The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit

  ‘My Devil,’ each of the men said with respect as they left.

  ‘Bring her to me, Adam.’ Ilgrin turned to the servant waiting by the door.

  ‘Now?’ Adam asked. ‘Don’t you think you should first address the people? They want to know what’s happened to their Devil and why you’ve ordered a retreat.’

  ‘I will see her first,’ Ilgrin snapped. ‘Bring her to me.’

  ‘Of course, your highness.’ Adam bowed out of the room.

  Ilgrin moved back to his throne, put a hand on the armrest and exhaled slowly. He removed the rather gaudy-looking crown from his head and placed it on the cushioned seat. He didn’t want El-i-miir to see him wearing it. He wasn’t sure why he felt that way, but was absolutely resolute. Perhaps he felt ashamed, but ashamed of what, he couldn’t say. Was he embarrassed by his demonic heritage? Had he grown accustomed to making himself as human as possible for El-i-miir’s sake?

  ‘Ilgrin.’ Teah stepped into the room wearing a flowing black dress. ‘I sent the guard to collect Jakob from the cliffs. He’ll get quite a fright, but I didn’t think such a task would be fitting of your new station.’

  ‘Jakob is my friend.’ Ilgrin turned sharply. What was wrong with him? He felt so defensive, snapping at the slightest thing. ‘Why wouldn’t I have time for a friend?’

  ‘Because there is much work to be done,’ Teah said hesitantly. ‘You didn’t think your responsibilities would come to an end once you had the crown, did you?’

  ‘I don’t know what to think.’ Ilgrin’s shoulders slumped, his wings reaching the floor. ‘This is all happening so quickly. I feel like I’m losing myself. I am Ilgrin Geld, son of Baen and Urelie Geld. I’m a farmer’s boy from Sitnic.’

  ‘And nobody can take that away from you.’ Teah took Ilgrin’s hand and looked him in the eye. He was taken by surprise, noticing for the first time that Teah’s eyes contained the same mix of squirming colours as her halo. ‘You’ll always be Ilgrin in here.’ The angel tapped his chest. ‘But out there, you have to be the Devil, Sa’Enoch.’

  ‘Ilgrin?’ El-i-miir said. She was a silhouette in the doorway. There was no way of knowing how long she’d been there. Teah released Ilgrin’s hand and backed away. ‘I’m so sorry,’ El-i-miir sobbed, rushing forward with her hair in disarray and drab blue dress trailing. ‘I never should’ve said those things to you. I regretted it. I did. I came after you.’

  ‘That’s enough,’ Ilgrin said coldly.

  ‘They tell me you’re the Devil,’ El-i-miir blathered on through tears. ‘That’s why Gez-reil was so insistent about you coming down here. He knew you could bring an end to this madness--stop the war before it really gets going.’

  ‘You’ve been so sheltered your whole life.’ Ilgrin took a step away. ‘You’re so childish.’

  ‘Ilgrin.’ The pain was clear in El-i-miir’s voice. ‘I said I was sorry. I . . . I love you.’

  ‘I can’t give out magical orders that’ll end this war.’ Ilgrin stared at her with contempt. ‘Far-a-mael will return. He’ll do so again and again and again. There is no peaceful way of stopping this. You forget how well I know him, El-i-miir. He is ruthless and he will stop at nothing. Not until either your kind or mine have been wiped out.’

  ‘What’re you saying?’ El-i-miir’s lip quivered, her eyes widening with disbelief.

  ‘I’m declaring war on the Elglair.’ Ilgrin’s eyes became hard and merciless. ‘And having said that, I’d advise you to run.’

  ‘You wouldn’t!’ El-i-miir cried. ‘Don’t do this!’

  ‘Escort her out of the tree.’ Ilgrin waved his hand at the guards by the door. ‘She is to be sent north. Any silt to touch a hair on her head will be executed.’

  ‘Ilgrin!’ El-i-miir cried as the guards snatched at her arms and dragged her out of the room. ‘Don’t! Please don’t do this.’

  ‘Go home, El-i-miir,’ Ilgrin said coldly, ‘and never return.’

  ‘Let go,’ the Elglair woman snapped, releasing her powers of affiliation to send her captors scurrying in opposite directions. ‘I was wrong about you.’ She glared furiously. ‘You are a monster,’ she stated fatalistically and left, her eyes filled with disgust.

  Genesis 3

  14. And the Lord Maker said unto Sa’Tan, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all souls, and above every beast of the field. Upon the Earth shalt thou go, and persecution shalt thou suffer all the days of thy life.

  15. And I will put enmity between thee and Hae’Evun, and between thy seed and the seed of Hae’Evun: It shall bruise thy head, as thou have bruised its heel."

  Scriptures of the Holy Tome

   

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  HOME

  Seteal raced through the bloody sludge underfoot. Occasionally she was forced to manoeuvre around a dead body or skip past a demon begging for life on his dying breath. 'Briel,’ Seteal called as she approached the large man, slumped against a rocky outcrop. ‘Briel.’ She slid to a stop and leaned over the Merry Islander.

  ‘Seteal,’ the big man sobbed. ‘I got her inside as quickly as I be able. But I nah know,’ he wailed.

  ‘This way.’ Seeol bounced across the ground and dashed between two large boulders into a dark cave. Seteal followed the bird inside. It wasn’t very deep, allowing only enough room for two people and Seteal couldn’t help but wonder how Briel had managed to get inside at all. Fes was curled up against the back wall. Her eyes were shut and her breath came in shuddering bursts.

  ‘What happened?’ Seteal gaped at a large and bloody wound on the side of Fes’s head. Briel had clearly tried to bandage it with a strip of his shirt, but blood was seeping through.

  ‘The wagon,’ Briel replied bitterly. ‘It crushed her. I be havin’ ta drag her free.’

  ‘I don’t think anything is broken,’ Seteal tried to reassure the man as she stretched out Fes’s limbs in search of anything amiss. Doubling over suddenly, Seteal clutched at her stomach and waited until the wave of nausea had passed. She exhaled and pushed her way out of the cave to sit with Briel.

  ‘Ye should go, love.’ Briel sighed. ‘Get yeself to safety before they be sendin’ someone back ta raise this lot from the dead.’

  ‘I’m not leaving you,’ Seteal said softly. ‘All we can do is wait and make Fes as comfortable as possible. Seeol,’ Seteal said, turning to the owl. ‘Could you find out if anyone else is around? Find Far-a-mael, but don’t let him see you.’

  ‘Yes,’ Seeol replied, fluttering into the air.

  ‘He’s an owl again,’ Briel noted.

  ‘Yes, he is.’ Seteal shrugged.

  When Seeol returned a few moments later, he did so reporting Far-a-mael’s whereabouts as being a good mile away with his gathering of possessed silts and affiliate Elglair. The other armies of New World had regrouped and seemed to be awaiting Far-a-mael’s command. Except, of course, for the Jenjen, who’d been all but destroyed on the front lines. They’d held nothing back on account of faith in their Holy Spirit and had suffered immeasurably because of it.

  It wasn’t until the following morning that Fes woke up, Seteal having remained with Briel the entire night. The woman was groggy and seemed a bit off-balance, but otherwise well enough.

  ‘I hate ta push ye,’ Briel held his wife’s hand, ‘but we da need ta get away from here. It nah be safe.’

  ‘I understand,’ Fes said tiredly, leaning heavily on her husband’s shoulder. ‘He be an owl again.’ She noticed Seeol perched on Seteal’s arm.

  ‘Yes.’ Seeol bobbed his head. ‘Is happily.’

  ‘I’ll kill it,’ a girl shrieked as someone raced up behind them. Seeol’s head was still in mid-bob when Ieane snatched him from Seteal’s arm and squeezed him tight.

  ‘Ieane, don’t!’ Seteal tried to warn the girl, but already it was too late.

  A nearby tree had somehow sustained damage during the battle and it was in that exact moment that its trunk gave out and snapped. The top half of the tree
swung toward the earth and landed on an elongated stone whose end reached away from the ground. The force of the impact pushed the upper side of the stone against the ground and the lower side flung into the air. Quite by chance, the other side had had a smaller rock perched at the end, which was then forcefully catapulted into the air. The rock flew directly at Ieane’s head and cracked against her skull. Crying out in pain she, released Seeol, who quickly flew back to Seteal.

  ‘You’re not the Holy Spirit,’ the girl wailed hysterically. ‘They were right all along. You’re just a vile, whisp-mutilated abomination.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Seeol said quietly, his face downcast.

  ‘You’ve destroyed us.’ Ieane gagged at the death surrounding them and put a hand over the bruise forming on the side of her head. ‘That was everything our military had. We’ve lost everything.’

  ‘You told me!’ Seeol screeched.

  ‘What?’ Ieane waved her hands in frustration.

  ‘You tolds me I was the sprit,’ Seeol’s voice was filled with pain. ‘I believed all of you and you. I wanted to be a good and happy sprit and to cuddle because you is always telling me that I am one.’

  ‘You know what you are.’ Ieane narrowed her eyes angrily. ‘You’re the disgusting thing: a curse and a false prophet. You took advantage of my people and when the time comes, Maker will make you pay.’

  ‘I am so horrible!’ Seeol cried before burrowing into the depths of Seteal’s collar.

  ‘Now you’ve gone and upset him,’ Seteal said crossly. ‘I’ll be lucky to get him out by the end of the day.’

  ‘I be needin’ water,’ Fes said breathily.

  ‘We have ta be goin’,’ Briel encouraged, turning to Ieane. ‘Go home, girl.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Ieane sobbed. ‘I have nothing left. I can’t spend another second serving Harundor.’

  ‘I thought you liked Jenjol.’ Seteal frowned as they moved off with Ieane scurrying after them.

  ‘The king had my father assassinated when he decided he wanted my mother in his bed.’ Ieane’s eyes welled with tears. ‘When she spoke out about what he’d done, he had her killed, too. I don’t know why he kept me in service--maybe so that he could have his way with me when I got a little older.’

  ‘Well, you’re welcome to come along.’ Seteal shrugged. ‘Where are we going exactly?’ She directed this at the Merry Islanders.

  ‘You’re going home, Seteal.’ Briel looked over her pregnant body with sad eyes. ‘We’re taking you home.’

  ‘Home?’ Seeol echoed longingly from his place in Seteal’s collar.

  ‘Yes, Seeol,’ Seteal said softly, barely able to understand the kindness Briel had spoken. ‘We’re going home.’

  *

  The almost-full moon was surrounded by white clouds and an array of stars that suddenly vanished from view in the southern sky to be replaced by nothing but darkness. It wasn’t as cold as winter, but the persistent wind made sleeping in the open decidedly uncomfortable for Seeol’s human friends.

  Seeol tilted his head, having spotted a moth fluttering passed in the moonlight. He measured the distance perfectly before springing into the air and snapping his talons around it. Seeol was sad . . . and yet overjoyed. He was miserable that once again he was nothing more than a bird, with no higher purpose or meaning. But at the same time, he’d never felt so uncomfortable than as he did as a human. Seeol chomped gleefully on his prey as it squirmed between his toes.

  They’d travelled only a few short hours before giving in to exhaustion, the battle having drained everyone of energy. As much as he’d tried, Seeol had been unable to find them shelter. Unaccustomed to sleeping outdoors, Ieane had wanted to push on in the hopes of reaching Kintor, but Fes’s head injury gave Briel cause to refuse. So there they slept, close together and yet spread out, with nothing other than the trees and a small rocky outcrop to protect them. Well . . . except for Seeol. They had him, too.

  Seeol hopped across the grass to stare intently at Seteal’s massive head. He hadn’t left the safety of her collar all day, waiting until nightfall to do so. Ieane didn’t like him anymore and it made him sad--but, then again, he supposed most Jenjen wouldn’t like him anymore. He was under no illusions. Deep down, Seeol knew that even Seteal, the one he considered his closest friend, only tolerated his presence out of pity.

  Stretching his neck, Seeol replicated the sound of a human kiss and pressed his beak against Seteal’s forehead. She squirmed as though something had upset her, but did not wake from her slumber. Her baby was making her sick. Poor Seteal. Seeol spotted a beetle burrowing into the leaves several strides away, flew over and snatched it up. Even though it was delicious, he’d have preferred one of the green lizards native to Narvon Wood. Seeol did so look forward to going home.

  Casting a protective glance over the bodies of his friends, Seeol found himself debating whether they would be all right without him for a short while. After fluttering into a nearby tree, he turned his head this way and that. He knew the odds of finding a green lizard were rather slim, but he was optimistic nevertheless. It was from the top of the tree that he noticed something unusual.

  In the distance, there was a small campfire. At first he was excited by the prospect of food. Human campfires were brilliantly apt at attracting all sorts of delicious creatures. Still, Seeol couldn’t help but hesitate. He didn’t want to leave his friends unprotected and in his experience strangers had often proven to be dangerous. Nevertheless, he could see no harm in taking a closer look.

  Buffeted along on the wind, Seeol flew south, not for the first time being taken by surprise by the black skies. It was confusing. He was almost certain the darkness had strayed further north every time he looked at it. More and more stars had vanished. Unable to make sense of the phenomenon, Seeol chose to ignore it and continued toward the campfire.

  After landing in a nearby tree, he found himself peering down at a slender figure wrapped in a cloak with the hood pulled forward. When slender hands were extended over the fire, Seeol immediately recognised them.

  ‘El-i-miish!’ he cried gleefully, fluttering down to meet her.

  ‘Seeol.’ El-i-miir was startled and glanced over in surprise.

  ‘Hello,’ Seeol called, bouncing into the light of the fire to stare up into El-i-miir’s beautiful blue eyes. She’d been crying. ‘I’ve missinged you,’ he said warmly.

  ‘Where are the others?’ El-i-miir squirmed away from him. ‘Is everyone okay? I saw the mess left by yesterday’s battle and to be honest, I feared the worst.’

  ‘Seteal and Briel and Fes and Ieane.’ Seeol bobbed his head excitedly.

  ‘Yes?’ El-i-miir encouraged. ‘What about them?’

  ‘They is fine,’ Seeol replied, thinking it obvious. ‘We are so taking Seteal home.’

  ‘She’s returning to Elmsville?’ El-i-miir said in astonishment. ‘Where is she? I need to see her right away.’

  *

  ‘Seteal,’ El-i-miir’s voice carved into Seteal’s unconsciousness and drove her into the waking world.

  ‘El-i-miir?’ Seteal replied groggily, rolling over and lifting her head. Her stomach weighed so much that she felt the need to drag it into a sitting position as she went. ‘What’re you doing here? Did you find Ilgrin?’ Seteal cast her eyes about in search of the demon.

  ‘No,’ El-i-miir replied. ‘I mean yes, but he’s not here.’

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ El-i-miir said irritably. ‘You’re going home?’

  ‘Yes, I am.’ Seteal sighed, quickly losing patience with El-i-miir’s authoritative tone. ‘Briel and Fes have offered to help me.’ She nodded toward the two Merry Islanders as they stood tiredly in the early morning light.

  ‘You can’t go home,’ El-i-miir snapped. ‘There’s a war going on. Ilgrin has pronounced war on the Elglair.’

  ‘Ilgrin?’ Ieane made her presence known, her face showing confusion. ‘Who’s Ilgrin?’

  ‘He’s the Devil,?
?? El-i-miir acknowledged reluctantly.

  ‘Ilgrin?’ Briel shook his head. ‘He’s nah the Devil.’

  ‘He is,’ El-i-miir insisted. ‘It’s a long story, but apparently he’s the descendent of Sa’Tan and the rightful heir to the throne. That’s why the previous Devil’s people were trying to assassinate him.’

  ‘And Ilgrin has decided to keep this war going?’ Seteal asked, although admittedly she wasn’t entirely surprised.

  ‘Yes,’ El-i-miir said heatedly. ‘He told me he wants to wage war on the Elglair.’

  ‘El-i-miir . . .’ Seteal shook her head, slowly clambering to her feet. ‘You’ve got it backward. The Elglair waged war on Old World. If Ilgrin is the Devil, he likely feels responsible for defending his people. He is one of them, you know.’

  ‘Whatever.’ El-i-miir gritted her teeth. ‘Maybe you could talk some sense into him.’

  ‘Me?’ Seteal recoiled. ‘Forget it. I’m done with this mess.’

  ‘Home.’ Seeol bobbed his head enthusiastically before fluttering up and slithering his way into Seteal’s collar.

  ‘Look,’ Seteal’s voice softened as she watched El-i-miir’s face fall, ‘there’s nothing more we can do. I’m not sure there ever really was.’

  ‘You’re powerful,’ El-i-miir threw out her hands in frustration. ‘You can stop it.’

  ‘I’m not powerful,’ Seteal snapped back. ‘Far-a-mael embedded my aura with an anchor. I doubt I could have so much as a knowing, let alone project my soul.’

  ‘What happened to you?’ El-i-miir narrowed her eyes as she peered into Seteal’s aura, her lip shaking fearfully. ‘The child!’

  ‘Unless you can remove the anchor, I have nothing more to say.’ Seteal turned aggressively, refusing to speak about the baby’s whisp-affected condition.

  ‘I can’t remove this.’ El-i-miir squinted. ‘It’s moving constantly and embedded so deep that I doubt even Far-a-mael could pick it out.’

  ‘Then there’s nothing more I can do,’ Seteal said plainly. ‘The world will be all but destroyed and I have to give my child the best chance at life I can.’

  ‘The world will be destroyed?’ El-i-miir said in disgust. ‘You’re such a defeatist.’

  ‘No,’ Seteal snapped. ‘I’m a mother.’