“Indeed you do,” whispered Abaddon.
Achnazzar blanched and backed away from the ferocious gleam in Abaddon’s gray eyes. “It will be done, sire.”
“And we need Donna Taybard on the high altar on Walpurnacht Eve. Have you rechecked the star charts?”
“I have, sire.”
“And are the results the same?”
“Yes, sire. Even more promising, in fact.”
“There must be no error with her. She must not be harmed in any way until that night. The power contained in her must be harnessed for the Hellborn.”
“It will be, sire.”
“So far I have heard many promises.”
“The army is sweeping south, and there is little resistance.”
“You hesitated on the word ‘little,’ ” noted Abaddon.
“It seems that twenty of our men were ambushed near the Yeager mountains. But a punitive force has been dispatched to deal with the attackers.”
“Who were they?”
“A brigand named Daniel Cade. But he is not a problem, sire, I assure you.”
“Find out all you can about the man. He intrigues me.”
Daniel Cade looked down at the gathering of men and women on the mountainside below him. At the last count there were 670 refugees, including 84 children. Cade had brushed back his hair and cleaned his black frock coat with the wide leather lapels. Leaning on a handsomely carved stick, he cast his eyes over the crowd. He could see suspicion on many faces and blank open hatred on others.
He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
“You all know me,” he said, his voice deep, clear, and resonant in the mountain air. “Daniel Cade. Cade the brigand. Cade the killer. Cade the thief. Many of you have cause to hate me. And I don’t blame you; I have been an evil man.”
“You still are, Cade,” shouted a voice from the crowd. “So get on with it! What do you want from us?”
“Nothing. I want you to be safe.”
“What is it going to cost us?” asked another man.
“Nothing. Let me speak, and then I will answer all your questions. Ten days ago something happened to change my life. I was on that mountain yonder, just short of the snow line, when a voice came to me out of the sky and a bright light struck my eyes, blinding me. ‘Cade,’ it said, ‘you are an evil man, and you deserve death.’ ”
“It was damned right about that!” came the shout.
“Indeed it was,” agreed Cade. “I don’t mind admitting that I lay there on that mountain begging for life. I knew it was God talking to me, and I knew I was done for. All the evil deeds came flooding back to me, and I wept for the trouble I’d caused. But then he says to me, ‘Cade, the hour has come for your redemption. My people, whom you’ve sore beset, have come upon tribulation. And a people of the Devil have come to the borders like angry locusts.’
“ ‘I can’t do nothing, God,’ I said. ‘I can’t fight armies.’
“Then he says, ‘I took the people of Israel from out of Egypt against the power of the Pharaoh. I took Joshua and gave him the Promised Land. I took David and gave him Goliath. To you I will give the Hellborn.’
“ ‘I can’t do it,’ I said. ‘Take my life. End it here.’
“But he refused. ‘Save my lambs,’ he told me. ‘Bring them here to the Yeager mountains. Suffer the little ones to come unto safety.’
“And then the blindness lifted from my eyes, and I said to him, ‘But all these people hate me. They’ll kill me.’
“And he said, ‘They hate you with good reason. When I have led you to conquer the Hellborn, you will make amends to all the people you have made to suffer.’
“I stood up then and asked him how we could beat the Hellborn. And his voice came down—and I’ll never forget it to my dying day—and said, ‘With their own weapons ye shall strike them down.’ And he told me that there was a convoy of wagons to the north, and I sent Gambion and forty men. And they captured that convoy and brought it here. And do you know what it contains? Rifles and pistols and bullets and powder. Two hundred weapons!
“And they are yours. For nothing. I ask nothing—only that you allow me to obey my God and lead you against the spawn of Satan.”
Cade waved Gambion forward, and the huge man shuffled to the front of the crowd, carrying several rifles, which he passed to the men in the front line.
A young farmer Cade recognized but could not name took a rifle and asked Gambion how to cock it. The bearded brigand showed him, and the farmer swung the rifle on Cade, his eyes burning with anger.
“Give me one good reason, Cade, why I shouldn’t kill you. And don’t bother with talk of God, because I ain’t a believer.”
“There’s no reason, Brother,” said Cade. “I am a man who deserves death, and I’ll not complain.”
For several seconds Cade ceased to breathe, but he stood his ground. The man handed the rifle to Gambion. “I don’t know about you, Cade, but it seems to me that any man so unafraid of dying ought to be sincere. But if you ain’t …”
“Trust in the Lord, Brother. You’ll have no reason to doubt my sincerity. And here’s the proof: The Lord came to me yesterday and said: ‘Three hundred riders are bearing down on your mountains, Cade, but I will deliver them into your hands.’ How many of you will come with me to destroy the Devil’s people?”
The air came alive with waving arms, and a roaring cry echoed in the mountains.
Cade limped away to where Lisa sat with a canteen of water. She wiped his face with a towel and was surprised to see the sweat on his features.
“You look like you’ve been through hell,” she said, kissing his cheek.
“You don’t know the half of it. When that boy pointed the rifle, I thought it was all over. But I got them, Lisa. By God, I got them!”
“I wish you hadn’t lied about God,” said Lisa. “It frightens me.”
“There’s nothing to be frightened of, girl. Who’s to say? Maybe God did come to me. Maybe it was his idea that I should tackle the Hellborn. And even if it wasn’t, I’m sure he won’t mind me smiting the bastards hip and thigh. Where’s the harm?”
“It mocks him, Daniel.”
“I didn’t know you were a believer.”
“Well, I am, and don’t you mock me.”
He took her hands and smiled. “No mockery, I promise. But I was reading the Bible all last night, and I tell you there’s power in it. Not miracles and suchlike but the way one man can bind a people together merely by telling them he’s God’s mouthpiece. And it seems they’ll fight like devils if they think God is with them.”
“But it wasn’t God who told you about the convoy; it was Sebastian.”
“But who led Sebastian to the convoy?”
“Don’t play with words, Daniel. I am afraid for you.”
He was about to reply when Lisa placed her fingers on her lips in warning. He turned to see Sebastian climbing the hill. The young man squatted down beside him.
“Was it true, Dan?”
“What, lad?”
“About God and the convoy?” His eyes were shining, and Cade glanced at Lisa, suddenly ill at ease.
“Of course it was true, Sebastian.”
“Dammit, Daniel. Damn it all to hell,” Sebastian said happily. He smiled at Lisa and then sprinted away over the mountainside.
“Would you believe that?” said Cade.
“No, but he did.”
“What does that mean?”
“Didn’t you look at his face, Daniel? He was overjoyed. He looks up in the sky now and sees God smiling down on him.”
“Is that so bad?”
“I don’t think you realize the full power of such a deceit.”
“Power is what I want, Lisa. And it won’t hurt Sebastian to think that God loves him.”
“I’m not sure that is true,” said Lisa, “but let’s wait and see. I am more worried about you. What will you tell them when things go wrong? How will you explain when God lies to you?�
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Cade chuckled. “That was all in the Bible, too, Lisa. It’s a smart book. When things go right, God did it. When they go wrong, it was because he was disobeyed, or the people were unholy, or it was a punishment. He never loses, and neither will I. Me and God, we understand one another. Trust me.”
“I trust you, Daniel. I love you. You’re all I have, all I want.”
“I’ll give you the world, Lisa. Wait and see.”
* * *
Two days later Cade and Gambion sat their horses on the plain before the Yeager mountains, watching the column of Hellborn bearing down on them.
“Time to run, Daniel?”
“Not yet,” said Cade, pulling clear his long rifle and cocking it. Leaning forward, he sighted the weapon on the lead rider and gently tightened the trigger. The rifle bucked against his shoulder, and the rider tumbled from the saddle.
Shells whistled around their ears.
“Now, Daniel?”
“Damn right!”
They wheeled their horses and thundered toward the pass.
Cade cursed, knowing he had left it a little late. A shot killed his horse, and the animal pitched headfirst to the ground, catapulting Cade from the saddle. He landed hard and screamed as his knee cracked against a rock. Gambion was almost clear, and he dragged his mount back, drew his pistol, and charged back toward Cade. By some miracle he was not hit, and his hairy hand grasped Cade’s collar, hauling him across the saddle.
Gambion’s horse was hit twice but gamely stuck to its run into the pass; then, with blood pumping from its nostrils, it sank to the ground. Gambion leapt clear, pulled Cade across his shoulders, and ran for the rocks. Bullets screamed close, and the Hellborn bore down on them.
Hidden in the rocks all around the pass, the riflemen of Yeager took careful aim. But they could not fire, for Gambion and Cade were virtually in the midst of the enemy.
Gambion shot two riders from their mounts before a bullet struck his shoulder, knocking him back. He fell heavily, pitching the stunned Cade to the ground.
Cade rolled and came up on his knees to find himself staring into the black muzzles of the Hellborn rifles and pistols. His eyes raked the warriors with their shining black breastplates and curious helms.
“God damn you all!” he said.
A rifle shot broke the silence, and Cade winced, but the shell came from the pass and smashed a Hellborn from the saddle. Suddenly the air was alive with a merciless hail of bullets that shrieked and screamed into the massed ranks of the enemy. The noise echoed in the mountains like the wrath of God, and when the smoke cleared, the dozen or so Hellborn survivors were racing from the pass.
Cade limped back to Gambion. The big man was alive, the wound high in his chest having cut the muscle above his collarbone.
He gripped Cade’s arm. “I never seen nothing like it, Daniel,” he whispered. “Never! I thought you was lying to them farmers, but now I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Them Hellborn couldn’t shoot you, and you on your knees and unarmed. And then you called on God …”
“Lie there, Ephram. Rest and I’ll stop that bleeding.”
“Who would have believed it? Daniel Cade, chosen by God!”
“Yes,” said Cade sadly. “Who could believe it?”
The spirit of Donna Taybard soared out of control in a blur of speed and light that caused her mind to spin. Her thoughts were incoherent, and a thousand voices lashed at her like whips of roaring sound.
Stars sped by like comets, and she hurtled through the hearts of many suns, feeling neither heat nor cold in her mad race to escape the voices in her mind.
A hand touched hers, and she screamed, but the hand held on, pulling her, and the voices faded.
“Be calm, child. I am with you,” said Karitas.
“I can’t endure this anymore. What is happening to me?”
“It is the land, Donna. As your child grows within you, so, too, does the power.”
“I don’t want it.”
“It is not a question of want; you must conquer it. You will never overcome fear by running away from it.”
Together they floated above a peaceful blue planet and watched the swirling clouds below.
“I cannot cope with it, Karitas. I am losing all sense of reality.”
“It is all real—both the life of the flesh and the power of the spirit. This is real. Con Griffin is real. Abaddon is real.”
“He covered me with black wings and talons. He told me he could take me whenever he chose.”
“He is a princely liar. Who knows where your power will lead you?”
“I can’t control it, Karitas. I was sitting at home looking after Jacob, dressing his wounds, when he opened his eyes and could not see me. And I realized that my body was asleep in a chair before the fire and I had come to him as a spirit. And I did not even know!”
“But you will,” he said soothingly. “I promise you. And I will help you.”
“What have I become, Karitas? What am I becoming?”
“You are a woman, and a very pretty woman. Were I a couple of hundred years younger and not dead, I would pay court to you myself!”
She smiled then, and some of the tension eased from her.
“What are the voices?”
“They are the souls of sleepers, dreamers. Imagine yourself in a river of souls; they are just random voices, not directed at you. You must learn to screen them out as you screen out the noise of the wind in the trees.”
“And my pregnancy is the cause of this?”
“Yes and no. The babe and the land, working together.”
“And will she be harmed by what is happening to me? Will she be changed?”
“She?”
“It is a girl … she is a girl.”
“I do not know, Donna. We’ll see.”
“Will you take me home?”
“No. You must find your own way.”
“I can’t. I am lost.”
“Try. I will follow you.”
Donna flashed toward the blue planet, skimming mountains and crossing wide glistening lakes and rolling prairies. There was nothing she recognized. She saw settlements of tents, homes of stone—cabins, huts, and even cave dwellings. She crossed an ocean and watched ships with triangular sails battling storms and reefs, until at last she came to a world of ice and glaciers, like palaces, tall and stately.
“I cannot find my way,” she said.
“Close your eyes and think yourself home.”
She tried, but when she opened them, she was below the sea, watching sharks gliding around the spiked head of an enormous statue. She panicked and flew, and Karitas caught her.
“Listen to me, Donna. Fear and panic are your enemies. Look on them with loathing as the servants of Abaddon and dismiss them from your mind. Your home is a warm cabin where your husband and your son wait for you. Be drawn by their love and their need; you can explore sunken cities at any time.”
She closed her eyes once more and thought of Con Griffin, but Jon Shannow’s face came to her mind. She shut him out and saw the redheaded Griffin sitting beside her sleeping form. He had her hand in his, and his face was troubled. She closed on the scene and opened the eyes of her body.
“Con,” she whispered.
“Are you well?”
“I am fine.” She lifted her hand to touch his face, and he recoiled.
Both her hands were in her lap, and she had touched him with her spirit. Tears welled in her eyes.
“I cannot control it,” she said. “There are no chains anymore holding me to my body.”
“I don’t understand. Are you sick?”
“No.” She concentrated on standing and felt loose inside her body, as if her soul were liquid and her flesh a sponge that could not contain it. He helped her to her bed. In the other room Madden’s wife, Rachel, sat by him as he slept.
Madden stirred. He had lost a great deal of blood, but his strength was returning. He opened his eyes to see Rachel’s careworn face.
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“Don’t worry about me, lass. I’ll be back on my feet in no time.”
“I know that,” she said, patting his hand.
He fell asleep once more, and Rachel lifted the blankets to his chin and left him for a while, moving to sit beside Griffin at the woodstove.
“What’s happening to us, Con?” she asked.
He looked at her lined, troubled face and pictured her as she must have been a decade before, a slim pretty woman with huge brown eyes that veiled the strength hidden behind them. Now her hair was graying, her skin had the texture of worn leather, and dark rings circled her eyes.
“These are not the best of times, Rachel. But we are still alive, and there’s plenty of fight left in us.”
“But we didn’t come here to fight, Con. You promised us Avalon.”
“I am sorry.”
“So am I.”
He poured her some tea. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” she said. “I’d best be going. How soon do you think we can move him home?”
“In a day or two.”
“How is Donna?”
“Sleeping.”
“Be careful with her, Con. Pregnancy often disturbs a woman’s mind.”
“Often?”
She looked away. “Well, no, not often, but I have heard of it before.”
“There is nothing wrong with her mind, Rachel. Had it not been for Donna’s powers, Jacob would now be dead.”
“Had it not been for you, Jacob would not have been shot at all!”
“I cannot deny that, but I wish you wouldn’t hate me for it.”
“I don’t hate you, Con,” said Rachel, standing and smoothing her heavy skirt. “I just see you as less of a friend.”
He saw her to the door and returned to the fire.
Events seemed to be moving out of control, leaving Griffin feeling like a leaf in a storm. Donna was caught in the grip of something Griffin could not begin to understand, and the Hellborn had sealed the valley tighter than sin.
But why did they not attack? What did they want?
Griffin rammed his fist down on the arm of the chair.
He had offered the people Avalon …
And he had brought them to purgatory.
An hour out from the ruined city a fresh storm broke over the riders. Driving rain lashed their faces, and a howling wind raged before them like an invisible wall. Shannow dragged his long leather coat from behind his saddle and swung it over his shoulders; it billowed like a cape as he struggled to don it. The gelding ducked its head and pushed on into the fury of the storm. Shannow tied a long scarf over his hat as the wind continued to increase in power.
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