by G. P. Taylor
A crashing of ice crystals invaded the sky, smashing through the atmosphere and falling to earth around the city and beyond. The buildings on the bridge quaked as meteors plunged into the river, boiling the water and sending up explosions of hissing gas. Wormwood grew brighter in the eastern sky as it plunged nearer to the earth from behind the moon.
Abram shouted out: ‘Lesser light, be stilled by the Hidden Name!’ He kicked a way through the gargoyles that guarded him.
‘It’s too late for your meddling, you cannot stop the moon,’ Yerzinia shouted, gripping Agetta harder and harder.
Abram shouted again: ‘Lesser light, be stilled by the Hidden Name!’ He held up his hand to the sky.
‘Quickly, look at me, child,’ Yerzinia said as she turned to face Agetta.
There was a sudden and deep groan as Yerzinia opened her mouth to release the spirit. A long vine of thick white mass issued from her body and hovered above her like some fat snake before taking shape. It blew back and forth, still attached to Yerzinia, waiting for the moment to inhabit its victim.
Then Tegatus ran from the shadowy stairway, from the darkness into the light. He was half-dead, his face was scorched with the blast from the Abaris crystal, and the last beats of his broken heart carried him across the roof. Summoning all of his strength he grabbed Yerzinia, pulling her from the girl and the Nemorensis as he tugged the red cord free from the column. The Nemorensis shrank back, the pages imploding upon themselves as the column compacted into the book. In one continuous movement, like some forgotten dance, Tegatus pressed Yerzinia towards the parapet. Bonham and Gallicus chased after him in their surprise.
As he pushed her across the roof he twisted the cord around his wrist and looped the end around her neck. The spirit was sucked swiftly within like a coiling snake as the noose quickly tightened. Yerzinia lashed out, tearing the flesh from his face as she screamed for him to stop. The spirit was stuck within her, bound by the cord, and her body erupted in huge sores that festered and rotted the flesh.
‘You cannot stop me, Tegatus. Even your jealous heart will never take me in death,’ she cried out as they stumbled towards the edge, high above the Thames.
Abram slammed his hand on to the sword of the final gargoyle, splattering it with his blood. The creature exploded from within into purple flames that powdered the stone with their intensity. Then Abram ran to Bonham and with one blow he dropped him to the floor, the bag of pistol shot and black powder spilling across the roof.
Tegatus pulled Yerzinia to the parapet as Gallicus ran towards him. Yerzinia screamed and grappled with Tegatus and tried to rip his eyes from their sockets as the plague blistered her skin, turning her into an old hag.
‘The last flight of our hearts will be in death,’ Tegatus shouted above the sound of distant explosions, and he dragged her from the roof to the surging whirlpool far below.
Yerzinia swooped to her grave like an injured bird, dragging Tegatus down and down to the black water. They crashed into the river, the spray sizzling with an otherworldly heat as Yerzinia fought to be free from the raging flood. For a brief moment wings spread from her body as she reclaimed her angelic state and tried to rise from the foam like a swan beating its wings against the crushing tide. But Tegatus still pulled on the cord, dragging her to him as he sank into the dark waters. The whirlpool that swirled through the archway sucked them quickly into the depths, and they vanished out of sight into the thick blackness.
‘He took her from me,’ Bonham cried as he got to his feet. ‘He had no right … She was mine.’
‘She belonged to no one, not even to you,’ Abram said as he walked towards him.
‘Then the girl shall join them,’ Gallicus said gruffly, and he held Agetta against the wall of the battlements.
Abram looked at the blood that trickled from the sword wound in his hand. ‘Remember what I whispered to you, Agetta. Now is the time to remember.’
‘Perfect love casts out all fear,’ she said, smiling at him.
He took a quick pace forwards and flicked a drop of blood from his finger at Gallicus. ‘Blood for blood,’ he said to Gallicus, and Agetta leapt away from him as he began to tremble and shake. His eyes bulged from his face, thick white smoke billowed from his nose and mouth, and flames flashed like a blue mist over his skin.
‘Tares, ripe for the fire,’ Abram said, and he pushed him from the battlement to the water below.
Wormwood arched towards the moon, its orbit pulled towards the lesser light. The whole earth shuddered as the comet crashed into the moon’s dark side, sending plumes of lunar dust high into space. It fractured on the surface and exploded towards the earth in a million pieces of tiny ice fragments that twisted and spun across the sky.
‘What now, Yerzinia? Wormwood is caught like a moth in a web,’ Abram said to the wind as he walked towards Blake. ‘Don’t worry, I have done this before,’ he said, laughing as he plunged his hand into Blake’s chest. ‘See the ball I hold – and you never felt more than a twinge, my dear friend.’
Seizing his chance, Bonham grabbed the Nemorensis and ran to the stairway like a frightened dog.
Blake looked up at the sky, which was ablaze with the sparkling of ice crystals as they beat against the planet. Agetta stared at him, unsure what she had seen, as high above came a sound like the wing-beat of angels.
‘You will be her keeper,’ Abram said as he gave Blake her hand. ‘She is a friend and not a servant, though in that she will serve you well.’
‘Bonham?’ Blake asked.
‘He will run and hide and yes, he will trouble you again. But fear not – I am the guardian of your blood.’
Abram turned and walked to the stairway. They listened as the sound of his footsteps faded into the softening night. The brightness of the sky ebbed to darkness as the final meteors evaporated in the heavens.
‘Tegatus is gone,’ Agetta said as she looked down the Thames. ‘He died to save me.’
‘The night is not yet over and the battle not yet won. Come … let us go and see Mrs Malakin, she will doubtless be cowering in the cellar.’ He smiled and looked at Agetta. ‘I once met a man who said he would never believe in angels, perhaps that is the only safe thing to believe …’
Praise for Wormwood:
‘Wormwood is breathtaking in scope … an extraordinary achievement from a master storyteller. The book is, quite simply, marvellous.’ Guardian
Praise for Shadowmancer:
‘The new C. S. Lewis.’ BBC Heaven and Earth Show
‘The biggest event in children’s fiction since Harry Potter.’ The Times
‘The adventure unfolds at a vivid and breathless pace.’ Observer
‘A magical tale of vicars and witches.’ Daily Telegraph
‘A compelling and dark-edged fantasy … highly recommended.’ Independent
Praise for Tersias:
‘It is, in a word, brilliant. Colourful, dramatic, relentless, accessible to children – and more frightening for their parents.’ Scotsman
‘The plot hurtles along, carrying readers from one cliffhanger to the next.’ Daily Telegraph
About the Author
G. P. Taylor lives in the shadows of a medieval castle and the rugged North Yorkshire Moors overlooking the cold Oceanus Germanicus. He has spent most of his life in search of the eternal truths and finally believes he has found the reason why he inhabits a tiny space on this planet. In his spare time he enjoys looking at the stars and eating at The Ivy. G. P. Taylor can be emailed at [email protected].
Copyright
First published in 2004
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2010
All rights reserved
© G. P. Taylor, 2004
The right of G. P. Taylor to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Co
pyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571– 26980–8