Herald of Ruin by Tim Pratt

Author:Tim Pratt [Pratt, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Media Tie-In, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror
ISBN: 9781839082986
Google: _NnpEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Aconyte
Published: 2024-07-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Null-Time

Tillinghast had assured Ruby that the hounds guarding the Lodge wouldn’t notice the magic in her watch and devour her the second she stepped through the gate, but she’d still approached with trepidation. In the end, the warden had waved her past without a word, seemingly distracted by greater matters, and the hounds hadn’t even shown themselves.

Now Ruby was down in the basements, though she wasn’t supposed to go there without Sanford, and didn’t much like going there with him. She knew the secret routes, though, and no one had ever been able to keep her out of places where she didn’t belong. A few higher-level members of the Lodge were down there going about their inscrutable business, but there were no shortages of dark corners and side passages to duck into when they came too close.

She followed a familiar path along wood-floored corridors, past indifferently whitewashed walls. Some of the deeper levels of the basement were more changeable, even labyrinthine, but this level was relatively stable, and she knew which turns to take. She made her way past the empty cell where the Scholar from Yith had once been held. Sanford had moved her, apparently, and the unsettling sigils of binding on the walls had been painted over. Ruby didn’t mind missing out on a reunion. Talking to that alien mind wearing a human face profoundly disturbed her. Ruby only stole property. She’d never stolen someone’s entire life.

In time, she reached the corridor that led to Sanford’s vault, but instead of a stretch of hallway, she encountered a solid wall. Ah ha. Sanford had mentioned improving his security after last year’s unpleasantness, and this must be part of the change: he’d cut off access to the vault entirely.

Or… had he merely pretended to cut off access? Ruby moved her hands over the wall, inch by inch, knocking with her knuckles, and found no hidden doors. Something more mystical, then? Was it a real wall, or a mere bafflement of the senses? She’d come across a few security measures like that, in her past exploits as a cat burglar of the occult, and knew a trick or two that might serve her here.

She closed her eyes and felt her way across the wall again, and this time, her hand went right through a patch of empty air. She opened her eyes, and saw her arm seemingly reaching into the wall, her hand vanishing up to the wrist in the plaster. Ruby tugged, and her hand even felt trapped by wood and lathe – that was a potent illusion. She closed her eyes, pulled her hand free without difficulty, and then felt around, discovering a rectangular opening about four feet high and three feet wide.

Sanford had put in a false wall, with a small opening off-center to allow passage, and then cast a glamor to hide the portal. Clever. Ruby crouched and walked through the tunnel, keeping her eyes firmly closed – having her hand trapped in a wall was

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