The Vessel of Ra

by Catherine Schaff-Stump

  “There. He’s leaving you, Octavia. Come, Ra. Come back to me.”

  Octavia threw the scroll away. Both Paolo and Carlo tried to grab it. Paolo won, but Carlo ripped it from his hands.

  “This is not for you. You weaponize everything!” Carlo tucked it into his waistline.

  “We are a family of schemers, Carlo. We have survived by scheming. Now, you keep that scroll. Don’t give it back to them.”

  “Khun?” Octavia’s cry was edged with desperation. “Help me!”

  Khun’s voice lowered. “We are still one, Octavia. Focus on me. Drive him out.”

  “I can’t feel you! I can’t find the thread!” Octavia returned her attention to Lucy. “You can’t take Ra back. I don’t want you to. He’ll hurt you.”

  Lucy spoke gently. “You don’t want Ra. You think you do, but you don’t. This should never have happened. I will set this right. Ra, you are mine.” Lucy wrapped Octavia with red tendrils of blood and sinew.

  Octavia shouted. Ra was pushing back down into her mind. “No, Lucy, you can’t.”

  “Ra was bound to me. He is my responsibility. He’s not yours.” Lucy pulled Octavia closer.

  “I thought”—Octavia closed her eyes—“if someone guided me, I could find my way. I couldn’t. No one can win against Ra. It’s better Ra destroys me than you.”

  “It’s better if Ra destroys no one.”

  “We killed Father to get the scroll.” Octavia’s face transformed, haughty. “Our Father. He deserved to die.”

  “Listen. Ra has almost used you up. I may not be able to save you.”

  Khun’s hands clenched. “You can’t kill her!”

  Lucy’s blood floated into the air, crystalizing. “I hope I won’t.”

  “In the name of Amon, don’t. You love your sister.”

  “I will do what is necessary. Don’t be distracted, Khun. Remember you must save Octavia if you can. You are her best chance.”

  “Octavia!” Khun grabbed her golden shoulders, and his hands sizzled. “Listen to me! You love me! I love you!”

  Octavia’s voice was small. “You used me. I was afraid and you used me.”

  “I obeyed your every wish,” said Khun. “No matter what you wanted.”

  “I wanted you to tell me what to do, but you wouldn’t. You told me not to talk to the angel. You seduced me before the Trial. You made me this. I am lost. Better to end things now.”

  “I will not let you.”

  “Drusus loves me. I sent him away. I want to find Drusus.”

  “I live to serve you,” said Khun, his tone as sharp as a scythe’s edge. “I will find your husband.” Khun disappeared.

  A lance of brilliant light shot out from Ra and buried itself in Lucy’s chest.

  “Lucy!” Carlo yelled.

  You are mine!

  “No!” Octavia shouted. “Help her! Stop him!” Octavia crumpled to the floor. Ra exploded through the space where Octavia’s heart should have been, blood soaking the granite floor.

  “Damn it,” said Carlo. He knelt by Octavia, and Paolo stood over them. “There’s no way to stop this much bleeding!” Carlo’s voice turned desperate. “Grandpa! Help me!”

  Paolo knelt beside him. “No, Carlo. This is all for show. Miss Lucia has used her magic to stabilize Octavia. She will be fine.”

  Blood ran down the side of Lucy’s mouth. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, and then she concentrated on the light piercing her chest. She grabbed it with both hands. It softened and bent. Scarlet crept up the rope, snaking toward Ra.

  Embrace me, Lucia. I have come home.

  Lucy glowed like a ruby. “So you have.” She roped Ra toward her. He ripped at Lucy’s skin but could not scratch it. Lucy’s flesh and bone encased him in a cage, which Lucy pulled inside herself, melting it through her flesh.

  “Lucy!” Carlo yelled.

  “It is done.” Lucy was serene, as though she had returned from a walk in the country.

  Khun ripped through reality, the brimstone smell sharp in Carlo’s nostrils.

  Carlo wheeled on Khun. “You idiot! How could you leave her?”

  “You forget,” said Khun, heat in his words. “Octavia commands me. She told me she wanted her husband. I had no choice but to find him. He was in the Abyss.”

  Drusus stood with him. He was covered in scratches and scorch marks, his clothes burned and ragged. Nothing appeared to be broken or burned badly. How he had managed? Drusus shook, and started while he was being talked about. His eyes leveled as he looked at Carlo, and realized where he was. Tension drained out of him.

  Carlo breathed in relief. “You’re alive.”

  “Barely. You too, I see.”

  “I don’t think it’s fair that you can wander through the Abyss and still be composed like a gentleman.”

  “They drill that sort of thing into you.” Drusus looked at Lucy. “Lucy? How…”

  “Oh,” said Paolo, “that’s a long story.”

  Drusus crossed his arms. “How dare you show yourself!”

  Carlo started to intervene, but Octavia’s eyes opened. “Carlo,” she said, “Lucy has Ra.”

  “Yes,” said Paolo. “No longer your worry.”

  “After all that happened, she saved me,” said Octavia. She shook. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

  Lucy brushed past Carlo and took Octavia’s hand. “No, of course not.”

  “I love you, Lucy. I’m so very sorry.”

  “Let me help you.” Lucy’s hands reached into the hole in Octavia’s chest. Carlo watched flesh rebuild, blood come from the air, fascinated as Lucy fashioned Octavia a new heart. When Lucy finished, her sister was whole. Carlo retrieved his scorched jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

  “Well done, Lucy,” said Paolo, clapping. “Well done.”

  Lucy whispered to Carlo. “A word.”

  Carlo kept his voice low. “You were amazing.”

  She swallowed. “I had to help her.” She fell, and Carlo caught her around the waist. “So much magic to hold Ra. I used too much to heal Octavia. I have made a mistake. I need you and Drusus to—” Lucy’s hand flew to his waistline, toward the scroll. Her face turned wild. Give me the scroll.

  Had Lucy died and come back to lose to Ra in the end? “Drusus! Grandfather! We have a problem!”

  I may not be able to command the gods, but I can destroy you. Lucy turned golden. Shadows oozed from the ground, from the rocks, portals, holes, stairs, the entrances and exits. Lucy stood in a globe of night, shadows spinning around her.

  “Carlo?” Drusus asked. “What is happening?”

  “Lightning! Drusus! Hit Lucy with lightning.”

  “I can’t—”

  Carlo pointed at the dark sphere. “That’s Ra, not Lucy.”

  Blue electricity fanned out from Drusus’ fingers and wrapped around Lucy like a miniature storm. She convulsed and fell. The shadows stopped spinning, falling on the ground like water, running back to cracks and crevices.

  “Please don’t be dead.” Carlo listened to Lucy’s chest. Her heart was still beating.

  Her eyes flickered open. “I have him. I have Ra.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  “Carlo, give me the scroll.”

  “There are other things more important at the moment, Lucy.”

  No, you must give it to me. Her hand closed like a vice around Carlo’s neck. Give it to me!

  Carlo grabbed Lucy’s arm and pried at steel fingers.

  “Balthazar!” Drusus’ voice echoed among the rocks.

  You stupid boy! You will pay for your lack of vision!

  Carlo gasped. The scroll chamber filled with sand and dissolved to Erasmus’ Temple. Drusus had been heard.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Carlo clutched at Lucy’s fingers clamped down on his windpipe. He could not budge them. His head beat with pressure. Lucy’s face transformed with Ra’s cruel glee.

  Drusus’ hands sparked. Electricity shuddered th
rough Lucy. Carlo’s face went numb.

  “Stop!” Lucy gasped.

  “No,” said Drusus. “By God, Ra, I will not allow you to take her!”

  “Don’t hurt me! Please, Drusus!”

  Carlo peeled her hands away. “Not Lucy,” Carlo croaked. “No emotions. Still Ra.”

  “Please, Drusus!” Lucy cried out. “Don’t let Ra win!”

  Carlo rolled away from Lucy, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

  “I… don’t know what to do,” said Drusus. Electricity arced in his hands. “There has to be some other way!”

  Damn Isis. She knew Lucy could not hold Ra all along. “Yes,” said Carlo. What was it, this other way?

  A sand spray gusted from the temple, scrubbing rock to smoothness. Balthazar charged after the sand. “Errant gods return to exile,” said the guardian. “Ra, you are inside your mistress, but she is now your prison. There is no escape for you and she will not bend to your will.”

  Lucy circled her hands, a ramrod of darkness moving toward Drusus. The electricity he held broadened into a wall. The dark force collided with the blue light, and Drusus flew backward in the concussion. He landed on one knee and skidded across the stone ruins. His eyes glowed.

  She is mine now, Ra said.

  “Lucia is the child of Bartholomew Klaereon and Calpurnia Julii,” Balthazar said over the static and sizzle. “Her parents were potent, powerful sorcerers. You cannot triumph over her. Soon, Ra, you will be a memory.”

  Above them, the sky creaked and groaned. A woman’s silhouette, made of the night above them, unfolded herself.

  “Nuit!” Carlo knew no one had heard his terrified squeak.

  Nuit’s long arm plunged down and pressed Lucy to the ground.

  Ra shouted, You are my subject, Nuit. I command you to stop!

  Lucy became still. Nuit pulled her arm back, the sky groaning like a wooden bridge in the wind.

  Carlo crawled toward his friend. “Lucy?”

  “She is well,” said Balthazar. “Ra’s death throes were necessary, but they are over.”

  “Ra’s dead?” asked Drusus.

  “No,” said Lucy, sitting up. “Ra is inside me.”

  “Is she safe?” Carlo asked.

  “Much safer than Ra being allowed to do as he pleases.” Balthazar scowled. “He should have been Banished. Your father has much to answer for.”

  “He has already answered for it,” said Lucy. She stood, her bearing more like Isis’s than her own. “Carlo, my apologies for strangling you. It won’t happen again.”

  Carlo’s mouth gaped open. He turned to the efrit. “Balthazar, how can we know she’s safe?”

  “There is no certainty.”

  Carlo stepped in front of Lucy. “I will not allow you to hurt her.”

  “My lady will not allow me to,” said Balthazar. “Against my better judgment, I leave Lucy Klaereon to her fate.”

  “I will be responsible for her,” said Drusus.

  “No,” said Carlo. “We will.”

  “You have protectors aplenty, Vessel of Ra,” said Balthazar.

  “I don’t need them,” said Lucy.

  “You don’t,” said Balthazar. Carlo couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. “Accepting them will make them feel useful to you.”

  Was it over, then? “Who is your lady?” asked Carlo. Was Balthazar referring to Nuit, imprisoned in the sky?

  Lucy brushed sand off her red cloak, out of the feathers of her collar. “Where is Octavia? Khun?”

  Balthazar ignored Carlo’s question. “Since Caius Klaereon is dead, someone must take up the burden of the Solomon Scroll. It cannot be you. Let us see if it can be your sister. Octavia must have a proper Trial.”

  Octavia stumbled forward, feeling her way on her hands and knees. She was on a platform at the universe’s edge, and she could not see where the universe ended. Fear stoppered her ears, as it had the last time she stood before the angel.

  Where was Lucy? Did Ra possess her? How could she have let this happen? How many mistakes she had made!

  “Pay attention to this moment,” said a voice surrounding her. “We both have a second chance.”

  Above her, the giant angel expanded her wings, full of the night and stars. Octavia, huddling in Carlo’s muddy jacket, reached toward the angel.

  “I am not worthy to be here,” she said, her voice trembling. “I have made so many mistakes. I want to do the right thing. I want to save my family. I will accept my responsibility and I will Bind Khun.”

  The angel’s voice pierced through her like a trumpet. Octavia covered her ears with her hands, but could still hear the clear sound. A golden drop trailed down the angel’s cheek and Octavia moved one hand to catch it, the shining bead which held her future.

  Octavia swallowed it. She swelled with light, not the golden light of Ra, but something inside her, which swept away all her doubts. Octavia contemplated the angel’s night wings. She wished she could stay forever, but she would have to find her way out. Three perfect feathers, soft and gray, fluttered down like autumn leaves. Octavia held them in her hands. There was absolute silence inside of her, no voices for the first time in her life. She did not need her father or Khun or Ra to maneuver her through the noise. She would fight Khun as she had promised, but not yet. She listened to her newfound peace.

  Blue lightning sizzled around Drusus as he moved toward Balthazar. “Where is my wife?”

  “My lady is giving Octavia her blessing.”

  “I have to go to her.” Drusus stepped toward Balthazar, and the guardian stepped out of Drusus’ path.

  “Drusus Claudian, an Anchor will fetch the Binder from my lady. You are the sole person here who can act as an Anchor. You must go.”

  “I take Octavia to Khun?”

  “Bring her back here. Khun will be waiting. When they battle, you will remind her of her humanity by keeping her rooted to this world. Then she will Bind Khun, or Khun will Bind her.”

  “What if she doesn’t defeat Khun?” Drusus asked. “Have you considered that?”

  “It is a possible outcome. If she fails, Lucy will kill her,” said Balthazar.

  “There are complexities,” said Lucy. “I can’t kill Octavia since she’s—”

  “There are no complexities where the Solomon Scroll is involved. As you are no longer under Erasmus’ contract or a Binder, I concede you would not have to kill her. That duty would fall to me.”

  “She won’t lose,” said Drusus. Carlo thought he was convincing himself. “She was tricked before. She won’t lose this time.”

  “In the service of Solomon, I have seen many things.” Balthazar swept an arm toward the temple.

  “Which reminds me,” said Carlo. He pulled the rolled paper from his jacket pocket. “Solomon’s Scroll. Good riddance.”

  “Thank you, Carlo Borgia. You are more human than demon after all.”

  “That wasn’t offensive,” said Carlo. “Not at all.”

  Balthazar pinched the scroll between thumb and forefinger. “Where is the case?”

  Carlo raised his hand, revealing the embedded shards of bone. “You’ll have to get a new one.”

  “My apologies,” said Lucy. “I should have done this before.” She took Carlo’s hands. The bone shards floated away from Carlo’s palm, levitating in the air. Carlo swallowed fiery pain as his flesh re-knitted itself.

  Lucy mended the bone case, shards filling in like a puzzle where they could, small gaps where they couldn’t. “Pieces are missing, Balthazar,” Lucy said. “You will have to mend it.”

  “There is no shortage of material in the temple,” said Balthazar. “Drusus Claudian, go to your wife. Until this Trial is settled, there is no Binder to take charge of Solomon’s Scroll. Nuit will come down from the sky looking to fight a new challenger unless order is restored.”

  How could Balthazar be so calm about Nuit climbing down to fight a new challenger? Carlo visualized the enormous giant climbing down from the sky. “Balthazar,
why can’t you take charge of the scroll? It’s dangerous. No one needs it.”

  “I agree,” said Lucy. “There is no reason for these demons to be free.”

  “If they can earn their freedom, they should be free. It is through Solomon’s Scroll and trafficking with good men like Erasmus Klaereon that the demons have a chance to redeem themselves. Someday, one Binder will find the solution and the gods will be set free, redeemed, safe to walk the world with instead of over mankind, wiser in their understanding.”

  “These creatures will never change,” said Lucy. “Look what they’ve done to my family.”

  “Exactly how the Egyptians justified mistreating your kind, Lucia Klaereon. They say mankind must be protected from itself.”

  “They don’t deserve a chance.” Lucy turned her attention elsewhere. “Come on, Drusus. We have to go to Octavia.”

  “Your Trial is forfeit.” Balthazar’s skin glowed. He would stop her. “You are unfit to see my lady.”

  “I can walk Drusus there, can’t I? Carlo, keep watch.”

  “I understand,” said Carlo. He couldn’t negate Paolo Borgia from the equation yet. His grandfather couldn’t be trusted, and no one knew where he’d ended up after Balthazar had summoned them from the scroll room.

  Lucy seemed to read his mind. “I will give Paolo Borgia what he justly deserves.”

  “I have sent him back to Venezia,” said Balthazar. “He is neither needed nor wanted here.”

  “You saved his life,” she said. When the guardian made no reply, she and Drusus turned away to enter the temple.

  Lucy and Drusus followed cloven footprints down the dusty ramp until they found Khun leaning against a wall, cleaning dirt from under his long nails.

  “Hello, husband,” Khun said. “She’s waiting for you.”

  “You shouldn’t be here,” said Drusus. “You should be preparing to fight her.”

  “There’s not much preparation,” said Khun. “I will not fight her. She’ll win and I’ll be subject to her will.”