A Nameless Dark

Chapter 19

Walking into Graver's house was exactly like stepping back in time five hundred years.

    The iron gate stood open, allowing us easy access into a wide stone courtyard. On the far side of the empty yard, the main doors to the house were also ajar, hefty wooden things set in an arched doorway.

    "Does this seem suspiciously easy to anyone else?" I asked.

    No one responded.

    We crossed the yard on our toes, stealing glances at the high walls around us. An uneasiness crept over me at the sight of all that enclosing stone, as if the walls themselves radiated hostility at our intrusion into their space. Lin stopped at the bottom of a wide stone staircase that led up to the doors. She faced the rest of us, speaking in a hushed tone, her words barely managing to cross the short distance, stifled as they were by the stillness of the place.

    "You'll be wantin' to stay behind me and walk where I walk," she cautioned. "This house is never entirely safe, even when the place hasn't been invaded by unknown enemies. Stay close and keep an eye on our surroundin's. And for heaven's sake, don't touch anythin'."

    We climbed the stairs and passed through the doorway to the interior of Graver's home.

    A short entryway opened into an enormous hall lined on both sides by battered suits of armor standing at attention. They brandished swords and spears and other weapons I couldn't name, all looking well used and sharp. On all sides of the hall the walls were hung with lavish tapestries, and the stonework floor was carpeted in rich furs and intricately woven rugs. Along one wall, a massive stone hearth sat cold and dead; any fire it once held had fled, leaving the plush furnishings that ringed the fireplace devoid of any warmth. Despite the richness of the decor, the place felt like a tomb. Heavy silence hung thick in the air, menacing in its emptiness. We crept into the hall as silently as we could, as if to keep from disturbing the sleep of whatever ghosts had chosen this lifeless place for their final rest.

    Thaddeus held his gun in one hand and Lin had drawn her sword. I opened and closed my fingers, palms itching for something heavy and dangerous to hold. Despite my newfound abilities at using Light, I couldn't help but wish for a weapon of some kind. Yet I felt on some instinctive level that any weapons we might carry here were meaningless when faced with the kind of ancient power that could make this place its home. It was a realization both threatening and diminishing in its certainty, and I clenched my jaw against a feeling of irrational insignificance.

    We moved through the great hall and passed under another arched doorway on the far side. As we burrowed deeper into the interior of the castle, the emptiness of the place began to seep into me. Frigid fingers of fear coiled around me like a serpent, brushing along my skin and chilling my bones. It syphoned away every good and hopeful thought and stripped me of my confidence, grinding my face into the rigid reality of our situation.

    I was in over my head.

    I'd let the fate of my family become entwined with killers and monsters and beings older and more powerful than I could even comprehend. The power we held might be great, but in the end, what were we other than a bunch of small town kids with precious little experience out in the wide world? Yes, we'd seen horrors and faced death over the past several weeks, but each time we'd survived only because we got help, or we got lucky. This time might not turn out that way. Aaron was lost to us, and the Steel Tower had its own wars to fight; even Thaddeus and Lin could only do so much to hold our hands through the dangers we faced. Eventually our luck was sure to run out, and when it did, there would be no-one there to pull us up out of the mire. The hopelessness of it all was so blindingly obvious I had no idea why I didn't see it sooner. We were all doomed.