Guardians Book One - Magic Rising

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Father! Father!" Lady's voice cut through the ringing in Kath's ears; she forced her streaming, stinging eyes open to see Lady starting to run towards the building. Flames spewed from every window, and Pes caught her arm, spinning her round and briefly backwards before she flung him off.

"No! My father is in there!" She stepped forward again, but this time closed her eyes. Even through her scalding senses Kath felt the air start to shift, felt the power gathering.

"Lady, don't..." she croaked, sensing what she was going to do. "You can't, you mustn't..." She waved a feeble hand, forcing herself up to her knees, anything to stop Lady from her attempt to draw on water that wasn't there.

"Someone call the police!" a distant scream from the main park issued over. "Stay back! Bloody hell, there's people in there! Is there? Can't see! Call the fire brigade! Let's get out of here!" Kath struggled to focus – the smoke was thick enough to be a physical force. She could see distant shadows of figures – were they leaving? Please, please call the fire brigade, call someone who can bring water...

Pes had grabbed Lady, shook her, broken her attempt to spellcast, but she was far stronger; she pushed him back, struggling free..

"Get out of here! Take Kath, you have to go, get somewhere safe," she cried into his face, and he grabbed her arms again, clung on.

"No! I'm not leaving you. There has to be..."

"Fool! Stupid weak human fool!" the familiar voice giggled through the smoke. Kath fell back to the scorched grass. She knew that voice, she knew that oily hum of power on the air, the sudden burning all over her skin even through the heat of the explosion. This time she made herself stand, legs wobbling, and caught the rush of the firebird's feathers as it tore through the smokescreen. "I didn't need power for this. Your gases! Your lighters! Your bombs! So easy! Pathetic human things, trying to tame me. Me! I used them and he didn't. Even. See!" The giggling shriek rose like a banshee's wail. "Forgot all his fighting training, he did! Not a soldier but a body, weak, weak, weak! The Lord of All Darkness will reward me beyond measure. I knew you'd come to me! You will all burn! And you are next!"

Through the smoke a pillar of flame rose, unfurled into the clawed monstrosity that was the Guardian of Fire, its wings outspread before it wheeled round, lunging at Pes' back.

"NO!" Lady screamed, and threw herself bodily at the firebird, slamming them both sideways; Kath couldn't even distinguish one from the other. Lady had her gun free but it was tearing at her face, her hands; they rolled over, a tangled mess of flames and limbs, shrieking. Lady fired, once, twice, but the bird clung on. In a moment Pes was at her side, but Lady wrestled the bird away from him, all style and calm lost to fury and desperation as she beat it back from reaching him.

"Don't touch him! Don't even dare! You'll never have him!" she shrieked at the flames tearing at her, not even noticing it singing off chunks of her long hair, burning claw marks down her cheeks as she beat her fists over and over into the body weight beneath the flaming feathers.

Kath staggered forward, groping for her dirk...too late. The last of the daylight was dimming; the world was growing dark as a shadow fell over it, over Kath's vision.

"Hello, little girl," breathed the Night in her ear. Kath spun and he was there, leering at her. This time he wasn't bestial but humanoid, a mass of seething darkness coalesced into something almost human, tatters of wings on his back, spindly and dripping, too-long limbs knotting around themselves. "This time you die."

Remember what you learned! Kath was quick enough to dodge the obvious blow but took the second lunge in her shoulder, shoving her backwards, stumbling. She could barely see a thing but the endless smoke, the shadow curving down towards her, its smile a rip of razor teeth in the blackness. She struck out at knee-height, aiming for what looked like it should be a joint, forcing it downwards. Take off the kneecap! This time it stumbled, clawing at her, gashing a line down her hand as she fought to pull the dirk free from its sheath at her waist. She just about had a grasp on it when the monster jerked forward once more. She blocked him and spun sideways, stabbing at the grasping fingers while her hindbrain chattered I can see it now. He looks like that little thing in Richmond. They were part of the same. They move the same. He's clumsy...and now, I'm not. Not so much.

Even as she heard the flames still roaring in the background, heard Lady's grunts and screams, heard Pes yelling words she couldn't make out, she was ducking and weaving with the Night, half-instinct, half-skill, harrying the shred of wings where she could, blocking the lunges. Her body was aching, but she couldn't stop...not now.

With one lucky stab, she tore the dirk into the shoulder joint of the monster and wrenched it forward with a tearing sound; the aquamarine glowed and from the corner of her eye she saw Lady hurl the firebird off of her, standing over it, still between it and Pes – burned and half-blinded, one arm hanging limp, but glowing – with fury and victory rather than magic. She fumbled with her gun with her good hand, aiming at the bird's face.

The Night smashed into the side of Kath's face, making her stagger, dizzied for a moment. Dazed, she clamped her teeth down on her lip and shook her head, fighting to focus.

"Enough!" he snarled and bunched up the mass of his body, swarming forward to smother her. Kath raised her arms to protect her face, and suddenly, in her mind, a sweet voice laughed.

I give you the blessing of Day!

"Wait," she gasped out, and held out her hands, palms forward, towards the Night. He paused, and between her hands, the air started to glow.

Now it was his turn to stagger back, arms raised, and the glow spun, solidified, into the faint form of the face Kath had seen once or twice in the cloud that was the Guardian of Day, and she was angry.

"How could you forget me?" she whispered at her opposite. "We were one, a unified whole! You betray me and these children of the earth, for what?"

"The...the time is near..." the Night growled, although he seemed immobilised by whatever it was Kath had conjured. "Do you so misunderstand our Lord? You betrayed me! Just as his twin betrayed him! You loved others more than us."

"Love is not limited," the memory of Day breathed, pulling Kath forward. "We are elements. We love all that lives, and they love us, in return. We are all form the same source. Have you forgotten? The Lord of Light...wishes all humanity to be loved, not just the two of them. How can you compare? Is this why he...?" The cloud shivered. "No. This is wrong. You will not harm this Seer." The glow intensified, shielding Kath, pushing the Night back, howling.

"Enough! We have...done enough. The Lord of Light is dead, besides! We have no need to stay. Fly!" He waved at the firebird. "Flee!" It shrieked, shooting backwards from Lady's aim, bourn upwards on the columns of smoke still pouring from the building. In the distance, Kath could hear the hideous wail of fire engines. Oh god...they're here. Thank god. He might still be...

"You have nothing left to fight for! We will be one again, don't you worry...I will have you!" with that parting shot at Kath and the faint glow that was Day, the monster was gone, soaring away after his Fire colleague.

Kath fell to her knees, and suddenly her mind was full.

Kathleen. Kathleen. Help me.

"Who...?" she whispered, but she knew already. That voice. That power...

I need a body. I cannot die. Please. Allow me in. Carry me until I am with one who can bear me longer. Please.

"Lord..." she breathed, clutching her head. Her skull was breaking apart. The light...the hundred thousand years bearing down on her...

Please! My time grows short...open your mind. See my power, and allow me in. I shall not harm you. My soul shall ride your mind for a brief time, nothing more. Please.

"Alright," she gasped out, and behind her eyes the world went white.

Kath fainted.