Glimmer in the Maelstrom: Shadow Through Time 3 (41 page)

‘What should I do?’ he whispered.

Glimmer tried to rein in her emotions, but exhaustion intensified her lack of control. ‘If you want to make things right,’ she said, ‘you have to help me.’

He searched her eyes, his own very dark. ‘Petra told me I should help you.’ He tried to smile and she almost saw the dimples. ‘She’d like that.’

‘Then I can trust you?’

He wiped his face and nodded. ‘I’ll do anything you say. I don’t want to hurt any more, and I don’t want Mum to be hurting.’

‘Very well,’ Glimmer said crisply. She was unsettled by Vandal’s tears and wanted their conversation to be over. Quickly.

They looked at each other, then Vandal said, ‘As part of this deal, can I die? I don’t want to live without Petra.’

Glimmer immediately thought of Kert, and before she realised, two fat tears were sliding down her cheeks. Vandal’s eyes widened. ‘You never cry,’ he whispered. ‘You’re The Catalyst.’

‘I know.’ But more tears were flowing and she couldn’t stop them. ‘I’m losing control.’

‘I’m here,’ Vandal said and he reached out awkwardly across the space between them and took her hand, his own damp from tears. ‘You’re not alone in this,’ he added, his voice husky with emotion.

Glimmer nodded. He was right. She wasn’t alone. But why was it her brother and not her love who was standing at her side?

‘W
hy do you keep your brother alive?’ Kert asked Glimmer as they lay in each other’s arms, sharing what intimacy they could while she struggled to hold her concentration, to keep the elements of the otherworlds locked inside Ennae. Kert had been fearful that his presence would distract her, yet she appeared to take comfort from it. For his part, every moment he could be close to her, touching her, was a moment when loneliness was held at bay, when the pleasure of her skin soothed his troubled soul. ‘Can you not take his power and destroy him before he can do us harm?’

Glimmer had insisted that Vandal be left in the outer chamber, supposedly no threat to anyone, but Kert wasn’t satisfied, wouldn’t be satisfied until the boy was dead. Pagan was right, he was not to be trusted.

‘He is my brother,’ Glimmer replied, her eyes still closed, her soft cheek resting against his chest.

‘It is not your destiny to save individuals,’ he reminded her.

‘I saved you,’ she replied.

‘And should not have.’ An old argument, yet, ‘Nor should you have tried to save Lenid,’ he was ready to admit at last. ‘You should have conserved your strength for the task of joining the Four Worlds.’

‘Will you take your own advice?’ she asked, raising her head to meet his gaze. ‘Will you let me die when my time comes?’

Kert’s heart slowed. What plan had she concocted with her brother? ‘I thought your death could only be wrought in joining the Four Worlds?’

She gazed back at him and was a long time answering. ‘My death must not only join the Four Worlds,’ she said. ‘It must now also prevent Teleqkraal from entering the One World I create.’

‘I do not understand.’ Why had he been denied the very facts a Champion needed to be apprised of? ‘The serpent must give you the talisman to join the Four Worlds, or there will be no One World for him to inhabit. You have told me this yourself.’

‘Those are facts.’

‘Then can you not simply kill him when he hands it over?’

Glimmer frowned. ‘Logic dictates that he should relinquish the stone, but I am not sure this serpent is a creature of logic. Though he has no discernible emotion, he behaves in an erratic fashion.’

‘Can we not plan for the likely contingencies?’

‘The sequence of events will come hard one upon the other,’ she said. ‘When I touch the talisman it may … affect me. I may no longer be able to defeat him.’

May?
More variables. ‘Then I will hold it for you,’ Kert said. ‘Or your brother can, I care not,’ though Kert did feel slighted that Vandal would stand at her side and not himself. ‘Or if you must join the Four Worlds immediately, then … I will kill the beast myself.’

She smiled and touched his cheek. ‘I believe you would try.’

Kert felt his frustration mounting. ‘Why do you not tell me of your plan, of what opposition you expect?’

‘Very well,’ she said. ‘When Teleqkraal brings the talisman I will try to use its power to destroy him. Then, when he can be of no further threat to the One World, I will fulfil my destiny.’

Kert simply stared at her. ‘You have just told me you do not know whether you will be able to wield the talisman against the serpent. And even if you can, what if the last world collapses before he is destroyed? You must be ready for that moment, to join them into one.’

‘The Guardians should be able to protect the anchor while I battle the beast.’

‘
Should
be able to? What if they cannot? And what if you fail to kill the beast?’ he asked. ‘Surely he will know you do not plan to let him live. He will be prepared. He will —’

‘He has a minion,’ she cut in.

‘
A minion? To what end?’

‘I suspect Teleqkraal plans to use him as a host for his intelligence, if he needs to abandon his body as his father did.’

‘You suspect?’

‘I cannot be sure. We will have to adapt our plan as events dictate.’

Kert shook his head, appalled. ‘There are too many players. You are not battling alone. You must think this strategy through, with all possible outcomes.’

‘I know all the possible outcomes,’ she said.

That gave him pause, wondering how it must feel to see your own death again and again, and to know that it cannot be avoided. But as well as her death, she must also have seen the best hope for their success. He could not believe that hope was the plan he had just heard.

‘You are lying to me,’ he said.

Glimmer searched his eyes then nodded.

He was a moment accepting that. ‘But … why? I am your Champion.’

‘You are my love. Love does not want to bring pain.’

Kert saw her sadness and felt as though he was finally understanding. ‘Am I to die?’ he asked. ‘Is that what you would shield me from? The knowledge of my own demise?’

Her lips pressed together and she hugged him close, her cheek hard against his chest. ‘It is worse than that,’ she whispered, then she said no more.

Kert, who had been about to reassure her, yet again, that death was every warrior’s companion, lay staring at the shadowed bed drapes above him, wondering what could be worse.

G
limmer stood alone in the glittering majesty of the Altar Caves, deep beneath Castle Be’uccdha, facing the anchor she had created with the help of the Plainsman Breehan. So long ago. Opposite her was the reflection of her nemesis, his red eyes glowing with satisfaction. ‘
I will destroy Haddash now
,’ he said.

‘Your homeworld,’ she replied, knowing from her past lives the futility of standing in the rushing path of destiny, but wanting time to slow, to stop. ‘When it is gone, you will be trapped on Ennae.’

The long jaws opened in a razor-sharp smile. ‘
You are the one trapped. I am about to be reborn.
’

‘It will not go as you plan,’ Glimmer said. ‘I will not create the One World unless you are dead.’

‘
Liar.
’

Glimmer said nothing. She was a liar, and not a very good one.

‘
You are a machine
,’ he said, ‘
designed to join the Four Worlds. You will not deviate from your program.
’

‘I cannot fulfil my purpose if I do not have the talisman,’ she countered.

‘
I will bring it
,’ Teleqkraal said. ‘
And you will be subjugated.
’

‘You are a fool if you think you can best me.’ He did not realise that she knew of his minion. Surely that would give her an advantage. ‘I have lived this ending many times,’ she boasted, ‘and you have never yet defeated me.’

The moment the words were out of her mouth Glimmer cursed the tiredness that had distracted her. But Teleqkraal’s red eyes were already narrowing in speculation.

‘
Then why has time not ended?
’ he said, and looked down at the talisman embedded in his chest plate, then back up at Glimmer. ‘
Why were you unsuccessful?
’

‘I am designed to create perfection,’ she said. ‘There were imperfections in —’

‘
Liar
,’ he said again. ‘
You could not use the talisman.
’

‘I can now.’ Glimmer believed this to be truth and she challenged the serpent with her hard gaze. ‘This time it will work.’

‘
I believe this is your last attempt
,’ he said, ‘
but only because I have weakened your powers. The loss of the anchors drains you. You can no longer travel time.
’

‘I have more resources than simply my own power,’ Glimmer said, which was not a lie, but there was no denying that the serpent was right. She was unlikely to be able to travel time again. In fact, if her current weakness was any indication, she would be lucky to be able to hold the elements of Haddash when it shattered.

How did Teleqkraal know so much about her? She was sure the talisman was inert in the serpent’s possession, so it couldn’t be that. Was she simply the sort of human who was easily read? In truth, she had undertaken scant practice at deception, not having had need of it in her previous versions of this life. Certainly the exercise of hiding her love from Kert had proved unsuccessful. He’d revealed to her only recently that he’d known of her affection from the start, for all that she’d struggled to hide it. Yet if she could not lie to the serpent, what manner of truth would aid her cause?

Teleqkraal was already halfway to his goal. By allowing him to hatch and leave Haddash, she had given him access to Ennae and the anchors, as well as the talisman she needed. In all of her previous lives she had destroyed Kraal’s son as he was leaving Haddash. Now Teleqkraal could use the talisman to remain in her presence while the Four Worlds were joined. Then she would be dead and he would be alive on the One World. That must not be.

Teleqkraal, who had been watching her, smiled his terrible smile. ‘
Beware, the Fire God comes
,’ he said and breathed across the mirror, replacing his image with a wall of flame.

Glimmer turned away to prepare herself for the destruction of the Fortress Sh’hale anchor. Soon the Fireworld of Haddash would explode, and its substance must be compressed and stored in the core of Ennae alongside the water of Magoria and the air of Atheyre. It would take much concentration to keep those elements apart until they could be safely blended by the Maelstrom to form the One World. She should go back to her chambers and lie down. Once Fortress Sh’hale was destroyed, the serpent would hasten to Be’uccdha, to ‘subjugate’ The Catalyst before her powers had revived.

Glimmer would then kill the serpent and her own beloved before the horrors of the future were allowed to manifest.

V
andal woke with an uncomfortable kink in his neck from the hard couch he’d slept on. Its cushions were like fabric-covered bricks. He rolled onto his side and sat up, flexing his fingers. ‘I’m awake,’ he rasped loudly in a dry throat, then shook his head to get the hair out of his eyes.

The chamber where he had been left was cold, the fire he lay before, burnt low.

‘Hello!’ he called. ‘Feed the prisoner.’

‘Be silent,’ Kert Sh’hale said from the shadows beside him.

Vandal squinted, then saw the nobleman reclining on an adjacent couch, his narrowed eyes expressionless.

‘She wants me alive,’ Vandal reminded him.

‘And I want you dead,’ Kert replied, sitting up. ‘As does your father.’

‘Still?’ Vandal asked, telling himself it didn’t matter. His father deserved to hate him. Vandal hated himself now for what he had done. Glimmer’s comparison between Petra and Lae’s deaths had stunned him. Which was stupid because he’d been intent on killing Lae precisely
because
Petra had been killed. Only he hadn’t thought past that to realise both he and his mother had been motivated to murder by the same madness of deranged grief and misinformation.

Putting his father through the same horror he’d suffered seemed incredibly wrong now and Vandal wondered how he had ever convinced himself it could be right. The torture of grief had obviously driven him past sense, but the bloody reality of Lae’s death and her subsequent revival had dragged him back to sanity.

Where violent anger had boiled, there now lived the chilling memory of his father’s anguish as he’d pleaded for his beloved’s life — the same way Vandal had pleaded with his demented mother for Petra’s life. To redeem himself he’d promised to do whatever Glimmer said. But that had been before he’d heard her plan. Now he wondered whether there was another way.

‘If you harm The Catalyst, you will die,’ Sh’hale said, still eyeing him warily.

Vandal considered his options. He wanted to help Glimmer. It was all he had left to live for. Perhaps Kert could help. ‘What if you die first?’ he said.

Kert’s hand dropped to the sword at his hip. ‘Do you challenge me?’ he asked, sounding far too eager for Vandal’s liking.

He held up his hands. ‘Whoa, slow down.’ The Brown Kingdom stories his father had told him abounded in tales of Kert Sh’hale’s swordsmanship. ‘I meant, who will protect Glimmer if you are killed?’

Kert’s hand moved away from his sword, but not far. His eyes searched Vandal’s as though trying to assess his honesty. ‘She told me you would protect her.’

Vandal took a deep breath. Here was the test. ‘Actually, she asked me to kill her.’

Kert was on his feet with his sword point at Vandal’s throat so quickly it was frightening. Vandal kept his hands spread on the couch beside him and breathed shallowly. He’d hoped to spend his life buying Glimmer’s safety, but if he wasn’t careful it would be wasted on Kert Sh’hale’s temper.

‘You plan to kill her?’ Kert asked softly. The shadows around them magnified his stature, and with the low fire behind him his face was unreadable.

Menacing didn’t begin to describe.

‘I didn’t say that,’ Vandal answered, then swallowed despite himself. The sword point stung his throat. ‘I said she asked me to, but if I was really planning to kill her, would I tell you?’

Vandal waited, praying he wouldn’t have to swallow again. Kert’s sword was sharp and could slit his throat in an eye-blink. Finally his sister’s Champion took a step backwards, giving Vandal breathing room, but the sword was still levelled at his throat. ‘Why would she ask such a thing?’ Kert demanded.

‘If she can’t kill Teleqkraal, there’s a chance he might be able to control her powers. Trust me, that won’t be a good outcome.’

‘So you are to kill her if that happens.’

‘I’m the only one she can trust to do it.’

Vandal watched him assimilate that, coming to terms with the fact that neither he nor the other Guardians could bring themselves to murder The Catalyst. And certainly not The Dark or Glimmer’s own mother. It had to be Vandal.

‘Did you tell her you would do it?’ Kert asked.

‘Of course I did. She’s The Catalyst. But it doesn’t have to be that way.’

‘It will not be
that way
,’ Kert replied, ‘because I will safeguard her.’

Vandal happened to know Kert’s record as a Champion was patchy, but bearing in mind the proximity of his sword and the history of his temper, it probably wasn’t a good time to bring that up. Instead, Vandal said, ‘She told me you would try to stop me,’ and waited.

Kert blinked. ‘I am to die first.’ His sword arm lowered to his side. ‘She …’

‘Wants to do it herself. If she can. But it’s a tight sequence of events,’ Vandal explained. ‘It has to be just after the serpent reaches Be’uccdha, so everyone is occupied with the barrier around the anchor, but before the beastie breaks into the cavern, because then she’ll be busy.’

Kert continued to gaze at Vandal for the longest time, then he went back to the couch he had been on and sat heavily, raising dust. ‘I am of no use to her,’ he said. ‘And worse, I must be destroyed for fear that I will disrupt her destiny’ He stared at Vandal, bewildered, and Vandal felt sorry for him.

‘Okay, it looks bad,’ Vandal said, leaning forward and opening his hands, ‘but I’ve got an alternative plan that’s better than hers. We just have to make sure she doesn’t find out about it.’

Kert, still stunned, shook his head.

‘Don’t worry, she won’t suspect anything, and I don’t think she can find out accidentally,’ Vandal told him. ‘She won’t look into your mind because it makes her too vulnerable, and I’m pretty sure I’ve worked out how to keep her out of mine.’

‘And the objective of this plan is?’

‘To stop Teleqkraal in his tracks and find a way for Glimmer to survive. The only problem is, she might not get to join the Four Worlds, and I know she has her heart set on that.’

‘It is her destiny.’

‘Things change.’

Kert simply stared at him, struggling to keep up. ‘How can she live if the Four Worlds are not joined? Their destruction is the ending of all life.’

‘Do you want to hear the plan or don’t you?’ The worst wasn’t over yet, even if he agreed to listen. The moment Vandal mentioned Lae, Kert was likely to strangle him, but he had to try.

Seconds ticked over, and finally Kert took a slow deliberate breath. ‘If your strategy is viable,’ he said, ‘I not only want to hear it, I want to enact it.’

For the first time in a long time, Vandal smiled. ‘That’s exactly what I hoped you would say.’