The Burning Man, page 27
part #2 of Kingdom of the Serpent Series
‘You have been brought into the Court of the Two Ma’ats to declare innocence of wrongs before the great god, and before the full tribunal of forty-two divine assessors,’ Osiris intoned. ‘You must defend yourself successfully or be destroyed for ever.’
‘You told me I wouldn’t be wiped from Existence,’ she said angrily. Laura was shocked to hear her voice, a rustle of autumn leaves, barely holding on.
‘And you will not. If you defend yourself successfully.’
Laura released a foul-mouthed tirade that at least made her feel a little better.
‘The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons are an anomaly in this world,’ Osiris continued. ‘You were created for a world that does not exist, by a power that does not rule, which is an echo of the one true god that made this place.’
‘I get it. You’re just a bunch of arse-kissing collaborators. You see who’s in the driving seat and you get right behind them. “Yes, boss, no, boss.” I’ve seen your kind in every awful job I’ve tried to do in my miserable life.’ She was proud that she sounded so defiant.
‘What is the point in offering the promise of magic to a people dwelling in a place where there can be no magic?’ Osiris continued. ‘In offering hope where there can be none? It only makes the people restless and bitter and sorrowful. It disrupts the tranquillity of their lives and ruins what little joy they might find in their short existence. What you do is cruelty. What you bring to this stable world is terror. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons are not a force for good, but for harm.’
‘So you’re saying we should give up and accept the world’s a mess? Just because people are stumbling along blindly—’
‘They are content.’
‘Because they don’t know what they could have.’
‘They never will. Not in this world.’
‘Then we’ll blow the damn thing up and start again.’
‘You must recognise the absurdity of your words: that a handful of mortals could unseat the great architect of the universe.’
‘You’re not recognising something, bonehead,’ she spat. ‘We’ve got the Pendragon Spirit, and it’s alive. And every human being has a shard of that power in them, just waiting to be awakened. That’s why you want to destroy us, and the big bad Void wants to keep us contained and living in ignorance – because you’re scared of what we might achieve if the human race ever opens its eyes.’
There was silence for a long moment, and then Osiris raised a hand. ‘The judgment will commence. And if you are found wanting, the Pendragon Spirit will be removed and destroyed. And one by one the lights will be extinguished, and the Blue Fire will die, and there will only be the comforting, endless dark.’
‘You don’t get to judge me,’ Laura said. ‘No one does.’
‘I call forth the Lord of the Sacred Words.’
The ranks separated and a god with the hunched body and features of a baboon stepped forward. He unfurled a papyrus scroll, which he set on a lectern, and then took up a reed pen, poised to write.
‘Thoth, god of wisdom, will record the judgment.’
Then came Anubis, jackal eyes glittering coldly. He held a pair of golden scales with a feather resting on one dish.
‘The god of embalming will weigh your heart against the feather to see if you are worthy of joining the ancient gods in the Fields of Reeds.’
‘Why do I get the feeling you’ve already made up your mind?’
Laura was overcome by a deep sense of dread. A shadow fell across her, and it was the coldest thing she had ever experienced. Webs of frost bloomed on her skin. Something loomed over her just beyond her field of vision; she had the feeling she would go mad if her eyes were to fall on it.
‘If you are judged unworthy, if you are found false and wicked, the daemon Ammut is here. She is the Devourer of the Damned. She will eat your heart, and then she will eat you, and you will die the ultimate death – wiped from Existence, never to have been.’
Laura closed her eyes and tried not to tremble but failed. She wanted to say something brave and clever, but no words would come.
‘Let the judgment begin,’ Osiris announced.
4
Church found himself in a stone tunnel lit by torches. Along one wall there was a beautiful relief of brightly coloured images that appeared to tell a story. The hieroglyphics made no sense to him, but amongst the scarabs and stylised men and animal-headed gods, there was a scene of a row of gods bowing down to what was unmistakably a Caraprix.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival of a cursing Hunter, then Shavi, Fayed and finally Etain.
Church took Etain’s cold, dead hand. ‘I don’t know if you can understand me, but thank you for bringing us this far. I’m sorry for what happened to you. I didn’t mean for you to die, and if there’s any way I can make up for it, I will.’ He let the words hang in the air. Etain continued to stare at him with wide, unblinking eyes.
After a moment, she marched along the passage. As they followed her, the atmosphere in the tunnel became increasingly heady, and an unreal quality permeated everything.
‘Someone is coming,’ Shavi said. Church had noticed that Shavi’s perception was now so sharp he was aware of things long before anyone else.
Church drew his sword. They waited.
Running footsteps echoed off the stone. A figure hurtled around a bend in the tunnel, and Church was shocked to see a duplicate of himself. The new-Church, however, did not appear to be shocked at coming into contact with his doppelgänger.
He ran up to Church and the others. ‘Is this it? Is this the right time?’ he gasped. ‘You have to listen to me. This is a warning.’ He looked around, confused. ‘Is this the right place? Am I too late?’
A chill ran through Church. ‘This doesn’t make sense.’
‘When you’re in Otherworld and they call, heed it right away. They’re going to bring him back. They’re—’
Church turned to Hunter. ‘I’ve experienced this before. It was an echo, or something like that, some breakdown in time and space, between when I was in the other place … after the casket of spiders … between there and when I was in Edinburgh …’ He dried up, unable to explain the bizarre sequence of events clearly.
‘Okay, the medication is clearly not working,’ Hunter said.
Church turned back to his other self. ‘That was a closed loop, an echo. It shouldn’t be happening here.’
The new-Church became gripped with fear. In panic, he yelled, ‘Too late!’ and then he was running back along the tunnel. The footsteps quickly faded to nothing.
Church was filled with a deep anxiety. ‘What is going on?’
Shavi rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘Some say moments of great trauma can resonate through all time, through reality itself, imprinted on the very essence of what is. A fingerprint on a window, a trace memory of what was.’
‘When I was in that cavern, before I met the Caretaker and I made that warning, it felt unreal,’ Church said, ‘as if I was mouthing someone else’s words.’ He sheathed his sword. ‘So what was I really trying to warn myself about? What’s waiting for us?’
‘It is best not to try to second-guess the future. That is a guarantee for living in fear,’ Shavi said. ‘Follow the Buddhist code: live in the moment. It is the only way to find peace.’
Unsettled, they continued through enormous, ringing chambers, some filled with reflecting pools, others with shafts piercing upwards through the stone to frame stars or the moon. There were palms and strange, alien flowers, statues of cats and crocodiles and hawks, and an overwhelming air of grandeur.
‘I don’t like this,’ Church said. ‘Where is everybody?’
‘Do you hear that? Ritual music?’ Shavi cocked his head. ‘And I smell incense.’ He broke off to the left, following the sound and smell. It brought him to a row of lattice windows, each barely bigger than a hand. Peering through, Church and Shavi saw Laura lying on the slab.
Church blocked Hunter from seeing. ‘We need to get into that room,’ Church said.
‘Let me see.’
‘No. It’s Laura. They’ve cut her open.’
Hunter thrust Church to one side. When he turned back from the window, his face was like iron. ‘She’s still alive. She’s a tough kid. Let’s get her out.’
‘The chamber is filled with gods,’ Shavi said. ‘We could not survive.’
5
‘Will you shut the hell up? You’re driving me crazy!’ Veitch ranged around the chamber, followed closely by Ruth.
‘I’m just trying to get you to see sense. We were a team once. Come back and work with us—’
‘I preferred you when you were ready to stab me in the back. At least you were quiet.’
‘I’m not saying I’ve forgiven you for what you did. Jesus, who could—’
‘You think that’s a good way to win me over?’
Ruth glanced at Miller, who urged her to continue. She chose her words carefully. ‘I know you’ve had some hard times. And it’s made you bitter. And you’ve done some … questionable things. But Miller is right. Existence wouldn’t have chosen you to be a Brother of Dragons if you weren’t inherently good. Screwed up, massively flawed – clearly, but good nevertheless.’
‘There you go with those compliments again.’ Veitch glared at Miller. ‘Should have realised this had your fingerprints all over it.’
‘No, this is me talking to you, Veitch. Ryan. From the heart. For old times’ sake. Don’t hand over the Anubis Box. Come back to us. Do the right thing.’
‘You really think I can wash all that blood off my hands just like that?’
Ruth remained silent.
‘Yeah, didn’t think so. Fact is, I’m the wounded party here. I’m the one who was led on – yeah, by you, right? Remember that? I’m the one who was abandoned by my mates and then screwed by Existence, left to rot until the Army of the Ten Billion Spiders gave me a leg-up.’
‘It wasn’t like that, and you know it! They used you, as much as those gods who manipulated you.’
‘And I’ve had enough of it. I’m bringing the whole fucking building down, and fuck the lot of you.’ He gripped the Anubis Box so hard, Ruth was afraid it would shatter.
‘It’s a childish gesture,’ she said. ‘Wreck everything just so you can stamp your foot and get back at everyone who’s hurt your feelings. And I so mean wreck everything – the whole universe! How insane is that?’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t do anything by half-measures.’ Veitch stared into the waters of the reflecting pool, deep in thought. ‘Okay,’ he said after a moment. ‘I’ll do it. I’ll come back and help you lot out.’
Ruth could barely believe her ploy had worked. ‘All right—’
‘All you’ve got to do is tell me you love me.’
Ruth’s mouth fell open. She could see in Veitch’s face that he was serious.
‘And mean it. I’ll know if you’re lying.’
‘I can’t do that.’
Veitch nodded slowly. ‘I know. Whatever you say, I’m not an idiot.’
The door swung open and Owein, Tannis and Branwen entered. Veitch was briefly puzzled by Etain’s absence, but then turned back to Ruth. The sadness in his face shocked her.
‘See, there’s no point in me doing the right thing.’
‘Of course there is. Do it for yourself.’
He shook his head. ‘I’m a lost cause, darlin’. You’re the only thing that matters, the only thing worth fighting for in this fucked-up world. For you, I’d do anything.’
Ruth was speechless.
As Veitch went over to the Brothers and Sisters of Spiders, Ruth sat down with Miller, touched and confused. ‘Why does he feel that strongly about me?’ Anger followed the confusion, but she didn’t know why.
The electric sound of Veitch drawing his sword demanded their attention. The black fire that leaped across the room was mirrored in his face. ‘Traitorous bitch,’ he snarled. Then, to Ruth: ‘Betrayed again, see? That’s what life is for me.’
‘I don’t understand. How did they communicate with you?’
Ignoring her question, Veitch replied, ‘Etain has brought that bastard Church here to get me when my guard is down. Only I’m going to get him first, and this time I’m not making any mistakes. He dies.’
6
Laura sat on the top of a dune and stared into the heat haze hanging on the horizon. The desert stretched out as far as the eye could see in all directions, as desolate as her heart. She smelled the odour of carrion long before the jackal appeared around the foot of the dune and sat on its haunches on the slope just below her. Its glittering, intelligent eyes fixed on her and it said in a low voice, ‘Laura, with the chosen name DuSantiago.’
This made perfect sense to Laura. ‘Got it in one.’
‘You are lost. You have been lost all your life. Is that correct?’
Laura didn’t answer.
The jackal looked to its left where a six-year-old blonde girl was being hit with a Bible by a woman. The girl was crying, but trying to smile through the tears.
‘Were you a dutiful child? Did you follow the path of right?’
‘You’re joking, aren’t you? First chance, I was out of there with one mission: take whatever life had to offer.’
A thirteen-year-old Laura swallowing an E before lying down to have sex with a long-haired man with a back covered with tattoos.
She watched herself in coitus. ‘I never did get his name,’ she said dispassionately. ‘You always remember your first time. I wish I could scrub it out of my mind with a wire brush.’
Another jackal wandered around the foot of the dune and settled to gnaw on a thigh bone.
‘Did you give back for the life that had been given to you?’ Anubis asked.
‘The life given to me?’ Laura snapped. ‘A mum who beat me into next week from when I was old enough to walk, and a dad who sat back and watched, making sympathetic noises and doing nothing. Yeah, it was one big celebration.’
‘Did you have any friends?’
‘I had myself.’
‘Did you honour your parents, who brought you into the world and nurtured you?’
Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘Let’s see that, shall we.’
To her right, she lay on the sand while her mother carved Jesus loves you into her back with a kitchen knife. ‘No, I don’t think I honoured them.’ She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, leaving a gritty trail of sand on her cheek.
‘What value did your life have?’
Laura watched numerous scenes play out of her drinking, taking drugs, having sex, committing petty crime. ‘None,’ she said. The weight on her heart was growing heavier by the minute.
More scenes unfolded, desperate and pathetic.
‘You agree that your existence was worthless?’
‘Yes.’ She stifled a sob. She had always known it, deep in her heart.
‘You have squandered that vital resource given to all living things?’
‘Yes, yes, yes! I always knew life was pointless. I learned my lesson well.’
Behind her, the sound of heavy movement. Fear bloomed inside her, taking root in the despair. She didn’t dare look around as the cold shadow fell on her back.
‘Does anyone stand with you?’
No,’ Laura sobbed. ‘Who’d stand with me?’
‘We would.’
Laura saw Church standing next to her, Caledfwlch in his hand, the blue flames licking gently in the desert breeze.
‘Lives are filled with disappointments and failures. It’s easy to focus on them, and once they’ve happened, they’re always there, tugging at your memory. It feels as if you can’t escape them.’ Church gently brushed the hair from Laura’s forehead.
‘You have no authority here,’ Anubis said.
‘It doesn’t matter what happened in Laura’s old life,’ Church continued regardless. ‘It doesn’t matter what flaws she still carries around with her – the kind of flaws we all carry. Because she’s aspiring to be something better, and that’s what really matters. She pretends she doesn’t care about anything, but we can all see the truth. She’s chosen to walk this path. She’s put her life on the line for others. She’s risked everything when there appeared to be no hope of ever winning. But do you know what the real proof of her value is?’
‘You have no authority here.’ Anubis’s words turned to an animal growl.
‘She’s found friends, the kind of friends you rarely make, who would lay down their lives for her.’
Laura thought she would cry.
‘You have no authority here,’ Church said. ‘We’re Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. We stand for Life. And I’m taking Laura away from here now.’
‘The judgment is not complete!’ Anubis bared his teeth and howled. As the furious sound rolled out, the desert melted away and the desolation faded with it until Laura was lying back on the slab.
‘Hello, darlin’. That’s going to leave a nasty scar.’ Hunter stood on the other side, pretending to be aloof.
‘You love this, don’t you? Playing the big hero saving the girl,’ she croaked.
‘Yeah. It’s my job.’
‘I think we should save the witty repartee until we are actually out of here,’ Shavi said as he lifted Laura off the slab. ‘I’m going to bind your chest with mummy wrappings,’ he said to her gently.
‘Good old Shavi,’ Laura replied dreamily. She felt as if she was slipping away.
Osiris rose from his throne. ‘I expected more of the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. You stand here in the Court of the Two Ma’ats before the lords of the greatest of the Great Dominions. No stealth, no cleverness, just futile bravado. Now you will all be judged, and afterwards the Pendragon Spirit will be torn from you, and you will be devoured by the daemon Ammut.’
A shiver in the dark at the back of the chamber.
‘Your legend gone for ever. Everything you did, everything you stood for, forgotten. And this will eternally be the world of the Devourer of All Things. Without magic. Without hope.’
