Richard smiled wanly back. He looked down at the flecks of gold in the granite, and remembered the glittering lights in Kenntnis’s dark eyes.
The pressure from his father’s hand on his shoulder made him look up. “I don’t know why I waited, but now seems the right time.” Robert reached into his pocket. When he opened his fingers the gold signet ring glinted on his palm.
“The family ring!” Richard reached out for it, then pulled his hand back. “Where did you … How did you …”
“Apparently those demon weeds only had a taste for flesh and fabric. It was on the floor next to the body.” Robert took Richard’s hand in his and slipped the ring onto his finger.
They were all staying at Angela’s condo. It made sense. Richard had a one-bedroom apartment, and her townhouse had three bedrooms. Richard knew he had the right to the penthouse at Lumina headquarters, but he couldn’t bring himself to make the move. Not yet. It felt too much like trespassing.
The only light came from the flames of the candles. The small votives sat in small triangular glass holders in gemlike colors. Flames licked across the wood in the kiva fireplace. The room was redolent with the scent of posole, piñon, and the anise in the biscochitos. The judge had made great-grandfather Oort’s homemade eggnog. It was a big hit with Angela and Damon. Richard contented himself with a glass of milk.
Outside, the cul-de-sac was dark except for the flicker of candles in the luminarias. The next-door neighbors had bowed to community pressure and removed the electric luminarias. Someone had even managed to get the city to turn off the streetlights for this one night.
The little sacks glowed with a golden light, but it was diffuse, softened by the snow that had begun falling. A thin layer already covered the sidewalks and yards. The luminarias wouldn’t last much longer.
It was just the four of them. Amelia had refused to disrupt her family on such short notice and on the eve of Christmas. She seemed piqued that the judge had chosen New Mexico over Boston. Pamela had also refused, but surprised Richard by saying she would come west for New Year’s. The prospect left him with more than a few misgivings.
Weber shook back his cuff and looked at his watch. “Shit, it’s one o’clock in the morning. Merry fucking Christmas everybody.”
“Happy birthday,” the judge said to Richard.
“No shit,” Weber said.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Richard responded.
Weber pushed up out of the armchair. “I better head home. I’ve got to stop by Carol’s for a little while tomorrow,” referring to his wife.
“So things are looking up for the two of you?” Richard asked, and vowed to be pleased with the answer, whatever it might be.
“Nah. I just became momentarily more attractive because I’ve been interviewed on the Today show. She’ll decide I’m the same old asshole soon enough.”
“Don’t tear yourself down,” said Angela. She was prone on the couch with her head resting in Richard’s lap and her feet tucked under a knitted comforter.
There was a soft knock on the front door. They all froze, then exchanged glances.
“You expecting anybody?” Weber asked.
Angela shook her head. “Certainly not at this hour.”
She disentangled her feet from the comforter. It slid off the sofa with a whisper. Richard helped her up.
Weber unclipped his holster and drew his gun. Richard pulled the hilt of the sword free. He kept his hand in position to draw it as they moved cautiously to the door.
“Who is it?” Angela called.
“It’s me,” came a familiar, aggrieved voice. “Somebody threw away my box.”
But Richard had been fooled before. He looked to his father. Robert took Angela by the arms and pulled her back into the living room. Richard drew the sword. The chords echoed in the barrel vault. Nodded to Damon. Weber yanked open the door. But it was Cross. Their Cross, and he looked better than he had in weeks.
“Hey,” he said. “Thanks for putting a light in the window.” He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder, indicating the luminarias. “So to speak.”
“Get in here!” Richard ordered.
“So what happened after I got splintered?” the Old One asked, and while they told him, he ate his way through three bowls of posole, five butter-drenched tortillas, a dozen cookies, and four cups of eggnog.
He sat on the banco near the kiva fireplace, leaned back against warm plaster, and gave a huge belch. Angela picked up the tray.
“Fortified enough to answer a few questions?” Richard asked.
“Shoot.”
“What happens with Kenntnis captured?” Richard continued.
“I’m not exactly sure. He’s reason and order incarnate. It’s why he couldn’t use the sword. He made it. It’s a part of him, but too much order is just as bad as too much chaos.”
“So the sword is weakened?” Richard asked.
“Obviously, because they’re building gates. There’s a big one breaking through in Jerusalem, another in India, and I didn’t look any further. I wanted to get back to you.”
“So, what happens to our world? To reality as we know it?” the judge asked.
Cross shrugged. “I’m not sure. I guess we all find out together.” His lips parted, showing teeth in a humorless grin. “Won’t that be exciting?”
“Kenntnis told me at our first meeting that the Lumina’s weapons are science, technology and rational thought. The Old Ones can’t change scientific principles, and technology exists, but they can affect our ability to reason,” Richard said.
“So the world goes nuts?” Weber asked.
“Or at least the people in it,” Richard answered.
“Which would fit with what the FBI agent told you about the soldiers,” his father said.
“I still can’t believe Rhiana betrayed us,” Angela said sadly.
Richard closed his eyes briefly, remembering all the times he’d mishandled the girl. “It’s my fault.”
Cross made a rude noise. “Yeah, I figured we’d get around to you feeling guilty sooner or later. Kenntnis said you have a bad habit of trying to take responsibility for every fucking thing. Get over it. And hey, ichor is thicker than water.” Angela threw a biscochito at him. It bounced off the Old One’s nose and fell onto his chest, leaving a trail of sugar crystals. He snatched it up and ate it in a single bite.
Cross looked at Richard with a bright-eyed glance and asked, “So, what do we do now, jefe?”
“I sort of hoped that you’d tell me.”
“You’re the head of the Lumina.”
They were all looking at him … to him. Cross, the vessel holding the faith, hope and charity of millions of believers. Angela, scared but determined, believing in him totally, accepting and loving him. Weber, solid, and ready to act if he had a direction. Friendship restored. His father, steel incarnate with a cold, analytical mind, ready to advise him.
And support me.
And Richard realized he didn’t have to do this alone. He drew in a long, steadying breath. “Rhiana said she bound Kenntnis with magic, but holds him with physics using something called ‘slow glass.’ So, we find some physicists. If reason is leaving the world, I need you all thinking clearly. Angela, you asked me weeks ago to use the sword on you. Well, it’s time.”
“For me too?” Cross said hopefully.
“Be quiet. Sit down,” Richard ordered. The homeless god sat. “Okay, let’s do it.” He drew the sword. The tonal echoes seemed to shake the walls.
Weber stood up as Richard approached. Richard looked up at the taller man, started to raise the sword. “You want me to kneel, Short Stuff?” Weber asked, his tone whimsical. “Or you could just whack me on the leg.”
“Hey,” said Cross, waving his hands excitedly in the air. “You want to do this up right? It hasn’t been done this way in a long, long time.”
“What?” Robert asked.
“Where do you think the knighting ritual came from?” Cross asked. “O
f course it’s gotten garbled over the years, and there’s been a lot of religious shit thrown in to undercut its power, but it worked good. None of my kind ever infiltrated the Lumina because you had to get touched with the sword, which kills us, and it strips the magic out of a human candidate. Win/win, right?”
“So, what do we have to do?” Angela asked, intrigued by the prospect.
“Say the oath. Let him touch you on the shoulder.”
“And what is the oath?” the judge asked cautiously.
Cross closed his eyes as if summoning some distant memory, and recited:
“Here I do affirm my desire to serve the light. To seek knowledge and understanding in all my endeavors. To defend the world and all mankind. To close the gates and open minds. To teach what I know and learn what I can. To be true to reason and truth in each area of my life. This do I swear upon my life and my honor.”
One by one they came to him. Richard hated to hurt them, and it was evident the touch of the sword was painful. He, who possessed no magic, wondered what they felt. Was it like losing dreams, or waking to cold reality without any softening and comforting veils?
Weber eventually left for his apartment. Angela, weakened from her illness and the touch of the sword, went upstairs to bed. Cross went outside to keep watch. Robert carried the dishes into the kitchen. Richard heard water running, the clink of silverware on crystal. He sat staring into the dying embers of the fire, looking forward and trying to plan, looking back and remembering. He wasn’t certain when he fell asleep.
He came half-awake to find Robert leaning over him, covering him with the afghan. His father’s hand brushed back a lock of hair. There was the briefest touch of lips on his forehead. A whisper of breath fluttered warm across his forehead.
He woke at first light. The townhouse was silent. He checked on Angela and his father. Found them sleeping. He cleaned up in the downstairs bathroom. Though rumpled, his suit still looked better than anything he’d ever seen his fellow officers wear. It would do for what, he hoped, would be a dull shift.
He stepped outside, the snow squeaking beneath his shoes, breath forming a white cloud in front of his lips. The storm had blown out overnight. Under the rising sun the snow glittered as if it had been frosted with diamonds. The Sandias, their blue-gray splendor iced with snow, bridged Heaven and Earth, seeming to touch the turquoise-blue sky.
Richard went to work.
Ready to hold back the monsters.
“I need to give you a little lecture now. Please bear with me,” Kenntnis said. “There’s a war being fought, much older than the ‘war on terrorism’ or our current adventures worldwide, but tied to them in a dark and fundamental way. This ancient war is being waged for the spirit of humanity. If my side wins, mankind literally inherits the stars. If they win, gateways between universes will be fully opened again and the earth and all of her six billion inhabitants will enter a new Dark Age with all the attendant ignorance, superstition, suffering and death.”
He stared into Oort’s eyes trying to read the reaction, but there was nothing to read. The man hid well and offered no encouragement.
“Our weapons are science, technology, rational thought,” Kenntnis continued. “Their weapons are superstition, religion and … magic. You encountered a touch of it last night.” Oort stirred in his chair. Kenntnis anticipated the question. “No, it’s not common for it to be used so overtly or openly in this modern world. Which either means they are very close to opening the gates and allowing a flood of Old Ones back into the world, or there is a power-drunk child wielding the power. Neither of which is good news.”
“And what or who are these Old Ones when they’re at home?” Oort asked.
“Every dark myth and monster you can think of.” Kenntnis paused, then said it. “And every god you can name.”
That got a reaction. Oort stiffened. “I think you should know … I’m a person of faith.”
Kenntnis hesitated, weighing what to say. “We can negotiate about that later.”
The policeman advanced on Kenntnis. “It’s not subject to negotiation.”
“I think it might be when you understand a little better.”
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE EDGE OF REASON
Copyright © 2008 by Melinda Snodgrass
All rights reserved.
Edited by Patrick Nielson Hayden
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
eISBN 9781429997072
First eBook Edition : March 2011
First Edition: May 2008
First Mass Market Edition: June 2009
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
Chapter ONE
Chapter TWO
Chapter THREE
Chapter FOUR
Chapter FIVE
Chapter SIX
Chapter SEVEN
Chapter EIGHT
Chapter NINE
Chapter TEN
Chapter ELEVEN
Chapter TWELVE
Chapter THIRTEEN
Chapter FOURTEEN
Chapter FIFTEEN
Chapter SIXTEEN
Chapter SEVENTEEN
Chapter EIGHTEEN
Chapter NINETEEN
Chapter TWENTY
Chapter TWENTY-ONE
Chapter TWENTY-TWO
Chapter TWENTY-THREE
Chapter TWENTY-FOUR
Chapter TWENTY-FIVE
Chapter TWENTY-SIX
Chapter TWENTY-SEVEN
Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
Chapter TWENTY-NINE
Chapter THIRTY
Chapter THIRTY-ONE
Copyright Page
The Edge of Reason Page 36