Fearless

by Marianne Curley

  ‘Unfortunately there’s still work to do.’

  ‘So I hear, but I’m going to help you now.’ It’s a statement not a question. He looks into my eyes, shifting his gaze from one to the other, then he nods.

  And just like that, everything feels right with the world and I know I am exactly where I should be.

  But something suddenly alerts my senses. I rub the back of my neck and look around as my mind spins in confusion. This is what it feels like when my Guardian alarm blasts into life. But that could only mean one thing. ‘Jordan is here?’

  He doesn’t deny it.

  ‘Where is he? Can I see him? Why did you bring him?’

  ‘It’s a long story. I’ll explain as soon as I’ve checked with Gabriel that his soldiers are in place and have begun constructing the wall.’

  ‘Everything is in order,’ Gabriel says, coming up beside us.

  ‘And the rest of your troops?’

  ‘Are on their way.’

  Mela touches my arm. ‘Did you say Jordan is here?’

  Nathaneal turns to Gabriel. ‘Gabe, have Jordan brought down. He’s lived without his mother for long enough.’

  Gabriel flies up through the blue light and brings Jordan back himself. Jordan is looking for me before his feet touch the ground. When he sees me, his grin could paint the sky. We hold each other for a few very precious moments. ‘I thought I’d never see you again.’ He glances up at Nathaneal. ‘All is forgiven. You got her back, and that’s all that matters. The rest is –’

  He sees Mela and freezes. ‘Ebony, is that who I think it is?’

  My voice is thick with emotion. ‘Your mother is alive, Jordan. You’re looking at her now.’

  He walks over to Mela and they study each other.

  ‘How can this be?’ Jordan asks, still not quite allowing himself to believe it yet.

  ‘Luca lied and manipulated us all,’ Nathaneal explains. ‘But it’s over now, Jordan. Luca is dead, and you and your mother can be together.’

  Mela struggles to hold back her emotions. ‘You’ve grown so big!’ She thrusts out her hand about waist high to indicate the height he was the last time she saw him.

  Subtle laughter ripples through everyone. Some wipe tears away as mother and son embrace for the first time in eight years. It’s a private moment, but impossible to look away from. When I glance up, Nathaneal’s eyes are on me, glistening. He smiles and winks and my love for him swells and grows impossibly deeper.

  Michael and Jerome are at the gate assessing the situation in Odisha. They return with worried faces.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Isaac asks, getting our attention.

  ‘It’s anarchy down there,’ Michael says. ‘Troops are trying to take control of the looting. And there are souls massing that don’t look anything like humans.’

  ‘Up this high, at least the souls shouldn’t bother us,’ Jez says. Then she notices their troubled looks. ‘What’s different about those souls?’

  ‘They have wings,’ Michael says.

  Everyone gasps. Even the soldiers stop what they’re doing until Gabriel yells at them, ordering another newly arrived unit to begin laying the foundations for the wall.

  Jerome touches Nathaneal’s arm and says softly, ‘Bro, we got a problem.’ He jerks his head at the gate. ‘The reaction is escalating. It’s especially visible on the inside. We don’t have long before the entire gate disintegrates.’

  Nathaneal turns to Gabriel. ‘The wall must be completed in the next few hours.’

  ‘That’s impossible!’ Gabriel protests. ‘There’s a process to making these bricks. They have to be set in a high-temperature kiln.’

  ‘Make it happen.’

  ‘My warriors can hold back anything that comes at us for as long as we have to. The rest of my company will arrive soon, and I’ll allocate half to construction, the other half to patrolling the gate.’

  Jordan is so happy he’s oblivious to the escalating tensions in the air, making my Guardian alarm hum contentedly. Keeping an arm around his mother and a big grin on his face, he asks whoever is listening, ‘Does this mean you people have got this covered and we humans can leave now? I would really like to take my mother home now.’ He looks over at Nathaneal. ‘Will she be able to live with us?’

  ‘Of course, Jordan.’

  ‘Oh, man, that’s great. Thanks, mate.’ He squeezes Mela’s shoulder. ‘Did you hear that, Mum?’

  She nods and gives him a big smile, but can’t dispel the worry from her eyes. Jezelle sees it too and gently coaxes the pair to a safer distance along the bridge.

  When she returns Michael gives her a quizzical look and she shrugs, ‘I didn’t want to burst their happy little reunion when the flying dark souls arrive and we enter battle mode.’

  Michael quips, ‘You’re not getting soft and mushy on us, are you, Jez?’

  ‘Not in your lifetime,’ she returns. ‘Just saving myself work for when the gate disappears and all the inhabitants of Skade decide to leave for a better world.’ She turns to Gabriel. ‘Seriously, do we have enough military power here, right now, to stop those other creatures Prince Luca kept hidden in his underground compounds? You know I’m not talking about dark souls with wings.’

  Nathaneal calls Lhiam and Elijah over. ‘What did Skade’s king keep locked in those underground compounds?’

  Elijah says, ‘That would be the chimeras, my prince.’

  A chorus of exclamations erupts but quickly dies down when Nathaneal lifts his hand. ‘How many?’

  The two rebel Thrones glance at each other uncomfortably before Lhiam quietly clears his throat. ‘Five hundred thousand, give or take a few hundred. Their populations alter daily. Some kill each other, some breed together and have … infant chimeras, but the king’s preferred method was genetic modification. He would pit teams of scientists against each other in a competition of who could create the deadliest, fastest abomination. Of those winning designs, he had thousands cloned.’

  Chills slink deep into my bones and everyone else’s by the gasps of shock and outrage that greet this news.

  Gabriel allocates more soldiers to building the wall.

  Nathaneal glances at the foundations already beginning to show, then asks Gabriel to show Lhiam and Elijah the wall plans and brick-making formula put together by a specialist team of scientists, engineers and biochemists. He asks the Throne rebels, ‘When this wall is finished, knowing it has been constructed out of two of the strongest elements in the universe, in your opinion will it hold back the chimeras?’

  They examine the plans, then the bricks and mortar already laid, referring back to the formula and talking amongst themselves. Lhiam even tastes the mortar mix before he turns back to Nathaneal and sighs, shaking his head. ‘No, my prince, I’m afraid it won’t.’

  ‘Oh, come on!’ Gabriel cries out. ‘Of course it will.’

  ‘Believe me, Prince Gabriel, my brother and I want your wall to hold too,’ Lhiam says, ‘but the chimeras were genetically engineered for strength. They will bust through this wall as if it were cobwebs.’

  As overjoyed as Mela is to have her son back in her arms, she’s too concerned with the gates to stay away. She hears what the lieutenant is saying, and approaches Nathaneal with tears in her eyes. ‘My prince, you don’t have enough soldiers here to stop what’s coming. I’ve seen one of those creatures up close. I only survived because Ebony healed me. Those creatures could scare a human to death just from fright.’

  Gabriel snaps at her, ‘We get it. You’re terrified. You have a lot to lose.’ He flicks a pointed look at Jordan, who’s still standing midway along the bridge, watching quietly.

  My Guardian alarm tingles as I pick up Jordan’s rising concern. Catching my eye, he gives me a small grim smile and starts walking back up to us.

  Meanwhile, Gabriel continues to rant at Mela. ‘Your mortality sees death knocking at your door at every opportunity. All humans do. It scares you. You can’t help it. You’re obsessed with th
e event. It’s as if you suckled your fear of death in the womb and when you were born the taste remained in your mouths, and so each morning you wake and wonder if today is the day.’ He looks at Mela with scorn. ‘Lady, you have no concept of what my warriors are capable of achieving in battle.’

  ‘That’s enough!’ Nathaneal yells. ‘Isaac, Shae, Soloman, take Jordan, Mela and Ebony home to Mount Bungarra. Fly as fast as you can. Do not separate in the Crossing. Tash, you will go with them to assist with their rotations. Do not stop until you are through the portal. Go directly to the monastery and make report. Warn the Brothers of an impending attack … on Earth. Tell them to send word to the Archangels to mobilise full battalions immediately.’

  ‘Wait!’ I call out. My Guardian alarm is starting to sting. I’m going to see if I can allay Jordan’s fears in a second, but before these angels waste their time on me I have to explain, ‘Nathaneal, I did what you wanted earlier because I was in the air, but I’m not leaving this time until this is over and you’re free to return home with me.’

  Sami appears suddenly, panting and shedding her invisibility in front of our eyes. ‘My prince, we have only minutes before the first wave of …’ She glances at Lhiam. ‘Soldier, you may call them chimeras, but from what I’ve just seen, they’re monsters.’

  Nathaneal looks around, mentally counting heads. It’s chaotic with infantry moving into action and setting up weapons all over the place. He yells out, ‘Gabe, pull your warriors off constructing the wall and ready them for battle.’

  ‘Affirmative.’ Gabriel takes off, bellowing orders as he flies to various points along the bridge. Soldiers, both male and female, move instantly at his commands.

  My Guardian alarm is going crazy now and I look for Jordan but can’t see him in the chaos. Meanwhile, Nathaneal asks Lhiam and Elijah how we can destroy the chimeras. ‘Do you know of any weakness that will give us an edge?’

  ‘No,’ Lhiam says.

  ‘None,’ Elijah follows without hesitation.

  The brothers glance at each other as if selecting which one of them is going to deliver the really bad news. Elijah loses. ‘King Luca had the chimeras cloned from immortal cells.’

  An eerie silence descends over us at this devastating news. Protecting all human life has just fallen on the shoulders of our relatively small group. Not quite a thousand soldiers against half a million undefeatable monsters. The Earth is doomed if we don’t hold them back. Our chance of success is slim. But I’m glad of one thing, at least: should the worst happen and the monsters defeat us, Nathaneal and I will be together in the end.

  Jerome offers Nathaneal an array of weapons. He selects two long knives, slotting one down each boot, two swords he crosses over his back and something I don’t recognise with a long handle that flares bright blue when he takes it in his hand. He then nods at me. My Guardian alarm is still prickling intensely when I glimpse Jordan up ahead. Keen to speak with him to find out why my alarm is reacting so strangely, I quickly select a dagger with a small handle. It feels good and weighty in my hand. Jerome holds out another long-handle weapon like the one Nathaneal selected. I take it in my other hand and it instantly flares bright purple, making Nathaneal smile, though grimly. He whispers, ‘No one will separate us again.’

  Shae, who is supposed to be taking Jordan home, rushes up to me. ‘Have you seen Jordan?’

  ‘He went that way.’ I point in the direction I saw him last. ‘I want to talk to him too. What’s going on, Shae?’ I stretch up and spot him moving fast, slipping between angels left and right. ‘There he is.’ My heart accelerates erratically. Something is wrong. ‘Why is he running? Where is he going?’

  Solomon suddenly calls out, ‘Hey, youngster, what are you doing over there? Come away before you get hurt.’

  I lose sight of Jordan for a moment as soldiers come between us, but finally get a clear view of him – standing in front of the gaping hole in the gate, a halo of sizzling flames tearing at the air around him, flickering tendrils appearing to reach for his body.

  Mela screams.

  Nathaneal swings round, sees what’s happening and starts running to the gate, yelling, ‘Soldiers, stop that boy!’

  Jordan turns to face us. ‘I don’t expect you to forgive me today,’ he calls out, ‘but one day, when the Earth is at peace and not destroyed by monsters, I think you will. I’m counting on it.’ He flicks a look over his shoulder and now his words come out hurried and urgent. ‘Sorry, Mum. I wish we had more time together, but it seems that’s not to be for us. I haven’t done many good things with my life, but I can do this, and then everyone can go home to a safe world.’ He sees Nathaneal and a pair of soldiers closing in and flicks his eyes to me, calling out in a rush, ‘Ebony. Oh God, Ebony. I’m sorry for all the hurt. Please, tell Amber I’m sorry for hurting her too, and that I … I was an idiot.’

  Then, to everyone’s horror, Jordan opens his arms out wide and simply allows his body to fall backwards.

  For an instant I think he’s going to drop right through into Skade, but the gate catches him, holds him in the empty space as if there’s a net, then it goes crazy around him, shooting out sparks and spiralling loops of fire in all directions. The soldiers reach him first, but the burst of flames round the circumference keeps them back. The flames don’t deter Nathaneal though, and he dives for Jordan, but hits something invisible and hard that flings him backwards.

  The gate wants Jordan.

  It knows Jordan is what it needs to repair itself, and it will stop anyone who tries to take him away.

  I look for Mela with the intention of both of us appealing to Jordan to dislodge himself from the gate. It might be his only hope. But when I see her, she’s staring at her rebel captains with a mind-linking look. Elijah and Lhiam’s normally stoic faces suddenly crumple but they remain upright and rigid as Mela turns from them to me. She squeezes my hands, and with a heart-breaking look in her eyes, she whispers, ‘Ebony, remember what you did for me? How you saved me?’

  ‘Sure, but why are you telling me this?’

  Mela runs, and as I set off after her two sets of powerful arms wrap around my waist. ‘Mela!’ I cry out, pushing against the strong Throne arms that only tighten, the more I try to get away.

  Elijah says, ‘I’m sorry to put my hands on you like this, my lady.’

  ‘Then don’t! Step away, soldier!’

  ‘It was Mela’s last command, and as our general and our friend we are duty-bound to honour it.’

  ‘Why is she doing this? She has a chance to live and make up for all those years she had to live in Skade. She deserves to go home.’

  ‘Please accept her parting gift. It’s what she wants.’

  I reach for my power. It comes instantly. I blast it out and the Thrones go flying. I start running to the gates, intent on stopping Mela, and doing whatever I need to set Jordan free. But the Thrones dive after me. By the time they reach me it’s too late, and all any of us can do is watch in horror as Mela sinks into the space with her son.

  It shocks Nathaneal, who is in the midst of hurling a ball of sizzling green energy to break whatever is keeping him from rescuing Jordan. It narrowly misses Mela, bounces off the gate and explodes in a shower of sparks.

  Jordan screams, his face red raw and with burns on all his extremities. He’s obviously in excruciating pain as sparks and tongues of fire slither around him and into him. It’s harrowing to watch as he arches his back, jerks his head and screams, ‘Arghhh-ghhhh-ghhhhh!’ Again. And again.

  The chain reaction occurring around Jordan accelerates when Mela joins him. Two humans must be more potent than one, the cynical thought occurs. Is that why she did it? To hasten Jordan’s death to lessen his suffering?

  My Guardian bond burns with rage and my powers push at my skin, needing to free Jordan, needing to free Mela, needing to explode.

  I think I hear myself suddenly scream.

  Chaos erupts as angels seem to come at me from everywhere. Isaac, Shae, Jezelle,
Sami, Jerome and Michael jump on me. They hold me down, stopping me from getting near Jordan. I try to break free, screaming at them to let me go, ‘That’s my charge whose flesh is burning off his bones!’

  Shae grabs my face in both her hands and plants her forehead on mine. Tears pour down her face, mingle with mine. ‘You can’t stop him, little sister,’ she says. ‘It’s his will. His right to choose.’

  ‘But he’s going to die! They both will!’

  I reach for my power. It comes easy and fast and I blast all the angels off me in one thrust. They glance at each other with wide staring eyes and confused expressions, but quickly scramble back on with Solomon joining them.

  I’m so angry and mixed up inside, my power runs wild and the red haze returns to blur my vision more than ever before.

  ‘You need to calm your power down, sister, before you hurt yourself. Really hurt.’

  The angels holding me increase their strength, shoving their power, or calm thoughts, or magical antidote into me. The red haze reduces. While my power still throbs under my skin, I start to focus again.

  I find a small triangle of a window between Shae’s shoulder and Jerome’s torso. Mela is speaking to her son. It’s such an effort for her, and there’s so much pain between them, that I find I’m rocking and humming and howling.

  And the angels holding me rock and hum and howl along.

  Mother and son stare at each other for a moment more, before Jordan gives her a small nod and collapses into her arms. She soothes him by stroking his back while around her a tongue of fire lights up her hair. I hear the sizzle, smell the odour, and I rock harder and hum louder. I taste moisture and salt, but I don’t know whose tears they are.

  Nathaneal stays as close to the ring of fire as he can. His eyes connect to Mela’s and the two appear to communicate. But Mela is struck again by a lick of fire that whips around her neck. She doesn’t scream, but the sound of her gasping for air, the look of agony on her twisted, tortured face, will remain a vivid memory for all of my life.

  Somehow Mela finds the strength to pull her son in closer as the fiery strings of the gate ebb and flow and knit together around them.