The Conquering Dark: Crown (27 page)

Farthest away, Kate saw that Jane had come down from the hill of wreckage. Penny crouched near her, pulling Hogarth close. At the same time, Hogarth had his broad arms wrapped about Charlotte's furry form. Spears of light arced from Jane's fingers, filling the air around her, smashing the large projectiles to bits, then dancing through the deadly shards, ripping them from the air. Her protective lightning spread to cover those at her feet.

Nearest Kate by several yards, Malcolm reached out and pulled Imogen close to him. Nick swore in pain, fighting through the sharp haze to reach the Scotsman and the woman. He hunkered low and raised a rudimentary ice shield that covered their front and flanks. Heavy stones smashed into it and razor shards quickly started tearing it away. Nick continued to reinforce the ice with more and more frost in a struggle to keep them safe.

All this occurred in seconds, leaving Kate to stand alone to Simon's right. Columns exploded in front and behind where she was standing. Her hands flew to her bandolier. She threw vials out onto the ground all around her, creating walls of amber. The small fortress rose up just in time.

She watched in dismay as great chunks of obsidian collided with the amber, smashing it, while smaller shards gouged out pieces. Her safety would be short-lived and her protective crystals would soon be rendered to dust. Kate threw more amber vials in hopes of reinforcing it. Glistening ocher bloomed hard around her in the hellish air, only to be cracked and shattered yet again.

Kate's hands fumbled at her bandolier, but she touched only empty loops. Her actions stilled. Across the way she saw Imogen struggling against Malcolm's grip, trying to get to her. Agony ripped through Kate's heart. She had no way to comfort her sister.

Her green eyes sought out Simon. Despite his stone form, she sensed the panic and desperation in him. She straightened calmly, a sad smile on her lips. She feared that Simon was prepared to drop his spell and run to her, even though he had to know he wouldn't reach her before he was struck down too. His mind wouldn't win that argument. She shook her head as the last remnant of her amber shelter shattered in the storm. She stumbled, her clothes and hair flying. Smaller rocks cut her face and arms like razors. A chunk of obsidian clipped her side, knocking her down to her knees.

A pale shape appeared next to Kate. The strange vision of white and black was Imogen, her mourning dress shredded by the razor dust, exposing her pale flesh. She threw herself on Kate, knocking her to the ground and burying her sister beneath her. Kate yelled, angry at Imogen's foolhardiness. But Imogen was stronger; so much stronger. Kate cried out as bright red blood poured down Imogen's face above her. Heavier stones struck the young woman, knocking her head aside. Still, she shoved Kate down and settled atop her. Kate struggled to drag Imogen closer, fighting to protect her young sister. Detritus tumbled over Imogen. She was slammed down again, her pale body jerking like a doll. Her white skin was visible briefly until more shards crashed down.

Kate's world went dark, everything lost in a tempest of obsidian. She tasted iron as she tried to swallow against the grit. The full weight of her sister pressed against her. She took some calming solace in the touch of Imogen's cool cheek against hers. Kate tried to move but she was pinned; rough stones and rocks pressed into her legs and arms. There was no sound beyond the roaring in her ears and Kate fought panic in the pitch-black and the suffocating air.

Knowing the terror in the dark must be tenfold for Imogen, Kate twisted her hands in the tight space, clawing at the sharp rocks around her, trying to gain some wiggle room. She shoved with her very limited leverage, but they were wedged in tight. With shallow pants, Kate struggled to whisper soothing words in her sister's ear. “It's all right, Imogen. They'll find us. No need to fear. We're together.”

Finally above her, she sensed movement and heard the scrabbling of claws and furious digging. A huge chunk of masonry was lifted and tossed aside. A stream of thin daylight shone in. The hazy sky greeted Kate's blurred vision, but then it was blocked as the great werewolf crouched, peering down.

“Hello?” Charlotte growled.

Relieved, Kate couldn't draw enough breath to answer her. She tried weakly to rouse her sister to no avail. Kate now heard Simon's desperate voice. More rubble was shoved away and she drew in a deeper breath. Craggy stones and basalt soil sloughed off Imogen as Charlotte pulled the limp form up into her powerful arms.

“Kate!” Simon shouted, his hands bloody from digging through the razor-sharp dirt.

Her eyes were wide with shock and her limbs trembled as she reached for him. Simon lifted her carefully out of the debris, holding her tight, checking her for serious injury. Kate shoved his hands away, her head turned to her sister. Dark dust coated Imogen's fair skin. Charlotte settled Imogen's form into the dirt and crouched over her as Kate reached out. Imogen's white skin was slathered with blood. She had numerous gashes on her face and chest. One pale arm was crooked and her head was turned farther past her shoulder than it should have been.

“Oh God, please. Oh God!” Kate shouted, her voice hoarse against the drifting ash and raw emotion. She put a hand on her sister's arm. She felt a terrible lack of response although she tried to ignore it. Imogen's muscles were slack. There was no resistance. Kate touched Imogen's dust-caked cheek and the girl's head jostled lifelessly. Kate gasped and her trembling worsened.

Charlotte's massive head turned and her yellow eyes grew round and frightened. “Miss Kate?”

Kate sensed the fear and aching need coming from Charlotte so she reached out and took the beast's clawed hand. There was nothing she could say to the monstrous face before her that looked for all the world like a scared little girl.

Malcolm fell to his knees next to Imogen and put his gentle hands on her face. He inspected her carefully, checking her eyes and sliding a finger along her neck, seeking a pulse. After a second, his head dropped and he let his hand caress the poor girl's arm. His great frame shook silently.

Kate watched Simon desperately for the barest hint of hope that he might tell her something other than what she knew.

He couldn't manage to raise his voice above a despairing whisper. “I'm sorry, Kate. I'm so sorry.”

“Nick!” Kate cried, her chest tight with rising dread. “Help her! Do something!”

Nick appeared stunned by the sight. He shook his head in horror, looking at Simon as if in apology. “I can't help her. I don't have that power anymore.”

Kate slid away from Charlotte. Frantic, she wiped away the blood on Imogen's face, but it was everywhere. There was no response to her ministrations, not a moan or even eye movement beneath her blood-crusted lids. She pushed her face against her sister's cool skin. All she could do was whisper in Imogen's ear, “No no no no no.”

She barely felt Simon's steadying hand upon her back. A strange peacefulness descended on London, but Kate noticed none of it. Her world had shattered.

Sounds of grief pierced the night. Smoke billowed from fires that burned in the city all around them. Kate's sobs filled the still air, cutting deep into Simon's heart as he stared down at the pale figure in the black dirt. Charlotte hunched near him with her mouth frozen open. Malcolm drew the werewolf against him silently. Her long arms wrapped around his waist and she buried her head inside his coat. Penny had her hands on her head, disbelieving. Jane seemed disturbed to be witnessing such grief, but unable to offer comfort. Even the stoic Hogarth's granite face cracked, his guilt over the loss of his charge all too evident.

Behind them a great column of basalt still stood in the center of the raised platform, presumably with Gaios encased inside. Simon stared hard at the figure. All this anguish because of one man's vendetta over an old crime. The waste. The ruin of it all. So pointless.

Above them, the world darkened suddenly and the ground offered a distant rumble. From the center of the demolished temple, the thick black pillar began to move. Liquid bubbled on its surface and the black turned red and transformed into a large blob of slithering lava. It rolled and glistened for a moment before it collapsed as if popped with a needle. It revealed a figure standing on the jagged ruins of the marble temple floor amidst receding magma. He was black and shining bright. He appeared to be made of flat slabs of obsidian. Then the black glass folded away from the figure's head.

Gaios took a deep breath like a diver emerging from the sea. His eyes focused on his surroundings and he scowled. The obsidian instantly reshaped itself from simple protective planks into a beautiful armor reminiscent of a Roman praetor. He wore a carved black cuirass and a skirt of stone strips protecting his thighs. His arms were sheathed in bracers and his lower legs were covered by greaves, all likewise made of obsidian.

“Everyone, back on your feet,” Simon ordered.

Charlotte pulled away from Malcolm and dropped onto all fours, charging like an attack dog. She loped over the wreckage and launched herself across the moat of lava surrounding the marble platform where Gaios stood. Her speed took the elemental by surprise and he actually flinched as the huge savage thing hurtled at him. Charlotte slammed into the black-armored figure, knocking him back only a step. He managed to bring up his sheathed hand and jam it against her hairy throat, holding the snapping jaws away from his head.

Suddenly a jagged shaft of obsidian shot out the back of Charlotte's neck. She stiffened. Her eyes rolled up and her claws scrabbled off Gaios's impervious chest. The elemental lowered his arm and the werewolf slid off the long stone spike that extended from his fist. She collapsed in a heap at his feet and began to shrink back into the shape of a helpless, quivering little girl. Blood dripped from the sharp stone as it flowed back up to become the gauntlet over Gaios's hand.

Malcolm screamed his throat raw and pulled his pistols. He ran toward the crumbled temple. The Lancasters boomed.

“Malcolm, no!” Simon shouted. He grabbed Kate as she started toward Gaios with the blood of her sister painted on her hands. “Don't go near him!”

Kate turned on Simon, fury welling in her face like an oncoming storm. But with tremendous effort she held on to the last vestiges of her sanity in the wake of tragedy. She took a step back to his side, her hand reaching for her pistol.

“We have to work together!” he said. “Or we have no chance.”

Malcolm's heavy shells smashed cracks in the black obsidian cuirass. Gaios was slammed onto his back. Malcolm threw both empty pistols aside as he ran and drew his dagger. He jumped over the magma, his long black coat fluttering behind him, and landed hard at the feet of the elemental. Without pause, Malcolm raised the knife over his head and let out a Gaelic war cry.

Two columns of stone rose on either side of him. When they smashed together, Malcolm was not between them. He had flipped backward, his feet landing just inches short of the bubbling lava.

Gaios rose on obsidian tendrils as they pushed him up to his feet, then retracted into his armor. He glared down at Malcolm, but suddenly a slim javelin flew toward him. It was a shaft glowing blue, Simon's sword. The blade sank into Gaios's shoulder as if he wore no armor. Before he could react, his head was covered in ice. A large shape moved alongside Malcolm and Hogarth drew back his war maul. The mace collided with Gaios and sent black stone flying in glittering shards. The elemental went to one knee.

“Take Charlotte!” Simon shouted at Malcolm as Hogarth swung another colossal blow against Gaios, sending him spinning.

Malcolm gathered the limp form of Charlotte in his arms. Blood seeped from a horrid gash in her neck, but she was breathing. He carried her back to where Simon and Kate waited.

Jane ran up to them. She leaned over Charlotte when he set her down and began to wrap a bandage torn from her own dress around the girl's throat. Simon pulled Malcolm away from her. Kate loaded her crossbow, her face harsh like Medusa, her gaze never leaving the armored demigod.

The ground where Hogarth stood was upended and he tumbled away from Gaios. Carried by the weight of his mace, he slid down the marble slab and crashed to the ground some twenty yards from the elemental. A sudden blast of lava boiled up through the paving stones and enveloped his legs. Hogarth screamed.

Penny struggled toward Hogarth even though her steps were weak and labored. She grabbed his arm and started to pull. Hogarth's weight nearly dragged her into the lava. She dug her boot heels against some wreckage and hooked her elbow under his arm. The exhausted engineer pulled the large man out of the burning pool. He collapsed onto the ground in a gasping catatonic lump, his legs black, withered, and steaming. The engineer started to stand.

“Penny!” Simon shouted, climbing back to his feet. “Get back!”

Gaios turned toward her even as he ripped Simon's sword from his body. Stones flew off the ground and shot at her with high-pitched whistles. She raised her arms over her head, but the rocks pounded her with sick thudding sounds. Penny collapsed to the ground, unable to protect herself from being crushed to a pulp. Gratefully the barrage ceased when Nick hit Gaios with a shaft of ice, distracting the furious elemental.

Through a shower of blackened rocks and bits of pumice, Malcolm ran to Penny's side. He inspected her unconscious figure and seemed relieved. He rummaged through her rucksack and pulled out her small sound pistol. With a quick hand on her bruised bloody face, he turned back to Gaios. Ashes were falling everywhere now, dark and dense.

Gaios threw the sword aside and it sank into a pool of magma. He was breathing hard and his brow furrowed. Gaios looked at the remaining five, his eyes wild. “Tell me where the coward Ash is now!”

They were failing, their plans gone to ruin. Even though Gaios apparently could no longer extend his wrath across London, he still had a fearful power here in the ruins of his temple. Simon needed to get close to Gaios in order to do any good. The group spread out to surround the elemental. Nick and the surprisingly focused Jane went off for the far side of the platform where Gaios stood. Malcolm moved in the opposite direction. Kate pulled her last two cartridges. She loaded her single-shot pistol and clamped the last metallic cartridge between her teeth.

The white-haired elemental dropped to one knee and slapped his hands onto the ground. A black stone visor lowered over the front of his helmet, completely obscuring his face.

Nick unleashed a furious attack on Gaios. Immediately the black armor was coated with a sheen of ice. And then a lightning storm erupted from Nick's fingertips along with a scream of pain. The slender streaks of electricity felt their way around the black figure. Gaios staggered. Nick fell and the electricity crackled to a halt, his hands burnt.

Jane stood nearby with one hand raised. A stroke of lightning arced from the heavens and struck Gaios with a splitting crack. She shouted and called another jagged spear to smash Gaios flat to the ground. Blinding bolts crashed onto him until her hands were lit with fire.

Suddenly, the earth sundered beneath both her and Nick, a cauldron of magma at the bottom. Nick fell barely catching the edge with clawlike hands. Jane managed to grab him but didn't have the strength to haul him up. They clung there, hanging over hell's mouth.

Kate ran forward and fired her last vial of black treacle at the fallen elemental. It shattered onto his chest and sticky ooze poured down the sides of his cuirass onto the ground beneath. Malcolm charged Gaios, dropping next to him and placing the muzzle of Penny's small pistol against the obsidian helmet. He pulled the trigger. Not knowing how to regulate the weapon, it bucked violently. Malcolm's arm shook and he grasped his wrist to hold it steady. The obsidian began to crack.

Kate slammed her pistol against the black helmet. It shattered and revealed Gaios's tortured face beneath. His mouth stretched wide in pain as the sound waves pounded into his head. She leveled her pistol and fired, but the shell was deflected by the disruption from Penny's gun.

Kate spat the last cartridge into her hand. “Shut it off, Malcolm!”

The Scotsman released the trigger and slumped onto his elbows. Blood flowed from his ears along his jawline.

Simon appeared beside Kate and reached out for Gaios's unprotected head with his left hand. His palm held the inscribed rune. The power of it tingled along his arm. He felt an odd tightness in his chest. He stretched his hand to place it on the bearded face, but suddenly he couldn't move.

Looking down, he saw strange black rods sticking into his ribs. Sharp pain cut through him and he had trouble drawing breath. He heard Kate scream and saw numerous pencil-thin shafts of obsidian encaging her head. They were dug in like claws, leaking bright red blood. It was difficult to understand what he was seeing. Even grimacing with agony, Kate twisted her pistol and took the shot. The shell cracked the black armor of Gaios's stomach.

Simon and Kate were shoved away from Gaios. Malcolm was lifted into the air by black spikes stuck into his arms and hands. All three of them were impaled on thin spines of obsidian that emerged from the ground around Gaios like shining onyx tendrils.

Gaios rose to his feet, lifted by the earth itself. He stood in the center of the three who were crucified on his obsidian lances. His body was hunched. His black armor was shattered and dangled in pieces from his battered frame.

Simon gritted his teeth, trying to remain consciousness. He clutched at the bloody stone shaft buried in his chest and summoned the aether. He attempted to break it, but could feel the stone replenishing itself under his hands, growing continually stronger so that it would always be too powerful to shatter.

Gaios struggled to straighten his back. “Stop fighting, Archer. You've lost. London is mine. You were strong, but now you'll die.” He gestured and another stone spike drove into Simon's body.

Simon screamed.

“Tell me who Ash is pretending to be now, and at least I'll stop the pain.” Blood from his nose trickled through Gaios's white beard. “She could have helped you but she ran and left you all to die.”

Simon fought to breathe. His legs were numb. He could hear his heartbeat roaring in his ears. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He reached out feebly, and whispered, “Kate.”

“Tell me who Ash is!”

“Oh God, Kate. I must hold her … before … please … please …”

“You're pathetic, Archer. You're no Pendragon. He never begged, even when I killed him. I was wrong to fear you.”

“Just once … then I'll tell you … Ash's …”

The elemental raised his weary head to Simon. With a mere glance, the stone claws clutching Kate's scalp opened and she fell to the ground. She lay gasping for air. Gaios reached down and pulled her up. “Anstruther, go to him. Keep him alive long enough so he can tell me what I need.”

Kate weakly tried to pull her arm from the elemental's grasp. She nearly toppled as Gaios dragged her toward the impaled Simon.

Simon looked down. Rivers of red streamed down Kate's horror-stricken face. She could barely stand. Her clothes were torn. He smiled at her and reached out.

“Kate,” he said. “Take my hand, please.”

He felt her stiff cold fingers slip against his. He pursed his lips and whispered a secret word. Aether surged down his arm into her hand. He saw Kate jerk with alarm and a bright glow shot from above her heart. Her green eyes streamed aether and glittered bright with the same power that flowed through Simon.

Gaios turned his head to Kate. She returned his gaze with a fierce grin. Her hand came up and it glowed from a green rune that appeared on her palm. The elemental shouted and started to back away, but Kate grasped his face between her searing fingers. A blast of aether tore from her hand.

Gaios shook free, but a rune was emblazoned across his features. He roared in anger and extended his hands, fingers like claws. But nothing happened. The obsidian tendrils holding Simon crumbled and he dropped hard to the ground. On Kate's other side, Malcolm fell too. In the distance, Jane dragged Nick back to solid ground, both collapsing against the other.

Kate grabbed Gaios as the old elemental tumbled backward. He tried to shove her away, but his strength had fled with his magic. He seemed to grow older and more wizened. Kate knocked his hands aside and slammed her fist into his face. He stumbled back. She struck him again and Gaios fell to one knee. Kate herself couldn't stay on her feet and fell onto her hands and knees, gasping for breath. The elemental scrabbled weakly across the dirt and seized a jagged shard of obsidian. He rose onto one knee and lifted the blade to plunge it into her unprotected back.

A hand grabbed Gaios's wrist and an arm clasped the old man's unprotected throat. Simon tightened his forearm on Gaios's neck until the elemental began to choke, his tongue lolling from his mouth, eyes rolling up in his head. Gaios tried to raise his feeble hand and stab Simon with the stone blade. The razor black stone jabbed into Simon's leg.