Chapter 7: Seven

The lights were lit up in the strange building, and it would look warm and inviting if not for the trepidation in Tiger's heart.

Yasmeen had disappeared into the darkness for her own quest, perhaps to go speak to her lord of the underworld, which meant that Tiger had to face this building alone. He had no map, no way of knowing where he was. The best he could do was go in there and ask, if the residents would give him any information. He didn't trust that they would.

It made him remember his first days in the land above. He had fallen through one of the portals after a fight with his third eldest brother. The last thing he remembered of what had been his home had been his brother's face after pushing him, when Tiger began to fall through the floor. And he landed in a strange forest, the tree leaves around him in unlikely shades of green nearly yellow and grey, and strange flowers in his path. He wandered for days, lost and scared and trying not to show he was scared. He was 15 then, and he was 359 now, and so much had changed inside him and around him that it was hard to remember being that confused 15 year old anymore.

He had been in his 20s by the time he met Gus. Gus seemed so young back then, and did still, never mind that he was nearly 500 years older than Tiger. Even though he was strong, his body solid, there seemed to be something fragile about Gus, something that needed to be slowly lured into friendship and then protected. Tiger did so love to protect people. He wanted to feel needed.

And Gus did need him on this quest, even if they were going in different directions, separated by all this rock. He was useful. But as he approached the building, he just wasn't sure what he was useful for.

There were lights on in the building but no sound coming forth. Tiger stepped onto the veranda and heard only his steps. And then he opened the heavy front door, and inside was noise, the endless hum of conversation, almost like the conversations at home in Mary Louise's tavern but different, somehow, the voices like shrieking wind. The crowd was small enough that he could see the face of every patron that looked at him when he went inside.

He looked over at the bar, and the ragged old barman pouring someone a drink that didn't look suspicious at all. Which only made Tiger more suspicious of it. The drinker was a greying creature, shirt rolled up to his elbows to show off his roughened skin. He could have been anyone who came back to a bar after working in the fields if not for where they were.

Tiger felt his eyebrows drawing together and took a moment to force them to smooth out. Gus always poked his forehead and told him his face was angry when he got like this.

Through, he told himself.

There was a door at the other end of the room. He ignored all the patrons of the bar and walked toward it.

On the other side of the door were stores of old beer and rinds of cheese. The smell was strong, overwhelming. And underneath it all, the faint hint of mould. The ceilings were cobwebbed and dusty. He used his sleeve to cover his nose as he walked through.

No dark jewels here.

He saw movement in a distant corner, and something rushed towards another door, and he rushed after.

The next room had more cobwebs, and even less cheese. He ran through that one into the next, where a woman was sweeping the floor in quiet.

"Did you see someone come this way?" he asked.

She looked up, and her eyes gradually fogged over. "I saw nothing."

He paused a moment to think, then nodded. "I understand."

He returned to the chase, but with a slower stride. The next room he went into looked like a waiting room, with nothing inside but a plump, deep red seating configuration, against the fading, dark green wallpaper. There were two doors he could choose from -- one that said 'women's bar' and one that said 'backstage'. Even a quest didn't make him feel comfortable taking the first door, so he barged through the second.

The room he entered was dark. He could hear the door swinging behind him, but reminded himself that nothing good could come of looking back, no matter how much he wanted to. There were whispering noises from the other side of the room.

And then a voice -- a soft, light woman's voice -- said, "Who's this? The stripper?"

And another said, "Don't be silly. Nobody would hire one of them for us."

He walked forward, trying not to brush against racks of clothes. A face peered out from behind a rack at the other end of the room, then ducked back behind to a chorus of giggles.

He moved closer and three of them burst forth in a cloud of dark sparkles and dragged him behind the clothing racks. There were at least seven women, petite and round faced, all wearing black beads and shiny metal pieces. They pushed him into a chair and crowded around him, bending over as they looked into his face.

"Hello," one of them said, her skin as pale as faded bone. "Were you looking for us?"

"I was looking for something," he said. "Can you help me?"

"Was it big and bright?"

"Did it flutter about and wriggle with delight?"

"It's a dark jewel of an unknown size. I don't think it can do anything," he said.

The slightest one, with skin the colour of burnt paper and eyes like the darkest night sky, leaned in close, shifting so the sparkle of her dress would catch the light, and said, "But aren't we the darkest jewels you've ever seen?"

Tiger pushed her back. "I don't think I can find it with you."

They grouped together and pushed him back down again. "But we're so lonely here," one said, and another said, "What's your name, stranger?"

"Tiger Eye Zhang," he said, trying to look beyond them to calculate his exit.

"Tiger's Eye like the gemstone?" one said, and stepped back with a gasp, hands covering her mouth.

"Tiger Eye like the eyes of a tiger," he said, pushing back again, rushing through the gap she created.

Their hands grasped at his sleeves, sticky.

"His eyes are golden like the light. Eat him. Eat him!"

"Yes, eat him!"

They rushed towards him, even as he pushed through the racks of clothes, trying to find another door. He couldn't shake them off, their hands leaving sticky strings on everything.

"If you don't catch him, I'll eat you," one threatened another.

He turned around, banging on the walls, hoping a way out would appear.

One of them grasped at his shoes. He looked down to see her crawling across the floor, her sticky fingers rubbing a web all over his clothing. He drew his sword and swung at her, cutting off her spindly fingers. She hissed and scuttled back, but another rushed at him.

Their webs clung to his sword, but they shuffled back whenever he swung it at them. If need be, he would hack at the wall to get out, even if it ruined his beautiful blade.

"This fly is fighting back," one hissed.

He thought of the tiger spirit and its strength, and swung the sword in a wide arc, its great power shining a cool light on all the spider women around him. They scuttled back to the far edge of the room.

He spied a door, finally. He wiped his sword quickly on a nearby garment and rushed toward it, exit blocked by another spider woman coming through, larger and more terrifying, barely any semblance to a human woman at all. She titled her head to peer at him, and her bulbous behind and many legs blocked the door.

Behind him he could hear the other spider women screaming and running away.

"I will not let you hold me back," he said.

The monstrous creature in front of him darted forward, webs ready. He swung forward, nicking one of her furry limbs. She lifted that leg out of the way of his sword and tried to trap him with another, but he was just a moment too quick for her to reach.

If Gus was here they could both attack at once, causing her to panic. If Ada was here, too, she could make a logical plan and tie the whole thing up in hardly any time. Instead he had only himself to rely on, as he had relied on himself in the early days of falling through the portal to the land above, disoriented and overwhelmed. But he wasn't that confused young man anymore, and he wasn't going to let himself get turned around and stuck in a web by this beast.

He spun and swung, his sword nicking another of her legs. She stomped around, nearly trampling him. There was no room to go around her, she was so large, so instead he pushed himself off the wall and slid underneath, nearly injuring himself with his own blade.

She hit the edge of the clothing racks, and the dresses shimmered, dark and lovely, in the dim light. That was it, it had to be!

He pulled some dresses of the racks and threw them at her head, hitting her big, beady eyes. And then he shoved the entire rack at her body, as she panicked and whipped around.

And then he slid underneath her legs, again, just barely missing a trampling, and used his momentum to slide all the way through the swinging door.

He hit the dark road outside, again, and got to his feet, running straight away. He wouldn't look back, couldn't look back. He could hear her horrific sounds and could only hope to outrun them, only hope that he was closer to his goal and not just further away from his friends. He ran and ran deeper into the dark night and only paused to catch his breath when there was no sound behind him anymore.

He wiped his sword, and put it away. Then stood up and tried to survey his path all over again. It was darker ahead, narrowing. He breathed out, calmed himself, and moved forward. He had no other choice.

*

In the hotel the spider woman rushed about in a panic, unsure whether to risk the horrors of the men's bar to one side, or the wrath of their spiteful wounded queen on the other. They settled on the middle, running in circles around each other, even as the cleaner continued to clean up their spent silk.

"There isn't any point choosing that way," the cleaner said, straightening up. "The queen of pigs sent her minions forth this morning, and now she brings them home. If you don't want to be trampled or chewed on, it's time for you to hide."

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The spider women stopped circling, and huddled together to listen in quiet. When they strained they could hear the angry grunts and squeals of the pigs, and then they didn't have to strain to hear the thundering sound of hooves. Thousands of them, there must be, marching home. How fearsome they were, those deathless pigs and wild boars. How many times had they endangered the spider women as they tried to take over this quarter.

The spider women shrieked and ran about, trying to find directions to hide, and only scuttling out one door or another.

The cleaner bent over and continued to sweep.

*

The workspace was full of stark lighting and strange jagged angles. Gus felt his steps slowing as he looked up and around, but he couldn't help it; there was too much to see. The ceilings were very high.

"Come on," Simon said, and grabbed Gus by the wrist.

His hand was very warm, like the feeling of getting too close to the fire. Gus's heart beat so hard in his chest that it hurt, just once, and then calmed again.

The room was organised into rows of workers, heads down and focused on their production line. Some workers were separated off to single desks, perhaps for some kind of fine detail work. Gus couldn't imagine why.

There were big fires in the room, which explained why Gus's face was getting very hot, even as his fingers remained very cold. He could just tell he was turning bright red in spite of his tan. But you can't very well ask a creature of the underworld to turn the heating down in his large, overwhelming work room.

Simon turned back and smiled, his grin almost too wide. "Isn't it just so industrial?"

"Is that what it is?"

Gus's hands began to sweat.

They passed a row of people bashing open dirty rocks with little chisels, revealing sparkling gems in a rainbow of colours. And then hitting the rocks again until they reassembled, somehow, an endless, pointless task.

"I have to show you my favourite part," Simon said.

He took Gus to stand by a sign with a large picture of an eye, and underneath it a woman sat pulling out one of her own. She gasped and turned, her remaining eye trained on Simon. Then she handed her eye to him without a word.

"Look at my eyes," Simon said, as he brought the eye up between them and turned it around so it caught the light.

And Gus didn't know where to look -- at the too dark eyes shining with laughter in Simon's face, or at the big, round eye with a dark blue iris he was bringing to his thin lips.

"What are you doing?" Gus asked, inane in his horror. What an absurd question.

Simon opened his mouth, his sharp eye-teeth gleaming in the workspace's unnatural glow. But he laughed and offered the eye to Gus instead. "Refreshing. You should try one."

Gus's heart beat again. What an uncomfortable feeling. He clutched at his chest and took a step back, trying not to panic.

"Mmm, disappointing," Simon said, and the offered the eye back to the woman who plucked it out in the first place. She opened her mouth and swallowed it whole. "It's fine. She regrows it every day. I thought you would understand me more than this. I dreamed of you. Didn't you dream of me too?"

Gus's heart was still again, but his chest still hurt. How did normal people stand it? He no longer remembered how it should have felt to have it beat all the time.

"I prefer not to dream of death," Gus said.

"But this world is so much more than death. It's loneliness, too, and fear, and monstrous desires." Simon clicked his fingers and smiled. "That's it! Monsters. You like those. You should fight one."

He grabbed Gus by the wrist again, and dragged him forward, and a door appeared on the wall and they were running through. Surely Simon was too strong for Gus to stop.

The next room was cavernous and cold. A great and terrifying monster of a bird screeched as it flew above them.

"There," Simon said, gesturing widely.

Gus startled as the door slammed shut behind them, then wrenched his wrist from Simon's grip.

"Why should I fight it? It didn't hurt me."

"Isn't fighting monsters what you do?"

"Because they hurt people, and because people pay me money."

The bird creature dove at them, and Gus rolled out of its way. It was covered in brilliant green scales and feathers in all the colours light could prepare, and its claws looked bigger than Gus's head. His skin heated further. The hunt was on.

"These hunt down here, given the opportunity," Simon said. "We have to clear them out from time to time. It's our job."

The bird swooped again, and Gus raised his sword to meet it. His hands were wet with sweat but his grip was strong. He hacked at it, loosening barely more than a feather or two from its undercarriage. It flew out of his reach, but he was patient. He knew it would try its luck again.

Simon stood back, watching.

The bird came down, claws first. Gus crouched and waited for it to get close. He sliced at the soft skin between its sharp talons. Blood dripped on him from above, turning his old clothes red again. There would be no convenient rain shower for him now.

It came toward him again, angry because it hurt. He understood. Even after all this time, pain made him angry, too, made him want to blindly lash out at whoever crossed his path. But he held it back, time and again, this desire to hack and slash under his foe was nothing but meat and his hands were stained red. Until he could say it was wise to do so, because a monster was endangering the people around him, and there was a buck or two in it.

He didn't hold back now, striking with all his might.

The bird flew back, but not far. Instead it hit the side wall and plummeted down to the ground again. It screeched its last, a woeful sound.

And its eyes when they grew dark were nothing like jewels, nothing but the eyes of a dead thing.

He only realised his heart had been beating during the fight when it stopped, his world still again. And the blood started to feel sticky and disgusting, and the whole thing a pointless waste. He moved over to where the bird lay, and stroked its beautiful feathers.

"It was an honour," he said, then stood to let it be.

"It can't feel you now," Simon said. "It's on to the next life, or whatever else happens after here."

Gus turned to look at him. A cold wind was whipping up, and Simon would look like a statue if not for how his hair blew in his face.

"Did you really giving me a monster to fight would make me like you? Tiger had to spend six months enticing me with food and bandages before I stopped being wary, and he's a lot nicer than you."

"But you want to be friends," Simon said. "I can feel it."

"Since you know so much about what I want, you must know what I'm here for."

Simon nodded, the barest incline of his head. "I do."

"Then why don't you help me? I would like that."

"I can't help you find it. The one who rules me won't let me."

Gus shook his head, trying to get the blood out of his hear. "Then let me find someone who will."

Simon was quiet and still for a moment. "Very well. I am needed by my brother in arms. I will let you pass through."

A portal appeared on the wall behind him. It wasn't like the portals down here that pretended to be doors and archways. It was like the portals above, strange circular sites of power that crackled with electricity and appeared so they could drag people from one world to another. Simon walked backwards through it and the portal closed.

Gus wiped himself off and walked on.

*

For Ada, she found one quiet, empty cave after another. She walked at a steady peace, finding nothing. Finding nothingness.

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