Circle of Nine: Circle of Nine Trilogy 1 (27 page)

CHAPTER FORTY

Their voices calling
Form flakes of ice,
Form shadows dark
Crying to their lost homes.
To the worlds that now shun them
Shadows come from Light,
Shadows come from Light.

— Extract from ‘Cry of the Angel’, Eronth song

W
ith the first break of the new day we were within touching distance of the Azephim castle. I shuddered at the vibration that emanated from the Gothic-style building. Encased inside the formidable spectacle of the angels’ home was the enigmatic race known as the Azephim. I felt revulsion breaking over my body at our proximity to their nest.

We were fools to come so near!

A terrifying sensation of vertigo gripped me as I received an image of being chained to the Eom, reduced to a living battery for the Azephim. I felt the heat of the Eom sustaining me in an endless existence of merciless void. I sensed Khartyn sending me healing energy to help me with the instinctive waves of panic that were threatening to paralyse me. Every stone of the castle mocked me for daring to enter the angels’ lair, every draught of chill air breathed Sati’s displeasure that we had ventured so near.

Yes, Sati is near and knows full well we have arrived.

The castle of the Azephim was an overwhelmingly sinister sight. Four towers pointed to a tumultuous sky like four lethal needles in the air. From the tip of each dark needle fluttered a red banner with an occult symbol on it. What looked to be human figures were impaled in a grotesque pile on one of the needles, food for hovering flocks of carrion birds.
Surely they couldn’t be real bodies
, I tried to reassure myself against all probability.

I focused instead on the ornate stained-glass windows that flashed seductive colours to us. The neighbouring countryside was like an eerie lunar landscape; no vegetation grew anywhere near the Azephim lair. It was a nightmare scene, and misshapen trees appeared to mock our folly in approaching so near to the castle of death, while the distant mountains that lay to the perimeter of the castle appeared cruel and lacking in compassion as they protected the angels they surrounded.

A small contingent of angel guards patrolled the lower floor of the castle. I could sense Khartyn’s and Rosedark’s interest in my reaction to the Azephim. They were, after all, half my bloodline, and I fought to control my panic from their scrutiny as I in turn studied them. They were a tall race of beings and in some respects resembled the traditional Earth view of angels. An aura of great charisma and beauty revolved about them, but their wings were ebony-black and their hair was long and dark and tangled. Their faces were a synthesis of bird and angel. The majority of Azephim guards wore black leather trousers with overskirts that looked to be made from skin. Many had bone jewellery decorating their ears and wrists. There were a few who were naked, save for a thong around their genitals made of leather and fur. These guards had their bare chests covered in scars which they displayed proudly. They snarled at me as I looked at them, and I hastily averted my eyes.

Rosedark was also staring with fascinated horror at the winged beings that had been the focus of many lurid imaginings in Faia. She had never been so close to one in all her life.

‘Merry meet!’ Khartyn called to a guard angel who stared indifferently through her. ‘We have travelled from the land of the Triple Moons to beg an audience with Ishran and Sati. I am Khartyn, Crone and ex-teacher of Sati, this maid is Rosedark my student, and the Crossa is Emma, kin to Sati.’

The angel smiled, revealing sharp filed teeth and a forked tongue.

‘My master expects you,’ he hissed.

Indicating we should follow him. we were granted access into the castle. Upon first entering the coolness of the stone interior I was struck by the opulence of the furnishings. Exotic brocades and tapestries covered the walls. Extravagant candelabras illuminated the dark hallways. Black crystal chandeliers blazed with hundreds of patchouli-scented candles. Adorning the walls were paintings, many of them unmistakably Azephim family portraits, which stared silently and malevolently out at us, their painted eyes not subduing the rage lurking within this deadly race. Black and plum wax fruit were heaped in profusion on delicately carved wooden furniture. Black marble statues, many in erotic poses, lined the corridors, and underlying all the opulence and the wealth the sweet jasmine odour of death floated. Roses were everywhere in every direction that I looked, sweet-smelling roses placed in vases, or scattered about.

The furniture hissed silently: be warned! You are doomed!

At the end of the corridor that smelt sweetly of death, two angels waited to open the green leather doors to us. The room we tentatively entered was obviously a study, with thousands of books lining the interior, and framed maps of the known worlds displayed on the walls. More candles blazed in their candelabras, and a small dish of dried red rose petals emitted a pungent, floral odour that was strangely familiar to me.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks. Two figures were waiting silently in a corner of the room. Bathed in light from one of the many stained-glass windows illuminating the study, they had either suddenly materialised or else the incredible furnishings of the room had drawn my attention from their presence. At their feet a black cheetah looked at us with contempt. They were a strikingly beautiful couple, so similar to look at they appeared to have been chiselled from the same exquisite dark marble. Their long dark hair fell in an identical fashion to their waist, their eyes burned with life and vitality. They were dressed in red. Sati wore a heavy red satin gown that fell to the floor in folds. Ishran’s red cloak covered his grey satin trousers. Under the cloak his huge dark wings were camouflaged, disguising the major difference between us. I felt a wave of nausea pass through me as his coal-dark eyes probed my face. He smiled.

‘So this is the little relative come to visit? What a disappointment, eh, Sati?’

I saw Rosedark shiver at the venom in his voice but I held my ground. I suppressed waves of revulsion that swept through me at the posturing couple. The Glamour they had used upon themselves and the sweet sickliness of the furnishings of the castle nauseated me when I reminded myself of the violent deaths they had visited upon Johanna and more recently Rosedark.

‘No more a disappointment than you are to me, brother-in-law,’ I remarked mildly.

Sati’s eyes narrowed. ‘I am overcome that you have made the long and exhausting trek into the Wastelands to find us. Very few Eronthites take the trouble these days. It is so nice to look upon the face of my sister.’

She laughed, and her laughter held jagged ice. I could feel cold beginning to numb my bones.

‘Don’t look directly at her!’ Khartyn instructed.

Sati’s head swivelled swiftly to gaze upon Khartyn. She sighed. ‘Old Mother, I have been expecting you for a long time, but you never wanted to make the journey. Why now have you bothered? By the claws of Alecom, I warrant that your business must be important for you to put yourself out. You have scarcely bothered with me before!’

She yawned, and then, lifting up her hand, a white rose materialised in it, which she sniffed. ‘I see that it took you little time to replace me, but what an inferior specimen you selected!’ Her gaze openly mocked Rosedark, who stood in front of Khartyn to protect her. ‘How touching!’ she added.

Ishran glanced at me and snarled. ‘The smell of her both revolts and excites me,’ he told Sati, nodding toward me. ‘I can smell her hot, warm blood. Should we let her die slowly or quickly? What does my love want?’ She held the rose out to him, tickling his face with it. Petals dropped onto the head of the cheetah, which growled its displeasure, earning a kick in the ribs from Sati. The air became colder around me.

‘Ishran,’ she said in a soft voice filled with hunger. ‘You forget the social niceties. This piece of human garbage that stands in front of us is my own sister!’

He ran his tongue over his lips, and leaned forward toward me. His wings rustled slightly. ‘Will she feel like you when I thrust inside her?’ he mused.

I heard a sound like a bell inside me. Cobwebs of fear were beginning to wind slowly around my mind. These two were toying with us, and were any of us strong enough to fight them?

Sati was playing with her long hair with a pale hand. ‘There,’ she murmured. ‘I was so touched by your visit, so long overdue, that I forgot to ask my beloved sister what news she brings with her from Earth?’

‘Do you bring gifts?’ Ishran interrupted. ‘Do you bring gifts of fire? Have you carried precious snow to me? Diamonds?’ He leered at me. ‘Is it not customary to bring gifts when you visit?’

‘Do you have news for me from your world?’ Sati said softly. Ice was now detailed on the windowpanes. Our breaths were visible in the air. I was shivering, and terribly afraid. ‘A little bird tells me that our mutual friends Johanna Develle — may Alecom keep her safely in his claws — and the blonde whore you lived with are both dead. May the night claim their souls.’

‘May the night claim your soul, Sati,’ Khartyn said. Sati crushed the rose in her hand, and the scent filled my nostrils.

‘I am so bored with this conversation,’ she hissed. ‘Come, my sweet sister. How much do you want for the child that lies within that flabby belly of yours?’

‘What!’ Shocked, I stared at the beautiful stranger in front of me. ‘What the hell do you mean?’

Ishran went to move toward me, but Khartyn held a hand up threateningly, causing him to halt.

‘Don’t use the name hell lightly in my presence. You know exactly what we mean, Crossa!’ he snarled from his chair. ‘We want the child. My wife has just asked you quite nicely for it, you piece of human shit. That notwithstanding, I shall ask you myself. How much do you want for the bastard you carry within you? You can name your price, or perhaps . . .’

He paused, and allowed his cloak to fall to the floor, spreading his dark wings to full span. It was a terrifying sight and a shiver of fear ran through me, snaking along my spine.

‘. . . perhaps we will dispense with the formalities and just tear the child from your womb,’ he hissed, looking as if the prospect of doing it immediately would bring him great joy.

Rosedark moved protectively in front of me and Ishran laughed.

‘The stinking Faiaite thinks she has enough power to protect you both! Poor deluded girl!’

He’s toying with us. Sharpening his teeth, enjoying the game and waiting to pounce.

‘The child is no bastard!’ I said, finding my voice. ‘The girl that flourishes within me is not to be bartered with. I have brought the Crone and maid here to give you a warning. There has been blood spilt upon this land. The Azephim have outlived their uselessness to Eronth. It is time for you to think about relocating your people.’

In the pause that followed I felt alarm at the content of my outburst.
What the hell had I just told him? Where did it come from?
But there was no use resisting the force that was trying to channel through me.
It might be the only thing that gets me through this.

Sati and Ishran burst into laughter.

‘Do you think I will be dictated to by a mere Crossa?’ Ishran hissed. ‘You may be Bindisore, but you have become soft, Emma! You have grown up in the softman’s world! Learnt the softman’s ways! Your business is not the business of Eronth! Do not worry your ugly little head about such affairs! You need to go back to the softworld!

‘Oh, the old bag of bones over there has taken you in, all right, taken you in, fed you her Glamour and a great parcel of lies into the bargain! But you don’t trust her, do you, Emma? The senile one is considered a fool in Faia! They burnt many people like the Old Mother on the Blue Planet for a very good reason! They were either useless, or even worse, useless troublemakers!’

He shot a glance of pure malevolence at Khartyn, who remained impassive at his outburst. Sati picked up the thread of Ishran’s tirade. ‘You think the Crone and the maid are your allies," she said smoothly in her black-velvet voice. ‘They have bought you here to bargain with us. You trust them with your life, no doubt, but they are prepared to exchange your life in return for the Azephim’s departure from Eronth.’

‘That’s not true, Emma! Don’t listen to them,’ Khartyn interjected.

I held out my hands to the Azephim. ‘You are no sister of mine!’ I retorted. ‘I want the Eom! Bring it to me now!’

I was dimly aware of Khartyn’s and Rosedark’s startled gasps at my demand. ‘The Eom is useless in your bloodied angel hands! It does not belong in Eronth! It needs to be returned to the Webx race!’

‘You fool! You fucking
human.
You pathetic
excuse
for a human being!’ Ishran shouted. ‘The Eom was returned to us by its own wish! What would you, a half-breed, a Bluite, know of the mysteries of the Eom? All we want from you is the promise of the child after the birth. We need that child, you don’t, you selfish little bitch! All of the prophecies state that the child will be the awakener of the Eom and the Circle of Nine. Give us that much and we can arrange a safe crossing back to the Blue Planet for you! Are you willing to be rational and accept the offer?’

Now it was my turn to laugh. Not that I found anything amusing in what the demonic creature had just told me. I was almost beside myself with fear. But the laughter, and then a stream of channelled words, bubbled through me like water through a pipe. Confused as I was, I was still relieved that
something
seemed to know what I should say.

‘It’s hard to believe that you’re even stupider than your hag mother! Believe what you want, angel! The Eom belongs to the Webx! It cannot function in your contaminated, incompetent hands. It needs Webx to live! The Webx Elders are awaiting its return!’

Khartyn joined in almost simultaneously. ‘How do you know that you’ve even interpreted the prophecies accurately?’ she said.

‘Keep out of this, Old Mother! You might make mistakes when studying the ancient writings, you senile old witch. Your touching concern brings tears to my eyes,’ Sati hissed. ‘You just want the child for yourself, so you can gain more power. You might fool them, but not me!’