An Abyss of Light (The Light Trilogy) (68 page)

She dropped it against her white suit, where it flared insistently. Dear God, had it been only a few hours ago that Adom had nestled against her like a frightened child? All her memories of him seemed vivid, crystalline. Adom in his long robes, smiling shyly, brushing blond hair from his handsome face to expose eyes wide with innocent longing.

Tears welled, freezing on her lashes as silent sobs racked her body. “I didn’t want to kill him. Why did I have to kill him, God?” Unconsciously, she gripped the warm
Mea
and pressed it to her forehead, burying her face against her drawn up knees.

Night covered the spiny ridges, wind carrying the damp pungency of blood and resin smells from explosions. Harper slithered on his stomach to the hill overlooking Seir. Four monks in gray uniforms crawled up behind him, faces grim. The city glowed golden with flames. Rifle fire burst in the darkness, forming a glittering necklace along the streets.

“Janowitz, you go first, we’ll fan out behind you.”

“On my way, Harper.” The short stocky blond scrambled down the hill. Hitting the street, he dodged into the shadows of blasted buildings.

“Bromy …” Harper began, but a shrill whine stopped him. “Take cover!” He jerked his arms over his head as the whine grew to a deafening roar. The ground shook violently, cascades of dirt raining down. In the distance, he saw the violet beam of the cannon panning another hill, slashing the tor to nothingness.

“They’re hitting all the high spots,” he rasped. “Go, get into the city! We’ll regroup at the corner of Izhar Street.”

Men flooded around him. He waited until their dark forms disappeared amidst the avalanche of tumbled walls. Casting a look over his shoulder, toward the faraway caves of the Fathers, he saw a red glow flame and burst like a forest fire, sweeping the hills. “Direct hit. Does that mean Jeremiel’s plan is working?”
Once you get to the city,
he’d said,
we’ll lower the defenses here. That should draw them like vultures to a dying weabit. While they’re pounding us, you’ll have fewer ships and troops to worry about in the city.

He cringed as another blast flared, fear forcing him to hurry down the hill to find the madman who gave those pilots their orders. Running onto the street, he pounded toward the corner, glimpsing fleeting shadows congregating there.

“Harper.”

The whisper came from an alley to his right. Adrenaline flooded through his veins. He veered in that direction, edging into a deep well of blackness. Four faces gleamed faintly.

“Janowitz, who’s on the corner?”

“We don’t know, but there’s about a dozen of them, dressed in rags, carrying clubs for the most part.”

Harper gripped his rifle tighter. Part of Rachel’s old rebel faction? They could use all the people they could recruit. But what if they were Mashiah devotees? Armed civilian fanatics would tear them to pieces more zealously than Ornias’ marines. “Go! Head down the alley. The way into the palace underground is from Eleventh Avenue.”

Hugging the steep banks of rubble, they silently drifted out onto the next street and raced through a still smoking section of merchant shops. Signs hung mournfully, canted at awkward angles. Roof debris was scattered along the road and overhead billows of smoke glowed like marmalade from still raging fires.

“Left or right, Harper?” Janowitz whispered.

“Right.”

Somewhere a horse screamed, a sobbing woman shouting at it; the sound of a whip on flesh cracked sharply.

It took nearly an hour to work their way to the narrow streets of the residential section that overlooked the palace. Clenching his teeth, Harper studied the massive triangular structure. One entire side had collapsed under Jeremiel’s cannon blasts, throwing jagged splinters of marble into the nearby hillsides; they protruded like pink lances. No guards lined the parapet. No lights shone.

“Abandoned?” Janowitz asked suspiciously. In the glow of the fires, Harper saw the sweat beaded on his long pale nose, the lines etched tightly around his green eyes.

“The staff probably retreated underground with the councilman. I’d guess that’s where the majority of guards are stationed, too.”

“Where are the entryways?”

“Jeremiel drew a detailed map for us. He knows the palace and its enclaves better than the Mashiah himself.”

“How the hell did he find something none of us knew about? I know he sifted through thousands of those musty documents in the records room, but—”

“Apparently,
he
knew what he was looking for.”
Passageways with the fewest intersecting corridors
—
the straightest, safest routes to the heart of the caverns directly beneath the palace.
That’s
where Ornias will be,
he’d said.

Taking the map from his pocket, he examined it in the dim light. Janowitz came to lean over his shoulder, staring.

“There are two possible entrances. See? Here and here? The third can only be reached from inside the palace. I don’t think we want to try that.”

“I don’t either.”

“Bromy?” Harper waved the gray-haired man over and pointed out the entrance. “You take Mipas and Uriah and hit this inlet. Janowitz and I will strike this one.” He looked up, nervously licking his lips. “We haven’t got much time. If we’re lucky our paths will intersect in the garden directly beneath the palace kitchens.”

Bromy nodded anxiously, gray brows drawing together. “Will Ornias be there?”

“Baruch thinks so. It’s the safest place in the city. But we’re not sure.”

“Okay. We’re on our way.” He led Mipas and Uriah up through the burned-out buildings. Harper’s breathing quickened as he watched them disappear around a corner.

Janowitz glanced sideways at Harper. “How come you didn’t tell me this was a suicide mission?”

“Would you have backed out?”

“Might have.”

Harper switched his rifle to full charge and sucked in a deep breath, “That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
Nor am I going to tell you about Baruch’s insane contingency plan
—
until I have to, that is. Damn, how could Jeremiel think the Magistrates might scorch Horeb and the only way to stop them would be to
… He shuddered, not even wanting to think about what might happen if he found Jeremiel with Ornias when they reached the gardens.

Janowitz shook his head, lips curling into a smile. A brilliant beam of violet limned the drifting clouds, reflecting from the fragmented windows of the palace. They both froze, watching the bolt explode out in the desert.

“Well,” Janowitz sighed, “let’s get it over with.” He dashed headlong down the street and fired a short burst into a seemingly solid part of the road. “Are you sure this is it? If it won’t yield to rifle fire—”

“Wait.” Harper ran to join him, looking again at the map and comparing it with their location on the street. “This is it. Baruch suspected the passageway hadn’t been used in years since it doesn’t appear on later diagrams of the caverns. Let’s try concentrating our fire simultaneously. Just a short burst.” They both aimed at the spot and violet light streamed out, lashing the road. In less than a second, the entry caved.

Harper jumped down into the darkness. He switched on a tiny handglobe and carefully examined the passageway. It looked old beyond anything he would have believed. Cobwebs filled the tunnel like white veils and the bones of some animal lay strewn across the red floor as though mauled by a now long-dead predator.

Janowitz thudded behind him and they stared at each other apprehensively. Neither could say anything for a moment, then Janowitz remarked, “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about anybody being ahead of us.”

“No, not for a while anyway.”

“You lead. I’ll guard our backs.”

Harper nodded, ripping down webs with his rifle barrel as they slid silently toward the center of the caverns. Curious runes covered the walls. Dust outlined their strange linear patterns. He had the eerie feeling this passageway may have been a sacred path, used for millennia by the Milcomworshiping kings in the line of Edom.

“Almost like mathematical symbols, aren’t they?” Janowitz whispered behind him.

“It’s no math I’ve ever seen.”

They walked in silence for what seemed an eternity, then Harper checked his map again. “We should be coming to an intersecting corridor. Look sharp.”

As they neared it, the cave blew cold gusts over them and Harper could see a tall metal door of ancient origin blocking their path.
It wasn’t on the map. Had they sealed this corridor for some unknown reason?
He reached out and touched the handle, feeling it icy beneath his fingers. Forcing down the handle, he was surprised when the door unlatched. He gestured for Janowitz to stand still, then he eased up and checked the passageway outside. Empty. Quiet. Not nearly as old as the one they’d been following. Only a few cobwebs clung to the ceiling. He motioned Janowitz forward.

“Which way now?”

“Straight ahead.”

They closed the door and trotted across the corridor, racing down the new hall. They ran through the blackness, the sound of their steps echoing from the walls. Then they stopped dead in their tracks, staring in panic at the huge landslide of rocks and debris that filled the tunnel.

“Holy Father,” Janowitz breathed. “Is that on the map?”

“No.”

“What the hell do we do now? We haven’t got very goddamned much time!”

Harper’s pulse raced. This was one thing Baruch couldn’t have anticipated. He was on his own now. “We can’t blast it. That might bring the whole palace down on us. We’ll have to go back to that other corridor and work our way around. Come on, for God’s sake, let’s hurry.”

Ornias paced frantically, glaring at the marine captains he’d ordered to assemble in his strategy cave. They stood stiffly, candlelight reflecting oddly from their sweaty faces. “Renon, what’s the status outside?”

The tall bald man grimaced. “Bad. Many of the common worshipers broke and ran when they heard about the Mashiah’s death. They’re hiding—”

“Well, find them! I don’t care if you have to kill every coward in the city to keep the rest of the masses fighting.
Do it!”
He had to get Baruch back and quickly or the past four years of planning and sacrificing would have been for nothing. “Anyone who won’t fight the Desert Fathers’ forces is guilty of treason. You will immediately execute such traitors. Is that clear?”

Panbo, a short man with bad teeth smiled grimly. “You bet, Councilman. Me and my men have been wanting to slaughter the bloody demon worshipers for years. We’ll handle it.”

“But, sir,” Renon said uncomfortably. “If we take our men into the streets, will you have enough protection here?”

“Yes, yes! Get out!”

The captains quickly turned and left.

CHAPTER 43

Cole Tahn lay quietly, staring absently at the dark light panel on the ceiling. His blanket coiled around his waist, exposing the dark mat of hair covering his chest. The soft green glow from the com unit on his bedside desk cast an aquamarine halo over the cabin, highlighting its stark simplicity. His gaze lingered on his books shelved so neatly in the niche over the table.

“Damn it, why can’t I sleep anymore? Punitive attacks never used to bother me so much.”

But really he knew why. The number had begun to weigh on him.
Carey had begun to weigh on him.
Had the Magistrates given up on diplomacy? Or had all their true diplomats, like Garold Silbersay, been driven mad with frustration? He shuddered to think how Mikael, an innocent boy, would react to the horror of standing face-to-face with Slothen. The Giclasian beast set even his skin to crawling. Would the child be a malleable tool in the government’s hands, used to carve the foundation away from Gamant civilization? Probably. Though that might well be a good thing. Someday Gamants had to assimilate into galactic civilization. Better now than later—because there might not be a later.

“Captain?” Macey’s voice whispered over the com unit.

He looked at the computer, wanting suddenly to smash it with his fist. Gruffly, he answered, “What is it, Lieutenant?”

“Special message from Magistrate Slothen. It’s classified under
Captain’s Seal.
Shall I pipe it through, or do you want me to send it on com aura?”

“You know I hate the aura. Pipe it through.”

Words sprang into existence on his screen. Sighing deeply, he threw back the blanket and swung his legs over the side of his bed. The cool air chilled his naked body as he leaned forward to read the message.

Greetings, Captain Tahn:

Congratulations on a job well-done on Kayan. We are in receipt of your report on Horeb. You are to proceed there immediately and initiate sterilization procedures. First, however, contact Councilman Ornias. Inform him we have considered his request and decided to make a counteroffer. In exchange for Baruch, we’ll be willing to increase the reward to five billion notes. Grinlow, however, is not available. Regardless of whether he accepts or rejects, proceed with Prime Mover One. Gamants must learn we wilt allow no deviation from our treaties. While Baruch’s knowledge is invaluable, his death will be adequate. We cannot afford another day of useless “bartering.” Both Tikkun and Lechud are in violent upheaval. Magisterial installations have been devastated. Trade is at a standstill. Starvation threatens quadrant seven.

Please advise immediately after consulation with the High Councilman.

Magistrate Slothen