Fearless

by Marianne Curley

  Nathaneal rakes his hands through his hair and calls out, ‘Mela. Mela!’ She opens her eyes and he points to Jordan and thumps his chest with his open palm.

  A light of awareness appears in Mela’s expression. This was her intention all along, but once inside the gate, the pain or shock or something stole her ability to think clearly. With her eyes locked on Nathaneal’s, Mela draws up her strength. With enormous effort she squeezes her son so hard it’s as if she’s trying to inject him with all the love she couldn’t give him since she died and Luca abducted her. She kisses the top of Jordan’s head once more and shoves him as hard as she can towards Nathaneal’s desperately clawing arms.

  But the gate fights to hold on to Jordan. Mela screams out that her love as a mother deprived of her child through no fault of her own is stronger than anything Jordan has in his heart. ‘Be satisfied with me!’ she cries out before her eyes close and she mercifully passes out.

  Nathaneal suddenly spots something and scrambles across the floor. Jordan’s foot has come free. He grabs it and pulls, and pulls, prising at each of his limbs until Jordan’s entire body is in his arms.

  37

  Ebony

  Jordan dies in my arms.

  I watch it happen as the gate seals around Mela, a puff of smoke the only indication that something catastrophic has occurred.

  When Nathaneal carries his burnt, battered body from the gate and lays him gently before me, Jordan opens his eyes, stares up at us both, tries to speak but fails. It’s then the light drops out of his eyes, like a blue sailing boat drifting into the murky shadows of an endless night. He loses his ability to see, takes one last shallow breath, and his heart stops.

  Someone screams with such ear-piercing velocity the tunnel walls tremble. Angels cover their ears and stare at me with wide eyes as if I’m some sort of freak. I realise then that the screaming is coming from me.

  Nathaneal takes my face in his hands. His eyes melt into me. Calming me. He lowers his forehead to mine. ‘I will bring him back.’

  Suddenly everyone swings into action. Isaac squats down beside me, and the next moment he’s helping Nathaneal do something remarkable and really strange. Through my blurred vision I notice millions of infinitesimal blue bubbles rising from Jordan’s chest. Then the two of them lift out a replica of Jordan coated with a glossy blue sheen. It’s like watching someone being reborn. I stare, gobsmacked, as Nathaneal carries this pale, limp version of Jordan and passes him to Solomon. ‘He is yours to guard.’

  The big angel solemnly replies, ‘With my life.’

  Nathaneal then gets down alongside Jezelle to start healing.

  Shae’s hands come down on my shoulders, squeezing them so hard I glance up at her. She smiles encouragingly, indicating Jordan’s lifeless body with her chin. ‘He’s in good hands.’

  Nathaneal takes a deep breath and sighs. Jezelle gives him a concerned sideways glance. He looks exhausted. Of course he would be! He’s used so much power perforating the gate, creating the hurricane and then pulling Jordan out of the gate, with nothing to eat and no rest in between. Does he have enough left inside to heal Jordan, whose wounds are horrific?

  I remember then what Mela whispered before she dived into the gate and gave her life so her son could live. That I healed her. But she’s the only person I have. These two healers have years of experience.

  Midway along the bridge, a soldier yells out, ‘Death Watchers coming!’

  Jezelle looks at Nathaneal. ‘Are you all right?’

  It’s then I notice Nathaneal’s hands. They’re glowing, but only dimly. And they’re trembling. I jump down beside him. ‘Go. Get out of here. You’re all spent. But I’m fresh.’ I hold out my hands – steady and glowing with such strength they look as if a fire is burning inside them.

  When he doesn’t move, I yell, ‘Go! I will help heal Jordan!’

  I flick Jezelle a glance. She studies me for a moment, then nods, and we work together, starting on the worst of Jordan’s burns, the top of his shoulders, and his back, where flesh and muscle and sinew have burned completely away. The stench of his charred flesh stings my eyes and turns my stomach, but nothing will make me leave until Jordan is healed.

  As soon as we are finished with his back and shoulders, I lay my hands on Jordan’s chest, where his scalded lungs need healing from the smoke he breathed in.

  Cradling Jordan’s soul in his arms, Solomon paces back and forth until Nathaneal calms him. ‘But they don’t have much time left,’ Sol argues.

  ‘What’s Solomon talking about?’ I ask Shae with a brief look over my shoulder.

  She flashes an uncomfortable look at Nathaneal and doesn’t answer. I turn to Jezelle and raise my eyebrows. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Jordan has to start breathing soon or his time will run out and his soul will not return to his mortal body.’

  ‘And then what happens?’

  Jezelle and the others around us all glance down the tunnel to where six tall angels in long black coats with hoods over their heads stand shoulder to shoulder. Facing them, and standing between them and us, are the angels Michael, Uriel, Jerome, Sami, Tash and Gabriel. ‘Who are they?’

  Nathaneal hunkers down beside me. ‘They’re Death Watchers, come for Jordan’s soul as agreed in the contract Luca tricked him into making.’

  My head shakes. ‘No. No. They’re not taking Jordan. Don’t let them. You cannot let them take him.’

  Jezelle’s fists clench and unclench. ‘He should be breathing by now!’

  ‘Was it something I didn’t do right?’ I ask.

  ‘No,’ Nathaneal says. ‘I’ve been watching you. Your healing skills are remarkable.’

  ‘So why isn’t Jordan breathing yet?’

  No one answers me. ‘Has this ever happened before?’ I’m starting to panic now. ‘Should we try CPR or some­thing?’

  Jezelle says, ‘He’s your ward, Ebony.’

  ‘Yeah, so what do you mean? I’m new at this. Someone spell it out for me.’

  Nathaneal turns my face up to look into his eyes. ‘Only you will know how to restart his heart.’

  ‘Oh. OK.’ Shit!

  Jordan died for love. He made the biggest sacrifice any human can. He gave up his life so the world could remain a beautiful place for all those he loved. Whether his love for me was misguided because of the Guardian bond we shared doesn’t matter. His heart constantly overflowed with love, and in the end what drove him to make the ultimate sacrifice was his love for mankind. Earth. The entire human race.

  I lean over him, bringing my face down to his. ‘Thank you, Jordy, for all the love you gave so freely from your heart. On behalf of your fellow human beings, thank you for the sacrifice you willingly made so they can live in freedom without threat or fear.’

  I glance at Nathaneal, but I can’t worry about what he will think. Not now. Returning my full attention to Jordan, I lower my mouth on to his and kiss him, gently at first, then I prise his lips apart and blow air from my lungs into his.

  Someone pulls me back fast, lifting me off Jordan just in time as his soul disappears from Solomon’s arms and sinks into his mortal body. His eyes flutter open and he wakes with a gasp, looking dazed. Solomon lifts him to his feet for the Death Watchers to see. The one that appears to be in charge, a male with startling white hair and empty black eyes, steps forward and studies Jordan from head to foot. ‘It appears we are not needed here today.’

  Nathaneal tells him, ‘Your king is dead. His soul, if he ever had one, exists no longer. When you speak with your new king, whoever that may be, make sure he knows that since Jordan died this day, he is now free of any contract Luca may have left behind.’

  ‘A lifetime as measured in the mortal world is but a blink of an immortal’s eye. We don’t need a contract to claim this boy’s soul. We’ll return for him one day when he is old and feeble.’

  ‘You will have no cause to return for Jordan, but if out of spite you do, you will have a battle on your hands like yo
u’ve never faced before.’

  Jordan stays quiet, casting a furtive glance between the two powerful angels glaring at each other. When the Death Watchers leave he turns, stares at the perfectly sealed gate for a long moment, then pulls me into his arms and sobs.

  No one says a word. The angels discreetly gather their weapons and signal to me that they’re leaving. Some blow me a kiss or pat my shoulders, or Jordan’s. Gabriel gives Jordan an odd lingering look, a frown between his brows. He seems in a particular hurry to get moving, ordering his soldiers with silent commands that are nothing more than subtle jerks of his head and narrow-eyed glances. He sees me watching him and he gives me his usual salute, the two-finger tap to his forehead, before silently winging his way to the front of his troops and up through the blue light.

  Still in my arms, Jordan’s sobs reduce to shudders that gradually ebb away until he straightens his shoulders and inhales a deep breath.

  Michael comes over and asks, ‘Did you see Gabriel leave?’

  ‘Yeah, a little while ago with his troops.’

  He gives Jordan a quick but heartfelt goodbye and hurries off, taking Elijah and Lhiam with him, and the sight of the golden-feathered Seraphim flanked by two towering metallic-winged Thrones as they fly up through the blue light is nothing less than breathtaking. But what really astounds me is not their physical appearance, as beautiful as the sight of liquid gold between steel blue is, but how quickly and completely former enemies have come to trust each other.

  By the time Jordan is feeling composed enough to tackle the trip home, only Solomon, Shae, Isaac, Jezelle and Nathaneal are left. They each hug him, telling him how sorry they are for the loss of his mother and what a brave and selfless thing she did.

  And then it’s time to leave.

  38

  Nathaneal

  Solomon asks my permission to carry Jordan home and I approve, knowing it will do them both good to talk privately along the journey. Appointed Mela’s Guardian at her birth, and in communication with her after her death and resurrection in Skade, no one knew Jordan’s mother better than Sol.

  I glance down at Ebony by my side, and almost have to pinch myself at the sight of her smiling face looking up at me. ‘Ready, love?’

  She nods, and I swing her into my arms and, with Sol, Isaac, Shae and Jez, head towards the blue light, and home.

  ‘What was I like before?’ Ebony asks, her eyes lowering as if she’s concerned about what I’m going to say.

  ‘You mean, when we lived in Peridis?’

  ‘Yeah, in Peridis.’ She lays her head on my shoulder and waits.

  ‘Well, you were gentle with all the creatures there. Big or small, no matter how beautiful or odd-looking, you healed them all. Your compassion knew no end. And each day when the souls arrived, you moved through them looking for the injured.’

  ‘Souls have injuries?’

  ‘Some do, deep on the inside. Those were the ones you pulled aside and healed, removing all signs of their Earthly sufferings so they could live full, satisfying existences in paradise.’

  ‘I did that?’

  I nod, smiling down at her, and she shakes her head in contented disbelief.

  ‘When our time to leave drew nearer,’ I continue, ‘and our soldier training intensified, you shone in the field. Before each session ended, you owned every weapon, apparatus or implement placed in your hands. But you couldn’t kill – anything. And our trainer said you would obtain that ability once you came into contact with human beings.’

  She lifts her head and studies me for a moment. ‘Thank you.’

  We then start forming a plan for our last few days on the mountain – on Earth, days where Ebony will be saying goodbye to the life she lived as a human, her friends and family, just about everything she has known, including her beloved Shadow.

  But once we’re through the blue light everything changes and our plans are scattered to the winds.

  It begins with the sight of Michael arresting my brother some hundred or so metres along a tree-studded river. Gabriel’s soldiers are gone, likely dismissed by Michael and sent back to their barracks. Elijah and Lhiam have Gabriel’s wrists and ankles contained in chains, but my brother is not resisting. If he did, they would know it. We all would.

  The five of us descend. Ebony slides from my arms to the ground. ‘What’s happening over there, Nathaneal?’

  ‘I’m not sure what Gabriel is doing with the rebel Thrones, but my brother is being –’

  Ear-piercing sounds, too high-pitched for humans to hear, interrupt me. The sounds have us all looking up to the sky, where a slit directly above appears to be ripping the Crossing into two parts. Lightning flashes inside the dark void where twelve brilliant white orbs zoom out, punching through the atmosphere at phenomenal speeds, setting off twelve sonic booms across the landscape as the orbs fly faster than the speed of sound.

  ‘Oh, wow, what are they?’ Ebony asks.

  ‘Archangels,’ I murmur, making eye contact with Isaac over her head. Did you know? At his resounding no, I ask Shae, Jez and Sol. It seems no one knew that my brother was in trouble. Except Michael.

  As the Archangels draw nearer, gale-force winds thrash around us, bending the trees by the river. Isaac and Sol hold Jordan between them until the Archangels touch down and the winds settle.

  They wear long metallic-silver cloaks to the ground with hoods over their heads. One stands out in front – a male – while the other eleven touch down behind him in two rows. They look quite intimidating, especially as six of them are soldiers, wearing full armour under their cloaks. This row turns and marches on silent feet to where Michael, Elijah and Lhiam are holding my brother captive. They pull out a cage of linked chains and bind him with it. So now, even if he did resist, he won’t be going anywhere but with his jailers.

  Outraged at my brother’s humiliation, I leap into the air, throwing my wings wide with the intention of reaching the Archangels and stopping them, or at the least taking Gabe in myself, but the lead Archangel meets me head on, wrapping his hands around my upper arms in mid-flight. ‘Stop, Nathaneal,’ he commands. ‘You will have your chance to speak up for Gabriel later this day.’

  Michael? I forge the link between us even though I know Archangels can’t be thwarted. Where are you taking Gabe?

  He looks at me with his golden eyes spilling sorrow. Empyrean. For questioning.

  And what are you doing with the rebel Thrones? I made them a promise.

  I know, cousin, and I’m keeping your promise. They are going for debriefing, after which the High King will reward them for their selfless assistance in Ebony’s rescue with his permission to live in Avena.

  At least this is good news and I’m happy for the rebel brothers, but what of my own brother?

  As I return to the ground the six soldier Archangels shoot into the sky in the same manner they came down, except this time with passengers, Michael, Elijah, Lhiam and their prisoner.

  Ebony links her fingers with mine. Her hand is icy cold. We watch in silence as the lead Archangel comes and stands before us. He lowers his hood, revealing long, straight ivory hair, skin as pale as an unripened peach, eyes the colour of polished steel. They graze over us with interest. When he realises Jordan is human, the Archangel tilts his head, peering at him as a bird might to decipher which fruit is the juiciest on a tree. Clearly this Archangel doesn’t get out much.

  Sol, take Jordan home and keep him safe until our return.

  Solomon is in the air, on his way to Earth with Jordan held tight in his arms, before the Archangel grasps that the human is gone.

  And beside me, Ebony sighs with relief.

  ‘Greetings to you both, my prince, my lady,’ the Archangel says. ‘I am Prince Raphael, Captain of the Empyrean Army of the High King’s First Guard. I have orders from our High King to return the two of you to Empyrean immediately.’

  ‘Is this about my brother’s arrest, Prince Raphael?’

  ‘In part, yes, but not
entirely.’ He shifts his gaze to Ebony. ‘Our High King would like to meet you, my lady.’ He looks back at me. ‘But we need to leave now.’

  Ebony tugs on my hand. ‘Don’t let them put me in a lamorak. I don’t need that any more.’

  ‘Wings are not required for this journey, my lady. We will not be using the Crossing.’

  ‘But we’re in the Crossing,’ Jez says.

  ‘True, my lady, but there is a shorter … method, known only to Archangels who protect the High King, for obvious security purposes.’

  Shae steps forward. ‘Ebony is my sister. She’s not yet eighteen and therefore I will accompany her.’

  Isaac opens his mouth, but Raphael shuts him down. ‘Your family ties are by marriage. You shall remain behind.’

  Isaac is not about to back down and the two angels glare at each other. ‘Prince Raphael, you are correct that my ties are by marriage, and that is the precise reason I will be going with them.’

  With his eyes narrowing, the Archangel shifts his attention to Jez. But she’s had time to prepare and is ready to state her case. ‘I am Prince Nathaneal and Lady Ebony’s healer. It is my privilege to travel with them wherever they go and I insist on continuing to do so.’

  Raphael raises his eyebrows, evidently aware that both Ebony and I are healers in our own rights. My lips twitch at the audacity of my friends. Raphael, though, is less impressed. He growls under his breath and his remaining team members take a defensive stance.

  ‘We mean no disrespect, Prince Raphael,’ I quickly explain. ‘We’ve just come from Skade, where –’

  ‘Apology accepted,’ he says, and at a near imperceptible nod from him, his team suddenly surrounds us.

  39

  Ebony

  The Archangels have mesmerising eyes that are difficult to pull away from, especially Prince Raphael’s. Standing a head taller than Nathaneal, he towers over us. Shae tries to stay close, but once one of the female Archangels wraps her arms around me it’s like I disappear inside her cloak. And once we start moving, shooting straight up into the sky at a speed I can barely imagine, I stop thinking of what’s ahead and concentrate simply on hanging on.