by David Bishop
"What about the vortex," Dante cried. "Can you stop the vortex?"
"I'll try," she said, closing her eyes to concentrate.
Suddenly Rai leapt forwards from his position slumped against the wall. He smashed the pistol from Flintlock's grasp, grabbing the startled Brit by the throat. "I'm getting out of here," Rai announced. "If anybody tries to stop me, I'll snap this fool's neck like a twig!"
"Go ahead and snap it. We don't care," Spatchcock replied.
"Spatch!" Flintlock cried in horror.
"I was trying to trick him, you idiot!"
"No more tricks," Rai warned, backing towards the doorway. But the throne room's internal exit had already been consumed by the swirling vortex.
"Don't go any further," Dante said. "You can't get out that way."
"I said no more tricks!"
"This isn't a trick," Spatchcock shouted back. "Look behind you!"
"How stupid do you think I am?" Rai demanded.
"You'll soon find out, but I'd prefer it if you didn't take Flintlock to his doom as well," Dante replied. "He may be annoying, prissy and a royal pain in the arse, but he does have some redeeming features."
"Just don't ask us for a quick list," Spatchcock added.
"Spatch!" Flintlock cried out.
"Only joking."
Dante, the vortex - it hasn't stopped contracting. If anything, it is expanding faster than before.
"Mai, what's happening?"
She was shaking her head, teeth biting her bottom lip. "I can't do it, the vortex. It's already too strong for me!" Her legs gave way beneath her and Mai crumpled to the floor, both hands struggling to keep her headdress in place.
A scream burst from the other side of the throne room. Rai and Flintlock were being sucked into the periphery of the vortex, a crackling tentacle of blue and white energy wrapped around Rai's left leg, hauling both men towards it.
"Crest! Any brilliant suggestions?" Dante asked in desperation.
If the vortex is already too strong for a single Crest to control, perhaps two Crests can achieve that task, it replied.
Dante pushed himself up on to one knee. "Spatch, help me over to Mai."
"You're the boss," the rumpled runt replied, dipping his shoulder under one of Dante's arms. Together they staggered over to Mai, where Dante sunk back to the floor. He pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers.
Beginning bonding process...
Spatchcock glanced over to Rai and Flintlock. Both men were moments from being swallowed by the vortex, half a dozen tentacles dragging their writhing bodies into its edge. "Whatever you're going to do," he urged Dante, "do it now!"
The vortex retracted for a second, like a wave about to crash upon a beach, then white light filled the room in an explosion of light and sound. After that was nothing. A blank and empty nothing...
EPILOGUE
"Great talkers are great liars."
- Russian proverb
"The blackout of 2673 remains one of the enduring mysteries from the years immediately after the war. Across the Empire every power supply, every light, every candle, every source of energy ceased to function for forty-seven seconds. The cause is still unknown, as is the reason for its abrupt end. It was as if the entire universe blinked and then held its breath, waiting for some great cataclysm to occur. But the cataclysm never came and the universe breathed out again. Some reports suggest the blackout began in a remote region of the Himalayas, an area cut off from civilisation by freakish weather conditions ever since. But that same isolation makes it impossible to prove or disprove those reports."
- Extract from Unsolved Mysteries of the Empire, by Danilov Mulderski
Nikolai Dante, with two wounds slowly healing inside him, sat in front of the Forbidden Citadel and thought about life and death.
He could remember little about what happened after he kissed Mai in the throne room. There was a skittering of alien minds within his own thoughts as the two Crests had bonded before attempting to regain control of the vortex. The inter-dimensional gateway had been like a wild animal inside Dante's head, gnawing, hungry, almost feral. It sensed the Crests coming and launched a pre-emptive attack. Everything after that was a blur of light and fury.
Dante had come to in what was left of the throne room, most of his clothes seared from his body, with Mai's unconscious and equally naked form nuzzled into his. He kissed her and she woke, a quiet joy on her face. Things may have become even more interesting, but for a polite cough from nearby. Spatchcock and Flintlock had been sitting in a corner of the throne room, a few rags hanging from their bodies, observing Dante and Mai's embrace. Spatchcock looked particularly disappointed at being denied a free floorshow, while Flintlock smiled sheepishly.
The cough had come from another corner, where a fresh-faced Himalayan youth was standing. It was Rai, but as Dante had first known him, in the dying days of the war. The horrific scars on his face were gone, and so were all the wounds and injuries he had acquired since.
Lastly Dante had turned to look at the vortex. It too was restored to the way it had been, a glowing ball of energy under firm control. A huge section of the throne room was missing, a gaping void showing how close the vortex had come to consuming them all. But the crisis had been averted - just.
All of that was three days in the past. Since then Spatchcock and Flintlock had busied themselves organising a funeral pyre for the monks killed by Ivanov's men. Mai used the immense power of her Crest to send the few survivors from the Imperial Black back to the Tsar with a warning never to invade or attack the Himalayas again. To underline her threat, she sent every Imperial corpse too, including the remains of General Ivanov.
Dante had spent the three days recovering in Gylatsen's cell, letting his enhanced healing abilities do their job. He emerged much the better for his rest, but still experiencing stabs of pain from where Ivanov had shot him. "Guess I'm not rid of that bastard yet," Dante muttered to himself.
I hope you're not talking about me, the Crest said.
"No, the late, unlamented general. But where have you been hiding the past three days? I expected an endless lecture series on what I should have done differently, but you haven't said a word to me."
I was... preoccupied. The Mukari's Crest required my aid to bring the situation completely under control. Besides, you needed peace and quiet to heal.
"Well, I'm feeling strong enough to leave now," Dante said. "I'm waiting for Spatch and Flintlock to find my rifle, then we can go."
You aren't staying for the funeral?
"I've seen enough death to last me a lifetime."
Mai emerged from the citadel, sitting beside Dante in the autumnal sunshine. "A beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Yes. Spatch, Flintlock and I should make good time down the mountain."
"So you're definitely leaving today?"
Dante nodded. "You're not wearing the headdress. Is that wise? You don't want the vortex-"
Mai rested a finger against his lips, silencing him. Her other hand opened the front of her top to reveal a small, double-headed eagle symbol in the nape of her neck. "I couldn't stand the idea of having to wear that hat for the rest of my days, so your Crest and mine arranged for a more physical manifestation. I can always transfer it back, when the time comes."
"Interesting," Dante said. "Crest, that does mean I can shift you to-"
No.
"But if Mai can do it, why can't I-"
Her Crest is different from yours. Very different.
"We could at least try-"
No.
Mai smiled at their exchange. "Sorry. But at least you can go where you want. I have to stay here on the mountain."
Dante noticed Rai walked past. "Your brother... How much does he remember of his time as the Enforcer?"
"A little." Mai frowned. "I know it was selfish of me, using the vortex to change Rai back to how I remembered him before the war. But I'll need someone to keep me company here in the citadel. Unless I can c
hange your mind..."
Dante shook his head. "Sorry. Your place is here, but I don't belong anywhere - not since the war."
"You could always come back for a visit," Mai offered, smiling impishly. "We never did get to finish what we started in that cave."
Dante was still kissing Mai when Spatchcock and Flintlock appeared, the latter carrying the Huntsman 5000. "Well, we finally found your precious rifle," he said. "Why you decided to hide it behind a shrine I'll never-" A sharp elbow from Spatchcock abruptly silenced the Brit, as Dante and Mai hastily separated.
"Ready to go?" Spatchcock asked, grinning broadly.
"Yes," Dante replied, standing up. He smiled fondly at Mai. "Say goodbye to your brother for us. Tell him... tell him not to worry about the past. The future is more important now."
"I'll do that."
The three men strolled out of the citadel and onto the snow-covered plateau beyond the repaired gates. The trio paused as they surveyed the Himalayas, the majestic peaks spread out around them as far as the horizon.
"You know, I can't help thinking we should get some sort of reward for saving the Empire," Spatchcock commented. "Hell, for saving the whole universe."
"Getting away from you would be reward enough for me," Flintlock muttered under his breath. "What about you, Dante? Do you reckon we should get a reward? Or maybe you think getting vengeance on Ivanov was enough."
"It was a hollow victory," Dante replied. "I can't bring back the tens of thousands he had murdered, or undo the horrors he did in Rudinshtein and other places. All I did was murder a murderer. Where's the honour in that?"
Honour be damned, the Crest said. There is more to life than honour. You of all people should know that, Dante.
The three men turned back to see Mai and Rai waving from inside the citadel gates. Beyond them, a column of smoke drifted from the burning funeral pyre, creating a road to the heavens. Dante waved to the siblings, then set off down the mountainside, his travelling companions following him.
"It's strange," Dante commented. "My Crest has been surprisingly busy these past three days, ever since it bonded with the Mukari's Crest."
"What's strange about that?" Flintlock asked.
"When I put on the headdress, I heard the voice of the Mukari's Crest, and it was distinctly female." Dante paused, waiting for a reply from his Crest. "I was wondering if somebody not too far from me has been playing away recently."
A long silence followed.
"Well?" Spatchcock asked eagerly. "What did your Crest say?"
Dante smirked. "Nothing I could repeat in polite company."
"Since when have we been polite company?" Spatchcock asked Flintlock.
"Just shut up and walk," the Brit replied grumpily.
"I dare say Flintlock is right." Dante pulled his coat closer around himself, shivering in a cold wind that blew from the north. "Bojemoi. It's a long hike back to civilisation from here."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Bishop was born and raised in New Zealand, becoming a daily newspaper journalist at eighteen years old. He emigrated to Britain in 1990 and was editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine and then 2000 AD, before becoming a freelance writer. His previous novels include three starring Judge Dredd (for Virgin Books) and four featuring Doctor Who (for Virgin and the BBC). He also writes non-fiction books and articles, audio dramas, comics and has been a creative consultant on three forthcoming video games. If you see Bishop in public, do not approach him - alert the nearest editor and stand well back. Bishop's previous contributions to Black Flame are Judge Dredd: Bad Moon Rising, Nikolai Dante: The Strangelove Gambit and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Suffer the Children.
