Khun placed a hand on Carlo’s shoulder and pressed hard. “You said she was dead.”
“Let me go,” Carlo said through clenched teeth, “or I’ll burn you with the scroll case.”
Khun stepped toward Lucy and knelt on the ground. “My lady,” he said. “Forgive me. I failed your sister and for my failure, I am sorrowful.”
Lucy lowered her head, the small braids whipping her cheeks. “Octavia and you were not Bound. What did you do?”
“I thought… we were in love… I thought it would redeem us to be equal.”
Lucy crossed her arms. “There are rules. Octavia and I both broke them. You see the results. You should be punished, but I need you.”
“You’re safe from Lucia.” Paolo smirked. “I believe she is going to kill me first.”
“Really?” Carlo studied the changed Lucy.
“We are in an uneasy truce,” said Paolo. “Lucia calculates I am dangerous, which I am.”
“Lucy,” said Carlo. “I would prefer if you didn’t kill anyone.”
Paolo smiled. “Good boy.”
“As a matter of principle,” said Carlo.
“My mind is not clouded by your sentimentality. All things in their time.” Lucy took Carlo’s hand, studied the bone case buried in his flesh. “What happened?”
“The bone case of the Solomon Scroll. I expected my hand to heal, but, well, demon magic and Solomon’s magic mean I have a souvenir.”
“You have Solomon’s Scroll?” Paolo’s interest was piqued.
“I do. And no, you can’t have it.”
“No,” said Paolo. “Isis will want the scroll.”
“Give it to me,” said Lucy.
Carlo reached into his jacket, but his hand stayed there. “Lucy, let me keep it until I can give it to Balthazar. You can’t use it. You are no longer a Binder.”
“I can use it to control the gods, to staunch this bleeding of demons into the Earth.”
“Oh,” said Paolo. “I see. You’re a convert to Solomon’s brand of policing religion.”
“Give it to me,” Lucy repeated.
“I’ll hang onto it for now,” said Carlo. “I feel safer with it.”
“You don’t trust me,” said Lucy. “You’ll see I’m right. You’ll give it to me in time.”
Paolo cleared his throat. “We have a theory about Khun.”
“We think Khun can return us to Octavia,” said Carlo.
“Good,” said Paolo. “You didn’t need me to figure that out.”
“We should leave immediately,” said Khun.
“We’re going back to the city first,” said Paolo. “I want you to meet Isis.”
“Why?” asked Carlo.
“If you think about it,” said Paolo, “you’ll know. I’ve laid down a neat trail of breadcrumbs for you.”
Carlo goggled at the golden and white buildings in the city, the temples, the relentless sun with little heat, and the wide river lined with flowering palms. Illusory. The bone fragments from the scroll case in his hand itched. “All this spectacle,” he murmured. Vendors yelled from the edges of the souk in the temple square. A girl gave Carlo a cool, sweet glass of water.
Lucy spoke without looking at anyone, like a distracted scholar in a lecture hall. “Khun, it’s easy for you to walk back into the Golden City, even though you’ve been in the dark Abyss. Does this barrier keep the demons out?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t keep you in?”
“Obviously not. It’s a pity, this barrier. The fallen angels, they’re not so bad. We could benefit from some intermingling.”
“Gods are vain,” said Paolo. “Especially the Egyptians. They’ve always lorded it over what they see as lesser beings.”
“Vain. Not unlike you,” said Carlo.
“You know, Carlo, I did this for you.” Paolo scooped up dates from an offered tray. No coin seemed to be expected.
“You’re telling me you don’t normally take advantage of naive young Binders, unless there’s something in it for your grandson.”
“Correct.”
Carlo stopped. He clenched his good fist. “This has nothing to do with me.”
“You break my heart.”
Carlo waved his mangled hand at Paolo. “I return your favor.”
As the group moved into the city, little gods swarmed over and around their feet. Heat shimmered in the street around them. Isis’s temple rose into the blue sky.
Carlo followed Lucy into an inner room of the temple. There was a table in the middle, the story of Isis and Osiris narrated on the walls. Two gods stood by. A baboon-headed god, amused, and a regal Egyptian woman, her terra cotta face painted with gold and black lines. Isis and a god Carlo didn’t know.
Isis reached out her hands to Khun. “I am surprised and pleased to see you. I worried you might be lost to us.”
“My story is not over,” said Khun. “I am going back to save Octavia.”
“Either you or she will have to make a choice this time,” said the baboon.
“I’ll make whatever choice she wants.”
“I can find the thread for you,” said Isis. “You will have to make your way back to her, and from there I leave it to you and Lucia. Paolo?” She moved across the room to fetch a lamp. “Is this your son’s son?”
“This is Carlo.”
Isis considered him. “You need a good cleaning. Will you give me Solomon’s Scroll?”
“No,” said Carlo. “You knew my father?”
“Yes,” said Isis. “It appears I was right. A blend of human and demon can hold the scroll. You will stay here with me and we will find a way out for our people.”
“Carlo is coming with us,” said Lucy. “He does not belong here.”
Isis lit a lamp. “I am not inclined to let the scroll leave.”
“I will not let you have it,” said Lucy. “You would be as dangerous as Ra.”
The baboon stood near Carlo. “Isis can be very stubborn, but you must listen to Lucy. You must take the scroll away. Binders might redeem us, but nothing Isis can do to the scroll will change the nature of Solomon’s exile. She has to accept this. If she has the scroll, it will take her longer to do so. It is a matter of pride.”
Isis’s smile condescended. “Would you have me remain here and try nothing to free my people?”
Thoth returned her smile. “Ra wants the same as you, Isis. Like you, he thinks he can make the best decisions for us.”
Khun pointed at Lucy. “We can help the Binders solve our problem, but we cannot control the scroll. Both you and Ra need to circumvent your pride and believe the past is the past.”
“I would be a more benevolent queen than Ra would be king.”
“You are no better than Ra,” Lucy said.
“I am no worse than Ra,” corrected Isis. “Ra took your life. I restored it. You exist for my purposes.”
“Isis,” said Thoth. “Giving Lucy a second chance was a gift, not a bribe.”
Isis’s smile played about her eyes. “The same thing.”
“With all due respect,” said Carlo. “In spite of the machinations of both you and my grandfather, this time you have to play by the rules. Lucy and Octavia tried to find a way around them, and you see where we are now. Let Octavia have her Trial, let her guard the scroll, and let us see what happens next.”
“Nothing will happen next,” said Isis. “No Binder will free us. Give me the scroll.”
“The scroll is not for you, Isis.”
“It is not for you, Thoth. Don’t you understand? If I wield the Solomon Scroll, we are all free.”
“No, Isis. We cannot use it. It must be a Binder.”
Isis snuffed the flame of the lamp. “If you do not give me the scroll, I will not help you find the thread that returns Khun to his mistress.”
“In the end,” said Lucy, “you care nothing about containing Ra. All you want is the Solomon Scroll?”
“At first, Lucia, containing Ra was my goal. I
did not know someone would bring the Solomon Scroll to me. Because it has come to me, I will save humanity from Ra myself.”
Lucy threw her cape back from her shoulders. “I have always been able to return to Ra, Isis. I needed to find Khun so he could save Octavia. This is your chance to help us. If you choose to take the scroll, I will remember what you have done this day. Do not make your decision lightly.”
Isis’s eyes narrowed as she pivoted toward Lucy. Otherwise, her face was a neutral mask.
Thoth touched a paw to her arm. Isis pulled away. Thoth took it again and pulled her to the other side of the chamber. They whispered heatedly.
Paolo leaned toward Carlo. “I won’t let Isis keep you or the scroll.”
“I’m not staying,” said Carlo.
Isis broke away from the discussion. “I will help you. Thoth advises me we have much to gain with following your course of action. My apologies if I have offended you. I didn’t understand the situation, quite.”
Paolo raised his eyebrows at Carlo. “Well done, Thoth,” he whispered. “A handy thing, being able to run numbers on the future.”
As Isis lit the lamp again, Carlo spoke softly to Lucy. “Why did Isis say you were going to contain Ra?”
“I have inherited my mother’s magical abilities and I can contain Ra. Physically.”
“You wanted to be free from Ra. This is worse than before.”
“Carlo, Ra has to be contained. My irresponsibility unleashed Ra upon the world. It is right I am responsible for imprisoning him.”
Isis’s voice curled up with the smoke from the lamp as she chanted. Thoth pushed Khun forward and Isis reached her hand into his chest. Khun tilted his head back in pain. Isis pulled out a red chain. The rest of the chain shot through reality, disappearing into nothing.
Lucy’s body tinted the color of wine, and a similar rope snaked out from her chest, winding around Khun’s red cord. Lucy took Khun’s hand. “You love my sister?”
“I do.”
“Then you will put right what you should have when she had her Trial. If you control her, I will destroy you both. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Reality stretched and pulled Lucy and Ra through an open hole into another place of rock and grass. Reality stretched again and closed.
“Wait!” said Carlo, reaching toward the empty space where Lucy had been seconds before.
“Do not worry,” said Paolo. “Isis will keep her word.”
Isis’s temple shattered, the city fragmenting into hundreds of shards, glass plates with Egyptian images falling and cascading into glistening crystal pools. Behind the images of Egypt, Carlo saw green hills and brown rocks. Reality stopped falling and shattering and they stood at Mistraldol.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Welcome to my home,” Lucy said. She blasted the front gates off their hinges.
Khun sniffed the air. “Blood. Plenty of blood.” He bounded up the stairs to the garden two at a time. Lucy started to follow, but Carlo barred her way with an arm.
Paolo glanced upward, his eyes following Khun. “What do you suppose happened here?”
Carlo followed his grandfather’s gaze. “Lucy’s father’s is dead. His demon disappeared while I was stealing the scroll.”
“Not necessarily,” said Lucy. “Ask your grandfather about death and certainty.”
“I concede your point, Lucia,” said Paolo.
At the top of the stairs, Khun crouched over Caius Klaereon, whose face was a mask of agony. There was a hole in his chest. “Octavia did this,” said Khun, trying out the words to see if he believed them.
“I didn’t think Father had a heart,” said Lucy, her voice level. “Certainly I see nothing inside him. There is no time to waste. We must find Octavia.”
Carlo fidgeted. He didn’t know what he could do to comfort her. “How terrible,” said Carlo to Paolo. “How must she feel.”
“She is not even concerned,” said Paolo, only so Carlo could hear. “One sister is now as dangerous as the other. We should leave them to deal with their own problems.”
Carlo shook his head. “You know I can’t. We caused their problems.”
“Not necessarily.”
Carlo ground his teeth.
“If you will not go, I will stay as well,” Paolo declared.
“Maybe you shouldn’t. Lucy wants to kill you.”
“She’s not the first person who has wanted to do that, and I doubt she will be the last. Since you’re going to stay, I want to see how all this turns out.”
They left the garden and followed Lucy through the destroyed entryway. Khun nimbly navigated the rubble, but Lucy, Carlo, and Paolo picked around the debris. A maelstrom had swept through the hallway and splintered furniture and windows into fragments. Shadows floated around them like fog, leaving a space around Carlo, homage to the Solomon Scroll he carried.
“Ra is unhappy,” said Paolo, surveying the damage.
Lucy led them into the gallery, bleached Binders mingling with portraits of other magicians from all lands. The Binders looked like vampires, ghouls; anything but human.
Lucy crossed to the other wall, dominated by a desert landscape. Carlo recognized Erasmus’ Temple. Lucy touched the wall. Something clicked and the wall opened, revealing a secret passage.
“Where are we going?” asked Carlo.
Khun’s hooves clicked beside Lucy on the stone of the passageway.
“This is the way to the scroll chamber. You did not use it before?”
Carlo shook his head. “I took a short cut by way of efrit.” They moved down the passage to the impossible scroll chamber.
Paolo let out a low whistle. “No wonder you weren’t impressed by my library, Miss Lucia.”
“I can feel they are here,” said Khun. “I will beat Ra to a pulp.”
“You are not allowed to hurt Ra, not until we find out if Octavia can be saved.” Lucy spoke without turning around. “Anything that helps me capture Ra will be useful. Khun, your main purpose will be to take Octavia to Trial.”
“About that…?” said Carlo.
“Going to pull another impossibility out of an empty hat?” asked Paolo.
Carlo smiled. “It seems to be my talent, yes. Thank you for noticing.”
Khun jumped down into the chamber. Lucy lowered Carlo and Paolo on a lengthened arm. Carlo tried not to think about Lucy’s new magic.
In the scroll chamber, glittering rocks shone and reflected off Octavia’s golden skin like the glowing quartz surrounding her. She sat on a granite throne. Her hair was braided, multiple braids framing her face. Neither sister looked like they belonged in this century. They were two sorcerers from the time of Erasmus, perhaps further back, avatars of the gods of ancient Egypt.
Octavia’s eyes snapped open. They were colored gold, with no irises. You have returned, said a hybrid voice, part Octavia, part Ra.
“I will speak to my sister,” Lucy said. “You are my servant, Ra. I do not speak to servants.”
Octavia’s voice faded. There is no Octavia, Ra said. You cannot save her.
“You cannot use her body forever,” said Lucy. “Come back to me and I will show you how things stand between us.”
I will never come back to you.
“Come now, Ra. You know together we can be almost eternal. Look at me, Ra. Have I changed?”
I do not know how you survived.
“Isis. She re-assembled me like she did Osiris, and she made me in her image so she could fight you. I am more powerful than you. I always have been.”
Nothing is more powerful than me.
Lucy traced the scroll pedestal with a lazy finger. “You desire to be king of everything, except you don’t have the scroll. Carlo,” said Lucy, “why don’t you give Ra the scroll?”
“No!” Octavia’s face changed, panicked. “You must not give Ra the Scroll.”
“Octavia!” shouted Khun.
Give me the scroll! Octavia held out her hands
and walked toward Carlo.
“Carlo?”
Carlo’s hand went protectively into his jacket. “This is a terrible idea.”
“No. Ra needs to know.”
“Know what?”
“Watch,” said Lucy. She pushed Carlo into Octavia.
“What are you doing?” Carlo yelled. “Lucy, are you mad?”
“Watch.” Lucy held Carlo facing golden Octavia.
Octavia grasped Carlo’s jacket, ripping it from him. Mine!
“Yours. The scroll is yours, Ra.” Lucy held up a hand, silencing Carlo’s protests.
Octavia’s body was scorching. Carlo smelled burning tweed as his jacket caught fire in her hands. She removed the scroll and threw the jacket aside.
Octavia’s eyes shrank into tiny beads. Her hair became feathers and her voice disappeared. I have waited an eternity to gain what is mine! I call you forth, gods of the underworld, my children. You will obey me, your king! We will remake the world in our image. Obey your king! Obey Ra! Come and do his bidding!
The golden Octavia regarded Khun as though his obedience was assured, and then pointed at Carlo. Kill him.
Carlo braced himself. There was no rush, no fight, no flurry of the lesser god. “Khun?” said Carlo, cautious.
“Do not worry, demon boy.” Khun laughed. “You cannot command me, Ra. My lady Octavia is the only one who can tell me to do anything. I’ve come to take her back.”
This is not possible! I have the scroll!
“Your one chance to control the Solomon Scroll was through me,” said Lucy. “Only your Binder can control the scroll. Your instinct to control me was the right one, but your chance is gone.”
Octavia’s head swiveled toward Paolo. This is your fault, old man.
Paolo laughed. “You gods, you take yourselves so seriously.”
“Ra, it’s time for you to come to me.” Lucy opened her arms. “I welcome your return.”
Octavia blinked her eyes, refocusing, her own thoughts sharpening. Awake, not dreaming. There was Lucy dressed in a luxuriant red robe, hair braided and tied back, blood magic warping her hands with ruby liquid. Lucy, but at the same time, not Lucy. No ducking her head, no shame, avoiding Octavia’s eyes. Lucy’s eyes penetrated through Octavia right to Ra, as though Lucy was a surgeon about to remove a disease. “Lucy?”
The Vessel of Ra Page 22
