The Morning Star kt-3

by Robin Bridges

  Not much remained of the forecourt leading to the temple except for a few carvings and the stairs, which led to the upper court. The outer hall had carvings of Egyptian gods and the pharaohs bearing them gifts. Giant columns stood in the inner hall and were decorated with even more carvings of gods and hieroglyphics. Behind the inner hall, several small sanctuaries had been excavated. In the last one stood the altar of Osiris.

  Mala and I found a small alcove near the altar where she helped me change into the linen robe. It was sleeveless with a beautiful beaded collar of lapis and jasper. Thankfully, she did not notice the Talisman of Isis I was wearing underneath. She brushed my hair and left it down. I had lost most of the pins to hold it up anyway. She stood back to look at me and shook her head. “You do not look Egyptian by any stretch of the imagination, but you do look beautiful. His Imperial Majesty will be pleased.”

  I blushed. I felt naked in the linen robe, even with my modern underthings still on beneath. My bare arms and feet were exposed in a shocking manner. Mala had not allowed me to replace my boots and stockings and had consented to my keeping the camisole and petticoats only after I begged her.

  The afternoon had grown late, and the sun was beginning to set far to the west. I began to smell a heavy perfume in the air. Danilo had lit the frankincense at the altar.

  Mala nodded. “It is time.”

  Danilo had said this ritual would somehow aid us in finding the Morning Star and would ready him to face Papus. But I could not help thinking that any ritual requiring such elaborate preparations must be for something much darker than merely seeking a lost object. Or merely for seeking protection from a foe. Disturbing ancient gods was not something even a lich tsar would undertake lightly, I would hope.

  The sanctuary holding the altar of Osiris was a small square chamber supported by four enormous columns. Each column had carvings of Osiris and Isis and hieroglyphics begging for the deities’ intercessions. The room was dark except for the two gas lanterns Danilo had lit. A tiny skylight high above us let in fresh air but little light, as the sun was sinking fast. I worried for our two young guides waiting by the animals outside.

  Mala turned to leave the sacred chamber, but Danilo stopped her. “Your assistance is needed as well, my dear,” he told her. As his gaze flickered over me briefly, I caught disapproval or possibly even disappointment in his eyes. Now what have I done? I wondered.

  Mala looked surprised but pleased. She took the place he indicated behind the altar, opposite him. He motioned for me to stand to the left of the altar. I saw a carved panel on the wall behind me that looked as if a doorway had been sealed. The paint on the figures could still be seen, the dark brown of the people’s skin and the blue and reds of their clothing. Two jackals stood guard patiently behind them. The guides had said that Seti’s successor, Ramses the Second, had blocked off several doorways in the temple following Seti’s death. I wondered what had been behind the panel.

  The fragrance of the incense was making me dizzy, and I remembered it had been hours since I’d had any food and days since I’d had anything substantial. All I’d been given on the caravan out to the temples had been water. I stood in my ceremonial robe, barefoot on a dusty stone floor, dreaming about a nice roast game hen or a lamb steak.

  The lich tsar had translated the ritual in his neat handwriting from the ancient Egyptian into Russian. He rubbed a sweet-smelling oil on my forehead, then handed me the new scrolls. “Begin reading, Katerina. The ritual will explain what must be done.”

  I took a deep breath. Perhaps we would not be raising anyone from the dead, for once, since there was no tomb here. This room was the alleged burial place of the god Osiris, but the sarcophagus had long since been removed. Still, I could feel the power in the space. The air was charged with magic. I hoped the talisman would protect me from any evil that we might conjure.

  “Hurry up!” Mala said, eager to see the ritual completed.

  Danilo merely smiled but used his thumb to rub the oil on Mala’s forehead as well as his own.

  I glanced down at the scroll and began.

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  “ ‘Hail, Power of Heaven, opener of the way for those who have before,’ ” I read. “ ‘We have brought you cakes and ale and joints of meat. Hear the pleas of the departed.’ ”

  Danilo placed a small red stone on the altar. It was carved in the shape of a scarab beetle.

  I felt my cold light rise as I continued to read. The hair stood on the back of my neck as the energy in the room rose higher and higher.

  “ ‘Hail, Power of Heaven, who rises in the east and sets in the west. Restore the beloved into this vessel before you.’ ”

  The red scarab on the altar began to move. It looked as if something were inside it, trying to get out. Mala’s eyes grew big with fear. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever witnessed a formal ritual before. Unfortunately, I was becoming an expert at them. Did Danilo expect something or someone to be drawn into the scarab, or were we coaxing something out? Perhaps we would see a ghostly presence above the altar. I read on.

  “ ‘Hail, Power of Heaven, who art exalted above the stars, I have come to you in a purified state. Restore the beloved into the vessel before you.’ ” It seemed strange to me to use the term “beloved.” I wondered if there was something wrong with Danilo’s translation. But I saw a sliver of cold light rising up out of the scarab.

  Danilo smiled triumphantly. Without warning, he reached forward and grabbed Mala, twisting her as he dragged her across the altar. There was a golden flash as his other hand came up to her heart.

  Mala screamed. And then she was silenced and became still. Her blood dripped onto the altar, bathing the scarab. As Danilo’s dagger fell to the floor with a clatter, he gently laid Mala’s body across the stone altar. He placed the bloodied scarab on her chest.

  “Continue!” he shouted to me.

  “What have you done?” I said, not believing what had just happened.

  “We needed a vessel for the spirit. Mala seemed the perfect choice. She will make an attractive vessel, don’t you think?”

  “A vessel for whose spirit?”

  He picked the dagger back up and pointed it at me. “There is no time to explain. Continue the ritual or you will die with the dancer.”

  My throat was dry, and my hands were shaking. I could not believe he had killed Mala in such a cold manner. All for a sword. Danilo grabbed me, the bloodied knife shoved up against my heart. But it was the lich tsar’s cold eyes staring at me. “Do not think you are safe, my dear. If you refuse to read the ritual, I will kill you and hunt you down in the Graylands and kill you again.”

  The cold light rising up from the scarab hung in the air like a silver thread. It was waiting for me. Just like Danilo. I could feel my own cold light rising up inside as well. It was surging forward dangerously. If I did not complete the ritual, what would happen to my own light? I felt as if I were losing control. “ ‘Hail, Power of Heaven, who journeys beyond time and space, restore the beloved into this vessel.’ ”

  The silver thread of cold light began to move toward Mala’s mouth. It glided through the air like a serpent. It made my skin crawl with revulsion. The cold light of this person was stealing Mala’s body. I could not see Mala’s cold light. Where had it gone? I wondered if I could travel to the Graylands after the ritual and find her. This was a horrible way to die.

  As the cold light of the beloved slid into Mala’s mouth, her corpse seemed to take a deep breath. And she opened her eyes.

  With a sickening feeling, I realized who the beloved was.

  She sat up with a wicked, gleaming smile. Blood was still drying on the front of her black gown, but it did not seem to affect her. The lich tsar picked up her hand and kissed it. “I have longed for this day, Johanna.”

  “As have I,” she said. Then Princess Cantacuzene turned to me. “I have wanted to kill this young necromancer for a long time.”

  “Why?” I whispered. The evil vampire had been a sort o
f mentor to me, helping me discover my dark powers. She’d given me her copy of A Necromancer’s Companion. And she’d tried to protect me from the Montenegrins.

  Or had she? “You planned all of this long ago, didn’t you?” I said, backing away from the altar. “You made sure that Danilo used the Talisman of Isis for his ascension. You wanted Konstantin to have a powerful sorcerer’s body to possess.”

  “And I would have picked your body to return in, if you hadn’t been protected.” She reached over and tore my linen gown, revealing the Talisman of Isis. “Fortunately, Konstantin had a second plan waiting in the wings.”

  I glanced at the lich tsar, whose eyes were shining a bright green now. I had no idea if any part of Danilo still existed in there. “You had her soul hidden in the scarab all this time?” I asked him. “I thought vampires did not have souls.”

  “There’s much that you do not know, silly girl. Most of us do have souls, and I performed the ritual myself when I realized what Militza had done to me,” Princess Cantacuzene said. “I would have returned to my own body if you and the tsar’s son had not destroyed it.”

  It made me sick to think of that day. George had to cut her head off when she’d killed my friend Dr. Kruglevski. “When I find the Morning Star, I will sever your head again,” I said, my voice deadly calm.

  Her cruel laugh echoed in the tiny crypt.

  I looked from her to the crown prince, still attempting to piece everything together. “How did Danilo even know the scarab existed?”

  “Mala has kept the scarab safe with her all this time,” Princess Cantacuzene said. She stretched out her arms and examined her hands—Mala’s hands—as if she were trying on a new pair of gloves. “She sought out the crown prince when she saw signs of Konstantin’s return. She has always been faithful to me.”

  “And this is how you repay her!” I exclaimed.

  “The greatest gift,” the princess said with a smile, “is immortality.”

  “Where is her soul now?” I demanded. If it was the last thing I did, I would make sure Mala’s soul was at peace. Even if it damned my own soul in the process.

  “Do you wish to join her?” Princess Cantacuzene’s sharp fangs looked odd in Mala’s mouth. “That is part of this new plan, isn’t it, my love?” She held out her hand, and Danilo placed the bloody dagger in it. As graceful as a cat, the princess drew herself up and slid down from the bloody altar.

  I glanced around, trying to fight the panic that was fluttering in my chest. There was nowhere for me to run. The tiny chamber had only the one door, guarded by the Grigori.

  The Grigori. “You can carry the Morning Star. Both you and Konstantin can walk the lands of the living as well as the lands of the dead.” My heart filled with dread. She was the Queen of Swords.

  “Yes. And soon we will find Papus, and then we will retrieve the sword. My Konstantin will carry it back to St. Petersburg. He will lead the Grigori to battle against the bogatyr and his precious Light Court queen. And I will be empress, Katerina. You, my dear, have missed your opportunity.”

  I ducked around one of the columns as she leapt at me. I dodged the lich tsar and grabbed the handle of the door. I whispered the Sheult spell under my breath, but I only managed to draw a few wisps of darkness around me. I was too scared to concentrate.

  The Grigori would no doubt chase me, but at least I had a chance outside of the tiny sanctuary. I tore open the door and my body collided with someone standing in the inner hall of the temple. Hands grabbed me by the arms. I screamed.

  “Katiya?” The familiar face looking down at me in shock was the most beautiful face in the world.

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  “George!” I pushed him back so I could close the door to the sanctuary. But it was too late. Konstantin and Johanna rushed out after me, stopping as they saw a band of Grigori and the tsar’s two sons, sabers drawn. Papus stood behind them, a pistol in one hand and a spell book in the other. He gave me a cheeky salute with the pistol. I scowled at him.

  The Grigori who’d been guarding the door were nowhere to be seen. I did not know if George and the others had frightened them off or if they’d fought. I hadn’t heard any sort of scuffle in the hall from inside the sanctuary, but then again, I’d been quite distracted.

  I wanted nothing more than to fall into George’s arms and cover him with kisses. But the lich tsar and his newly risen consort had to be stopped. And I was afraid ordinary weapons were not going to be enough.

  “Sheult Anubis!” I shouted, this time not manipulating my own shadows but those of George and Nicholas. They momentarily vanished from sight.

  “You can’t protect them, Duchess,” Konstantin shouted. He had fed off Mala’s blood and now his powers as a lich tsar were stronger than before. He threw the dagger and it cut straight through the shadows, scattering them into oblivion. My heart stopped in my throat. The dagger missed hitting anyone, but now George and Nicholas were no longer hidden.

  Johanna had not fed, so she was still weak from her journey back to the land of the living. Mala’s body had spilled a lot of blood, and then the lich tsar had drunk from her as well. Johanna would need more blood soon. It had been far too long since her soul had been locked away.

  I tried to stay between her and the Romanov brothers. At least, I thought gratefully, she did not carry the Morning Star right now. I had to keep her and Konstantin away from Papus. Since both had returned from the land of the dead, there was nothing to prevent them from traveling across the Graylands. And if they entered the Graylands, there was no way we could return to St. Petersburg in time to stop them from attacking the tsar.

  Konstantin was drawing a magic circle around himself and Johanna while she fought off the Grigori. The creatures did not have blood, so she could not feed from them. She would have to attack me or George or Nicholas. Or Papus, who was standing behind a pillar, shouting out spells and trying to shoot the lich tsar. Princess Cantacuzene decided to try for the tsarevitch.

  “Nicky, why are you trying to hurt me?” she asked, batting her eyes. She pulled back her head covering and shook her black curls loose.

  “Mathilde?” The tsarevitch was confused for only a moment, but she used it to her advantage.

  Johanna pushed him back against one of the columns, her fangs and claws out to attack.

  George rushed at her with his saber. “Katerina, why is the ballerina from the Mariinsky Theater trying to eat my brother?”

  “Because Princess Cantacuzene came back from the dead and has taken over her body,” I shouted over the fighting. The Grigori kept coming at Konstantin but were unable to get past his magical defenses. He was chanting something, but I could not make out what it was over the rest of the noise in the room. George reached Nicholas and the two of them circled the princess. She was backed into the circle with Konstantin.

  “No, wait!” I yelled, but as soon as her feet entered his sacred circle, the lich tsar grabbed her arm and the two of them disappeared in a blinding flash of cold light.

  “Merde!” I said. There was no way of telling where they had gone. “We’ve lost them. But they will be back. I’m sure of it. They need Papus to reach the Morning Star. He’s the only mage initiated who can access the seventh gate in the Graylands.”

  George helped his brother up from the ground, where he’d been knocked in the fighting. He brushed the dust off of his jacket and loosened the top buttons so he could breathe easily. “Now, Katerina, start at the beginning.”

  Papus took the Grigori and went into the altar sanctuary to look around. Bewildered, Nicholas followed them.

  I took a deep breath. But before I could start, George interrupted me again.

  “No, wait.” He walked over to me calmly, took me up in his arms, and kissed me. Passionately. “Do you have any idea how crazy I’ve been looking for you?” he murmured. “I never should have taken you out of Russia. I’m so sorry, Katiya.”

  I put my fingers on his lips, my forehead touching his. “It’s not your fault, I p
romise. He would have found me in St. Petersburg just as easily.”

  “Danilo wouldn’t dare be seen in the city. He would just be arrested again.”

  “He’s not really Danilo anymore. Konstantin was bonded to him through the ascension ritual, and slowly, the lich tsar has taken over.”

  “Did he hurt you?” George’s blue eyes searched my face anxiously. “I don’t care who he really is. I promise I will kill him if he touched you.”

  I shook my head. “He needed me … untouched for the ritual. But he kept saying we were going to be married. I think he was going to use my body to bring back Princess Cantacuzene. But the Talisman of Isis protected me somehow. So he ended up sacrificing Mala instead.”

  George didn’t let go of me. His kisses were possessive. “The ballerina? How did she get involved in all of this?”

  “She was a loyal servant of the princess. Years ago, Johanna saved her mother’s life. Mala was a wild fae. She did not belong to either of the Petersburg courts.”

  “And did she flirt with my brother at the princess’s command?”

  I shook my head again. “At Danilo’s. Or Konstantin’s. She was supposed to be dangling after both of you.”

  George’s short laugh made my heart dance a mazurka. “She never had a chance with me,” he said, his lips traveling up the side of my jaw. “Especially when you run around dressed like this. I take it this is the rage of Egyptian fashion?”

  I laughed, despite the tears running down my face. I’d forgotten all about the ridiculous priestess costume I was wearing. “I don’t know what Mala did with my clothes. I had boots and stockings when we arrived at Abydos.”

  He swept me up in his arms with one more heart-stopping kiss. “I’m sure we’ll find them somewhere.”

  “Georgi?” The tsarevitch returned from inside the sanctuary with the scroll in his hand. There was blood smeared on it. “I think you should take a look at this.”