Talisman of El (36 page)

‘Tell me you honestly believe he can lead our people. A human –’

‘A king,’ Oren corrected. Her voice was calm. ‘Our king, and yes, I believe he can lead us.’ She glanced at Charlie. ‘And in time, he will.’

Charlie’s gaze shifted to Demetrius, who was gazing at Oren with a longing look. Although they were both from the same kingdom, he detected a great difference in their personalities. One had more human qualities than the other did, though his not-so-friendly companion would deny it. He had also noticed this with other Arcadians. Those who spent more time in the surface world were more undistinguishable from humans. It was no surprise mortals were blind to their presence.

In the stillness came the dull thud of heavy feet. Charlie only had a moment’s glimpse of the large, brown, bear-like creature before he felt a force against his stomach, and he was flying backwards.

He winced as his back hit the ground, the dagger falling out of his grasp.

Sitting up, he saw Demetrius charging towards the creature. His gaze fixed on Oren – who had pushed him out of the way – but then shifted again almost instantly when something else caught his attention.

Charlie strained his eyes as he tried to make out the large shape moving through the sky. When it came closer, the first thing he noticed was the glow of two red eyes peering through the mist. He soon made out the shape of a creature maybe seven feet tall with what appeared to be wings folded around its sides and back.

He stifled a scream as the creature lowered towards Oren, who was oblivious to its presence as she aimed an arrow at the beast attacking Demetrius.

‘Look out!’ he yelled, but it was too late. The creature grabbed Oren’s shoulders with its huge clawed feet, and she released the arrow, which lodged into the ground. The bow dropped out of her hand as the beast took off with her.

Charlie shot a swift glance at Demetrius, who was too busy fighting to notice what was happening. Panicked, he got to his feet, searched the ground, and found the dagger. Without hesitation, he grabbed the weapon, flipped it in his hand, catching it by its blade, and threw it.

The dagger lodged into the creature’s back, and it growled. It slumped, releasing Oren, as it plunged towards the ground.

Charlie started to head towards her when he heard a voice behind him and stopped. Turning round, he saw an opening in the hedge. An opening he could have sworn hadn’t been there moments ago.

A figure in a flowing white gown with long black curls ran by. For a split second, he caught a face, and his heart pulsed. Then she was gone. But the face remained, always in his mind. A face he could never forget. ‘Mum,’ he whispered.

He rushed towards the opening, entering another passage in the maze. His eyes wandered left and right, searching for the woman in the white gown, but she was nowhere. He turned back the way he had come and saw Oren, who was looking around the maze as if she couldn’t see him. Then the opening started to seal up.

Panicked, Charlie thrust himself forward, colliding with the prickly hedge. He charged at the hedge again, searching frantically for a way out. ‘Oren,’ he yelled.

‘Charlie,’ a familiar voice called.

He spun around. ‘Mum,’ he called out, as he rushed along the passage. Then he turned a corner and came to a cobblestone road.

Charlie froze.

Straight ahead of him, he saw a pillared archway with a bright yellow light shining out of it, a high, dark-green, jasper wall on either side of it. Looking behind him, he saw that the maze had vanished. The only thing in sight was a long stretch of road with green pastures on either side. He turned back round, his mouth agape as he gazed in astonishment at the archway.

Eureka!

The Land of Dreams

CHARLIE STOOD AT THE bottom of the stone steps that led up to the arch. He saw no angel and no flaming sword. His cautious eyes surveyed the surroundings. After going through so much to find this place, it seemed too easy just to walk through the entrance with nothing to stop him.

He placed one foot on the first step and paused. Nothing happened. He got to the fourth step, and still nothing happened. ‘Hello,’ he called out, but no one answered. Climbing the last two steps, he stood on the platform, eight feet away from the arch. He spotted a bright yellow light at the other end of the arch. He took two steps forward when a wheel of fire erupted before him, and he jumped, falling onto his butt.

The rotating fire wheel gushed heat at him on every spin. It looked like a windmill without a tower, just the flaming blades. Rising to his feet, he wiped sweat off his forehead with his hand and turned his back to the wheel.

‘Surely you are not going to give up after just one try,’ a voice behind him said.

Charlie spun around. The flaming sword had vanished, and a tall woman dressed in a white trouser suit stood before him, her thick brown hair encircled by a ring of glossy laurel leaves with light radiating off her.

‘Welcome back,’ the woman said in a soft singsong voice.

It took Charlie a moment to realise he was gawking at her, not merely because she was so beautiful, but because she was, well, a woman. ‘You’re Uriel?’ he asked in disbelief. ‘
The
archangel Uriel?’

The woman smiled. ‘Indeed, I am.’

‘But you’re a woman.’

‘And you are human,’ Uriel mocked.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be a guy?’

‘You would be surprised how often I get that. But, as you can see, I am not a guy.’ Charlie wanted to look away but found himself mesmerised by the sparkle of her hazel eyes. ‘Be not alarmed, for I am not easily offended. That would be Gabriel. She has a little temper on her.’

Charlie studied Uriel a moment. ‘Don’t angels come with wings anymore?’

Uriel’s smile vanished. Then a pair of crimson and gold wings appeared behind her.

Charlie inched back. ‘Nice … colours.’ He gulped. ‘How comes you knew who I was and the others didn’t?’ His words came out breathless and with more tremor than he had intended.

Uriel laughed, as if he had told a joke, but when he frowned, she stopped. ‘Oh, you’re serious. I am the archangel Uriel.’ She said it as if it should have been obvious. ‘Do mortals not read these days? The archangels stand before the throne of God. We see all, hear all, and know all. We govern large groups of lesser angels –’

‘Wait,’ Charlie interjected. ‘You can see the future.’

‘And here I thought you had forgotten me.’ Uriel smiled.

Of course, Charlie wasn’t going to tell her he had acquired that information from Avaran. ‘So why not make it easy and tell me what I’m supposed to do.’

Uriel’s lips pursed. ‘It is forbidden. I have my orders ... No interfering. What’s more, the future is never fixed. It can always change.’

A thought occurred to Charlie. ‘You know why I’m here, don’t you?’

‘I do,’ Uriel confirmed. Charlie might have been imagining it, but he could have sworn she smiled, if only for a split second.

‘Aren’t you going to stop me?’

‘I cannot, for that would be interfering.’ Uriel half smiled and stepped aside.

Charlie had only taken a few steps towards the tunnel when she called to him. He stopped and turned to her.

‘You may not be able to die inside the garden,’ she said, ‘but they can expel you to another realm where you might find yourself entrapped.’

Charlie hadn’t known he couldn’t die inside the garden, but he did know who
they
were: the angels of death. Candra had informed him about the thirteen angels that serviced the garden and protected the way to the Tree of Life. He didn’t want to think about how he was going to get past them. His main priority was to find Derkein. He looked down the bright tunnel and took a deep breath. When he looked back at Uriel, she was gone.

As the gondola boat drifted down the narrow, clear river, parted by trees, Charlie scanned the mobile walkway on either side of him. It was made of pure gold upon which strolled the souls of mortals, heading towards the bright light at the other end of the river.

He saw no sign of Derkein, and it occurred to him then that it was possible he was still alive. If that was the case, the only thing he could think to do to help him was to restore the talisman. But how was he to do that when he didn’t know where to find the diamonds?

His focus drifted, and he observed the flower-strewn meadows and mountains all around him. They were a thing of exquisite beauty. There were even buildings in the distance. He couldn’t believe a place like this actually existed, much less right here on Earth.

The glow of the water provided great illumination as the boat drifted through a narrow tunnel. The ceiling was low, the walls close enough he could reach out and touch it. He glanced back at his escort, who was standing up, rowing them down the river, wearing a long black robe with the hood covering his head. The only time he had made eye contact with Charlie was when he had first entered the boat. Since then the angel had neither looked at nor said a single word to him.

After what felt like minutes, the boat emerged out of the tunnel, coming to the end of the river where the walkway continued on either side of him, which Charlie noticed was no longer mobile.

The boat stopped in front of a set of steps that rose out of the water. Charlie didn’t wait for his cue – his escort wasn’t much of a socialite. He got up and climbed the steps onto a platform at least ten feet away from the walkway. He turned round to thank the boatman, but he and the boat had vanished.

Turning back around, he started down the platform towards the line of souls, who were heading away from him. He caught sight of a building ahead that looked like an arena of some sort, made of limestone with a concrete footpath leading up to it. Surrounding the octagon-shaped arena were six towers with a green and purple fabric attached to each one, linking at the centre to form a roof.

Following the crowd, Charlie scanned the faces around him. ‘Derkein,’ he called out, but he received no reply. Strangely, he didn’t have to meander through the crowd, as it seemed whichever way he turned, the sea of souls parted to let him pass. He arrived at a set of steps leading up to the footpath. Making his way through the crowd, he came to the front of the queue and saw two shimmering beings dressed in white cloaks, a four-foot wooden stand with a book on top opened in front of them.

These angels of death were different from the image Charlie had formed in his head, which was a relief. First, he had always thought there was only one angel of death. Second, the angel he had seen in the hospital on that fateful night of August 12, 2008 looked nothing like the ones that stood before him now. The moment the man with three eyes and giant black wings had walked past him in the hospital, he had felt the presence of death. He had known before the doctor had told him: his dad had gone with the angel.

Charlie watched as two souls placed their hands on the open book. When they removed their hands, writings appeared where there had been none before. The souls then walked past the angels and up a flight of steps where two other angels awaited them. Arches surrounded the entire arena, and at the sides were two square, domed pavilions. Escorted by the two angels, the souls entered the pavilions. A bright white light filled the pavilions, and when the light vanished, Charlie saw that the souls had disappeared.

‘Once a soul is assigned to a realm, they cannot leave,’ he remembered Candra saying. Panicking, he retreated through the crowd. He rushed over to the railing and climbed onto it, his eyes drifting over the many souls.

‘Derkein,’ he called out. No reply. No one seemed to notice him. It was as if he didn’t exist. ‘Derkein.’

Finally, Charlie spotted a familiar young face looking towards the front of the arena and smiled. ‘Derkein!’ He wasn’t too late. He was about to make a move when he noticed the souls shifting around him, and a sudden feeling of dread took hold of him. Only one thing could part the sea of souls like that: angels.

Jumping off the railing, he dashed across the platform. ‘Derkein,’ said Charlie, as he approached him.

Derkein didn’t respond. He kept his gaze focused ahead of him, his expression neutral. It was as if he was in a trance.