Flight Into Darkness Part 28

"d.a.m.ned?" Jagu said, not understanding.

Kilian came closer. "You still don't get it, do you, Jagu? Although it's pretty well killed me to hide it from you."

"Come on, now, Kilian, if this is another of your jokes-" Jagu began. It was so dark that he could only just make out Kilian's face in the gloom-but he could see that all traces of malicious humor had faded from his eyes. He took a step back.

"If only it were." There was a throb of anger, almost self-disgust, in those few gritted words.

The Commanderie chapel bell began to din out, clanging a warning. As if in answer, the church bells of the city began to ring too, a frantic tocsin. Both men glanced at each other, caught in the same shared memory of the day, long ago, that the magus had infiltrated their school.

"The magus's mark?" Kilian reached out and caught Jagu by the left hand, pus.h.i.+ng back his sleeve. The sigil gleamed in the gloom.

Jagu had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he had not noticed until then the tingle of fire that had begun to throb as if the magus were searing it into his skin anew. "What does it mean?" He gazed down at the mark. "Are the magi powerful enough to turn the skies dark? And why would they do such a thing?"

"It burns, doesn't it?" Kilian asked quietly. And before Jagu could s.n.a.t.c.h his wrist away, Kilian pressed his lips to the tender skin.

"K-Kilian?" Jagu retreated a step, finding his back against the wall. The growing dark, the ominous sense of impending doom, the frantic clanging of the bells, all conspired to confirm his sense that the world had gone mad. Kilian's face hovered close to his. "Stop. Enough. Don't play games at a time like this."

"I've never been more serious in all my life, Jagu." The look in Kilian's pale eyes was enough to convince Jagu. He had never seen Kilian so serious or so intent. He was too bemused to react swiftly enough. "You'll never forgive me for this," whispered Kilian in the darkness, and kissed him.

Someone pounded on the door. "Lieutenant Guyomard! Captain Friard wants you in the Drill Hall and on the double."

Kilian slowly relaxed his grip on Jagu, who was still in shock. He had had no idea that Kilian might have had hidden such strong feelings for him, feelings that went so far beyond friends.h.i.+p...

"Duty calls, even at the end of the world." And Kilian flashed him a wry, reckless grin. But Jagu saw straight through to the raw humiliation beneath. "Well, you can't blame me for trying."

CHAPTER 3.

Celestine had not felt so abandoned since Maman had died. Memories of her desperate struggle to exist alone on the streets of Lutece came crowding back.

"What am I doing here, all alone, in a foreign city?"

"You're not alone." The Faie's voice issued from the traveling bag in which her father's precious book was concealed. Her pale radiance lit the gloom as she hovered beside Celestine, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with concern. The Faie's voice issued from the traveling bag in which her father's precious book was concealed. Her pale radiance lit the gloom as she hovered beside Celestine, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with concern. "I'm still here with you." "I'm still here with you."

"But what can I do?" Celestine said. She heard her own voice as if from far away, listless and despairing. "Celestine de Joyeuse is well-known in Mirom. If I use my own name, it will only draw the Inquisition here, and it will all be over."

"Then you must become someone else. And I can help you." The Faie bent over her consolingly. The Faie bent over her consolingly. "If you're willing to let me, Celestine, I can change your appearance. "If you're willing to let me, Celestine, I can change your appearance."

"If I had enough money to buy henna or walnut juice, I could dye my hair..." Light-headed with lack of food, Celestine was not concentrating on what the Faie was saying.

"If I merge with you, I can make other people see you differently, Celestine."

Celestine looked into the Faie's luminous eyes, hovering so close to her own. "You could... merge with me?" The prospect of the Faie sharing her mind and body stirred up disturbing thoughts. Suppose the Faie tried to take control of me? I'd be powerless to stop her. Suppose the Faie tried to take control of me? I'd be powerless to stop her. Celestine blinked. "Is it the darkness outside, or are you growing brighter, Faie?" Celestine blinked. "Is it the darkness outside, or are you growing brighter, Faie?"

"Become one with me and no one, not even Jagu de Rustephan, will recognize you." The Faie opened her arms to Celestine, as if to embrace her, a calm smile warming her features.

The luminous figure came toward Celestine until the dazzle of light was so intense that it obliterated everything else.

A tall figure appears out of the golden mist. And then another-and another, a host of bright ones. Their bodies gleam so fiercely that she has to look away, her eyes dazzled by their radiance. Cords of flame whip from their outstretched hands and coil around her father, binding him. She hears his cry of agony as the glowing bonds bite deep into his body.

"This time you won't escape." As her eyes become accustomed to the light, she sees that the speaker is as golden-fair as her father is dark, cloaked in a glimmer of folded wings. "Your rebellion is over."

"Father!" she cries. Heedless of her own safety, she hurls herself toward him. The bright one raises one hand to stop her and she falls at his feet.

"So. You're his child." There is such contempt-and anger-in his voice that she cowers in fear.

"Take me. But spare her." Her father's face is distorted with pain; each word gasped out. "She didn't ask to be born my child."

"But she's an abomination. She's a half-breed, neither angel nor mortal. Her very existence offends the natural order." The bright one stalks around her until the penetrating fire in his eyes makes her feel as if her flesh is burning. "Child of a forbidden union. You were never meant to be." He bends down and takes hold of her face in one hand, gazing into her eyes as if reading her innermost thoughts. The touch of his fingers is hot as flame and she cries out. "She is aethyr, with her father's powers and a mortal body. When this body decays, as all mortal bodies must, where will she go then? Will she take another mortal body? What will happen to that mortal soul if she does? The balance between our worlds will be destroyed."

"Don't hurt her, Galizur, I beg you."

"You? Beg me?" The one her father has called Galizur flings her aside and goes to stand over her father. "So only now the rebel prince who has split our realm with his pride and set brother against brother, deigns to beg-and for the insignificant life of this misbegotten creature?" He raises his arm and she sees dazedly that he has drawn his sword. Gouts of flame drip from its fiery blade and sizzle as they touch the ground. "What of your followers?" He points the tip at her father's throat. "All those who followed you foolishly, blindly, faithfully, and are now condemned to eternal imprisonment? Why don't you beg for them?" as they touch the ground. "What of your followers?" He points the tip at her father's throat. "All those who followed you foolishly, blindly, faithfully, and are now condemned to eternal imprisonment? Why don't you beg for them?"

"They knew what they were doing," her father says, his proud, dark eyes staring back at Galizur. "This one is only a child. She is innocent. Her only crime is to have been born my daughter."

" I've heard enough. Take him away." I've heard enough. Take him away."

"Father!" An anguished cry tears from her throat as they bear him away into the night, their fast-beating wings stirring up a great wind that knocks her back to the ground. "Father!"

CHAPTER 4.

The Drakhaouls moved toward the gaping maw of the Serpent Gate, bringing the children toward the sacrificial stone.

Eugene halted, hovering overhead, his plan crumbling to dust. If he attacked the other Drakhaouls, he would almost certainly kill his children too. But as the crimson light streaming from the Eye lit the figures approaching the yawning archway, he knew that if he did not act, there would be no future for his children anyway. For he had glimpsed the shadow waiting for the blood sacrifice on the far side of the Gate. At any moment, the Gate would open and Nagazdiel would enter the mortal world.

It has to be now.

The crimson light flickered. High above his head, Eugene saw that Gavril Nagarian was trying to pry the Eye of Nagar from the stone serpent's head. And Sahariel was out to stop him.

Eugene raised his hand, pointing at Sahariel. He loosed a shaft of malachite fire straight at the Drakhaoul's head. The shaft caught Sahariel as he slewed around in the air, searing into his neck and shoulder, half-severing one of his scarlet wings.

Sahariel let out a rasping hiss of pain. Broken wing alight, he plunged from the top of the Gate to crash onto the ground below.

The empty, uncharted sea below Linnaius's sky craft lay like a vast lake of ink. The shadow seeping from the Serpent Gate was blacker than a moonless night and it had shed a chill over the warm waters of the Southern Ocean. Linnaius s.h.i.+vered, pulling his cloak closer around him, willing the winds to carry the craft more swiftly.

It was disorienting navigating through pitch blackness with no moon or stars to guide him, and after a while Linnaius began to experience the disquieting sensation that, in spite of the rus.h.i.+ng of the wind in the sail, he was going nowhere, hanging suspended in the dark of an eternal night.

Then he saw little bursts of fiery light in the far distance. He was a long way off still, and the explosions of jewel-bright flame looked like nothing more than the fireworks he had devised to amuse the guests at the Dievona Ball at Swanholm. But even from this distance, he realized that he was witnessing a battle between fallen angels. The chill dark air shuddered and crackled with each bolt of lethal dae-monfire. The six Drakhaouls were fighting a desperate battle, divided between those who were determined to set free Prince Nagazdiel from his prison in the Realm of Shadows-and those who were equally determined to stop them.

"Eugene," Linnaius murmured, "did you get there in time? In time to save the children?"

"Eugene! Close the Gate." Eugene heard Gavril Nagarian's voice as if from very far away. "Close it now!" now!"

Looking up into the swirling darkness, Eugene saw him winging high above the Serpent Gate, clutching the Eye.

"You and I together, Belberith," Eugene commanded. "Let's make one final effort."

"Together," Belberith echoed as Eugene lifted his hand, aiming at the snarling serpent's head at the crown of the arch. Belberith echoed as Eugene lifted his hand, aiming at the snarling serpent's head at the crown of the arch.

"Stop." Adramelech stepped out in front of the Gate. Now that the rubies' maleficent light was extinguished, only his eyes could be seen, a glimmer of amethyst in the smoky darkness. "Destroy the Gate and you destroy your son."

Rostevan let out a faint whimper in Adramelech's arms. And Eugene heard Astasia's distraught voice telling him, "It looked like Andrei. It sounded like Andrei. But it took our baby." "It looked like Andrei. It sounded like Andrei. But it took our baby."

Until that moment he had not been certain. Now he knew for sure.

"Andrei?" he said. "Have you sunk so low that you would kill your own nephew? What kind of a monster have you become?"

Andrei was wandering in a dark nightmare, through a lightning-riven wilderness. He was lost.

Someone was calling out his name as if from a great distance away. And he heard the plaintive cry of a baby.

He looked down and saw, as if for the first time, the baby in his arms. He looked into the baby's blue eyes. His sister Astasia's eyes.

"What am I doing here?" he said, utterly bewildered.

The sky lit up with a brilliant burst of fire and Linnaius's little craft slewed from side to side, caught in the power of the blast. He clung on, desperately trying to regain control as he was sent hurtling down toward the ink-black sea. He managed to right the craft, skimming along the tops of the waves, just before another blinding flash of power sent the craft spinning.

"I can't even get close..." As he struggled to keep from cras.h.i.+ng into the sea, he realized how pitiful his own powers as a magus were compared to the daemonic might of the Drakhaouls. How presumptuous he had been to think he would be able to help Eugene. There was nothing he could do but wait and watch helplessly, hoping against hope that Karila and little Rostevan had not been sacrificed on the ancient stone altar below the Serpent Gate.

Nilaihah came hurtling toward Gavril like a golden meteor, scattering sparks of fire in his trail.

"Give me Nagar's Eye!" The black night burst into flames of white gold as Nilaihah launched his attack.

"Look out, Nagarian!" yelled Eugene.

Instinctively, Gavril raised his hands to s.h.i.+eld his eyes.

As Nilaihah's shaft of fire hit the rubies, the Eye of Nagar flew up into the air at the moment of impact-and shattered in a blinding explosion.

Linnaius caught a brief glimpse of the winged warriors as they clashed again, etched in flame against the night-and then came the conflagration.

Brighter than lightning, the explosion turned the black sky dazzling white. Linnaius felt his heart stop in shock-and then slowly stutter back to life. Winded, breathless, he felt the craft carried back across the dark waters by the force of the blast. He fought, but in vain; it tossed him helpless into the sea.

"Now!" Belberith's energy surged through Eugene's body. Green fire shot from his outstretched hand and hit the snarling serpent right in the center of the empty eye socket. The stone head burst into a thousand fragments. Belberith's energy surged through Eugene's body. Green fire shot from his outstretched hand and hit the snarling serpent right in the center of the empty eye socket. The stone head burst into a thousand fragments.

Eugene fired again and again, pouring all his rage into Belberith's final a.s.sault.

The Gate fell in on itself, and a dust cloud rose, covering the clearing with pulverized stone.

"It's finished, Nagazdiel!" Eugene cried defiantly. "Yes, I opened the Serpent Gate-but now I've closed it, and it will stay closed forever!"

Linnaius's craft was light but strongly built by the craftsmen of Lake Taigal and as it bobbed up again, he clung on desperately to the side. And as he floated there, half-drowned, he saw an extraordinary sight. A great gateway had appeared on the horizon, trembling with silvered light that spilled in as if from another world. Linnaius blinked the stinging seawater from his eyes. Tall winged figures were moving, pa.s.sing through the gateway, one by one. The s.h.i.+mmer of light began to dwindle, slowly fading, until only the darkness remained.

"They've gone," Linnaius whispered over the lapping sound of the waves. "The Drakhaouls have gone at last. And the Serpent Gate has been destroyed. But at what price?" He dragged himself up over the side of the craft and collapsed onto the bottom, his soaked clothes leaking salt water. After a few moments, he forced himself to sit up. The Serpent Gate might have been closed at last-but where was Eugene? And the royal children?

"If he's still alive, he'll be exhausted after such a battle." Linnaius began to check the craft; it was better to concentrate on the practicalities of the situation than to think the worst. The sail was saturated with salt water but intact. And overhead, the black pall of shadow was beginning to disperse, revealing tiny pinp.r.i.c.ks of light: the southern stars.

Maybe there was still hope...

Celestine came back to herself, huddled in the darkness. It had been too vivid to be a dream.

"My father... " whispered the Faie brokenly. " " whispered the Faie brokenly. "I sensed his presence. But now he's gone..."

"So that was your your father?" Celestine was still filled with an overwhelming sense of loss and abandonment that she knew was not her own. "Was I seeing your memories, Faie?" father?" Celestine was still filled with an overwhelming sense of loss and abandonment that she knew was not her own. "Was I seeing your memories, Faie?"

"The Drakhaouls opened the Serpent Gate... but before he could escape, it closed again. It closed forever."

CHAPTER 5.

Celestine opened her eyes to see a shaft of sunlight s.h.i.+ning through the ivied window of the pavilion. She rubbed the sleep from her eyelids, wondering if she were still dreaming. But as she sat up, the stiffness in her limbs told her this was no dream.

"Daylight?"

"The Gateway to the Realm of Shadows has been sealed. The Drakhaouls are finally gone-and your world is safe again."

Suddenly Celestine's body was racked by painful sobs that arose from a grief that was not her own.

"I saw him. I saw my father!" wept the Faie. wept the Faie. "But he was so changed that I hardly recognized him. And now he's all alone with no one to comfort him. "But he was so changed that I hardly recognized him. And now he's all alone with no one to comfort him."

"Why is he all alone? Tell me what happened, Faie."

The Faie's sobs slowly subsided. "I was the child of a forbidden union. My mother was mortal, my father an angel. And for rebelling against the Divine Will, he was stripped of his wings and imprisoned in the Realm of Shadows." "I was the child of a forbidden union. My mother was mortal, my father an angel. And for rebelling against the Divine Will, he was stripped of his wings and imprisoned in the Realm of Shadows."

"Stripped... of his wings?" The image was so brutal and cruel that Celestine could hardly bear to imagine it. "But I thought that angels were creatures of light."

"They have both a physical and an aethyrial body so that they can move between the worlds with ease."