The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 34 - I Know Now Why You Lied

The back wheels of the Land Rover squeaked in protest as I threw it around a corner two gears too high. The old engine was complaining noisily at the constant exertion like a teenager faking a heart attack to get out of P.E (True story. Didn't go well). It was old and arthritic and probably hadn't been driven in twenty years but I hadn't dropped below fifty in over half an hour.

Thounk! A rock kicked up by the harsh terrain bounced off the chasse but hey, at least nothing blew up. It was a good thing we were mainly offroad as well seeing as I, a skilled but very much illegal sixteen-year-old, was behind the wheel and the "responsible" adult was in the passenger seat.

To be fair Shadow was navigating. His compass was in one hand while the other was hanging out of the open window, black tendrils brushing the floor. He could apparently read where darkness had been cast and we had locked on to a group of four, one unresponsive, and three beasts one of whom was definitely the parrot, Monsoon.

I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. My heart was pounding in my chest, blood being forced into my head making me dizzy and I was sure that if my hands weren't on the wheel I'd see that they were shaking. We were going to get her back, we had to. We'd been through so much we couldn't just give up now.

"Take a left!" Shadow barked.

I span the wheel and the car lurched violently towards a dirt path with a broken barrier straddling the dirt. We barreled up and the ride became considerably more unpleasant as we were thrown up and down in our seats.

"How much further?" I asked/yelled above the rattling engine.

Shadow paused to take another reading. "A couple of miles, it's pretty fresh." He concentrated again, "I think she woke up around here, there's a lot more movement and they definitely flew lower just in case. I mean look! Feathers!"

Sure enough, just glimmering in the headlights, was a trail of reflective orange feathers stark in their brightness against the dark earth and scrub. We couldn't be far away now.

"Alright you old beauty," I muttered, "let's see if you can do seventy."

The engine groaned and stuttered as I pushed the gearstick into sixth and then the headlights went out. Oh dear god, I've killed it. Then like nothing happened the engine roared loudly but the lights stayed off, perhaps for the better. I breathed a sigh of relief that we at least had some sort of escape vehicle until we rounded the corner and...

"What the actual hell is that?" I gasped as I finally put the old car out of its misery and killed the engine. It seemed to happily sigh as its load scrambled out to stare at the building.

It looked like the Forgers factory that we'd run into to get the Vulcan Star, only much smaller and belting what seemed to be viscous oil from vast pipes that were poking out of the brickwork. It was windowless and barren with one solitary entranceway ferrying people in heavy overalls in and out of the building while carts of...something trundled around the back. I couldn't see what was in them but it did appear to be moving. It also stank. Think rotten eggs crossed with blood.

But whatever they were working on was clearly important somehow. Four guards marked the door while at least twenty or so others, armed with rifles and glowing whips stalked the grounds with their Beasts at their heels. Never had I been happier that the headlights had died when they did or else it would be open season.

I knew my expression was one of complete horror but Shadow, like always had all the facial personality of a hunk of granite. He even kept this up as he checked his compass and said, "she's in there."

"I was hoping you weren't going to say that." I signed, made my peace with whatever may be ruling the great beyond and resigned myself, once again to fate. "How do we get in? I hope you're not suggesting going through the front door."