The Inner Circle: The Gates of Hae'Evun

  'He'll get us both eventually,' Jakob said. 'Logic dictates that I should take you to him so that at least I'll survive.'

  'We can defeat him,' Ilgrin insisted. 'With Seteal and El-i-miir, we can stop him, I promise you.'

  'He's going to kill everyone.' Jakob sighed, staring at his pistol. 'Just look at the world, Enoch. We had our shot back in Hel. That was our chance and we've lost it.' He raised the gun and put it against his head. 'You don't even understand. Everything is gone, Ilgrin. Everything south, east, and even north of here . . . they've taken it all. They've taken everything. Where am I to go?' Jakob blubbered, pushing the gun against his temple.

  'Don't.' Ilgrin gaped, reaching pleadingly toward Jakob. 'Please don't do it. Don't do that!'

  'He eats them!' Jakob shouted, his finger tightening on the trigger. 'He feeds on people while they're still alive. I've seen it! This will be quick. This will be painless. I can die on my own terms.'

  Ilgrin's face squished up into one of desperation. 'Please, Jakob.'

  A gush of air threw Jakob onto his back and into the leaf litter. He howled at the stabbing pain in his arm as enormous wings flared. Noah's toes closed around Ilgrin and tore him up through the trees and into the sky. 'Noah!' Jakob howled. 'Don't hurt him,' he finished with a sob, before pushing himself to his feet. 'We weren't supposed to meet here,' he moaned, turning hurriedly back toward Elmsville.

  Jakob staggered along the dirt road toward Seteal's house. As he came close, El-i-miir burst outside and hurried down the steps. She threw out her hand and made him slap himself across the cheek. 'What'd you do!?' she screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks. 'What did you do?' She slapped him again with her own hand.

  'He's gone,' Jakob moaned.

  'Where!?' El-i-miir shouted, waving her hands frantically. Jakob snatched up his broken arm and at her bidding started twisting it with his freehand. He fell to the ground screaming.

  'Noah took him,' Jakob managed to say through the pain. El-i-miir rewarded him by releasing him from her power. 'They're in Narvon Wood. I didn't mean it. I changed my mind. I was going to let him go.'

  'Get inside,' El-i-miir snapped, casting her eyes warily up at the sky.

  2 Thess-a-lin-ian 2

  3-4. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that Day shall not come, unless there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is Maker or that is worshiped, so that he sitteth as Maker in the temple of the Lord.

  5. Remember that when I was yet with ye, I told ye these things.

  6. And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time.

  7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only She who now holdeth back will hold him back, until he is taken out of the way.

  8-10. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His ways, and shall destroy with the brightness of Her coming--even him, whose coming is according to the working of Sa'Tan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all the deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

  11-12. And for this cause Maker shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

  Scriptures of the Holy Tome

  CHAPTER Twenty-Two

  The burden of Remorse

  Seteal clenched the sink in anticipation of painful energy. She squinted at her arms and watched as strange bumps, like beads beneath her flesh, followed the path of her veins down into her hands, which she clenched even harder for fear of their escape. She jolted as her skin became marred by black cracks that webbed out like splitting porcelain. She held her breath until the feeling had passed and the cracks had faded.

  This was not the first time in recent days that her spirit had tried to escape. Her skin felt like it was the thinnest paper ever to have been cut. Seteal waited each time for the cracks to continue splitting, knowing that sooner or later her spirit would break free from the fragile barrier. Her time was coming to an end.

  'Seteal,' El-i-miir said cautiously as she approached from behind. 'I'm sorry about yesterday. I couldn't control it.'

  'Me neither.' Seteal smiled at the irony. 'Don't worry about it. At least you did something. I saw them coming. I knew for days and I thought I'd be ready, but when they swooped down from the sky . . . I just couldn't bring myself to kill anymore. Do you understand?'

  'Of course,' El-i-miir put an arm around Seteal's shoulders. 'You should eat something.' She pulled away, surprised by the bony frailty she felt.

  'I'm not interested.' Seteal turned again to look out the window. 'You were right, though.'

  'About what?' El-i-miir replied, although her face revealed her distraction.

  'It's time for me to find Seeol,' Seteal replied. 'I will see that the town is evacuated first, of course. I'm certain that more silts will come and when they do, I don't want any more deaths on my conscience.'

  'How do you plan to do that?'

  'After yesterday, I doubt it'll require much prompting. I wouldn't be surprised if half of Elmsville have already left.'

  'And how do you expect to find Seeol?'

  'I don't know,' Seteal shrugged, 'but if there's even the slightest chance he's pieced it all together and found this mysterious key, then I really must seek to pursue that. I don't see any other way forward.'

  El-i-miir smiled encouragingly, although pityingly. She didn't believe in the key or the gates of Hae'Evun. And she certainly didn't believe in Seeol. 'We'll set off first thing tomorrow.'

  'What a sad world you live in.' Seteal shook her head at El-i-miir. 'If none of it is true, what hope can we possibly have?'

  'You once told me that you'd rather the hideous truth over a beautiful lie.' El-i-miir raised her eyebrows, before taking Seteal's hand. 'We can still fight without grasping for comfort in antient myth as a magic remedy. It's not over yet.'

  'The war is done.' Seteal chuckled mirthlessly. 'There never was a war, I suppose. To think we could take on demons and live . . . what fools.'

  'We still have you.' El-i-miir squeezed her hand.

  Seteal laughed. 'Remember when Far-a-mael made all of his big plans. He was going to use me as his secret weapon. Goodness me, how badly that plan failed! El-i-miir, I'm not a very good weapon. I never was a weapon. I was a person and now I'm pretty sure that's gone, too.' She smiled bitterly, avoiding El-i-miir's eyes. 'I can't just go about killing people. I know that's what Far-a-mael wanted and maybe you do, too, but that's not me. It never was. You can't just make someone give up their humanity. You can't just aim me at something, pull a trigger, and have me destroy it. How can you ask me to kill people when I don't even know who they are or what they've done?' Seteal exhaled in a rush.

  'Okay.' El-i-miir nodded, a tear trailing down her cheek. 'We'll go and find Seeol. You and Ilgrin and me.' She smiled softly. 'We'll go and find that little bird, I promise. And, Seteal . . .' Her voice shook as their eyes connected. 'You'll be okay. One day this will all be over and you'll get back to your old self. You'll be able to smile and you'll have something to eat, all right? I can't stand hearing you go on about wanting to be "free" anymore. I don't want for you to go. I need you around. We all do.' El-i-miir bit her lip. 'And not because of your abilities, you understand? You have to hold on because there are people who love you.'

  'Sure,' Seteal said, hoping to placate her friend, all the while knowing El-i-miir would be able to detect her insincerity. She cared about her as well. They'd been through so much together, but she didn't belong in the world anymore. It was only a matter of time before she abandoned it.

  El-i-miir's eyes widened and she put a hand to her stomach. 'Oh, no! Ilgrin,' she shrieked and ran for the door. She threw it open and raced outside. 'What'd you do?' El-i-miir screamed at a hunched-over figure stumbling toward t
he house. Seteal watched from the doorway. 'What did you do?'

  'He's gone,' Jakob moaned.

  'Where!?' El-i-miir shouted desperately a moment before Jakob snatched up his arm and twisted it.

  'Noah took him,' Jakob managed to say through his pain. 'They're in Narvon Wood. I didn't mean it. I changed my mind. I was going to let him go.'

  'Get inside,' El-i-miir snapped, casting a wary glance at the sky.

  Jakob stumbled up the steps and El-i-miir shoved him to the floor. 'I should kill you!' she shouted furiously.

  'No,' Teah announced as she slid into the room. 'We'll need him to find Ilgrin.'

  'What if it's too late?' Jakob wriggled back along the floorboards. 'He's probably dead.'

  'He's not dead.' El-i-miir turned on Jakob with an expression of contemp. 'You're going to lead us to him. Come on.' She turned to Seteal.

  'I'm not going,' she replied. 'I have to find Seeol.'

  'I don't like this, Seteal. You shouldn't be left alone,' El-i-miir bit her lip and stared at her for a drawn out moment. 'Damn it,' she turned to Teah, 'but we have to go. It's Ilgrin.' The others raced for the door with Teah dragging Jakob along reluctantly behind her. 'Are you sure you won't come?' El-i-miir implored one final time.

  'Go,' Seteal waved her hand urgently. 'Find the man you love.'

  *

  He was aware that they were somewhere north of Kintor in Kilk, but that was as far as Seeol's knowledge extended. He shook himself and watched in despair as far too many feathers fell away to meet with the others he'd already lost. He used his leg stub to scratch the back of his neck, determinedly clinging to the perch. He didn't want to fall into the mounting pile of faeces and pellets. Was it so much to ask that they clean his cage? Apparently so.

  Seeol peered up at the northern sky, but no matter how he craned his neck, blue skies with puffy white clouds had become a thing of the past. 'That leg is looking better,' Marin acknowledged from his saddle, glancing down at Seeol's cage which hung lopsided by his knee.

  'Yes.' Seeol examined the stump. 'Is sad but because I was learning to read a bit and I could turn pages. I don't think I'll turn pages now.' He'd originally started replying to his captor out of boredom and loneliness, but Marin wasn't so bad. He was only following orders and didn't seem terribly fond of Phil Yas. So they had something in common.

  'You can read, eh?'

  'Is true,' Seeol bobbed his head rapidly, only to regret it when several more feathers were dislodged.

  'What's happening with your feathers anyway?' Marin frowned and pointed. 'You've got quite a few missing there.'

  'I does not!' Seeol retorted in his embarrassment. He took a moment thereafter to rearrange his feathers so that they better obscured the bald spots. But the problem was greater than one of vanity. He was feeling the cold at night.

  'Must be the stress,' Marin mumbled more to himself than to Seeol. 'My sister had a bird once. Mind you, she wasn't a very good keeper; always taking it out of the cage and letting her kids squeeze it and such. It lost its feathers from the stress. Then it died.' He shrugged as though the fact were an afterthought.

  'This is such terrible news,' Seeol wailed. 'The poor little birdy.'

  'Mister Gratt,' Phil called over his shoulder. 'Would you shut that animal up? For Maker's sake, do your job.'

  'Better keep it down.' Marin nodded at Seeol, turning to focus to the road ahead.

  Seeol cocked his head to examine the leather strap that looped through the bars of his cage, keeping it fastened to the saddle. He'd been secretly chewing on it at night and nobody had noticed. A few more bites and he was certain it would break. Maybe one more night's worth of work and it would be ready. He didn't know what good it would do him. The cage was still locked. But even having a little power over the situation made it slightly more bearable.

  'Here,' Marin murmured, squishing a black beetle between the bars. 'I killed it this morning.'

  Seeol took the roach. He didn't mind them. It was better than the snake he'd been given previously. He beat it against his perch out of habit before tearing off the head and swallowing. He used to enjoy holding his food, but now he had to squash it between his foot and the perch as he held on and ate it by lowering his face to the meal. Seeol examined his stump with a heavy heart. He was ugly now. Everybody would hate him and be mean to him. El-i-miir would make fun of him and they'd probably want to get rid of him even more.

  Seeol finished his beetle and stretched his wings. He hadn't flown in days. He rubbed his beak against the bars to clean off the insect goo, before fluttering down to his bowl for a drink. The water had turned green, but it would have to do. After launching himself back onto his perch, Seeol gazed silently into the distance.

  When he'd been young and na?ve in his experience with humans, Seeol had taken his continued survival for granted. He thought about Far-a-mael and how the old man with all his power and experience had never quite managed to capture or kill him. Seeol had been sheltered and oblivious to his own fragility. Free of the darkness his mother had left him, he could see that he was indeed just a little bird, after all.

  Seeol wondered, as he stared up into the black whisp-infested sky, whether he'd been too much of a burden on Seteal and the others. He'd never understood fragility, and had pursued them so persistently. It had been wrong of him to do so when within he carried the very same sickness everyone so feared from the clouds above. He'd selfishly pursued El-i-miir and had brought endless miseries to Seteal without ever stopping to consider how dangerous he was. He'd pleaded for their friendship while failing to behave like a friend. He should have flown away and never come back.

  Of course, there was the stone, but in Seeol's heart, his newly acquired perspective was the very reason he needed to survive. He had to look Ilgrin and El-i-miir in the eye and tell them. He had to take Seteal aside and make her understand. After all they'd been through, Seeol needed her to know how sorry he was and how much he cared about her. She'd shown him more friendship and kindness than he'd ever expected, or deserved.

 

  CHAPTER Twenty-Three

  for him

  Ilgrin watched Jakob vanish as the woods shrank beneath him and Noah swam higher into the air. His toes were wrapped around Ilgrin's torso and legs, pinning his wings painfully against his body. 'I should crush you,' Noah muttered. 'I should drain your blood and break so many bones and . . . that's why I'll . . . suck them dry.' Ilgrin grimaced at the occasional snippets of the mutant demon's mutterings able to reach him over the wind.

  A small cliff broke away from the trees at about halfway through Narvon Wood. Ilgrin yelped as Noah transferred him from feet to hands before landing atop the cliff in the midst of a group of at least a dozen legion silts. He thrust Ilgrin into their hands. He saw his chance and he took it. He threw a fist into the soldier's face with as much force as he could muster and leapt into the air, but Noah was too quick. His clawed fingers snapped shut around Ilgrin's leg and spun him back toward the earth. He hit the ground with such force that the wind was knocked out of him.

  'Chain him to the tree,' Noah ordered with a dismissive wave.

  'What do you want with me?' Ilgrin shouted as he was forced up against the tree. 'Haven't you taken enough?'

  'Leave us,' Noah ordered his men once Ilgrin was suitably restrained. He came close and spoke in a lowered voice. 'I know who you are, Sa'Enoch. I know your bloodline. In time my people will forget, but I'll always know and it makes me sick.'

  'Then you admit it?' Ilgrin was startled by Noah's candor. 'You admit that I am the rightful Devil?'

  'I was changed,' Noah replied with a look of satisfaction, 'but I didn't lose my mind. The whisp . . . I really should thank you for it.'

  'You have horns.' Ilgrin squirmed away from Noah's face. 'How can you be happy like this?'

  'They fear me.' Noah narrowed his eyes. 'And they're right to do so. I'm so much stronger than anyone. I could snap your neck with my little finger,' he jeered, his foul breath
assaulting Ilgrin's nostrils. 'My new body makes for a very respectable Devil, don't you think? I'd hate to have my rule questioned again, should you ever choose again to do so. No, it must be neat and tidy. I'll have no loose ends. And I'm hungry. You couldn't imagine it . . . so hungry all the time.' Noah's eyes locked on Ilgrin's throat and stringy saliva trickled over his chin.

  'Then why haven't you done it yet?'

  'Because I'm trapped.' Noah's eyes filled with rage. 'The Eltari woman,' he murmured distractedly. 'What is she?' He demanded. 'How did she defend her pathetic little town against a thousand demons?'

  'She's half Elglair,' Ilgrin offered, knowing well that such an explanation offered no real answer to the question.

  'Do you take me for a fool?' Noah rumbled. 'I've known Elglair men and women my entire life. Not one of them could have stood against a thousand silts. No . . . she is something different. She is something more and she must have a weakness. You will tell it to me.'

  'I wouldn't tell you if She did.' Ilgrin held himself as proudly as one could when chained to a tree. 'But I can reveal in all honesty that I don't believe She has one. She is the Holy Spirit.'

  'Bah,' Noah pushed himself back from the tree and shook his head. 'Open up your eyes. Maker is done with this place. If He ever existed, He abandoned us long ago. Don't you see, your friend cannot be the Spirit of Maker. I refuse to believe it. There must be some way to destroy her.'

  'I couldn't help you if I were willing,' Ilgrin said in frustration. 'She has never displayed any weakness to me.'