Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Twenty-Five: A Brief Shaft of Light

Bastian was cold. He hadn't noticed it before, but suddenly he felt the chilling damp as it worked its way into his bones like a disease. As they stepped out of the wheelhouse, the rain misted down like the folds of a curtain and soaked into the fabric of his suit. Regan walked onto the helipad and cocked her head to listen to sounds of fighting on the stairways below them. Her movements were slow and deliberate, but there was a sense of pent up energy about her like a coiled spring. The salty smell of the ocean washed across them and mingled with the scent of rust and diesel fuel. 

'We should help them,' said Bastian. 'They need us.' 

'Far worse is coming,' said Regan. 

Carver took a few agitated steps and swung the sword she'd stolen from one of the Unity guards back and forth. 

'Damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we survive this, you and I are going to have words, Regan.' 

'You won't survive this.' 

'This Kessler is just one person.' 

'You won't think that for long.' 

Bastian rubbed his face and wiped some of the moisture from his eyes. Everything had shifted so fast. According to Carver, her team had managed to do some damage, but they had been overwhelmed. Now they were stuck up here, and they were surrounded. The plan had seemed so simple at first. He wondered what Unity would do to them if they survived. 

Amongst the chaos, Regan seemed unnaturally calm. It was as if she was at the centre of a whirlpool that was dragging everyone on the ship towards her in one seething mess. She looked up at the sky like she was contemplating a deep problem. Night rain drifted down and settled on her cheeks and eyelashes. 

'Can you beat her?' Bastian asked. 

'You'd better hope so.' 

From the stairs beneath them came the sharp sound of metal on metal. Bastian flinched as a piercing scream of agony cut through the air. 

'You got your slaughterhouse,' said Carver bitterly. 

'It was your choice to fight,' said Regan. 'All actions have consequences.' 

'Do you ever think what the consequences of your actions will be?' 

'You think I deserve some sort of cosmic punishment for all the things I've done?' 

'If there's justice in the world, yes.' 

'There isn't.' 

Bastian watched the rain as it fell through the shafts of light illuminating the helipad. He tried to pick out individual droplets, but they were lost in the haze. 

'I heard a description once that said life is a brief shaft of light with eternal darkness on either side,' he said. 

'Good for you.' 

'It always made me sad actually.' 

'I could kill you now and save you the existential angst.' 

Bastian shifted uncomfortably. 

Regan stood motionless with her back to him as the droplets swirled around her. Bastian wondered what she was thinking about. Was she afraid? He was suddenly struck by how physically slight she was. The violence of her actions, and the sheer aggression in everything she did, had caused her to grow in his mind, but standing here in the rain he realised that she was just a teenage girl. 

'You're not the one I want to see,' she said quietly. 

There was a dark chuckle that crept up Bastian's spine from the shadows behind them. He whirled around with his fists at the ready and felt his spikes push through his skin. A man in glasses stepped from the pool of darkness under the lee of the wheelhouse. As he walked out under the lights of the helipad, their harsh glare threw shadows into the hollows of his cheeks and eyes that made his face look like a skull. He smiled. 

'You've found some friends, Regan. Perhaps you do know how to play with others after all.' 

'I know you,' Carver spat. 'You're Trevellian. You interrogated me when I first arrived.' 

She took a step toward him with her sword held low. 

'Run back to your timid girlfriend, infiltrator,' Regan said over her shoulder. 'If you cower in a corner, perhaps you'll survive the night.' 

There was a rasp of metal as Trevellian drew a knife from the folds of his coat. He held it negligently and ran a hand through his hair. 

'It's a beautiful night, we're young, the rain is falling and the air is cool. I think I'll stay. Besides, I feel it's time to end our brief but unpleasant association.' 

'We agree on that, at least. I'm not going to miss you when you die.' 

'I'm devastated. And here I thought we were developing a rapport,' Trevellian laughed. 

He seemed relaxed, but Bastian could feel the pressure of his presence pressing into the base of his skull like a lead ball. He forced himself to breath normally. Regan still had her back to them. He wondered how she was able to stand it. Bastian felt like ants were swarming all over his skin. 

The switch came suddenly. Trevellian's laughter stopped in an instant, and the lightness in his face was replaced by a terrible hunger. It was the only warning Bastian had. 

He threw himself to one side and hit the deck shoulder first. He felt a sharp jolt of pain and caught a flash of flying steel as something whipped past his face. Carver landed next to him and rolled smoothly to her feet. 

The attack had come so quickly. Bastian felt like it was mostly luck that he'd noticed the change in Trevellian's demeanour when he did. He scrabbled to his feet breathing heavily. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to dodge another attack like that. As he stood, Carver closed her eyes and drew in an unnaturally deep breath. It filled her lungs and expanded her ribs until she looked like her chest would burst. Bastian had a sudden feeling of foreboding, as if he was watching the sea retreat before a tsunami. 

Carver let out a piercing shriek that sounded like a shard of diamond scraping across glass. It shredded the air and made Bastian's vision blur. He clamped his hands to his ears as it tore into his mind and shattered his thoughts. His legs started to give way, and he found himself slowly sinking to his knees as the sound pierced though his hands and into his brain. Through the haze he saw Trevellian running and another glint of metal. 

Carver doubled over clutching her stomach, and the sound stopped as abruptly as it had started. Bastian could see the handle of a knife protruding between her fingers. Trevellian stalked along the edge of the landing and watched them warily. There was already another knife in his hand. Bastian pushed himself to his feet as Regan placed herself between them. 

'How disappointing,' Trevellian said. 'Such devastating offensive power, but it leaves the user completely exposed.' 

'Don't start celebrating because you were able to defeat a party trick,' said Regan. 

Trevellian examined his knife and gently tested the edge with his thumb. 'Don't be absurd. That was just a prelude. The removal of a mild annoyance, if you will. I don't want any distractions when I face you. The last thing I need is some old woman ruining our moment by blundering around screaming her head off,' he sighed and looked up at the sky. 'I feel like we were destined to meet like this. Don't you?' 

'Not really.' 

'As always, there's not an ounce of romance in your soul,' Trevellian looked at Regan and smiled. 'No matter. This is a fitting end.' 

'Does that mean you're ready to stop talking and start fighting?' 

'Better. I'm going to show you my craft.'