Read The League of Doorways (A Book of Vampires, Werewolves & Black Magic) (The Doorways Trilogy - Book Two) for Free Online Page A

friends. This is far better than I first thought. Not only will I catch the boy Zachary Black in the net I have cast, I’ll also catch his sister, and the wolf-boy with the key to the box, and the last remaining peacekeeper. There will be no one left to stand in our way. I will have the Heart of Endra, and its power, will be mine.”
    “We will turn back then?” The Delf asked him. “Will we return to how we were once before? Live how we did before?”
    “Yes, sister,” Throat gasped, taking her in his arms, as if no longer angry with her. “But I need you to do something for me.”
    “Anything,” she said, staring beneath his hood.
    “Make your way to the Craggy Canyon by the outer-rim,” he said, and be ready to take the key.”
    “Let us travel together,” she said, holding him tight, some of the spiderpedes scuttling from her brother’s cloak and finding a new place to nest in her hair.
    “I have to stay and keep watch over the Queen,” he rattled from deep within his throat. “It seems that our enemies are many. And besides, unlike my sweet sister, I am in a further state of decay – but that will change.”
    “And what of Fandel?” the Delf asked.
    “What of him?”
    “I want him,” the Delf smiled.
    “Then he is yours, sister. I will have no use for him once this is over,” Throat rasped.
    Then, sneaking her hand back beneath her brother’s hood, she cupped his decaying face and said, “It will be over soon , won’t it? I can’t bear to be like this any longer.”
    “You will soon look beautiful again,” Throat tried to convince her. Then leaning forward, he gently kissed her maggot-infested lips.

Chapter Six
     
    Zachary and William sat in the glow of the fire, as Faraday told them his story. Bom sat apart from the others, the pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth, bushy white eyebrows covering his eyes. To look at him, one might believe he was asleep, but every now and then he would grunt, or make a remark that told the others he was awake and listening to the mechanical man’s story. Neanna lay on her side, cloak drawn up beneath her chin, her eyes wide and bright as she listened.
    Faraday sat crossed-legged before the fire and spoke in that odd-sounding voice, which again Zach couldn’t help but be reminded of a voice coming through an electronic PA system. The mechanical man started by telling them that as far as he knew, or his memory would allow him to remember, was that in the great Clockwork City lived a madman, and his name was Der Cribbot.
    “I don’t know if he was truly mad,” Faraday explained. “Some called him a genius – but in the end he was believed to be insane.”
    “Why?” William asked, his eyes glowing hot behind his odd-looking spectacles.
    “Whether he discovered his doorway by chance – luck – or fate, I do not know,” Faraday said. “Is that important? I don’t much care. But what he found on the other side – that’s what is important. On the other side of his doorway he found...”
    “Earth,” Zach cut in.
    Faraday stared darkly at the boy.
    “I come from there,” Zach added.
    Faraday continued as if Zach hadn’t spoken at all. “On discovering his doorway, Cribbot became obsessed by what he found on the other side. He marvelled at the technology, the creatures, and everything else he had discovered. Living on the edges of the outer-rim, the people of Clockwork City were a simple folk. None had ventured through the doorways – none of them had even looked for one – they were happy and content with the city in which they lived. But Cribbot wasn’t happy with his lot and he couldn’t understand how the other people who he lived amongst could be happy with such simple lives. He would gather people together in the town square, street corners – anywhere people would listen to him. He would tell them of the extraordinary things he had discovered on the other side of his doorway. But those gathered before him would soon walk away