Destroyer of Worlds kots-3

by Mark Chadbourn

  'Perhaps it was simply meant to be that your team has only four members.'

  'Why? I don't get it.'

  'That is my point. We cannot see the patterns. We can only trust that things will work out for the best.'

  'I really wish I could see the world like you do, Shavi. I just feel… sad.'

  'We all have our pain, Mallory, because in the vast, indecipherable pattern we are all insignificant, while at the same time we are each and every one hugely significant, for our actions, small and large, make up that very pattern. We are threads in the warp and the weft.'

  In the centre of the room, Caitlin danced alone, lost to herself, the Morrigan's love of sex and life evident in each seductive movement.

  Loading his plate with roast meat, Veitch ignored the pointed stares of the other Brothers and Sisters of Dragons from across the ages. They milled around the hall as they tried to avoid being dragged into Decebalus's ribald revelry as he stalked back and forth, swilling ale by the flagon while indulging in outrageous flirting to make Aula jealous.

  For much of the evening, Church and Ruth had been involved in intense conversation, but they broke off to join Veitch as he made his way over to Shavi and Mallory.

  'You know how to throw a good party,' Church said.

  'One of the perks when you get your own Great Court,' Mallory replied.

  'I still can't believe the Tuatha De Danaan let you take over.' Ruth laughed.

  'They owed me big time.'

  Church surveyed the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons with pride. 'They seem like a great crew, from what I can tell. Brave, fierce — we'll do well with them on our side.'

  'Would you expect the Pendragon Spirit to choose any other?' Shavi said.

  'You think they're formidable, you wait till you see the gods,' Mallory said with a sly smile. 'Norse, Greek, Chinese, the whole terrifying, insane collection.'

  'Where are they?' Ruth asked.

  'We've got them in their own separate camps outside the city walls. If you think the Tuatha De Danaan are fractious when they get together, you really don't want to see this lot mixing with time on their hands. They'd be at each other's throats in a second.'

  'Imagine them side by side on the battlefield,' Church said. 'Whatever troops the Void can throw at us are going to be up against it.'

  'As long as our lot don't kill each other first.'

  The revelry was disrupted by the crash of the main door slamming open. In staggered Ronnie Kelly, a Brother of Dragons in a field uniform from the Great War, his expression devastated. He flailed for a moment before raising his hands in a silent plea. They were covered in blood.

  'Murder,' he eventually stuttered. 'There's been a murder!'

  The band came to a sudden halt. Church, Veitch and Mallory raced towards Ronnie before the others realised what he was saying. In one of the branching corridors off the main approach to the hall, a woman in a pink satin Georgian dress was sprawled, eyes wide open. A neat hole had been punched in the centre of her forehead.

  'Marie,' Mallory mouthed. All he could think of was her accusation the previous day that he had attacked her. Haunted, he dropped to his knees to check her pulse, though it was clear she was dead.

  Angry voices rose up from a small crowd of Brothers and Sisters of Dragons further down the corridor. A man in a Georgian morning suit pointed an accusing finger at Veitch. 'He did it. He killed our Marie.'

  'No.' Church stepped quickly between Veitch and the group. 'He's been with us all the time. Don't jump to conclusions.'

  'Why not?' The man brushed away a stray tear. 'That is what he does.'

  Fearing they would attack Veitch, Shavi held up his hand and drew all attention to him. On the periphery of his vision, his alien eye glimpsed hidden shapes, and amidst the dislocation, he heard the distant whispers of the Invisible World. 'The murderer is still here in the palace. And more… We are under great threat!'

  'Fan out across the palace,' Church said. 'Stick to the core groups that Decebalus has defined for you. Nobody goes alone.'

  Reluctantly, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons moved off along the echoing corridors.

  'This wasn't me,' Veitch said, eyeing the body.

  'We know,' Church replied. 'I was stupid to think the Enemy would give us time to regroup. Come on.'

  Shavi followed Church, Veitch, Ruth and Laura along the corridor. Mallory, Hunter and Caitlin headed for the stairs to the next level. As the groups separated, Shavi heard a rasping, unfamiliar voice issuing from Caitlin that chilled him to the bone. It said, 'Death is circling. Blood will come!'

  9

  Navigating the deserted, barely lit upper reaches of the palace was not easy. Hunter led the way with a torch snatched as they climbed the stairs in the east tower. To his left, Mallory's sword provided its own blue light to guide them, while at the rear, the Morrigan had risen in Caitlin, who now moved like a jungle cat. The possession brought physical change too, her eyes becoming a deeper black, her muscles tauter. Gripping her axe effortlessly, she appeared to hear things beyond even her comrades' sharpened perceptions.

  Climbing the last flight of stairs, they entered an echoing loft space beneath the ancient oak rafters that supported the palace's pitched roof. Sleeping birds rested on every beam and in every nook and cranny above their heads, the floor white with their excrement.

  Caitlin rested an unnaturally cold hand on Hunter's shoulder, her head half-cocked as she listened. 'There's someone up ahead.'

  'You need to get yourself a sword,' Mallory said.

  'Don't you worry about me,' Hunter replied. 'Now, who loves the stink of bird droppings enough to hide out up here?'

  The loft area branched right and then broke off in three directions over the palace's wings. As they reached the junction, an ear-splitting, high-pitched shriek ripped out of the dark. The birds erupted from their roosts, driving Mallory, Hunter and Caitlin apart as they surged around the enclosed space.

  One glimpse of Caitlin wielding her axe in a cloud of feathers and blood reached Mallory before he was driven away by talons and beaks, bodies battering him like stones. Disoriented by the beat of wings, he staggered back until he felt the wall against his shoulder.

  Amidst the chaos he glimpsed a figure ahead, seemingly unmoved by the storm: a woman's hair, a cheek, an eye. In the gradual accumulation of information, a deep cold ran through him, driving out all rational thought. He propelled himself through the birds towards her.

  His worst fears were confirmed: a woman in her late twenties stood before him, blond hair tied back, face weary from too much struggle too soon. A woman from his old life, before he was a Brother of Dragons, forced to endure an atrocity of Mallory's making that ironically set him on the path to becoming who he was.

  The emotions her face dredged up blinded him to the knowledge that she couldn't possibly be there. He grasped her hand, desperate to tell her all the things he should have said but never had the chance, but all that came out was a weak, 'I'm sorry.'

  The woman's eyes glittered hatefully. Through the haze of his crushing guilt, Mallory finally noticed something off-kilter about her. Pain jabbed into the back of his hand, drawing his attention to fingers that were no long the slender, pale ones he had grabbed but made of twisted blackthorn. A drop of his blood gleamed on the end of one sharp protrusion.

  The woman's face unpacked, altered, until what remained was a head that appeared to be constructed of crumpled paper with black, blinking eyes hovering above a malicious grin. The body was now constructed wholly from the same twisted strands of blackthorn.

  Mallory threw himself back. 'I saw you. In Ogma's library.'

  The creature lifted its hand high, tilted back its head and dripped Mallory's blood into its open mouth. 'Now we are joined for all time,' it said in a voice like rustling paper, 'and that will not be for long.' It advanced on Mallory, one finger outstretched as if accusing him.

  Scrambling to his feet, Mallory hacked off the blackthorn creature's arm. W
ith a crackle, the forearm regrew from the stump, the index finger extending into an even more brutal point.

  'You cannot stop me,' the creature said. 'Nothing ever stops me.'

  Mallory lopped off the arm again, but it grew back just as quickly.

  From out of the whirling birds, Hunter exploded into the creature. An instant later Caitlin was at his side, axe at the ready.

  'Should have brought some defoliant.' Hunter watched the creature pick itself up and turn those chilling black eyes upon him.

  'Take it easy,' Mallory said. 'Your weapons can't hurt it.'

  For a second the creature weighed an attack, and then another high-pitched shriek increased the birds' wild activity. Battering her way through the wall of feather, beak and talon, Caitlin searched for their adversary, but there was no longer any sign of it.

  They retreated to the only entrance to the loft space and waited until the birds had calmed and returned to their roosts. A careful investigation throughout the branching wings of the loft found only a ragged hole into the night and a potential escape route across the roofs of the city.

  As they looked out over the lights of the Court of the Soaring Spirit, Hunter said, 'You hear that?'

  At first they thought it was the thunder of an approaching storm until faint metallic notes rose up amongst the pounding. 'The Enemy,' Caitlin said. 'They've reached the Great Plain. It won't be long before they're at the city walls.'

  Mallory's attention was caught by the distant outline of the Burning Man simmering in the night sky. 'The fire's rising within it, see?' he noted. 'It's nearly done. Soon the Void will here, and when that happens the clock stops. It's the end of the world for all of us.'

  Chapter Two

  Ten Degrees Of Hell

  1

  From the window, it appeared as if a black cloak had been laid across the rooftops surrounding the Palace of Glorious Light. As the night receded with the first silvery light of dawn, that cloak gleamed with an oily sheen that eventually revealed itself to be thousands of ravens perched in eerie silence. The beady eyes of the Morvren all turned towards the palace.

  'What is it with birds?' Hunter said. 'Since that thorny bastard attacked last night, I've spent all my time picking feathers out of every crevice. And now this.'

  'Blame Church. They're his.' Laura carved her name in the stone with a small knife.

  'I think he might debate the ownership issue with you. A supernatural omen of death following you around to pick the bones of the fallen isn't quite the same as a budgie.'

  'Looks like there's more of them,' Laura said, casting a bored glance out of the window.

  'They know something we don't.'

  'You're lucky you've got me to protect you, then.'

  'Sorry? Did you say "torment"?'

  A gong resonated along the silent corridors, summoning them to a gloomy chamber where the walls and windows were hidden behind purple and scarlet drapes. Magickal artefacts were piled high on the tables and floor, suggestive of some hidden ritual pattern — skulls, crystals, athames, statuettes, jewels, candles and more. Parchments and books were stacked head-high in one corner. With a long, delicate brush, Math carefully inscribed protective runes on a section of wall that would soon be hidden again behind the drapes. His four-faced mask turned slowly and deliberately.

  Even though Church and Shavi talked intensely in one corner, there was an unshakable feeling that something had just departed the space.

  'Nobody thought to lay on a muffin basket?' Hunter said. 'You can't have a breakfast meeting without muffins.'

  'Funny man.' Laura shied away from Math and went to annoy Tom, who had just lurched in, grumpy and tired.

  Soon the two teams and Tom were gathered, with Math observing silently from one corner. All of them were aware of the bond they shared, despite their personal differences. The air was electric with the Pendragon Spirit.

  'What lies ahead is more than we've ever faced before, and there's a strong possibility that none of us will be getting out of this alive,' Church said. 'It's important we're under no illusion about that.'

  'It's the job,' Hunter said. 'No point grumbling about it.'

  'That's easy for you to say. You've got a death wish,' Laura said tartly.

  'We know where we stand,' Mallory said. 'The question is, where do we go? And just as importantly, what do we do about that thing we found in the loft last night?'

  'If, as you describe, it can change appearance at will, it could remain amongst us, picking us off one by one,' Shavi mused.

  'Who's to say it's not here now?' Ruth said. They all shifted uneasily.

  'Math, what did you find out?' Church asked.

  'The creature is known as the Hortha.' Math's voice echoed hollowly from behind his mask. 'It is mentioned many times in our histories, as an agent of destruction and death and chaos.'

  'An agent of the Void,' Caitlin added.

  'The Hortha is a hunter, a tracker. Once it has identified its prey, it cannot be deterred or stopped. It will continue until it has killed.'

  'Okay, you got a load of gods lined up out there ready to fight for the cause,' Veitch began, 'but from where I'm standing, the biggest threat to the Void is the Army of Dragons. If I was the Enemy, I'd send that thing out to pick the whole lot of us off one by one. Cut out the heart.'

  'We're not going to be sitting back, letting the Hortha get on with it,' Church said. 'Ryan?'

  'So, what, he gets to call the shots now?' Laura said.

  'We're all here because we've got individual strengths that benefit the group as a whole. Veitch — and Hunter — they're the strategists.'

  'What am I? The cheerleader?' Laura said sullenly. 'Give me a C-U-N-'

  'Let's focus, shall we?' Church insisted.

  'We're taking the fight straight to the Void,' Veitch said, 'starting right now. Decebalus is going to lead the Army of Dragons, the gods and the Tuatha De Danaan against the Enemy forces.'

  'Our troops can be organised before the Enemy reaches the city?' Ruth asked.

  'I reckon. Decebalus is a big bastard. He's not going to let people drag their feet. In the meantime, we're going to split into two teams. One lot is going to get the Extinction Shears. Once they've done that, they're going to rendezvous with the other group, who are going straight into the Fortress of the Void.'

  'When you say it like that, it sounds simple.' Hunter looked around the room. 'Does anybody else fancy some wine?'

  'Hunter's right,' Laura said. 'You've already made it clear: the rules say nobody gets into the Land of the Dead. And that Fortress must be swarming with the Enemy, never mind the Burning Man hanging right over the top of the place. What are you going to do — walk up to the front door and ask nicely?'

  'Actually, we'll be using the back door,' Church said. 'A group of colonists in Roanoke back in Elizabethan times were kidnapped and taken to the Fortress. One of them was Virginia Dare.'

  'That little girl?' Laura said.

  'She escaped from the Fortress,' Church continued. 'She knows a secret way back in-'

  'You can't take her back there,' Ruth protested. 'Laura and I both spoke to her last night. She's completely traumatised by what happened to her in that place. It would be cruel to make her go back.'

  'It's not like I haven't wrestled with this, Ruth-'

  'Church. No.'

  'We don't have a choice,' he said firmly. 'There's too much at stake.'

  'She's just a little girl.'

  'She's stronger than you think,' Caitlin said. 'If this has to be done, we'll protect her as much as we can.'

  'So it's a suicide mission,' Hunter said. 'Into the Fortress, blow up the Burning Man. Last post and medals all round. Delivered to the ones we leave behind, of course.'

  'And what part do Miller and Jack play in this?' Shavi asked.

  A touch of weariness was evident in Church as he shook his head. 'Math's been trying to work that out. All we know is that the Two Keys are needed along with the Extinction She
ars to stop the Void.'

  'So we're winging it,' Veitch said, with what the others thought was an alarming note of relish. 'We trust our instincts once we get in there. That's what we do, right?'

  'I usually prefer what we in the security business call a "plan",' Hunter said. 'But I'm willing to try your way for the novelty.'

  'Death wish,' Laura muttered.

  'I'm going to take Virginia, Miller and Jack to the Fortress alone-' Church began.

  Mallory, Hunter and Veitch all cut him off but Ruth's voice was louder. 'You don't get to play hero on your own,' she said.

  Church saw the truth in their faces. 'You don't trust me,' he said. 'You know I'm fated to turn into the Libertarian and you think I'm going to sell you all out.'

  'It's not that,' Mallory said unconvincingly. 'We just don't want to take any risks. The more of us we can get in there, the better chance we'll have.'

  The sting of betrayal was evident in Church's face for a brief moment before he continued, 'Then we all choose the two teams. I'm going to the Fortress, so the other team needs a leader. Mallory?'

  Mallory nodded. 'I've seen Stoke. After that the Grim Lands is the only place left to visit.'

  'Ryan?' Ruth suggested. 'You told me the dead worship you as some kind of hero. Sounds like you could use that to our advantage. They should know where the Market is in their own home.'

  'No,' Mallory said firmly. 'I don't need to be looking over my shoulder all the time in a place like that.'

  'Fair enough,' Veitch replied. 'Your loss, mate.'

  'I'll go.' Caitlin flashed a brief smile at Mallory. 'We make a good team. We trust each other. And two of us should be enough. Travel light, travel fast.' Mallory began to protest, but Caitlin silenced him. 'Don't try to protect me. I've got a goddess of death inside me, you goon.'