Always Forever (83 page)

He glanced up at Veitch taking the steps two at a time, thought of Ruth
and Shavi and Laura. Which of them was it? It could be any one of them. And
when would they be forced to make their move? He would have to watch all of
them now, at a time when all his attentions should be focused on the threat
without.

With a heavy heart, he pressed on, holding the head out behind him to deter
the advancing Fomorii.

Gradually the circumference of the tower narrowed as they neared the top.
When they finally thought they could climb no more it opened out into another
large room that took up half the floor space. There were no windows to provide
light, but they could just make out building debris scattered all around.

"I can't stand here holding the rest back forever," Church said impatiently.
More explosions brought a shower of debris from the ceiling. As he jumped to
one side to avoid it, he was struck with an idea. Directing Witch and Shavi to
collect rubble, girders and beams, and anything else they could lay their hands
on, they flung it down the stairwell. It didn't take them long to jam it.

"So we won't be going down in a hurry," Laura said dismally.

"It won't take them long to get through that," the Bone Inspector said.

Veitch glared at him before venturing to the edge of the barrier. "Can't hear
anything on the other side. I reckon they've fallen back."

"Now why would they do that?" Ruth laid down her edge of the chest and
Niamh followed suit.

"They probably think we're a lost cause." Church almost had to shout over
the echoing beat of Balor's heart.

A large stone wall bisected the floor, with an oaken door placed in the
middle; it had looked unusual from the instant Church emerged from the stairwell, but up close he could see it was seeping a viscous, black liquid. The gunk
oozed down into a gully and then ran through the wall and down the side of the
building, adding to the tower's skin.

Church moved his ear towards the wall to see if he could hear any sound
from the other side. As he neared the stone his stomach turned; radiating
through it was a sensation of unbearable evil that spoke to his most primal fears.

He staggered away quickly. "In there." If it was that strong without, he
thought, what would it be like when they entered?

The others must have noticed his expression when he was against the wall,
for Laura said, "Are we up to this?"

"There aren't any other candidates. We'd better get the Quadrillax
together."

They each gave up the artefact they had protected until the Sword, the
Spear, the Cauldron and the Stone stood in front of the door. As the pieces came
in proximity, a faint metallic singing rang up, melodic and strangely soothing
in that awful place. Church realised that the Way-finder and the head would be
needed too. All were linked, and while they appeared as objects they all recog nised, Church knew that they were not seeing their true forms at all; what they
really were, he guessed they would probably never know.

During the frantic activity the futility had been put to one side, but in the
lull it returned in force. He didn't know why they were there. They might as well
have vacated the tower and enjoyed their final hour together, as much as they
could. "How much longer with the Wish-Hex?" he asked. When there was no
reply, he looked round and could tell from Niamh's face that it was almost upon
them. Yet oddly he didn't see any fear there, just a deep, painful sadness; she forced
a smile, and somehow that made it worse. "Then we had better get moving."

He walked up to the door. Ruth, Shavi, Laura and Veitch followed without
any prompting, although the fear was obvious on all their faces. He was suddenly aware of a deeply moving feeling of gratitude that he had been allowed to
spend time with them; they were the best.

A faint glow began to leak out of the Wish-Hex chest; the air pressure
dropped a notch. It's beginning, he thought. He stooped down to pick up the
Sword and something crashed against the side of his head, plunging him into
unconsciousness.

The first Ruth realised was when Laura yelled and leapt back. Church was
sprawled on the floor with blood seeping from a wound on the side of his head.
Standing over him was Callow, his eyes baleful and filled with hatred. He was
clutching a lump of rock, one end jagged and as sharp as a knife.

With a strength that belied his size, he grabbed hold of Church's jacket and
began to drag him away into the shadows. Veitch dived forward, his ceremonial
sword at the ready, but Callow moved as fast as a snake, yanking up Church's
head and jabbing the rock against his throat.

"Anatomy lesson, little boy: the carotid artery," he said. "One slight cut and
there's not a thing you can do. His beautiful heroic blood will wash across this
dirty floor and it will all be over."

"You're bleedin' crazy!" Veitch raged. His temple pulsed; his expression
suggested he would hack Callow to pieces at the bat of an eyelid. Callow merely
smiled, which infuriated Veitch all the more.

"Please," Shavi said. "There is no-"

"There is every need. If you win, I will be lost."

"If we lose, you'll be lost, you wanker!" Veitch advanced another step.

Callow dug the rock into the pulsing artery. "Can't you understand?
Humanity is weak. If we don't ally ourselves with greater powers, we are
nothing. Do you think the working classes ever got anywhere on their own?
This isn't a world for the powerless."

"Excuse me. Pathetic loser alarm." It was the first time Laura had seen him
since he had clambered over the van seat to slash her face with a razor. Even the
torments inflicted on his body didn't assuage the hatred she felt for what he had
put her through.

"What lies on the other side of that wall is the greatest thing this puny little
world has ever seen," Callow continued. "He will take me and give me the position I truly deserve: as a leader of men, not someone crushed by the yoke of an
uncaring society. You're not going to take that away from me. This is my time
that's coming. Your time is gone."

Ruth held up her hand and waggled her fingers at him so he could see where
one was missing. "I was nice to you the first time we met in Salisbury. I thought
you were down on your luck and maybe you just needed a helping hand. You
showed me the truth when you did this. Everything I've seen over the last few
months has shown me how much greatness there is in humanity. But you, you're
the flip side. You're everything that drags humanity back: selfishness, and greed,
and a belief that any act, however vile, is justified by your own needs."

"You seem to forget I'm the one holding your boyfriend's life in his hands."

"Yes, you are. And that's your big mistake. In Cornwall, and on the ship, I
was ready to get my pound of flesh from you, Callow. And the only thing that
stopped me was Church, because he's decent, and he believes in second chances
and forgiveness. I don't."

Laura stepped to her side. "Who'da thought it? Me and Frosty with something in common."

"So who's going to speak up for you now, Callow?" Lightning flashed in
Ruth's eyes. "Who's going to stop me?"

A shiver ran through Callow. His unblinking gaze left Ruth's face only to
take in the flinty defiance in Laura's features.

A wind blew up from nowhere, rushing through the room violently. The
force of it buffeted Callow a few paces backwards. "I'll kill him!" he screamed.

Ruth made a sweeping gesture with her right hand and Callow flew several
feet across the floor as if he had been struck heavily. The rock went spinning
away into the shadows. He jumped to his feet, looking frantically from side to
side like a cornered animal. Laura squatted down, one hand on the floor. Before
Callow could flee, vegetation burst up from minute seed particles buried
amongst the stone flags and lashed itself around his legs, pinning him tight. He
wrenched at them, screaming and cursing insanely.

Ruth was filled with an otherworldly fury, though on the surface she
appeared completely calm. "Revenge does nobody any good," she said. "But
sometimes you have to punish yourself."

Veitch took a step away from her, shocked by what he saw. As the tempest
screamed around the room, she appeared-although he didn't know if it was an
illusion-to rise a few inches above the floor.

Church came round with his head ringing and blood seeping down to his neck.
When he saw Ruth, the pain was instantly replaced with a panic that slowly
changed to despair. That unrecognisable cast to her face told him everything he
needed to know, the one terrible fact that destroyed his life in an instant. With
the route his life had taken since the gods had started to manipulate it, he could
almost have forecast the traitor would be the one person who meant more to him
than the world. There had been signs before, he knew, but like a child he had
avoided the harsh reality of investigating them too closely. He had pretended,
and in truth had known he was pretending.

The one thought that saved him was that he wouldn't have to deal with it.
The light leaking from the crate was now intense; the faint hum had become an
insistent throb.

Laura's head was bowed in concentration. The vegetation had bound Callow like
a mummy to his neck. When she looked up, she was in two minds about
whether to continue, though her anger was still clear on her face.

She looked up at Ruth for guidance and saw her friend was not going to
back down. Ruth was changed; the terrifying elemental forces crackling around
her appeared infinite, reaching deep into the heart of creation. Though she
looked exactly the same, the others were convinced it was no longer Ruth, but
what had replaced her, they were not sure.

In that instant, Laura knew it was the moment of which Cernunnos had
warned. If Ruth gave in to her hatred and killed Callow she would be lost; the
immense power she had been gifted would be corrupted and would consume her.

Laura had only a second to act. She threw herself at Ruth, knocking her
down hard. The lightning Ruth had been calling up erupted from the ceiling
and missed Callow by a hairsbreadth.

And then Ruth turned her attention on Laura. Her face was unrecognisable,
her eye black and empty like space. "Mine," she hissed.

Terror washed through Laura. Ruth began to focus the power towards her.

Laura had only a slim chance to defend herself. Instead, she rolled round
towards Callow and concentrated until green vegetation rippled from her fingers
across the floor, lashing up Callow's body. As he ranted and raged, it twirled
briefly around his neck and then jerked. The head came free and bounced away
into the shadows.

Laura waited for the blow to strike her. When nothing came, she looked
back to see Ruth slumped in a daze, her eyes no longer black. "Thank you," she
said weakly.

Church could feel Ruth's eyes on him as he rose, desperate for comfort after her
experience, but he couldn't meet her gaze. And then it was too late. The room
was quickly filled with twisting flashes of yellow light. The throb became a constant drone.

They all stared at the chest blankly: they had overcome so much, over so
many months, and had still failed at the last. The light washed over them,
almost soothing in its way.

Before they could say their goodbyes, Niamh flicked open the chest and
removed the Wish-Hex. It was so bright it hurt their eyes and they were forced
to turn away.

Church was closest and only he heard Niamh say, "This is the way it must
be." It was a simple statement, but it brought a shiver to his spine. She pressed
the Wish-Hex to her stomach until the light began to dim. He was shocked to
see that somehow it was disappearing inside her. The sight was too strange to
comprehend, but he knew exactly what she was doing; she had told him, in her
own way.

When the Wish-Hex was finally gone, for the briefest instant she stood
exactly as he remembered her from that first, misty appearance in his childhood
bedroom. Her face open and honest and filled with unconditional love.

The droning noise ended. For a second her body shimmered and distorted,
as if he were watching her on an out-of-tune TV, and then she was replaced by
a massive cloud of golden moths that soared up into the shadows of the ceiling,
twinkling like stars before slowly fading out.

Like Tom, she had known the moment of her death, Church was sure of it. That
was part of her desperation that their love affair bloom. Somehow he knew she
believed that if it happened, the course of events would be changed; that she
would have a happy life.

He recalled the moment he told her they would never be together. How
would that have felt? Not just rejection by the one she truly loved, but the
announcement of her death sentence. And she had not complained, or attempted
to change his mind.

And even after all the heartache he'd dealt her, she had still sacrificed herself so alien, weak, violent, spiteful, greedy, deceitful Fragile Creatures could
move along the road towards their destiny.