So that was just another vision. Had he imagined the voice he heard in his head?
The girl stood and smoothed out her dress. Ico looked up at her.
“That statue over there,” he said, pointing. She turned to look back at the knight. “He used to be a human, you know. He’s not a statue, but a man who was turned to stone. I saw him-”
The girl said nothing. Instead, she lifted her hand, brushing back the hair that fell across her eyes.
“The castle cursed that knight too, just like me. It trapped him here. He’s a Sacrifice, like I am. What I can’t figure out is, why would such a great knight become a Sacrifice? I thought the castle only took kids.”
The image of the knight slowly stepping down from the stone parapet and crossing the bridge filled Ico’s mind.
Now that he thought of it, when the knight’s cloak had blown behind his back, Ico had seen a breastplate and armored skirt, but he had seen no sword-certainly no weapon befitting a knight in armor such as his.
“You said something when you were standing next to the knight, didn’t you? To me it sounded like you were saying a name. Did you know him?”
The girl stood with her back to Ico, silent. Maybe she can’t hear me over the wind.
My son, the knight had called him. It left a bittersweet echo in Ico’s chest that would not go away.
My children who must endure this trial.
Ico didn’t know the names or faces of his parents. The elder had explained to him that that too was part of the custom. After his mother and father left the village, there was no way to contact them, nor any reason to do so.
Was that my father? But if his father had been a Sacrifice, how had he lived to such an old age? Had he been born with those horns, he would have been taken to the castle like Ico was and placed in a sarcophagus. He wouldn’t have had the chance to become my father.
Even now it tortures my body, binding me to this place.
Ico stood with a sigh. He brushed the dirt from his knees, much as the girl had, then picked up the wooden stick from where it lay on the stone bridge. By some miracle, it hadn’t been lost when the bridge collapsed.
“No going back that way.”
The gap in the bridge was too wide for Ico to jump. The bridge was broken, dead. A part of the castle had perished, just like the stone sarcophagus that had held him when he first arrived.
Maybe this was a part of his Mark’s effect on the castle. Having power over his prison gave him hope-but it was also a source of danger, as he was fast learning. We have to be much more careful from here on.
“Not that I wanted to go back.”
The girl turned to him and to his surprise, she smiled faintly. She’s beautiful. He thought her smile looked like a flower in full bloom, swaying gently in a forest breeze, sending its petals out to drift on the wind. He could almost smell the flower’s perfume on her breath.
Holding hands, they crossed the remainder of the ancient bridge. The two stone idols and the mysteries they held behind their expressionless faces awaited them.
6
LIGHTNING FLASHED THROUGH the air once more, and the stone idols slid to either side. Ico noticed the girl blinking in the light. She looked almost frightened. She doesn’t know why the idols move any more than I do.
“Does that hurt?”
A blank stare.
She has no idea what I’m saying.
In this room was a small wooden door and a staircase running around the inside of the room, winding up the walls. They were high enough already. Ico wanted to avoid going any higher if he could. We have to go down whenever we can if we’re ever going to get out.
Thankfully, the door opened easily.
“You wait here. I’m going to go see if it’s safe.”
Through the door, Ico found only disappointment. He was standing on a small balcony overlooking a gaping chasm. A similar balcony protruded from the far side. It looked like a bridge had once spanned the gap here, but nothing remained of it now. He looked down and immediately felt dizzy.
Far, far below he could see the green of trees and a bit of white where some dry land was exposed. Maybe a courtyard? From his vantage point on the balcony, it looked like he could go into the tower on the far side, but there was no way to get down there from this height.
Guess we’ll be going up the stairs for now. Crestfallen, he turned to go back through the door when he heard the girl scream.
Ico ran, then froze when he returned to the room. The shadow creatures were back, circling the girl like vultures around a kill. A swirling pool had opened in one corner of the small room.
The blood rose to Ico’s head and he charged the creatures, swinging his stick. There were several of the larger ones with horns growing out of their heads, just like the ones that had attacked them in the room with the cage. They danced eerily, avoiding his attacks, swarming around the girl with eyes that glowed a dull white. But Ico wasn’t afraid of them anymore. I don’t care what they are. I’ll send them back where they came from, no matter how many of them rear their ugly horns!
“Take that, and that, and that!”
It felt good, slashing the air with his stick, dashing them to nothing. But the pool was still seething in the corner. Several pairs of glowing white eyes flitted around the room, shadowy forms slowly coalescing around them.
The girl screamed again, and when Ico looked, he saw another shadow creature, this time with wings like a bird, grabbing the collar of her dress and trying to fly away with her. Ico’s hair stood on end. What, they can fly too? The girl flailed wildly as the thing carried her toward the top of the staircase.
Ico ran up the stairs, a pair of eyes brushing by his head.
– Stop, do not do this.
Ico gripped his stick tightly, his knuckles white. Were the creatures talking?
– You are one of us. Why do you thwart us? Why do you not show us kindness?
It was not a single voice, but a chorus, pleading, demanding, admonishing.
He was sure of it now. The creatures were talking to them even as they circled through the room, flying about, spinning around him.
– You are one of us.
“You’re wrong!” Ico shouted, swinging his stick. One of the creatures in front of him shifted to one side, leaning over him, peering down.
– You are just like us. We are Sacrifices too.
– Your horns, your Mark.
– We gave our lives to the stones. While our bodies decayed, our souls stayed in the cursed castle. We have lived eternal unlives in the cold and the dust.
– We are bound to the Castle in the Mist as we bind the castle together.
– Do not try to stop us.
Chest heaving, Ico steadied his club, but his hands were trembling too much for him to aim properly. The winged creature had disappeared with the girl.
– Little Sacrifice, gifted child protected by the Mark. Do not stop us. Please. Show kindness.
“No way…” Ico whispered, clenching his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering. “You’re lying!” he shouted. “I’m not like you!”
Ico shouted until he was out of breath, then ran up the rest of the staircase. At the top, he saw another black pool boiling in the middle of a narrow landing. The girl was sinking into it, already chin-deep in the darkness.
Tossing his stick aside, Ico dove to the ground and thrust his hands up to his elbows into the pool. He grabbed the girl’s slender shoulders. The girl’s eyes were dark, reflecting the blackness beneath them, and her glowing white body was already merging with the swirling shadow. Even still, when she noticed Ico trying to pull her out, a light of hope came into her eyes, and she glowed slightly, like an ember.