‘And you came as soon as you could,’ Lorian assures me. ‘We still have Marduke to deal with. Not to mention my sister.’
A soldier approaches. King Richard asks, ‘What news do you bring us?’
‘The ladies, Neriah, Isabel and Rochelle, have returned safely, and –’
‘Where are they?’ I can’t help interrupting.
The girls walk in and I go and embrace them all. Dillon is with them, and his eyes too are full of relief. King Richard also greets them, looking relieved. ‘What did you do with our traitor?’
‘Mr Carter didn’t make it out of the cavern, my lord,’ Isabel explains, and I get the sense there’s a lot more to this tale. ‘The cavern of the demons.’
The soldier behind them clears his throat aggressively.
Lord Penbarin realises he hasn’t finished delivering his news. ‘What is it, Milon?’
‘It’s the demons, my lord. The first one is through.’
Lorian’s head freezes, his large violet eyes rounding into huge orbs. ‘Has my sister gone insane? Surely she doesn’t want to rule an earth inundated with evil beyond her own?’
Nobody has the answers he’s looking for. But then a thought occurs to me. ‘My lord, is it possible that Lathenia has found a way to control these demons?’
‘If so, then she is more powerful than I have given her credit for, and we are in a more desperate situation than we ever thought possible!’ He glances at the holographic blue-print. ‘I will need your help, Matt. Between the two of us, we will have the power to destroy the Citadel. It will be a sad and sorry day for the Guard to have failed so miserably. But there is no other option open to us.’ He looks at Lord Penbarin and King Richard. ‘Get all our people out, and do it quickly! The Citadel is about to fall, and everything and everyone within it will be destroyed.’
The Tribunal members exchange a concerned look with each other. ‘How long do we have, my lord?’ King Richard asks.
‘Wait, and I will tell you.’ Lorian looks directly into my eyes and I feel the tendrils from his brain searching mine, assessing my power. It’s not long before he works out how long it is going to take to combine our powers to bring the Citadel down. ‘Seven minutes,’ he says.
King Richard exclaims, ‘Only seven minutes!’
‘Seven minutes too long!’ Lorian snaps. ‘Do you know how many demons my sister can push through the Citadel in that time?’
Probably hundreds, but the Tribunal members have something else worrying them. ‘My lord,’ Lord Penbarin says, ‘Arkarian and Jimmy are in the labyrinths.’
‘My son is a Truthseer. Warn him.’
Lord Penbarin rolls his head around his shoulders, looking uncomfortable. ‘Yes, my lord, but we haven’t had contact from him for some time now. It’s possible that our thoughts can’t penetrate the labyrinth walls.’
Rochelle steps forward, pushing down her gloves. ‘Let me go and get them out.’
Isabel follows. ‘I’m going too!’
Lorian glances at the two girls and a fragment of a smile plays around the corner of his mouth. Finally he nods. ‘So be it, but take this.’ He hands them a crystal. Make sure you are out before this timepiece shows zero.’ He looks at Neriah, who has just opened her mouth to volunteer. ‘You go back to the control chambers. Ethan is still there. Make sure he gets out and anyone else still lingering. And you two,’ Lorian says to Dillon and Lord Penbarin, ‘spread the word to all. No matter what, they must leave the Citadel now.’
When everyone leaves, Lorian sits down at the table to prepare himself to create the power needed to bring down this incredible structure, when suddenly he sighs.
‘Nephew, it has been a long day and I am weary, but, knowing my sister, the day is far from over.’
Chapter Thirty-seven
Rochelle
The labyrinth is quiet. Strangely so. Where are the creatures from the middle world? Will they be real, or manifestations from our nightmares? If that is so, I wonder what form my nightmares will take. I have so many!
Isabel screams in my ear and jumps practically on top of me. It freaks me out and I scream along with her even though I don’t know what the hell she’s screaming about.
‘There!’ She points to the ground near our feet. ‘The hairiest, ugliest, largest –’
I push her off me so I can breathe. This is so unlike her I just have to take a look. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The spider! Are you blind? It’s the size of a soccer ball!’
I look again, but there’s still nothing there except a shadow. ‘Calm down, Isabel. I think I know how we’re going to get through this place in one piece.’
‘Yeah?’ she practically whimpers. ‘Will you hurry up and tell me? This spider looks hungry.’
‘OK, for starters, there’s no spider. That part’s in your imagination.’ I swing my hand down and run it through the shadow.
‘No way! Don’t do that!’
‘It’s only as real as Ethan’s illusions. Nothing more.’
‘He can bring reality into his illusions, Rochelle.’
‘And he can just as easily dispel the reality with his thoughts. That’s what we have to do in here. Got it?’
She climbs down off my leg, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes and looks down, a relieved smile breaks out on her face.
‘Is it gone?’ I check.
She nods, and now that the fear is also gone, her face starts turning from white to hot pink. A hand comes up to tug back her wayward hair. ‘Don’t tell anyone, OK? Especially Matt and Ethan. They’ll never let me live it down.’
‘As if I would give them ammunition to get all macho on us. Your secret is safe with me.’
‘Good. We’d better hurry.’ She glances at the crystal timepiece Lorian gave her. It has started counting down already. ‘We’ve only got five minutes left.’
We take off at a run and hop on to the first set of moving stairwells that confronts us. On a higher level, we race from room to room. ‘Arkarian! Jimmy!’ Isabel calls, while I use my thoughts. But no one answers. We take another set of stairs that leads to a series of empty rooms. Doors open and close as we enter and exit. I get the feeling the Citadel is helping us search, as if it too is worried.
We walk out on to a platform. It quickly starts to disappear. Running down the stairs I start to wonder at the sheer size of this place. While most of it remains concealed to the eye, it is obviously a massive structure. As I understand, time isn’t measured here, so we could get caught without realising how fast mortal time is passing.
That must be why Lorian gave us the timepiece.
‘There has to be a quicker way than searching room to room.’
‘Like what?’ Isabel asks.
I start to peel off my gloves. ‘Cover your face. I’m going to give my hands a try.’
As the sparks fly I lower my hand to the rail beside me. Images form of timber many thousands of years old – river redgum, preserved in the dark waters of a flood that swept away the bank from which it grew. I try to focus on the images of Arkarian and Jimmy. ‘Help us locate Arkarian and Jimmy.’
‘Anything?’ Isabel asks, glancing at the timepiece. ‘We’ve only got three minutes left, and we still have to get out of here ourselves!’
The stairwell changes direction. I take this as a good sign, and for a moment begin to relax. But beside me Isabel suddenly stiffens. ‘What’s that?’
I glance up at the shadow forming at the top of the stairwell. As we draw closer to the platform, the shadow takes the shape of a man. A cold shiver runs through me. There is a ghastly familiar feel to this person. My eyes drift to the arm hanging by his side. Gripped in his hard-working fingers is a black leather belt.
‘Isabel, tell me what you see.’
Isabel shudders. ‘Just a shadow, but it has a very evil feel. It’s creeping me out.’ Her head turns towards me. ‘Why? What do you see?’
The stairwell takes us right up to the
platform where the man is standing. Softly I reply, ‘My father.’
‘Is he dead?’
‘No, he’s in jail.’
‘Then he’s not real.’
‘He looks real.’
‘Yeah, so did my spider. Remember?’
We get to the platform and the very real image of my father snaps the belt against a railing, jerking me backwards. Isabel cowers – and she’s seeing only the essence of my father’s evil, while I’m getting the whole picture!
‘Arkarian! Jimmy!’ Isabel calls out, trying to pull me along the platform with her.
But my father has other ideas and grabs my other arm. ‘Now, sweetheart, is that any way to greet your old man after all these years?’
‘Don’t touch me!’ I scream and try to jerk my arm from his hold. But his grip only tightens.
Isabel calls Arkarian and Jimmy again and tries to pull me down the hallway behind her. ‘He isn’t really here. He’s still in jail. Remember he’s not real!’
‘But, Isabel, his grip on my arm feels real enough.’
‘Isabel is right.’
I look up and see Arkarian, his soft violet eyes round and worried. Jimmy comes running out from behind him. ‘What’s going on? What are you girls doing here? We’ve almost finished. Hey, where did that guy come from? I thought we cleared this floor.’
Arkarian shushes him with one look. ‘Rochelle, remember you brought him here through your thoughts. You have the power to dispel him.’
Isabel glances at the timepiece. ‘Hurry! Two minutes and this place is going to explode.’
‘What?’ Jimmy calls out.
Whack! The belt comes down over my shoulder. I scream out and crouch halfway to the ground.
‘You can stop him once and for all,’ Arkarian assures me, and the meaning of his words finally sinks in. Here is my opportunity to do what I should have done long ago, what my mother never could.
‘One minute!’ Isabel hisses beside me.
The shadow of my father’s arm lifts, and I watch as the belt starts its downward thrust. But this time, instead of cowering, I reach up and grab the belt, tug it towards me, then grab my father’s arm and grip him tightly. He screams as my hand burns through his skin. I feel him go slack, then break up and disappear before my eyes.
‘Ten seconds!’ Isabel calls out.
Jimmy and Arkarian grab both mine and Isabel’s arms and pull. Together we leap on to a moving platform. Isabel looks at the timepiece. ‘Now!’
As Isabel screams this one word, the entire room and everything in it begins to glow first white, then yellow, then flashes brilliant red. Arkarian, Jimmy and Isabel suddenly look as if they’re nothing more than skeletons.
‘Oh no!’ Jimmy moans.
‘Quickly!’ Arkarian pulls us all in close to him.
But I’m afraid it’s too late. Beneath us the stairwell disappears, and all four of us start to drop.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Matt
Brick by brick, glass, marble and crystal, the Citadel falls. The survivors have gone to my father. He will welcome them with open arms. Their job is done here. They have earned their rest. I glance around the ridge as bits of the Citadel drift down. Another explosion shimmers in the atmosphere as more pieces of the Citadel shower over the mountain.
I look around, searching faces. Some Tribunal members are missing, but we know that King Richard has gone to Athens to release Lady Arabella. How wrong I was to accuse her! Lorian says he too treated her unjustly. ‘Something I intend on addressing the very next time we meet,’ he earlier explained.
As for the other Tribunal members, Lady Devine and many of her soldiers have also gone to Athens to be treated in the healing rooms there. Around me, Queen Brystianne, Lord Samartyne and Lord Penbarin take stock of their remaining soldiers. Shaun and Dillon join them. Not counting Mr Carter, six of us are still unaccounted for. Where are Ethan and Neriah? The last word was that they had fled the control room with the other Tribunal members and soldiers. Apparently no one has seen them since.
Another explosion rents the air as the final part of the Citadel shatters. It’s the labyrinth, the part of the Citadel that Lorian and I made sure would blow up last. But there’s still no sign of my sister, or Rochelle, Arkarian or Jimmy, who were all in there at the time. There is nothing we can do except wait, and hope they managed to escape. But as every second passes, and the dust begins to settle as the last bricks fall from the sky, agitation starts hitting us all.
Shaun is the first to crack. ‘There must be something we can do! Some way to locate them!’
I search for signs of their thoughts, propelling my mind into the remains both on the ground and in the atmosphere. Nothing.
Dillon frowns and runs towards a strange object dropping from the sky. ‘What’s this?’ He catches the object and brings it back to us.
It’s a black leather belt. He holds it up for us to identify.
Shaun shakes his head. ‘I don’t recognise it. I don’t think it’s Jimmy’s or Arkarian’s either.’
I take it in my hand and a powerful surge of Rochelle’s thoughts sweeps into my brain, letting me know where they are. I start to run in a southerly direction.
‘Where are you going?’ Dillon calls out, hurrying to catch up.
‘They’re coming. And they’re going to hit the ground hard.’
All four of them land in a very close circle. As they start to get up Rochelle pulls her hands away, quickly putting her gloves on.
‘Are you all right?’ I ask her.
She nods. ‘I think so.’
Isabel is next. She crawls over to Arkarian, checking him for injuries. He assures her he’s fine and she moves on to Jimmy. ‘Anything broken?’
‘My ankle.’
‘Be still.’ She lays her hand on his leg and goes to work healing him straightaway.
Lorian speaks to me through his thoughts. He lets me know he is on top of the ridge and that we should hurry and get there.
‘Is everyone else all right?’ Isabel checks with me.
‘Unfortunately we’re not all here yet,’ Shaun says with a tremor in his voice.
Rochelle has questions, but picks up that I’m still communicating with Lorian. His thoughts are troubling, bringing a deep frown to my forehead and a worried stare I can’t conceal. She touches my arm. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Lathenia is waiting with her army on the ridge.’
‘What?’ Dillon calls out. ‘But we just destroyed her army. What more has she got in store?’
With that sombre thought we make our way to the top of the ridge, where Lorian’s outline stands like a yearning shadow in the afternoon sun. When we approach, he turns to face us. His eyes reflect burning rage. When he sees Arkarian, the look softens momentarily, but quickly hardens again. Inside, my heart starts beating a slow thudding rhythm. What awaits us up here? And then I understand Lorian’s look. Ethan and Neriah have been captured! Lathenia must have got to them in the midst of all that turmoil when the Citadel was falling. Now they’re her prisoners, locked inside golden cages sizzling with green flashes of electric currents and suspended high above the ground.
But Ethan and Neriah are not the only weapons Lathenia has brought to this final battle. Behind the cages, in staggered rows that stretch back as far as the eye can see, stands an army of demons. Restless demons, that grunt and snort and pound the earth with their feet. There are many hundreds of them, maybe even a thousand. There is one in particular at the front that catches my eye. This one is their leader. He will be the one to watch, the one I will have to deal with.
Beside me I hear the others gasp and moan. Lord Penbarin’s head shakes in disbelief. Queen Brystianne clutches the cloth at her throat. Both Tribunal members are in shock.
Shaun can’t take his eyes off his son. ‘How did this happen?’
Rochelle tries to comfort him. ‘We will get them back.’
Inside me a fire is building. I go to pass Lorian, bu
t he stops me with an open palm against my chest. ‘Stay calm. You are no good to either of them if you lose control. Remember now more than ever the skills your father taught you.’
‘I will kill the Goddess, along with every one of her army!’
‘I will kill her first,’ he mouths softly. ‘For she has cost me much this day. The taking of these two hostages will be her undoing. She has gone too far.’
Isabel comes up beside me, her eyes skimming from Ethan to Neriah and back again repeatedly. ‘They’ve been beaten. Ethan has broken ribs and can hardly breathe. Neriah is hurt too, but her injuries are repairing themselves.’
I look across to Neriah and our eyes lock. I feel her pain go through me as she propels her thoughts. The cages are electrified. Nothing can pass through them. It’s Lathenia’s plan to take us with her. You have to save Ethan first. You have known him all your life. His mother cannot lose another child, and … I will be with you no matter what world I am forced to live in.
No! You listen to me –
Lorian turns and says, ‘Watch your thoughts. My sister hears them. Look at her smile.’
He’s right. Lathenia’s smile is devious and even … exultant. She wants me to make a mistake, to let my emotions rule. And to her right, Marduke stands watching. Occasionally his eye travels to where his daughter hangs, and I have to ask myself: how can any father do this to his daughter? Then he snorts, and spittle flies out from a pig-like snout, and I have my answer.
My eyes shift to the demon beside him. In one hand he holds a chain, the other an axe. He stares at me, and while holding my gaze, he lifts both weapons into the air and grunts. His message is clear. I search deeply for a steadying breath.
Shaun touches my arm from behind, making me jump. ‘Why doesn’t my son use his wings and escape the cage?’
‘Maybe he can’t,’ Dillon says. ‘He looks in a bad way.’
Rochelle adds, ‘He won’t leave Neriah to die by herself.’
Her words are true. There were times when I thought Ethan’s character unworthy. How wrong I was.
Isabel suddenly sighs. ‘I’ve been able to heal them, so at least for the moment they are breathing easier. And look, Ethan is closing his eyes. Matt, I think he’s up to something.’