'Death to the demons!' someone shouted outside. A bottle smashed through the window, hit the floor and shattered. Accelerant splashed across the timber followed by burning hot flames. Ilgrin dashed for the exit.
'Don't open that,' El-i-miir barked. A bottle hit the front door and Ilgrin leapt aside as it became alight. 'What about Seteal?'
'What about me?' Seteal asked heading down the stairs clothed in a flowing white nightdress.
The house was filled with a cold wind so intense that the fire vanished as suddenly as it'd started. Seteal went to the front door, which blew open before she could reach it. 'I'm going to ask you all nicely to return to your homes and get away from mine.' El-i-miir yelped at the sound of a gunshot. Seteal spoke again. 'I've asked you very pleasantly to leave.'
The air was filled with disbelieving gasps as the crowd dispersed. Seteal stepped back inside and kicked the door shut. She was bouncing a metal sphere in her hand. 'Is that a bullet?' El-i-miir enquired.
'Yes, it is. I caught it.'
'You caught it,' Ilgrin echoed.
'I'm so relieved to see you're all right.' Seteal smiled at El-i-miir and hurried over to sit beside her. She dropped the lead ball and allowed it to roll away.
'Yes, I'm quite all right.' El-i-miir looked as stunned as Ilgrin felt. 'I'm sorry about your house.'
'What, this?' Seteal turned to the black scorches marking the walls. 'I think it gives the place character, don't you? What time is it anyway?' She glanced at the clock. 'It's not even half past two. We should have lunch.'
Ilgrin looked out the window to see the darkness dissolve, allowing the sun to again reach the street. 'I'm really not hungry.'
'Oh, come on,' Seteal insisted. 'It might be nice to do something normal. I'd love to hear all about your adventures, El-i-miir, and you pair as well.'
El-i-miir winced. 'I really don't want to talk about it.'
'Me neither,' Ilgrin concurred.
'Oh, I do,' Teah said a little too quietly for the others to hear as she brushed her fingers along the back of Ilgrin's wounded hand.
'Well, I don't.'
'Yes.' Seteal nodded. 'We heard you the first time, Ilgrin.'
'What about you, Seteal?' El-i-miir cocked her head. 'What have you been up to?'
'I'm not sure what you mean,' she replied as she laid out four plates, glasses and sets of cutlery at the table.
'Where are Mister Eltari and Parrowun?'
Seteal dropped a plate and it shattered at her feet. 'Let me get that.' Teah rushed forward in search of a brush.
'No,' Seteal barked. 'You all need to stop treating me like a cripple. It's my mess. I'll clean it up.'
El-i-miir opened her mouth to push for an answer, but Ilgrin volunteered the information without prompting. 'I'm not sure about Mister Eltari, but I know she killed the baby.
'Oh.' Seteal lowered her face to the floor, her hair falling so that it was obscured from view.
'Ilgrin,' Teah reprimanded. 'Why would you say that?'
'There's no excuse for what she did and I won't pretend that there is,' he replied. 'You know my parents were human. Anybody else would've killed an infant silt, but they found it in their hearts to take me in. So this matters to me. It's not okay to kill your child just because you don't want them.'
'I did want him, you idiot!' Seteal's face was a handswidth from Ilgrin's in less than a second. 'I loved him so much. I did it for you, and you.' She turned to El-i-miir. 'I did what I had to do to save countless thousands of lives. So you can all just go to torrid!'
'I saw it.' Teah's spoke quietly. 'The infant was what caused us to fall from the sky in Beldin.'
'The bleeding sickness.' El-i-miir turned to Ilgrin disparagingly. 'Parrowun was a seeol of the most dangerous kind. He'd have killed every one of us.'
'Seteal?' Ilgrin said after a long period of silence. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed.'
'No, you shouldn't have,' Seteal snapped. 'What is that about, anyway? Do tell me, what could possibly make you assume that I'd do something so horrible for the fun of it? Do you really think so little of me? I loved him so much that I'm still not sure whether I did the right thing. I fight this battle in my heart every day.'
'It's just that I've seen you sever people from the Ways before and--'
'They were people who were trying to kill us!' Seteal shouted. 'That's not even nearly the same thing.'
'I know.' Ilgrin stared at the table. 'And like I said, I'm really, truly sorry.'
Seteal dabbed at eyes if only to dry them and roll them. 'At least I know what you really think of me.'
'It's not like that.'
'You know, I'd actually forgiven you for killing my mother. I wanted to give you a chance based on who you were, not on something you did as a child. Why is it so impossible for you to extend the same courtesy to me? You're a Maker-damned demon, but I let it go and came to trust you and care about you for who you are. Torrid, you even abandoned us, decided to become the Devil, and then waged war on us, and I've still made a place at my table for you. They should lock me up because I must be insane treating someone so well who continually treats me like dirt!'
Ilgrin stepped back from the table. 'I . . . I don't know what else to say.'
'So . . .' El-i-miir said softly after the other two had remained silent for an extended moment. 'Where's Seeol?'
'He's probably out hunting those little green lizards he's obsessed with,' Ilgrin grumbled when nobody else answered.
'Actually, Seeol decided to return to the borderlands.' Seteal shrugged.
'What?' El-i-miir and Ilgrin exclaimed in unison.
Teah chuckled a little too forcefully. 'I'd forgotten all about the little bird; hadn't even noticed he was missing.'
'He left yesterday morning,' Seteal replied.
El-i-miir burst out laughing. 'So he's still in Elmsville then?'
'You needn't be so cruel.' Seteal frowned. 'He's just a little bird.'
'Yes,' El-i-miir smirked, 'a little bird that has almost cost us our lives more times than I care to count.'
'All the same.' Seteal shrugged as she got out some bread and jam, putting it at the centre of the table.
'May I ask why he's returning to the borderlands?' Ilgrin said softly, his eyes remaining lowered.
'I'm not sure,' Seteal replied. 'He waffled on about having lost his key or something.'
'A key?' Teah piped in.
'I'm sure it's nothing.' Seteal picked up a knife and spread some jam over a slice of bread. 'What could Seeol possibly know? He called it a ball at one point.'
'The key is a sphere,' Teah said emphatically.
'Not now, Teah,' Seteal moaned. 'We've been over this and I've really had enough. I haven't eaten in days and for the first time in a long time I'm hungry, so I just want to get as much of this down as possible before I lose my appetite. Plus . . .' Seteal put a finger to her lips and rocked a little in her chair. 'I think I'm still a bit drunk.'
'Well, I'm not at all surprised with the amount you drank this morning,' Teah reprimanded.
'I know what this is,' El-i-miir blurted out, collapsing into the chair across from Seteal. 'You remember when the Jenjen thought that Seeol was the Holy Spirit?'
'How could we forget?' Ilgrin laughed. 'Those people will remain a mockery until the end of time.'
'Yes, well,' El-i-miir continued, 'does anyone remember that black pebble he was toting around?'
Seteal nodded and bit into a thick slice of bread. 'I can't imagine where he found it,' she said almost unintelligibly before going to great efforts to swallow the excessively large chunk. 'That must be what he meant when he said he had to find his "ball key."'
'That's it,' Teah choked out with wide eyes. 'You've left the fate of the world in the hands of an owl.'
'Oh, calm down.' Seteal waved her hand dismissively. 'He doesn't have any hands,' she joked before turning to Ilgrin. 'Is she always like this?'
'Afraid so.' He smiled. Teah got up from the ta
ble only to return moments later flipping furiously through the pages of the Holy Tome.
Ilgrin leaned in close to Seteal. 'Are we okay?'
'Look, whatever, Ilgrin.' She waved her hand distractedly. 'I'm over it. Just think and do whatever you want. It makes no difference in the end.' She peered over Ilgrin's shoulder. 'Would you please put that thing away, Teah?'
'Just a minute.'
'But I want it to matter,' Ilgrin insisted. 'I want us to be friends.'
'Oh, for Maker's sake.' Seteal put down her knife and stood up, her friendly disposition having transformed into frustration. 'Put the damned book away! I'm not interested.'
'There,' Teah cried frantically. 'There. It's here.' She shoved the book up under Seteal's nose. 'Please, Seteal. It's one sentence. Just look.'
'"And Maker took the stone and made it perfect so that no impurity could be found within it by all of the Hae'Evunly host. And Maker said, 'I, your Lord Maker, hath invested power over the Ways within thy Devil's stone, that ye may keep thy covenant with Me.'" This could mean anything,' Seteal said before taking another mouthful of bread. 'It's just another story about Maker putting powers into things.'
'Ridiculous,' El-i-miir snorted, slouching in her chair and crossing her arms.
'Is this ridiculous, too?' Teah slid her finger down the page where she ceased moving it and waited while Seteal's eyes followed the writing.
'So it basically says that Sa'Tan used the very same stone to open the gates of Hae'Evun.' Seteal bit her lip and sat back looking perplexed.
'Not you, too.' El-i-miir threw up her arms. 'These are just stories. Silts have shared the same world with us since the dawn of time.' She stared up at a bunch of blank expressions. 'You know what?' El-i-miir wiped her hands on a towel and tossed it onto the table, 'I'm going for a walk. You all enjoy your little Holy Tome study group.' She crossed the room, slamming the door when she left.
Seteal scrunched up her nose and busied herself collecting the dishes. 'I think El-i-miir's right. Who's to say Seeol's pebble isn't just some black rock he's picked up in his travels? It wouldn't be unusual for him to do that. He's always developing silly little obsessions. You should have seen him last year. He was utterly obsessed with El-i-miir. You know he even became a--' Seteal froze in her tracks and Ilgrin's jaw dropped at the memory.
'He became a what?'
'He became human,' Ilgrin answered.
'He became human?' Teah repeated, gaping at Ilgrin and then turned to Seteal. 'And you didn't wonder why?'
'You don't understand,' Seteal said defensively. 'At the time it wasn't unusual for Seeol's appearance to change. For a long time he'd become a giant monster at random intervals. He couldn't control it until finally I did something to him. I'd only just recently changed his Way and we really didn't know what to expect out of him. When he became human, we were all just sort of relieved that it hadn't been something worse.'
'But you said that he's never had control over these transformations?'
'That's correct.'
'And you also said he was obsessed with El-i-miir.' Teah sort confirmation, which she received in the form of a nod from both Ilgrin and Seteal. 'So becoming human was very likely something he chose to do in the hopes of gaining her respect as an equal.'
'Now you've lost me,' Ilgrin slapped his hands down on the table and pushed back his chair. 'There's no way in torrid Seeol has that much cunning in him. I simply cannot believe it. He's just a bird.'
'He can talk.'
'Lots of birds can talk.' Seteal nodded in agreement with Ilgrin. 'Seeol is just not that clever. You've seen the way he behaves.'
'You're probably right,' Teah murmured. 'Perhaps he thought of it more simplistically than the way in which I described it. But what if he was having a nesting instinct or something of the sort and thought of the stone as an egg. All he'd have to do was accidentally touch the stone while feeling whatever primitive love he has for El-i-miir and the stone would've granted his desire.'
Ilgrin raised his eyebrows. 'This is just all so surreal. Nobody really believes in stuff like that.'
'I can show you more.' Teah shrugged. 'I can show you the prediction that the great whisp would come north, the story of the Holy Spirit descending in the clouds, prophesies foretelling the war we're living through now. Even the angel hunts were predicted as a sign of the end. It's all in here.' She waggled the Holy Tome before their faces.
'So . . .' Seteal shrugged. 'Assuming you're right--'
'Which I am,' Teah interjected.
'What do you propose we do?'
'We have to locate the gates of Hae'Evun,' Teah replied. 'The Scriptures teach us that Maker--being a merciful Maker--would place the key in the lock, leaving the Holy Spirit only to turn it so that the gates could be opened.'
'Maker!' Seteal slapped the table.
'Of course, Maker. Who else?'
'When Seeol's time ran out as a human, he fell down a crevice in the earth. That must be where the key is.' When Seteal looked up she must have glimpsed Ilgrin's doubt because she rushed on to explain. 'Seeol would've had the stone in his pocket.'
Teah looked about ready to cry with joy. 'You are the Holy Spirit,' she whispered gleefully. 'Look here,' she pointed at a passage in the Tome. 'Nobody will know the day nor the hour. No man nor the silts of Hae'Evun, but only Maker. And if you're the spirit of Maker, that includes you.'
'It might be time for us to stop fighting this, Seteal.' Ilgrin reached across the table and squeezed his friend's hand. 'Maybe you are the Holy Spirit.'
Matt-hew 24
32. "Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When the branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.
33. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that the end is near, even at the doors.
34. Verily I say unto you, that generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
35. Hae'Evun and Earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away.
36. But of that day and hour, knoweth no man, no, not the silts of Hae'Evun, but Maker only.
Scriptures of the Holy Tome
CHAPTER Fifteen
Isolation
Seteal may have been content eating out of cans, but El-i-miir certainly was not. It was for that very reason why she used her time away from the house to make some necessary purchases at the local market. After entering a rickety little building, El-i-miir found herself swamped by nasty glares and disapproving head-shakes. She hurried about her business gathering vegetables and a loaf of bread before making her way to the counter.
'That's it?' the owner grumbled and then demanded an unusually large number of coins.
El-i-miir frowned, digging about in her bag. 'That's a bit expensive, isn't it?'
'You scared my other customers away,' the shopkeeper replied nonchalantly.
When El-i-miir cast her eyes about the market, she realised that the man was quite correct. 'Sorry about that,' she mumbled, dumping some bronze coins into the man's hand. 'That's all I've got.'
'That'll have to do then,' the owner uttered, shoving the money into the till. 'Do try not to scare off anyone else as you leave.'
El-i-miir stepped outside and placed her armful of paper bags on the bench in front of the shop. She dug around in her purse and felt the sharp angles of her mirror. She pulled it out and stared at the reflection of her eye. She stared for a long time at the white pupil and wondered when it had come to be something so feared. Was it the power they knew she possessed that struck at the people's hearts or had it been cruel men like Far-a-mael who'd given the Elglair a bad name?
By the time El-i-miir had slid the mirror back into her bag and collected the groceries, she turned around to find herself confronted by a group of young boys. 'Stone the witch!' the ringleader shouted, pitching back his arm and throwing a rock at El-i-miir's face. The pain brought tears to her eyes.
'Little bastards.' El-i-miir cried out when another coup
le of rocks bounced off her arm and hip. 'Run!'
She felt her many pairs of legs turn and hurry down the street in terror. She cast an eye over his shoulder and saw herself looking back at herself. When the children were far enough down the road, she severed the possession and made her way home. El-i-miir crashed through the door into a scene that was quite different form the one she'd left.
Teah sat beside Ilgrin with her hand on his arm and the two were laughing, apparently at something Seteal had said. The laughter ceased when El-i-miir came closer and Ilgrin pulled away from Teah. 'Is something funny?' El-i-miir asked with a forced smile as she set down the groceries on the table in such a way that it limited eye contact between Seteal and the other two.
'Your face,' Ilgrin said in alarm.
'It's nothing,' El-i-miir murmured, whipping out her mirror and examining the cut on her forehead. 'Some boys wanted to stone me. And does anyone know what "witch" means?' The others simply shrugged or otherwise indicated their ignorance.
'Was there a tall blond boy at the front?' Seteal asked. 'That would be the Ohrilly boy. His parents should be flogged. He's always stirring up trouble.'
'Let me get that.' Ilgrin reached across the table to take the paper bags. El-i-miir watched the stretch of white flesh with vulgar blue hues. His fingers, devoid of nails curled around the bags and dragged them across the table. As he lifted them his wing protruded slightly for balance. El-i-miir leant back against the wall and despite her better senses began to shake uncontrollably.
'Are you all right?' Teah stood.
'Get away from me,' El-i-miir said firmly before exiting the room.
'El-i-miir?' Seteal hurried after her and took her arm. 'Ilgrin told us what happened, but you're safe here. You know that.'