by Jon Jacks
The only advantage was that she could now move her head.
She glanced over towards Galilee.
‘Galilee! No!’
The binding strands had disappeared from Galilee’s head, revealing his anguished face. There was a sparkling glow to his features, a fainter glow across his whole body.
Beth immediately understood what was happening.
Galilee was freeing Machal.
He was sacrificing himself to help Beth.
*
Chapter 74
‘No Galilee!’
It was a tortured scream.
Part warning, part apprehension for Galilee, part intense pain as Beth was grabbed and pulled at by what felt like thousands of unseen hands.
Most of her legs had now gone the way of her feet, vanishing yet still suffering the agonisingly strong wrenching.
Every fragment of her body was being nipped and clawed at.
Galilee glowed as he stepped free of the strands.
The streams of energy briefly flowed aimlessly around their own trunk. Then they drifted off to one side, like endlessly long, gaily-coloured pennants.
Machal still looked like Galilee, only a Galilee who was painful to look at, so bright was the light emanating from his body.
When he reached for and took a tight grip of Beth’s chest, she was almost expecting his touch to burn. Yet it produced only a strangely reassuring tingle.
‘Fight it Beth! Don’t go there!’
She threw her arms around him, clinging onto his shoulders.
But she could sense that the wrenching on her body was getting stronger.
It was pulling her body away from his, despite their tight embrace.
Her hips had disappeared, along with her stomach.
‘I can’t…can’t hold…’
Her grip was weakening.
And so, amazingly, was Galilee’s.
‘No no Beth!’ he groaned in anguish.
Her chest slithered away from him, vanishing in an instant.
He grabbed at her arms.
Her terror stricken face was so close to his.
‘Beth…’
Her arms slipped from his grip.
Her face suddenly whipped away – and vanished.
*
Chapter 75
Beth was sucked backwards at what felt like an impossible speed.
It could have been dark, swiftly swirling water that she was passing through, although she felt warm rather than cold and wet.
She was also buffeted hard, and sharply.
She could see remarkably clearly, which would have been impossible had she been caught in a whirlpool.
She was surrounded by darkness, yet within it there were moving threads of something even darker. Threads that varied in thickness, stretching off in all directions until they visually merged into the greater darkness.
The pulling at her now came from every direction too.
Every inch of her skin and the muscles underneath were being violently nipped and drawn out as far as they would go before springing back.
Now the thinner threads of darkness, in countless numbers, were touching her as she continued to hurtle feet-first through them.
It was like being dragged backwards through endless rows of bushes, only these twigs didn’t scratch so much as snap at her with what could have been innumerable tiny mouths.
As Beth careered past thicker threads, they painfully whipped at her, like a thickly branched tree restlessly thrashing in a stormy wind.
Unbelievably, it was even more agonising than Horus’s attempt to strip her away to nothing to free Morrigan.
Sevil, the great Tree of Lives! Feeding off every wrong turn of a spirit, the way a normal tree needs the sun. Rooting time and time again in true darkness. Only the strongest spirit can resist.
Morrigan was obviously attempting a mocking tone; but there was something strained about her voice.
Something stunned.
Something pained.
But this isn’t what you expected, is it Morrigan?
A tree the size of a planet? Hah! I know of Erewslen!
Once again, Beth sensed that Morrigan was only putting on a show of confidence.
But I’m still here, Morrigan. And that surprises you, doesn’t it?
It should be flaying you alive!
Morrigan’s cry was desperate now.
Beth suspected that, like her, Morrigan was trying hard to hide the pain and hopelessness she felt.
It’s like when Horus tried to separate us. For some reason, we can’t be parted! What I suffer, you suffer!
You young idiot! Don’t you realise we’ll never stop suffering like this? If it can’t feed off us, it will still continue to try!
You said you could get us back! Take us back!
Not together! I can’t do it while we’re together! There’s still too much of the human spirit about us for the tree to let us go!
Then we stay here.
Where you can’t cause any more trouble!
*
As she was agonisingly flayed again and again by the ferociously whipping branches, as she was tugged at and pulled at and wrenched at (even her eyes!), Beth actually wondered if she could cope with this for a moment longer, let alone century after century.
But she couldn’t allow Morrigan to be freed.
It would not only be unbelievably bad for the world, but also for her mum.
Her mum would suffer in ways Beth preferred not to imagine.
She just knew she couldn’t let her mum end up as a spirit fighting in Morrigan’s legions.
*
For the first time since she had entered this place, Beth saw what could be a light.
It was a glittering spark that might have been a hundred or thousands upon thousands of miles away.
It was getting brighter too, as if it were quickly drawing closer to her, despite her own incredible speed.
Soon the glow emanating from the light was enough to illuminate some of the tree’s countless, crookedly branching limbs. Many of these limbs passed though unimaginably black clumps, becoming hopelessly tangled roots on the other side.
Sevil wasn’t one tree but innumerable trees, growing at every tangent to the centre.
The oncoming radiance became blinding.
Beth had to look away and close her eyes. But not before she wondered if she really had seen a number of vast wings amongst the brilliance.
No! Morrigan screamed in fury.
Beth was tempted to open her eyes once more, yet even through her lids she sensed the painful luminosity.
Then, suddenly, she was snatched at by hands and arms that curled around her waist and held her tight.
She sensed that she was slowing, even though there wasn’t any normal sensation that should make her think this.
A moment later, she felt that she was travelling again, but headfirst this time, as if she were flying.
‘What’s happening?’
She didn’t know whom she was directing the question at. She hoped the answer would give some hint of that.
‘It’s me; Galilee. I’m getting you out of here!’
‘No! Galilee!’
Beth knew what that answer meant; Galilee had become Machal.
That’s why Morrigan had been so furious. She had recognised that it was Machal streaming towards them.
See! Even lover boy’s given i
n! He’s let Machal have his freedom!
‘You have to leave us here Galilee! You’re saving Morrigan too if you rescue me!’
Let him save us – save you – you fool!
‘I can’t leave you here Beth. Morrigan or not.’
‘Galilee, you must…’
Her resistance melted away as a pair of Galilee’s wings completely enveloped her.
Their cocooning warmth and glow felt like a return to the womb. She felt safe. She felt free of anxiety.
She realised that they were probably travelling now at an incredible speed, perhaps almost as fast had Galilee had attained when he had chased after her.
Yet it didn’t feel as if they were moving at all.
The tree’s innumerable branches may well have still been striking at them too, but she couldn’t feel anything. There wasn’t even a hint of all that agonising pulling and wrenching that, only a moment ago, had seemed as if it would never end.
(And, of course, if she had stayed here, it never would have ended.)
Clever; he’s hiding your human spirit from Sevil.
Pity your boyfriend had to die so you could be rescued though, don’t you think darling?
*
Chapter 76
When Machal unfurled his wings – wings of shimmering light, not white feathers as Beth was expecting – they were back on the sand dunes once more.
Machal’s glow began to swiftly fade.
It gave Beth the chance to observe him without being blinded, if only for the most fleetingly moment.
She gasped.
Even in his faded luminosity, he was like an angel composed of light. His wings – six of them – were massive, beautiful, entrancing in their steady movement.
In the blink of an eye, it was Galilee, not Machal, standing before her.
He looked, drained, exhausted.
He would almost certainly have crumpled to the floor if Beth hadn’t reached out and supported him.
‘How? Why…?’
Thinking she knew what questions Beth was intending to ask – How have we ended up back here? Why have we come back here? – Morrigan answered for Galilee.
This is where the branches of your life touch the edges of Erewslen. Because this is where you entered. So it’s where you must exit too. Even while covered up by lover boy’s wings!
Beth ignored her.
How had Machal changed back into Galilee? Why had Galilee changed into Machal in the first place?
Especially when it was likely to have led to his death?
Galilee understood what Beth had meant to ask.
‘I don’t know how I survived. Machal doesn’t know either. But it may be because Machal is a being of light. Even so, I felt it burning me up, weakening me. I couldn’t have existed as Machal for much longer.’
They both turned, hearing a mockingly slow handclap.
Horus was seated in a surprisingly comfortable looking armchair. The chair wouldn’t have looked out of place in a picture-book cottage.
‘Bravo!’
He rose to his feet as he continued his languid clapping.
‘Shakespearean it ain’t, but it’s touching, nevertheless. For the sake of his love, the hero – the great, the formidable, Machal! – weakens himself. Thereby bringing about his own incredibly premature death!’
He made a lazy click of his fingers out towards the sea.
Immediately, the higher waves far out from the beach began to rise even higher. They churned wildly, throwing up vast plumes of white foam.
As the spray descended, it coagulated, forming into line after line of Roman soldiers.
‘I do love your history,’ Horus said, clicking his fingers once again.
This time, however, he clicked them back towards the dunes in the near distance.
‘It can be such a glorious spectacle.’
The desert erupted into rows of miniature whirlwinds.
The spiralling winds rapidly formed into swirling columns, around which ever more detail swiftly gathered. Within a moment, an Egyptian army was spread out across the dunes, complete with horses, chariots and even war elephants.
Despite the distance it had to cover – Horus had indeed gone for spectacle, displaying his creation in its full, extended glory – the army moved with the unhurried languor of a force assured of victory.
Even though he was still weakened by his time as Machal, Galilee conjured up howling winds to strike the nearest columns of the Egyptian horde.
The sandy figures were at first resilient to the whirling winds then, breaking up, disintegrating, they were scattered across the dunes as nothing more than fine grains once more.
Beth turned her attention to the oncoming Romans, preparing to raise up her own violently aggressive plumes of water.
No, don’t, it’s a trap!
‘You expect me to trus–’
She heard a pained screech. Alongside her, Galilee was writhing in agony.
He’s using your own senses against you again, you fool! Wipe out those soldiers, and you’re uncovering every sensation you’ve ever experienced!
Galilee’s eyes and mouth were open wide, a blinded, over-satiated man: seeing millions of sunbursts all at once; tasting and digesting in an instant everything he had ever eaten.
Beth had a good idea of what he was suffering. She had been tortured by a similar array of overwhelming experiences only moments ago.
Why are you helping me? Beth asked Morrigan suspiciously.
I’m no longer sure what damage it would cause me! Horus has given up on me! He wants us all to die!
Without Beth’s waterspouts to stop them, the watery legions were inexorably rushing in on the waves towards the sands.
Let me call up my spirits! They have no senses to overwhelm!
Startled, Beth jumped.
Her mum! Her mum would be amongst the injured spirits!
She couldn’t let her mum take part in a fight against– but wait!
Couldn’t she ensure her mum was separated from the others?
She would see her mum again! And, perhaps, defeat Horus’s forces too!
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Call them up!’
I need you, my lovelies! Defend your queen, your goddess!
*
In countless positions across the dunes, the air quivered.
It wavered like thin streaks of heat haze, like the disturbed rainbow colours in an oily puddle.
Even the air closely surrounding Horus vibrated.
The shivering tones expanded, hardened, until they became the bruised, mangled spirits Beth had glimpsed behind her mother.
They wore no clothes. They bore no arms. But their eyes blazed with a common purpose.
They strode across the sands, some to encounter the oncoming Romans, the other half to take on the advancing Egyptians.
Horus smiled knowingly.
‘Morrigan, I salute you for your genius! But as you must know, my Romans and Egyptians are little more than an amusement.’
He dissolved, running back into the sand.
No, no, Horus! Don’t leave me!
‘He’s…he’s given up!’ Beth sighed with an unexpected relief. ‘He’s run away.’
And just how do you think we’re going to get out of here, you naive little idiot? Even if his creations don’t finish us off, he knows that only he could have led us out of his little magic box of tricks!
‘Mum!’ Beth cried anxiously. ‘I need to find my mum!’
*
The armies had clashed, but there were no screams or yells, no clang and clatter of sword, shield and armo
ur, no harsh barking of guns.
It all took place in a weird, disconcerting silence.
And, suddenly, Beth was flying over them all, her sharp, predatory eyes scanning for any sign of her mum.
Cawing in anguish, she swooped down, curled around in vast curves, ascended then dived again.
There were so many spirits, far more than she had expected.
Obviously, the wars had already taken a great toll on humanity. The young soldiers she had seen dying early today were undoubtedly amongst them.
Perhaps Galilee had been wrong earlier and Heddy’s father was there too. But if he was, Beth couldn’t see him.
It wasn’t just the vast numbers involved that made it so difficult to spot individual people. In many places the spirits came together like malleable clay figures, intermingling to form massive, nightmarish objects.
As great fists, they smashed through the Egyptian ranks. As huge claws, they picked up elephants, carelessly casting them aside to scatter and flatten more soldiers.
Elsewhere they swiftly gathered and merged into hybrid siege machines, with flailing arms that crushed and swept aside whole lines of the enemy with each vicious stroke.
The way they acted together, with no thought of their own safety (perhaps, even, with little personal thought at all), reminded Beth of ants following an instinct to work for the common good.
They were, after all, directed by unseen signals from an all-controlling queen, whose safety was paramount.
It was not as if the spirits were impervious to damage. Yes, they could take a surprisingly amount of punishment and still continue fighting; yet there came a point when the mass of injuries sustained finally brought them down.
Many horrendously disfigured bodies were already sprawled out across the dunes.
Having seen how the sand soldiers had been so easily dispersed by Galilee’s winds, Beth was surprised to see how formidable they were against a more conventional attack.
Their swords and spears were solid enough, cleaving through what passed as flesh amongst the spirit forces. The armour and shields also resisted the fiercest blows delivered by the individual spirits.
They naturally crumpled, however, under the heavier pounding of the collective forms striking deep into the Egyptian ranks.
The Roman legions were equally robust. What appeared to be liquid swords carved into their victims with an incredible sharpness and efficiency. The plated armour responded to counter strikes as steadfastly as anything made of bronze or steel.
Even so, each legionnaire seemed to be suffering damage. There was many a half-crumpled head, even more loosely hanging legs and arms.
In some cases a chest or back had collapsed, the unsupported upper torso hanging forward limply. They could have been inflated figures, the exteriors gradually shrivelling back in on themselves as they were remorselessly punctured.
With a graceful swerve and a swoop, Beth placed herself amongst the Egyptians once more.
They were now suffering a similar fate to the legionnaires, the sand caving in as if their inner structure was being sucked away.