“I am Caewen.” She indicated a hand towards the boy. “And this one has no name. We carry no arms.” There was silence. She continued. “We mean no harm and will do none. I come only seeking those things that the dead do not need. Things left behind, and unwanted.”
Another of the weird laughters came roaring at them and vanished.
– in this you are mistaken. i am not dead. those that do not live, do not die.
“What are you then? Some spirit of this place? A guardian?”
– i am that one of those that has always dwelled in the dark places, down deep in the earth, walking the old tunnels of unlight. the creatures that built their towers here found me prowling their cellars, and they bound me and they caged me. so i called for the filthy ones, the hairy ones, full of fury and full of teeth, and i drove them mad. great masses of them overran the city, and slaughtered and feasted… but none of them had the small spark of sorcery needed to pass the final threshold. as you have done. the egress is opened.
Caewen took a step backwards. She spoke softly to the boy. “We’ve made a mistake. Or been betrayed by the fetch.” She laid a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. He was trembling and having difficulty holding the torch. “We must leave, now.”
But when they turned and hurried away, they found the door that they had passed now shut against them. No matter how hard Caewen put her shoulder into the door, it did not budge. At last she said, “I know no spells for opening doors.”
They turned back to the darkness.
Quiet, crazed laughter swam in the shadows.
– give yourself over to me. i will make you a goddess.
“Oh, I see.”
“See what?” said the boy.
“I’ve met something like this before. The Fane bound it here, and it has been left bodiless. It needs a vessel to leave this place. Something to ride, like a crippled old man in a wagon. But it can’t just take what it wants.”
– a bargain. yes. i know your thoughts and your mind. you fear that which is called the king of winters. i would make you a goddess of dark and secret magic. you would fear no one and nothing. you would live forever.
“I’ve seen what happens to those who enter into bargains with the fleshless things of the deep earth. Eventually I would be crushed to nothing, and ruled by you.”
– think well on your answer. you would know a thousand years of glory before you lost your mind. for I will not deny the truth of what you already know. i know your mind. i cannot deceive you in this. or you may die here in the cold, hungry and wailing for a way out asa quicker madness takes you. you will claw your eyes out and eat your own tongue before you die. i promise it.
“No. We will find some other way out.”
There was a long contemplative moment. The voice spoke, at last. – then give me the boy.
“No.”
He could feel Caewen’s fingers on his shoulder again, gripping tightly.
– I will make the bargain wonderful for you. you wish for arms and armour? look all about. Phantom shapes of eldritch weapons and armour made of jet and ivory appeared all through the room. There was a hum of magic buzzing like summer bees in the air. – take what you want. just give me the boy. you brought the sacrifice. give it to me. i will have a vessel, one way or another. A weird mad laugh. Then the voice spoke again, and seemed to subtly change. – what do you say? It suddenly had a distinct femininity to it, and as it spoke, the boy had a sense of something vast moving through the air and swirling around them both.
Caewen considered her answer, and only after long moment, did she speak. She must have been thinking through her words carefully, because she spoke slowly, and each word was like the step of a cat moving through puddles. “You mistake me. The boy is not to be sacrificed. I will fight you.”
– with what? magic? it will kill you to try.
“Then, that is how it will be.”
The boy swallowed hard. He wondered if his namelessness and the leach eyes would help him at all? His heart beat faster and louder, until he could hear the thump of the pressure in his ears, until he was sure the whole world could hear the terrified sound.
Just then, he felt a cold thing brush his leg. A wisp that looked half like smoke and half like a ghostly claw was rising out of the stone. He kicked at it, but it snarled around his leg and held as fast and as cold as iron. Another curl of grey-black mist was unfurling from the floor, and another, and another. They were grasping at him, twining about him, caressing and gathering into a mass of hands that felt cold and threatened to suffocate him as they gripped and held. Each moment that passed, another of the ghost-hands fastened on his skin or clothing–soon they would have him around the throat. He was more afraid than he had ever been. He couldn’t help the tears. He was half-blinded as he blinked madly, as he struggled against the cold hands.
– it matters not. you say aye or nay. the bargain was made when you passed the outer threshold. the writing on the stone bound you. you are held by the oath of stone. i would prefer a vessel that has knowledge of the art, but this one will do. a sacrifice willingly given is preferable, but this way provides a body of warm flesh all the same. the price is agreed. you might as well take what is bought with blood. dress yourself in whatever raiment of war you want, and go. you may forget the small life that was left here. it does not matter.
“No!” yelled Caewen, louder now. She suddenly swung her fists at the air as if she could see something that the boy could not. But there was only a harsh ringing of laughter in response, and Caewen turned her face to the boy. She looked shocked and pale. Without reason or hope she tired to clasp hold of the smoke-ghaist hands, and she grasped nothing and tore at shadows until the boy could feel the pain of her fingernails scratching the skin of his arms. He felt his grip loosen on the torch. It tumbled. He could hear Caewen saying over and over, “No, no, no. Don’t let it in, child. Do not let it in. It needs you to choose to give up. No, no, no, no. I will not let this happen.” But then the torch rolled into the wall, and with a flare of fire it went out. They were plunged into darkness. The boy could feel the air being crushed out of his lungs now as more and more hands clasped him. He could hear Caewen’s yells of fury growing fainter, more distant, until they were gone and he felt nothing at all.
All his will was gone. He was nothing but fear in the dark.
He surrendered.