Always Forever (66 page)

As they ate, their spirits rose, all except Veitch who remained sullen and
uncommunicative. "They look like they're eager to get off to war," Ruth noted.

"For all their many claims to a wonderful life, they lack much colour in their existence," Tom said, dipping a sausage into an egg. "Quite simply, they
are bored."

"Despicable bastards, the lot of 'em," the Bone Inspector muttered as he
gnawed on a chunk of bread. "Like a bunch of upper class idiots whipping themselves up before a rugby game, without a single thought for all the suffering
that's going to happen. With any luck a few of 'em will meet their maker."

"That is a little harsh," Shavi said.

"Might teach 'em to appreciate life a bit more."

"I still don't get why you're helping us." Church sipped on the hot, invigorating liquid.

"That's because you're a moron." The Bone Inspector threw the remainder
of his bread to a group of ravens that had ventured fearlessly into the camp.

"I can see why you and the old git get on so well," Laura said under her breath.
"Both graduates of the Finishing School for Irritating, Miserable Bastards."

Shavi pushed out his chair and stretched his legs. "I would guess the Bone
Inspector is simply following his office as a guardian of the land's old places. If
the End of Everything happens on the morning after Samhain, there will not be
many old places to guard."

"Well, aren't you the smarty-pants." The Bone Inspector was watching the
ravens intently. "Ready for carrion," he mused.

"Carry On to the End of the World, maybe," Laura said. "With Kenneth
Williams as the dark god Balor and Charles Hawtrey as the Guardian of the Old
Places."

The Bone Inspector eyed her so darkly Laura realised she couldn't chide him
in the same way that she toyed with Tom.

Shavi was laughing. "Oh, yes. And you would be Barbara Windsor," he said
to Laura. "And Church would be Sid James-"

"Bwah hah hah," Church said flatly. "So what's going to happen after we've
stuffed our faces?"

"In half an hour there will be a meeting to outline the strategy," Tom said.
"As the spearhead of the attack, we must be there."

"The generals sending the disposables in first?" Veitch said sourly.

"Something like that," Tom replied. "They have their agenda and we have
ours. As long as we are not swayed, who cares what their motivations are?"

"But they have the Wish-Hex." Church made the comment quietly so none
of the gods could hear.

"Yes," Tom said, "which is why we shall have our own meeting first."

After the meal they wandered off separately, agreeing to meet fifteen minutes
later. Ruth had not gone far when her arm was grabbed sharply enough to cause
her pain. She whirled angrily. It was Veitch. She could tell instantly from his
threatening expression what was on his mind.

"You couldn't wait to get off with him, could you?" There was pain in his
voice beneath the anger.

"I'm sorry you're upset, Ryan, but-"

"Upset? I'm upset when my team loses on a Saturday. This is like a kick in
the bollocks, and another one in the face for good luck."

She bowed her head, sorry to see him so hurt. "I didn't want you-"

"No, you didn't want me. I put my life on the line in Scotland-for you.
Not for all this end of the world bollocks. I couldn't care less if the whole miserable place went belly-up tomorrow. But, you. . . " He shook his head, his long
hair falling across his face. "I nearly died for you. I took risks to get down herefor you."

She was shocked to see the rage lighting in his face; there was a seething
glow in his hooded eyes. "You've got so much anger in you! Were you always
like this?"

Her words appeared to strike him hard. He rubbed at his temples furiously.
"Stop talking about that!"

"I tried to be honest to you about how I felt, Ryan. I think you're a good
man. I admire you. But there was never going to be anything between us."

"Never?" She flinched as he bunched his fist but instead he smashed it into
his side. There were tears of hurt in his eyes.

She went to comfort him, but he backed away. "Ryan, don't hate Church
and don't hate me. We love each other. And we both care about you, really."

"You're only saying that to keep me on the team. Afraid I'll go running off
to join the other side?"

"Don't be stupid! None of us would ever think that. You said you always
wanted to be a hero. Well, you are, Ryan. You are. And everyone here respects you."

He looked away towards the horizon, blinking off the tears. "Yeah ..."

"That must mean something?"

He nodded. "But not enough. I always thought it was the most important
thing. I've never had that ... never had any respect." He jerked a thumb over
his shoulder. "One of them was talking about how they'd all learned something
important from all this shit. Well, I have too. I've learnt you're the most important thing to me, and if I can't have you I might as well be dead. So I can go
into this with no fear 'cause I've got nothing to lose. They'll remember me as
the biggest bleedin' hero of all by the end of it." The anger disappeared briefly and all she could see was the face of a hurt child, but then he turned sharply on
his heel and marched away.

She called after him, but he didn't look back.

They met in their tent while the Tuatha De Danann were away making their
preparations for battle, although Baccharus and Niamh were there, much to
Veitch's suspicion. The first thing they did was distribute the Quadrillax.
Church kept the Sword and took the Wayfinder lantern, while Ruth reaffirmed
her hold on the Spear. Veitch agreed to carry the Stone ofFal and Shavi took the
Cauldron in a pack on his back. Laura was happy to have nothing to do with any
of them.

"If the Wish-Hex is here, its location has been kept from us," Niamh said
when they had gathered around the table. "Those of us who believe in the destiny of mankind would never allow such a thing to be used, and certainly never
in this form, adulterated by the Night Walkers."

"It would be good," Tom said, "if all your brethren felt the same way. But
many believe this is too good an opportunity to pass by: two irritants wiped out
in one fell swoop."

"And the prime position in the evolutionary pile secured for the Tuatha De
Danann," Church noted. "We need you to find out where the Wish-Hex is being
kept, and when it will be used," he said to Baccharus and Niamh. "We'll have
to find some way to neutralise it."

"The aim would be to unleash the Wish-Hex in the core of the Night Walkers' lair, close to the Heart of Shadows," Niamh said. "The Night Walkers are
more resilient than Fragile Creatures. They need to be closer to the release."

"We just get wiped out in the plague fallout," Church said bitterly.

"We will uncover the intention and pass it on to you as soon as we can,"
Niamh said. "We understand what is at stake."

Veitch appeared not to have been listening, and had spent the meeting
carving his name into the wooden table with his knife. Then he said, "I'm worried we're spreading ourselves too thin," and Church realised the Londoner had
instead been carefully weighing all the strategies. "We'll be driving forward on
more than one front, and this thing will be coming up behind. We're not going
to be in a position to split our attention."

"What are you saying?" Church asked.

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me."

Church thought for a moment. "It might help if one of us found a back
way in."

"What do you mean?" Veitch said.

"I've been thinking about this ... about a lot of things. There's been important stuff that's been there right in our face before and we missed it." He turned
to Ruth. "Like Maurice Gibbons."

"The civil servant who was murdered under Albert Bridge the night we
met. So?"

"We got so wrapped up in what he discovered, we never thought about
how-"

"He saw one of the Fomorii changing-'

"But why was he under Albert Bridge on that particular night?"

She opened her mouth to answer him, but no words came. "Okay, smartypants."

"Why was that Night Walker there too?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You've already worn out your dramatic buildup,
Church."

"The Fomorii were already building their base under London. And Gibbons
had somehow found one of the entrances to it. He was investigating when that
thing came out and killed him."

Veitch was already ahead of them. "So if we could get to it, we might be
able to get straight into their base before they know it!"

"But the danger of us all going together is that it is easier to stop us with
one well-timed strike," Shavi noted. "They would be able to target all their
resources at us."

"Good point," Veitch mused. "All right, we split up. But we do our
damnedest to get to where we're going, even if it means leaving all those goldenskinned twats behind." He nodded to Niamh and Baccharus curtly. "No offence."

"And we all know where we're going," Laura said. "That big tower they're
throwing up near the City. I saw it up close. That has to be the place."

"At the ritual in Scotland, when we summoned the dead for guidance, they
told us we needed to find the Luck of the Land before we could beat Balor,"
Shavi noted. "Do we have any more of an idea what that means?"

Tom shifted uncomfortably. "That is not a matter to concern us now."

"Why not?" Veitch asked suspiciously.

"Heed me." Tom's voice was unduly stern. "When we are closer to the confrontation."

Church noticed Ruth was deep in thought. "What's on your mind?" he
asked.

She looked at him with a curious expression. "What you said about Maurice
Gibbons. It made me think how much else we missed that was right in front of
our eyes."

The war council took place in a heavily guarded marquee of purple silk, deep in
the heart of the camp. It was at the centre of an area where all the higher-born
gods had congregated, and the sense of dislocation as Church and the others
entered was palpable.

Many gods were already waiting in the tent, communicating quietly, and in
some cases, silently. Church recognised Nuada Airgetlamh, his almond eyes like
razor blades in his golden face, and Lugh, with his long mane of black hair and
his torso bearing the scars of battle; both of them exuded power. But there were
many Church didn't know. Their faces shimmered and changed as his gaze
passed across them. He saw famous generals, renowned political leaders at times
of crisis, a bully he recalled from school, the hardened casts of terrorists and revolutionaries, but eventually their images settled down into distinctive personalities, all of them grim. Church had the unshakeable feeling the important things
had already been discussed and agreed.

"I offer the greetings of the Golden Ones to the Brothers and Sisters of
Dragons, who have served us so well in the past," Nuada said, seemingly unconscious of his patronising attitude. "You know me as Fragile Creatures have
known me in the past: Nuada Airgetlamh, wielder of Caledfwlch, which in my
wisdom I have gifted to you, Dragon Brother. Your people have also known me
as Nudd, of the Night, as Llud, and Lud, founder of this place on whose
doorstep we stand-Londinium. This is my place where, in the Fixed Lands, I
stand supreme. This is where Fragile Creatures bowed their heads to me, made
offerings of the little things that had importance in their brief lives. Where
blood ran, where my heart beats."

Lugh's eyes were fixed on his Spear, which Ruth held tightly to her side. She
felt uncomfortable at the attention, as if he were desperate to wrest it from her.

"You Brothers and Sisters of Dragons have proved your worth," Nuada continued, "and it has been deemed that you should wield the Quadrillax on our
behalf. Only with those objects of power will the Heart of Shadows finally be
wiped from all existence. But the path to it will be hard. Too hard for Fragile Creatures. And so the Golden Ones have agreed to drive a route through the shadows,
to protect you from the attacks of the Night Walkers, until you are in a position
to carry out the act required of you. Does this meet with your agreement?"