Crossroads (41 page)

Whatever it was, the blood-eyed sharks hung just outside the range of the green light, and the
Mary O
was within it. He paddled harder, fighting the current until he reached the aft gunwale. He hung there just above the silent, unmoving propellor until a following wave lifted him up and he could pull himself aboard. He lay on the sodden deck, watching the cold water wash away into the scuppers like the last of his strength. Finally he dragged himself to his feet and climbed wearily into the pilothouse where he collapsed beside his old friend.

Clem was pale and still, but when Silky rested a hand on his chest he could feel a low rise and fall. He spat the bottle out into his palm, jerked open the cap and then shoved three of the tiny pills under his old friend’s tongue, holding Clem’s mouth shut, watching for a reaction, but it was some minutes before Clem’s breathing became stronger and more regular.

When he was fairly certain that Clem wasn’t going to die just yet he clambered down into the hold for the first aid kit. Bright blood flowed from the wounds in his leg, but there were no arterial spurts. He slathered the punctures in antiseptic ooze that stung like hell, then taped gauze over them and hobbled back up the ladder. The wild creaking of the anchor rodes still worried him, and when a sudden cross sea slammed the port side the
Mary O
threatened to founder, but then she shook herself off like a wet dog and slid back to her post at the end of her chains.

She was one fine damned boat. He could see now why Clem loved her so. He stared out into the storm, watching as the green luminescence slowly died away.

Things in the water, Clem had said.

Yes. There were things in the water, but apparently they weren’t all creatures of the Mogul. Where did the plankton come from, and why did it have such an effect on the sharks? Was Shandan involved? Or was it something else, something bigger than Shandan, something bigger than all of us?

Shandan believed in a Great Creator. Maybe
he’d
been in charge of the game all along.

So? Do I cut the lines and run for open sea? Or do I stay here and trust myself in his hands?

In the end he decided that if there was a Great Creator he helped those who helped themselves. He found a sharp seaman’s knife in a drawer beside the wheel. Then he slipped the engine into gear and gave it just enough gas so the prop bit water to gain headway against the storm. He hesitated at the door, watching the wall of sea rise behind the boat as the
Mary O
rode backwards up a wave that finally crested over the deck. For just a moment they were awash. Then the boat popped to the surface again. He stepped out into the storm and clambered painfully down the ladder, limping to the prow.

He knelt beside the twin stanchions where the anchor rodes were secured. There was no way he could pull in either hook without help from the helm. He was going to have to cut both of them, but doing so meant that they could not anchor anywhere again. They would have to ride out the storm in deeper water until it was safe to return to harbor and a dock. He stared up toward the point, but it was cloaked in almost total darkness now.

"I hope your Great Creator helps you now, too, Shandan!" he shouted into the wind and rain as he slashed the thick ropes.

Chapter 57

Kira, Jen, and Sheila stepped into the long hall that was filled to bursting with all different sizes, shapes, and varieties of mirrors. Their eyes were instantly drawn to the man who stood facing them. He was clad in a flowing robe, and had long white hair, a pale complection, and deep, dark, riveting eyes above cheeks carved from white marble. His face was calm, though sad. Still, he radiated a peace that soothed Kira.

"Welcome, Kira, Sheila...Jen," said Shandan, with a bowed head.

Kira nodded, glancing slowly around the Hall, wondering what it must have been like to be confined in this space, alone, for forty years, guarding the universe. She heard a stealthy step behind them, and Sheila gasped, but Kira didn’t turn. She didn’t have to. The game was running down to its conclusion just the way her grandfather had planned. The door was open. The Mogul’s mirror had been left lying upon the steps outside...

But as she peered into Shandan’s eyes she wondered if even he understood what the end would cost her. As she watched a tear leaking slowly down his cheek, and he nodded, she knew that he did. Finally she turned to face the entity she had known as the
Empty-eyed-man
for so long.

The Mogul’s cowl was thrown back and his bony skull shone whitely in the eerie golden glow that permeated the Hall, but even the pallor of his bony head could not alleviate the darkness that emanated from deep within. She noticed that the
Empty-eyed-man
now grasped an Oculet in his hand.

"Now you are here," said the
Empty-eyed-man,
"and we can end this farce."

"All in good time," said Shandan, half smiling.

The bony jaw slapped shut, and the
Empty-eyed-man
glared.

"In
my
time," he said, through clenched teeth. "And my time is now. You have lost. Have her give me the last Oculet."

Shandan stared at him without speaking.

"I am whole now," said the
Empty-eyed-man.
"I can simply kill her and her companions and take the Oculet."

"Then why don’t you do so?" said Shandan, shocking Kira.

When the
Empty-eyed-man
turned toward her, glaring, it took everything within her to keep her from leaping away through one of the myriad mirrors, but she had to trust Shandan, had to trust her own instincts. She knew what had to happen here. Running away would ruin the timing. They might never get another chance like this one. But oh, the price.

"Do you know why I created the Oculets, Kira?" mused Shandan, before the
Empty-eyed-man
could take a step in her direction. "I made them for my people. To enhance their powers."          

She nodded, and Shandan smiled. She was shocked to see so much of her father’s face suddenly peering out from behind the old man’s mask. It made her trust him all the more.

"And do you understand what
he
is?" asked Shandan, glancing toward the
Empty-eyed-man.

"Yes," said Kira, quietly.

"Then you know what to do," said Shandan.

Now she saw real confusion on the face of the
Empty-eyed-man.
He probably sensed that he had made a mistake, but he just couldn’t believe it, couldn’t understand what it might be.

Kira stepped forward. Not close enough that the
Empty-eyed-man
could grab her, but near enough to pass him her Oculet. He snatched it so quickly the chain stung her. She watched as the two melded into one in his skeletal hand. Then he gloatingly slipped the chain around his leathery throat, and the one Oculet dangled against the breast of his black cloak.

"Now I am all powerful," he whispered.

Shandan nodded, but he didn’t seem all that concerned. He turned to Kira and smiled a terribly sad smile.

"It’s all about dreams and about time," he said, quietly, "and timing. You know that now, but there is one thing I would like you to do for me when this is all done."

"What?" she gasped.

"I have a very old friend who never got to live
his
dream. I would that you would see that he did."

"I am God," roared the
Empty-eyed-man,
lightning bolts blasting from his fingertips, thunder rocking the floor and rattling the mirrors on the walls
.
"Your dreams are finished!"

Kira backed away to Sheila and Jen’s side again. She took Jen’s hand in her own and squeezed. Jen’s eyes opened, and for the first time they were both clear and blue.

"Can you do this when I ask?" whispered Kira. "Can you save Sheila, too?"

Jen nodded. "For a moment only. Shandan will give me strength, but the
Empty-eyed-man
is powerful."

"I love you," said Kira, squeezing tighter.

"What’s happening?" gasped the
Empty-eyed-man.

Kira released Jen and spun.

Her old nemesis was shrouded in cold blue flame that seemed to be eating away at his leather garments, here and there exposing the raw bone of his
body.

"The Oculets were created to enhance the powers of the Originals," said Shandan. "They cannot in themselves create power. Your own powers are now being enhanced to the fullest."

"You are a destroyer," said Kira. "You are destroying yourself."

Shandan nodded. The
Empty-eyed-man’s
bony face exhibited a terrified understanding, but there was a terrible rage still left within him as well.

"So be it!" he shrieked, spreading his arms, opening his hands.

A crackling glow sizzled between his fingers, and Kira’s hair stood on end. Blue lightning bolts again shot from his outstretched hands as he glared at all the mirrors around him. His clothing was burnt away now, and he was just a skeleton, the flames beginning to eat at him, his feet crumbling to dust as the bones of his calves struck the stone floor.

"Then I will take all in creation with me!"

"Now, Kira!" shouted Shandan.

"I can’t save you," Kira whispered to Jen.

Jen nodded, sadly. "This is what
I
was meant to do."

"Do it now, then" sighed Kira, her own tears flowing freely.

Then everything stopped. The lightning bolts froze in midstrike, the sizzling glow was just a bulbous mass on each of the
Empty-eyed-man’s
hands. The room was silent as death. Kira turned back to Jen and saw beads of sweat trickling from her forehead. Her old friend quivered with each breath. Kira placed a hand on Jen’s and squeezed one last time.

"I love you," she said again.

"Kira," said Sheila, glancing dazedly at the frozen
Empty-eyed-man
. "What are you going to do."

"What I have to," said Kira, still staring sadly into Jen’s eyes.

Then she concentrated on what
she did.
She willed the Hall of Mirrors away.

It wasn’t easy. In fact it was the hardest thing she had ever done, but she concentrated on what she had done to bring the girl back, what she had done to bring Sheila back,
undoing
a creation. Destroying it, in fact, and when she thought that she didn’t have it in her power because Shandan’s creation was so vast, so powerful, she thought of Clancy, and then of her parents, of the Dreamtime and the Elder and the Lost. It was difficult beyond measure because she knew that she was not only destroying Shandan’s lifework, but with it his most wonderful creation-Jen.

And when she thought that she still would not have the strength she reached into her pocket and withdrew the key. She grasped it tightly in her hand as the Hall of Mirrors pulsed in and out of existence around her and Sheila and Shandan. She gripped the key so tightly it hurt her palm, until she felt it change, and when she opened her hand, there was a new Oculet.

Only the eye in this one was wide open.

She closed her hand around it again and willed.

And then the Hall, and the
Empty-eyed-man,...
and finally Jen, were gone.

Sheila gripped her before she could collapse to the floor of what was now just an empty, stone-walled room.

"Is it over?" gasped Sheila, as she and Shandan helped Kira to lean against the stone steps in the throne room.

Kira stared out into the shocked faces of the Originals. They looked like small children just awakening from a terrible dream, but she sensed the dead still among them, still working their magic.

"I think some things are just beginning," she said, staring at Shandan.

Chapter 58

Kira, Sheila, the Elder and Shandan stood on the steps outside the Citadel. The sense of evil was gone from the place, but Kira was of the opinion that it would be easier to simply will the entire complex out of existence than to rebuild it into something any Original would ever enter again. She  watched the Originals in the distance, disappearing into the Dreamtime. There was a great deal of work to be done there, as well, although the Dreamtime appeared to be doing a lot to heal itself. It seemed as though dreams were not
naturally
bad. They needed some help either from the dreamers or from an outside source before they became nightmares.

"Your parents want to know what you intend to do now," said Sheila.

Kira sighed, glancing down the steps to where Stomper and some of the other Lost waited for the Elder. "If I stay here, now, I’ll remain a child, won’t I?"

Shandan nodded. "You will age, but it will take many of your millennia. That is in your blood and in the nature of Otherworld."

Kira nodded. "I don’t want to live in Otherworld as a kid. I want to do what I always wanted to do. When I’m ready I’ll come back. I promise. Is that all right?"

"Whatever you choose is all right," Shandan assured her.

"And I made you a promise," said Kira.

Shandan smiled. "It would please me greatly if you would fulfill it."

"Then I want to go home," said Kira, simply.

Sheila nodded.

Kira went to her, and Sheila pointed. Kira held out her arms, and this time she was certain she could feel her parents’ touch.

"I’ll be back," she whispered.

She took the mirror from her pocket and held it up to Sheila.

"Ready?" she said.

Sheila grimaced. "I’m never getting used to this," she said, but she was already slipping away.

Chapter 59

The boat shoved up a fine lacy bow wave across the mirrorlike surface of the bay, and the captain of the
Dusky Dreamer
piloted the small lobsterman toward the dock with a practiced hand. He tugged his brimmed cap down tighter on his head, glancing at the pretty young woman and her teenaged companion.