forward, and Hades stopped me. 'If this goes too far, if I think you can't come back on your own, I'm shutting it down.'
I nodded.
'I'm serious, Nate.'
I knew what he meant. If I couldn't control it, if it gained control over me, Hades would shut me down. Permanently.
I removed my t-shirt and passed it to Hades, then kicked off my shoes and removed my socks before I stepped inside the dark room, waiting as Hades made his way back to the control room. After a short time, a single light came on above my head, bathing everything in a low level glow. Not that there was anything to bathe.
The room lived up to its name. It was a four hundred square foot box with polished silver walls, floor and ceiling. Orange and red runes were etched around the top and bottom of each wall, which ensured no damage could be done to the room itself. The door closed and locked. There was no magic on earth that could be used to force one's way out the Silver Room once the door was locked. And everyone who had ever used it had almost certainly tried. I knew I had.
I glanced up at the huge painted rune on the ceiling, a mirror image of the one on the floor. Runes are a difficult thing to learn-each rune does something different. The amount and type of magic, the size and placement of the rune, and a hundred other factors in place during its creation will cause it to have different effects. I don't know what type of magic was used to create the two runes, but the amount of power must have been immense.
I sat cross-legged in the centre of the room, and carried out some breathing exercises that let me calm myself. I didn't want to be worked up when the room went active.
'All okay in there, Nate?' asked Hades, his voice coming through the speakers hidden around the room.
'I'm good, thanks,' I said. I knew Hades was watching me, alongside the microphones and speakers. The room was fitted with a CCTV system. The cameras were tiny dots in the ceiling. I smiled and waved at where I knew they were concealed.
'Let me know when you're ready.'
I took one last deep breath. 'Go.'
The effect was immediate. Bright white and orange glyphs burned across my skin, as my magic was ignited. The effect was similar to trying to push every last drop of water from a dam through a pin hole. It was agony to my muscles as magic flowed freely without pause, without restraint. It was more magic than I'd ever used at once, more than I was capable of before the glyphs had started to vanish. It roared out of my body, smashing into the walls and ceiling of the room, trying to find an exit.
If I'd done it outside, without the runes, the silver or the support, people would have died. There was no question in my mind. The magic was raw and unfocused. It just wanted to be used, and anyone caught in that maelstrom would be torn to pieces.
As the pain became too much, and my screams turned into something animal, something guttural and raw, I began to feel it stirring. The pain subsided the more it tried to take control until I could hear its voice inside my head. 'Nathan, it's been a while.'
The voice was from pure magic, the magic that tried to take control of a sorcerer's mind and body if they use too much of it. The voice belonged to the Nightmare inside me.
I glanced up at the polished, silver walls. A darkness was spreading out from my eyes, covering my forehead and making its way down to my jawline. 'Are you ignoring me, Nathan?'
I forced a smile.
'It's good that you finally sorted me out. You're getting stronger; those glyphs that stopped me from joining with you are finally vanishing.'
'You won't take me,' I said, as the magic continued to erupt all around me.
The monster sighed. 'You still don’t understand what I am, do you? You still think I'm some sort of monster; even after all we've done together. Well, Nathan, we've got some time. Let's talk.'
Chapter 25
Montana Territory, America. 1878
Getting out of the town of Kilnhurst had been relatively easy. I'd left my would-be assassin in the bedroom, naked and cursing my name as I jumped out of the window. A little air magic to slow my descent and I landed without a fuss. A moment later, I'd released Valour from the hitching post and was riding her out of town at a steady pace.
It took me a few hours to get to the fort that I'd told Sky to take Sam to. It was a small structure compared to forts in other parts of the country, but placed on top a hill, giving it an excellent view of the land.
Armed soldiers patrolled the walkways above what I was sure would be thick sturdy walls, scanning the surrounding land as the last visages of sunlight died away over the mountains to the west.
One of the guards noticed my arrival as I neared the huge wooden gates, and aimed his rifle in my direction. 'Stop,' he shouted.
I did as I was told.
'Who are you?' he asked. His gun wavered slightly. Probably new at the job.
'My name is Nathan Garrett,' I told him. 'I sent some people up here earlier, a woman and a boy. Have you seen them?'
The guard left my sight, and for a brief moment I thought I was just being left outside to wait. I was just about to find another way inside the fort, when the gates swung open and a man walked toward me. He wore the uniform of an army officer, his revolver still holstered at his hip. But he hardly needed the weapon considering he was flanked by five soldiers, all of whom were holding their rifles in a very nonchalant way, instantly proving how concerned they were.
'And you are?' the officer demanded of me.
'As I told your man, my name is Nathan Garrett.'
'You sent some people here, a young boy and an Indian woman?' He managed to place a lot of context into that one word. Apparently he was not a fan of the natives.
'They made it here, then,' I said.
'Never said that,' the officer said with a smug smile.
'Yes, you did. I never mentioned that she was Indian, only that she was a woman.'
The smile vanished as if wiped away by the increasing wind that picked up around us. 'And who are you to be sending people to my fort?'
I ignored his question 'Where are they?'
'I detained them both pending further inquiries.'
'You did what?'
'I can't have some Indian spy walking unsupervised around my fort. And when we tried to disarm her, she broke the arm of Lieutenant Burns.'
'I don't give a damn what she did or didn't do, get her out of whatever shithole you put her in. Now.'
'I am the Captain in charge of this fort, and you-'
I reached into my saddle bag and pulled out a piece of paper. 'And here is a piece of paper signed by your president that grants me the rank and status of a Major of the American Army. I outrank you, Captain, now get out of my damn way and get me those prisoners.'
I ignored the Captain's gobsmacked face, and rode Valour into the fort itself.
I counted a dozen buildings inside the fort-barracks, a mess room, the quartermaster's storehouse, even a small medical centre, were all easily identifiable. But they all paled in significance, when compared to the large two-story building at the rear of the fort. It was clearly the officers' quarters.
I dismounted Valour and passed her reins to a young boy who came running up to me. 'Take her to the stables.'
He took Valour away, just as the Captain made his presence known again. 'Sir, I'm sorry about what
