The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit (26 page)

‘
Prince Noah,’ a
young silt gasped when he pulled open the door. ‘You know the Devil
doesn’t like anyone entering the tree so high up.’

‘
I’ll enter wherever
I please,’ Noah snapped. ‘Follow me,’ he called back to the
others.

‘
You’re not supposed
to bring anyone in here!’ the doorman cried out in
distress.

‘
Ignore him,’ Noah
hissed firmly as they entered a long tunnel lit by
lanterns.

Ilgrin followed through various
passageways until he found himself standing on a ledge that opened
out into an immense chamber that ran down the length of the giant
tree. The few silts who continued about their usual duties in a
time of war did so at a reduced pace--that was, until they
recognised Noah’s presence.

‘
This way,’ he said,
pulling back his wings and leaping off the ledge. Ilgrin gaped as
the silt plummeted, his wings remaining closed.

‘
You’ll get used to
it.’ Teah smiled reassuringly as she followed Noah’s lead and
stepped over the edge.

Ilgrin swallowed nervously as he
watched the angel fall. ‘Nothing to it,’ he whispered to himself,
pulling in his wings and taking a step into the abyss. The air tore
at Ilgrin’s face and his clothing billowed as he fell. As tempting
as it was for Ilgrin to open his wings, he knew that if he did so,
he’d lose the others or be stopped and questioned by tree
staff.

As he descended, Ilgrin became
painfully aware of his upcoming challenge. Bridges spanning the
hollow interior were becoming increasingly numerous as the
circumference increased. Below him, Noah and Teah would
occasionally flick out a wing to slip around a branch or dodge a
flying silt. Ilgrin had very little faith in his capacity to
duplicate such manoeuvres, but soon found himself out of time to
think about it.

Ilgrin cringed at the realisation that
he was on a direct collision course with a rather wide pathway. He
tentatively opened his right ring, but the action sent him
spiralling uncontrollably. Flashes of irritated faces crossed his
vision as he flipped about the vast space. The branch he’d been
trying to miss flew passed his field of vision. Fearing for his
life, Ilgrin thrust out both wings, but the force of his fall was
such that he couldn’t regain control. His wings snapped back
painfully and Ilgrin cried out as he slammed into a wall and
bounced off, blood spraying away from his nose.

Landing heavily on a path below, Ilgrin
had but a moment to moan in pain before the weight of his dangling
legs dragged him back into empty space. El-i-miir’s face flashed
across his vision and for a moment he thought he’d imagined it. But
as he spiralled through the air he once again glimpsed her as she
was being led through a passage surrounded by silts. Their eyes met
for a moment, but it was enough for Ilgrin to be certain of her
identity.

He tried to slow his descent with
the intention of flying back up to find her, but again Ilgrin’s
lack of ability let him down. His leg cracked against a branch. He
reached for another, but missed and wound up slamming his wing
against a passing silt. The pair became tangled and fell out of
control, the other silt shouting profanities before shaking free
and disappearing in the opposite direction.

Ilgrin’s wing throbbed painfully. He
feared he’d broken it. The criss-crossing branches became less
numerous, but only because the ground was fast approaching. Ilgrin
cried out and spread his good wing, but the action only served to
send him spinning yet again.

Toes snapped aggressively around
Ilgrin’s left leg and arm and powerful wings corrected his path.
Noah gritted his teeth as he stabilised himself and flew furiously
for a tunnel in the tree wall.

‘
Are you trying to
get us killed!?’ he shouted, his face flushed blue with anger. He
pitched his legs forward and threw Ilgrin into the tunnel before
entering and landing behind him.

Ilgrin tumbled across the floor until
he hit a wall and came to a stop. Just as he’d feared, his wing was
bent unnaturally and his face was hot and swollen.

‘
Maker, Enoch,’ Teah
whispered. ‘What a mess.’

‘
Don’t call him that
here,’ Noah hissed. ‘Too many people know that name. Now get up. I
won’t have you ruin this for me. We’re too close.’

‘
What’s that supposed
to mean?’ Ilgrin asked through a nose blocked with
blood.

‘
Just get the torrid
up,’ Noah spat furiously.

‘
I can’t,’ Ilgrin
moaned. ‘I think my leg is broken.’

‘
Oh, for Maker’s
damned sake,’ Noah growled, approaching Ilgrin aggressively. He put
a finger inches from his face and stared at him hatefully, before
putting a hand flat against Ilgrin’s chest. ‘I don’t have time for
this.’

Ilgrin’s body burned as his bones
slithered back into their correct positions. New flesh swept over
his wounds, sealing blood within his veins. ‘You can’t,’ he
gasped.

Noah gritted his teeth. ‘I can.’

‘
Noah, we don’t have
any sieifts!’ Teah said in distress.

‘
That’s not my
problem,’ the demon hissed as he released Ilgrin and thrust him
back against the wall. ‘Now get up!’ Noah shouted, but did not
wait, instead dragging Ilgrin to his feet.

He felt sick. Ilgrin’s flesh became
grey. Noah didn’t care and continued to shove him along the
passageway. Ilgrin gagged and coughed up the first puff of black
mist. He coughed once or twice more before bending over to vomit
darkness. It squeezed unforgivingly from Ilgrin’s flesh. Noah
shoved him onward.

‘
For Maker’s sake,’
Teah snapped. ‘Let him rest.’

‘
Keep moving,’ Noah
spat, retrieving a pistol from his pocket.

‘
Noah!’ Teah cried.
‘Have you lost your mind?’ She raised her hands
defensively.

‘
Try it.’ Noah
narrowed his eyes at her. ‘If you think you’re faster than me, try
it,’ he challenged. ‘Because I swear to Maker I’ll pull this
trigger and a silver bullet through his brains the second you even
think about using your powers against me.’

‘
Okay,' Teah said
shakily, ‘you win.’

Ilgrin shuddered as the last of the
whisp fell away from his skin and slithered back down the length of
the tunnel, no doubt in search of prey. With warmth returning to
his flesh, Ilgrin was better able to contemplate the situation at
hand.

‘
What do you hope to
accomplish here, Noah?’ he asked, while continuing on with Noah’s
pistol pressed into his back.

‘
Keep moving,’ Noah
snapped. ‘You want your crown, don’t you? Well, there it is.’ He
pointed toward a heavy iron door. It was slightly ajar and there
wasn’t a guard to be seen.

‘
I don’t understand,’
Ilgrin murmured. ‘You could’ve just killed me in the caves. Why go
to so much trouble? The Devil would go on being the
Devil.’

‘
What makes you think
I intend him to remain the Devil?’ Noah said with a sly
chuckle.

‘
Oh, it’s exquisite,’
May’s soft voice floated out of the treasury.

‘
Isn’t it
just?’ an old man rumbled back. ‘It’ll all be yours someday. I have
no idea why you’re in love with him. My son’s an idiot. But I
do
so
look forward to having you as a
daughter-in-law.’

Ilgrin and Teah, followed by Noah came
around the corner and through the door. An old silt, who could only
have been the Devil, stared in disbelief as his son moved his
pistol away from the back of Ilgrin’s head and pulled the trigger.
The explosion echoed about the chamber filled with the Devil’s
precious treasures. The bullet struck its target between the eyes.
The Devil landed on his knees, the circle on his forehead filling
with blood as he fell to his face.

‘
Catch!’ Noah shouted
as he arched his arm and threw the pistol at Ilgrin. He caught the
weapon without thinking and stared at it in disbelief. Before he
had the chance to toss it aside a troop of silt guards poured into
the room.

‘
Arrest that man,’
Noah commanded. ‘He just assassinated the Devil. Arrest the angel,
too. He used the creature to break into the tree.’

‘
No!’ Ilgrin cried,
dropping the pistol and backing away. ‘I’d never.’

‘
It’s true,’ May
piped in. ‘I saw everything.’

‘
Enoch!’ Teah cried
desperately. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I swear to Maker, I
didn’t know.’

‘
Get him, you fools!’
Noah shouted and at last the guards reacted, leaping toward
Ilgrin.

‘
Ilgrin! The crown!’
Teah shrieked, pointing across the treasury. The guards threw their
arms around Ilgrin to restrain him but all at once their grip
weakened and Teah started shouting.

‘
Run!’ she shrieked
at Ilgrin as she thrust out her hands and the room filled with
cries of agony as the angel afflicted everyone but him with her
angelic power. The men squirmed and cried out, covering their ears
and gouging at their faces as they writhed in pain.

Ilgrin hurried across the chamber
toward the devil’s crown. There it stood, perched high above the
other treasures, a golden crown encrusted with rubies and bearing
large curled goat horns of pure diamond. Teah gasped, her strength
having abandoned her and fell to her knees. The room started
filling with white mist as the men vomited or struggled to their
feet. Some were dead and unable to get up, their bodies almost
obscured by the perfect white sieift.

Ilgrin raced across the room, beat his
wings and leapt into the air. The few guards remaining chased after
him. Ilgrin thrust out his hand as a guard snatched at his foot and
pulled. Ilgrin kicked him in the face and the guard let go. He beat
his wings with renewed vigour and wrapped his fingers around one of
the great diamond horns, retrieving the crown from its
pedestal.

‘
I have it!’ Ilgrin
cried victoriously. ‘It’s mine.’

Having clambered to his feet, Noah
stumbled back against the wall, a look off utter disbelief on his
face. The guard closest to Ilgrin froze in his tracks, his mouth
falling open at the site before him. Teah stood slowly, a smile
touching the edges of her mouth. The sieift swept up against the
side of the tree and disappeared leaving the room full of silts
with a clear view of Ilgrin standing before them, Sa’Tan’s crown in
his grasp. ‘Anyone who can take this from me may keep it.’

‘
It’s a fake!’ Noah
roared. ‘Nobody can touch the true crown. Arrest him. He
assassinated the Devil.’

One of the guards crossed the room and
put a hand around the crown only to flush blue and cry out in
anguish. He pulled back to find his palm blistering, his flesh
having been boiled in an instant. A second silt approached,
reaching out to heal his friend’s wound.

‘
No,’ Ilgrin
commanded. ‘Not that. There will be no more healing in the kingdom
of Hel. He can go home and nurse his wound like everyone
else.’

‘
Everyone else?’ Noah
spat. ‘Who is “everyone else”? They can’t be silts, because
everyone around here uses the gift Maker blessed us with. Well,
Ilgrin? Who is your “everyone else”? Could it be those filthy
humans you love so much?’

‘
Arrest him.’ Ilgrin
stepped forward, placing the crown atop his head as he went. ‘The
kingdom of Hel will answer to me, the last living decedent of
Sa’Tan. I am Sa’Enoch, the one true living Devil.’

CHAPTER
Nineteen

Far-a-Mael’s War

Having received fresh supplies from
Kintor, the great army was again marching steadily south with
Far-a-mael and King Harundor at its forefront. It would have been
better for the Jenjen to see Seeol out the front as well, but
Far-a-mael had arranged to keep the bird-man as far away as
possible for fear of his reaction once the fighting began. In
Far-a-mael’s experience, having leaders at the front created a
sense of security and respect in the men. It was an illusion, of
course. Far-a-mael knew better than anyone that a confrontation
with silts had no front or back. The legion might land behind them
or right in their midst.

A pink film dribbled
across
Far-a-mael’s eye, momentarily
obscuring his vision. He wiped the substance away and glanced at
the black clouds above. They were well into Old World territory and
Far-a-mael was able to make out distant trees that’d been grown
into unnatural shapes. The structures were silt homes.

The Ways spluttered in and out of
existence for Far-a-mael, his decaying body having become less able
to sense them. Still, he focused on the broken strands of light
that danced around him and noticed a strange
discolouration--invisible to any but the Elglair eye--in the
distant sky. He raised his hand and as one the army ground to a
halt. Eerie silence filled the air, only to be replaced by a steady
buzzing din. The sound was that of beating wings and soon enough
Far-a-mael saw them.