AN ORACLE’S BLOOD
Lauren trudged across the wet, muddy field toward the portal. Rain continued falling, though now a heavy drizzle instead of a downpour. They needed a healer, and Ashley was the only one left, but would she be at the birthing garden yet? Since Dad and Adam had been bitten by drones, they might not last much longer. And what about Mom? Could she somehow fly out of the abyss?
As Lauren passed Clefspeare, he shifted his weight on Arramos. The conquered dragon bled from a belly wound, obviously too weak to protest. Clefspeare and Merlin spoke in low whispers. Their buzzing conversation penetrated the persistent wind and entered Lauren’s sensitive ears.
“I need to find Marilyn,” Clefspeare said.
Merlin patted his scaly white neck. “Patience, my friend. We have one more step to accomplish.”
“Should I attempt to capture Tamiel?”
Merlin shook his head. “He would simply fly away, and we cannot afford to have you chase him in air pursuit. You must keep Arramos down.”
Lauren tuned out the conversation and focused straight ahead. At the portal, Tamiel pushed his arm through the plane, but it stayed in the Earth realm. As she drew close, he glared at her. Fangs descended over his lower lip, his wings expanded, and he brandished a serrated dagger. “If you have come to kill me, I will not be easy to catch this time.”
Lauren ignited a fireball in each palm. As they crackled in the drizzling rain, she raised one in a throwing stance. “Just back off.”
“By all means.” Tamiel sidestepped a few paces away and gestured toward the portal with his blade. “Be my guest.”
Lauren dropped the fireballs and halted in front of the portal. A sense of sadness crept in, and her vision altered. Every detail in Tamiel’s face clarified. His pupils dilated, and the corner of his lip twitched, belying his cocksure words. Her back scales tingled like an electric jolt. Tamiel’s thoughts streamed in, delivered with a virulent bite. Enjoy your moment of victory. It will not last long.
She shook the invading thoughts away and focused on the portal. With Tamiel near, opening it for passage was too risky, but maybe a peek into Second Eden would be safe. She waved her arms and created a wall of flames. As she concentrated on the dividing plane, the birthing garden came into view.
Mendallah carried a burning torch that illuminated the area. Zohar stood nearby, a blanket-wrapped infant in his arms, but there was no sign of Ashley, Eagle, Dr. Conner, or the two dragons. No healer was available yet.
A series of loud whistles drilled into Lauren’s ears. She extinguished the flames and spun. Tamiel looked skyward, two fingers at the edges of his mouth as the whistles continued in shrill warbles.
“He’s calling the drones!” Lauren shouted.
Keeping a rear claw on Arramos, Clefspeare launched a fireball that splashed against Tamiel. The flames dispersed in the driving rain, and his wet clothes merely smoldered.
“As long as Arramos lives, I will live, unless Lauren touches me. And you know what will happen if she dares to take that step.” Tamiel backpedaled and stretched out his wings. “I shall return with my allies.”
“No!” Lauren lunged at him. He swiped at her with his dagger. The blade sliced across her left palm. When she recoiled, he leaped into the air and flew over the field’s perimeter fence. Soon, he soared above a nearby wooded area and faded into the veil of rain.
Her palm stinging, Lauren eyed the woods. That was the same direction Walter had taken the helicopter. She looked at the wound, a gash from the base of her thumb to her pinky, not deep but painful. Blood trickled to the heel of her hand and mixed with the falling rain. It probably wouldn’t need stitches.
The squish of feet on wet turf entered her ears. A woman slogged across the field toward the portal, her head low. When she arrived, she stopped at Lauren’s side and extended a hand. “Elizabeth Hamilton.”
“So you’re Jennifer’s mother.” Lauren shook her hand. “I’m Lauren Bannister.”
“You look different from the photograph I have seen.” Elizabeth gestured toward Dad and Adam. “They’re both still alive, but Adam is near death.” She looked toward the woods in the direction Walter’s helicopter had fled. “My understanding is that you are a Listener. Do you hear anything out there? I’m concerned about my daughter.”
“I’ll check.” Lauren trained her ears in that direction. Rain pelted leaves, and wind brushed against branches—way too much background noise. She tried to tune it out and focus on anything unusual.
After a few moments, a steady cadence of rustling noises emanated from the trees. “Someone walking, I think.” Two figures trudged out, their bodies caked with mud from head to toe. The shorter of the two supported the taller with a shoulder. Once in the clear, they picked up their pace, mud dripping as the rain washed it away. By the time they arrived, their identities became clear—Walter and Jennifer.
Elizabeth grasped Lauren’s arm. “They survived!”
After helping each other climb over the perimeter fence, Walter limped onto the field while Jennifer held his arm. When they stopped near the portal, Walter shook his head hard and slung mud into the air. “That’s an escape I don’t want to try again.”
“Brilliant!” Jennifer clenched a fist. “It was the coolest escape ever!”
Elizabeth embraced her. “How in the world did you do it?”
Jennifer drew back and looked at Walter. “Piece of cake.”
“A piece of concrete cake.” Walter set his hand in a horizontal position. “We were hovering over a bog. While Jennifer unloaded the machine guns into the drones, I programmed the autopilot. I guess everyone was occupied with watching the drones getting blown to bits or maybe you’d have seen us open the hatch and jump into the bog. The chopper flew away on its own, and those freaks chased it just like we hoped.”
Jennifer punched Walter’s arm. “This guy is the king of crazy. I mean, who else would come up with an insane idea like that? And it worked!”
“I got the idea from when Billy, Gabriel, Ashley, and I jumped from a helicopter to escape Tamiel’s goons. Bogs are great cushions, but that’s the last one for me.” Walter peeled a dirty leaf from his cheek. “I hope.”
Elizabeth ran trembling hands through Jennifer’s mud-streaked hair. “And no more jumping out of helicopters for you, young lady.” A smile broke through. “Unless, of course, you’re being chased by drones again. Then we’ll make an exception.”
Walter brushed mud from his clothes and looked around. “So what happened here? Where is everyone?”
Lauren grasped his wrist. “First, let’s check the abyss.” As she led him at a limping pace toward the gaping hole, she summarized the recent happenings in rapid-fire fashion. By the time they reached the edge, she had finished the tale.
Walter pursed his lips. “So we have no healer, but we can escape to Second Eden before Tamiel gets back. We’ll have to round up our wounded. Now that the drones are gone, I think Marilyn will be back soon. She’ll want to check on Jared.”
“We’ll signal the helicopter!” Elizabeth called as she and Jennifer ran toward the remains of the bleachers.
Lauren looked down into the abyss. No sign of Mom, Matt, or Listener. Walter clasped her shoulder. “Don’t give up hope. Remember who’s down there. Your mother is a warrior’s warrior.”
Sniffing, Lauren nodded. “So are Matt and Listener.”
“Come on.” Walter pulled on her arm. “Let’s check on Billy and Adam.”
As Lauren sloshed alongside Walter, it seemed that the abyss pulled her back. With the possibility that her mother, Matt, and Listener needed her help, how could she turn away?
When they arrived, Walter checked Billy’s vitals while Lauren knelt next to Adam. After brushing away rainwater that had pooled in his eye sockets, she set a finger on his neck next to a pair of fang marks. No pulse.
Barely able to avoid squeaking, she breathed out, “Adam’s dead.”
Walter’s shoulders slumped. “God help us.”
Lauren slid her hand into his. “How’s my dad?”
He lifted his fingers from Billy’s throat. “Pulse is weak. He’s hanging in there. … Barely.”
The buzz of propellers cut through the storm. The transport helicopter descended, swaying back and forth in the wind. When it landed about twenty yards away, Walter grabbed Billy’s arms and hoisted him over his shoulder. “Let’s gather everyone to the chopper. We’ll fly through the portal, maybe rig up something to haul the dragons.”
Elizabeth and Jennifer ran back onto the field and joined Lauren. When Lauren told them the bad news about Adam, they stood and stared at him. Rain fell over their already-saturated forms. After a silent moment, Elizabeth bent over and grasped Adam’s wrists. “Jennifer and I will transport him to the helicopter. Perhaps you can see if our dragons are ambulatory.” Jennifer grabbed Adam’s ankles, and the two carried him away.
Lauren walked to the three dragons, her bare feet slowed by water and mud. She leaned close to each motionless dragon and listened for breathing, but the whipping wind, splashing rain, and the transport chopper overwhelmed all other sounds. The blades kept whirring even while Walter and Sir Barlow hoisted Dad and Adam into the passenger compartment.
“They are here!” Merlin called as he pointed at the sky.
A black dragon descended toward the field, a bearded rider on its back. Lauren breathed a whispered, “Abaddon!”
As Abaddon circled overhead, he dropped thick chains from his rear claws. They splashed down next to Clefspeare and Arramos. When Abaddon landed, his rider waved. “Hail, Merlin!”
Merlin returned the wave. “Hail, Enoch!”
Enoch slid down from Abaddon’s back and walked gingerly to Merlin. “That was a ride I will not recommend to others. It was a nightmare.”
“A necessary nightmare.” Abaddon sneezed twin streams of sparks. When he recovered, he turned toward Arramos. “It seems that Satan now sings scales of a sober sort.”
“Indeed.” Enoch withdrew a massive padlock from a tunic pocket. “Let us proceed with our appointed duty.”
Merlin looked toward the forest. “Yes, the horde of darkness will return soon.”
Abaddon picked up one end of the chain and tossed it over Arramos’s body. With help from Clefspeare, Merlin, and Enoch, he bound Arramos from tail to snout and set the padlock to fasten the ends of the chain together.
“What are you going to do with him?” Lauren asked.
Abaddon picked up the chain with a foreclaw. “Hurl him headlong into an abyss of adversity.”
“But he has wings. Won’t he get out when he heals?”
Enoch shook the chain. “Not after Abaddon seals the top.” He gestured toward the abyss. “Let us go.”
With Merlin and Enoch leading the way, Abaddon dragged Arramos through the mud while Clefspeare walked alongside and kept a close watch on the conquered dragon.
Lauren caught up with Merlin and Enoch. “You can’t seal the abyss yet. My mother, Matt, and Listener are down there. We need to rescue them.”
“I know,” Enoch said. “Merlin told me while we were binding Arramos.” They stopped at the edge of the abyss. “Bonnie is the only one who has a chance to return, and even her chances are slim. The wind is a monstrous enemy of anything winged.”
Abaddon dropped the chain. “We will wait. Bonnie Bannister has overcome obstacles of mightier magnitude.”
“You’re right.” Merlin leaned against his staff. “But I have no doubt that Tamiel will be anxious to save his master. He will return soon with his horde.”
Lauren looked down. Warm wind blew her hair back and dried her eyes. She blinked, then squinted. The rock projections Matt had mentioned lowered and rose, but they proved to be the only movements below.
Walter hobbled to her side. “What’s the status?”
Lauren whispered, “We’re waiting to see if my …” She stifled an emerging sob. “My mother, my brother, and Listener—”
“I get the picture. They can’t throw Satan in the rabbit hole until our bunnies pop out.”
Lauren forced a smile. Walter was trying hard to lighten the mood. “But I don’t see them. Just those rocks that fall down and come back up.”
Walter peered into the hole. “Yeah. Your father called them drawbridges. They do look sort of like that.”
Lauren gazed at him. Clotted blood marked a deep scratch from his ear to the bridge of his nose, and blood soaked the lower portion of a pant leg. “How is Dad doing now?”
“Not good. We can’t wait much longer. We have to get him and the dragons through the portal.”
“But the dragons are too—”
“Back!” Walter grabbed Lauren’s arm and pulled her away from the edge of the abyss. “Everyone stand back!”
A laser beam shot up through the hole and into the clouds. It waved in a small circle for a moment, then disappeared.
Walter smiled. “I saw something flash. I guessed Excalibur’s beam might be coming.”
“So my mother must be all right.” Lauren leaned close to the edge again and strained to pierce the darkness with her vision. A cry filtered into her ears. Seconds later, a scream erupted from the pit. Mom burst out with her wings fully spread and her hands clutching something tightly. The wind threw her to the ground, and she rolled over and over, her tattered and torn wings flopping in the mud. She stopped on her side with her mouth in a dirty puddle.
Lauren ran to her and turned her face up. “Mom! Are you all right?”
She blinked at Lauren and whispered, “I made it.”
“Yes! Yes! You did!” Lauren wiped mud from her lips. “Did you see Matt and Listener?”
Slowly loosening her fingers, Mom opened her hands, revealing Merlin’s candlestone. As pain shot through Lauren’s body, she grimaced.
“Sorry.” Mom closed her hand around the gem. “Matt and Listener are in here.” She swallowed, and her whisper diminished. “We have to take it to Ashley. She can get them out.”
Lauren looked at her mother’s belt. It held no sword. “Where is Excalibur?”
“Gone. I dropped it. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t hold on while I was—”
“It’s okay. It’s fine.” Lauren blocked the rain with a hand to keep it out of her mother’s eyes. “You and Matt and Listener survived. That’s all I care about.”
Walter splashed to them and knelt in the mud. “Bonnie, first of all, Billy’s hanging in there. We put him in the transport helicopter.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“And second …” He grinned. “You’ve dropped Excalibur before. Haven’t you?”
She smiled weakly. “I thought you might mention that.”
“I didn’t want to disappoint you.” Walter grasped her wrist. “Want to try to get up?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Lauren,” Enoch called from the abyss. “We need you.”
“Coming.” Lauren sloshed to him. “What can I do?”
Enoch touched her medallion necklace. Lifting the chain, he drew the nearly invisible key over her head. “I need this to seal Arramos inside.”
“Is it the key to the abyss?”
“Actually, I am the ultimate key. This key to the seventh door enables me to do what I must now do.” Enoch nodded at Abaddon. “Throw him in.”
Abaddon beat his wings, latched on to the chains with his rear claws, and lifted Arramos over the abyss. Still bleeding from the belly wound, he dangled within the tight bonds.
“Stop!” Tamiel descended from the sky and landed in front of Lauren. Paler than ever, he wobbled from side to side. His scalp was visible through gaps in his hair, and deep wrinkles pinched his face. He glared at Lauren with bleeding black eyes. “I suspect that you touched me at some point, but I fail to understand why I am deteriorating and you are not.” He pointed upward. “Release my master and tell me what you did to me, or I will
unleash my horde upon you all.”
While Abaddon settled to the ground with Arramos, everyone looked up. A mass of winged beasts approached from about a hundred yards away. They would arrive in seconds.
Lauren stealthily looked at her palm. As blood trickled from the gash, Sapphira’s words returned to mind. Anyone who sheds the blood of an Oracle of Fire dies soon afterward.
“Answer me!” Tamiel lifted his hand. “Or I will touch you and wrap you in the coils of death with me.”
Lauren aimed her palms at him. “I have a better idea. I’ll send you to the hellfire that spawned you.” She shouted, “Inferno!”
Tamiel’s hair burst into flames. Lauren grabbed Merlin’s staff and thrust it into Tamiel’s chest. He toppled into the hole and plummeted out of sight.
“Quick!” Lauren said to Abaddon. “Drop Arramos on top of Tamiel, or he might fly out.”
Abaddon launched again, lifted Arramos, and released him into the abyss. Abaddon landed at the side and blasted a stream of fire around the top of the pit. The edges collapsed into concentric circular stairs that descended and met several feet below the surface.
Lauren looked up. The drones flew in a circle almost directly above. Their erratic flights made them appear confused, perhaps because of Tamiel’s sudden disappearance. The delay might not last long.
“We must make haste.” Enoch extended his hand. “Merlin. The ovulum.”
When Merlin handed over the ovulum, Enoch hurried down the stairs, stood at the center, and looked to the sky. “Father above, I have served you for thousands of years, and how I have longed to enter your presence.” He lifted the key to the seventh door. “You have bestowed upon me the seven virtues represented in this key, and in your ultimate wisdom, you will use it to usher me to your throne.”
Lauren chewed on her lip. Maybe this formality was necessary, but with venomous drones circling above, the pomp felt like rearranging furniture while the house was burning down.
Red lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a ground-shaking rumble of thunder. “Red is the color of humility.” Enoch set the ovulum at the very center and knelt with his hands on the orb, the key in his grasp. “So now I kneel before you and these witnesses. Do what you must to seal the enemy of souls in this abyss and take me home to be with you. Here at the sunset of days, fulfill the final prophecies and be the lightning that comes from the East and flashes into the West.”