The Wayward Godking (32 page)

“What are you smiling at?” She frowned at him. “Did I say something funny?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact you did,” he got up and went to find her a glass of wine, the white dress and the requested cologne.

“Are you going to bathe with me?” She called after him impatiently. “You can scrub my back. I love it when you scrub my back.”

“Yes, my sweet little black pot of delight,” he called as he laid her gown out on a velvet bench.

“What did you call me?” She frowned again when he came back with her wine. He handed it down to her along with a brief kiss.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” he said as he dropped his quilted jacket on the floor. “We’d best hurry before the kettle comes back to a boil.”

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

“We will agree to allow Sir d’Ornan to accompany you, but there will be conditions.” Edgard d’Brouchart leaned on the twisted staff supporting the glowing amber ball slightly over his head.

“I do not have time to bandy words with you, Nebo.” The Queen narrowed her yellowish eyes and huffed audibly when Sir Barry edged in a bit closer to the Master. “What are your conditions?”

“I would know where we are and what we are doing here… immediately,” he said and his words were followed closely by several ‘ayes’ and other affirmations of his demand. “Furthermore, I would demand we be returned to our respective homes or, if needs must, a location amenable to all concerned.”

“That would take too much time,” she stamped one foot impatiently. “If we tarry much longer, Abaddon will perish.”

“I daresay that few gathered here would grieve overmuch to learn that the dark demon had passed,” he told her.

The baculus glowed even more brightly. The strangely powerful, ancient device was the only thing that stood between them and the Queen’s wrath. Only Simon’s quick thinking had kept her from taking him without question from his bed in the Villa. The Healer had convinced her he needed certain magickal devices from the Master’s quarters in order to function in the Abyss. Edgard and Galindwynne had been quick to act when Simon had alerted them to the presence of the Queen. Now the entire population of the Villa stood in the early morning mist in the courtyard, trying to make some sense of her sudden appearance without vanguard or even a single Boggan to stand beside her.

“I daresay you speak the truth in that regard, Sir,” she acquiesced. “I will tell you this: you are not in the overworld, you are in the Abyss in a special section I furbished for your comfort and recreation until my plans could be completed. Further than that, I will not say where you are. If you expect to return to the overworld, you may wish to change your plans for a while and a bit until things are more settled there, and a safe place is ascertained for your disposal. Now, come, let us have the Healer while there is still time. No harm will come to him. You have my assurances in that regard.”

“Then you admit you are responsible for bringing us here?” he asked stubbornly ignoring her urgency.

“I do and I will release you as soon as it is safe to do so.” She nodded slightly. “I have some treasures that might interest your son, Nebo. He will need them in the future when he returns to the overworld I think.”

“Oh? What treasures are those?” Edgard shifted his weight and smiled at her. He was thoroughly enjoying his advantage over her.

“Father,” Simon spoke softly from behind him. “The Queen has rendered us valuable aid in the recent past if you will recall. I would accompany her before it is too late.”

Galen cleared his throat loudly and Corrigan coughed at the same time. They both assumed that the Healer was simply trying to leave town before the Master found out what had happened to Lucio and Vanni and Sir Ramsay. It was no small wonder the eagle-eyed d’Brouchart had not already missed them from the small crowd filling the courtyard. It had taken a great deal of convincing to keep Catharine and Roni from reporting the missing Italian and his son already.

“If we are in the Abyss, Madam,” Edgard raised his chin slightly, “then I must insist we be removed from this place and allowed to go to the Second Gate. I will take care of the rest from there.”

“You want to go to the gates?” Ereshkigal raised one eyebrow. She was beyond irritated with him.

“I would prefer to go where I may have some control over my environs, yes,” he told her. “Send us, and I will allow the Healer to leave with you.”

“We will leave together then,” Ereshkigal told him and then smiled as his people began to drop one by one to the grass in the courtyard.

“What are you doing?” He demanded in alarm as he perceived the trouble. Within seconds only himself and Simon were left standing. Everyone else lay crumpled in the courtyard, sleeping.

“If we are going, then let us be off,” she said and raised both her arms over her head. When she brought them down again, the Villa and everything in it, including the occupants, were gone. Only a vast dark cavern filled with the skittering sounds of unseen creatures and the sound of dripping water broke the silence.

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Marduk stood very still as his grandfather inspected him minutely in the bluish light provided by Omar’s magick.

“Hmmmm.” Anu stepped back and rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. The beard he sported was close-cropped, thick, black, but shot through with white streaks. His agelessness was quite apparent though he in no way appeared old, or stooped, or affected in the least by the ravages of the long eons he had worn his form. “Let us make him in our image,” he said the words softly and then laughed. “So this is what you finally settled on?”

“Pardon me, Your Honor.” Marduk lowered his head and looked at his grandfather from under his brows. “I don’t understand the question.”

“Your form,” Anu said. “You look nothing like your father. Is this by accident or intent?”

“Design,” the Lord of the Sixth Gate answered quickly. “I do nothing by accident, My Lord.”

“You would not call me ‘father’?” Anu raised one eyebrow.

“You never called me ‘son’.”

“A good answer… Son,” Anu retorted, returned the smile and clapped the startled Demi-god on the shoulder. “Never kowtow, I say, never stammer, never stutter, just say what is and get it done. Simple. So what is this problem?”

The elder Lord of the Moon jerked his head toward the clustered figures huddled on the floor around the downed angel.

“Lord Abaddon has been grievously wounded,” Marduk explained stiffly. “His lifeblood is running out quickly now. Lord Lucifer informs me the Queen has gone to seek help for him.”

“Ahhh, is that truth?” Anu asked and went to inspect the dark angel.

Abaddon lay where Ereshkigal had left him, curled in a ball around his mighty sword, breathing only shallowly, oblivious to his surroundings. “Tell me what happened, my son,” Anu spoke to Nergal who knelt on the stones beside Abaddon.

Nergal filled his grandfather in briefly on the hows and whys of Abaddon’s condition while Anu ran his hands slowly over the angel’s back and wings. When he was finished, he stood again.

“And this Healer? Would he be related to me?”

“No!” Marduk answered the question quickly.

“No?” Anu turned to look at his grandson in surprise.

“I think not, grandfather,” Nergal continued. “He is human or, at most, a Halfling.”

“Hafling?” Anu seemed very amused upon hearing the word and this further infuriated Marduk, who was extremely unhappy to see the Skyfather. Things had gone from bad to worse. Just as he thought to breathe a sigh of relief at having Huber gone, and being rescued from Lord Kinmalla by the destructive frenzy of Abaddon’s conflict with the fledgling horde, here was another problem, staggering in its enormity. Potentially devastating to creation itself.

“His father is Lord of the Second Gate,” Lucifer spoke up for the first time. “Once worshipped by man under the name of Nebo among others.”

“Nebo?” Anu’s smile broadened and he leaned toward Marduk.

“So it is said,” Marduk snarled softly and looked away from him.

“So you still make no claim to your son?” Anu’s smile faded.

“He is
not
my son,” Marduk retorted stubbornly, but did not look up. He had not claimed Nebo since the death of his beloved Nabu. Nebo could never replace his older brother in his father’s heart, and he resented the very idea that another could have dared to do so. Nebo, on the other hand, had not exactly tried to endear himself to his father. It had all been his mother’s idea. An ill-fated attempt to soothe Lord Marduk’s grief by presenting him with another son. Nebo, on the other hand, had felt not the slightest obligation to soothe or comfort his father’s fevered brow. He’d had other things to do.

Anu nodded his head slowly, and then sat down on a loose boulder. He would wait here for his daughter. Lucifer and Ashmodel kept one eye each on the moon god as they sat beside their fallen brother in the twilight. Omar and his sister had gone off together in search of water that Abaddon had requested before passing into unconsciousness. When they returned a short while later with a leather pouch filled with water, the meeting between Anu and the Prophet was electric. No one had warned the Lord of the Moon that Omar Kadif was presently expected to rejoin them, and Omar had no reason to expect that his great-grandfather would show up in such a remote place. The scene played for the party as if in slow motion. At first, Omar had seemed happy to see someone had come to help them.

Dunya, on the other hand, was not fooled. She clutched Lucifer’s pouch to her in terror as she peeked at Anu from around her brother’s arm. Omar had mistaken Anu for one of his more familiar kinsman.

“Luke!” he said as a smile lit up his face.

Anu stood slowly and locked eyes with him.

The truth became immediately evident as the intervening space between them filled with visible currents of shimmering white light ebbing and flowing between them. Nergal and Marduk watched the exchange in fascination.

When the light finally faded between them, Anu was frowning, but Omar was smiling.

“My grandfather,” Omar’s first words startled them as if from a deep sleep. The Prophet knelt on his knees in front of Anu and bowed his head. The Skyfather placed his hands on top of his head, briefly as if blessing him.

After a few moments, Omar got up quickly and dragged Dunya closer.

“Grandfather, this is my sister, Dunya, your great-granddaughter, I told you about,” he continued to speak excitedly. There was no doubt Omar was extremely pleased at having found a new relative.

Anu’s frown lessened only slightly as he examined the frightened woman.

“She is not of the family,” Anu announced at last.

“Only in looks, only in looks,” Omar ignored the ominous tone in his voice and kept his demeanor positive. “I can vouch for her behavior, sir. She is an adept in many arts. A bit shy and retiring, but none-the-less worthy of praise. Fashioned in the same manner as myself. Reborn into the world anew just as your daughter, Ereshkigal. If I had possessed her presence of mind years ago, I would have suffered much less. She is my love and my life and I will not be parted from her again.”

His last words caused others in the room to stir slightly. This was news to all of them. Lucifer and Ashmodel had never seen Dunya before, and their contact with the Prophet had been little or none. Nergal and Marduk, on the other hand, were surprised to hear that the Prophet placed such a value on his sister. They had noticed her in the background during the desert campaigns against Huber and Jozsef Daniel, but neither of them had paid her any real attention.

“You would do better to find someone of your own ilk,” Anu said shortly and then turned at the sound of approaching footsteps, leaving Omar with a perplexed look on his face.

Two Boggans bearing oil lamps came into view, followed by the smaller form of the Mystic Healer. Simon shaded his eyes against the blue light in the passage where they stood, and the Boggans stopped abruptly, growling and mewling. When the Queen swept around and past them to learn what the delay might be, she too stopped in her tracks at the sight of Anu, standing near Omar.

“Lord Adar!” She blurted immediately. “It is about time you came to clear up….” Her words faltered as she perceived the differences between this person and Lord Adar. Her mouth fell open when she recognized the Lord of the Moon standing in the shimmering glow.

“Father,” she breathed the word and hurriedly placed herself on the stone in front of him, much as Omar had done. “I am honored to receive you in my humble home.”

“Please, daughter.” Anu lifted his daughter from the floor by one arm. “Do not try to flatter me, my child. Get along with your work, and then we will talk.”

Ereshkigal cast a nervous eye at the sight of Abaddon still curled on the stone at the feet of Ashmodel and Lucifer.

“Healer,” she signaled to Simon to come forward. He had stopped near the mouth of one of the adjoining caves and stood between the two terrified Boggans.

Simon gave them wide berth and knelt beside the dark angel. Blue orbs darted and bobbed erratically about the enclosure, ricocheting wildly off the walls, returning again and again, frantically circling The Healer’s head.