Redemption of Light (The Light Trilogy) (52 page)

CHAPTER 55

Carey glared hotly at Anapiel. He’d closed the door to the seventh crystal palace and leaned against it, blocking her entry. In a haughty, nonchalant gesture, the angel smiled and flipped the ends of his purple sash. As the sun dipped lower, his yellow robe flared like molten flower petals. Zadok had been shouting and stamping around for hours, but it had done little good.

“When will Epagael see us?” Carey demanded. “Gabriel said that Michael had already arranged for our meeting. I have to talk to God and get home!”

Anapiel shook amber curls from his glowing face and laughed a low, cold laugh. “Rachel’s been toying with things she doesn’t understand. You’ll be lucky if you can get home at all, Halloway. And if you manage that feat of magic, you’ll be luckier still to find Tahn and Baruch alive.”

Carey’s chest tightened. “Why?”

“Because both of them have been captured by the Magistrates and are currently on Palaia—”

“No,” she murmured. “No, not …”

As though from a great distance she thought she heard Cole call out to her—
-frightened, panicked.
His wail echoed like mortar fire in her soul.

A responding cry was wrenched from the depths of her belly,
“Cole!”

She lunged violently for Anapiel.
“Get out of my way, angel!”

Every muscle in Cole’s body ached. He had his arms braced over Amirah’s and Woloc’s shoulders. They dragged him headlong for the Spires, in the midst of a group of frenzied Gamants. People rushed and shoved, screaming orders, some crying. Many even dragged children by the hands as they climbed up the steep mountainside. The double doors to the subterranean control chambers loomed large, built into the earthen hillside.

Above, fighters veered, fell into formation, and headed back for them. Sailing over the tips of the lavender Spires, they blasted the group of rushing Gamants. The three men in front of Cole were hit. The hot spray of blood drenched Cole and Amirah. She cried out angrily, and rushed forward, dragging Cole forcefully as they tramped up the final stairs to the doors.

Amirah slid out from under Cole’s arm, leaving Woloc to support him, and trotted forward to try the door. When it didn’t yield, she bashed a boot into it repeatedly, then yelled,
“Get back!”
to the surging torrent of Gamants, turned her pistol to full power, and fired.

Chunks of the door flew off, spinning through the air and into the crowd, but the portal refused to crumble. Amirah let out a low guttural sound of rage and frustration, then shouted,
“Jason, Cole. Let’s hit it together!”

Woloc hauled Cole forward and he locked his knees and pulled his pistol. They lined out in front of the door and their eyes widened as two dozen more people moved up alongside them, each with a gun trained on the recalcitrant entry.

Amirah scrutinized the Gamants and smiled proudly. “On the count of three. Ready?
One, two … three!”

They all fired. After several seconds, the door shattered … and a herd of distraught Giclasians rushed them, surging forward in a blue tidal wave. Screams of surprise and hatred tore the cool evening. Cole dove to the side, knocking Amirah out of the line of fire as a stampeding swarm of Gamants threw themselves at the Giclasian soldiers. Garish purple flames burned through the assembly. Cole covered Amirah with his own body and added his pistol to the onslaught. The Giclasians finally broke and ran back into the control center.

Amirah wriggled from beneath Cole and got to her feet to watch the human bombardment flood through the doors. Jason ran forward, shouldering through the crowd to stand beside them. When an opening occurred in the press, Amirah gripped Cole’s arm and tugged it over her shoulders.

“Jason, you take point. Tahn and I will follow. He’s the expert at singularity manipulation.”

“Aye, Captain,” Woloc sprinted inside.

Cole twined his fingers in Amirah’s bloody purple sleeve and ran with all his strength.

From memory, they wound down the correct corridors, going deeper and deeper beneath the surface, sliding along the walls. The backup generators had kicked on, shedding a vague bluish light from the overhead panels. They could only see a few feet in front of them. Faint sounds of battle vibrated through the floor—mortar blasts, sections of building caving, racing feet.

“Amirah?” Woloc warned. “Wait.”

Cole leaned a shoulder wearily against the wall as Amirah slipped out from beneath his arm. “What is it?”

The carpeted floor muted the thud of Amirah’s boots as she moved forward.

Woloc whispered, “Do you hear it?”

“No, I …”

Cole did, a faint wailing, breathless, agonized; it swept down the corridors in the darkness. He gripped his pistol.

The suffocating screams came closer, accompanied by the shrill clacking of alien laughter. Amirah eased back, her hand moving along the wall until she touched Cole’s shoulder.

“Back up,” she whispered in his ear. “We can’t let them catch us in the open.”

Cole forced his exhausted body to retreat around the last corner they’d passed. Amirah and Woloc took the opposite side of the hall. They waited, their breathing hissing irregularly.

Cole wiped a hand over his brow. He didn’t know why, but over the past fifteen minutes, a raging fever had possessed him. What drug had Creighton given him during the revitalization process? He felt on the verge of delirium.

Slithering steps sounded.

Three Giclasians bulled around the corner, dragging a human, a woman, between them. The creature in the lead had a blue lustreglobe implanted in his helmet. The constantly swaying light cast their images in monstrous multiple shadows across the white walls. The human was wounded, her blood streaked the gray carpet like a lurid trail of crimson paint. They’d obviously been toying with her, for wide triangular gashes were ripped in her yellow robe, slicing into the soft flesh of her breasts and legs. Triangles, in mockery of the Gamant sacred symbol?

“We’ll take this human out onto the landing field,” the leader said in his mechanical voice, “and cut her to pieces before the eyes of her filthy comrades.”

The woman prisoner groaned in hatred and kicked out weakly. One of the Giclasians struck her in the face with his rifle butt and she sobbed.

Cole glanced at Amirah. Her beautiful face had gone rigid, turquoise eyes ablaze. She motioned for Woloc to back up further and get down. Jason complied, crouching in the darkness.

It seemed an eternity before the lead Giclasian rounded the corner and ran straight into Amirah’s pistol.

She shoved her pistol into his throat and fired. The alien’s balloon head burst. The second Giclasian shrieked as his cohort’s blood sprayed him. Amirah waded into the fray, firing.

“Come on!” she shouted.

Woloc grabbed Cole and together they raced after Amirah. He felt at the edge of his endurance, hot, so hot and tired. He staggered erratically, unhappily forcing Woloc to physically haul him. Around the next corner, Amirah ran back.

She whispered roughly to him. “Stay on your feet! There’re more coming.”

As though just remembering, she reached into her boot and pulled out his Wind River fighting knife, then gruffly shoved it into his boot. “In case you need it for close-quarters combat,” she hurriedly explained.

The weight of the ancient blade felt comforting. “Hurry, we haven’t much time.”

Amirah’s arm went around his waist and she and Jason supported him down the dark hallway. He caught a glimpse of the wounded Gamant woman crawling around the corner before they dodged into an adjacent hallway.

The pounding of dozens of boots pummeled the floor. Alien voices clacked.

Cole blinked fiercely at the darkness. Tiny stars of light flitted over the ceiling like wayward silver fireflies.
You can’t pass out, goddamn you!
He leaned into Amirah’s arm, praying that if worse came to worst, she could keep him from falling flat on his face at the feet of their enemies.

She understood instantly. “Jason! He’s going to pass out!”

Amirah whirled around to catch Cole under the arms and press him back against the wall. He stood weakly, aware of her breasts pressing into his chest, of the pleasant scent of her sweat and the acrid smell of Giclasian and human blood staining her dress uniform, the warmth of her breath on his throat. Pale blue lights flashed from some nearby hallway and Cole tightened his hold around Amirah’s shoulders and drew her against him with as much strength as he could muster. Woloc silently crouched, his pistol aimed down the corridor. They all stopped breathing when they heard alien movements—dozens of arms and legs slapping the walls, the pungent, nauseating scent of Giclasian sweat.

Cole nuzzled his chin against Amirah’s hair. It felt good to hold her. She hugged him tightly as the onslaught of alien soldiers passed and the thudding of their boots died away.

In the fading remnants of light, Cole saw Amirah gaze up to study his face anxiously. She put a gentle hand against his drenched hair and felt his fevered flesh. A dark expression came over her. She looked like a hard-eyed goddess hewn from the palest of azure marble. Blonde hair dangled in blood-matted wisps around her cheeks.

“If you faint again,” she informed. “I’m going to kick the hell out of you.”

He laughed feebly, “You’ll never make an angel of mercy, my dear. I’m not going to faint—at least not for another ten minutes. You think you and Woloc can get me to the control room before that.”

Her eyes glittered with a frosty fire. “We’ll get you there.”

Jason trotted silently forward. “Captain, it’s going to be close. Zohar has to be on its final approach. The attacks on the EM shields from the Underground have stopped. I think—I think we might be on our own.”

Amirah swallowed hard. He meant the Underground cruisers had been killed. “You may be right.”

Cole shook his head feebly. “No. I don’t believe it, Amirah. It would take longer to kill both Kopal and Wells—no matter how outnumbered they are.” His nostrils flared with fear for his friends.

“Then we’d better go. We might be able to help them.”

For an indeterminate amount of time, they ran down one corridor, then another, until Cole had no idea where they were and he was so exhausted he was afraid Amirah might have to kick the hell out of him after all.

The building had gone unnaturally quiet. As quiet as a midnight graveyard. It frightened him. Where were the Gamant forces? He forced himself to think of all the times in his military career that he’d felt desperate beyond measure, when things had looked hopeless and he was sure he wouldn’t make it….

And his thoughts drew up Carey, the only friend he’d ever had who’d never let him down, coldly beautiful as she shoved him against the wall in the transport tube aboard the
Hoyer
and ripped open his shirt to stare at his bloody chest.
“Goddamn it, Cole! Stay alert! Run a count!
His memories jumbled, mixing, haunting.

Carey, oh my Carey.
Run a count, damn you.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, fi …”

He felt his knees slam the floor. Blackness swallowed the world.

The next thing he knew, he was lying prostrate. The chill touch of the gritty tiles on his fevered face felt so soothing he longed to stay there forever. Scents of dirt and burning petrolon stung his nostrils and Amirah’s terse voice ravaged,
“Get up, Cole! We’re almost there. Get up or I’ll shoot you myself!”

He fought to slide his hands under his chest and push up, but dizziness swept him and he tumbled back to the floor. Pain eddied in scorching waves along his limbs.

Amirah’s fingernails sliced into his arm and he felt Woloc’s stern grip. He reeled drunkenly as they tugged him to his feet, shoved his pistol in his right hand, and ran again.

A human shriek of rage blared from the next intersection of corridors, and a rumble of assenting voices joined in. The floor beneath Cole’s feet shook with the impact of dozens of pounding boots as people hurtled forward.

Amirah and Woloc dragged Cole to the floor and they slithered against the wall, pistols braced. His heart thundered as he blinked sweat out his blurry eyes and sighted down the length of his gray barrel. The walls oscillated wildly in his vision.
Stay conscious. For the sake of God … !

Two Giclasians stumbled around the corner and toppled toward them. Cole triggered his pistol, blowing them to shreds before he realized they were already dead on their feet.

And Amirah and Woloc pulled him up and they were running again. Running, stumbling, running….

They swung around another corner and Cole sucked in a breath. Six Giclasians swarmed toward them, arms and legs rotating, rifles leveled. Where had the Gamants gone? Didn’t they realize this was the main control room? Cole raised his gun in sickening slow-motion and fired.

The lead soldier’s head vanished in a blur of blood. Amirah and Woloc’s pistols discharged, wiping out four in a single burst. Amirah screamed something unintelligible as she charged, hauling him forward with her.

The last Giclasian held his ground before the control room door and aimed.