Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos (29 page)

Nikira looked
around, then led him to the door and out into the corridor, where
she consulted the signs on the walls. Bane followed her along
several long, door-lined halls to an imposing foyer decorated in
muted tones, with dull pictures and potted plants. A well-dressed
woman sat at a desk in the first, small room, beyond which was a
pair of tall, polished wooden doors. Bane stopped outside them and
bent to whisper in her ear.

“
Go in. I will follow.”

Nikira nodded,
and he released her from the light shield. As she pushed open the
doors, the woman at the desk behind them jumped up, saying, “Hey,
you can’t go in there! How did you -?”

Bane gestured
at her, and her face went blank, then she returned to her desk and
sat down. He followed Nikira into a spacious, tastelessly furnished
office decorated in drab colours, where a fat man with a walrus
moustache clad in a shiny grey suit gaped at Nikira from behind an
imposing desk. The man jumped up, his face mottling.

“
Commander Nikira, who authorised you to see me? It certainly
wasn’t me!”

Bane took
control of her, and she said, “I am here at the behest of the Grey
God Kayos. You will listen to his message.”

“
I’ll do no such thing!”

“
Only hours ago, Kayos entered the birthing chamber of your
unborn goddess, and, with his aid, she was born. Her name is
Sherinias, and you will learn to worship her, or perish. She has
banished all mortals from the light realm, and soon she will close
the Realm Gate. If your people are here when it closes, they will
never be able to return to your domain.”

He touched an
instrument on his desk. “Security, come to my office
immediately!”

“
Heed the words of the Demon Lord. Take all your people back
within your world, or be trapped here forever.”

Bane released
her, and she staggered a little, then he stepped closer and
whispered, “We are grateful, Nikira. I will leave now.”

Nikira swung
around as he headed for the doors.

***

Nikira wanted
to call out for him to wait, to take her with him, but bit her
tongue. The sensation of being in his arms was still a strong
memory, and filled her with trembling joy. Despite the illness, it
had been the most marvellous experience of her life. She turned
back to Governor Predoran, who spoke into his intercom, telling the
soldiers about the madwoman in his office. Recalling what Bane had
made her say, she approached his desk, picked up the remote control
and activated the vidscreen on his wall. The garishly made up face
of a popular female reporter filled it, talking rapidly against a
background of shouting people.

“
...We’re still not sure what’s happened, but it looks as if
all the buildings from the Cloud World Recreation Centre have been
dumped across the fields of this small farming community. A large
number of tourists have been found wandering in a dazed state
amongst them, and they have a strange story to tell.”

The reporter
turned to a uniformed man beside her. “What did you see,
Lieutenant?”

The pale,
scared looking man said, “It was a-a woman... in a diamond dress...
she came out of the Vartman Archaeological Site. She... she told us
that it was her world and then... then we were here... I don’t know
how we got here.”

“
Did she say anything else?” the reporter asked.

“
Yes... she was glowing... and she told us to
begone.”

“
Begone?”

“
Yes.”

The reporter
shoved the microphone closer to him. “Did she say who she was?”

“
No.”

The reporter
faced the camera. “Well, there you have it. Something very strange
has happened in Cloud World, but unconfirmed reports say that
traffic is still passing through the Golden Gate. To recap -”

Nikira
switched off the vidscreen and turned to Predoran, who gaped at it.
“Now do you believe me?”

“
What the hell was that all about? We’re being invaded by
dra’voren?”

“
No, she’s a creator. Our creator. Move the people into Bayona,
Governor. The Great Gate is going to close.”

“
Bullshit! That Gate can never be closed. It’s solid, it’s
never moved, it’s two hundred and fifty-seven yards high and twenty
yards thick! Nothing that big could move. It doesn’t have hinges
for pity’s sake!”

Nikira leant
on his desk and glared at him. “Our god created it, and she’s going
to close it, whether you believe it or not. Tell the people what
I’ve said, let them decide if they want to go in or not.”

“
I’m not causing a city-wide panic on the say-so of a
half-baked stealth ship commander who’s been under too much stress
and has started to see gods. There are no gods! They’re a
myth!”

“
They’re not a myth. I’ve seen them. I’ve spoken to them. How
do you think I got here?”

Two security
guards burst in, and Predoran gestured at her. “Get her out of
here.”

The men
gripped Nikira’s arms and dragged her towards the doors. “Ask my
crew, Predoran,” she said. “They saw them too!”

“
We’ve already done that. They saw a dra’voren, and he’s
twisted your mind. He disfigured Senior SciTech Drontar, and you
helped him. You’re going to die for treason, Commander!”

Nikira
struggled, and the guards twisted her arms, making her curse.
“Those words weren’t mine. He spoke through me. He was here, in
your office!”

“
Who?”

“
The Demon Lord!”

Predoran
laughed. “I only saw you.”

“
He was invisible! He brought me here. We flew across the
city.”

“
Yeah, right, and fen dogs can talk.”

“
You’re going to regret this!” Nikira shouted as the guards
hustled her through the doors. “You’ll be trapped out here
forever!”

Predoran’s
laughter followed her into the foyer, and she sagged, allowing the
guards to take her back to the prison.

***

Bane entered
the gazebo and flopped down on the spare couch someone had created
for him, frowning.

“
I rejoice at your safe return, Brother,” Sherinias said,
smiling.

He returned
her smile a little stiffly. “It is good to be back, Sister.”

“
What happened?” Kayos asked.

“
Yes, tell us, Bane. Father would not allow me to watch you
with my Eye. Such mystery.” Her smile broadened, and dimples
appeared in her cheeks.

“
He did not believe her. Her leader. He laughed.”

“
Perhaps we should close the Gate for a while, and then open it
again,” the Grey God suggested.

“
If Nikira is right, they will just try to destroy
it.”

Sherinias
giggled. “No one can destroy a realm gate.”

Bane smiled.
“We know that, but they do not.”

“
Then they will learn.”

“
I think we should do it.” Kayos glanced up at the stream of
flying traffic that zoomed past overhead. “At least it will put an
end to that.”

“
May I also close the World Gate, Father?”

“
Not yet. These machines will be trapped in here if you do,
although you could banish them, of course. Easier to let them leave
and tell the people what has happened.”

She inclined
her head, brushing aside a lock of hair. “I must see to the tainted
souls in the White City, Father. Their presence offends me.”

“
Of course it does, and you shall, when the time is
right.”

“
I will adhere to your guidance, naturally.”

“
You are a fine and obedient daughter. I am proud of
you.”

Sherinias’
eyes sparkled with delight, and she beamed at him. “I will always
do my utmost to please you, Father.”

Bane sighed,
weary of all the flowery rigmarole. He sipped his ambrosia and
glanced at Drevarin, who gazed at Sherinias, patently entranced.
Bane wanted to kick him. He waved away his cup. “Drevarin, walk
with me. I would speak to you.”

Bane rose,
and, after a moment of surprised inaction, Drevarin followed him
into the clouds. As soon as they were out of earshot of the gazebo,
Bane turned to him. “Clearly you are smitten with Sherinias, but
must you be so obvious about it?”

His brows shot
up. “I am?”

“
Sickeningly. Just how young are you?”

“
Only two thousand, four hundred and fifty-two.”

Bane chuckled.
“Compared to me, you are ancient, but I would have thought you
would have learnt a little more about women in that time.”

“
Mortal women, but she is a goddess.”

“
And she is less than a day old. Is that not a bit
young?”

Drevarin
pulled a face and nodded. “It is. I will have to wait at least two
hundred years before she will even understand my feelings.”

“
So she has no inkling of what is wrong with you, even though
it is painfully obvious to the rest of us?”

“
No, of course not.”

“
Good.”

Drevarin
hesitated. “I would like your permission to court her, when the
time is right.”

Bane cocked
his head and smiled. “In two hundred years’ time?”

“
Yes.”

“
You do not need my permission. Ask Kayos.”

“
Then you give it?” Drevarin asked.

“
She is not really my sister.”

“
Yes, she is. Kayos has adopted her.”

Bane shrugged
and gazed into the clouds. “All right, but you still do not need
permission from her brother.”

“
I would prefer to have it, Bane.”

“
You have it then, but only in two hundred years’
time.”

“
Naturally.”

Bane snorted
and turned to walk back to the gazebo, but Drevarin detained him
with a hand on his arm. “May I ask how young you are?”

The Demon Lord
eyed him, then smiled. “Twenty-two.”

Drevarin
chuckled. “Young indeed.”

“
A child by your standards, I suppose.”

“
Yes.”

They returned
to the gazebo, where Sherinias questioned Kayos again, listening
raptly to his answers. Bane settled back on his couch and summoned
another cup, finding some of the answers interesting himself. The
flying traffic hummed overhead, and Bane noticed that there were a
lot more large, dull grey vehicles than before, most of them
heading out of the Realm Gate. A small, brightly coloured vehicle
swooped from the stream of ships and hovered not far away. Soon a
second, then a third joined it. Bane sensed Drevarin’s light shield
envelope them, and after a few minutes the vehicles left. Kayos
tired of Sherinias’ questions half an hour later, and rose.

“
Come, Daughter, let us close the Realm Gate now.”

She jumped up,
smiling, and looked at Bane. “Will you come with us, Brother?”

Bane shrugged.
“Certainly.”

Drevarin
joined them, and they walked to the Realm Gate. The ancient,
massive portal opened outwards, unlike the one in Kayos’ domain,
but Bane suspected that was merely a matter of choice. He wondered
why it had remained open, for in his experience realm gates closed
by themselves after a few minutes. Sherinias stopped in front of
it, dwarfed by its size, as they all were. Bane studied its edges,
and spied two runes at the top that appeared to be active, but it
was hard to make out their glow in the surrounding radiance.

Sherinias
hesitated and glanced at Kayos, but he merely tilted his head. This
was her task. A vague look crossed her face, which Bane assumed
meant that she was accessing the Oracle, then she walked over to
the side of the Gate and studied the runes there. She pressed her
palm to a single rune just within her reach, and Bane glanced up at
the two high above as it lighted. They dimmed, indicating that they
had been active, and solved the mystery of the open Gate, though
not the reason for it.

The runes
around the Gate glowed in a glimmering sequence, and then the Realm
Gate began to chime. The hauntingly sweet, echoing chimes made
Bane’s nape hairs rise, and the ground trembled. With a soft
grating of stone, the Gate started to swing closed with ponderous
majesty, and some of the vehicles that flew through it swerved in
alarm, narrowly missing others. A brightly coloured vehicle shot
through the Gate and stopped, turned towards it and hovered above
them.

The shimmering
lights of the city outside gradually vanished as the bulk of the
Gate came into view, and Sherinias cast Kayos a happy smile. The
vehicles shot through it at greater speed, and some turned just
outside and re-entered the domain. More and more hovered above
them, causing a blockade that slowed the incoming traffic as it was
forced to avoid them. A large, dull grey vehicle sailed up and
stopped, and beams of blue fire spat from its bow, striking the
Gate. The giant portal absorbed the blue light without any
effect.

Sherinias
glared up at the hovering vehicles, and then waved her hand at
them. “Begone!”

All the
vehicles in sight vanished, but soon more appeared from both
directions. The ones inside stopped, the ones outside speeded up to
shoot in. The gap between the Gate and its frame shrank steadily,
and soon the city outside was hidden from view. A few brave
vehicles zipped through the narrowing gap, and the Gate stopped
chiming. Kayos waved an Eye into being, and Bane glanced at it over
his shoulder. It showed the small fire dome just outside the Gate.
People ran around inside it, most fleeing towards the larger fire
dome.