Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (41 page)

Fredrick’s face turned red in anger. The Marshalls spread out around him. Amias came to protect Pearl from the verbal onslaught by standing in
front of her looking menacing.

“She has her own little army. She’s taking everything from you!” Tomas cried out. Pointing at Glory off to the side he yelled, “And she almost had that one beat me to submission.”

“That’s not Tomas,” Pearl said, touching Fredrick’s arm. “It’s not him.”

Coral stepped forward. “Vunn,” she yelled, looking around them. “You cannot have him. Leave us.”

Tomas raged again, swinging his sword. Amias rushed forward to pull Coral back from harm. Guards tried to get close but his arms swung at everything that moved. He screamed and yel
led at them all as they stared.

Jimm came running in from a side entrance. Tomas glared at him. Jimm smiled and walked forwa
r
d. “Tomas, what are you playing at? Drop it.”

Tomas backed up. Pearl moved over to motion for Glory to come to her, to come away from Jimm and Tomas. Tomas noticed her and yelled, “You were mine! And now you go to him. You are my queen not his!”

Glory stood up straight and tall, faced him and walked forward out of Pearl’s grasp. “You are a pitiful excuse for a god,” she spat, advancing on Tomas. “You don’t even have the knockers to come and face us yourself. You need to go through a weak child. Oh, that’s right, you don’t have any knockers.”

Tomas reared up, and while howling at her, took a huge swing. Jimm jumped forward crying out to Glory and fell, blood splashing over the ground and Glory’s dress amid screams. Tomas kept swinging, lunging for Glory and Pearl, who ha
d grabbed her around the waist.

“No,” bellowed Fredrick, his hand extended toward his oldest son. Tomas flew backward. His back hit a tree
with a horrible crack and thud.

Fredrick fell to his knees not fully aware what he had done. Pearl grabbed him, crying. Glory rushed to Jimm, shouting orders to get a physician, tears running down her face. She used her skirts to stop the bleeding across his back and arm. Glory
searched the chaos around her.

“Coral,” she shouted. “Coral, Amias.”

Amias stepped forward. “She’s getting Darius,” he yelled in the noise around them.

“Get the high priestess
, Kubetha
,” she needs to come with us.

Tomas’ body was removed from the gardens by the Marshalls and passed off to guards. They waited for the physician and his aides then from the corner of the garden, among some sweet blossoms, Darius took
them all to their secret world on the Doran estate.

The priestess
Kubetha
cried out and fell to her knees. “What is this child?” she sobbed, touching Darius’ face.

Coral rushed over to the arch. “Darius, can you look at our goddess? In the grey?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “I never tried. I don’t like it there.”

“Try now.”

And there he was. Vunn stood shouting at Caris. She cowered as his hand came up to strike her. In
the gods’
arch they saw the garden.

“They
can’t see us here!” Amias said.

Vunn’s verbal and physical assault on Caris made their hearts cry out. She had always helped them and been so kind. This beast was destroying her. He had destroyed the others. Coral turned Darius away quickly when Vunn forced Caris onto her knees in front of him. She pushed Darius into the open arms of Fredrick and she spun in fury. Concentrating with all her power Coral stared through the arch. She pushed Vunn so hard he fell out of view. She yanked, with all her strength on Caris. Her image blurred, sliding sideways then came into view stan
ding with them, in full colour.

Beautiful and elegant, Caris was bruised, beaten. She collapsed to the ground into Pearl’s arms. They both cried tears of anguish and joy. Cari
s kissed Pearl as she held her.

“Thank you, little one.”

The priestess was on her knees beside them. Coral wasn’t done. “Fredrick!” she barked. “You have the right to see the end of that demon
that
killed your son.”

Pearl stood, passing Caris to the priestess, who handled her gently. Glory joined them, along with Amias. Krisa and Pat stepped forward. Glory asked Pearl, “You have your hatchet, god-
smiter
?”

“I do,” she replied.

“I hope it’s sharp.”

And they forced their way, once again, into the world of the gods.

Caris smiled up at the little boy before her. He studied her carefully.

“You are much prettier here,” he said. “I didn’t like your world.”

“What is this place?” she asked, looking around. She seemed to gain strength so tried to stand. Kel and the Marshalls stood or squatted nearby, ready for action if they were needed.

“I made it. After I came to see you. I didn’t like all the grey and not being able to see you and the others.”

She watched him as he turned, proud of his creation. She said, “It is much like my home where I came from.”

“Can you show me?” he asked, pointing at his arch.

“Oh, you have created that?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “It works too.”

“I’m sure it does,” she said smiling at him then at the priestess. “Here, I will show you what I remember.”

And beautiful fields appeared before them, trees in the distance. There was a hill with a cluster of trees on top. “That is where your mother found us. She is a very special lady.”

Darius nodded and smiled, proud of his mother. “I know. She teaches me everything. But I don’t know how to read yet. The King could read when he was two.”

“Do you thi
nk he really could?” she asked.

“No,” he admitted. “But he likes to joke with me.”

“You are very smart.”

“I hope they come back soon. Should we watch?”

“No,” Caris told him quickly and looked into the eyes of the priestess with worry. To the priestess she said, “Lady, lower your veils. Don’t hide your beauty. A woman has power that shines through. Never cover yourself like you are ashamed.”

And the priestess removed the
layers of
wraps that kept her away from others,
cloistered away from the world.

“You see, everyone is beautiful here,” Darius declared looking at the priestess, whose eyes teared up in thanks. To Caris Darius asked gently, “What about the others? The ones who stood with you?”

“I don’t k
now. The longer
Vunn
was there, the more he controlled,
the more they
slipped away. They were like ghosts, not really there.”

“Glory said they were shells.”

“Yes, that’s what it seemed like. I couldn’t talk to them, they never moved. It was slow. One would go and then
another
.”

“Is that where our gods went?” the priestess asked. “After Vunn?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I sent you two. They returned empty.”

“We asked Lady Doran for help, to see if she could speak to them. Or find them for us.”

Caris shook her head. “She is doing what she is meant to do right now.”

And they all waited.

Vunn came forward out of the
grayness
as they found their balance. “Where is she?” he raged at Coral, who stood he
r ground.

“I took her.”

“Took her?” he screeched. “What are you?”

She cocked her head at him. He feared them. The black line where Krisa had severed his head from his body still ringed his neck. His wrap was still stained with black blood from his encounter with Pearl. And she suspected whatever Glory had pulled from him and destroyed into millions of dust particles was dear to him as well. But they hadn’t destroyed him completely. Here he was, in another world, tormenting again.

When she didn’t answer, Vunn circled Coral then looked from one to another of the girls, the three who took away so much of his power. To Pearl he snarled, “You are the one…”

“Yes, I am,” she told him, looking
straight in his eyes defiantly.

“She’s no better than her mother,” he snarled at Fredrick. “And you, you killed your son today. You killed the future king of your precious land. How does that feel?”

Pearl could feel Fredrick’s grip on her hand weaken. She squeezed his tightly reminding him she was with him.

“Nothing,” he shouted. “You think you’ve figured out how to keep me out? I will always be there. I will always nag at you, telling you that she doesn’t love you. You will be in her arms and you will think she hates you. So weak.”

Glory pulled her arms back yanking him toward her. She snarled in his face, “You haven’t destroyed us. We are still here. We are here together, facing you, taking you down again.”

A glimmer of fear flashed in his eyes. In front of Glory’s eyes fingers appeared on his scalp, pulling Vunn’s head back. A machete sliced through his neck, spilling black oily blood down Glory’s front. His body crumpled. After several seconds he melted into the ground but emerged further away, in one piece again,
the line at his throat thicker.

He laughed. “You tried that before.  It didn’t work. I’m still here.”

Pearl pushed him. She threw him. Behind them they heard a whisper. Everyone turned to see one of the gods, the one who had spoken earlier to Ami
as, move slightly in his shell.

“Amias,” he whispered. “The boy. He’s terrified of the boy.”

“No, not Darius!” Coral cried.

“He wanted you,” he told her. “To make you into a goddess he could control. Caris was brave. She sacrificed herself for you all. She loves you. It’s the boy he will try to destroy. But the boy is the only one...”

And he was back. He rushed at Coral, tossing Amias and Fredrick away. Pat tried to tackle him but got knocked aside and didn’t move. Pearl swung her hatchet but it sliced through him and healed, leaving black scars. Glory tried to pull Coral toward her but he grasped at her, tugged at her clothes. He had wanted her, he would take her. He could still take her and make her his.
She’d never know pleasure again. S
he’d never know love again. They wouldn’t be able to create anymore abominations.

Again he pushed everyone away with a force they couldn’t see. Vunn’s power seemed to be growing as he forced her to the ground. Amias screamed for her. Fredrick tried to push Vunn but couldn’t. He ripped his wrap off and
leered
.
He lowered himself onto her, groping at her hungrily.

And they froze. Everyone froze except for Coral. She inched her way out from under V
unn. She smoothed her skirts, mentally wiping the memory of his hands
from her
. She
walked over to Krisa’s form on the ground. She took up her machete
in her fist
.

“May I borrow this?” she asked politely.

Vunn’s leg from the knee down was the first to go. She tossed it off into the distance. She was so furious she cried and gulped air. She hacked at him and threw each piece in a different direction. Each stroke was for hurting her family. For killing Tomas needlessly, for causing the faithful of her land and the Kusira to be shamed and condemned. She tore him apart for all the hurt he caused Caris and the people she loved.

When she was done she wiped the blade on the discarded wrap at her feet and clutched onto it. She may have bought them some time while he tried to assemble himself again. Without unfreezing them Coral forced her loved ones back, back into Darius’ world.

They all collapsed. Amias rushed for his wife and held her tightly. The Marshalls came forward to offer aid. Pat was unconscious and Krisa cried next to him. Fredrick rose on his hands and knees. He shook his head and looked at the people around him in wonder.
He never truly knew what his friends were capable of
and what they had faced before. H
e was humbled.

“Goddess,” Pearl cried, dropping to her knees next to Caris. “Your gods live I think. But he’s not beaten. We have failed.”

Glory was covered in the black ooze of his being. She retched and tore off her dress, standing in her shift. The priestess offered Glory the extra fabric she had removed to protect her modesty. 

“Mama,” Darius called. “He’s not dead?”

She shook her head and cried. “I tried,” she told him. “I tried really hard.”

Pearl told Caris, “He tried to take her again. He wants her.”

“She is powerful,” she told them. “She can, at will, go from world to world. She can move people through them. No other can do that. Well, except Darius.”

“The god, the one who was with you last,” Pearl said. “He spoke. He said Vunn is terrified of Darius.”

“He is,” she nodded. “He is the product of love between Coral and Amias, conceived if I am right, at the Well Amias created.”