‘I gave it to Blackrose.’
‘Is Blackrose coming?’ said Corthie.
‘No. She, and the rest of them, will be in Dragon Eyre by now. Only I was stupid enough to come here.’
‘What’s happening outside?’ said Belinda.
‘Sable broke open the gates,’ said Corthie, ‘and the Banner soldiers are fighting thousands of civilians who came up the ramp. The residence seems deserted; we hardly met any resistance on the way here, apart from a squad at the entrance. If we can get a Quadrant, we can come back here and take the Sextant with us. We’ll need to pick up Van and Sanguino first, then Aila and Kelsey, and anyone else we can find; and then we can go home.’
Belinda felt her chest constrict. ‘I am home, Corthie. Lostwell is my home.’
‘Yeah?’ said Sable. ‘Well, your home is in the process of tearing itself to pieces. Do you want to live or not?’
‘I want to get the Sextant working.’
‘What’s wrong with it?’ said Corthie.
Belinda raised the Weathervane. ‘It needs this. This is the missing piece, the key. Only, I don’t know where it’s supposed to fit.’
‘Is that the sword that Silva gave you?’
‘Yes, though she had no idea of its true significance. All she knew was that I had told her to keep it safe.’
Corthie walked up to the Sextant. ‘This brings back some bad memories,’ he said. He glanced at Belinda. ‘You saved me, back in Fordamere. Thank you. The two Ascendants… they…’
‘I know, Corthie,’ she said. ‘I watched it happen.’
‘They were too good for me.’
‘You tried to fight two at the same time.’
Sable crouched by the huge device. ‘If we can get this beast working, can we use it as a Quadrant?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then stop talking and get that sword over here. I can see several places where a blade would fit.’
‘That’s the problem,’ said Belinda, as she walked over. ‘I’ve tried many locations.’
‘Corthie,’ said Sable; ‘watch the stairs.’
‘Actually,’ said Belinda; ‘Corthie, go down one flight of stairs and into my rooms. Look for a long crate on the floor. There’s something inside for you. A gift.’
Corthie frowned. ‘Use your vision first; see if anyone’s there.’
Both women turned to the doorway.
‘It’s clear,’ said Sable.
‘Yes,’ said Belinda, ‘but be quick. I don’t know where Edmond is.’
Corthie clambered over the barricade and slipped from the room.
Sable and Belinda gazed at the Sextant.
‘Are all your powers back?’ said Sable.
‘I’m missing flow and stone.’
Sable half-smiled. ‘You’ve got all of the important ones, then. Are you really thinking of sacrificing yourself for this stupid world?’
‘Aren’t you doing the same thing? I thought you would have taken the chance to leave with Blackrose? Wasn’t that your plan? Why did you come back?’
‘For Corthie.’
‘You’re doing the same as me. We're risking everything to try to save what we love. For me, it’s Lostwell; for you, your nephew.’
‘We’re not the same, Belinda. And Lostwell’s doomed; Corthie isn’t. I intend to live through this, and find somewhere for me and Sanguino to settle. I wanted it to be Dragon Eyre, but right now, anywhere would do, even the damn Holdings. I don’t like you, Belinda, but Corthie loves you. Don’t throw your life away for a world that cannot be saved.’
‘My realm.’
‘In a matter of hours, your realm will consist of nothing but dust and corpses. If you could only…’
Sable’s voice tailed away as another strong rumble shook the tower. Dust floated down from the ceiling, and a painting fell from the wall, clattering over the polished floorboards. The chamber settled for a moment, and the two women glanced at each other, then the ceiling collapsed at the same time as the floor gave way. The walls tumbled in and the tower fell. Belinda lunged forwards as rubble bombarded them and covered Sable with her body, pushing her next to the Sextant as everything in the chamber plunged downwards. Darkness enveloped them amid the thunderous roar of collapsing masonry. The impact with the ground drove the breath from Belinda’s lungs, then a stone block struck her back and head, and she lost consciousness.
* * *
She awoke in the ruins of the tower. Light was flickering through the gaps in the rubble, the light of flames. She felt groggy, but her self-healing was thrumming, and her body had repaired itself. The armour had helped, she thought, pushing herself up. Beneath her lay Sable. Belinda placed a hand against the woman’s face. She looked uninjured, but Belinda’s healing senses could feel the crushed ribs and broken bones. She shot a surge of healing into Sable’s body, then pushed up again, using her battle-vision to move the heavy blocks and shove them to the side. She climbed up from the wreckage and saw a figure glowing ahead of her.
‘Like a god, you arise from the ashes,’ said Edmond, standing a dozen yards away at the edge of the mountain of rubble. ‘I should have guessed that toppling the tower wouldn’t kill you.’
‘Do you want to kill me?’
‘I didn’t, but then I saw what you did to the Seventh Ascendant. You butchered one of the most ancient beings alive, someone who has survived countless wars; someone who was there with us at the beginning. If only you could remember. You’ve changed, Belinda. The old you would never have slaughtered one of your own kind.’
‘I am the Queen of Lostwell.’
Edmond laughed. ‘What?’
‘I am the Queen of Lostwell, the world you decided to destroy. Fight me.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Belinda. I will not stoop to fighting you. You will step aside and allow me to take possession of the Sextant, and then you will accompany me to Implacatus, where you will become my bride. That is your future; it is inescapable. You will also be punished for what you did to the Seventh Ascendant; that is also inescapable.’
‘You will not take the Sextant, and you will not take me.’
‘Where is the sword, Belinda?’
‘I dropped it when the building fell.’ She gestured to the rubble. ‘I imagine it’s somewhere in there.’
Edmond’s eyes glazed over for a second, and a company of Banner soldiers approached. The ruins of the western tower had fallen into the rear yard of the residence, and a stretch of the mansion’s main wing had been damaged by collapsing masonry. Belinda glanced around. A hundred soldiers were fanning out behind Edmond, while another company was approaching from the other side of the mansion, with Bastion and a fully-healed Leksandr leading them. Beyond the perimeter wall of the residence, flames were rising from several directions, and the sounds of fighting rang through the air. To the east, a faint light was building, and the moon had set.
‘Belinda,’ snapped a voice behind her. ‘Get over here; I’ve found Corthie.’
She turned for a moment. Sable was crouching a few yards away in the rubble, her hand clutching something. Belinda edged over, dreading to see what it was. She crouched down next to Sable. It was Corthie. He was breathing but, like Sable, he had suffered several broken bones in the fall of the tower. She shifted a massive stone block that was crushing his legs, and touched his hand, sending a great burst of healing powers into him.
‘This is for you,’ said Sable, holding out the Weathervane. ‘It was buried next to the Sextant.’
Belinda took the sword as Corthie’s eyes opened.
‘What happened?’ he said. ‘Everything went dark.’
Belinda smiled. ‘Edmond brought the tower down, and hundreds of soldiers are surrounding us.’
‘Then why are you smiling?’
‘Because you’re alive. I thought… well, I tried not to think about you. You are the one constant in my life, Corthie. You were there with me, in the attic, in the beginning. You are my first memory.’
‘We s
hould get ready to fight,’ said Sable; ‘otherwise he’ll also be your last.’
Belinda and Sable stood, and then Corthie pulled himself to his feet, his right hand gripping something made of steel. He ripped the Clawhammer from the rubble, and the three of them stood side by side on the summit of the ruined tower. Soldiers had moved into position around the rubble, their shields forming a thick wall. Behind them, Edmond stood.
‘Belinda!’ he cried. ‘Do not make me do this; I beg you. What do you want? Say it, and it shall be yours; only step aside and give me the Sextant. I will even spare the lives of the two Holdfasts by your side. They can come back with us to Implacatus; they can be your mortal servants, honoured and safe; just stand aside. I understand your feelings of confusion. I made a mistake with Lostwell, I can see that now. It was your realm, and I shouldn’t have destroyed it. Let me make it up to you. With the Sextant, I can create for you a brand new world, and fill it with whatever makes you happy. Would that be enough for you? Speak, I implore you; say something.’
‘Go back to Implacatus, Edmond,’ she said; ‘without me, and without the Sextant. That is all I want from you.’
‘I cannot, my dear, and you know the reason why. Salve. All this death and destruction, that is what it has been for – salve. Thousands of gods depend upon it, Belinda; from the Ascendants and Ancients down to the lowliest demigod; it has returned our youth and vigour, and has given a second life to the rulers of the worlds. To return empty-handed would destabilise the order I have struggled for centuries to restore. You must understand.’
‘You are frightened,’ she said. ‘You fear the gods will rise up against you once the stocks run out.’
Edmond bowed his head. ‘You shame me. Even so, my love for you remains undimmed. You were right before, you are a Queen. As my wife, we would rule together, and your kindness would temper my…’
‘Cruelty?’
‘Yes! The millennia have jaded my sympathies, but you are young again; you would be the greatest Queen in the history of Implacatus. With that kind of power, you could help me remake our rule, transform it into something better.’
‘He wants to marry you?’ said Corthie, the Clawhammer gripped in both hands.
‘He does,’ said Belinda. ‘He thinks he loves me.’
Edmond’s face contorted with rage. ‘You made a vow! You promised that you would be my bride, Belinda, you promised. The things I did for you, the crimes I committed so that you could be with me; if only you could remember, I…’
‘Your Grace,’ said Bastion; ‘perhaps now is not the time for such secrets to be aired.’
Edmond faltered for a moment. ‘You are right, Bastion. When the Third Ascendant and I are alone, then I will tell her, then, I will confess.’
‘She has made her decision, your Grace,’ Bastion said. ‘Old Alea is weakening with the coming dawn; it will soon become too unstable to remain here.’
‘Yes.’ He took a breath. ‘I tried; so be it. Destroy the Holdfasts and bring me Belinda.’
Bastion bowed, then gestured to Leksandr. Both men raised their right hands, and Belinda felt their death powers swirl around her and the two Holdfasts.
‘They are immune to such things,’ snapped Edmond. ‘Burn them out.’
Bastion nodded. He turned to the south, where thick flames were rising over the grounds of an old palace. He and Leksandr lifted their hands again, and the fires twisted up from the blaze in two long channels. They intertwined in the skies above the ruined tower, then surged down. Belinda raised her left hand, using her fire powers to deflect the oncoming roar of flames. They hovered over their heads for a moment, just yards away, then Belinda sent them into the main wing of the residence. The flames smashed into the tall building, ripping through the fine tapestries and marble-lined hallways in a crescendo of fire that lit up the night sky.
Bastion’s face remained expressionless. He signalled to an officer of the Banner. ‘Advance.’
Belinda watched as the soldiers surrounding the mountain of rubble locked their shields together and began to close in. Corthie stood to her left, the rebuilt Clawhammer ready, while Sable was on her right, a Banner-issue sword in her right hand. Belinda could see more reinforcements arriving through the main gates. They looked worn out, their lines ragged, and Belinda realised that their appearance could only mean that the rebels in Old Alea were gaining ground. Bastion saw them, and ordered them into position, bolstering the ranks of those surrounding the tower.
A whistle blew, and the soldiers stopped the advance and readied their crossbows.
Belinda didn’t wait for them to loose. She raised her hand again, and sent out a dense wave of death powers into the tight lines, and the soldiers gasped, clawing their throats as she stopped their hearts and lungs from working. A great groaning cry arose as hundreds of soldiers collapsed around them, their crossbows clattering off the paving slabs, and their steel armour grinding together. Silence fell over the courtyard, and Belinda felt a pang of guilt at the deaths of so many by her hand.
Beyond the ring of corpses, only three figures still stood, reflecting the three on top of the heap of rubble – Edmond, Leksandr and Bastion.
Bastion laughed, shattering the silence. He raised his arms, and the bodies of the soldiers began to twitch then, slowly, they got back to their feet, their eyes lifeless and dull.
‘Swords,’ Bastion cried, and each soldier drew their weapon.
‘No flow powers, you said?’ muttered Sable. ‘You could have blown their heads off with flow powers. Now we’re going to have to fight the dead.’
Belinda aimed her death powers at the advancing soldiers, but they had no effect. She switched to fire, and tried to channel the flames down from the burning residence, but Leksandr and Bastion diverted them so that they fell harmlessly to the rear of the courtyard.
‘Yes,’ she said; ‘we’ll have to fight.’
‘About time,’ said Corthie.
‘Resist the urge to charge into them,’ said Belinda; ‘we fight back to back, to the end.’
Corthie hefted the Clawhammer. ‘Aye, to the end.’
Sable frowned. ‘Whose end, exactly?’
Belinda kept her eyes on the advancing soldiers. ‘To the end of the world.’
Chapter 30
The Last Dawn
A lea Tanton, Tordue, Western Khatanax – 4th Kolinch 5252
Aila and Kesley huddled together on Frostback’s shoulders. For hour after hour they had soared through the cold night air, and both women were shivering under their thin clothes. They had crossed the Torduan Mountains and then, with Deathfang leading the raiding party, they had flown over the long miles of the plains of Tordue. The moon had set, and the darkness had been almost complete.
‘We are nearly there,’ said Frostback, ‘I can see the city in the distance.’
Kelsey squinted ahead. ‘Can you?’
‘Yes. It is burning.’
Behind them, a faint patch of light was growing on the horizon, and the features of Tordue grew visible out of the shadows and gloom. Aila frowned as she peered down. Bands of people were roaming the fields, all heading away from the city, and every farmhouse and barn appeared to have been destroyed. Smoke was rising from some, while others had been flattened as if a giant hand had crushed them.
‘More earthquakes,’ muttered Kelsey.
‘Not just earthquakes,’ said Frostback. ‘Much of the city appears to be underwater, as if it has slid into the ocean.’
Aila stared ahead. Towering columns of smoke were rising above the horizon, and as the light in the sky behind them grew stronger, she began to pick out the flames tearing through the slums of Alea Tanton. To their left, the high promontory of Old Alea stood clear of the lower districts, but flames were also rising from there.
‘Every building has been destroyed,’ said Kelsey.
‘Not every building,’ said Frostback. ‘Several within the walls of Old Alea still stand.’
Deathfang banked, and the o
ther dragons joined him in circling over the edge of the ruined city.
‘We have arrived,’ he cried out, ‘but it seems we shall find no vengeance here. The accursed city has already been destroyed. Their anti-dragon defences are in ruins, and the ragged survivors are at our mercy, but what damage could we do that has not already been done?’
‘Then, my lord,’ said Burntskull, ‘should we return to the ridge in the mountains?’
‘Wait,’ said Frostback; ‘Old Alea yet remains. Smoke is rising from its palaces, but they have not been touched by the earthquakes. That is where the gods shall be; that is where we can take our vengeance.’
‘You are right, my daughter,’ said Deathfang; ‘let us scour the cliff tops of Old Alea.’
‘Remember the hundred yards, my lord,’ said Burntskull. ‘We must stay within that distance from Frostback, or else the gods will strike us down.’
‘Indeed,’ said Deathfang. ‘I shall go, with Frostback and Halfclaw; the others shall retreat a few miles and rest.’
‘But, my lord…’
‘I have spoken, Burntskull; do as I bid.’
The huge grey dragon peeled off, and Frostback and Halfclaw moved into a tight formation behind him.
‘Stay close,’ said Deathfang, ‘and go where I go. I did not win back a daughter only to lose her.’
He surged off towards the promontory, skirting the edge of the Shinstran district. Aila stared at the devastation. As Frostback had said, miles of the city were submerged under the waves, with only the tops of the ruined buildings poking up from the dark water. A long strip of city had remained above sea-level, but every building seemed to be on fire, or had collapsed into rubble. Thousands of refugees were streaming out of the city, heading into the relative safety of the fields, but earthquakes were continuing to rip and buckle the land. A new river of lava had burst through the surface, and was spouting molten rock and ash into the sky a few miles to the north.
‘What’s happening?’ Kelsey whispered, her eyes wide.
‘I don’t know,’ said Aila. ‘I thought that the volcanoes and earthquakes were only affecting the valley of the Catacombs. This is… something else, something terrible.’
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