Nightbringer (30 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Long it was before the roar inside the abbey stilled
– until dust ceased to pour from the open double doors, flooding over Gina and Josh and Rachel like the breath of Death …

Until
the sound of the all-consuming flames died to nothing.

It was even longer before Gina noticed that the bitter wind had stilled, that the snow no longer slashed and cut and sheathed the earth in ice.
Then, very slowly, she raised her face, blinking at the mountain of stone inside the Great Hall—a skull of stone shone with sunlight, surrounded by fire, the ice slowly sliding down the crest of the skull.

It was warm, Gina noticed, as she staggered to her feet, but not from the Hall. It was from the blinding blaze of
the sun that had struck and split the sky like a blast of breath from God. She barely noticed Josh and Rachel rising beside her and only slowly noticed that they were just as motionless. Neither seemed eager to re-enter the Hall.

It was
obvious that nothing could have lived through that holocaust.

But then, f
inally, Gina placed a hand on their chests.

"Stay here," she said and swallowed. She took a deep breath, blinked, and took the first hesitant step up the stairs. She found herself biting her lip, knew her legs were trembling. But she could not—would not—turn bac
k.

Standing in the entrance of the Hall, Gina saw a colossal heap of stone surrounded by dying flames and dying ice. Then she was aware that Josh and Rachel were standing beside her, but she was not afraid. What had happened here was no longer a danger to them.

"Mom?" Josh whispered, "is Cassius ...?"

Staring over the devastating expanse, Gina could say nothing. She inhaled once, remembering the look in Cassius' eyes— remembering his words. Words spoken before he entered his greatest battle against his greatest foe—a battle he knew would cost him his life.

Gently, she placed an arm around Josh.

"He lived long enough,"
she answered quietly. Then she reached out to Rachel and turned them both away.

"He lived long enough
..."

* * *

Epilogue

Broken across a cornerstone of the abbey, Jaqual lay in his true form, white and massive and bestial. But he was still, now, and bloody. Nor did those imperious eyes contain the hellish glow that had inhabited them in life. Rather, they stared emptily toward the broken dome above them where the avalanche had shattered the floor and carried them into the cavern below to the forest of skeletons.

The spear of Gaius Cassius Longinus even yet protruded from his chest, somehow unbroken from the long descent into the
resting place of the crucifix. And in the shadow of the torches that haloed the cross the spear cast the dark blade of shadow toward the stairway, which had somehow survived.

Silence
… Darkness.

Stillness...

Then a hand—a bloody, wounded hand—stretched forth from the darkness. And the spear that had resisted the titanic might of the beast as he struggled to tear it from his chest surrendered effortlessly, and the bloody hand pulled it free.

A warrior stood on the edge of
that shadow and light, holding the spear and staring down on his enemy – dead at last. And on the far side of the cavern the torches also began to slowly die, casting the cavern slow step by slow step into darkness until the darkness reached the resting place of the beast, claiming its titanic form with the Shadow of Death.

The warrior did not move.

His head was bent, somber even in victory. But then the Shadow reached the place where he stood as if to tell him it was finished. And so he turned, and vanished into the darkness, as well.

THE END

James Byron Huggins emerged from the cobwebs of Alabama in 1993 and literally stunned both the American East Coast and West Coast with multiple million-dollar movie and book deals to create some of the most admired story lines and characters in recent fiction.

After creating his allegorical first novel, “
A Wolf Story
,” Huggins switched to the counterintelligence genre with the ground-breaking, “
The Reckoning
.” Long hailed as the first true thriller with the backdrop of a profoundly religious plot, “
The Reckoning
” remains a favorite of actions fans. Then Huggins wrote “
Leviathan
” – the story of a Komodo Dragon transformed into the biblical Leviathan and the havoc it wreaks upon those who must destroy it before it destroys the world.

Million dollar deals were immediately signed for “
Cain
,” and “
Hunter
,” before Huggins could even finish the books and overseas rights were sold before the novels were even released in the United States. Even now Huggins remains one of the most sought-after action screen writers in Hollywood.

Raised in a small Alabama town Huggins grew up to become involved in fantastic adventures that took him to the far side of the world and so very far from his beginnings. After spending several years in Europe smuggling people and materials in and out of the Iron Curtain to assist those suffering religious and political persecution in nations doomed to war, Huggins became a decorated police officer in Huntsville, Ala. But he resigned from police work in 1993 after publication of his first novel.

Huggins continues to write and to speak and frequently holds writing seminars for libraries, book clubs, colleges, high schools and churches. Anyone wishing to have Huggins visit your group or edit your work before publication or theatrical production need only contact him through this site.