The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy)

by Traci Harding

  ‘Denera suggests that we hide him in Murias until after the SAC alignment has passed,’ Arcturus said in a lowered voice, but Killian still overheard.

  ‘That’s one of Lugh’s capitals! A lot of help I’m going to be during the forthcoming crisis locked away inside an Otherworldly palace!’

  ‘You’ve done your part, Killian,’ I implored him. ‘You’ve raised consciousness on Earth way beyond anyone’s expectations. But if Ill gets his Orme spike into you, he’s going to take all your power, including your ability to braid and unbraid your DNA. That will grant him access to the Halls of Amenti and the Signet Grid…and then we can kiss goodbye to evolution in all five harmonic universes.’

  Killian’s jaw dropped. ‘You talk about this like it’s already happened.’

  ‘It has already happened and we’re here to change it,’ I told him. ‘I promised Ereshkigal that I wouldn’t let you die again.’

  Killian perked up suddenly. ‘You did? She mourned me?’

  I nodded, and Arcturus nudged me in warning. ‘Don’t encourage him,’ he said. ‘And you wonder why the lad is confused!’

  My husband was right, but, deep down, I too thought that the Sovereign Integral might have got it wrong in this case.

  ‘So you’ll go to Murias?’ I asked Killian.

  ‘Will Ereshkigal be there?’ His grin broadened.

  ‘Probably,’ Arcturus said. ‘At least, she accompanied Tamar to go and see Lamhfada.’

  Killian felt bound by his Earthly obligations. ‘Do you know what I had to go through to get the Peace Project into the Vatican City? We open tonight!’

  ‘Tomorrow we’ll end the Kali rift and all the destruction will be undone,’ Arcturus said. But when Killian still looked uncertain, he put his foot down. ‘I’ll let you loose on surface Earth over my dead body, so…’ He shrugged and raised his eyebrows to await a response.

  ‘Murias,’ Killian said, not keen on a fistfight with my husband and his recently discovered super-strength. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

  We delivered Killian to Lugh Lumhfada’s palace, then followed the Anu leader back towards the porthole, as he’d been called to an emergency meeting with Amenti’s staff in the Hall of Records.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Killian asked. He wasn’t parting company with us until he knew what the emergency was.

  ‘Ill has Mathu,’ Lugh said, keeping us moving.

  ‘He wants me, doesn’t he?’ Killian guessed.

  ‘I don’t know what his demands are,’ Lugh replied, trying to avoid the subject, but Killian already knew the truth. He threw himself in front of us to block our path.

  ‘Let me handle Ill for you,’ he said. ‘I’m stronger than he is. I can—’

  ‘No!’ we all insisted at once.

  ‘Mathu has taken Ill the Rod and Ring of Power,’ Lugh said, ‘so no matter how powerful you think you are—’

  ‘What? No! No, no, no, no, no!’ Killian grabbed his head with both hands, overwhelmed by grief. ‘It’s my fault! Mathu wouldn’t have known about the ambush if I hadn’t told him!’

  ‘What ambush?’ Lugh asked, confused, but Arcturus, having been to the future, understood what Killian was talking about.

  ‘I know what he means,’ Arcturus said. ‘What I would like to know is how Killian knows?’

  ‘Can we sort this out later?’ Lugh was getting frustrated by the delay.

  ‘Promise me you’ll stay put,’ I said to Killian, as I was less likely to get an argument. ‘Please.’

  I waited to receive a reluctant nod, before I moved through the porthole after the others.

  We were halfway through the outer chamber of the Giza complex when I looked back to see that Killian had followed us.

  ‘I know Ill won’t destroy the Amenti complex if he believes he can use it,’ Killian said, moving towards the porthole that led into Irkalla.

  ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going? Take one more step towards that porthole and I’ll forget that my lady holds you in such high regard!’ Arcturus said, moving to apprehend him.

  With a thought, Killian sent him hurtling backwards.

  ‘I’m sorry, Arcturus, but I have to do this—it is written.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I said. ‘Written where?’

  Killian shrugged, frustrated and apologetic. ‘No time,’ he said.

  ‘If Ill gets his hands on you, there will be nothing to stop him from taking not only the Giza complex but the entire Signet Grid!’ Lugh warned.

  ‘Sorry again, old friend, but you’re wrong. I am the only one who can stop him,’ Killian said, and we all gasped in horror as he took a flying leap through the porthole into the Underworld.

  ‘Goddess almighty!’ Lugh said, horrified.

  ‘Arrogant little pri—’

  ‘Arcturus,’ I said, ‘try to be constructive. We’ll go after Killian. Lugh, you inform the rest of the staff what’s happened.’

  Lugh gave a nod, although he was curious. ‘Have you written a prophecy about these events, Meridan? What did he mean “it is written”?’

  I gasped so suddenly that I startled both my companions. ‘The third book of my trilogy,’ I said, thinking back twenty years to Montauk. ‘Erragal took the only copy from my Signet station. Killian must have read it.’

  ‘Then maybe he does know what he’s doing?’ Lugh said, most intrigued, before hurrying off to report to the Hall of Records.

  ‘I still think he’s trouble,’ Arcturus said, following me to the porthole.

  I was trying to keep an open mind, for I believed Killian thought he was doing the right thing. Whether he could truly defeat Ill, or he was just attempting to satisfy his ego by defeating his childhood demon, remained to be seen.

  Before entering the porthole, I turned to my husband and kissed him. ‘To hell with us then,’ I said, making light of our sudden change of plan.

  ‘At least this time we get to go together.’ He grabbed both my hands and pulled me into the Underworld after him.

  The portal into Irkalla didn’t lead to Ereshkigal’s labyrinth, where we had entered before; it led directly to Ill’s great courtroom. Arcturus and I were dropped onto a raised lit platform surrounded by an abyss that fell away into darkness. The room itself was formed of dark matter and the porthole that had granted us entry could have been located anywhere within the darkness that surrounded us on three sides. Across the abyss were the thrones of Irkalla. In the largest lolled the biggest, ugliest Nefilim I’d ever seen. Beside him, on what had once been Ereshkigal’s throne, sat Mathu. The Nefilim had him in a headlock, and in his free hand he held the Rod of Power with the pouch containing the ring hanging from it.

  My heart began to pound with fear.

  Killian was at the foot of the stairs that led up to the thrones, on his knees and offering himself in exchange for Mathu. I wondered why the rest of the Nefilim weren’t present. Then again, Ill planned to gain a lot of power and glory today through Killian’s death, and the Nefilim weren’t inclined to share.

  ‘Have you lost your mind?’ Mathu forced out through his restricted air passage.

  Ill smashed him in the face, then turned back to Killian. ‘Your compassion repulses me,’ he said, his voice so guttural it was difficult to understand.

  ‘What compassion? I want Ereshkigal,’ Killian informed the demon lord. ‘As a human I cannot have her, but if I join with you, I can.’

  ‘Join with me, boy, and you can have anything in the five universes that you desire.’ Ill stood, forcing Mathu to as well, and pointed to us. ‘Why are they here?’

  Killian pointed to the Rod of Power.

  ‘In that case…’ Ill began chanting words I did not understand and huge square Orme blocks closed in on us from every side.

  ‘Hop on,’ Arcturus said, encouraging me onto his back, and I didn’t argue. I climbed on and he backed up as far as he could and took a running jump at the oncoming Orme wall. His feet hit the upper part of the block, which flipped it
horizontal just long enough for him to use it as a springboard to land us before the thrones of Irkalla.

  ‘Move your arse, boy!’ Ill urged Killian closer, as he punched Mathu again, then dropped him. He grabbed Killian and turned him about to position the Orme spike against the base of his neck.

  I longed to prevent the tragedy, but Killian motioned with his hands for me to refrain, then closed his eyes calmly—as if he were about to meditate rather than be obliterated. Didn’t he realise it would? That once the demon took him, Killian would cease to exist and his soul would be damned and lost forever! Still, I reasoned, forever in accordance with this evolution may be less than a day away.

  Arcturus nudged me. ‘Stop him!’

  I turned my third-eye vision on Killian and was stunned to see his astral form standing outside of his physical body, which Ill was holding. When Killian realised I could see his spirit, he smiled mischievously and held a finger to his lips.

  ‘He isn’t called the Chosen One without good reason,’ I whispered to Arcturus.

  As I spoke, Ill activated the Orme spike and thrust it up through Killian’s neck and into the pineal gland inside his brain.

  ‘Merciful goddess!’ Arcturus cried, frozen in painful empathy.

  Ill wailed with delight as he absorbed Killian’s genetic data through his vital fluids. The demon lord thought he was damning the lad’s soul in the process, but Killian’s soul mind was very much whole and stood calmly observing his death.

  While Ill was distracted, Mathu snuck up behind him and attempted to retrieve the Rod and Ring of Power from where Ill had set them aside. Ill, still mid-transformation, grabbed Mathu by the scruff of the neck.

  ‘Hard to believe that the runt of the family could cause me so much annoyance,’ he growled. He let Killian’s drained body drop from his spike and reached around to grab the rod and ring from Mathu.

  Arcturus ran towards the dark lord but Ill, now fully transformed into Killian’s form, tossed the tools of power to him. ‘Give me a reason, because I would just love to kill this annoying little fuck!’ he said, shaking Mathu’s body like a rag-doll.

  Arcturus halted his charge.

  ‘Give the tools to the Black Madonna,’ Ill ordered, sounding very smug.

  ‘No!’ Mathu yelled, and Ill head-butted him.

  ‘Who is about as far from black as she could be!’ Ill added, sounding amused. ‘She wouldn’t have been my first guess for the Black Madonna; in fact, I would never have found her if not for your obsession with defeating Molier,’ he told Arcturus, whose eyes opened wide with horror. ‘If you hadn’t made her aware of who and what she was, we might still be looking for her.’

  ‘Don’t listen to him,’ I told my husband, who was starting to seethe. ‘If you hadn’t made me aware of who I was, I would never have defeated Molier.’

  I shot a glance to Killian’s ghost, who nodded and urged me to do as Ill requested. My husband tossed me the tools, shaking his head. I was worried too. How deeply did I really trust Killian? Was this the ultimate opportunity or was I being seduced by the devil himself?

  I will make you proud, Killian’s spirit told me. Come on, Meridan, this is my destiny—you know it is!

  I took the ruby Ring of Power from the pouch.

  Arcturus frowned. ‘What are you doing? You’re going to use that against him, right?’

  ‘Let Mathu go,’ I said as I held the ring against the hilt of the long, sleek double-ended sword that was the Rod of Power.

  ‘Form the staff first,’ Ill demanded.

  I pushed gently and the ring passed right through the rod. In a blinding golden-red flash of light, the coil fastened into place and hardened around the rod’s hilt. The pulsing energy that emanated from each of these objects individually doubled once they were combined, and the effort it took to simply hold the Staff of Amenti felt as though it might shatter even my superhuman atomic structure.

  Ill threw Mathu aside and summoned the staff to him, then leapt off the throne platform and used the Orme squares, which now lay flat across the void, like stepping stones.

  ‘Let’s go!’ Arcturus called to me. He hauled Mathu over his shoulder and set off after the dark lord before his demons could remove the path from beneath our feet.

  Ill reached the last stepping stone, launched himself into the darkness and vanished.

  We’d built up too much momentum to stop now. Yelling, we launched ourselves into the abyss after him.

  CHAPTER 39

  THE DRACONESSES

  TAMAR DEVERE—KALI

  I was ecstatic to see Taejax alive and well; he was my most cherished subject, apart from my prince, for he had given his life to save my own many times.

  ‘My queen.’ He bowed low and urged his five new Dracon recruits down alongside him as I approached down the long, narrow earthen bridge that linked one side of this huge underground cavity to the other.

  ‘My dear Taejax, please rise.’

  I waited for him to comply, then wrapped my arms about him and gave him a huge squeeze.

  ‘Your Majesty?’ He wasn’t sure why he was receiving so much affection. ‘You honour me.’

  ‘No, Taejax,’ I pulled back to assure him sincerely, ‘it is you who honour me.’

  I looked at his new recruits and recognised in them the seasoned revolutionaries who had saved my life in the future. ‘Loyal knights of the Anu,’ I addressed them, and they seemed to like the title, ‘in a far-flung future you saved my life and that of the entire Amenti team. And should we be successful on the morrow, you will have saved all life on Earth.’

  My knights were a little stunned to hear this, especially since they had only recently become secret agents for the cause of the righteous.

  ‘I promised you then that one day you would be rewarded for your bravery, and today is that day,’ I told them.

  Taejax was a little confused. ‘Lugh said something about a salvage mission?’

  I nodded. ‘That is correct. Recently, I had a cathartic experience during which I recalled a secret genetic project I had been working on for Ill, just prior to the first Dracon uprising.’

  ‘The first?’ Taejax frowned. ‘There was only one rebellion that I know of.’

  I smiled. ‘You boys get very busy in the future.’ They looked doubly pleased with themselves. ‘This secret project was very close to my heart and Ill knew this. When I took my own life rather than work for him any longer, he planned to destroy my greatest work. At the same time, you were taking over the ground-based EM transmitting stations…’

  The Dracon looked delighted when I reminded them of the event. Prior to the Dracon uprising, the Nefilim had been using this technology to manipulate weather patterns and green certain areas of the Earth. But the technology had been destroyed in the uprising and it had taken until the last few hundred years to redevelop and establish it on Earth.

  ‘What a storm that was,’ commented one of the Dracon.

  ‘We brought down three out of four of Ill’s ships,’ boasted another, ‘including his mother ship! Unfortunately, Ill wasn’t on it at the time.’

  ‘The Nefilim all escaped on the one ship we didn’t freeze out of the sky,’ Taejax said, sounding disappointed. ‘The three craft we damaged were all remotely operated; there was no one on board.’

  ‘Yes, there was,’ I corrected, which startled him. ‘And I believe they are still trapped there. Ill and I are the only ones who knew they existed at all, so I fear that if we do not save them before we open Amenti, their souls may be lost forever.’

  I looked over at Dexter and Polaris, who were already briefed and committed to my cause.

  ‘We’ll take the Klieo,’ Polaris advised, and he switched off the cloaking device to allow the time-space vessel to become visible in its position beneath the cavern bridge.

  ‘All right!’ exclaimed one of the Dracon recruits. ‘Hey, I’d have taken the side of the righteous a long time ago if I’d known they had these kind of perks.’

&nbs
p; Taejax gave a sentimental sigh. ‘I’ve missed this old girl…so many grand adventures…’ He shook his head.

  Polaris smiled broadly. ‘Welcome back. It will be an honour to have you aboard again.’

  ‘The pleasure is all mine, Captain.’ Taejax took a running jump and landed on the long run of arced metal panels that joined to form the Klieo’s sail. ‘It’s great to be back…Whoo-hoo!’ He slid down the sail and landed firmly on both feet on the deck.

  His recruits looked at each other and, with a unanimous nod, leapt after him. ‘Whoo-hoo!’ they all yelled.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Dracon having good, clean fun before,’ Dexter said, tickled by the sight.

  ‘It’s high time,’ I replied with a grin.

  The Dracon were overawed by Signet Station One, which wasn’t half as icy as the last time I’d seen it. There were pools of water forming throughout the outlying stalagmite forest and the sound of dripping came from all around.

  ‘So this is one of the stations that the Nefilim have been trying to get their hands on for all eternity?’ said one of the Dracon, Pax.

  ‘Indeed,’ replied Dexter. ‘And they’re doing a superb job of melting this place in order to get to those ships you froze.’

  Taejax was the only Dracon who didn’t seem overwhelmed, and I asked Dexter about it.

  ‘Taejax is very familiar with this place,’ he replied.

  ‘Of course,’ I realised, ‘he’d have to be familiar with it in order to access it in the future to save us.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘I did that?’ Taejax asked, overhearing us.

  Dexter winked. ‘Total legend.’

  ‘And you saved the Klieo,’ Polaris added.

  ‘How about that?’ said Pax. ‘We’re all destined for greatness!’

  ‘Well, actually we’re changing that history,’ Polaris said, and brought them up to speed. They appeared a little deflated.

  ‘Now you’re destined for happiness instead,’ I cut in.

  All the Dracon looked baffled by the concept, but were quickly distracted by the amazing structure and technology of the control centre of the Signet station, not to mention the huge ships frozen in its ice ceiling.