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Chapter 10: Wailing Dark

Chapter 10: Wailing Dark

The sound of wailing echoed across the field.

Mara stopped.

Rook turned immediately, his falchion already rising in one hand. She stared toward the voice, her face tightening at the unmistakable sobs of a young child, but then she slowly shook her head.

For the first time since meeting her, Rook felt thankful.

She had listened to his warning that morning. Children did not appear in the Underworld. Whatever was crying ahead of them was neither lost nor frightened. It wanted someone to approach it.

The only problem was that this did not sound like one of the lesser Abominations imitating whatever scraps it had consumed.

This was probably the roaming Third Rank.

Rook raised two fingers and gestured toward the left. They would go around it, keeping enough distance that the creature could continue crying without discovering them.

Mara nodded without argument.

That worried him almost as much as the voice.

They moved sideways through the grass, each step placed with greater care than the last. Rook led with the falchion held low while Mara followed close behind the coffin. The lantern’s cold blue light continued spilling across the ground, invisible to the creatures roaming the field, though it offered little comfort now. It showed them where to place their feet, but it could not reveal how far the child’s voice carried or what other senses the Third Rank possessed.

"Mommy..." it whimpered again. "Where are you...?"

The voice sounded close enough to touch.

Mara pressed one hand over her mouth. Every instinct left over from life urged her to answer. Even knowing what waited inside the grass did not stop the sound from digging into something old and human within her. It was the cry of a child who had woken alone in the dark and could not understand why nobody came when it called.

Rook caught her looking toward it.

He shook his head once.

She glared at him, but nodded.

They continued moving away from the voice. Rook altered their path gradually, careful not to disturb the grass enough to reveal the shape of two bodies passing through it. If they could place enough distance between themselves and the creature, they might be able to circle back toward the eastern edge of the field.

Then the crying stopped.

Rook froze.

Mara nearly touched the coffin before catching herself. She lowered her body until the grass concealed her head, watching Rook for some signal of what had changed.

Nothing moved ahead of them.

That was worse.

Rook waited, but the child did not resume its call. There was no sobbing, no plea for its mother and no rustle to suggest it had wandered away.

He slowly looked over his shoulder at Mara.

A shape rose above the grass behind her.

Rook dropped at once and caught the front of her coat, pulling her down with him. Mara landed hard upon one knee but kept herself from crying out. The coffin tilted over them, its battered length disappearing among the black stalks as they pressed themselves flat against the earth.

The child turned.

It stood perhaps thirty paces away, small enough that the grass reached the middle of its chest. Its body was thin and pale, dressed in the decaying remains of what might once have been a sleeping gown. Both hands covered its face as its narrow shoulders trembled with silent sobs.

For several seconds, it remained facing them.

Mara did not move.

Neither did Rook.

The child tilted its head.

"Mom...?"

One of its hands shifted.

Mara felt her heart drop, though there was no heartbeat inside her chest to follow it.

The child slowly pulled both hands away from its face.

It had no eyes.

Smooth, stretched flesh covered the places where they should have been. There was no nose either, only two faint depressions beneath its brow. Blood ran from the unbroken skin over its eyes as if tears had found their way through regardless, travelling down its cheeks and dripping from its chin.

Its mouth was the only feature remaining.

When it opened, the lower half of its face unfolded with it.

There were no teeth, tongue or throat within. Red membranes filled the opening, packed together in glistening layers. They shuddered in the air as though each possessed a life of its own, tasting the space before the creature.

Mara’s fingers closed around Rook’s coat.

The child turned its eyeless face from one side to the other. The membranes trembled faster, pushing several inches beyond its lips before folding back into the darkness of its mouth.

Rook tightened his hand around the falchion.

If it found them, he would have one chance to distract it. Perhaps less. The repelling powder would do nothing against a Third Rank, and the thunder charges strapped to his coffin would attract every Abomination that had not already joined the chaos behind them.

The child began crying again.

"Mommy... where are you...?"

Its voice emerged clearly despite the mass writhing inside its mouth.

It took one step toward them.

Mara’s grip tightened.

Rook did not react.

Another step followed, small and unsteady. Its bare foot pressed into the black grass. Blood ran from beneath the smooth flesh covering its eyes, leaving dark spots across the front of its gown.

Then it stopped.

The red membranes twisted toward the distant stampede.

The creature turned away from them.

It resumed its search, wandering through the grass while calling for its mother. Each step was painfully slow. Its head remained bowed, and its small hands returned to cover the empty surface of its face.

Rook waited until it had travelled several paces before beginning to move.

He did not stand. He dragged himself forward on one knee and one hand, keeping the falchion raised as he slipped through the grass. Mara copied him, taking care not to allow her remaining shoe or bare foot to scrape against the ground.

They moved slowly enough that Mara wished she could become stone.

Every part of her demanded that she run. The creature had turned away. The field ahead appeared clear. If she sprinted, she might cross the remaining distance before it could catch her.

She knew better now.

The child’s pace meant nothing. The many-armed Second Rank had been large enough to tear through stone, yet Rook had called Third Ranks stronger and faster. It wanted them to believe it was helpless. It wanted its prey to feel safe enough to approach, or frightened enough to flee.

So Mara crawled.

The child took another slow step.

Rook pulled himself farther away.

Mara followed.

"Mom...?"

The word travelled through the grass behind them.

Neither answered.

Several yards opened between them and the creature. Then several more. The crying began to weaken, though Mara could still hear the wet movement of the membranes whenever its mouth unfolded.

Rook finally rose into a crouch.

Mara did the same.

They continued around it, moving toward a thin stretch of grass near the edge of the field.

Rook could see broken stone beyond it. The land rose there, forming the beginning of another region.

If they reached it, the thicker terrain might separate them from the Abominations still gathering behind them.

But that was the rub. "If" was a dangerous word.

Especially when heavy roar sounded right next to them, alerting the third rank making it turn toward them...