THE QUESTERS, PART XIX

I had multiple broken bones. I could feel them grinding together as my body healed.

We were all hurt, but Alex, Faye, Jonah, Smit, and I had the Great Gift to one degree or another. So we were regenerating, although at different speeds. It would be a day or so until Faye and Jonah would be able to fight or even just travel on their own. Alex and Smit would be fully recovered before nightfall. I would need less than an hour to recover. The Gift has always been strong in me.

Beck was near death and desperately needed a true healer. Rose wasn't as badly injured, but she was still hurt. At least she seemed stable. Smit had painfully crawled next to Beck and was doing his best to keep her alive.

"Ed," I said to our Lockjaw through gritted teeth. "Get us back to Nyack. Take us to the Sorceress Supreme's home."

Ed whined in agreement and began looking for a spot from where he could catch all of us in his teleportation field.

Cain Marko - the Monster in Red Iron - was dead. I tried not to look at Cain's split-open body. Of all the blood soaking the hilltop, most of it was Cain's. He had died in tremendous agony, trying to break free from his curse. Towards the end, as we cut him open, he'd no longer been able to control himself and he lashed out at us. And even a badly wounded Juggernaut was a deadly opponent.

If I remembered ancient legend correctly, Cain had once been counted as a great villain. He'd been a foe of no less than the Crippled Lord and his Wilder warband - including even the Old One. But nobody deserved to die as Cain had died. His screams were still echoing in my ears.

A book called the Darkhold was resting in my lap. We'd ripped it out of Cain and it should have been as warm as new-spilled blood. But instead, the book was icy cold. I wiped blood and viscera away from it. And then I stopped and averted my eyes once I caught a glimpse of what was carved into the black cover.

I could feel, taste, and smell the true nature of the book. The Darkhold was an evil obscenity.

Jonah was lying next to me, trying to catch his breath. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he looked up at the sky.

"Rhane!" he choked out. "Something's coming! We have to go!"

Spiders can sense danger better than anyone else and I'd long ago learned to respect them for that. I automatically looked up, following Jonah's gaze. But at first, I couldn't see anything.

Then finally I saw it. A tiny fiery dot, glowing as it fell towards us. And even as I watched, it seemed to become larger.

"Ed!" Jonah yelled as best he could. "Get us the hell out of here!"

"Now!" I added.

I didn't have a clue what was going on, but I agreed with Jonah. We had to go.

By then, Ed had found the best place to employ his power. Ed barked as his blue and white energies began to surround us.

Then I saw something strange. For the briefest of moments, I glimpsed what I thought was Cain's unarmored spirit rising from his corpse. He was transformed - still a big man, but nowhere near as huge as when we fought.

Looking upward, Cain seemed to silently howl with laughter. Then he opened his arms wide. It was as if he was greeting an old and beloved friend. I just didn't know if that friend was life or death.

But then we were gone and I saw no more.

We ended up on the walk before the front door of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Surrounding us were the great towers of Nyack.

"Healer! Get a healer!" Smit gasped out painfully. He was still with Beck, trying to control her bleeding.

The passersby on the sidewalk were shrinking away from us. That was more than reasonable since we presented a terrible sight.

Smit's eyes were becoming yellow with rage. "Get a healer, dammit!" he yelled.

Ed ran to the Sanctum's door and head-butted it at full speed. Then he reared up and began scratching at it.

"That thing in the sky - what was it?" Jonah asked in amazement. He was still staring upward, but now there was nothing to see.

"I think it was for Cain," I told Jonah as I staggered to my feet. I still had the book in my hands. It felt wrong and I had the sense that it was somehow alive.

"But what was it?" Jonah demanded. He was astonished by what he'd seen.

Then a demon opened the Sanctum's door and stood framed within it. He was dressed in patched denim pants, a tattered leather jacket, and black boots so worn that they were almost falling apart. As always, he stank of fire and brimstone.

"What the hell!" the demon roared at Ed. "I'm gonna gut you!"

Ed yipped and vanished.

"Hello, Blaze," I said to the demon. It's important to sound calm when you speak to it.

"Hey, Johnny," Jonah added less formally.

"If you're here for Jarnbjorn again, you can just go fuck yourself," the demon snarled as he took a belligerent step out the door. He was talking to Jonah. I wasn't sure what that was about.

Then Illyana, barefoot and wearing a skimpy robe - and I think nothing else - appeared behind the demon. The Eye of Agammoto was at her breast and she was clutching it in one hand. The crowd surrounding us retreated immediately, more than a few running off as soon as they saw Illyana.

"What in the name of..." Illyana began. But, oddly, she wasn't looking at the pack of injured men and woman who'd appeared on her front stoop. Instead, she was peering off to the south, as if at something very distant.

Meanwhile, Smit awkwardly picked up Beck and carried her over to Illyana. The demon moved to block Smit's path, but then Illyana snapped out of her reverie and put a restraining hand on the demon's shoulder.

"Please," Smit begged as he held out Beck's body. "Please, Lady Sorceress. Help her!"

"Uhm..." came a nervous sounding voice. It was an out-of-breath mage of House Drumm who was standing not too close, but not too far, from us. Apparently he'd heard Smit demand for a healer.

Illyana granted permission to approach with a gesture. The healer hesitantly drew near Beck and Smit. But as he got closer to Beck, the healer's eyes focused on her. Then he intoned words of power and put a hand on Beck's forehead. The most obvious bruises and breaks vanished as Beck's eyes suddenly flicked open. She was still covered in her own drying blood, but now she was in the best shape of anyone in my pack. After checking Beck's vital signs, the healer-mage moved over to Rose.

Meanwhile, Illyana was looking at me with her bright yellow eyes.

"This can't be a coincidence," she said to me quizzically. "Did you somehow bring the Crimson Gem down from orbit?"

"What gem is that?" I asked. "And where's 'orbit'?"

"No, that can't be," Illyana continued distantly - she seemed to be ignoring my question. "Why... you'd have to kill the Juggernaut to do that. But how?"

I held up the book.

Illyana stared at the book for several very long seconds. Then her eyes met mine once again.

"Cain Marko had that?" she asked. "He had the Darkhold?"

"Actually, it was inside of him," I replied. "We cut it out with an Adam blade. Cain died, but I think he's better now."

"What?" Jonah asked in confusion.

Illyana closed her eyes and took a long breath. "That bitch Morgana..." she snarled. "But that explains why nobody could find the book, or even figure out where it was..."

Jonah was looking at me. "How can Cain be alive?" he asked in disbelief.

I shrugged helplessly. "I saw something strange just before we left..."

Then my ears popped as a wash of pressure and wind flew past us. Our bones rattled as a shuddering boom filled the sky. Dust flew, buildings creaked and settled, facades crumbled, and roofing tiles crashed to the streets. Birds tumbled out-of-control across the sky. After that, there was a moment of stunned silence - Nyack was as quiet as it had ever been. Then came a confused eruption of screams, curses, gabbled questions, neighing horses, and barking dogs.

"What the weaponex was that?" I asked.

"Shockwave," Illyana told me. "I think the gem dropped from orbit and merged with Cain a few minutes ago. It took that long for the sound to reach us."

"What's an orbit?" Jonah asked, essentially repeating my earlier question.

"If something goes high enough, it begins falling around the Earth," Illyana explained. "It can do that for a long time. Perhaps centuries."

Wow, that sounded like complete bullshit, but Illyana has always been honest with me.

"What happened to Cain? How'd we get here?" Beck asked as she carefully climbed down from Smit's arms. However, she was still weak and had to lean against Smit.

Or maybe Beck was just pretending. Smit held Beck tight as they looked at each other. Then, after a moment of hesitation, their lips met.

Not too far from me, Faye was sitting with her back up against a wall of the Sanctum. "Saw that coming," she said with a pained chuckle.

We were scattered around the Great Hall of the Sanctum Sanctorum. It's a big room that opens from the Sanctum's front door and reveals a huge staircase that leads upstairs. There are doors flanking the Great Hall that lead off to the rest of the first floor.

That was the most common configuration of that part of the Sanctum. Sometimes, the layout is completely different. During a previous visit, Illyana and I enjoyed a dinner of pachysaur steak in something that looked like a great stone tomb. Illyana told me that the Sanctum resembled the inner chambers of a huge and ancient pyramid that was located on the other side of the world.

The House Drumm healer was named Hiram. He did his best for us and then left with a bow, having never said a word. He also didn't ask for payment. Hiram was apparently Illyana's neighbor and whether he was simply being neighborly by not mentioning coin, or he was just scared of Illyana, was a good question

In any case, thanks to Hiram, Beck, and Rose were functional again. The rest of us were more-or-less recovered. Rose were sitting on the floor at my feet as Faye leaned on the back of my chair. Jonah and Alex were on a long couch and Ed was between them. Ed's head was resting on Jonah's lap and he was keeping a careful eye on the demon who was standing next to Illyana. Meanwhile, Beck and Smit were sharing a not-very-large chair that kept them in very close contact with each other.

A beautiful and unclad spirit of air and darkness - apparently unconcerned with her nudity - had appeared and was handing around mugs filled with some kind of hot tea. Jonah pretended not to notice her. Alex and Rose were unabashedly staring.

Illyana was curled up in a well-stuffed chair, her feet tucked under her body. The Darkhold was in Illyana's lap and she was slowly flipping through it. Every now and then she'd pause to read a passage.

Eventually, she stopped and closed the book. She had a finger tucked into it, marking a specific page.

"I found it," she said. "The Montesi formula. Ten pages of deep arcana. It was supposed to be the doom of all vampires. Forever."

I leaned forward. "Supposed to be..." I repeated.

Illyana nodded. Then she lifted her head and spoke in a tone that was oddly penetrating. "Sigmund, I need to see you in the main hall."

Sigmund was growing up. He was now perhaps in his early teens.

"Lady Seeker," he addressed me as he bowed. He was lanky but tall for his age.

I returned the bow. Someday, quite possibly long after I was gone, Sigmund would be the next Sorcerer Supreme. I suspected he would be a good one.

Illyana handed Sigmund the book. He hesitated for a second, but then carefully accepted it.

"Is this..." he began.

"Yes, it is," Illyana interrupted gently. "Sigmund, we need to talk to Stephen."

Sigmund nodded and then pivoted about. A perfect circle appeared around him, glowing silver and blue. Odd symbols and formulae flickered in and out of existence within the boundary of the circle.

Then Sigmund sat cross-legged within his circle, with his head raised and eyes closed. After a moment, his body lifted upward and began floating several feet above the floor.

When Sigmund's eyes opened again, someone much older was peering out of them.

Illyana actually knelt and that was a sight I'd never seen before. I hastily copied her. My pack followed.

The Ancient One considered us for a long, stark, moment. Then he held up the book that he was still holding.

"When I tried this so long ago, I failed," he said regretfully. "My mistake was that the apex vampire still existed when I cast the spell. So I didn't truly rid this dimension of the bane of vampirism. Instead, the curse somehow kept the dust and mist of Dracula in existence. The spell eliminated the other vampires, but their curse still existed."

Then the Ancient One paused as he considered the past. After that, he spoke again.

"Eventually, the King of the Vampires reformed. And then he subverted my working. And once again, there were vampires walking the night."

None of us - not even Illyana - said anything. We were in the presence of a mighty power and to interrupt him would be beyond stupid.

The Ancient One took a deep breath before continuing.

"If you want this to work, you'll have to destroy Dracula first," he finished.

I saw Jonah's lips move. He seemed to be saying something like 'duck'.

Someone had to say something, and this mess was my responsibility. So I spoke up.

"Okay," I said quietly. "Kill Dracula. Any idea how we'll do that?"

"Violently," the Ancient One replied very seriously. For a man who had been a scholar and a healer, the Ancient One could put a lot of predatory emphasis into a single word.

Oddly enough, none of my pack turned and walked out of the Sanctum Sanctorum. I had the feeling that the Ancient One had provided the answer that they all understood.

Then the Ancient One continued. "The powers that brought you together are mighty. I can see the bindings that hold you together. You are something like a team of horses, but one slot in the harness is empty. Priestess Kathryn said she would grant you mighty aid. I've asked her spirit to send it to you."

Then the light of Stephen Strange vanished from Sigmund's eyes. The boy descended to the floor as the bright magic circle surrounding him flared out of existence.

In the silence, a bump came from the front door.

With a savage growl, the demon walked to the door and yanked it open. Then he frowned and stepped to one side.

On purple wings, a cat-sized form fluttered inside. It immediately bee-lined towards Illyana and landed on her.

"Lockheed!" Illyana cooed in delight as the tiny dragon wrapped himself around her neck and shoulders.

[It's going to be a while until I finish the next chapter. Please be patient.]