He went to his knees in front of her and drew her in. Wrapping his arms, his eyes fixed on the belt stuck around the rock near the edge of the precipice. While she sobbed against his throat, emptying out the bitterness and the anger he could sense like a stain on his skin, he stared at the belt and rocked her.
On the air was the scent of death. Smoke. Fuel. Charred metal. Chemicals. He could see part of the remains of Los Angeles, a sliver of the city past the tail of the plane. As black as sin, the earth scorched like a mighty dragon had gone on a strafing run.
Fire spewed from buildings. Whole districts wiped out. Freeways decimated or collapsed. It didn't look like a city so much as a smudge of charcoal with bits and pieces thrusting up out of the earth.
It rumbled beneath them, a reminder that the terror wasn't over. Rhett cursed silently, mouth in her hair, hands sliding down her back.
When he came in contact with the pouch containing the Seals he stopped. So much ruin, so much damage and devastation.
He was afraid to open it and feel around. Worried, suddenly, that the Seals would all be broken.
What then? Was it all for nothing? Had everyone from the beginning died in vain? Would he and Evelyn and the others even make it back to Eden, or would they become victims of the end?
His fingers undid the clasp. Slid the flap open. Blindly searched for the clay discs wrapped in their pages.
Oh god, please.
He felt around the circumference of the first Seal. Intact. A ragged breath of relief escaped him. The next and the next were also intact. No cracks, chips, or breaks. Rhett couldn't figure out how they'd come through the event unscathed.
Not until he glimpsed Khyamaeus standing near the tail end, staring at them. It was the Fallen who'd gone to whatever lengths in an effort to not only save the Seals but to spare their lives.
He knew it as well as he drew breath that they had Khyamaeus to thank for making it through. Except Christian. His brother had been doomed probably from the start. Back at the beginning, maybe even as far back as when he'd held a sword to Evelyn's throat at the stronghold.
Instead of hushing her, he let Evelyn weep. And he joined her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Evelyn felt raw. From the soul to the surface. On the hilltop, with signs of pre-apocalypse all around them, she told the story of Christian. Each face, gathered around in a loose circle, showed their anguish, distress, sorrow. Dragar, not a man given to public displays of emotion, mourned his son with silent twitches of his shoulders and a fist against his mouth.
Dracht stared at the ground, grim and silent. The fingers of his left hand rubbed together, rubbing and rubbing, until she thought he might wear the fingerprints right off.
Rhett knelt next to her, gritty, with scars on his cheek and blood in his hair. He'd cried his tears out on her shoulder, against her ear. Raspy lungfuls of grief that were painful to hear.
Alex wore all her distress on the inside, which left her hollow eyed and paler than she had been.
Khyamaeus was the only one who stood firm and resolute, as if he'd known all along.
Maybe he had.
Evelyn couldn't bring herself to ask. She didn't want to know if he'd had foreknowledge of her sister and Christian's death. It was all too much, so much loss and suffering, that she needed to recover a little of herself before she endured anymore.
On the hilltop overlooking an obliterated Los Angeles, they spent precious minutes just coming to terms with it all.
For Evelyn, it felt anticlimactic that the Seals made it through the ordeal unscathed. They might have staved off an even worse situation but the price they had to pay was steep.
The earth still trembled and belched, shaking the ground they sat on. Every once in a while, a distant explosion broke the sudden stillness, a reminder of the dire state of things. As if Evelyn, or any of them, could forget. To make matters worse, the laden sky finally opened and set siege to the wasteland with rain.
Not a Noah-type downpour, but heavy enough to stick their hair to their head and make the armored shirts cling to their shoulders.
If it lasted long enough, Evelyn thought, at least it might begin to put out some of the fires. Perhaps some of the pristine wilderness of Northern California that had been burning would survive.
“So what do we do now?” Rhett asked. He smeared the side of his wrist over the top of his lip and left it resting there.
The plane was gone, useless to get them back where they needed to be. Evelyn looked out across the landscape, toward the parts of the LA basin that hadn't been directly rocked by the attack. Somewhere out there was a private airport with private planes, but the thought of trudging miles and miles seemed as appealing as throwing herself off the cliff.
“We need to get the Seals to the Garden. We're not out of danger while the Fallen are walking the earth,” Khyamaeus said. If he was touched by the deaths, the destruction, he didn't show it.
A collective silence was his answer.
Evelyn didn't need to ask any of the others if they felt up to locating an intact plane at some remote locale that they might or might not find the keys in. Finding a needle in a proverbial haystack would be easier.
Did they have any other choice? They couldn't sit on the hillside for much longer. The water and food was gone, and finding any would be next to impossible, she thought, after the recent attack. Survivors in the surrounding areas were going to panic and steal what hadn't already been stolen.
“How do you propose we do that?” Rhett asked, voice rough with exhaustion. He got to his feet, reaching a hand down.
Evelyn stared at it for a moment, then put hers in his and stood up. She thought she could sleep for a week.
The others stirred and finally rose.
“One mile at a time,” Khyamaeus said.
“Don't worry. I've brought Eden to you,” a familiar voice said behind them.
Evelyn whipped a startled look over her shoulder.
There, framed against the gloom and rain, stood Ashrael.
†
An overwhelming sense of relief enveloped Evelyn head to toe. Seeing Ashrael was like coming home. She knew, instinctively, that he would not allow anything else to happen to them. Not now, after all they'd been through. After all they'd lost. Compassion for the deaths lurked in his eyes; he'd been as fond of Minna as he had Genevieve and Galiana. As all the sisters that had perished before now.
A smile of welcome trembled on her mouth.
“Ashrael.” Rhett greeted him with surprise in his voice. Dragar and Dracht rumbled their hellos.
“Well, better late than never, Ash. I almost died, y'know? Or did we all die and that's what you've come to tell us?” Alexandra's quip started out with its usual jauntiness but waned as if she really thought the question had merit.
Startled, Evelyn looked around her. The rain felt too real, too wet, the ruin of the plane stark in its destruction. She could smell the smoke, feel the uncomfortable aches and pains from the impact. Dracht, Dragar and Rhett were all doing the same thing, she saw, darting looks around for some way to confirm they still lived.
They were so tired all their perceptions were skewed and distorted.
Ashrael chuckled. “You're not dead. None of you. And I see you've picked up a straggler along the way.”
The chuckle faded as the Guardian and the Fallen regarded each other.
Despite everything else, Evelyn felt the friction of the two in such close proximity. It manifested as goosebumps and pressure on her skin, as if the air around them was hyper-loaded with energy.
Khyamaeus hardly looked like he'd been in any accident. No bruises or cuts marked his skin and the armor only wore the distress of typical warfare. Somewhere along the way he'd lost his bow and the sheath of arrows on his back.
“He showed up in England. Said that he wanted to redeem himself so that he could maybe get his old job back,” Rhett said.
“And has he?” Ashrael asked.
“Red
eemed himself? I don't pretend to know what happened before all this, but he got us out of some serious situations we probably wouldn't have survived. And I suspect he had something to do with most of us making it through the plane crash, though I'm not sure what.”
Ashrael didn't take his eyes off the Fallen. The two stared each other down, almost as if they were having some kind of private, silent conversation no one else could hear.
“It's been a long time since we've accepted one of our own back in. The ultimate decision is not mine, you understand,” Ashrael said, indicating Khyamaeus.
“My actions speak for themselves. I know the risks and the dangers,” Khyamaeus said.
“Indeed. You've cut yourself off from the Fallen now and have no idea whether the Guardians will take you back in,” Ashrael agreed with Khyamaeus.
“It's a risk worth taking,” Khyamaeus said.
“We'll see.” Ashrael looked away.
“He also had something to do with the Seals not breaking when we went down,” Rhett added.
And he had saved Christian's life once, only for them to lose him anyway. Evelyn bit the words back. She crossed her arms over her chest, standing close enough to Rhett that she could feel his body heat.
“Ah yes, the Seals. May I have them, please?” Ashrael extended a hand, palm up.
Evelyn reached into the pouch and withdrew the discs, leaving the page edges folded over for extra protection. Stepping closer, she set them in his hand.
“Thank you, Evelyn.” He opened each one by one to peruse the surface.
Evelyn thought it was a moment for him to buy time; Ashrael had to know which Seals had broken, and which hadn't.
“Have we stopped it in time?” Dragar asked with a rough edge to his voice.
Ashrael didn't immediately reply. Finally, he said, “Yes. In four or five days, all the elements you see around you, that you've experienced, will fade. The sky will clear, the sun and moon will return to normal, the earth will calm.”
“Even though some of the Horsemen have been turned loose?” Dracht asked.
Ashrael tucked the Seals into his armor and looked at Dracht. “They have wreaked their havoc, have no doubt. Fully half the population is no more. That number will grow to just under three quarters before the siege is through. A thorough cleansing was mankind's only hope for a second chance. When no more Seals are broken, when the last Horsemen are not called forth, the others will be forced to retreat. It's a cycle that keeps them going, and when it's broken, they cannot continue. You, all of you, have broken the cycle.”
Several minutes of silence descended. The snap of debris underfoot brought Evelyn's attention beyond their group toward the decimated plane.
A handful of Guardians, all in their armor, swords at their sides, made a half circle around them. For a moment, Evelyn grew alarmed. She thought they would confront Khyamaeus and end him right there.
Khyamaeus must have thought so too, because his posture stiffened and a sizzling charge made the air uncomfortably hot.
Rhett, Dragar and Dracht all darted looks between the Fallen and the Guardians. Wary.
“Khyamaeus, you will go with them to the Council and be heard. Good luck,” Ashrael said. He gestured to the Guardians who waited with their hands on their swords, all eyes on the Fallen.
Khyamaeus eased. He broke eye contact with the Guardians and faced the group. “It was interesting to work alongside the Templars I have heard so much about. Perhaps we will all meet again. I'm sorry I could not save Minna or Christian.”
Evelyn saw Khyamaeus and Rhett exchange a specific look that Evelyn couldn't decipher. It wasn't the first time. She made a note to herself to ask Rhett later.
The Templars thanked Khyamaeus and bid him goodbye.
Alex smiled.
Evelyn did too. She didn't blame him for her sister's death, nor Christian's. He'd done what he could with what he had. At least the rest of them had made it through alive with the remaining Seals. She knew Khyamaeus had a hand in that, as Rhett pointed out.
Goodbyes and glances exchanged, Khyamaeus left with the Guardians. On the top of a foothill overlooking so much devastation, the Guardians and the Fallen vanished.
Khyamaeus' fate now hung in the balance.
†
“Are the rest of you ready to return to Eden?” Ashrael asked once the others were gone.
Longing surged inside Evelyn at the mention of Eden. Living under the oppressive weight of the threatening clouds, the bursts of rain, lightning and unpredictable earthquakes made her wish fervently for blue skies, a bright sun and fresh, untainted air.
The plane, destroyed in the crash, would not get them to Egypt. Hours and hours would be wasted wandering until they found another to replace it. Evelyn hid her disappointment.
“Are Rhett, Dracht and Dragar still going to be our Guardians? What about the Seals?” Alex asked.
All eyes landed on Ashrael. A flicker of amusement touched his expression.
“Yes, Alexandra. As long as they are still willing, you and Evelyn will lead them to the Tree of Life once we return and they may partake of the fruit.”
Evelyn knew she wasn't the only one feeling bittersweet right now. Rhett met her eyes and she read the lingering sorrow that lurked side-by-side with relief.
“It's going to take us some time to get back,” Dracht pointed out.
“Less time than you think,” Ashrael said.
When Evelyn swerved her attention away from Rhett, she saw the shimmer of the pylons and the tall door behind Ashrael. It wasn't quite as corporeal as the real thing, like something one might visit in a dream. But she also knew that it would take them where they needed to go.
There on the hillside, Ashrael opened an alternate door to Eden. He led the way through, stepping from the wreckage and charred chaparral into a void that swallowed him whole.
Evelyn followed. Rhett was at her back with his brother, father and Alexandra in line behind him.
The dismal gray she'd grown uncomfortably used to became a brief flicker of static just past the Gate. Heavy pressure caused her ears to pop. On either side and overhead, like a translucent tunnel with clear walls and a see through floor, the earth, air and time seemed to warp. Hundreds of feet down she saw the black ruin where bombs had been dropped and plains where the rains left flood waters raging. Cities stood in varying stages of disaster, some so devastated she couldn't recognize them from the rubble. Fissures, volcanoes and gorges that had never been there before made new marks in the terrain, redefining boundaries and property lines.
None of it resembled an earth Evelyn was familiar with. Not during any wars that she'd witnessed in her long life time, not after any natural disaster that had struck land. Below was an alien world, smoking and on fire. The sheer scope was mind numbing. With every step, as if she was a giant, countries fell away for new ones. Everywhere there was destruction. No one had escaped the peril, the turmoil, the death.
And death was plenty.
She could tell by the soulless desolation, the lack of warmth and light. Black flickers like hungry tongues lapped at the remains of humanity, gorging on the wicked, the righteous, the sinful.
What mother nature hadn't taken, Death consumed with unprecedented greed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The healing heat of the sun beat down from a cloudless sky. Underfoot, shoots of velvety green grass stretched for miles in all directions, ending only when clusters of flowers, bushes or trees took its place. A tranquil peace enveloped the whole of it, as far as the eye could see, as if nothing bad could ever happen here. Nearby, a creek meandered through the landscape, clear and fresh and as cool as the springs they washed themselves in.
Days of grime, old blood, scabs and filth fell away under soft cloths and clean smelling soap.
Changed into clothing that Ashrael provided, they downed platefuls of food and water, sitting on sun warmed flat rocks while birds sang and the wind whispered through the trees. Still within sight of
the Gate, the group of five rested and re-energized.
Surprisingly, few had little to say.
They went through their routines in silence, staring at far off spots with their minds thousands of miles away.
It was to be expected, perhaps. The recent losses could not simply be forgotten or overlooked and each had to mourn their own way.
They slept in the grass when the silver moon crested high and the sky grew dark. Stars were brighter here, winking in the black canopy like glittering diamonds.
On the second morning, Ashrael approached from the Gate while they finished their breakfast. He still wore his armor—he always wore his armor—and the sword still hung at his side. In his hands he held a thick, heavy looking book. Leather cover with crinkling pages, and an arcane mark engraved on the front.
“Everyone feeling rested?” he asked, assessing each with his eyes.
“About as rested as I'm going to get, I think,” Dracht said. He scrubbed fingers through the dark beard he'd not had a chance to shave.
“Much better than I was,” Dragar added.
“Like piss and vinegar again,” Alexandra retorted, which drew a laugh from all the men.
The first laugh since they'd arrived.
Evelyn smiled, also for the first time. She studied her wayward sister with undeniable fondness, wishing Genevieve, Minna and Galiana were here to laugh with them. Instead of sinking into another round of melancholy, Evelyn exhaled a long breath. Life was for the living, and none of her sisters would approve of excess brooding or tears.
She studied the book Ashrael held and let the spark of curiosity grow.
“What's that?” she asked.
“It's the new Book of Seals. Each of the broken ones has been replaced. When you all return from the Tree of Life, I will put this into your care. As before, it must be guarded and protected. Find a safe place to hide it, for the Fallen will know another exists and their search will continue.”
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