A Different Kind of Deadly Read Online Free Page A

the way Mahlah the Crone stared at
us because of it.
    "You would risk your life for his, Diana?" She
lowered her head. "Very well." The Crone held her cane with both
hands, looking at me directly for the first time in any of this.
"Marvin of House Thanos, you have committed the highest taboo
through your affiliation with the marionette known as Diana
Galatea. This is grounds for immediate execution."
    I gulped.
    "However..." The Crone shot Diana a menacing
glare. "She has deemed it fit to form a Doll Contract, hereby
marking you the Inheritor."
    The Crone flipped her cane around in the blink
of an eye, and six very hungry hydras snapped at my nose
point-blank. Diana squeezed my shoulder extra hard to keep me from
passing out.
    "You have two choices, Heir of Thanos," the
Crone declared. "Die now, for your impudence, or accept the quest
necessary to clear your name."
    "What... is this quest?"
    "Descend the deepest veins of
Nethermount, until you reach the Moor of Souls. Find the Eyes of
the Leviathan, and return to us a hero." One of the hydra's lunged
forward, drawing blood.
    "What is your choice, Son of
Thanos?"
    I felt my consciousness slipping.
    "Life," I garbled.
    Before I passed out, I heard a sound similar
to a steam engine, like the bastardized echo of a sigh.
    " You are a fool, Marvin ."
    A failure, and a fool.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    8: The Seventh
Disciple

    The world was bobbing up and down.
    My eyes flicked open, catching sight of the
torches that lined the walls through the servant
tunnels.
    Diana's face looked down at me, looking more
human than ever.
    "Don't look behind us, Marvin."
    I looked behind us.
    A gathering of undead marched at a respectable
distance, and also blocked the way back by sheer
numbers.
    Diana sighed, "You never listen."
    The events of what transpired
returned to me. I ran a finger down the bridge of my nose, where
the Crone's hydra headed cane had drawn blood. To my dismay, the
wound was still there.
    Diana was holding me in her arms
princess-style. The embarrassment didn't faze me nearly as hard as
my need for answers.
    "Diana... what's going on?" I
quickly clarified my question. "Who are you?"
    Years ago, when I had opened that coffin in
the attic, I expected to find surgical equipment, or maybe broken
pieces of an alembic or distillery.
    Instead, I found a doll. It was easily the
most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life, and by far the most
beautiful thing in Nethermount. I was a bit startled when she sat
up and started doing things on her own (who wouldn't be?) but I
never, not in a million years, would have thought that she was
dangerous in any way.
    Today was the first time I'd seen Diana's
physical strength in action, and through her, learned the first
name of the Crone. Whatever, or whoever Diana was, she was ancient.
And, if Mahlah's words were any indication, a monster.
    "I am Diana Galatea. I am... I
was... Inval's disciple."
    Inval?
    Wait.
    Inval was the First Necromancer;
the man who came to Nethermount of his own accord where he met the
Crone of Astheneia and convinced her to let him stay. He was
brilliant in every story I'd heard of him. Whether he was a genius
or a madman, Inval was regarded as the greatest among us; to most,
he was a hero, and some, a God.
    He was known to have six
disciples: Soma, Myalo, Astheneia, Ponos, Psychi, and Thanos. If
what Diana was saying was true, that she was also Inval's student,
it meant that there should have been a Seventh House...
hers.
    I didn't have time to ask any more questions,
as she came to a sudden stop.
    An icy draft shot towards the ceiling. I
shivered and craned my head, seeing that we were at the end of the
hall, and at the edge of a dark hole.
    Diana cradled my head against her chest, now
warmer than ever.
    "Close your eyes, Marvin."
    "WAIT!"
    Diana turned around. Someone was shoving their
way through the mass of undead. I recognized Tully, who flapped his
wings wildly to grab my attention.
    Leo