Evolution (Demon's Grail Book 2) (2 page)

Abby Hart

“That looks
extremely
painful,” Absalom says a few hours later, as we sit on the steps of the Jagadoon temple and watch the sun dipping in the sky. “She split your cheek all the way to the bone and...” He sets his cup of tea down as he leans to take a closer look. “Did she chip some bone out from just below your eye socket?”

“It'll heal,” I mutter, reaching down to dip the wash-cloth in some more warm water. A cloud of blood immediately blossoms in the water between my fingers. I swear, since arriving at Jagadoon I've become sick of the sight of my own blood. “I'll be -”

Letting out a sudden gasp of pain as he pokes my wound, I pull away.

“Careful!” I hiss.

“Sorry,” he replies, picking up his cup again and taking a sip. There's a faint smile on his lips, even though he's trying to keep it hidden. “I've always known that Oncephalus can be brutal, but I'm starting to think she's giving you a particularly hard time. I
did
consider speaking to her about it, maybe asking her to be more gentle and -”

“No,” I say firmly.

“Don't worry, I already decided against that approach. I suppose her eagerness is due to the fact that she was alone for so long before we arrived. She so rarely agrees to train anyone these days, so she must have all this pent-up anger to take out on her few pupils.”

“She's not a great teacher,” I mutter dabbing at the wound on my face. “She made me keep training for several hours, even after there was so much blood in my eyes I could barely see. Shouldn't I at least have a day off occasionally, so my body can heal properly?” The wound stings as I clean it, but I refuse to show any more pain. “At the moment, I go to bed at dusk and I get up at dawn, and each morning my injuries from the previous days are still causing trouble. It's like I'm training with one hand behind my back.”

“I rather think Oncephalus is aware of that,” he points out. “It's natural for you to doubt your teacher, it's part of the process, but she'll get you to the right level eventually. Trust me, Abby, you'll need all of this training and more once we leave this place.”

Staring toward the horizon, I spot the distant figure still riding this way.

“Who
is
that?” I ask with a frown. “Someone for you?”

“No idea,” he replies. “I left word that I wanted to be contacted if something important changed, but I wasn't expecting anyone so soon.” He takes another sip of tea. “Then again, we've been out here for six months now. In some regards that's just the blink of an eye, but in others...” He leans forward slightly, squinting as if he's hoping to get a better view of the faraway figure. “Whoever he is, he's relentless. I doubt he'll stop to sleep tonight, so we can expect him to get here late tomorrow.”

“Oncephalus says there's no way it can be dangerous,” I reply.

“She's right. No-one would ever think to attack Jagadoon.”

“You can't be sure of that.”

“I can.”

“How?”

He pauses. “Conflict is forbidden here by ancient decree, by the kind of decree that's respected by all living creatures. And do you know
why
it's respected? Because there are forces that back it up. Nothing would ever be so stupid as to come here and cause trouble. To do so would be suicide.”

“But Oncephalus just spent all day beating the living hell out of me,” I point out. “Isn't
that
conflict?”

“That's training,” he points out. “It's different. Training is allowed.”

“Where is she now, anyway?” I ask, looking back up the steps toward the stone temple. “I thought she'd want to sit out here with us as usual and remind me how badly I did today.”

“She retired to her cabin a little earlier than usual,” he replies. Sipping at his tea, he seems to be smiling at something, and finally he turns to me. “I probably shouldn't say this, Abby, but despite what she might want you to think, I believe Oncephalus is finding it harder and harder to defeat you each day.”

I shake my head. “You're just trying to make me feel better.”

“I've known her long enough to recognize when she's hurt,” he continues. “When we first arrived here six months ago, she'd end each day with a spring in her step. Now she walks a little more slowly, although obviously she's trying to hide that fact. I asked her about it yesterday, and she damn near tore my head off. She wouldn't have done that if she wasn't in pain.”

“I've barely even managed to lay a finger on her.”

“I'm not saying you've got her on the ropes yet,” he replies, “not remotely, but I don't think you should get too down-hearted. You've already come a long way, Abby, and I know you can finish this training if you put your mind to it. Every night when I sit here with you, you're a little stronger. The only question is whether you can be ready by the time you need to fight. We still have no idea what the spiders are doing, they're been so quiet lately but when they show themselves again, we need to be able to take the fight right to their door. Or web, or whatever it turns out to be.”

“But they haven't found Karakh yet, have they?” I ask. “I mean, we'd know if
that
had happened.” I wait for a reply. “Wouldn't we?”

“Hopefully they're still searching,” he replies, “and hopefully they're still nowhere near.”

Wincing as I get to my feet, I drop the wash-cloth into the water and turn to look up toward the temple. “I need to go and find Oncephalus,” I mutter. “She doesn't usually like talking about what we do, but I have to ask her about a few of the moves I tried today. Sometimes it's hard to know which tactics I should abandon and which I need to work on.”

“Leave it for tonight,” he replies. “She's gone to bed.”

“But it's so early.”

“Like I said, you tired her out.” He pauses. “She's not as strong as she pretends.”

I can't help smiling. “She's the strongest person I've ever met,” I tell him. “Nice try, but I've fought her more than enough to know that.”

“The war drove her mad,” he replies. “I saw her back then, she lost her mind at Gothos and I thought she'd never recover after some of the things she went through. The fact that she can even walk and talk these days is a miracle, but she has her own ways of coping and when she retires for the night, it's best to leave her alone. From what she's told me, night is when she struggles the most with her memories.”

“Is that why she sleeps on the other side of the mountain, away from us?”

He nods.

“I know you told me not to ask too much about her,” I continue, “but in a way that makes it harder to fight her. She knows all about me, she knows everything... Doesn't that give her an advantage?”

“Life is all about advantages and disadvantages,” he replies. “When you finally face your real enemies, you'll have to take all of that in your stride. Just leave Oncephalus alone until morning, okay? Another of the reasons she goes to sleep away from the rest of us is...” He pauses, as if he's not sure how much to let me know. “Well, let's just say that she has nightmares about the old days. Terrible nightmares that sometimes make her cry out, and she doesn't want any of us hearing that, for her sake as well as hers. Let her be, and I promise you she'll be ready at dawn, the same as ever, waiting to spend another day kicking your butt.”

“Then I guess I should get some sleep,” I mutter, turning and making my way up the steps. “I hope you enjoyed your day drinking tea and reading, Absalom. Really, you have the hardest time here out of all of us, but...” Stopping at the door to the temple, I look back down at him. “Thank you.”

He turns to me with a frown. “For what?”

“For still bringing me here, even though I turned you down the first time. I just hope you understand that I had to -”

“I understand,” he replies, interrupting me.

“But if I could just explain -”

“There's no need,” he says firmly. “You're here now, and that's the most important thing. One day the spiders will make their presence known again, and when that happens you have to be ready, Abby. Not just slightly ready, or ready so long as you get some luck, but really,
truly
ready. There'll be no second chances once the real fighting starts.”

“The second testament of the Book of Gothos really puts me in the heart of things, huh?” I reply.

“Go to bed,” he replies. “Sleep while you can.”

I head inside and get ready for bed, even though my whole body aches after the day's work. Jonathan is already out for the night on the other side of the room, so I try not to disturb him. I know deep down that Oncephalus is right to test me so strictly, but at the same time I sometimes wonder if she's too heavily focused on the need to punish me. If I could just have one day off to rest, just a single day every few weeks, I feel I'd heal better and I'd already be stronger. All these thoughts and more swirl through my head as I settle down to sleep on the stone ledge, and a short while later, after darkness has fallen, I hear Absalom going to bed on the ledge just outside the door. Shortly after that, he starts snoring.

Finally, unable to sleep, I get to my feet and head back out of the temple. The whole mountain is bathed in darkness, with not even the light of the moon able to break through thick clouds that moved in during the evening. Figuring that I need to walk and clear my head before I'm able to sleep, I decide to head down the gentle slope that leads south from the plateau, and it's not until I've been walking for almost an hour that I realize I must be heading toward the cabin where Oncephalus sleeps. I keep going, making sure to stay quiet, until suddenly I hear a faint, murmured scream nearby. My initial reaction is to tense and wait, but after a moment I spot the cabin up ahead, silhouetted against the night sky. More cries and screams are coming from inside, and I realize that it must be Oncephalus enduring another night of dreams about her time in the war. It sounds as if she's in agony, but I can tell she's only sleeping and I figure I have no right to go and wake her. It's not as if she'd thank me, anyway.

I sit and listen to her screams for a while, and I can't help wondering if I'll have such terrible nightmares eventually, long after the battle with the spiders is over. I can't imagine the horrors that could affect someone so profoundly, but I'm certain they're out there in the dark, waiting for me. I can't escape my destiny.

Abby Hart

“He's here,” Oncephalus says, shielding her eyes from the morning sun as she looks past me. “The soldier on the horse. He's only a few minutes away.”

Turning, I see that she's right. Whereas yesterday the soldier was just a dot on the horizon, now he's riding up the rocky slope that leads up to the plateau from the eastern side. Now that's he's so close, I can see that his 'armor' is really just a set of shawls and cloaks with a few pieces of metal strapped here and there, while his face is covered by a series of masks and a pair of thick goggles. His entire body, and that of his horse too, is covered in dust from the storms that still rage near the basin, but he makes no attempt to brush himself clean, not even as his horse finally reaches the edge of the plateau and comes to a halt. Whoever he is, he must have ridden non-stop for days to get here.

“This must be important news,” Absalom says, coming over to join us. “No-one would brave such a journey for any other reason.”

Climbing down from the horse, the soldier takes a couple of stiff steps toward us before stopping and tilting his head back, as if his whole body is sore from the journey. There's a large sword sheathed at his waist, but his hands are nowhere near the hilt. Instead, he seems to be getting used to standing again, and there's a faint, pained groan coming from beneath his mask.

A moment later, his exhausted horse drops down to its knees, before finally rolling over dead at end of such a long and arduous journey.

“You must have traveled far,” Absalom says, approaching the soldier and then stopping a few feet ahead of me. “I'm sorry we're so remote out here, but as you can imagine we need to work undisturbed. Has one of the councils sent word?”

The soldier replies, but his voice is muffled by the masks covering his face. Reaching up, he starts to pull them loose one by one while also shifting the goggles he's been wearing. The process takes a moment, but finally he looks down toward the ground as he pulls the last of the masks away.

Or rather, as
she
pulls the last of the masks away.

Her hair, having been held tight by the masks, finally hangs loose for a moment.

“Wait,” I whisper, suddenly feeling a familiar sense of fear in my gut, “I know that -”

“So this is Jagadoon, huh?” Emilia says, raising her face to smile at me and squinting in the harsh sunlight. “I always wondered what -”

Rushing forward, I reach out to grab her throat, but Absalom grabs my shoulders and holds me back.

“Don't!” he hisses into my ear. “Abby, just don't! Remember the need for discipline!”

“Let me at her!” I shout, trying desperately to get free of his grip. “She's one of them!”

“I know,” he replies, “but there's to be no conflict at Jagadoon, remember? That goes for us as well as for her.”

“I plead the right of parlay,” Emilia says, her eyes fixed on me. “Even if we were not at Jagadoon, you'd still have to grant me that right. There are rules, after all, when it comes to combat.” She holds her arms out at her sides, as if to show that she's defenseless. “I'm the one who has taken all the risks here, am I not?
I'm
the one who's at
your
mercy. It's, what, three or four vampires against one poor spider? I wouldn't stand a chance.”

“What do you want?” I sneer, still trying to get free of Absalom's grip. Finally I manage to push his hands away, and then it takes all my strength to keep from going over to Emilia and wringing the life out of her neck.

“You know, Abby,” she replies, “really it should be
me
who's angry with
you
. I went back to the house in New York after you left a few months ago. I found Keller's body.” She pauses, and the smile is gone from her face now, replaced by a cold stare of hatred and, in her eyes, a hint of sorrow. “Believe what you like about my species, Abby,” she continues, “but we
are
capable of emotion, and Keller raised me after he took me into his care. I owed him everything, all my training, all my knowledge,
everything
, and he believed in me when everyone else thought I was a worthless little scrap of wasted tissue.” She pauses again, and this time
she
seems to be the one who's struggling to keep from attacking
me
. “This is neither the time or the place, Abby,” she adds, “but one day I
will
avenge his death.” Her eyes narrow slightly. “I'm sure you understand what that means.”

“I assume you came here to say more than that,” Absalom tells her. “Do you have a message for us?”

“I have a proposal,” she replies. “The great Lord of Karakh is more than willing to settle this conflict with blood and violence, but in his vast wisdom he wishes to reach out one final time and offer a peaceful resolution. We're so close to finding the lost palace of Karakh, and -”

“That will
never
happen!” I sneer.

“It won't?” She raises both eyebrows, as if she's amused. “Well, the Book of Karakh seems to think that it
will
, Abby, and I think I might set more store by the book than by your biased ramblings. After all, you're a bit of a -” She clears her throat, while mumbling the word “lunatic” in there somewhere.

“The Book of Gothos says that Karakh was lost forever,” I point out.

“The
first
testament might say that,” she replies, “but what about the second?” She smiles again. “Or has dear Absalom not let you read that part yet?”

“There will be no deals,” Absalom says firmly. “Whether or not you find Karakh, that's not the end of matters. Who is this great Lord of the palace, anyway? Which of the scattered remnants of your old council has chosen to rise up and crown himself as your wretched leader?”

“Our wretched leader, as you put it, happens to be my father.” She smiles at him for a moment, before turning to me. “Sorry, honey, not everyone is lucky enough to be an orphan. Some of us still have to deal with our parents.”

I take a step toward her, before Absalom puts a hand on my shoulder and I'm reminded that I have to stay calm. The old Abby, the Abby in New York, would have tried to tear Emilia apart several times over the past few minutes, but one of the many things I've learned at Jagadoon is the importance of discipline. Even though my body is filled with so much rage that I'm trembling, I force myself to take a step back.

“Impressive,” Emilia continues. “You're getting better, Abby. Still a long way to go, but... definitely better.”

“Tell your father that there will be no deals,” Absalom says firmly. “The spiders were defeated long ago. If a few of you have come together for one final attempt to reverse that defeat, so be it, but you will not succeed. History and fate are both against you.”

“Maybe,” she says with a smile, “or maybe not. Either way, I was sent to offer a possibility of peace. Not because we expected you to accept, of course, but because we want the record to show that we tried. After all,
we
are the civilized species here, so it behooves us to at least
attempt
to make a deal with you and the other savages. I could have tried to seek out your council, of course, but I figured I'd come and speak to you, Absalom, since I'm sure you're rather influential these days. Oh, and Abby you must -”

Stopping suddenly, her smile instantly fades and she seems to have spotted something behind us. I turn, just in time to see a figure in the doorway of the temple. After a moment, the figure steps out of view.

“Is that him?” Emilia asks.

Turning back to her, I see genuine concern in her eyes.

“If you mean my brother Jonathan,” I reply, “then yes, that's him.”

“Is he -” She takes a step forward, before stopping again. After staring at the temple for a moment longer, she turns to me, biting her lip as if she's trying to keep from asking something. “Is he okay?” she says finally.

“Why would
you
care?” I ask.

“I spent time with him back in New York,” she replies. “I had to do some awful things to him, but I also tried to protect him. He was the only person who ever -” She pauses, before taking a step back. “Never mind, it's not important. Tell him I said hello, though. Clearly you're having a fun little time here, but Abby... If you ever dare leave Jagadoon and come back to the real world, I think you'll find that the situation is a little more grim than you realize. Momentum is on
our
side and we have made inroads that none of you can possibly imagine. Not everyone will survive our next meeting.”

“Tell your father we don't respond well to threats,” Absalom replies.

“You can tell him yourself one day,” she says with a smile, “just before he crushes your miserable skull and marches over your corpse.” She glances toward the temple one more time, as if she hopes to get another glimpse of Jonathan, and then she walks over to her horse and kicks its head to check that it's dead. “Pity,” she mutters, “the journey here was hard enough when I had this old nag to ride.” She sighs, before turning and starting to make her way down the sloping side of the mountain. “I imagine the walk back,” she adds, “will be quite a slog. Still, mustn't grumble. Adios, losers!”

“Don't let her get to you,” Absalom says, turning to me. “All your training -”

“I know,” I reply, turning to Oncephalus and seeing the fear in her eyes. She held back while Emilia was here, as if the sight of a spider after all these years – albeit in human form – was a reminder of her past. “We need to get back to work.”

She stares at Emilia for a moment, watching as she walks away, before turning to me. “I'm sorry,” she stammers finally, with all the color having drained from her face, “I just... I never thought I'd have to see one of those creatures again.”

“Teach me to fight her,” I reply, stepping past her and picking up my staff. “No, more than that.” I pause for a moment, before turning first to Absalom and then to Oncephalus. “Teach me to fight and kill all of them.”