were floppy, as if held by puppet strings. Silence fell, broken only by the soft plops of drying blood falling onto the steps. I stared in horror. This was the kind of thing Bennum Wellebourne had done, commanding the bodies of the dead like marionettes.

Nedra twitched her hand, sending the bodies into a macabre dance.

“Nedra,” I said in a low voice, “they didn’t choose this.”

Her eyes were on the remaining Emperor’s Guard. Their fear was palpable; Nedra’s threat could not be more obvious.

Run, or become like them. Dead puppets.

They fled.

Nedra let her hand drop. The echoing thuds of bodies crashing onto the stone reverberated throughout the front of the castle.

She turned to the open doors.