The Perfect Sun
Page 36
“Yes, Master.” Zaguri turned and looked up at the house again.
“Now come with me,” Marduk said and took Merry’s arm again. “We need to get away from these things and give Zaguri time to do what he is good at.”
Merry allowed Marduk to pull her along, past the dark, foreboding structure that had been Mark’s barn. There were no animals there now. The place was fading rapidly or rather, transforming into something far more sinister than Lothian, Scotland on a mist-shrouded night.
“Where are we going?” She asked him when she had gathered some of her wits about her.
“Some of your kinsmen are waiting for us in the rocks,” he told her and then caught her when she stumbled on the hem of her dress. For the first time, she realized that she wore a dress from around the mid eighteenth century. She gathered the skirts angrily in her hands and raised them past her knees, exposing the obligatory ruffled underdrawers that reached her calves and white stockings beneath them.
“Who? Who is waiting for us?”
“The King and Queen of Britain and two more of Adar’s sons,” he answered, but did not look back at her “and his wife, Lily. A lovely woman. Quite the little fireball. I haven’t the slightest idea how they will explain you to her.”
“Oh, my God!” Meredith stopped in her tracks momentarily, and then hurried after him when a wolf howled away to the north in the woods.
But her worries about Mark and Lily were dwarfed by the sight that awaited them inside the mouth of what appeared to be a small cave. A great, stone table had been erected against the rear wall. Torches blazed in iron brackets on the wall, it seemed they had walked directly into one of the outer rings of Dante’s Inferno.
Her ‘kinsmen’ sat on stone benches in front of the table and behind the table was a singular figure, dressed in a billowing black robe. At first, Meredith mistook him for the grim reaper, but he had heavy, fleshy fingers rather than bones protruding from the sleeves of his robes, and he held a long quill pen in one hand. A book was opened on the table in front of him and a stone hammer or gavel lay beside the book. His face was stern, unsmiling, behind a long, black beard. His eyes were black and deep. Not at all friendly in appearance.
When they entered the cavern, Luke Andrew jumped to his feet and started toward her.
“Mother!” He said, but further comments were cut short by a loud booming knock and a deep voice, inhuman in timbre.
“Sit down!”
Luke Andrew complied quickly and dragged Meredith down beside him on the bench with one finger in front of his lips and a desperate look in his eyes.
“What is this?” Meredith asked and looked around at the stricken faces of the people in front of her.
“Quiet, woman!” The figure behind the table banged his stone gavel again. “Court is in session here. I will have quiet. One more display of disrespect, and I will banish you to the Halls of Dust and Ashes, Master Ramsay.”
“Forgive me, Your Eminence,” Luke muttered and shook his head when Meredith opened her mouth to speak.
She closed her mouth and looked at Luke Matthew, who had turned around on the bench in front of her. He, too, shook his head slightly. Queen Meredith sat staring at her without blinking. Lily Ramsay was clutching her other son’s arm very tightly and the Dove was looking at Merry with a decidedly curious expression on his face.
Marduk sat down beside her and took her hand in his, patting it solicitously.
After a moment, he rose and addressed their ‘judge’.
“Lord Kinmalla,” Marduk said and bowed low before the forty-fourth of his powers. “I would request a short cessation of deliberations while I explain to Lord Nanna the charges brought against her.”
Kinmalla raised his chin slightly and narrowed his dark eyes at Meredith.
“Lord Nanna may consult with Lord Marduk for a measure three glimmers,” the judge pronounced, rose immediately and exited the chamber by way of a low tunnel to the right of the table.
“Lord Nanna?” Meredith turned on Marduk.
“Lord Kinmalla does not distinguish you from Nanna… John Paul,” Marduk whispered and then shrugged.
“Who is this Lord Kinmalla?” She asked and glanced at Lily Ramsay who was still staring at her.
“He is the judge of the gods, my dear.” Marduk was patting her hand again, but she didn’t notice it anymore. “You and I and your son, Luke, are on trial at the moment. As soon as I can extract your dear Adar from his present predicament, he will be here as well. I’m afraid we are all in trouble to some degree or another.”
“How could this happen? Where did he come from?” She asked in a low voice.
Lily had gotten up and Mark was arguing with her in whispers. Queen Meredith was standing very near Lily and Luke Matthew was whispering in Luke Andrew’s ear. “What about them?” She jerked her head at the rest of them.
“Kinmalla is the personification of a power that was placed at my disposal eons ago. It was Adar’s suggestion. Kinmalla was judge of the elder gods, the sleeping gods,” Marduk explained. “I thought he would overlook us, and go after Huber, but apparently we have matured to the point of being classified as elder gods.”
“I’m a bit illiterate when it comes to these things,” she admitted and kept one eye on Lily. The woman was not taking the presence of two Merry’s very well. “The elder gods are sleeping? Like Mark Andrew slept after he tried to go back in time?”
“In a way, yes, like that,” Marduk affirmed.
“So he has nothing against the rest of us?” She asked again.
“He has nothing against any of us. It is simple his job to see that we behave as gods should,” Marduk explained. “Not an easy thing to do, I suppose.”
“But why is Luke Andrew on trial? Surely he…”
“He is the son of Nanna and Adar. He is a bit young, but he has committed a few atrocities of his own.”
“I see.”
“But Luke Matthew and this mortal one are the sons of John Larmenius and Lily Ramsay. Two mortals.”
“You’ve lost me,” she slumped and closed her eyes.
“John Larmenius was a monk who lived on the isle of Cyprus some several ages ago. Shortly after I discovered Adar hiding out in the form of a sorcerer in the court of King Arthur in Sidon, he left the Holy Lands and returned to Northumberland, taking John Larmenius with him. By the time I found his traces again, he was already becoming a legend. The sorcerer had passed on into oblivion or wherever these mortals go… another incarnation? John Larmenius had become Adar’s physical vehicle and the lovely Lady Ramsay, wife of Sir Timothy had become the receptacle for creating a completely new identity for him in the form of Mark Ramsay.”
“Merlin, the Magician… I wonder what ever happened to John Larmenius.” Queen Merry’s voice very near them made Meredith jump. She looked up into her own blue eyes and flinched. She hadn’t seen the Queen in quite some time. “I made quite a study of Merlin or Myrrdyn when I lived at St. Patrick’s before Galen was born.” Her voice was very quiet, and she had a faraway look in her eyes. “I was a terrible person back then, and I was terrible to you, Meredith.” She stuck out her hand and Meredith took it hesitantly. “I didn’t understand things as I do now,” Merry continued. “I’m sorry. I apologize for my thoughtless behavior and my attitude toward you. I know now you were only trying to help me. I treated Mark Andrew and Luke Matthew bad as well and he is an angel for pity’s sake. I would have failed the angel test for sure.”
Meredith nodded in confusion. She had no idea what angel test Merry was babbling about.
“No, Daddy is an angel,” Luke Andrew spoke up. “And we are in deep shit here.”
“Luke!” Meredith admonished her son’s language automatically.
“Can’t you do something about this… this hanging judge?” Merry asked Marduk. “Surely you can. You called him, you can send him back. That should be simple.”
“I’m afraid it’s not simple at all,” Marduk told her. “If I’d thoug
ht this would happen, I would never have summoned him.”
“Speaking of trouble…” Meredith turned on the two Lukes. “Why did you leave your father at the house with that thing?”
“What thing?!” Lily broke away from Mark’s grip and advanced on them.
“That…”
“Shhh!” Luke Andrew put one finger to his mother’s lips. “Grandmother knows about the house fire. She just doesn’t know about you. Grandmother, this is Nicole Ramsay, my twin sister.”
Lily placed one hand on her throat and frowned at Meredith, who returned the frown. Lily turned on Luke Matthew and the Dove.
“Why didn’t you tell me John Paul had a sister?” She asked them, but neither of them had time to answer before the judge returned and they were forced to resume their seats.
“Oh my God,” Meredith muttered under her breath.
“The accused will stand whilst the charges are read,” Kinmalla began without preamble.
Meredith stood shakily. She could not believe this.
“Lord Nanna, son of Anu, Keeper of the First Gate, you stand accused of the following crimes: Impersonating a mortal woman, impersonating a mortal man, illegally seducing a god by means of treachery, illegally seducing a woman by magickal applications, illegally seducing a mortal man by omission, illegally seducing a Demi-god by omission, illegally engaging in magickal practices for personal gain, illegally engaging in promiscuous activities with lesser gods through omission, illegally begetting male Nephilim as a result of improper philandering in foreign legions, illegally calling forth gods and Demi-gods for personal pleasure, interfering in the affairs of mortals without authority, illegally departing from the First Gate without proper authority, illegally destroying holy artifacts without authority, engaging in and winning battles with mortal armies without proper authority, engaging armies of supra-human origins without proper authority, giving birth to children begotten by mortal man, that is, Nephilim, illegally conceiving and giving birth to immortal children without proper authority. Do you understand the crimes of which you stand accused, Lord Nanna?”
Meredith stared at the judge in shocked silence.
“How do you plead to the charges? Guilty or innocent?”
“I… I… I…” Meredith glanced at Marduk and he frowned slightly. “I must throw myself on the mercy of the court, Your Honor.”
Finished.
Quotations taken from King James Version Bible Old Testament Books: Daniel, I & 11 Kings, I & II Chronicles, I & II Samuel, Ezekial. New Testament Books: The Revelation of St. John, Jude, Mark, Luke, Matthew. The Ars Notaria: Lapis Philosophorum, The Golden Tractate of Hermes, The Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, the Testimony of the Mad Arab and the Necronomicon.
Contact the author at the following places:
Email: BrendanCarroll7@gmail.com
Author Blog: http://brendancarroll.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @BrendanCarroll7
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedications
Prologue
Chapter One of Sixteen He shall recount his worthies
Chapter Two of Sixteen Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts
Chapter Three of Sixteen He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers
Chapter Four of Sixteen God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth
Chapter Five of Sixteen they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings
Chapter Six of Sixteen his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him
Chapter Seven of Sixteen Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?
Chapter Eight of Sixteen Where is the way where light dwelleth?
Chapter Nine of Sixteen Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Chapter Ten of Sixteen Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?
Chapter Eleven of Sixteen Hast thou an arm like God?
Chapter T welve of Sixteen And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further
Chapter Thir teen of Sixteen Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath
Chapter Four teen of Sixteen and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Chapter Fifteen of Sixteen and as for darkness, where is the place thereof?
Chapter Sixteen of Sixteen Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?