Chapter 1
“Is this the place?” The driver started at the sudden voice. The car ride had been long and void of any conversation. His sodden passenger had fallen into the backseat like a corpse falling off the cart, a lank, pale hand offering out a business card.
“Take me here.” The driver had taken the card gingerly. “Don’t worry, I have a reservation.” Tannis – who only gave his name halfway to the destination – had spoken in clipped voice. Despite his obvious weariness, he seemed full of urgency.
“Let me know once we arrive.” Before he could disagree, the man succumbed to sleep amidst the worn leather and wood panelling of the taxi. The driver, perturbed as he was, sighed as he gave a cursory glance to the damp card in his hand. It was sparse save for the name of the hotel in bold font but the name alone had set the driver on edge.
“Hey are you-” He stopped himself. The soft breathing and closed eyes told him that his passenger was in no condition to respond. He had just turned the key, fired up the engine, and set off, despite all sense telling him otherwise.
“This be it, syr Tannis,” the driver’s reply was husky, throat parched from the silent journey. He cleared his throat. “The Nightside Hotel.” Tannis rolled down his window. The balmy night air caressed his face. Tragically the comforting breeze was the sole beauty to be found here. The driveway and surrounding gardens could barely live up to those monikers. The ‘driveway’ was little more than an incinerated serpent of tarmac meandering through the gutted landscape. Trenches from the war filled the ‘garden’ like nicks on a face assailed by a razor. In truth, there was no green to be seen at all. The hints of green Tannis saw were just imitations from memories. Life was absent here. Tannis and his driver seemed to be the only living thing for miles. Like a thin blade, dread snuck between his ribs, sliding and twisting. The trenches reminded him no matter how much time they claimed was between Old and New, the reminders of it all were still there. Echoes of what should never have been. He turned his focus away from the earthen spectres and instead to the building that loomed large and luminous over the desiccated landscape.
The Nightside Hotel was a building that could have only have been dreamed up by those raving, luxury-worshiping architects of old. One of the few surviving pre-war buildings in the country, the opulent nightmare stood proudly with an arrogance that grew more perceptible as one approached it. It stood in defiance of its surroundings. A towering pillar of golden stone, it reached skyward. Its monolithic structure, broken by its various levels, which seemed to Tannis like climbers struggling to maintain grip on a cliff-face. The innumerable square windows uniformly covered the hotel from door to crest, each a peephole into small pocket of existence known only to its inhabitants. Against the blackened, waterlogged sky, the hotel gleamed. An industrial sunbeam, each pane of glass poured forth light like a spire of searchlights. In all, he could not help but think that it was detestable. A monstrous monument to its designer’s hubris. A golden epitaph to a dead age.
The driver cast a concerned look over him. Though they had barely spoken, he could not help but feel worried for Tannis. The dark circles under Tannis’s silvery eyes told the tale for him, even if the mouth protested.
“Your bags, would you like me to take them in? Only you seemed awfully tired and I thought-”
“No, no that’s quite alright,” Tannis waved his hand emphatically “I can handle those myself”
The troubled look continued. Tannis couldn’t hold the gaze. He had very little energy to offer any more protestations. The sooner he was inside, out of the rain and in the warm confines of a room, the better.
“If you say so, syr.”
The car door opened and Tannis stepped out into the rain once again. Under the shadow of the hotel, a chill washed over him. It was nothing to do with the rain. Despite himself, he couldn’t help but shudder.
“Why this place of all places syr? There’s plenty others that would serve you just as well” The question was not lost in the deluge. Tannis heard it clear as funeral bells. Shadows began to stir and shift between the trenches. Tannis watched their gory pantomime. With each frantic motion came the familiar din – the hostile choir. They say that every man has their ghosts that follow them throughout their lifetime. Tannis’s ghosts were innumerable and shared between all those who were forced to recall those monstrous days.
“I needed a place to stay and…” Tannis bit his lip, words stilted by remembrance. “It’s a homecoming of sorts I suppose.” The driver looked from Tannis to the hotel and back again.
“You wanted to come here?”
Tannis stopped himself before he could disagree. It had not been his first choice to come here. The cancellation of trains forced his hand. He had needed a place to stay, but why here? Regrets? Or did a twisted familiarity bring him to this place again? In truth, did he feel safe here between the upturned earth and youthful bones? Or was what arrived on his doorstep last week, now resting in his pocket, an offer he couldn't refuse?
“… Syr?”
“… Yes. I suppose I did.” He turned back to the driver. The concern had grown into worry. Tannis smiled. “I was here a long time ago and… it’s odd coming back and-” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tannis let out a weary chuckle. “Sorry. I’m tired from my journey, that’s all. There’s really no need for concern.” In spite of his efforts the worry remained on the driver’s face.
“If you say so syr. I won’t pester you any more” Taking his case from the driver’s hands Tannis passed a few notes over in kind and set off towards the gold-lacquered doors.
A tingle in the air heralded the arrival of lightning. Now his thoughts turned to Holly. He hadn’t been able to phone her since his departure from Lorenburg and that was this morning. He checked his watch: 5:30pm. Too long. He would phone her as soon as he got inside. A fresh primal light challenged the hotel’s brilliance as the sky cracked with lightning. The horizon bristled with thunder, the clangour of a storm began to march over the countryside and the rain matched the growing tempo.
“Take care syr. It’s gonna be a long night.” The driver returned to his car and drove off into the storm. No matter what he did he could not allay the foreboding, a foreboding he felt on behalf of his former passenger. Tannis listened as the car vanished into the downpour. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the letter that accompanied the hotel's business card.
Unravellers and revellers,
The Fangs sit – patient.
The Serpent. Tongue sublime, ensnaring dreamers.
The Tiger. On watch, ever vigilant.
The Lark. Lord of the Voice.
The Bat. To reawaken the Heart.
The Spider. Who makes your every choice.
The Rat. Kin and Ken, drowned in dark.
And They await The Wolf, who comes alone, willingly and fervently,
Born of Old, Awakened New in Terra’s Halls, bright and violently.
With crimson hands shared, bonds of sinew,
They will bear this Sun anew.
How could he turn down such an invitation? Even across the country he had felt its hands reaching out to him: soft, warm, inviting. Now, standing here in front of it, he couldn't turn around and leave. Returning the letter to his pocket and unsure of what awaited him, Tannis stepped out of the rain and through the doors.
