I ALMOST STOPPED dead in my tracks right there.
Dear Almighty, how had I not realised it before?
And the other, more important question: how the bloody hell had that happened!?
We were still walking silently through the now-empty palace, but the noise inside my head was deafening. Almighty, I was in love with him.
Then I did stop.
Oh, crap.
I'm in love with him.
Cristine ran into me. "Oof!" she said. "Tammy, what was that?"
"Uh…" I scrambled for an answer. "I… Does anyone know where we're actually goin'? To find the Celestrians, I mean. We're just wanderin' if we don't know where to look."
I thought it was a pretty good excuse. Apparently, the others agreed. They exchanged glances.
"Well," Nick said, "there was that door on the level below. The one that was magically sealed, remember? That's probably where they're being kept."
"Good thinking," Cristine said. She bit her lip. "I just hope that killing Godwyn broke the seal…"
It wasn't long before we found out that it had. The floor of the room beyond was wreathed in electricity, which made us all look at each other warily. Getting across was a three-minute ordeal of sharp shocks, but we finally made it to the stairs at the other end. We almost fell down them in our haste to get out of the electric room.
The rooms below were dank, lit with low-burning torches and creeping with monsters. In one passage, cells lined the wall, all empty except for one that contained a ghost.
I raised my eyebrows. "What did you do to end up here for all eternity?" I asked.
The ghost snorted. "I disobeyed a direct order," he said. "I was all fired up to fight and even die for good old Mother Empire… But I drew the line at channelling the power of monsters in order to make oneself more powerful. That really is the bally limit!"
"So that's why all of them were monsters!" Cristine breathed.
The ghost nodded and turned away. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I shouldn't offer to send him on, but he didn't seem to care and the others were heading on. So I followed.
The corridors sometimes opened up into rooms, all of which had a sense of malevolence which sent chills up my spine. As we headed downwards, I realised that there were holes in the floor of each level. They made a straight line up into empty air. Whatever lived in the base of the palace, I realised, must have been the origin of the earthquake and the dark light.
Finally we reached more cells, these with the same Celestrian-cocoons as in the Goretress. Erik set to work letting them out. Nick, Cristine and I followed behind, healing any obvious wounds. With each freed Celestrian, Erik looked more worried. It seemed Aquila's master wasn't there.
"You have done well, Erik," said the last Celestrian tiredly. "But there is another who awaits release yet, deep within the bowels of this place. We will take care of ourselves. Go to him. Set him free at long last."
My eyes went wide. "Oh!" I breathed.
The others looked at me, but I was watching Erik come out of the cell. "Erik," I said quietly. "Corvus was Aquila's master, wasn't he?"
Cristine's eyes went wide. Erik nodded.
"He will be in the lowest part of the dungeon," he said. "We must release him…"
I nodded, and we set back out through the dungeon.
Finally, after what seemed like forever in a spiralling, down-sloping corridor that was damp and dizzying, we made it to the lowest part. The malevolence from above extended even down here, and it almost seemed more powerful in the small space.
Something here is very wrong.
I bit my lip, wondering if I shouldn't say something. My senses had never been wrong...but the only person down here, aside from us, would be Corvus, and we needed to release him. It must have just been the effects of the darkness and evilness of Gittingham Palace.
So I followed the others through the doorway to the bottom of the dungeon.
A Celestrian was crouched in the centre of the room, bound with chains on his wrists and ankles. His head was bowed, so his face was covered by scraggly blond hair. All of his clothes were tattered and torn, and his skin was greyish-green from lack of light.
But that was all I saw, because as soon as I was in the same room as him, a deep, boiling anger rushed over me, leaving me blind to the world. Currents roiled inside of me, pulling me in every direction at once, leaving me incapable of knowing anything else.
Dirt - crimes - abominations! roared a voice in my brain. Evil beings all… They must be destroyed…!
Two stood before me, and one who looked their kind. But he gave me pause. Something was different about him - something separated him from the filth he stood beside.
My brain discarded it, and I moved forwards to attack.
No!
I stopped, my head snapping up in search of the source of the voice. My upper lip curled in a snarl. Foolish voice, to stop me from destroying such insults!
Tammy, clear your mind! It is not you who feels these things. The voice was strangely familiar. Clear your mind, my daughter. Remember who you are! Remember what you feel!
A presence entered my mind, shoving the anger aside. I gasped, realising what had just happened. Mum!
"Wait -!" I yelled to the others, but it was too late. With a loud clanking, the chains around Corvus's wrists had begun to fall away. "No…"
Erik looked round. "Wait for what?" he asked.
I pinched my side to keep myself in the moment, away from Corvus's swirling madness. "He's mad," I whispered. "Absolutely insane… We have to get the chains back on! He'll destroy everythin'!"
"Such selfishness…" murmured Corvus, seemingly unaware of our presence. "But such is the nature of mortals… Selfish beings, one and all…"
Cristine put her hands to her mouth, and then raced for the chains. But she was pushed back. Nick grabbed her shoulders and retreated with her and Erik back to the doorway with me.
"Too late," Nick whispered.
The chain fell from Corvus's left wrist.
"Their very existence is an insult...an abomination...a crime…"
His right ankle was free now. Struggling for something to ground me against the rising tide of Corvus's madness, I grabbed Erik's hand. I felt a shock of surprise, but he just moved his hand slightly and gripped mine harder.
"Celestria, who fought to protect them… Zenus, who stayed their obliteration… Both are guilty also…"
The last chain fell off.
"And who shall punish these sinners? If there is no other who is equal to the task, then it falls to me."
He rose from the crouch and stretched. Then he faced us straight on. His eyes were red, I realised. And there was something poking up through his hair that looked an awful lot like horns.
"I, Corvus, who was once called 'Celestrian'. And you, wingless one," he said suddenly, "what say you? Is there merit in mortalkind? Is it worthy of salvation?" He stared daggers at Erik.
Erik stared back just as resolutely. "Were it not for mortals," he said, "I would not be the person I am. I owe much to their kind."
Corvus surveyed us derisively. "Thus you prove yourself yet another enemy," he said. "Gods, mortals, Celestrians… All are ranged against me… And all shall be destroyed!"
Erik lunged, but didn't make it half a metre before he'd been stopped in his tracks by the same invisible force that had prevented him from attacking Aquila. He scowled, struggling hard.
"Hm. The law of the Celestrians forbids you to take arms against me. Pathetic."
The scowl grew more pronounced, and Erik redoubled his efforts. I reached for my sword, dodging forwards to attack, but Corvus's hand hit me hard in the head and I reeled back while stars danced in front of my eyes.
Erik got hit, too, and stumbled back.
"None can know the hatred I have fostered these past three hundred years," growled Corvus. "None can imagine the pain of my captivity. And yet it is that very pain and hatred that has given me power. I am become stronger than the Almighty."
Erik and I managed to haul ourselves back into a standing position. I had a hand to my head, which was throbbing.
"You witnessed the barrage of beautiful, baneful life I sent forth?" Corvus cried exultantly. "I destroyed him! I destroyed Zenus himself! And thus I am become Almighty. The time to ascend to my throne is nigh." He smiled balefully, and then spread his wings and launched himself up through the series of holes in the ceilings. I heard his voice echo down: "Come, Barbarus. Heed your god!"
A roar announced the dragon's arrival.
"We shall make a fitting home of the Realm of the Almighty before the work of obliterating the mortal sinners begins."
The thuds of Barbarus's wings receded into the sky above us, and I shuddered. "Almighty, this is bad news…"
"Oi, Erik, are you all right?" Stella asked.
"Fine," Erik said curtly. He looked up through the holes, rubbing his head where Corvus had hit.
"You made a right pig's eye of that, didn't you?" Stella asked. "So that Corvus was behind the whole Gittish Empire, was he? But he's a Celestrian, right? How come he looks so rough?"
A chill flooded the room. "Ohh, hang on. Someone's coming…"
We all turned to see Serena hurrying down the corridor. "Corvus!" she cried, entering the room, and then her face fell as she reached the centre and looked round. "Oh… I was so certain I had found him at last…"
Stella blinked. "What?" she exclaimed. "That was who you were going up dale and down hill looking for this whole time? Well, sorry, but you just missed him."
"He was here?" Serena asked. "I knew he would be." She sighed and looked away. "But I was too late again…"
Then, quietly, she started telling the story.
It was several weeks after Corvus had driven the Gitts out of Wormwood Creek. He was mostly healed, though his injuries were too serious to be wandering around. He'd given Serena the serene necklace as a token of a promise to watch over her.
But Serena's father had come in, exclaiming that the Gittish soldiers were back and looking for Corvus. To keep him safe, Serena had taken him up to the cave that I'd termed the inner sanctum. And then, to keep him from going back to the village and getting injured again, she'd lied and given him a sleeping potion in place of a special medicine.
It had worked, in the sense that he'd passed out cold, but its role in keeping him safe had been completely ineffective. Soldiers arrived at the inner sanctum, led by none other than Serena's father, who had betrayed Corvus to keep Wormwood Creek safe. Serena had struggled to wake Corvus, but he'd only awoken for a moment - just long enough to hear her father's protests to the Gittish soldiers that she had helped them by giving Corvus the sleeping draught.
The Gitts had taken Corvus away. And then, for good measure, they'd killed Serena and her father.
After Serena finished talking, we were all silent for a moment. Finally, Stella said, "So that's what happened… Well, I can see why old Corvus isn't madly keen on mortals. He must think you sold him up the river."
Serena nodded sadly. "I have to find him and tell him what really happened that day…" she said. "That's why I've been searching for him all these years. And if he's moved on somewhere else, I have to follow…"
She walked past us and dematerialised.
"Well, he's somewhere else, all right," Stella said darkly. "I wonder what he's planning on doing all the way up there…" She sighed. "Well, looks like we're done here. The decor really doesn't do much for me, so let's make like a tree and...er...bough out, shall we?"
We turned to head out and found Sterling walking up to us. "Erik!" he called, relieved. "Thank crikey! Yer all right!" He hurried up to us. "Some feller called up old Barbarus and went flyin' off…an' I ain't 'eard nuffink from ya, so I got a bit worried and came lookin'."
"'A bit worried', he says," Stella mocked. "Do you have any idea what's going on? Pah! We should call you fathead, not fatguts! That 'feller' was the one behind everything. And he's stupidly powerful, and now he's flown off the the Realm of the Almighty!"
"You wot!?" exclaimed Sterling, his eyes popping wide. Then he shook his head. "Look, you'd better tell me all about it on the way back to the Observatory. Them Celestrians you rescued are all waitin' aboard the Starflight for a lift 'ome. We'd better get movin'!"
"Can it truly be so...?" whispered Apus Major, stricken. "The light that ravaged our realm… The rebirth of the Gittish Empire… This was all… This was all the work of Corvus…?" He passed a hand over his face. "It is centuries now since his disappearance. To think that he languished in an Imperial prison all those years… His anguish cannot be imagined… And his bitterness has consumed him entirely. He is fallen from grace…"
Slowly, he moved forwards. "...Erik… Corvus, who is fallen from grace, has ascended to the Realm of the Almighty in the hope of supplanting Zenus Himself. Would that I could send you to stop him before it is too late. But, as you know, a Celestrian cannot stand against a superior. And, driven by hatred as he is, none among us outstrips Corvus now. Not even myself." He turned away. I could hear him praying quietly.
I shifted uncomfortably. Erik seemed content to stand there until Apus Major said otherwise.
Finally, Apus Major turned back to us and said, "Thank you for your report. You may leave."
Erik nodded, and we turned and left.
At the base of the stairs, Erik froze. I paused, looking back at him. His eyes were faraway, like he was listening to something.
Then he nodded. "Right," he said. "We must visit Yggdrasil."
"Er, why?" I asked, hurrying after him.
"Lady Celestria called me," he replied simply.
We headed up the stairs. I shivered, watching Erik's back, thinking about how mad he'd started to go before Aquila had turned round. Given enough time for that to simmer, he could easily have become like Corvus. That would have been terrifying.
At the foot of Yggdrasil, we paused and looked up. For a moment, everything was silent.
Finally, Celestria spoke. "...The skies are streaked with sadness… Corvus's hatred and anger threaten to consume our world entirely… But we cannot allow him to sin any further… His is a soul that can yet be saved… Hark, Erik…"
Her solemn tone took on a different feeling, like a smile. I felt something rising in my heart.
"All the mortals to whose aid you have come so willingly… All the lives that would have been filled with sorrow had it not been for your intervention…"
The tree began to shine, and whatever had risen up grew stronger. Suddenly, the thought of how Erik had helped me in the Quarantomb came to mind. And then I thought of how he'd talked to me in Porth Llaffan, and his willingness to listen when we'd gone to the cave by the spring, and how he'd come after me after I'd shouted at Doffish.
I was so grateful.
"Gratitude fills their hearts to overflowing… Their pure, mortal hearts…"
A glow was emanating from my heart. Along with dozens of others, it streaked up to the branches of Celestria, making her glow blindingly.
"It is their turn now to come to your aid… To lend you their power in return…"
The light contracted, forming into - I had to squint to see - a fygg!
It floated down out of the tree's branches and down to Erik. He reached out to catch it.
"Behold, a fygg born of all your good deeds…" Celestria said. "A gift from all those you have helped so selflessly… Eat of this fygg, Erik…"
All of us looked up in shock. Eat a fygg? We'd all seen the effect that had!
"Consume it, and become mortal…"
My heart jolted, and I wasn't sure whose reaction it was. The sudden, twisting feeling of worry and strange excitement, though, I knew belonged to Erik.
"Do so, that you might overcome the law of the Celestrians and battle Corvus… That you might bring his sinning to an end… That this is no easy choice, I understand… But there can be no other way…"
I glanced at Erik. He was staring up at the tree, mingled shock and fear on his face. Celestria glowed brighter, and then began to fade.
"Go to the...Realm of the… Mighty… Stop...him… For all our...sakes…"
The glow vanished altogether, and we were left standing in front of a plain tree.
Slowly, Erik looked down at the fygg. His hands looked like they were shaking.
"No pressure, huh?" Nick asked quietly.
Erik closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. "No," he said in what sounded very nearly like a nervous laugh. "None at all." He opened his eyes again and looked round. "Well?" he said. "Shall we go to the Starflight?"
"Right," I said quietly. I kept my distance as we walked down.
We filed silently onto the Starflight. Stella and Sterling were already watching.
"I 'eard what Celestria said, treacle," Sterling said gently. "But d'you really reckon you could just give up bein' a Celestrian and spend the rest of your days as a mortal? I don't reckon even you're barmy enough to go doin' somefing lik that."
Erik didn't respond. He was staring down at the fygg again. I could tell, even without empathy, that the choice was pulling him apart. He seemed to be almost on the verge of tears.
Sterling put a hand on Erik's shoulder. "But maybe I'm wrong," he said. "Maybe you really do wanna go after Corvus that much. If you do, now's the time to show it. Choose that path, treacle, and I'm wiv you all the way. I'll fly you to the Realm of the Almighty and beyond!"
"What the flap are you saying, you stupid idiot!?" exploded Stella. "Why don't you think before you start clapping your trap? If Erik becomes mortal, he won't be able to see us any more, will he? They can't expect you to do it, Erik, not for anything! Don't flapping do it!"
Erik looked round at all of us. His gaze lingered on me for a moment. One corner of my mouth pulled up in a sympathetic grimace.
Then he bent his head over the fygg and started to eat.
Less than a minute later, the fruit was gone, and Stella was wailing. "Nooo! He ate it, he ate it! Oi, Erik! Erik! Can you hear me? Talk to me!"
Erik looked up and blinked. "I…" he murmured. "I do not understand. I can still see everything…"
"Phew!" exclaimed Stella. "So it didn't work?"
She kept prattling on, but my eyes were drawn to Erik's back. The faint wing-shimmers that I'd grown so used to were completely gone. The air above his head looked normal, too. There was no trace of a halo.
"Sorry to disappoint you, treacle," Sterling said quietly, "but it worked all right. Can't you feel it? 'E's got mortal written all over 'im. I reckon the only reason 'e can still see us is because it ain't finished yet. It'll probably just take a bit longer to work. But once it does, treacle, well…" He looked at Erik sadly. "Us, the Starflight, the Observatory… You won't be able to see none of it no more."
"I know," Erik said.
Stella turned away, folding her arms. "Oh, for flap's sake!" she snapped. "I try and look at the bright side, and old fatguts has to open his big flapping mouth and ruin it all!"
Sterling scowled and looked the other way. "Well, 'scuse me for tellin' the truth," he said. "We can't all spend our lives away with the faeries!" He snorted and looked back at us. "Look, Erik, you've proved 'ow much you want this, and I for one ain't gonna stop you doin' what you gotta do. So where to next? You goin' after Corvus or 'eadin' down below? It's up to you, treacle."
"There is only one way to go from here," Erik said. "Let us go face Corvus."
And then he turned away and headed into the next carriage.
Sterling and Stella headed for the front of the Starflight. Nick, Cristine, and I watched Erik go. I bit my lip.
"I have to go after him," I said. "I can't just leave him there alone…"
"Good luck," Cristine murmured. "I doubt he'll talk to you."
I grimaced and headed through the door.
Erik was sitting at one of the booths in the next carriage. I sat down on the one across the aisle from him. When he didn't look up, I sighed quietly. "You know," I said conversationally, "I can't decide whether that was the bravest, most selfless thing you've ever done or the stupidest."
Erik snorted. "Nor can I," he said. But he did lift his head from his arms and look over at me. "What are you doing in here, Tammy?"
I shrugged. "Just...didn't want to leave you to stew alone," I said. "Look, Erik, I'm really sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Erik asked. "You keep apologising for things which are not your fault."
I shrugged again. "It's…" I said. "I mean, ever since the beginnin', all you've wanted was to get back to the Observatory and your old life, and all we've managed to make happen are things that make that more impossible. So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm sorry we've managed to screw your life up so badly."
Erik looked away. "Have you ever had something," he asked slowly, "which you found comforting, or enjoyable, or to be something you loved, and then left it for a while? You grow, but the object of your affections remains the same, and you return to find that you no longer fit into it - or it no longer fits you." He sighed and looked down. "I am not the same person I was a month ago. Nor am I even the same as I was yesterday. I am neither true mortal nor true Celestrian; I am something in between. There is no place for one such as me. The Observatory is the most ill-fitting place of all."
I watched him for a moment. Then I said, "You're not alone, you know…"
He looked up. I smiled a little.
"Nick and Cristine and I - we're all here for you. And you're not the only one who doesn't quite fit anywhere." My smile went wry. "It's not always that bad. At least that way you don't have to agree to settle down anywhere."
Erik gave a halfhearted attempt at a snort. I got up. "Scoot over," I told him.
He blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Scoot," I said, nodding him back. "If you're goin' to feel all depressed over not belongin' anywhere, I might as well indulge myself too. We'll be miserable together."
The corners of his lips twitched, and he moved over obligingly. I sat down next to him.
We were quiet for a minute. Erik looked off out the window. I looked down. My stomach felt weirdly fluttery.
"Erik," I said finally.
He looked over. "Hm?"
I looked up, biting my lip. Then I leaned over and kissed him.
He almost jumped out of his skin. I pulled back, suddenly terrified that I'd made a mistake.
"I...I do not understand," he said quietly. His mouth almost didn't move. "I thought…" Then he went red, like he'd said something he hadn't meant to.
"You thought what?" I asked.
He frowned. "I...well, I overheard you and Cristine speaking last night," he muttered.
"Oh," I said. "Oh. Look, Erik, I… Cristine took me by surprise. And I mean, would you have thought of it that way? I don't think that when you start out hatin' someone, love is the first thing you think of when feelings start to change." I felt my cheeks going hot. "It… I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
I looked down, biting my lip again. Well. That went horribly…
"Tammy."
I looked back up to find violet eyes waiting to meet mine.
They came closer.
And we kissed again.
And I've somehow managed to write a romance again.
Seriously, it's almost annoying! I can't seem to put a boy and a girl in a story without making them fall in love at some point. Admittedly, I've been planning for something like this to happen for a while now, but it's still rather frustrating. Urgh...
Well, we'll see where it takes us next chapter, eh?
May all the bodies of the heavens watch over you!
