Fatal Moon by L. E. Perry - HTML preview

Jordan felt the walls as they went down the staircase, checking for hidden seams. Finn opened a section of the wall halfway down the staircase. It opened into a hallway, and Finn looked back with a grin as he walked into a room. Jordan looked both ways down the hall and saw several doors and three light globes in the ceiling. He made note of the distances between them, then stepped through the door behind Finn. There was a huge TV screen at the far end of the room, beyond a curved line of well-padded, fur covered lounge chairs with cup holders in the arms. The walls were painted an even darker red than the hallway above, and the floor had long, oval rugs of the same kind of thick brown pelt as the chairs were covered with. A harpoon gun hung on the wall.

"What kind of movies do you like?" Finn asked.

"Documentaries," Jordan answered. He preferred action movies, martial arts, but he was curious if there was anything in particular these people studied.

Finn gave him a puzzled look. "I'm not sure we have any documentaries."

Movement to the left caught his eye and he looked over to a chair where a dark, slender, handsome young man stood up and turned around. His skin was swarthy and his black eyebrows thick and low, a shock of black hair dangling in threads over them, so it took Jordan a moment to see that his eyes were entirely black, like those of a horse. He also wore heavy gold chain around his neck and wrists, like Finn, and he was clothed in the same soft black garments Finn wore, as if it were a casual uniform.

"Who's this?" The man said, in a gravelly Scottish brogue.

Jordan felt a brush against his mind, and saw the man's eyes widen. He tried to push the feelers that began to grope through his head away, but his mind seemed to slip off that of the other man, who simply walked toward them, asking, in a hoarse voice, "Is this the man Mother’s been going on about?"

The feel of the mind, in his own, was gritty and hard, like sand on granite. There was a deep blackness to it, yet tiny colored winks of light, and metallic streamers appeared and disappeared. It was entirely unlike Luke's mind, or Subedai's; much more nuanced, and very solid.

Jordan shook his head. The strange feel of the man's intrusion was extremely unpleasant, and he wanted to get rid of it, but didn't know how.

Finn glared at the dark man. "LIN!" he said, angrily. "Why aren't you down at the beach!"

The man looked at him, the large black eyes making the gaze seem otherworldly. "We're on restriction, little brother. The beach is off limits until this one gets fitted with the chains."

Finn looked at Jordan. "Oh, that makes sense. He's got a few more hours to roam freely then."

Jordan looked at the man. "What’s wrong with your eyes?"

Finn laughed, and answered for him. "Those aren’t eyes, they’re just big marbles! He can’t see a thing unless he invades someone else’s eyes. He’s probably in your head now.”

Lin gave a contemptuous look at Finn. "I’m well able to see, hear, AND feel, as long as there’s eyes near enough by, laddie. And speaking of feeling, who’s been loving you lately, you poor bastard? I haven’t seen any lasses coming around. Do you think they're onto you? Happy hunting, me boy," he gave Finn a look of sharp disdain.

Finn glared angrily back, then turned to Jordan. "Let's find something else to do. We don't have to hang out with bottom feeders."

Lin chuckled, and it made Finn angrier.

"What chains?" Jordan asked, interrupting their verbal sparring match.

Lin turned those eerie eyes back toward him, but the touch of his mind disappeared entirely, then his jaw dropped. "By the gates of Hell, you have enough muscle to wrestle a bull, don’t you? She didn’t lie about that!" Lin said, black eyes disturbingly wide.

“Get OUT of my head, Lin!” Finn swore.

Lin ignored him. "It'll take plenty of ore to lay a full chain around that neck." Lin touched the chain around his own neck. "Like this, laddie. We don’t wear these by choice, and they're not for looks either, though Mother has appearances to keep. She can track us across any land by these wicked things, though it’s far more difficult when we’re over water. And once the chains are on, your thoughts are not your own, either. Your life becomes a living hell, nor are you given leave to die. Neck and wrist chains together assure that. Six hundred years I've been dragged around behind her like a wee doggie, never my own life to live. Finn is just now learning how miserable it is to be the offspring of the queen, and it chafes him. He thinks he can escape her black clutches."

The strange mind was in his own again, flickers of cascading light against the deep darkness of the immensely solid weight, and the tendrils snaked through his thoughts.

"Let's go, Jordan," Finn said, striding toward the door, but Jordan wasn't done. He didn't like the strange feel of the heavy mind in his own, but he was sure there was more to learn from this black-eyed man.

"When is this planned?" Jordan asked.

Lin was completely focused on Jordan now. "Later this afternoon. You’re on your last hours, laddie. It takes some time to prepare the metal, and there was no point starting until she had you; there’s a brief window of time the metal can be worked. But I spoke to Roscoe before I came up, for the daily report. He says they're near done. I'd leave now, if I were you. Not that there’s much chance you’ll escape." Suddenly he cried out, and collapsed to the floor, writhing on his back and clutching at the chain around his throat. Jordan felt a seething agony of pain himself, but it seemed vastly diminished from what Lin must be feeling; he seemed to be the source. He also heard a voice in his head, saying loudly, you were told to keep your conversation within bounds. Do you need to visit the pit again? Lin kept gasping and clawing at his neck. I will-- suddenly the voice cut out.

"Was that her speaking?" Jordan asked.

Finn looked at him. Then started laughing, with vicious delight. "Oh, brother dear," he said, clasping his hands together. "She's going to RACK you for transmitting her voice! And I'm going to watch. I'll bring popcorn! Look at this, Jordan--" Finn reached over and pulled Lin’s shirt up. Jordan caught a glimpse of deep scars, in long lines punctuated by ragged ovals, then Lin knocked Finn’s hand away and yanked his shirt down.

Lin's torment seemed to be fading, and he looked up at Jordan. Brother, his voice said, in Jordan's mind, as the pain increased again. Get out if you can, while you can. I wish this fate on no one. There is no doubt you are her son, half human like myself. Your mind is too like mine, part human, part Sh’eyta. She will torture you as she has me. Finn does not know what it's like to be half Sh’eyta. Our mother is a vicious tyrant, and she has tried to get her clutches into you for years. She did the same to me, and that is why I am blind myself. I spend my days on the beach, away from this hell as much as I can. Better for me to invade a seagull's mind than the twisted mess that remains of Finn’s. She’ll toss you down the oubliette when she is angry with you. Get away now, if you can. "Go, Finn," he said aloud. "And take the poor captive with you! See if the lasses will come out for you, if you dangle him by the edge of the boat. They’ll not come for yourself anymore, but fresh meat could tempt them."

"Mother said--"

"Who cares what Mother said? He has no chains, and she'll be working me over for several hours now, at the very least. There’ll be no chance to escape her for weeks, once I’m thrown in the pit. Are you fool enough to do her bidding when you have the choice? You have the Faraday shawl, don’t you? Wear it." The television came on, and the volume rose until it was impossible to hear anything over it. I've given you space, brother. Use it. And if you make it to safety, find a way to set me free and I pledge my remaining days to you. She’s near upon us, lad, you must go now. Finn will follow the path I’ve laid for him.

Finn motioned to Jordan, and they left the room. "He's an asshole, but he's got a point. Mother listens in everywhere, except out on the water. I have a way of hiding the Rigellium over one of us. Good thing you're free of the chains for now."

Jordan focused on Finn as he replayed Lin’s voice in his head, sorting through the thick accent and the warning of captivity and torture. Clearly, he needed out, and fast. But was the black-eyed man truly related, by a mother who wasn’t even from this planet? It seemed as unlikely as werewolves, but he had no basis for judging truth any more.