Your Turn to Suffer by Tim Waggoner (free romance novels .TXT) 📗

The figure stopped when it was within five feet of them. It had kept its arm at its sides the whole way, and it made no move to raise them now.

“Welcome. I am the Haruspex, and this—” the figure gestured toward the crosses and the people bound to them, “—is the Garden of Anguish. Have you come seeking knowledge?”

Edgar said nothing. He’d warned Lori that he was going to drop her off and leave, and yet here he was, standing next to her. It was clear, however, that he didn’t intend to take the lead in dealing with the Haruspex.

“Yes,” Lori answered, throat so dry she could barely get the word out.

“This is good. If you had stopped for any other reason, I would have been forced to kill you both and use you as fertilizer for my crop. Rules, you know.”

The Haruspex’s voice was calm, soothing, genderless, and devoid of all emotion save for a mild pleasantness. Lori watched the area of the mask over where the Haruspex’s mouth should be, but she saw no sign of lips moving.

“What’s a Haruspex?” Lori asked. “I’m not familiar with the term.”

The cloth-faced creature regarded her for a moment with whatever senses it possessed.

“It’s a Roman word. A Haruspex was a priest who divined knowledge by examining the entrails of sacrificed animals. Although in my case, I don’t do the interpreting. That you do yourself. My Garden is like a buffet in that sense. I supply the meat – you serve yourself.”

A breathy sss-sss-sss came from the Haruspex, and it took Lori a moment to realize the creature was laughing, or at least doing its version of it.

“Exactly how does this work?” Lori asked.

“The process is simple,” the Haruspex said. “Just start walking among the crosses until one of the bodies speaks to you, both literally and figuratively. Everyone has someone waiting for them in the Garden. Someone special.”

Edgar winced at this, and she understood why he didn’t want to accompany her into the Garden. He feared confronting whoever was waiting for him within. She felt the same, but if she was to have any hope of finding some way to restore her life to normal, she had no choice but to enter the Garden and face whatever she found there.

“What do I do after I go in?” she asked.

“It all depends on which of my beautiful flowers stops you,” the Haruspex said. “Since the earliest days of your species, if one wished to gain insight into that which was hidden, one needed to peer inside the greatest mystery of all – a living body. What makes its heart beat, its lungs breathe, its blood flow…. What makes it love, makes it hate, makes it afraid? Where is the soul, and once it is located, what secrets might it share with us? Can it tell us what is happening now, far away from our sight? Can it show us that which is to come, and how to ensure those events come to pass – or how to prevent them from occurring? Can it show us the past, shadows of memory we can barely recall, nightmares we lived but fear to revisit?”

These last words hit Lori like a hammer blow. She wanted to remember what had happened to Aashrita and why, but she was also deeply terrified of discovering the truth.

“All of these things can be learned in my Garden. All you have to do is be brave – or foolish – enough to enter.”

The Haruspex had no visible mouth, but Lori heard the smile in its voice as it spoke this final sentence.

So far, Edgar had listened without saying anything, but now he asked, “And what is the price for this knowledge?”

“Price?” the Haruspex said. Lori heard the smile in its voice again. “What makes you think there’s a price?”

“Because there’s always one on the Nightway,” Edgar said.

Lori looked at the man’s prosthetic legs and thought of the price he’d had to pay for the beetles’ help in escaping the Vermilion Tower.

“Of course, you are correct,” the Haruspex admitted. “The price for knowledge gained here is a simple one. You must help me tend to the Garden.”

“What sort of ‘help’ would I have to do?” Lori asked.

“That will be revealed when all your questions have been answered,” the Haruspex said.

“That’s bullshit,” Edgar said. He turned to Lori. “You know that, right?”

“Maybe,” she said. “But what choice do I have? I need to know.”

“No, you don’t. You can come with me. You can run.”

It was a tempting offer. She had no way of knowing what would happen to her inside the Garden, or even if she’d survive the ordeal. And she had no idea what sort of price she’d have to pay for the knowledge she sought. Knowledge that she needed, even if she didn’t want it.

She thought of Aashrita’s headstone, rain running down its face, over her name and her birth and death dates.

“I have to,” she said.

Edgar looked at her for a long moment before nodding.

“Then it is settled,” the Haruspex said. “I have already prepared the auguries for you. All part of the service.”

Lori had thought both of the Haruspex’s hands had been empty, but now she saw the being clutched a long, wicked-looking knife in its right hand, the blade covered with old, dried blood, as if it had never been cleaned. Had the blade been there before? Had it just appeared? Really, what did it matter? It was there now.

She held the blanket tight around her as she began walking between the rows of crosses. The cloth did little to keep her warm, but she didn’t know if that was due to the temperature here or if it was caused by her fear. Either way, she wished she had a sweater. A warm jacket would be nice, too. Most of all, she wished she had some fucking shoes. The ground here was gritty and sandy, as she’d experienced elsewhere in this realm, and