The girl’s eyes were wide with terror, and the wind whipped her hair across her face.
“It’s okay, don’t panic!” Ico began pulling the girl up. “You won’t fall, I’ve got you.”
Careful, careful. The girl’s left hand reached the edge of the break, and she grabbed on. Now her head cleared the edge. He pulled her until her shoulders were on top of the bridge again, and she was safe.
With a jump, she was standing atop the bridge. Ico led her a safe distance from the edge before he finally relaxed, taking a moment to lie down. The girl collapsed beside him on the bridge. Her thin shoulders were trembling. She had a terrified look in her eyes, and her breath was as ragged as the wind whipping around them.
“That was close.” Ico realized he was dripping with sweat. “Sorry. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have run like that.”
The girl lowered her eyes and shook her head.
“This castle is pretty old, isn’t it?” Ico went on. “There might be other parts that aren’t safe. We’d better pay more attention.”
The girl took a deep breath and sat up, looking back to the other side of the bridge.
Though the air here was thick with mist, they were close enough to the far side to see it now. More idols. Spell wards. There were two of them this time, fit snugly together, blocking their path.
The knight must have come through here, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Rising to his knees, Ico looked back across the gap in the bridge to where they had stood before. There was the knight on the wall, his back turned to them, wrapped in his cloak.
So that was just another vision. Had he imagined the voice he heard in his head?
The girl stood and smoothed out her dress. Ico looked up at her.
“That statue over there,” he said, pointing. She turned to look back at the knight. “He used to be a human, you know. He’s not a statue, but a man who was turned to stone. I saw him—”
The girl said nothing. Instead, she lifted her hand, brushing back the hair that fell across her eyes.
“The castle cursed that knight too, just like me. It trapped him here. He’s a Sacrifice, like I am. What I can’t figure out is, why would such a great knight become a Sacrifice? I thought the castle only took kids.”
The image of the knight slowly stepping down from the stone parapet and crossing the bridge filled Ico’s mind.
Now that he thought of it, when the knight’s cloak had blown behind his back, Ico had seen a breastplate and armored skirt, but he had seen no sword—certainly no weapon befitting a knight in armor such as his.
“You said something when you were standing next to the knight, didn’t you? To me it sounded like you were saying a name. Did you know him?”
The girl stood with her back to Ico, silent. Maybe she can’t hear me over the wind.
My son, the knight had called him. It left a bittersweet echo in Ico’s chest that would not go away.
My children who must endure this trial.
Ico didn’t know the names or faces of his parents. The elder had explained to him that that too was part of the custom. After his mother and father left the village, there was no way to contact them, nor any reason to do so.
Was that my father? But if his father had been a Sacrifice, how had he lived to such an old age? Had he been born with those horns, he would have been taken to the castle like Ico was and placed in a sarcophagus. He wouldn’t have had the chance to become my father.
Even now it tortures my body, binding me to this place.
Ico stood with a sigh. He brushed the dirt from his knees, much as the girl had, then picked up the wooden stick from where it lay on the stone bridge. By some miracle, it hadn’t been lost when the bridge collapsed.
“No going back that way.”
The gap in the bridge was too wide for Ico to jump. The bridge was broken, dead. A part of the castle had perished, just like the stone sarcophagus that had held him when he first arrived.
Maybe this was a part of his Mark’s effect on the castle. Having power over his prison gave him hope—but it was also a source of danger, as he was fast learning. We have to be much more careful from here on.
“Not that I wanted to go back.”
The girl turned to him and to his surprise, she smiled faintly. She’s beautiful. He thought her smile looked like a flower in full bloom, swaying gently in a forest breeze, sending its petals out to drift on the wind. He could almost smell the flower’s perfume on her breath.
Holding hands, they crossed the remainder of the ancient bridge. The two stone idols and the mysteries they held behind their expressionless faces awaited them.
[6]
LIGHTNING FLASHED THROUGH the air once more, and the stone idols slid to either side. Ico noticed the girl blinking in the light. She looked almost frightened. She doesn’t know why the idols move any more than I do.
“Does that hurt?”
A blank stare.
She has no idea what I’m saying.
In this room was a small wooden door and a staircase running around the inside of the room, winding up the walls. They were high enough already. Ico wanted to avoid going any higher if he could. We have to go down whenever we can if we’re ever going to get out.
Thankfully, the door opened easily.
“You wait here. I’m going to go see if it’s safe.”
Through the door, Ico found only disappointment. He was standing on a small balcony overlooking a gaping chasm. A similar balcony protruded from the far side. It looked like a bridge had once spanned the gap here, but nothing remained of it now. He looked down and immediately felt dizzy.
Far, far below he could see the green of trees and a bit of white where some dry land was exposed. Maybe a courtyard? From his vantage point on the balcony, it looked like he could go into the tower on the far side, but there was no way to get down there from this height.
Guess we’ll be going up the stairs for now. Crestfallen, he turned to go back through the door when he heard the girl scream.
Ico ran, then froze when he returned to the room. The shadow creatures were back, circling the girl like vultures around a kill. A swirling pool had opened in one corner of the small room.
The blood rose to Ico’s head and he charged the creatures, swinging his stick. There were several of the larger ones with horns growing out of their heads, just like the ones that had attacked them in the room with the cage. They danced eerily, avoiding his attacks, swarming around the girl with eyes that glowed a dull white. But Ico wasn’t afraid of them anymore. I don’t care what they are. I’ll send them back where they came from, no matter how many of them rear their ugly horns!
“Take that, and that, and that!”
It felt good, slashing the air with his stick, dashing them to nothing. But the pool was still seething in the corner. Several pairs of glowing white eyes flitted around the room, shadowy forms slowly coalescing around them.
The girl screamed again, and when Ico looked, he saw another shadow creature, this time with wings like a bird, grabbing the collar of her dress and trying to fly away with her. Ico’s hair stood on end. What, they can fly too? The girl flailed wildly as the thing carried her toward the top of the staircase.
Ico ran up the stairs, a pair of eyes brushing by his head.
—Stop, do not do this.
Ico gripped his stick tightly, his knuckles white. Were the creatures talking?
—You are one of us. Why do you thwart us? Why do you not show us kindness?
It was not a single voice, but a chorus, pleading, demanding, admonishing.
He was sure of it now. The creatures were talking to them even as they circled through the room, flying about, spinning around him.
—You are one of us.
“You’re wrong!” Ico shouted, swinging his stick. One of the creatures in front of him shifted to one side, leaning over him, peering down.
—You are just like us. We are Sacrifices too.
—Your h
orns, your Mark.
—We gave our lives to the stones. While our bodies decayed, our souls stayed in the cursed castle. We have lived eternal unlives in the cold and the dust.
—We are bound to the Castle in the Mist as we bind the castle together.
—Do not try to stop us.
Chest heaving, Ico steadied his club, but his hands were trembling too much for him to aim properly. The winged creature had disappeared with the girl.
—Little Sacrifice, gifted child protected by the Mark. Do not stop us. Please. Show kindness.
“No way…” Ico whispered, clenching his jaw to stop his teeth from chattering. “You’re lying!” he shouted. “I’m not like you!”
Ico shouted until he was out of breath, then ran up the rest of the staircase. At the top, he saw another black pool boiling in the middle of a narrow landing. The girl was sinking into it, already chin-deep in the darkness.
Tossing his stick aside, Ico dove to the ground and thrust his hands up to his elbows into the pool. He grabbed the girl’s slender shoulders. The girl’s eyes were dark, reflecting the blackness beneath them, and her glowing white body was already merging with the swirling shadow. Even still, when she noticed Ico trying to pull her out, a light of hope came into her eyes, and she glowed slightly, like an ember.
“Hang on, just a little more!”
Ico had managed to free the girl’s upper body from the swirling pool when something pushed him from behind, sending him tumbling across the pool. He rolled heels over head and onto his back. He looked around to see one of the creatures hovering directly above the girl. Her mouth was half open in a soundless scream, looking up at the smoke that filled her vision. She stared straight into the creature’s dully glowing eyes.
The creature peered back at her.
It shook its head, and the girl’s body sank further into the pool. She descended slowly but steadily. The creature spread clawed arms—though it looked less like it was threatening her and more like it was pleading with her, its head lowered almost reverently.
With a start, Ico realized that the creature was talking to her. Calling to her, just as the shadows had called to Ico. And she was listening to it.
The girl’s chin disappeared beneath the roiling black smoke. Her hands slowly lost their grip on the edge of the stone beyond the pool. The creature nodded and brought its clawed hands together in a gesture of thanks.
It’s praying for her.
By now, the black smoke was halfway up the girl’s cheeks. Her wide eyes were no longer chestnut colored but as black as the inky darkness around her. The pool was winning her over.
She’s giving up!
NO! A different voice sounded in Ico’s head, but before he could think of whose it was, a vision filled his senses.
In the vision, he saw the girl sink. Her head vanished beneath the swirling darkness, leaving a last lock of hair swirling in the air before it too disappeared. Then a bright flash of light—like the light that flared whenever the idols parted—erupted from the middle of the boiling pool. Lightning crackled in the air.
The lightning became a ring flying through the air—it struck the creatures, evaporating them in an instant. The black pool disappeared and the still-expanding ring reached Ico.
Ico shielded his eyes from the light, shouting, mouth wide—and then he turned to stone. Just like the people in that walled city. Like the statue standing at the end of the ancient bridge.
NO!
The voice came to him again, an urgent warning.
Then the vision faded, and as Ico was released, he shivered and screamed, charging toward the pool. All he could see of the girl now was her forehead. She’s going to sink!
He thrust his hands into the pool, his fingers brushing the soft skin of her cheek. He grasped at her, clawing with his fingers and pulling like his life depended on it. Finally, he managed to grab her shawl. The girl flailed out with her arm and it touched his hand.
“No! I’m not letting you go!”
Now the girl’s face was above the swirling darkness. She gasped for breath, half drowned. The fear on her face sent a fresh jolt of energy through Ico. I’ve got to save her!
Ico pulled, losing all sense of time, and when the girl was finally out of the pool, he bared his teeth and growled at the creatures around them. Then he wrapped his arms around the limp body of the girl and, picking her up, leapt from the edge of the upper level.
They landed in a heap on the stone floor below, close to the wall. Ico left the girl there for a moment, retrieved his stick and swung it around with such fury that he struck the wall. His arm tingled with the impact. Still he swung, returning the creatures to smoke. He caught one of the winged ones with a downward stroke, beating it into the floor. Ico roared as he rained down blows on the creatures.
When he finally looked up, the black pool on the floor was evaporating. The light went out of the remaining creatures’ eyes and they faded. The attack was over.
Out of breath and shivering, Ico noticed a wetness on his cheek. Tears streamed down his face.
Ico let his hand holding the stick drop. The tip of the stick made a light sound as it hit the floor. He looked around and saw the girl sitting on her knees by the wall, her hands covering her face. She intertwined her fingers, touching them to her forehead—the same gesture that the creature had made by the pool at the top of the stairs. She was praying. Or maybe she’s asking for forgiveness.
It was hard to resume their search for a way out of the castle. But if they stayed here, the creatures might come back. Of course, there was no way of being sure the creatures wouldn’t be lying in wait no matter where they went. This was the home territory of the shadows—they weren’t wandering around blindly in the castle like Ico was.
Still, they couldn’t sit here forever. Even if Ico couldn’t escape while it was still light outside, at least he could lead the girl to a lower level.
Ico called out to the girl, saying they should go, but he didn’t dare take her hand. He felt as though his heart had shattered into a thousand pieces and his thoughts were chaos. The mysteries of the castle were deep, and the visions he saw when he took the girl’s hand might give him answers—but he was afraid. He had the feeling that once he knew, he would be changed forever. He could never go back.
He tried to remember Oneh’s face. Toto’s cheerful voice.
Why do you show us no mercy?
You are one of us.
The words of the creatures came back to him, driving off his memories of home. What had they meant about being bound to the castle, and binding the castle?
Do not try to stop us.
Why were they trying to take the girl down with them? Was he getting in their way by trying to save the girl? Who was she, anyway?
In the next room stood a wall that topped out on a large terrace beneath a high ceiling supported by square-edged pillars. Ico was more weary of heart than of body, but it still took a great effort to climb the wall. He had to fight back the feeling that he didn’t want to go any farther.
At the top, he turned and called to the girl. She stayed back.
“What’s wrong? If you don’t come up, we’ll be stuck here.”
He didn’t think she was hesitating. She looked like she didn’t want to go.
“Is there something up here you’re afraid of?” Ico asked. Then something inside him made him continue. “You know your way around this castle, right?” Ico was surprised by his own words. Why would I think that?
The girl stood a short distance from the wall that rose in the middle of the room, looking up at Ico. Her bare feet moved across the stone floor and she turned away from him. She began to walk back the way they had come.
“You don’t want to get out of here with me? You want to stay here?”
The girl stopped beside the arch leading to the last room.
“Those creatures will come for you again. They’re after you. You know that.”
Her head drooped, revealing the n
ape of her neck, and she placed a hand lightly on the side of the archway. Then she passed beneath the arch.
Ico stood alone on the upper terrace, hugging himself with his arms. The sunlight that spilled between the square pillars lit him from the back, making him look much like the statue of the knight on the bridge.
Now something else spoke within him in a tiny whisper. Don’t go. That was all it took. Ico cupped his hands to his mouth, took a deep breath and shouted, using the call the hunters used to find each other in the forest. “Hueeeeh!”
The girl lingered on the other side of the arch, her flowing dress making her slender white form seem to float over the stones.
Ico leaned over, careful not to lose his balance, and stuck out his hand as far as he could. “Come on. Come with me.”
The girl turned and stepped closer. She began to walk toward him on unsteady legs, uncertain until she took Ico’s hand. He squeezed and felt her squeeze back—weakly, but it was enough.
Beyond the columns, the roof gave way to open air. This place was wider than a terrace—it seemed like they were atop a tower. In one corner another staircase rose to a small elevated section of the roof—a watchtower maybe, Ico thought.
The sun was bright, and the blue sky seemed close. This was the first place he had come to in the castle where there weren’t any shadows from the sun.
“Looks like some kind of observation deck,” Ico said to the girl. She squinted against the sunlight as the wind gently ruffled her hair and shawl. The air up here didn’t smell of the sea. It smelled like the woods. Here the seabirds were silent.
They went up the staircase to the highest point of the tower, where Ico could see that it formed a semicircle enclosing a beautiful stand of trees below. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he looked around, then crossed over the deck and went down the stairs he had spotted on the far side, where a narrow walkway ran along the side of the building. There, a narrow ladder descended to a small platform, beside which ran a long set of rails. The tower shaded them from the sun, but they were still far above the ground below.