The Darkness Below

by

Lee Eide

Cover art designed by Dale Teubers

Copyright ©1999
ISBN: 0-87714-408-7 eBook edition
ISBN: 0-87714-693-4 PB edition

All rights reserved by Denlinger's Publishers, including the right to reproduce this electronic book, or portions thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

The author is an accountant by day and writer by night. Publishing credits include a feature-length article, “He’s Paid His Dues”, that appeared in the August 1997 edition of Referee magazine; short story entitled “Deadly Magic” currently featured on Triangle 46’s Internet magazine web site; daily meditation – “One Body” – that will be appear in The Upper Room in their May-June 2000 edition. His second and third published novels, “Dead Man’s Plan” and “Agent of Darkness”, are also available.

Eide was born in Minot, North Dakota. He moved to Red Wing, Minnesota in 1973 and has lived in the state ever since. He and wife Amy live in a southern suburb of Minneapolis. They share their home with a plethora of pets: two dogs, two cats, one rabbit , one fish, and a snail. Besides reading and writing fiction, he enjoys bicycling, bowling, golf, softball, tennis, and volunteer work (MS bike rides, hospitality committee at his church, giving blood and Moving Meals).

Lastly, “Intersection With Eternity”, the sequel to “The Darkness Below”, is under literary construction. “Building” should be completed sometime in 2000. Marketing his first published novel and converting it into a screenplay have stuck “Intersection With Eternity” on hold. For updates on his writing career, go to his site.

-- Staci Layne Wilson for SharpWriter magazine

Lee Eide's novel, "The Darkness Below", begins with a frightening experience at a long ago Halloween party which sets Victoria Mayfield of Northern Heights, Minnesota on a course to investigate a series of bizarre deaths, which begins with the mysterious murder of a young girl in London. Recently laid off from her job at a Twin Cities airline, Victoria finds herself at a crossroads, torn between seeking another accounting job and embarking on a different, more fulfilling career. A postcard sent from London by an airline coworker that mentions the girl's murder and a joking connection with a love affair between two of Victoria's old bosses ignites her curiosity because these two people were also part of the event that took place on that fated Halloween night.

During this time, she also begins a strange odyssey in her nighttime dreams, tagging along on the journey of Curalis Hunter, a man seeking the key to his own past in the fantastic, alien world of Ulangstias. Once part of the Ruling Triad of Ulangstias, Curalis was set up and imprisoned by the other two rulers, the vampire kings Domatrian and Krinel. Now freed, he seeks to clear his name and soon uncovers a conspiracy in which an unusual number of young women are being convicted for crimes and executed. Together, through their spiritual link, Victoria and Curalis endeavor to unravel the mysteries in both of their worlds.

In "The Darkness Below", Lee Eide has crafted an unforgettable narrative, rich in detail and featuring a wonderful, endearing cast of characters. The author has breathed realistic vitality into even the most insignificant of the players. Elements of fantasy, spirituality, psychology and drama are woven together in a powerful combination full of both wonder and suspense. A sprinkling of low-key humor and subtle social commentary add even more depth and texture to this absorbing story. Only very rarely, in these days where stale and overworked fantasy themes are common, does one come across a work of speculative fiction as original and intelligent as "The Darkness Below".

-- John Patrick Schmitz, The Door to Worlds Imagined

...THE DARKNESS BELOW is a fascinating and original fantasy novel, filled with vivid and sometimes disturbing images.

The characters in THE DARKNESS BELOW are as well described as the settings. Mr. Eide paints his characters in short, photograph-like glimpses. Though I had no trouble visualizing the people in the story, I didn't find the main character completely credible. Victoria sometimes seemed more masculine than feminine to me. Some of her more masculine characteristics (most notably when she ogles other women) are explained in the book by her connection to Curalis, but I found others distracting. For instance, few women can drink seven beers in one evening without getting drunk. Still, by the middle of the book I had forgotten my doubts about Victoria and only wanted to know how she was going to untangle the twin mysteries and survive. The answer is in the story's exciting and gruesome climax. Sensitive readers who want to avoid nightmares should finish the book during the day.

THE DARKNESS BELOW is a unique work of fiction that blends mystery, science fiction, and horror into a dark fantasy sure to haunt its readers' dreams. I recommend THE DARKNESS BELOW to all readers who enjoy their fantasy dark and original.

-- Reviewed by Carrie S. Masek , Scribes World Reviews

"Go ahead," Ivory said.

"You mean go down there?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?"

"What's down there? I mean besides sheer, utter darkness and grinning, undead skeletons?"

A slight pause and then, "That's pretty much it. The skeletons and utter darkness. Yep, that's all."

"Cute. I mean really," she said.

"Like I said before, they're meditation rooms. One in each tower," he replied.

Victoria eyed her host suspiciously. The dogs sat stoically behind him. Ivory crossed both arms over his chest and made a show of tapping his right foot on the sandstone.

"Come on. The lasagna will be burnt if we don't get moving."

"Then let's just go back right now. We can come back later."

"Are you a woman or a chicken?"

"Can I get back to you on that?"

"Just go down there. We'll be right behind you, won't we?" Ivory said while glancing at Seek and Destroy.

"Okay, okay, I'll go but we need a flashlight or at least a lit candle," she said.

"Tell you what. I'll go back to the kitchen, take the lasagna out of the oven, and find a flashlight. I think there's one in the kitchen somewhere. I'll be back in five, ten minutes top. You and the dogs can stay here."

"Okay but make it quick. I'm hungry."

"Be back in a two shakes of a something's tail," he said before turning and jogging across the bridge back to the house.

Seek and then Destroy began to follow him but Ivory stopped and yelled, "No!! You STAY."

The gray-furred giant of a dog halted, stood for a second, and then sat with its rear on the floor, huge brown eyes staring expectantly at its master. Destroy was already laying down, snout resting on his tan and black paws.

Leaving the animals to their own devices, Victoria stepped gingerly, almost reverently, toward the spiral staircase. Not only had her host left, so had all the conversation. The only sounds were the dogs' restless shifting on the sandstone floor and her own soft scrunching as she approached the stairs. Victoria sat down, her feet resting on the top step. She peered down in the blackness but closed her eyes after about five seconds. If she stared into the dark long enough, Victoria feared her mind would concoct images that weren't really there in an attempt to keep itself occupied. She kept her eyes closed. Without visual sensory data for her mind to focus on, the other four senses came to the forefront, especially her hearing and sense of touch. Concentrating on hearing for right now, Victoria strained to get a better handle on the sound that seemed to be coming from the blackness below. It was sort of like the buzzing of high-voltage electrical wires.

Sort of but not precisely like that, she thought. It's that but there seems to be many just slightly different tones that make up this buzzing. Like the many different strands in a sports coat. From a distance they appear to be part of design but if you get closer, you see how they are separate but together.

Puzzled over the source of the buzzing sound, if it was really there, she tried to figure out what it was. Maybe there was an electrical line somewhere nearby. She'd have to ask Ivory about it when he returned. But it wasn't really exactly like a high voltage electrical wire. Victoria let her mind change from aural phenomena to tactile. She struggled to find a comfortable position. After several positions were rejected, Victoria settled for simply sitting on the top step with her legs extended, her left leg crossed over her right.

After nearly a minute, her mind settled down. Victoria didn't think about what might happen tonight or tomorrow or the next nor did she reflect on what mistakes she'd made or gloat over the successes. No judgments, conjectures or worry. She focused only on what she was experiencing right now.

Victoria tried to follow the blood flow from her heart to the rest of her body but found she couldn't. She wasn't that in tune with herself. Not yet anyway. However, her face did feel different somehow. It was similar to the amphetamine highs in college and a few times since. After the black beauties, white crosses or pink hearts kicked in, a halo seemed to hover over her head. Now that same sensation was present but instead of hovering over her head, it emanated from her face. It was as if the air in this gloomy, lonely place was charged with energy.

But it doesn't seem lonely.

Though Victoria didn't have the sense of unseen presences actually trying to communicate with her, she felt comforted because of the feeling she had of so much activity taking place on a different level. That would explain all the energy that seems to be in the air, she thought. It's like all these beings or entities are buzzing past me and what I'm feeling is the air stirred up by their passage.

She heard one of the dogs, probably Seek, stirring and then begin making its way over to her.

Relax, she told herself. He's not going to attack you, for God's sake. Ivory wouldn't have left the dogs if he thought there was any kind of chance one or both would attack you. He already mentioned how docile they are.

She relaxed for a few seconds but tensed up slightly when the animal was right next to her. Victoria could smell the earthy smell of its fur.

"Hi boy. Is that you, Seek?"

The near whisper sounded like a shout after the minutes of utter silence. She felt a gigantic paw scrape across her back. After craning her head, she saw Seek staring back at her with his huge, walnut-colored eyes, pink tongue unfurling and retracting like a red carpet being rolled out and back in again as if a town official couldn't decide if the visitor was important enough to warrant such treatment. Again the dog put up its right paw.

"You want to shake, is that it?"

She stuck out her hand and grasped the canine's gray paw.

"I guess we haven't been formally introduced. though I do know your name. I'm Victoria Mayfield. I'm pleased to meet you, Seek."

The dog shot back a baritone WOOF that almost raised her behind off the cool, uneven floor. Victoria glanced over toward the other dog.

"Destroy, come here, boy. Come on, over here. Don't be afraid. I won't bite."

The tan canine giant's ears perked up when he heard his name. Destroy rose to his feet and stared across the darkening room at her, the creature's tail sweeping majestically behind him. He took one step, stopped and laid back down again.

"That's okay. It can be tough getting to know strangers. I'm sure we'll have time later to get to know one another better."

She heard steps on the bridge spanning the two buildings. Ivory approached with a large traffic light yellow flashlight. While Destroy trotted over to greet him, Seek remained sitting next to her.

"It's about time. I'd almost forgotten about you," yelled Victoria.

"Women seem to do that a lot with me. I just don't make much of an impression, I guess," he said before sighing deeply.

"Nothing personal. It's just something about this place that makes you want to shut out the rest of the world for a little while."

"You're supposed to do that downstairs, you goofball."

"Sorry. Next time I'll try to follow the meditation protocol more closely," she said.

"That's the spirit. Okay, the lasagna's out of the oven but still in the pan. In ten minutes, it'll be cool enough to eat."

He walked over to Victoria and handed her the flashlight. Seek looked up at Ivory with expectant eyes. The master scratched behind the dog's ears and ruffled the hairs on top of its head.

"I see you made yourself a new friend."

"Yeah, I think he likes me," she said.

"I was talking to the dog," he replied.

"Oh."

"But it's all the same. If he made a new friend, then you must have too so, ah, yeah, whatever. Okay, you ready to go down?"

He got his answer when Victoria rose to her feet, pushed the ON button on the flashlight, and started down the winding metal stairs. The dogs and Ivory again followed right after her. The shadow from the flashlight darted to and fro across the walls and floor of the space below. Victoria's arms began tingling. The sensation spread to her face and legs. Goose bumps popped up all over skin like bodies in a "Friday the 13th" movie. That queer, beguiling sensation of urgent, frenzied movement in detectable but elusive dimensions was even stronger down here. A low, long growl came from right behind her. Victoria paused and wheeled around.

"Either you're really hungry or one of the dogs must feel what I feel," she said.

"I am damn hungry but that was Seek. Hey, it's okay buddy," he said while patting the dog on its right side. "And what are you talking about anyway? What feeling?"

"It's hard to describe. It's kind of like there's waves of energy pulsing or something all around us. Stop seeing and start feeling."

"Then I'll probably trip, fall down these stairs and knock you guys over. Then we'll all have broken legs and it will be one big mess. No, sorry, can't do it."

"Okay fine," she said.

Victoria resumed the descent into darkness. They reached the floor. She flicked the flashlight beam all around the room. Nothing here but an old musty, dusty mattress in the far corner of the room. Victoria walked slowly over to the mattress to study it in greater detail. After kneeling down and directing the flashlight's beam slowly over it, nothing surprising or remarkable jumped out at her. Just an old striped, ratty-looking mattress that reeked faintly of urine and dust.

Another growl from behind her.

"Nothing here, Seek old buddy," Ivory whispered soothingly.

Then from farther away a series of loud, urgent barks. Victoria whirled around and pointed the flashlight toward the noises. Destroy was sliding and scraping his way up the steep spiral staircase. The large hound kept glancing back as if trying to locate the source of his unease.

"What is with you guys anyway? What are you, dogs or chickens!? No bark, Destroy. No bark."

The pleas had no effect on the animal. While Seek's growl had seemed to hang in the air like a rank fart, Destroy's staccato WOOFS rattled around the old towers like a gunshot in a culvert.

"The girl is supposed to be scared, not you, for Christ's sake," he yelled at the dog.

Seek started whining quietly but steadily.

"Stop it," Ivory said while whapping the animal on its right side. It looked at him but kept whining.

"All right, get up those stairs," Ivory finally said.

The dog didn't budge.

"I said, get up those stairs," he said while snapping his fingers and pointing toward the stairs. "Come on, get your furry ass over here. NOW."

When Seek did move, it was with a quickness that Victoria wouldn't have thought the expansive canine capable of. It was up the stairs and out of sight within five seconds.

"Time's almost up. You want to check out the other Meditation Chamber?" he asked her.

"Well, yeah, I guess so," she replied.

Victoria turned back around. Like a blind elephant at a cocktail party, she used the flashlight's beam to feel out the darkness until she found what she wanted: the doorway leading to the other room. Glancing back, she saw her host right behind her.

They were right at the rooms's threshold when she felt goose bumps on her arms and legs. A chill snaked down her spine. She shuddered.

"You okay?" Ivory asked.

"Yeah, it's just that weird feeling again, like before," she answered.

"I kind of feel it too, I guess."

"You guess?

"I feel something weird," Ivory admitted, the shrug of his shoulders telling Victoria he couldn't be more specific.

As they moved farther into the other room, Victoria felt a powerful, silent wave of energy blowing against her face.

"Do you feel that?" she asked Ivory.

"Do you feel something?" he asked back.

"Yeah. It's like wind but it's not wind created by air movement. Something else is creating it."

"This is so weird. The last time I was here, maybe two years ago, something like that, this happened too but I thought it was just me, you know, like I imagined it or something," he said.

"Nope, it's not just you."

Now they were fifteen feet into the room. In here there was only a kerosene lamp and an egg-shaped rug ten feet across. By now the tiny hairs on Victoria's arms and legs as well the ones on her head were tingling. The sensation was by turns sensuous and frightening. Suddenly the beam from the flashlight disappeared, leaving them in a womb of blackness.

"What's wrong with the flashlight?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to try something," she answered. "Let's just sit down for little bit and see what happens."

"Is this a come on?"

"No, you goofball. Let's use the room the way it was intended. Let's just sit down and relax. With the flashlight off, we won't even have to close our eyes. We can just stare at the walls or the ceiling or the floor. It's all the same in the dark anyway."

"This is freaky. You are freaky. Maybe that's why I like you. You must have been stamped from a different mold or something."

Victoria didn't react right away. She was thinking how odd Ivory's voice sounded without seeing the face that it came from. It was like hearing the voice of the GREAT and POWERFUL OZ.

"You still there?" he asked.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. Okay, take my hand."

She felt his hand on her hip and moving downward. She cleared her throat.

"That's not my hand."

"Sorry. It's dark in here, you know?"

She found his hand.

"Okay, let's find the rug. It should be straight ahead of us. We'll sit on that."

Three steps later they were on it. They stopped holding hands when they sat down. Victoria sat with both knees pointing outward and her hands gripping both ankles just above the tops of her athletic shoes. She had no idea what position her friend was in.

"Ready?" she asked, the words disappearing into the void.

"I guess," he said. "Now what?"

"Just pick out a spot and stare at it. Don't think about the past or the future. Try to make your mind a blank."

"A lot of people'd say that should be a snap for me," he said with chuckle.

"Anyone can do it, I think. It's just a matter of practice, patience, and desire," she said.

"Sounds like you're an expert on this meditation business."

"No, I've dabbled in it, though. I've got a good grasp of the basics. Okay, you ready?"

Nothing.

"Ivory?"

"Hey, you broke my concentration. You want to keep it down over there?"

"Smartass," she muttered.

Victoria chose a spot just above eye-level. She tried to do what she'd just told Ivory to do.

Don't think of the past or future. Make your mind a blank and see what happens.

For interminable seconds, she did just that. Then shapes and sparks of color, fleeting, furtive things -- like happiness or success -- overlaid the void of darkness. She was tempted to ask Ivory if he saw anything like this but fearing it'd break her concentration, she kept silent. The shapes and colors grudgingly grew in depth and size. Mostly they were forms with meaning, colors with a purpose like graffiti made by a schizophrenic. Then Victoria began seeing occasional shapes that seemed to make sense. A building. A street with a car parked on it. A baseball field. A city with oddly shaped structures. But none of the forms had any particular meaning for her. They were generic representations.

The forms lapsed back into chaos. Gray and black lines intersected, elongated, shrunk, and zigzagged haphazardly. The lines began moving more slowly and systematically. Slowly but surely they grew into buildings of various shapes. After the buildings came streets, a lake, a bridge, a mountain resembling a huge building, and finally human forms to inhabit the city. The image appeared to take up the entire wall and part of the ceiling. Victoria wondered if Ivory could see this too.

She stared at the city. The lines had stopped moving and the invisible paint brush had ceased its brush strokes. What was left was a shimmering reproduction of an spectacular, mysterious city. Victoria felt she should know more about this place. Had she read a novel or seen a movie with a city like this in it?

She peered more closely at the mountain with the numerous holes in it. At first she'd thought the holes were natural depressions, like caves or niches carved out by erosion over the millennia. Closer examination revealed that they weren't the result of natural forces at all. The pattern and regularity of the openings was redolent of human handiwork. Instead of the subtle, varied, sweet uniqueness of Nature, the depressions were neat, straight, and easily categorized by shape and size, something planned and man-made.

Of course, you dummy, you know this city.

Grandeur, the capital city of Ulangstias. The place where the rulers of the royal government are vampires and their home nothing so mundane or modest as Buckingham Palace.

No regular, run-of-the-mill castle for the rulers of Ulangstias. They've got a damn mountain for a palace where they can review their kingdom from dizzying heights and smile smugly about how good life is when you have command over all the little people sitting nice and pretty right down there.

But how did she know what Grandeur looked like? Her lucid dreaming didn't begin until after Curalis had left the city. He was already many thousands of digibotts removed from the urban settlement when Victoria got a seat on the DreamRide Bus.

Well, don't forget that besides you being in his head, he's in your head.

Then she added, All the time. If that was the case, what she saw before her now seemed familiar because it was familiar to Curalis and he was now a permanent part of her. Her eyes hadn't seen this beautiful city ruled by beings whose inner self was anything but beautiful. However, Curalis had. Which meant in a way she had seen this before.

"Can we leave now?"

"Oh my god, I had forgotten you were there for a second --" she began.

"It happened again. You keep forgetting about me," he said. "That is not a good sign."

"It's not you. It's this place. Like a city unto itself. So much to explore, so much to look at. You could almost spend a lifetime exploring the mansion and grounds," Victoria said.

"I may just do that," muttered Ivory.

"What did you see just now?" she asked him.

"Not much. I thought I saw images and colors forming on the wall but nothing ever developed. Probably just my imagination. What about you?"

She hesitated, then said, "Pretty much the same," she lied.

"Well, the lasagna's probably as cold as hell by now but I'm sure it could be microwaved. You ready?"

"Yeah, a huge plate of food sounds pretty damn good right now," she said.

After groping the cool sandstone floor for several seconds, her fingers found the heavy duty flashlight. Victoria's fingers kept crawling until they found the ON/OFF switch. They made their way up the winding metal stairs leading out of the meditation chambers. A clack drifted down through the gloom. Then two more.

"Seek, NO. STAY, " Ivory ordered. Then in a softer voice, "We'll be right there, old buddy."

Victoria pointed the flashlight at the top of the stairs, the beam groping the air until landing upon the dog. A large furry face loomed in the gloom. Beyond Seek, Destroy had been laying down ten feet from the stairs. Now he was on his feet and slowly approaching his canine partner. After circling up the stairs, the group exited the tower, trod over the bridge and into the main building for dinner. While Ivory and Victoria wolfed down lasagna, garlic bread and salad, the dogs chomped through chunks of Nature's Recipe lamb and rice. With a slab of the lasagna and two hunks of garlic bread left on her plate, Victoria put one hand on her stomach, pushed the plate away with the other and declared, "That's it for me. Stuffed."

Her host was still going strong. Ivory might have groaned his disappointment at his guest's comment but Victoria couldn't be sure because his mouth was so full of food. Between bites he managed to squeeze in, "Even too stuffed to have another beer?"

"Well, maybe not that stuffed," she admitted.

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