The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit (25 page)

‘
What a naïve thing
to say,’ the man replied with a sneer. ‘You really do think too
highly of our people, my dear.’

El-i-miir thrust every bit of power she
had at the Elglair, but he moved too quickly and blocked her.
‘Child,’ the man shook his head, ‘you are no match for me.’ He
turned to his affiliated silt. ‘Take her to the tree.’

*

‘
Father.’ Noah knelt
before the old silt and kissed the sickly man’s forehead where he
stood hunched tiredly on his golden-gilded perch. ‘How are you
today?’

‘
I’m quite well you
snivelling brat,’ Korah snapped. ‘Quit drooling over my perch. The
kingdom will be yours soon enough.’

‘
My apologies,
Father.’ Noah took a step back. ‘Has there been any news of the
progress of New World’s army?’

‘
The general tells me
they’re less than a week away.’ The old silt shuddered, his legs
almost giving way beneath him. ‘Oh, what I would give to be strong
enough to face them in battle,’ Korah lamented, before turning to
cough raucously.

‘
I could go,’ Noah
whispered, his voice filled with mock sacrifice. Experience had
given him cause to predict his father’s response.

‘
Never,’ Korah
snapped. ‘You’re too important. I will not allow the throne to be
lost to this family. You have no idea what I had to do to get it.
Of course you don’t. You’re a disgrace. You’ve had everything you
ever wanted served up to you on a platter. Not a day’s hard work.
Not a single callous.’

‘
What about
Sa’Enoch?’ Noah redirected the flow of conversation. ‘Has there
been any news on him?’

‘
Mister Geld,’ Korah
barked. ‘That is his name. The line of Sa’Tan is dead.’

‘
Of course, Father.’
Noah bowed.

‘
The boy was
reportedly seen passing through one of the smaller towns up north.’
The devil frowned. ‘He was last seen caught in a whisp storm headed
straight for the mountains.’

‘
Surely he’s dead,’
Noah said with false enthusiasm.

‘
Perhaps.’ Korah
sighed. ‘But I don’t like loose ends. We assumed he was dead once
before and now look what’s happened. What a disaster.’

‘
Shall I order out
search parties?’

‘
No.’ Korah narrowed
his eyes. ‘The boy has come this far already and we needn’t waste
resources this close to war. Double the guard around Hel and we’ll
wait for him to come to us.’

‘
Yes, Father.’ Noah
bowed before abandoning the room. He strolled through a corridor in
the great tree. There were several doorways to either side of him,
each leading to the Devil’s various personal rooms. The end of the
tunnel opened out into an immense hollow midsection: the centre of
the tree. Glancing down its length, Noah recognised not for the
first time that it seemed bottomless. Long, smooth branches
criss-crossed the large chasm, providing pathways from one side to
another. Some of the branches were thick enough that they too had
been hollowed out to serve as small offices or quarters for the
royal staff presently flying about their daily duties.

‘
Prince Noah,’ a
familiar voice called just as he’d flared his wings in preparation
to drop over the edge.

‘
James?’ Noah turned
to face his father’s favoured manservant.

‘
I have some
unsettling news.’ James cast a worrisome glance over his shoulder.
‘I wasn’t sure whether to bother the Devil about it, so I came to
check with you first.’

‘
Go on.’

‘
A human woman was
found in the northernmost parts of Hades,’ James said
softly.

‘
And?’ Noah shook his
head disinterestedly. ‘I hope you didn’t bring her here. A whisp
will take care of her soon enough.’

‘
Prince Noah,’ the
man swallowed. ‘She’s Elglair.’

*

Far-a-mael had chosen his tent’s
location well. It stood at the top of a rise in the landscape,
allowing him to keep a watchful eye on the multitudes of soldiers
below. Oddly enough, both Kilk and Kilk Antet had agreed to lend
their soldiers to the mix. Gordin had offered some, but not as many
as one would expect from a country so large and with an economy so
rich. Nevertheless, Far-a-mael was grateful for any offer of
assistance.

‘
Well?’ Far-a-mael
turned to King Harundor as he gazed out over the landscape.
‘Impressive, is it not?’

‘
It is indeed,’
Braihon replied in awe. ‘Holy Spirit.’ He turned around. ‘You have
blessed us beyond our greatest imaginings.’

‘
Have I?’ Seeol
headed over unsteadily, the stones beneath his naked feet
undoubtedly causing him discomfort. Despite the passing of several
weeks since his miraculous transformation, Seeol refused to put on
a pair of shoes. ‘That is so many people. This will be one
marvellous obliterate.’

‘
It will be.’
Far-a-mael smiled. He’d worked out some time ago, with Seeol’s
repeated use of the word 'obliterate,' that the bird-man had
absolutely no idea what it meant. And Far-a-mael didn’t feel any
motivation to reveal its meaning. Seeol was serving his purpose and
Far-a-mael refused to risk losing the Jenjen army. It was for that
very reason that he’d been doing his utmost to keep Harundor and
Seeol apart, while spending increasingly large amounts of time with
both of them. It was imperative that Seeol go on believing that
they were merely approaching Old World so that everyone could
become good friends.

‘
Will we find
El-i-miir?’ Seeol asked rather fluently.

‘
I have a mind to
think we will,’ Far-a-mael replied. He still couldn’t believe the
stupid girl had run away right after being offered the opportunity
to come home. She’d clearly lost all sense and Far-a-mael would not
be making such a generous offer twice.

‘
It’s a bit scary.’
Seeol peered off toward the south.

‘
Not at all,’
Far-a-mael said encouragingly as he too stared into the daunting
mass of black clouds and the purple lightning that writhed about
therein. ‘You’re the Holy Spirit, remember? You needn’t fear
anything.’

‘
Yes.’ Seeol pushed
out his chest and flared his golden eyes. ‘Whisps is nothing to be
afraid of.’

‘
Now you’ve got it.’
Far-a-mael clapped the young man on the back and watched in horror
as one of his own fingers was hurtled off into the distance. He
pulled back his hand to find it weeping a gunky brown
liquid.

Far-a-mael hurried back to his tent,
wrapped his hand in a bandage and waited until he’d calmed himself.
When he removed the bandage he watched on distastefully as a worm
wriggled out of the hole from which his finger had flung.
Far-a-mael pulled the creature out, threw it to the floor, and
squashed it beneath his boot.

‘
I needed that
finger! How am I supposed to work my pistol now?’ he shouted at the
dead worm. ‘How am I supposed to grip my sword?’

With a snarl of contempt,
Far-a-mael stormed outside. King Harundor and Seeol were gone.
Inhaling as deeply as his crumbling lungs would allow, Far-a-mael
turned back to the army below. The number was impossible to count,
but there had to be tens of thousands: an ocean of men stretching
across the landscape. They’d be a formidable force, even to a foe
so mighty as Old World. Food rations were becoming a problem. One
that would have to be dealt with before any battles could
commence.

Turning his attention south, Far-a-mael
acknowledged the distance between himself and the black whisp sky.
The army would march beneath those clouds by late the following
day. How long it would take for the silt legion to respond
thereafter was a mystery.

*

Seteal sat on the floor of her tent.
Ieane had brought her food, but she couldn’t eat much. Her thoughts
were clouded. She couldn’t think straight. One small mercy was that
as her stomach expanded, the constant nausea lessened. Of course,
Seteal wasn’t a fool and realised that this was very likely a
result of the whisp becoming increasingly one with Parrowun as he
developed and grew. Seteal wondered what kind of monster he would
be.

The bleeding hadn’t stopped, but it
wasn’t continuous either, usually taking place when Parrowun moved
about inside. Occasionally blood trickled from her nose or eyes,
but such episodes were manageable.

Seteal considered abandoning the army
to find her way home, but couldn’t bring herself to do so. As weak
as she was, she doubted she’d make it and even if she did, what
good would it do her? She would be shunned by her old friends.
They’d suspect her pregnancy due to loose conduct and promiscuity.
If she told them the truth, they’d likely call her a liar or
disparage her all the more for it.

Seteal sat humming a familiar childhood
tune. She rocked back and forth. The motion was oddly soothing.

Far-a-mael’s anchor was a heavy burden.
Seteal was a prisoner: bound to a body that she’d never before
wanted to abandon so entirely as she did in that moment. She
couldn’t have cared less if it died. All she could think of was how
it would feel to release her soul forever. Parrowun would die, too,
but he was a creature of evil so perhaps it didn’t matter. All she
had left was to hope that Far-a-mael would be killed in battle and
that his death would release her.

CHAPTER
Eighteen

The Devil’s Crown

‘
It’s time,’
Noah announced
. He rushed into the cave
without bothering to retract his wings. ‘New World’s army have
crossed the border into Hades and Father has taken half the legion
to meet them.’

‘
Let’s go.’ Ilgrin
stood up enthusiastically, but his heart skipped a beat for nerves.
‘Where’s May?’

‘
She’ll meet us by
the treasury,’ Noah replied. ‘I’ve given her the key.’

‘
Are you sure that
was wise?’ Teah narrowed her eyes.

‘
Don’t question me,
Teah,’ Noah said stuffily. ‘As my fiancée and your future
She-Devil, she is able to go anywhere throughout the entirety of
Hel and no one will dare to ask why.’

‘
But she’s not the
future She-Devil,’ Jakob said slowly as he entered the main
chamber.

‘
Well, of course,’
Noah spluttered. ‘We know that, but nobody else does.’

‘
Come on,’ Ilgrin
urged. ‘We’re wasting time.’

‘
He’s right,’ Noah
agreed. ‘It will not take long to defeat New World’s forces. We
must leave immediately.’

The three silts raced for the exit and
one after the other leapt away from the cliff-face and into the
darkness of Old World.

Ilgrin’s attention was drawn west by a
low clapping sound not unlike thunder. There, in the distance, he
saw thousands of silts flying north as a single mass. He took a
moment to lament over El-i-miir and Seteal’s safety before doubling
his efforts in keeping up with the others.

Ilgrin had long perceived his
abilities in flight to be nothing short of remarkable and accounted
this to his continued disobedience in exercising regularly over the
farmland behind his parents’ house. As he pursued the other two, he
came to realise just how badly he was lacking in both strength and
agility. Noah and Teah moved their wings smoothly and caught the
wind with such efficiency that they needed only beat them with half
the frequency of Ilgrin. They were much faster than him and he got
the distinct impression that he was slowing them down. By the time
the three reached the centre of Hel, Ilgrin found himself to be
quite exhausted.

‘
We’ll go around the
back,’ Noah called as he made his way around an immense tree that
towered above all the others. They flew higher and higher until the
rest of the forest was a green smudge seen through a misty haze.
Nothing came close to the heights of the great tree whose upper
braches almost scraped the whisp clouds above. At last they landed
near the top on a thick branch protruding from the side.

‘
Why’d we come so far
up?’ Ilgrin panted, glancing at the ground, so far below that it
was difficult to make anything out in detail. He then turned to
stare at the imposing clouds, so close he could’ve touched them
with a few cautiously chosen wing beats. He was about to look away,
but something unusual held his attention. ‘Do they always move like
that?’

‘
What?’ Noah replied.
‘All over the place?’

‘
No.’ Ilgrin squinted
through the darkness. ‘They’re all moving north.’

‘
What?’ Noah and Teah
turned to look at the clouds.

‘
Maker! I’ve never
seen anything like it!’ Teah exclaimed, watching the whisps moving
in and out of each other while churning steadily north.

‘
Never mind that,’
Noah stated firmly, despite the confusion evident in his
expression. ‘We’ve come up this high because most people never do,’
he answered Ilgrin’s original question. ‘Now follow me and keep
your mouth shut.’ He hurried along the branch toward a heavy wooden
door and banged on it three times with the underside of his
fist.