The Ninth Door

Chapter 6 - Purrs

Emmerich

There was one other reason it was clear that we were at the Junction – the sound of purring. My hairs stood on end. I couldn’t tell if Sienna was hearing the sound of a million cats welcoming us.

Madness.

Sienna Kelley was afraid of her madness, but she didn’t know what I thought of mine. It wasn’t easy living where I came from. There was always violence, always some mission that could get you killed. I wondered if I should tell Sienna that it wouldn’t be the first time I’d be visiting the Junction, and arriving here felt more like a homecoming – or a threat.

**

12th century, 3rd year of knighthood

The mission was deceptively simple. We would be heading for the Terra Pardus to kill or capture the usurper, Eric Wester. We won all of our wars and most of our battles and should be riding on the high of victory. It should be a simple mission.

I wouldn’t have cared much if it was just property he was there for, but he had been terrorizing the people. His men looted and raped, and there was great mourning in that place that seemed to smell like blood more often than not.

Our wise woman Fara pointed at this place she referred to as a juncture for souls. It was the place Wester had chosen as his fortress, and she said that it had always belonged to my family and should be retrieved together with the rest of Terra Pardus.

I could feel the apprehension of my men, most of which believed in spirits and hexes. I had to reassure them, even though I felt the chill growing as we approached the place in the middle of the forest.

“We are armed with weapons and honor, and had won all the wars we had fought. We should be able to handle whatever it was that lay in this juncture.”

For the first time then, I heard murmurs of dissatisfaction. It seemed they were more uneasy about attacking the place not because of Wester but because of the reputation the stronghold had.

“Pardon, Your Highness, if Wester could control the juncture, he must have endless power?” one knight asked.

“Even without Wester, the place is dangerous in itself,” a second one murmured. Neither knight had been known to complain about any of the dangers we were about to weather.

I mulled the first knight’s question over. What I knew about the place I knew from Fara. I would be traveling there for the first time. I heard of all kinds of things, such as growling animals, ghosts, and witches. People stayed away as soon as darkness fell. It was no wonder it was a good place for Wester to stake his claim over Terra Pardus.

“Prince Emmerich, that place is where all the dark things come together. It’s been used for satanic deals from since the dawn of time. You shouldn’t give its reins to your enemy,” Fara had said before we rode out to fulfill our mission much to my mother’s distress and my brother’s insistence. He was the king. We had to obey his orders. Of course, there was also that desire for me to take down anyone who dared murder and rape my people.

I bit back my retort.Wester had already taken the reins. Taking the place off his grimy, bloody hands would be nothing short of suicidal. However, saying that I would let the place take him down would be seen as cowardice, not as strategy. It would have been a cowardice that my men would have welcomed. I was a prince, but they had more to lose. Most had wives and children, and the younger ones had mothers who needed their support. I might be a prince, but I was the unmarried second son. I was dispensable.

“If it’s so evil, why would we want it?”

“Something good must control the evil or else it would overflow and terrorize Terra Pardus on its own, after taking Wester down.”

So, I was right. The evil in the ruins of the juncture would destroy Wester, anyway. It meant that our mission wouldn’t end even after we had killed or captured him.

“Stories…” I faltered.

“Ah. Yes. It’s a juncture for something else, something darkly beautiful. They said that dark stories were buried or absorbed there. It was why people who had done terrible things are often attracted to it.”

“Mm.”

“You don’t have to do it, Prince Emmerich, but you’re the only one who can lead the knights to the core of Terra Pardus.”

“Fara, let’s speak plainly. I’m the only one they will follow to the death.”

And so, that was what we did. We journeyed toward our impending doom. Melancholy and anxiety blended as our horses trotted towards a destination that had them nervously neighing as it became nearer.

The juncture was an old castle in ruins. The turrets were crumbling and the only colorful thing there was Wester’s flag waving in the wind. Rain poured cold and urgent over our chainmail, worsening the temperatures.

Every knight was quiet. Even the horses’ hooves seemed to clop more discreetly as we made our final approach. There was no gate to speak of. Therefore, we could just storm inside and give Wester and his men a surprise attack. However, we made the approach slow, steady, and careful. We were not known for such attacks. We often had our horses galloping right into the gates, our swords slashing throats and our horses’ hooves trampling enemies on foot.

There was another reason we were trying to be as quiet as possible.

The sounds of purring and growling.

“D-do you hear that, Your Highness?” Arthur asked, looking ashen from fear and the cold. I nodded solemnly. He knew that his question was futile because the animal sounds were loud. Then again, he might be fearing madness. It was a thought that passed me, as well. What if the sounds were all in my head? After all, I couldn’t see a single animal.

“Let’s go in,” I ordered, gesturing my right arm for emphasis.

There was barely an interior to speak of, but we did have to breach a large door. The walls had holes, signs of attacks that were made on it through the centuries. We heard shouts and scuffles inside.

At that point, it became familiar ground. I led some of my men toward the door as we hacked through the planks. The door was down in no time.

The juncture’s protection isn’t physical, I thought.

Most of my men got off their horses and began hacking with swords, maces, and axes. Two were able to enter the large door with their horses, going into full gallop into the spacious hall.

The battle went on as it always did, with me focused on the enemy right before me while being on the alert for any attacks on the side or back. After disposing off the first few men quickly, one put up a good fight. He was a good swordsman, but I was able to back him off to a wall. Just when I was about to push my sword right into his chest, I felt a splitting pain on my left arm and something hot trickling from the skin behind the chainmail. Hot against the cold of the juncture. I glanced at my arm and saw an arrow sticking from it and the man who shot it was a few feet away, separated from me by other bodies fighting to the death. He was wearing light chainmail over his tunic and trousers. There was a cloth bound around his face like a mask.

In pain and enraged, I quickly shoved my sword into my opponent’s chest before he could s***h me with his. Then, I ran through the bodies between me and the one who shot the arrow. He ran, too, but somehow, I didn’t feel any fear from him. There was mischief, and in my head, I could hear girlish laughter.

The man was about my height, and we could have grappled and it would have been a close match. At the back of my head, I knew that he was leading me to a trap. He ran through seemingly endless, dark corridors. Slivers of pale sunlight peeked through the holes on the roof and turrets.

He was large but nimble, and as I got closer to him, I heard growling. It was soft, like a disgruntled and disappointed schoolmaster, but it carried something more sinister.

Then, it happened.

The change.

The man pulled the cloth of his face, and I knew that I was looking at Eric Wester. I had seen the sketches of his face, so vivid a likeness that it was easy to recognize the usurper with his dark hair and pale blue eyes. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark. Then, they turned yellowish. What happened next was too fast and my subsequent memories of it would often be tainted by self-doubt – of the possibility of madness, except that event in my life changed me forever.

Wester turned into a leopard right before me. My reflexes had me turning around and making a run for it, but a cat’s reflexes were faster. The big cat leaped over me and I was certain that I would be dying that cold afternoon within the juncture. As he did, my sword clattered more than a foot away from my outstretched hand. I felt the leopard’s fangs sink into my throat as it growled its hunger and approval. The pain was almost too much, and I almost resigned and welcomed death. Then, I remembered the dagger from my belt. Feeling weaker from the blood loss, I forced myself to raise my hand to take that dagger to its intended target.

I stabbed the shifter in the neck. It growled. Its shock enabled me to push its heavy weight off me. Then, I stabbed. Stabbed. Stabbed.

Days later, I found out what I had become. I didn’t know if it was better than the madness I thought I had.

**

Present Day

“Emmerich?” Sienna broke through my reverie. I realized that I was touching my neck. It was tingling as if it recognized the place where we stood.

“Do you hear them?” I asked tentatively.

“The cats?” Her eyes widened with wonder and relief. It was then that I saw the tears that had formed there. I was not the only one questioning my mind.

“Yes.”

“It’s a welcome of sorts, I think,” she said. “Worse, I hear a girl in my head, and not just here. Everywhere.”

Girlish laughter. I wanted to tell Sienna about my relationship with the Junction. I was more than just a character in her book, but I wanted to stick with what we had to do – open the nine doors. So, I didn’t respond to her words.

“Emmerich, is this it? Does our arrival open the first door?”

“I’m not sure. Let’s see what happens when we enter its physical door,” I said.

“Okay. Well, I’ve informed my uncle about my visit. I believe he has some servants waiting for us here. They had prepared our rooms. You can now stretch as much as you want.”

The words registered in my head. For some reason, I felt a little disappointed. The nights with her beside me made it easier to protect her. That ease and calm brought forth something more, too. Something I should not even be contemplating.

“It’s -.”

She was already inside. I followed her. The old woman who I could only presume to be the housekeeper was looking at me curiously.

“Mrs. Winter, my boyfriend Emmerich will be staying with us.” Sienna’s eyes were wide and apologetic.

“It’s about time, Sienna,” the housekeeper said. I liked her immediately after she said those words. Sienna should be who she was always meant to be – Sienna Kelley. “Come inside, Emmerich. Sienna called her uncle asking for two rooms. I assumed she would be coming with a friend.”

“Nice meeting you, Mrs. Winter.”

“Likewise, Emmerich. Let’s get you out of the cold.”

But the cold lived within me, right with the growling thing that became part of my being. The heat that came with the cold.