XLV. ...et les ombres épaisses (2)


Jelila Kane


77th Nome, Louisiana, 1936


I stayed a bit longer than planned. My son Arthur was staying with Isaac's family and Thomas had all the books I needed for my research. Also, he didn't ask many questions.

After their little expedition the kids kept quiet. Amos had found himself some new hobby, he was blowing day and night in a wooden clarinet. Julius kicked him out of the Nome in the end, so he ended up playing in the Bayou, serenading the turtles, while Abigail and Bram were roaming around, fishing and squabling. The three of them had become thick as thieves which wasn't good news. It could have been worst. He could have been playing the trumpet instead.

The summer days passed peacefully. One evening, however, an unexpected intrusion upset their tranquil course. Aaron Kane, Satamon's older brother burst into the refectory, accompanied by a tall woman with short hair and military clothes. I hadn't seen Nina for ages. Years of revolution and civil war had not changed her, they had only accentuated the hardness of her features which seemed drawn with a knife.

"Sorry to bother you, sis, but we have a security breach.

- What kind of…

- You should evacuate the Nome, Nina interrupted them. We tracked down a deity, it's somewhere near. "

Their faces were closed, they spoke calmly despite the urgency.

"Which deity ? asked Satamon.

- Two major gods, you can't stand the shock. Get the children to Chicago said Aaron. "

He grabbed her by the arms.

"I'll open the portal, get them here, quick. "

- I'm not going, shouted a voice, I'm a combat magician, I can handle myself. "

Mariam was standing in the stairwell.

"Sure you are, said her mother. Now is not the time for mindless bravado. Go get your sisters and cousins.

- What's happening? "

Julius had just joined Mariam on the stairs.

"Where are the other? " asked Aaron, ignoring him. Mariam shrugged.

"Get your khopesh, and wait here, instructed Satamon. "

She turned around and saw another of her girls entering the piece.

"Ruth, thank gods...

- I'll get Judith said Ruth. But Abi is in somewhere the Bayou.

- With Bram and Amos, i realized, out loud. "

Horror flashed across Satamon's face. Her husband moved to the door.

"I'll get them, said Thomas. Evacuate the rest.

- I'm with you, i added," and hurried after him.

Nina sighed and came along. We hurried along the quay. Thomas untied two Egyptian boats.

"Go with Nina" he instructed me.

I obey. I was relieved to be with Menshikova. She had a long experience of confrontations with gods. Even more than Bérénice Koité. We sailed through the mangroves, keeping quiet so as not to attract attention.

Nina and I followed Thomas who seemed to know where he was going. For my part, I was already lost . The trees looked all alike, tall, gray and threatening. Nina hummed gently and put her hand in the water. Little wrinkles formed on the smooth black surface.

She closed her eyes, concentrating. I understood that she was watching the disturbances in the liquid element. Finally, she opened them again and said:

"Something big is moving about four hundred yards from here.

- I think the children are on Turtle Island, they go there often, whispered Thomas.

- Go get there, I'll watch whatever this thing is. "

We separated. Nina put her hand back in the water. She pulled it away abruptly.

"What, I whispered.

- It's gone.

- Gone?

- As if it went inside Duat. "

She stopped the boat. I got my wand out of my bag and studied the Duat disturbances.

"There, I pointed.

- What?

- Isfet. "

Though faint it was unmistakable. I took my staff out.

"Let's go just said Menshikova. "

Her face showed absolutely no emotion.

As we advanced, the dark water took on a red glow. We passed a line of trees and reached a sort of wide lake, a liquid glade between the trees. In its center emerged an island in the shape of a tongue. I recognized Thomas' boat which was moored there. A cry broke the silence.

"Jelila!"

Bram and Abigail were running in our direction. Nina deftly steered the boat towards them, then jumped straight into the water.

"I'm going around the island, she told me. Thomas is probably facing them right now."

She disappeared noiselessly into the dark water. I climbed the coast of the island and caught the two kids. I took them by the shoulder.

"Let's go back to the boat, okay?"

Bram was staring at something on my left. I turned around. Thomas was standing on the small strip of land that stretched the island, holding Amos by his shoulders, singing in the breeze. His green eyes shone with an unhealthy brilliance. In front of them, a whirlwind concealed two shapes. From them emanated a strong smell of sulfur.

The black water was boiling. Slowly I saw shapes coming up towards us, dark sticky masses that came from the depths. Thomas's song became more hoarse, and one by one, the drowned rose to their feet, facing the whirlwind. He let go of Amos' shoulders to raise his arms to the sky, then stood in front of him. Slowly the boy began to back away. I put the kids in the boat, and in turn advanced on the strip of land, in his direction.

The larger shape then plunged into the water. From the distance, I had time to distinguish something that looked like a giant crocodile. It moved toward us fast, casting aside the drowned men that tried to slow it. Halfway through, something then stuck violently in his side, and the water spurted out like a geyser.

The underwater battle between the god and Menshikova continued for a while. I reached my cousin, picked him up, and brought him back to the boat. The shape from which emanated the red light let out a shrill scream. Thomas was still singing to the drowned.

Hastily, I cast off the moorings and stopped myself from taking the children away from the island. They were silent, Bram huddled against Abi. Amos' eyes were still wide, not worried, but he looked shocked.

"Who was it, he whispered to me?

- Did it say something to you, I asked.

- But who...

- Tell me! "

He looked at his feet.

"No, he said, I just saw the light.

- And you marched right to it?

- It was my idea, intervened Abigail. I saw a giant crocodile and wanted to investigate. "

Gods almighty! Let that be a lesson to you then. Thomas and Nina could very well die there."

Abigail bit her lips on the verge of tears. Bram tried to comfort her.

"Amos, i asked again, did you look it in the eyes?

- I don't know.

- How could you not know? "

He resumed staring at the water. The stain of chaos was on the three of them. They should undergo purification in the the shortest time. At last, we reached the Nome. It was on a war feet.

I sent the kids to the back of the Nome, where the portal to Sohan's Nome in Chicago was still open. Then I indicated to Satamon the location of the two magicians who remained in the mangrove. She immediately took the lead of a detachment to join them, Karel ensuring the defense of the Nome.

The magicians returned after an hour. Thomas had suffered injuries to his right arm and head, but appeared to be safe and sound.

"They left the territory, announced Satamon. I will send a message to neighboring Nomes."

Satamon gathered the fighters in the dining hall to administer first aid to the wounded. I saw her lovingly wrap the bandages around her husband's skull.A little apart, I breathed better, relieved.

Sobek and Set, we came close to disaster. I expected anything but that. And I, teaching Hannibal how to host a god. The meeting had opened my eyes to the enormity of our task. But Set is gaining strength it seems, we have to hurry.

"What are you doing there? Thought your family banned you. "

I jumped. Nina Menshikova was behind me, staring with her humorless gaze.

"Well I… Complicated as usual.

– Hmm... "

She had a kind smile that surprised me.

"The Bellinis are up to something. Killing each other, working for Iskandar, setting us up on false leads.

- What do you mean?

- What I just said. Aaron and I've been looking for the Red Lord for years. And he tried to manifest himself just now?

- Apparently he was trying to convince Sobek to join his cause.

- You know, the talks about your family's blood aren't dead.

- Is that a threat? "

She paused as two magicians passed us.

"Your father revived them with his fantastic idea of marriage.

- Why this? None of us invited Set here.

- I'm not talking about that. But if his presence leaks out, as it will now that an entire Nome knows it, there might be a new war between the reds and the blacks. And if your family aspires to lead the Warrior families, it'll have to reject and destroy the elements that doesn't fit their blood ideal. It happened in the past, can happen again.

- Nahum? I asked."

She nodded.

"My father, I said, didn't believe in all this. Else, why would he marry me to a Setian?

- He changed said Nina. I knew him otherwise.

- Really?

- When my brother took the place of Ahmed Tataryn as the 18th Nome's Sem Priest, he accused it of having fallen into the internal struggles of the red families. He even insinuated that we had become a Setian family, we Menshikovs. Then he invaded us from Persia, with the help of other Warrior families.

- I know all this. it's history now.

- Your father was at the time very quick to kill the first red magician who crossed his path. Something changed him, since he even befriended a Bellini apparently.

- Gian Bellini, he's dead.

- I've heard. Might have been this whole Nahum story. Or the a thrashing inflicted on him by Anna Assoulmiratova. "

She turned on her heels to walk away, but I held her back.

"Nina ?

- Yes?

- What were the exact terms of the peace we made then?

- Why don't you ask Jabari? Also, good luck with your little bastard. "

Aaron and she left the Nome the same evening. Satamon remained to put her Nome in order, while Thomas left to join the children in Chicago. I decided not to linger too long. I had a lot to do.

First I went Jerusalem. The big day approached, everything had to be ready, the spell, the instruments, down to the smallest detail. I took the opportunity to go and kiss my son, Arthur in honor of his father. This name was actually a bad idea. Each time I pronounced it, I had on my tongue the bitterness of his death. They keep leaving me.

Somehow, in my heart I knew who it was. The killer I mean. He wanted to help Osiris. A whole restoration of all the after lives is the only way to avoid chaos. Now that the throne is empty, Isfet slowly creeps through the Duat. It can only serve the red lord.

However, I had a strong unpleasant surprise. I had been robbed in my absence, all Arthur's documents had disappeared. Who could have dared? Anger swelled in my guts at the sight of the carnage. It was all he left me, that and my son of course. Who took them? What do they know?

The thought of the session to come comforted me somewhat. It's tonight, tonight we will know everything. I kissed my son, put a layer of protective spells on my apartment and went to join the nearest gate that brought me to Rome.

I found Desdemona in the basements of the Nome. She was true to herself, sparkling in her gold and emerald jewelry. A man was there as well, and I shivered seeing his look.

"I'm doing this as a favor, to Hannibal, he explained to me. "

Something is wrong with his eyes. He has cold eyes, they're not just pale, they look insane.

"And surely, I shall return you the favor sir Kostelic. Personally, answered Desdemona."

A power strong enough to awaken the dead. All we have to do is channel it. The son of Hades had put on the black shirt of the fascist militia. His hand was cold to the touch. I traced the circles around the body and prepared the ritual. My heart was pounding with excitement. Finally! It was time. The perfectly preserved mummy of Gian Bellini was before us like an enigma about to be cleared up.

Kostelic grabbed my hand in an iron grip, I struggled. Then the images came, at first distant, as though shining through a waterfall. Then they became clearer. The necromancer's hand burned my arm. I began to struggle involuntarily, trying to see as much as possible. At last, the spell broke.

"What did you see? asked Desdemona.

- His last conversation. He... "

My hand was trembling. Pieces were falling together. "Truth" I said. I had just swallowed a secret burning thread.