Two black, glinting orbs stared at me in the dark. The cold steel of a dagger pressed firmly against my throat.
There was a tense moment where we just stayed like that, my back pressed to the floorboards with nowhere to go, and my obscured assailant just... assessing me? judging me? I didn't know.
Then it spoke.
"✶☌☍✳ ☊⌖☋☌, ☉⌧☿☽?!"
And I didn't understand a single word. It, or they, spoke a string of harsh sounds and throaty grunts that made no sense to me as language. I only knew it was asking a question when I didn't react and it clicked its tongue, repeating the sounds with more urgency.
"I don't understand you!" I said, exasperated.
It repeated the question, almost emphasizing every word. Getting no better reaction from me, I shrugged. It sighed, looking me up and down again, seemingly judging me carefully. Its black eyes lingered on my injured leg for a long moment, then... the hand holding my collar let go and traveled up to my face. I tried to move my face away, but it pressed the knife harder against my throat.
"☡✽☰☯ ☍☱☲☶!" Even though I didn't understand it, it sounded like a warning, so I stopped.
Its hand moved to my face, carefully opening my eye and looking at the edges under my eyelid. It moved on to stretching my lower lip, looking at my gums. 'What the hell is it doing? Is it examining me? For what?'
"☌☈☩ ☋☿☒☬☪☧," it mouthed another incoherent word, sounding relieved. Then, in one move, it removed the knife from my neck and leaped back. Before I could react it pulled up the ladder and trapdoor, closing it all in one motion.
I dragged myself back quickly across the floor, until my back touched against the wall on the other side of the attic. 'Whatever it found out... It decided to let me live for now?' I looked around, feeling like a caged animal. The alien-looking fellow crouched over my phone and picked it up, muttering something. A large copper tank glinted at one end of the attic, probably full of water. It looked disconnected from the rest of the house, with the copper pipe leaving it and going down having been cut, leaving a stub. Where it once connected to the tank, there was now a tap. This guy had disconnected it from the rest of the house.
He looked back at me. With the flashlight moving around, I got a better look: he was almost a picture of the man in the painting, only much more gaunt and pale.
He said something and tossed me the phone. "☤☢☣☮."
I managed to catch it, shining the flashlight on him. He wore leather clothing, almost like light armor, and had a very large bow slung across his body by its strap. His large mouth had a curious tilt to it, he looked... Mildly amused.
At this point I wasn't even trying to say much. I couldn't understand him, and he couldn't understand me. We were people of completely different worlds, meeting in very unsavory circumstances. I couldn't see a very good outcome for this situation. At best I would be kicked out of the house, with no water and without my things. At worst he might just use me for target practice.
But then... He fished two trinkets from one of his pockets. He fished out an amulet; I couldn't see its details, but it looked like a miniature silver figurine. The other was a coin, also shining silver under my light. He placed the coin on the ground and set the figurine right on top of it.
A soft glow erupted from the trinkets, bathing the attic in ethereal light. Then, in perfect English, he said, "I propose a trade." Curiously, if you read his lips the spoken sounds looked completely different.
I felt compelled to respond by a tiny nudge in the depths of my mind. It wasn't forceful but it required an answer: accept or refuse. The long-armed man urged me with his eyes, which kept darting from me to the amulet and back.
'A trade of what? This is just getting weirder by the second. Though, I did expect to be dead by now, so how bad can it really be.'
"I accept," I said out loud.
He grinned. I was relieved to see that, contrary to my fears, his teeth were not sharpened like those of the creature.
"Hello," he started, again in perfect English, "child of another world."
"W-what!? I can understand you now?"
"Indeed you can. That's the whole point of the trade ritual." His grin softened into a light, amused smile. "What are you doing here, injured and so far from home? I must say, you gave me quite the fright. I thought you were one of the pilgrims. They seldom come into the houses. Were you the chap responsible for the commotion yesterday?"
'What is this? He sounds... friendly now? And I don't know what this ritual is, but why did it make him sound British?'
"I... Yes, I... Well, it's going to be hard to believe, but I found myself plummeting out of the sky right above us. I fell on some clothing lines, they slowed my fall, but I ended up getting thrown against a wall and getting injured. Then... one of those things appeared."
He turned serious.
"Did it cause the injury on your leg?" He pointed at my bandages.
"No, I was hurt in the fall, a splinter of wood went through it, but I managed to take it out. Why the concern?"
"Well, because then I'd have to kill you, and that wouldn't be very polite, would it? Especially after inviting you to a trade." His smile faltered a little, but then returned. "I'm rather glad that's not the case. I've done the usual checks for infection, but I still had to be sure. Do let me know if you ever feel a sudden urge to," he said, making air quotes, "paint the sky crimson with the blood of the non-believers. I'll make it quick, in honour of our brief friendship."
"..." I just stared blankly at him. 'Maybe he's got something loose in the head, I should be careful.'
"What?" He tilted his head.
"Nothing. If I do feel any of those urges, I'll let you know."
"Good!" he said, nodding.
"Can you tell me where we are? And... what are those things?"
"I sure can!" He nodded... but didn't continue.
"Go on..?" I sat up on the spot, leaning in a little.
"Oh yes, sorry. It's just been so long since I've had anyone to talk to. Well, let me see... You are currently in a place other vagrants, such as yourself, have aptly named the "Fortress of Madness." The name it once had was lost during its downfall, together with much of what it once was." He looked away, almost sad, rubbing his eyes.
"Would you mind turning that light off? It's ingenious; I've never seen a device quite like it, but it does hurt the eyes."
"Oh, sorry, I completely forgot about it." I quickly turned off the phone flashlight. The movement of unlocking the screen and using the touch screen seemed to fascinate the man a great deal.
'21%... it's not going to last much longer.' I sighed, feeling a tightness in my chest. 'When it turns off I'll be truly disconnected from home.'
"Marvelous... well, where was I..." The attic was dark. The only illumination now came from the faint light of the amulet; it was so weak I could barely make out his contours. Regardless, he continued, his voice taking a distant tone, as if remembering memories that happened a long, long time ago.
"I had been just a lad, like you, when it happened. They said they came from beyond the golden cities, at the foot of the black mountain... A prophet and a pair of acolytes... A sorcerer and two witches, I say. The baron, ignoring the warnings of the chiefs, took them into the fortress." His tone turned almost sorrowful.
"His young son had been born with a condition called sleeper's lung. He would not live another two weeks. I understand his desperation, I truly do. But the price he paid... the price he imposed on us all..." His voice grew angrier.
"It started with the vagrants. Any vagrant who visited the city would be offered a job at the main keep. A job with an incredibly high mortality rate; so high in fact, none ever left. When the vagrants stopped coming, the Baron turned to the people. I was young then; much of the wisdom I have now had yet to grace me. He started with the laborers. They were summoned to the keep and never returned. Weeks went by and people began disappearing from the streets at night." While he talked, I seemed to lose his shape in the darkness, seeing only a faint reflection of his eyes as he moved.
"The council of elders called for a curfew and ordered everyone to stay home. But truly, that only benefited them. Families were disconnected, so we didn't know when many were already gone. And then..."
He startled me by appearing much closer.
"Then that night happened."