The Song of a Poisoned Star

6

'I'm going to check this for more traps, gents!' Molina shouted, striding to the third archway.

Kiefer looked up from looting and followed him.

This was grander than the other two exit archways; it was decorated with more stone carvings of flowers, and higher and wider. Molina slowed as he reached it. His bracelet was thrumming, shaking so much that his hand was no longer steady. It was odd that he hadn't felt this intensity of magic further away. As he got closer, his hairs started rising, as if he was walking into a lightning storm; and one of the disks shook so much that it came flying off. He stopped, undid his bracelet, and put it into his pocket to avoid anything else coming loose. It shivered there like an animal.

'Can you feel that?' Kiefer asked, a pace or two behind him.

'Yes. Stop, please,' Molina said.

Despite being directly in front of him, it was still pitch black beyond the arch. He clicked his fingers and blew sparks from them. As they passed through, it was like they were passing into a sheet of darkness: one moment they were there, bright; and the next, they were muted slivers of fire, falling away from them into whatever void was beyond. He could hear a gentle song, some slow ancient charm. No, not quite hear; it was partly in his ears, and partly in his mind.

He frowned, not sure what to do next. He turned to look at the Kiefer, thinking of some joke he could make. But the mercenary had a strange, faraway look on his face. He was reaching forward; and then the song was calling to Molina too, whispering longing and sharp, alien love.

Molina pulled his hand back from the darkness, surprised and wary.

'I think you should stay back,' he said to Kiefer; but the man ignored him, enraptured, and instead kept leaning forward to the sheet of darkness in the arch.

'Say friend...' he started, but then, the song swelled in and around him, blossoming into a great chorus of loneliness and forgiveness. It demanded one thing and one thing only of anyone who was listening: to walk through this dark gate, and receive the bounty of deep and unending love.

This was potent magic, and Molina could see nothing but danger if anyone went any further, and Kiefer seemed entranced, eyes wide, mouth stuck in a half smile. So, pushed him backwards, away from the archway. Kiefer crumpled backwards with a clatter, and his lantern crashed down and its burning oil spread across the floor, catching on the dry cloth and wood.

Molina cursed, and staggered away from the arch. Desperate to drown the noises in his brain, he started singing a sea shanty he had learnt on the voyage over, anything to drown out the needy song.

'I've sailed the North and I've sailed the South...'

Around him, the mercenaries where ensnared. Gunter was swearing and shaking his head. Kiefer was crawling towards the arch, through the burning oil, ignoring the flames that caressed his doublet. Reiner was staring, wild eyed; the other – Udo – was on his knees, clawing at his ears, wailing.

'...and I've seen the Pearly Shore...'

It was hard to sing. He mumbled the words, stumbling over them. Gunter grabbed Udo, pulled him up, screamed at him, shoved him towards the exit. The man stumbled away, up the tunnel towards the surface, sobbing, blood streaming down his head.

Molina grabbed Kiefer to pull him back, but the man rolled over and kicked Molina in the face. Molina staggered backwards, the shock of the pain snapping some sense into him. Kiefer clawed his way more quickly towards the darkness. Molina spat blood and resumed singing.

'...but I've never seen a woman's mouth...'

Gunter slapped Reiner, who reeled back then lunged, rage burning in his eyes. Kiefer, covered in blazing oil and stinking of burning fat and hair, was still dragging himself towards the darkness. This clawing, second-hand love that was leaking into their minds reminded Molina of something, things he hadn't heard of in a hundred years; it had been powerful then, but this was something else, and he knew that if they let out what was behind that arch it could be the end for all of them. The song calmed him, though, and its very seductive power was what gave him the clarity he needed.