The hall filled with complete pandemonium as the nobles screamed in panic, unable to move. Several of the ladies were slumped, having fainted where they stood. Celdic almost envied them. Where had Lochnar gone?
A shrill scream rent the air and Morindessa suddenly appeared behind Jerard, thrashing wildly as if she were a rag doll being shaken by a giant. Almost immediately, however, Jerard flew backward twenty paces, his face covered in blood. Riah had materialized where he had been standing, looking like a great vengeful cat. She bent over Morindessa for a brief moment before continuing her advance on Jerard. Thistledown’s face was haggard from the unseen struggle. Celdic had a feeling that if Thistledown died, the rest of them would soon follow.
“Lendel, we need to do something!” Celdic said urgently. “If we all attack at once, it might distract him enough for Thistledown to finish him.”
Li and Lori walked over to where Celdic stood, their faces resolute. Cha’le passed Lendel, grabbing his hand as she made her way toward them. Her eyes widened in surprise when he did not budge.
“Lendel, come on!” Cha’le said insistently.
“What if we are wrong?” Lendel said slowly. “What if we are on the wrong side?”
“How can you say that?” Li demanded in exasperation. “Look what he is doing to your friends!”
“He is defending himself,” Lendel replied calmly. “He has not attacked any of us that have not first attacked him. I know this sounds crazy, but I do not think he will attack us if we don’t attack him.”
Celdic stared at Lendel in astonishment. What was the matter with him? Had he lost his mind? Or was Jerard somehow controlling him? Celdic shook his head roughly to clear his thoughts. “Fine then, we will fight him without you.”
Turning toward Jerard, Celdic started walking slowly toward his father’s enemy. Questions kept racing through his mind as he closed in on the orange-eyed man, though. Why did he call Thistledown by the name of Terrance?
Riah stood in front of Jerard, her face covered in sweat, neither of them moving a muscle. Celdic could sense some of the things Riah was doing to Jerard. One moment, a harmonic note would begin that Celdic could feel rather than hear, only to be squashed by Jerard. A white-hot flame burst beneath Riah, but somehow she remained unharmed. Jerard’s eyes widened in surprise, however, when the flame failed to affect her. The moment of surprise was all that Riah needed. Before Jerard could back up, Riah buried a dagger in his chest to the hilt.
Jerard gasped and blood rushed out of his mouth. A moment later, he straightened, glaring in fury at Riah. The knife was no longer in his chest. He had not pulled it out of his chest; it was just no longer there. Celdic was halfway between Jerard and Thistledown. He looked down at the sword in his hands doubtfully. If a dagger to the heart did not kill him, what would a sword do?
The air hummed like high voltage as Thistledown and Riah continued their unseen battle with Jerard. He felt Li’s resonance next to him. Cha’le was slightly behind him. If the three of them could distract him enough for Thistledown to break through Jerard’s defenses, they might have a chance. Lendel was still standing in the honorary guest section, swinging his head back and forth uncertainly. If they survived this, he was going to beat some sense into Lendel.
The dissonance was growing stronger as Celdic drew closer to Jerard. The other man spared a momentary glance for him, his eyes calculating. He did not seem to be wearing out as Thistledown was. He seemed to be warming up.
A sudden wave of fear hit Celdic so hard that he unconsciously stepped backward, cowering slightly. The fear intensified, followed by a sense of hopelessness that made Celdic almost plead for his life. They had no chance against a person of this power. Why were they still fighting? The result was inevitable: they would all die.
Celdic felt the same power surge within himself he had felt the day he had tried to eavesdrop on the Elders and became ensnared in the Snake Vines. There was a bright flash, and the feeling of fear and hopelessness were gone. The nobles Jerard had frozen in place around him were suddenly able to move again. They made a mad dash for the exit, ignoring the cries of their fellow nobles who were still rooted to their chairs. Jerard watched Celdic carefully as he continued his advance. He seemed uncertain, his eyes glancing between Thistledown and Riah. The dissonance was so strong that Celdic felt his Spirit vibrating from the noise. Jerard seemed to be having trouble focusing as well, as if he could feel the same dissonance radiating through him.
Celdic felt Jerard tighten several of the tentacles wrapped around some of the nobles. A moment later, bodies were flying through the air toward Thistledown. He tried to jump backward, but just as he began his leap, a sword blade slid through his stomach from behind.
“Here is for your secret society,” Captain Kerns said softly, his eyes burning with hate. “Tell your brother that I never liked him when you see him --.”
Captain Kerns never finished what he was saying. In mid-sentence, Thistledown reached over his shoulder and tore out the man’s throat with his clawed fingers. Captain Kerns had done enough damage, though. Just as the bodies of the air-born nobles began landing on Thistledown, there were several loud detonations. Celdic felt the same swirling sensation he had felt when Terrance dissolved the Gorinthian Spirits. It took Celdic a moment to realize Thistledown was doing it to himself.
Destroy the catalyst. Celdic glanced back at the three-dimensional triangle, wondering if the thought had been his own, or if Thistledown had spoken directly in his mind. Celdic risked a glance at Jerard as he turned to the catalyst. Thistledown was no longer a problem as far as Jerard was concerned. He now faced Riah with a triumphant gleam in his strange eyes. Riah gasped as Jerard focused the full force of his power on her alone. She screamed a scream that gave Celdic chills. Celdic ran toward the catalyst, unsure if he was running from Riah’s screams or from the sense of urgency of the voice in his head. Thistledown had shown him how to destroy it earlier. Focusing his yar, Celdic pulled on a concentrated point just below the cavity where the Chasel was supposed to rest.
The ground lurched beneath his feet and a dull, booming sound echoed up from what seemed miles inside the planet’s crust. Jerard turned away from Riah to stare wide-eyed at Celdic. His orange eyes burned with pure madness. He felt some kind of pressure begin building in the back of his head as Jerard stocked toward him. Sighing, Celdic waited for the inevitable as Jerard drew inexorably closer.
Celdic jumped backward in surprise as Jerard’s head sailed through the air, almost hitting him. He sensed the swirling sensation of a drain close by as Lochnar’s sword decomposed Jerard’s spirit. A moment later, there was a stampede of nobles as their invisible bonds dissolved. Their faces filled with utter terror as they trampled each other to get to the exits.
Lochnar no longer seemed to have a vacant piece of Spirit in one part of his body. Instead, it seemed to pulsate wildly so that at one moment his arm did not seem to exist, and then his leg or torso. He stood over the remains of Jerard, an expression of inhuman satisfaction on his harsh face.
Riah slowly rose to her feet and lurched over to where Lochnar towered over Jerard’s remains. Her beautiful face was haggard from her earlier struggle, but her eyes filled with concern as she approached her father. “What is the matter, father?” she asked urgently, her yar scanning his body.
Lochnar stood silently for a moment, staring at the sword that only he could see. “When you were captured by Jerard before, I was not far behind you. I attacked him and attempted to free you. At the time, I was no match for his power. He tried to reconstruct my Spirit so that it would serve him. Terrance and Thistledown showed up in the middle of his reconstruction and he fled. My resonance no longer resonated regularly, though. It shifted throughout my body, some of it resonating on a different realm than ours. My organs were unable to function properly because they randomly moved to different realms. Terrance created a link between Thistledown and I that made it possible for me to stay grounded in this realm. Now that
Thistledown is gone, the link is also gone.”
Riah stared at her father in wonder, and Celdic could only agree. Lochnar was not the kind of person who enjoyed receiving help from someone else. It was a shock he had accepted Terrance and Thistledown’s aid at all. It would also explain the towering contempt Lochnar directed at Thistledown.
Lendel had not moved from the honorary guest section. His eyes showed a sudden understanding when Lochnar finished speaking. Celdic glared at Lendel, though his friend appeared unaware of his burning gaze. Lendel was due for a long talk after his display with Jerard. Celdic hoped Jerard was responsible for the way that Lendel had been acting, because if he was not, Celdic was going to beat some sense into his thickheaded friend.
“What can I do to help?” Riah asked her father quietly. “Can you walk me through what Terrance and Thistledown did before?”
Lochnar shook his head. “It was half-experimental when Terrance did it. I have no idea how he did it.”
“How long do you have?” Riah asked, trying to keep any emotion out of her voice.
“Several days,” Lochnar replied unconcernedly. “It doesn’t matter now. I lived to accomplish my greatest achievement.” He finished with a nod at Jerard’s headless corpse.
Ferrich was beginning to stir. He shook his head groggily, and then winced. “I feel like I just survived a night on the rack.” He looked around blearily. “Where is Morindessa? What happened?”
“She is safe,” Riah assured Ferrich, “though she will probably share your misery when she awakes.”
Lori was standing where Thistledown had stood before he dissolved. “Where is Thistledown?” she demanded, a small tear in one of her eyes. “Why hasn’t he returned yet?”
Riah sighed, and all of the sorrow in the world seemed to reside in her sigh. “He is gone Lori. He sacrificed himself to save us.”
Lori tried to say something else, but it seemed to stick in her throat as silent tears ran down her cheeks. Li walked over to comfort her, but Lori stepped away quickly, raising a hand for Li to stay away. Li watched her uncertainly for a moment before moving over to check on Morindessa. The dark-haired assassin was sprawled in a contorted knot like a contortionist. Celdic could feel her resonance humming loudly though, an indication that she was healthy.
The large audience hall was empty aside from their strange party and Princess Sentina, who stood staring with wide eyes at everything around her. There were several bodies left behind in the room, victims of the stampede for safety by the other nobles. All that was left of the Catalyst was a small mound of rubble. The sense of power that had reverberated from the ground around it was now gone. Celdic wondered if he had been hasty in destroying it, now that Jerard was dead.
“Where did you go?” Riah asked her father curiously.
“I went to find Terrance, in case we failed,” Lochnar admitted grudgingly. “The last place I felt his presence was in the Negative Realm.” He paused for a moment. “All I found was his body, drifting in the darkness. His Spirit was gone.”
Riah gasped in dismay, “He’s dead?”
Lochnar shook his head, frowning slightly. “His body had gone into hibernation. He left it on purpose. Before I had time to find his Spirit, Thistledown began dissolving, so I had to return before my link to this realm was lost.”
“Did you bring his body back?” Celdic asked intently.
Lochnar looked at Celdic silently, his gaze calculating. Something in that look made Celdic nervous, though whether it was the intense black eyes having their usual disconcerting effect, or the hint at some knowledge about himself, Celdic was unsure. “His body remains in the negative realm. If I had taken it, there is a good chance he would not be able to find it again.”
“How long can his Spirit stay outside of his body?” Celdic asked quietly.
“A week at the most,” Lochnar replied unconcernedly. “After that, his body will begin deteriorating.”
Celdic felt empty inside, which was something he had never felt before. It felt like someone had bored out a hole where his stomach used to be. In the week since leaving Chasel Ri’ Aven, he had lost his father, his favorite teacher, and a newfound friend. Where was the justice in the world? Why were all of these good people lost for a foolish power struggle? Why could people not just learn to live in harmony? Celdic felt a layer within himself harden as he faced the answer squarely. Justice only existed where a good person was willing to stand up for it. He would not let the lesson of his father’s life be lost on him. If he did not stand up for something, then he stood for nothing.
Chapter 32
Sabine kept looking over her shoulder as she made her way down the Rue de Chabrol. She usually walked home from work on a much safer route, but she had become distracted while following a shorthaired, black cat. For some reason she was fascinated with cats. She did not own one, because her propriétaire did not allow pets. When she was at work at Chartier’s, where she worked as a waitress, the cooks would often berate her for feeding scraps to cats behind the building. There was something about the graceful way that a cat moved, not to mention the strange vertical eyes, which fascinated her. Her co-workers regarded her as odd, even freakish, because of her strange obsessions.
Her co-workers also regarded her as odd because she did not seem to care what her peers thought of her. She had just turned twenty and had still never been on what could be called a date. She was attractive, far more so than many of the girls she had grown up with that seemed to have no trouble at all finding dates. Dating was something in which Sabine had never been interested. She knew she should have been, but there were no feeling or urges in her that made her want to seek out the company of other people.
She was not, however, unaware of the fact that she was attractive, which was one of the reasons she was nervous at finding herself on Rue de Chabrol. It was a place where women should not walk alone at this time of night. The black cat had jumped over a fence a block ago, and now Sabine realized that she had no idea how to get back.
She studied the buildings curiously as she passed them, forgetting her nervousness as the style of the buildings drew her interest. The building that she stopped in front of was little more than a pile of rubble with long weeds growing through the eroded stone. Sabine missed a step as she saw a still form lying on the ground, almost hidden in the tall weeds of the rubble. She crept closer, looking around nervously. Someone was laughing raucously several buildings over, but there was no one in her immediate vicinity. Was this a victim, or could it be a trap? Sabine crept closer to the still form, hoping devoutly that she was not about to see her first corpse.
It was a woman, dressed in black trousers and a black blouse that seemed barely large enough to cover her enormous bosom. Sabine stared at her face, and if she were any other woman, it would have been with envy. Sabine had never seen a face this beautiful. It was inhuman in its beauty. Sabine continued to stare at her, fascinated. The woman’s slow moving chest meant she was still alive, Sabine was glad to see. The woman had long, black hair that fanned out around her pale face. Sabine reached out hesitantly and shook the woman’s shoulder. Slowly, as if it took great effort, two eyelids opened up to reveal a pair of cat-like eyes. Those strange eyes were blurry and uncomprehending.
“Excusez-moi, êtes-vous bien?” Sabine asked softly.
The woman stared at her, trying to focus. “What?” Her voice was rich and melodious, as inhuman as her beauty.
“Oh, you are American?” Sabine asked in barely-accented English.
“American?” the woman asked vaguely, still trying to focus. Sabine idly wondered if she was a junkie. “What is an American?”
“That answers that question, I guess,” Sabine said to herself. “My name is Sabine. What is your name?”
The woman struggled to sit up, wincing as she did so. “My name is Selindria,” she replied slowly, looking around at the decaying buildings. “Where am I?”
“Rue de Chabrol,” Sabine answered, watching her clos
ely. The name seemed to mean nothing to her, so Sabine elaborated. “In Paris, France.”
She still received the blank look from Selindria. “In Europe.” Sabine stared at her strange eyes for a moment and a thought occurred to her. “On the planet Earth.”
The woman was suddenly standing. Sabine was sure there had been no movement between sitting and standing. One moment she had been sitting, the next she was standing. “Earth?” Selindria said disbelievingly. She began looking around frantically. “Did you see anyone else close by me?” she asked anxiously. “There may have been a man of my height with bright, blue eyes?”
Sabine backed up a step so she did not have to crane her neck to stare up at Selindria. She had not realized how tall the stranger was when she had been on the ground. Sabine was tall for a woman, but Selindria towered over her by a good fifteen millimeters. “No, there was only you,” Sabine assured her. She was not sure if Selindria was afraid of the man, or worried for him. “Was he a friend?”
Selindria nodded mutely. She stared around with an almost hopeless air of someone that had no idea of where she was, what she was doing or where she was going.
“Why don’t you come home with me for now?” Sabine offered with a tentative smile. “You can work out what you want to do from there.”
Selindria stared at her, considering. Her eyes seemed much older than she looked. “Thank you, Sabine.”
“We should probably hurry, though,” Sabine suggested. “I did not mean to come this way. This is a bad part of the city.”
Selindria just nodded, looking unconcerned. She wondered if Selindria knew what she meant when she said bad part of the city. Who knew what things were like where she was from?
Gorinthians Page 41