Michael catches my eye. We could make a dash for it now that we’re all together.
True, but it would be a temporary solution. The wall my brother needs to build could take months or longer, and in that time harm will befall angels of both light and dark as battles rage over and over again. Some souls should never return to Earth. Nor can the demons and monsters Luca has created in his laboratories find a home there. We can’t let them through our defences. If we should fail to stop Luca here, in his world, he will take this battle to the skies of Earth. And then everything will change. Human beings would live in constant fear and danger. Our High King has foreseen this. So, no, Michael, this battle must be conclusive, and we must fight it here. Now.
It’s what I should have done when I had the chance, and maybe my Theze …
Hearing the pain in Michael’s voice, I give Ebony another final glance. Michael lost his wife, Thereziel, in a battle with the Dark Prince, but I’m not going to lose Ebony. I can’t let Luca get his hands on her again. I can’t let him create an invincible army from their offspring. Michael, Uriel, you know what I need you to do. Begin now.
Both immediately start drawing up their powers.
Isaac and Tash, whatever transpires, hold your positions and do not involve yourselves except to defend your cargo. If, however, the enemy breaks our lines, leave immediately and do whatever you must to deliver your cargo home safely. Understood?
Affirmative, they confirm simultaneously.
Nathaneal, Ebony calls out, her thoughts weighing heavy with guilt, I can help. Don’t hide me away.
It seems Ebony has begun to comprehend her exceptional powers, but without wings the element of unpredictability could prove too dangerous for the one holding her.
I forge a private link between us. Ebbie, for us to have a future together – and for the sake of all mortals on Earth – I need to know you will remain safe. Will you do this for me?
She links back, Yes. OK. But will you stay safe for me?
Michael hears her and flicks me a worried glance. The stakes have never been higher. But I can’t lie. I wouldn’t. And I won’t make a promise I’m not sure I can keep. Ebony, I will do whatever it takes to ensure the future is safe for us both.
Though she’s shadowed by Isaac’s glow, I still see her blink hard and hold it long, and when she opens her eyes again they’re as resplendent as the elusive purple diamond.
It’s not exactly what she wants to hear, and it takes an effort for me to look away without pulling her from Isaac’s arms into mine. I want to kiss her tears away so much it hurts. I want to plant kisses all over her face, then take my time with her mouth.
They’re gaining speed, brother. Where are you? Gabe demands as he takes his front-row position between Uri and Sol. Whatever you’re going to do, you had better hurry.
Are your soldiers in position?
Yes, yes. Hurry, Thane, can’t you see them?
Our enemy rockets towards us in units of a hundred by a hundred, with Prince Luca and General Ithran at the head.
All teams, arms ready and await my command.
Without a moment to spare, I reach into my core and summon my powers. They throb to life, pulsing through my veins, pushing against muscles and bones and skin. Not yet. I hold back while I build and build.
Pushing my arms out, palms forward, I release my power as a pulsing beam of green light. Michael and Uriel direct their power into mine, and combined we create a torrent of flashing fusion energy, a tunnel at the beam’s centre shooting out rivulets similar to solar flares. More powerful than lightning, the beam resembles the sea-green colour of a fluorescent ocean, a barrel a surfer might dream about, but it’s not water the three of us are creating, it’s raw binding energy, enough to power a small star.
We reach capacity and separate our power-streams. I direct mine into the rising sun, and because it’s travelling the furthest I dig deep into my core to propel it on with staggered bursts of more pure power. It rips through the upper atmosphere, tearing through the protective layers that surround this world, zooming into space at colossal speed until … until … bang! Bang! BANG! It hits. The shock wave distorts space, creating a shimmering green aurora far across the Skadean sky. On the ground buildings shake, windows explode, while angels and souls run screaming into the streets.
Michael directs his power-stream into the river, where it makes a colossal splash, creating a tsunami that rolls into streets, enters low-lying buildings and floods outlying streams.
Uri sends his into the clouds. A bright flash of light spreads across the sky in ripples. Clouds move, gathering together, and as they fill with ice crystals they begin their anticlockwise swirl.
With my power still pulsing into the sun, molecules in the high atmosphere change, warming the same ice crystals Uri captures in his swelling storm clouds.
It comes together rapidly, lightning and thunder the first signs to alert the capital, throwing Odisha’s inhabitants into disarray, including Luca and his general. They order their troops to slow down, to coast in position, as they attempt to work out what we’re doing and how to counter whatever this is.
But them taking a few seconds to figure out what we’re doing is precisely what I’m counting on.
Hurry! Gabe forges. When Luca realises what you’re doing, he’s going to get out of there fast, and he’s going to come straight for you, brother, and then the rest of us.
I check on Uri’s developing storm and watch as the thick black disc-shaped clouds expand, consuming more and more surrounding clouds as they drink in the moist air Michael is bringing up from the river.
The moment Luca figures out we have created a hurricane, the whole of Skade hears his animal shriek. I keep my eyes on him and notice something strange happening. The air blurs and stretches around him, and as it clears I see his shape has altered – considerably. He’s taller, more so than an Archangel. But what’s more startling, is that Luca’s upper body is now that of a beast with horns that curve round almost full circle, ending in pointed tips. He shakes his head, now larger and, shockingly, that of a bull with glowing yellow eyes, and the sound that comes from inside him raises goosebumps across my skin.
I draw up more power and thrust it into the main stream, where it pushes the storm to the point where it can now continue to build with a force of its own – a tropical cyclone of cosmic strength that grows and grows and covers the entire city from the western boundary cliffs to the river in the south and into the volcanic regions of wilderness far into the east.
Our job is complete – well, mostly. I lower my arms and sigh. I have not felt this weary before, and yet I will need more strength to finish this.
Gabe grips my shoulder and shakes his head, grinning with elation and gratitude. ‘You did it, brother! You did it!’
Shae reaches down from above me and ruffles my hair. ‘Well done, my prince.’
We grow serious again quickly when cries and shrieks from thousands of enemy soldiers caught in the storm reach us. They’re fighting a losing battle with one of nature’s most violent cataclysmic events. And as hurricane winds toss our enemy about like toys, something flashes red from inside the hurricane’s silent eye.
‘No. No-no-no.’
Shae asks, What is he doing? What’s going on, Thane?
I can’t let him escape, Shae, I can’t.
It appears that Luca – still in the form of the beast – has located the hurricane’s eye and is utilising this calm air to retaliate. Using his four black wings, he maintains a steady position and stares at me through masses of whirling clouds, his glowing yellow irises revealing the fury of his obsessive insanity.
And even though he is clearly stronger in the beast’s form, he ignores the cries of his soldiers and their outstretched arms reaching for him. His focus is on his hands, where he’s moulding fire into two golden orbs. They darken as he intensifies their concentration. Fire is in Luca’s blood, always has been, though no one knows why. And now he’s using i
t to … what, exactly? Burn his way out?
Apparently not.
Luca hurls his two fireballs at our pyramid formation, his intention no doubt to scatter us like pins. They pass through the hurricane’s eye wall first with ease, picking up speed as they continue zooming through the spiralling, wind-driven thunderstorms, rain bands and rotating cyclonic winds. And still the fireballs keep coming at us, straight through a hurricane that covers an entire city.
To the gates! I order, relieved to see Isaac and Tash are already on their way.
But the fiery orbs don’t make it through the outer hurricane walls. The relentless winds are finally slowing them, catching them, and in the swirling mayhem the orbs split open. Fire spills out like wine tumbling from a pair of carafes. Crushed and battered debris catches alight, flames spreading through the entire hurricane from top to bottom.
It is a sight both spectacular and horrific. It has us stopping to stare. The fires are changing the hurricane’s balanced composition. Explosions erupt throughout, some with such force they fling Luca’s soldiers screaming into the atmosphere or to the ground. More debris ignites, becoming a maelstrom with soldiers caught up in the blaze, which is fanned by the powerful churning winds.
The fire spares no one except Luca and General Ithran, still in the calm centre. I stare at Michael a moment, the taste of horror bitter in my mouth. He’s going to escape.
Michael’s grim frown gives way to a small smile of hope. I’m not so sure, cousin. Look again.
The tropical storm is collapsing in on itself, with masses of clouds, wind, ice crystals and fire rushing towards its centre – which Luca-the-beast and his general are now hurriedly attempting to vacate. But the pressure of all that internal condensing is keeping them trapped inside a dense whirlpool of blazing matter.
‘What’s going to happen to them?’ Shae asks.
No one answers. No one knows.
In the end it happens so fast that if any of us watching had blinked, we would have missed it. The storm condenses so thoroughly that the energy produced wrenches apart, limb from limb, the bodies of the last two remaining angels – Prince Luca and General Ithran. Those of us left watching fall silent as extreme forces tear Luca and Ithran’s heads from their torsos, then their arms, legs, feet and hands, and even fingers, toes, eyes, hair. Body parts thrash around the shrinking centre, smashing into each other, condensing further and further until there are only molecules and atoms left spinning.
When there is nothing left to condense, what remains is a black tube of energy no bigger than a matchstick, than a toothpick, than a string impossible to see with a human eye. Bright light begins shooting out from both ends as it suddenly erupts, sending clouds of gas and dust hissing and spitting into space.
36
Ebony
Isaac’s wings slice through the air. With every massive beat he carries me closer to freedom. But what will my freedom cost this world? Odisha is a wreck, with high-rise buildings tumbling to the ground; debris floating in flooding streets; screaming soldiers dropping from the sky, burning alive.
‘Ebony, nothing you did caused this. And there is nothing you can do to change the outcome.’
He whips off his cloak and drapes it around me. We’re so near to the punctured gate but the heat is already becoming unbearable. Flickering shadows turn gold and brighter gold as we enter a tunnel of flames.
With no thought for himself, Isaac turns me one way and another, shielding me from the turbulent reaction occurring around us. I’m grateful that he’s taking no chances with me, but I don’t deserve his special treatment. One day I will return the courtesy.
Being this close to freedom has my excitement building, but until Nathaneal and every soldier he brought with him pass through the gate, I will be worried.
Then we are through and Isaac is unravelling his cloak from around me. I take my first deep breath of nontoxic air and look around. The tunnel is busy with soldiers preparing for battle. Well armed, and in Gabriel’s colours, they’re stationed along the twelve gates and on both sides of the bridge.
Tash and Mela come through behind us. The dome tunnel with its crystal bridge is new to her and her boggling eyes show her astonishment. She reaches out, her hand grasping my lower arm, and through a mixture of laughter and tears she whispers, ‘I’m going home.’
Elijah and Lhiam come through next, and Mela turns and disappears in the embraces of her two leading rebel lieutenants.
Isaac glances over my head at something behind me. I spin round to see my sister running at me, her boots click-clacking on the crystal bricks, her elation emphasised by her glowing skin. ‘She looks like the sun,’ I mumble in awe under my breath.
‘Easy, wife,’ Isaac warns.
But the energy exuding from Shae’s body is warm, and as we embrace her love folds over me. It’s just what I need to help break an increasing sense of surrealism.
Skade is no longer my prison.
I’m not in Luca’s apartment.
And though I still have the wedding dress on, I’m not becoming his wife before thousands of witnesses.
‘Shae, I’m free.’
She doesn’t say a word, and from the way her bottom lip is trembling I’m not sure she can right now. She puts her hands on my shoulders as if to steady herself. ‘Ebony, you really are free. Completely. Utterly. Prince Luca, King of Skade, monster, beast, whatever he was or whatever you want to call him, he will never harm you again.’
‘Luca is dead?’
‘That he is,’ Michael confirms, coming through next. His golden eyes sparkling, he puts an arm around my shoulder. ‘It’s all over, little one. Luca no longer exists.’ His smile fades as a distant look appears in his eyes, and in a faraway voice he says, ‘You always knew this day would come. Go, and rest easy now, my love.’
I step back to search his eyes, suspecting he’s remembering when Luca killed his wife. But he gives me another warm smile. ‘I’m fine, little one. Thrilled that you’re safe and my cousin doesn’t have to go through what I did.’
I’m thrilled too, but I can’t relax yet. ‘Michael, where is Nathaneal?’
‘He’s not far behind.’
I nod, relieved but still on edge, as I will remain until I see Nathaneal with my own eyes. ‘Who killed Luca?’
‘No one exactly,’ Michael says.
‘Then how?’
‘Luca was right in the hurricane’s eye when the storm collapsed. His body – and General Ithran’s – tore apart when internal pressures caused the storm to condense exponentially. In the end there was nothing left but extreme dense energy that erupted into gas and dust.’
I keep looking at him with my mouth open, so he spells it out clearly: ‘Ebony, Luca is completely destroyed.’
While the reality of this news sinks in I look for Nathaneal among the group of soldiers just arriving. A few have burns and other injuries that Jezelle swiftly attends to, with Isaac and Tash helping to triage them, while Solomon, Shae, Mela and I move back to make room.
The bridge is already a hive of activity when a few hundred more soldiers fly in wearing Gabriel’s colours and full armour. They march down the tunnel, bringing with them trunks filled with weapons they quickly distribute.
The sight, so much like preparations for war, sends a chill through me. ‘Shae, why do we need all these weapons now? We’re not invading Skade, are we?’
Isaac reacts to my concerned voice. ‘Would that worry you, Ebony?’
‘Any war would worry me, Isaac. An invasion by either side would destroy good and bad, aggressors and the innocent alike.’
He nods. ‘Wise words, sister-in-law, but rest assured we’re not invading Skade; we’re protecting Earth.’
Shae explains. ‘Even though Prince Luca doesn’t exist any more, we still have to ensure that none of the creatures that live in Skade escape, such as his supporting angels who might rally and retaliate, the demons he created over thousands of years and dark souls that should never retur
n to Earth.’
Mela asks, ‘How long before the gate is repaired?’
Shae shrugs. ‘That depends on how fast Gabriel’s troops can build the wall.’
‘A wall?’ Mela’s knees buckle. Elijah and Lhiam rush to hold her up. She hoists herself to her feet. ‘How long will that take, because anything more than a few hours is too long?’
No one answers. And the words they’re not saying give me a bad feeling.
Meanwhile, Mela is looking frantic. ‘Doesn’t your prince know there is only one way to seal a breached gate and it’s not with a wall?’
He’s through. I feel him though I can’t see him yet. As my heartbeat goes into overdrive, I thank the stars and everything and everyone that helped to keep him safe.
Solomon says softly, ‘He knows, Mela.’
‘Then he must do it!’
‘It’s complicated,’ Solomon says, his voice carrying a tight edge. She hears it and says no more.
I push through a dozen soldiers to get to Nathaneal and I can tell he’s pushing through at the other end to get to me. I feel him getting closer and closer as soldiers fall left and right out of our way, until suddenly there’s no one between us, and our eyes meet. ‘Ebony,’ he says breathlessly. ‘Come here.’
He opens his arms and I jump into them. He lifts me above his head and swings me around. Whistling, clapping and cheering breaks out. Nathaneal lowers me slowly, and the way my body brushes his on the way down awakens my cells like nothing ever has before. Then his lips devour mine. I can’t breathe, so I breathe him into me in great gasps and he moans and plants soft kisses all over my forehead.
His eyes meet mine. ‘Are you hurt in any way?’
‘No. I’m fine. And you?’
‘I’m good now.’ He smiles. ‘Luca can never bother you again. Did they tell you?’
‘Yes. Thank you, with all of my heart.’