“I daresay you speak the truth in that regard, Sir,” she acquiesced. “I will tell you this: you are not in the overworld, you are in the Abyss in a special section I furbished for your comfort and recreation until my plans could be completed. Further than that, I will not say where you are. If you expect to return to the overworld, you may wish to change your plans for a while and a bit until things are more settled there, and a safe place is ascertained for your disposal. Now, come, let us have the Healer while there is still time. No harm will come to him. You have my assurances in that regard.”
“Then you admit you are responsible for bringing us here?” he asked stubbornly ignoring her urgency.
“I do and I will release you as soon as it is safe to do so.” She nodded slightly. “I have some treasures that might interest your son, Nebo. He will need them in the future when he returns to the overworld I think.”
“Oh? What treasures are those?” Edgard shifted his weight and smiled at her. He was thoroughly enjoying his advantage over her.
“Father,” Simon spoke softly from behind him. “The Queen has rendered us valuable aid in the recent past if you will recall. I would accompany her before it is too late.”
Galen cleared his throat loudly and Corrigan coughed at the same time. They both assumed that the Healer was simply trying to leave town before the Master found out what had happened to Lucio and Vanni and Sir Ramsay. It was no small wonder the eagle-eyed d’Brouchart had not already missed them from the small crowd filling the courtyard. It had taken a great deal of convincing to keep Catharine and Roni from reporting the missing Italian and his son already.
“If we are in the Abyss, Madam,” Edgard raised his chin slightly, “then I must insist we be removed from this place and allowed to go to the Second Gate. I will take care of the rest from there.”
“You want to go to the gates?” Ereshkigal raised one eyebrow. She was beyond irritated with him.
“I would prefer to go where I may have some control over my environs, yes,” he told her. “Send us, and I will allow the Healer to leave with you.”
“We will leave together then,” Ereshkigal told him and then smiled as his people began to drop one by one to the grass in the courtyard.
“What are you doing?” He demanded in alarm as he perceived the trouble. Within seconds only himself and Simon were left standing. Everyone else lay crumpled in the courtyard, sleeping.
“If we are going, then let us be off,” she said and raised both her arms over her head. When she brought them down again, the Villa and everything in it, including the occupants, were gone. Only a vast dark cavern filled with the skittering sounds of unseen creatures and the sound of dripping water broke the silence.
(((((((((((((
Marduk stood very still as his grandfather inspected him minutely in the bluish light provided by Omar’s magick.
“Hmmmm.” Anu stepped back and rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. The beard he sported was close-cropped, thick, black, but shot through with white streaks. His agelessness was quite apparent though he in no way appeared old, or stooped, or affected in the least by the ravages of the long eons he had worn his form. “Let us make him in our image,” he said the words softly and then laughed. “So this is what you finally settled on?”
“Pardon me, Your Honor.” Marduk lowered his head and looked at his grandfather from under his brows. “I don’t understand the question.”
“Your form,” Anu said. “You look nothing like your father. Is this by accident or intent?”
“Design,” the Lord of the Sixth Gate answered quickly. “I do nothing by accident, My Lord.”
“You would not call me ‘father’?” Anu raised one eyebrow.
“You never called me ‘son’.”
“A good answer… Son,” Anu retorted, returned the smile and clapped the startled Demi-god on the shoulder. “Never kowtow, I say, never stammer, never stutter, just say what is and get it done. Simple. So what is this problem?”
The elder Lord of the Moon jerked his head toward the clustered figures huddled on the floor around the downed angel.
“Lord Abaddon has been grievously wounded,” Marduk explained stiffly. “His lifeblood is running out quickly now. Lord Lucifer informs me the Queen has gone to seek help for him.”
“Ahhh, is that truth?” Anu asked and went to inspect the dark angel.
Abaddon lay where Ereshkigal had left him, curled in a ball around his mighty sword, breathing only shallowly, oblivious to his surroundings. “Tell me what happened, my son,” Anu spoke to Nergal who knelt on the stones beside Abaddon.
Nergal filled his grandfather in briefly on the hows and whys of Abaddon’s condition while Anu ran his hands slowly over the angel’s back and wings. When he was finished, he stood again.
“And this Healer? Would he be related to me?”
“No!” Marduk answered the question quickly.
“No?” Anu turned to look at his grandson in surprise.
“I think not, grandfather,” Nergal continued. “He is human or, at most, a Halfling.”
“Hafling?” Anu seemed very amused upon hearing the word and this further infuriated Marduk, who was extremely unhappy to see the Skyfather. Things had gone from bad to worse. Just as he thought to breathe a sigh of relief at having Huber gone, and being rescued from Lord Kinmalla by the destructive frenzy of Abaddon’s conflict with the fledgling horde, here was another problem, staggering in its enormity. Potentially devastating to creation itself.
“His father is Lord of the Second Gate,” Lucifer spoke up for the first time. “Once worshipped by man under the name of Nebo among others.”
“Nebo?” Anu’s smile broadened and he leaned toward Marduk.
“So it is said,” Marduk snarled softly and looked away from him.
“So you still make no claim to your son?” Anu’s smile faded.
“He is not my son,” Marduk retorted stubbornly, but did not look up. He had not claimed Nebo since the death of his beloved Nabu. Nebo could never replace his older brother in his father’s heart, and he resented the very idea that another could have dared to do so. Nebo, on the other hand, had not exactly tried to endear himself to his father. It had all been his mother’s idea. An ill-fated attempt to soothe Lord Marduk’s grief by presenting him with another son. Nebo, on the other hand, had felt not the slightest obligation to soothe or comfort his father’s fevered brow. He’d had other things to do.
Anu nodded his head slowly, and then sat down on a loose boulder. He would wait here for his daughter. Lucifer and Ashmodel kept one eye each on the moon god as they sat beside their fallen brother in the twilight. Omar and his sister had gone off together in search of water that Abaddon had requested before passing into unconsciousness. When they returned a short while later with a leather pouch filled with water, the meeting between Anu and the Prophet was electric. No one had warned the Lord of the Moon that Omar Kadif was presently expected to rejoin them, and Omar had no reason to expect that his great-grandfather would show up in such a remote place. The scene played for the party as if in slow motion. At first, Omar had seemed happy to see someone had come to help them.
Dunya, on the other hand, was not fooled. She clutched Lucifer’s pouch to her in terror as she peeked at Anu from around her brother’s arm. Omar had mistaken Anu for one of his more familiar kinsman.
“Luke!” he said as a smile lit up his face.
Anu stood slowly and locked eyes with him.
The truth became immediately evident as the intervening space between them filled with visible currents of shimmering white light ebbing and flowing between them. Nergal and Marduk watched the exchange in fascination.
When the light finally faded between them, Anu was frowning, but Omar was smiling.
“My grandfather,” Omar’s first words startled them as if from a deep sleep. The Prophet knelt on his knees in front of Anu and bowed his head. The Skyfather placed his hands on top of his head, br
iefly as if blessing him.
After a few moments, Omar got up quickly and dragged Dunya closer.
“Grandfather, this is my sister, Dunya, your great-granddaughter, I told you about,” he continued to speak excitedly. There was no doubt Omar was extremely pleased at having found a new relative.
Anu’s frown lessened only slightly as he examined the frightened woman.
“She is not of the family,” Anu announced at last.
“Only in looks, only in looks,” Omar ignored the ominous tone in his voice and kept his demeanor positive. “I can vouch for her behavior, sir. She is an adept in many arts. A bit shy and retiring, but none-the-less worthy of praise. Fashioned in the same manner as myself. Reborn into the world anew just as your daughter, Ereshkigal. If I had possessed her presence of mind years ago, I would have suffered much less. She is my love and my life and I will not be parted from her again.”
His last words caused others in the room to stir slightly. This was news to all of them. Lucifer and Ashmodel had never seen Dunya before, and their contact with the Prophet had been little or none. Nergal and Marduk, on the other hand, were surprised to hear that the Prophet placed such a value on his sister. They had noticed her in the background during the desert campaigns against Huber and Jozsef Daniel, but neither of them had paid her any real attention.
“You would do better to find someone of your own ilk,” Anu said shortly and then turned at the sound of approaching footsteps, leaving Omar with a perplexed look on his face.
Two Boggans bearing oil lamps came into view, followed by the smaller form of the Mystic Healer. Simon shaded his eyes against the blue light in the passage where they stood, and the Boggans stopped abruptly, growling and mewling. When the Queen swept around and past them to learn what the delay might be, she too stopped in her tracks at the sight of Anu, standing near Omar.
“Lord Adar!” She blurted immediately. “It is about time you came to clear up….” Her words faltered as she perceived the differences between this person and Lord Adar. Her mouth fell open when she recognized the Lord of the Moon standing in the shimmering glow.
“Father,” she breathed the word and hurriedly placed herself on the stone in front of him, much as Omar had done. “I am honored to receive you in my humble home.”
“Please, daughter.” Anu lifted his daughter from the floor by one arm. “Do not try to flatter me, my child. Get along with your work, and then we will talk.”
Ereshkigal cast a nervous eye at the sight of Abaddon still curled on the stone at the feet of Ashmodel and Lucifer.
“Healer,” she signaled to Simon to come forward. He had stopped near the mouth of one of the adjoining caves and stood between the two terrified Boggans.
Simon gave them wide berth and knelt beside the dark angel. Blue orbs darted and bobbed erratically about the enclosure, ricocheting wildly off the walls, returning again and again, frantically circling The Healer’s head.
“Give him room,” Omar spoke up. “He cannot concentrate.”
“Clear the passage,” Anu’s voice caught them all off guard.
The Boggans ran howling, back the way they had come. Lucifer and Ashmodel obeyed him with almost the same alacrity in the opposite direction. Omar took hold of Dunya and escorted her to a nearby niche, out of sight of Simon and Anu. Dunya clung to his arm, but took the opportunity to ply him with questions about his great-grandfather and the reason for his displeasure with her.
Nergal and Marduk hesitated at first and then joined the Queen when she stalked out of the area, leaving Anu and Simon alone with Abaddon.
Simon cringed away from Anu when he knelt beside him.
“You must gather your wits, my son,” the Lord of the Moon told him. “You possess enormous power, but it is scattered. You must focus it for maximum effect.”
“I find it hard to work under these conditions,” Simon said with as much courage as he could muster and pushed on the heavy form of the dark demon over on his back, arranging his wings under him as best he could.
“Do you mean the caves or the company?”
“Both,” Simon answered shortly.
The blue orbs had settled down a bit and were now circling high above his head. Too high.
“Allow me,” Anu said softly and stood beside him. He raised his arms and gathered the orbs from the air as if they were physical items. They coalesced in his hands, forming one brilliant blue ball of energy.
Simon watched this with a mixture of horror and fascination.
“These souls attach to you with fine loyalty,” Anu looked down into the glowing sphere. “So much power, so much love. You are, indeed, a worthy child, blessed by the gods.”
“I believe in only the one God, sir,” Simon told him.
“I must disagree with you,” Anu said as he released the ball. It hovered over Simon’s head, rotating slowly along a perpendicular axis. “You believe in me and you believe in the others. You worship only the creator.”
“Words,” Simon said softly and then placed hand on Abaddon’s brow. “He is very weak. Very little life remains here. It may be too late to draw him back.”
“It is never too late.” Anu knelt beside him again. “You know this very well. As long as the cord remains attached, it is never too late.”
“You apparently have not seen what I have seen, Your Grace.” Simon refused to be intimidated by Anu’s overpowering presence.
“You are bleeding,” Anu grasped his wrist suddenly and turned his hand palm up. Blood was oozing from between the bones of his arm just above his wrist. “You have suffered the abomination of the crucifixion? Why?!”
“Your Grace, I would remind you of the critical need for immediate action or else my suffering here will be in vain,” Simon said and looked steadily into his eyes.
“Well said. We will discuss it later,” Anu acquiesced and then smiled. “I will help you. This is a difficult win. Use the blood. Life is in the blood. Allow this creature to partake of your goodness.”
He took a bit of Simon’s blood on his forefinger and drew a crescent moon on Abaddon’s chest above his heart, then placed Simon’s hands on Abaddon’s chest over the symbol and pressed his own hands on top of the Healer’s. Simon said the prayer of healing and Anu caught him when he fell. He lowered the Knight’s limp form to the floor carefully and placed his hands at his side after inspecting the wounds in both wrists and his ankles. The Lord of the Moon bent over his great-grandson and placed one hand on his forehead before kissing him lightly on the lips. The blue orb split into its respective pieces and resumed the disorderly flow in the heights of the cavern.
“Sleep and rest, my son.” Lord Anu smiled down at him and then got up again. He checked the dark angel and found him breathing regularly. He raised his arms one more time and the blue orbs descended into the Healer and Simon smiled in his sleep.
“Reshki?!” He called over his shoulder and then turned to wait for his daughter.
Presently, she emerged from one of the dark tunnels.
“Come here, Daughter, and tell me what is passing.” He took her hand and sat her down beside him on the stone. “Tell me of my son’s works. You were born before him, the number of your days is very great and your heart belongs to him. Tell me how I should judge his works. Has he worked abominations or has he worked miracles? Does he serve himself still, or does he work for the betterment of all? How has he suffered, and does he now know why he suffers?”
Ereshkigal frowned slightly and looked as if the questions made her head hurt.
“Fear not for the demon, for he will be healed,” her father assured her. “Now begin.”
(((((((((((((
Nicole fell screaming into her bed and Luke fell directly on top of her, knocking the remaining breath from her, cutting her scream short. He came up quickly, climbed blindly out of the marble pit into the waiting arms of Bari Kadif. He fought wildly with Bari, and then Nicole screamed again as the gory figure of Asadarlu materialized in
the air above her and crashed down on her before she could move.
“Great God in Heaven!” Bari shouted and drew his sword as he fell back disengaging Luke Andrew. “What in God’s creation have you done, Nicole?”
Luke ran, stumbled, fell and got up again. He looked about Nicole’s bedchamber desperately before his eyes fell on a table full of weapons near the door. Within seconds, he had armed himself with a long, curved knife and a short dagger.
Nicole screamed again and then once more as the nasty creature used her body as a stepping stone from the bed, kicking and flinging cushions and pillows in all directions. The thing bellowed, gnashed its gruesome teeth and drooled on the marble tiles as it stepped up in front of Bari. Its eyes rolled in their lidless sockets, and then focused on Luke Andrew as he took another step backwards toward the door. It glanced at the Prophet’s son only briefly. Bari was not its target. It turned and headed directly for Luke.
Luke made a valiant effort to remain in the room with the hideous creature, but when he saw that Nicole was still alive, he shrieked uncontrollably and dashed through the door.
“That’s him!” Asaralia rushed to Bari’s side as he recovered his balance. “That’s Asadarlu! He wields the flaming sword!”
Barshak scrambled into the bed and helped Nicole disentangle herself from the coverlets there.
“After him!” Nicole shrieked at them. “Get him!”
The Wayward Godking Page 24
