Oracles of Fire, Volume 3
Last of the Nephilim
Bryan Davis
Oracles of Fire®
Last of the Nephilim
Copyright © 2008 by Bryan Davis
Living Ink Books, an imprint of AMG Publishers
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in printed reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (printed, written, photocopied, visual electronic, audio, or otherwise) without the prior permission of the publisher.
Last of the Nephilim is the third of four books in the youth fantasy fiction series, Oracles of Fire.
Print ISBN: 978-0-89957-872-9
ePub ISBN: 978-1-61715-006-7
Mobi ISBN: 978-1-61715-035-7
DRAGONS IN OUR MIDST and ORACLES OF FIRE are registered trademarks of AMG Publishers.
Cover designed by Daryle Beam at Bright Boy Design, Inc., Chattanooga, Tennessee
Interior design and typesetting by Reider Publishing Services, West Hollywood, California
Edited and proofread by Jeff Gerke, Dan Penwell, Rick Steele, and Sharon Neal
Map illustrated by Jim Brown, Clayton, North Carolina
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Davis, Bryan, 1958-
Last of the Nephilim / by Bryan Davis.
p. cm. -- (Oracles of fire ; v. 3)
Summary: When the Nephilim, a race of giants from ancient times, invade Second Eden, endangering the existence of that alternate dimension as well as every soul on Earth, the two Oracles of Fire, Sapphira and Acacia, and two young girls lead the battle to stop them.
ISBN 978-0-89957-872-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
[1. Dragons--Fiction. 2. Demonology--Fiction. 3. Christian life--Fiction. 4. Supernatural--Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.D28555Las 2008
[Fic]--dc22
2008014957
For those who spurn the whispered lie,
The doctrine binding hearts in chains;
For those who shout from rooftops high,
“Free indeed!” in loud refrains.
For those who trample underfoot
The broken bonds of fetters tossed;
For those who rise from ash and soot,
Forever cleansed, forever washed.
A story strange, a story wild,
That begs the reader to impart
The joy of life to man and child
To break the chains that bind their hearts.
Acknowledgments
Infinite thanks to my family for their inspiration and support. You are the reason I draw my sword.
Thank you also to the folks at AMG for their great work and leadership in the industry. Because of your vision, the fantasy genre is now accepted in our market.
Several of my faithful readers have aided me in writing this book, so I would like to mention a few of them and send my thanks.
Story collaboration and proofreading—Peter Blaskiewicz, L. A. Clark, Holli Herdeg, C.J. Giacominni, and Sharon Neal.
Map concepts—Catherine and Christian Johnson, Mary Tabitha Lumsden, Sarah Pratt, and Bekah Hagan.
Author’s Note
Last of the Nephilim is the third book in the Oracles of Fire series and is related to the Dragons in our Midst series. The numbers in the diagram below show the best reading order for the two series. Although the books are stacked vertically to indicate the chronological order of the storyline, they should be read in the numbered sequence.
For readers unfamiliar with the previous books, I recommend reading the first six before this one. As a minimum, read Enoch’s Ghost, including the recap at the end of that book. This story extends earlier adventures that will lead readers into a multi-dimensional land, a fascinating journey guided by the Oracles of Fire.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Prologue
Chapter 1: Charred Bones
Chapter 2: Unwelcome Visitors
Chapter 3: Return of the Ring
Chapter 4: Pegasus Darkened
Chapter 5: Binding the Harness
Chapter 6: A Voice Within
Chapter 7: Into the Darkness
Chapter 8: A Hole into Hades
Chapter 9: Ground Zero
Chapter 10: A Face like Flint
Chapter 11: Healing Fires
Chapter 12: New Journeys
Chapter 13: Another Plunge
Chapter 14: The Hidden Portal
Chapter 15: The Seed Is Planted
Chapter 16: The Seed Bears Fruit
Chapter 17: The Underborn Reborn
Chapter 18: To Keep a Vow
Chapter 19: Life or Death
Chapter 20: The Underborn Returns
Chapter 21: Mount Elijah
Chapter 22: Alone
Chapter 23: Climbing between Worlds
Chapter 24: United Forever
Chapter 25: The Calm before the Storm
Epilogue
Other Books by Bryan Davis
Enoch’s Lament
When darkness shrouds forgotten lands,
The souls abiding there lament
And ask the altar keeper why
The justice due has not been sent.
The persecutors had their day
In spilling blood, exacting toil;
So now expecting vengeance due
The martyrs cry beneath the soil.
“The underground still hides our eyes
And spills an evil band on Earth;
O grant our prayer to spring to life
O let us stem this wicked birth.”
The oracle of fire lost
Must bear the sacred secret flame
And join the twin who weeps for her
And walks alone to fight the bane.
O God of Heaven hear my plea,
For I alone have seen this dread,
When giants thundered on the Earth,
Consuming hearts and minds like bread.
The lass who strides against our foe
Is brave indeed; her faith is rare.
But will the flame of wisdom burn
To keep her from deception’s snare?
Allow me, Lord, to take her hand
In spirit, flame, or fleshly state
And lead her through the valleys where
Demonic spirits lie in wait.
Beneath the altar’s seal I pray,
Where martyrs rest in holy gowns,
“O let me rise to crush the snakes
Or sleep until the trumpet sounds.”
Prologue
Mardon, I know you don’t enjoy being dead, but you must come to grips with reality.”
From her seat on a flat rock, the lithe woman leaned over a stone table, the only furniture amid a collection of oddly shaped boulders draped by a black sky. Her movements troubled the red flame of a pewter-gray candle embedded in a hardened splash of wax on the table’s surface.
Laying her hands over the intertwined fingers of the man sitting opposite her, she spoke with a breathy and ominous voice. “If you try to follow your giants to Second Eden, you will be swept into the Lake of Fire where you will burn with your father forever. Dead souls such as yourself cannot survive outside of Hades.”
As the woman’s long hair fell over his hands, Mardon caressed the ends between his thumb and finger but kept his eyes focused on a rope to his left, both ends of which had been tied to iron stakes, separated by perhaps twenty feet. The golden rope shimmered, quavering as if gently plucked by an invisible finger. A soft hum emanated and drifted to his ears in a warbling vibrato. It was a song of victory. It had taken him centuries to pull the two worlds
together, and now a rope the thickness of a broom handle kept them in place. A huge man, one of Mardon’s Nephilim, stood near one of the stakes, his muscular arms folded over his chest, one hand gripping an axe that rested on his shoulder.
“In order to carry out our plans, you must stay on Earth,” she continued. “Because of your successful merging of Earth and Hades, no one there will even realize that you’re dead.”
Mardon returned his gaze to her. In the candle’s waltzing glow, her skin took on a tone of blemished scarlet. “Mother, only Yereq and I are skilled enough to lead my giants. My father’s dream to build a tower to Heaven will never be realized without one of us.”
She pulled her hands back and sat up straight. With a red hood draping the shoulders of her red dress, she seemed covered by a scarlet shroud. After a few seconds of silence, a stern yet subtle growl escaped her crimson throat. “I understand Nimrod’s dream far better than you do, and if you don’t listen to me, not only will you never ascend to the gates of Heaven, you will also join him and your former mistress in eternal suffering.”
“I will listen.” His thumbs now pressing together, he nodded. “Go on.”
A smile curled her lips, and, with a sparkle in her eye, her voice smoothed into a purr. “Yereq could eventually help us. He has a weakness we can exploit, but we must execute my plan with patience and careful deception. Without perfect timing, we will not be able to persuade the last and greatest of the Nephilim to join our forces. Yet, even if he comes to our aid, we must employ yet another ally, one who served a friend of ours for more than a thousand years.”
“A friend of ours? Do you mean Morgan?”
She returned the slightest of nods. “I must carry on my teacher’s work, and employing her servant will be of great benefit.”
“But Morgan failed. Even after thousands of years of scheming, she failed.”
“True. But I learned from her mistakes, and I have recovered her secret weapon.” As she lifted a thin chain around her neck, a small crystalline egg elevated from her bosom, seeming to float in the air on its own. A light flickered within, but the candle’s flame made the color impossible to determine.
She passed the chain to Mardon. The egg followed along, floating effortlessly across the table like a tiny dog on a leash. “In this state,” she said, “the weapon is more powerful than ever. When the Bannister boy cleaved the candlestone, everyone thought Sir Devin dispersed into the sky, but his light energy had stabilized long before that event. Lord Lucifer guided him to me, and I gave him this new home where he will reside until we can safely resurrect his body.”
Mardon draped the chain around his neck. The egg floated back and forth in front of his eyes as if surveying its new bearer. “What good can he do inside this crystal?”
She rose from her seat and walked toward the rope, gesturing for him to follow.
Keeping an eye on the crystal, he tiptoed along the flat stony ground. The egg hovered inches in front of him, keeping the chain slightly aloft. Now that they were out of the influence of the candle’s flame, the crystal’s inner light grew clear. Two tiny eyes glowed red within. A strange growl entered his mind, like the faint echo of a bad dream.
When his mother reached the giant, she took his axe and kicked the excess rope. With a quick chop, she cut it free from its stake. A loud hiss rose from each severed end, and both pieces flopped around like dying serpents.
She picked up the end that led to the coil, gripping it tightly to keep it from wiggling. “Enoch is mustering a new army, including the Bannister boy and his father and the former and current dragons in the world. Sir Devin will help us locate them before they can all get to Second Eden. At the very least, we can put fear into their hearts and keep them in hiding.”
Mardon glanced at the egg. It had moved to a point a few inches in front of his chin. The growl grew louder and seemed to come from within the crystal. “Haven’t they lost their dragon powers?” Mardon asked.
“The Bannisters? Yes. As well as all the other dragons, except for Thigocia.” She handed the axe to the giant and set the rope in Mardon’s hand, pushing his fingers closed around it. “Though I haven’t heard whether or not the girl, Bonnie Silver, has retained hers. Still, their current state matters little. It is their potential that we must arrest. Bonnie Silver will be your prime target. If you hold her, you control the boy, and without the two of them, Enoch’s plans will come to nothing.”
Mardon clutched the rope, much thicker now than when he had pulled the two worlds together. Warm to the touch, it felt alive in his grip. “I understand. What is my next step?”
“You will lasso one of their soldiers.” She showed him a ring on her finger, an ornate gold band with a fiery red jewel. “Many of the former dragons and their offspring wear a symbol of their dragon essence, a rubellite ring. Whether they have lost their dragon natures or not, these gems still hold a remnant of that former glory. Devin, having lived within a dragon’s skin, can detect and find the signal, no matter how faint. He is now a dragon-sniffing hound, and his victim, the Silver vixen, will not easily travel beyond the reach of his nose, especially since she has no knowledge that she carries the scent.”
“And I am to use this to bind her,” he said, passing the shimmering rope through his hands.
“In a sense. When you leave this place, the rope will become invisible, and it will stretch without tension and without limit. You are to attach it to Bonnie Silver’s body and tie the other end to an anchor on Earth. Since she will eventually try to get to Second Eden, she will become the other anchor that allows you to bring the worlds together.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to attach it to one of our giants? They would cooperate fully.”
She nodded at the rope. “Tie it to yourself. You will see.”
Keeping his eye on his mother, Mardon looped the coil around his waist and tied it in a loose knot. As soon as he let go, the knot tightened. Then, like a python, the loop constricted, tighter and tighter. He sucked in his stomach and jammed his fingers behind the rope. Straining against the painful, viselike hold, he pushed out his breath, but the loop tightened further. He couldn’t draw in another gulp of air. Blood rushed to his head as he croaked, “Mother! Help me!”
She looked on with a stoic expression. “Uncomfortable, isn’t it?”
He couldn’t answer. The rope had slid up to his ribs, and the crushing pain forced him to his knees.
She took the axe again and chopped the rope. It immediately loosened and slipped down to his waist, writhing as Mardon gasped for breath.
She let out a sigh. “I’m afraid this rope has no fondness for corrupt souls.”
Grabbing the severed piece, Mardon shot to his feet and slapped it to the ground. “Why did you do that?”
“So you will remember two things.” She raised a finger. “One is that this rope will be docile only for a soul that is perfectly pure.” As she raised a second finger, a scowl took shape on her face. “The second is that you must follow my instructions to the letter. Your failure to do so in the past led to your physical death and to your bungling with the second tower. I am in no mood for any further disobedience.”
He picked up the coil of rope and nodded, trying to keep his own scowl from breaking through. “I will do what you ask.”
She leaned the axe against her waist. “After you complete the attachment, keep little Miss Silver on the run for a while. The timing of her arrival in Second Eden must be precise. Make her think you simply want to kill her so she will never suspect your true goal. I’m sure with your knowledge of modern technology, that will be an entertaining game for you.”
“Yes, it will.” As the crystal floated in front of his nose, he gazed at its blinking eyes and smiled. “I can create quite a frightening nightmare for the little lady.”
The growl strengthened again. A voice broke through in his mind, sinister and mocking. “That little lady, as you call her, is a demon witch. We will toy with her for a time, but in the e
nd, we will remove her head and mount it next to the boy’s. After all he has done to me, his head will be a prize ornament.”
Mardon touched the crystal, now flashing with red light. “Mother, I believe he is speaking to my mind.”
“As I expected,” she said, “Devin has established a connection with your brain. The two of you will be able to converse silently.”
Mardon stared at the two blinking eyes, scarlet and sinister. Would it be safe to try to probe it with his thoughts? Concentrating on the inner light, he spoke in his mind. Can you hear me?
“I can hear you,” Devin replied, his voice now more genial, “and I have already read your unguarded thoughts. I’m glad to see that I’m working with an intelligent man who hates dragons almost as much as I do.”
Then we will make a fine team. Mardon glanced at his mother out of the corner of his eye. She tapped her foot and let out an impatient huff. He would have to finish this conversation quickly. What will be our first step in finding this demon witch, as you call her?
“We will send some beasts of weaker minds to the Bannister home. That is her most likely place to hide. If that fails to scare out the witch, we will track her down using my dragon-sensing powers.”
Mardon nodded and turned back to his mother. “This is very interesting, indeed. I am impressed with my new ally.”
“And I suggest that you listen to him. His experience in hunting dragons is vast, and his mind is every bit as powerful as yours, so he will not take kindly to apathy, laziness, or cowardice.”
“Laziness? Cowardice?” Mardon scowled. “Mother, I have persevered in my quest for thousands of years.”
She laid a palm on his chest. “You have a soft spot in your heart for a certain spawn by the name of Mara, and it is this weakness that will tempt you to cower in the face of waging war against the dragon army, whether their soldiers are covered in scales and draconic teeth or fine hair and pretty young faces.”
Mardon deepened his scowl and muttered, “She was an experiment. Nothing more. I could dispose of her as I did any of the other useless spawns.”