The Key (44 page)

Gulping deep breaths, Ethan falls to the ground. In a moment of madness he grabs hold of the arrow with two hands and rips it screaming out of her chest. Everyone gasps and looks away.

‘The poison arrow is gone!' he bellows, a look of insanity in his eyes. ‘Now she can be healed!'

Shaun gets down beside him, laying a hand on Ethan's arm. ‘Easy, son.'

But Ethan will have none of his father's soothing. He jerks roughly away. ‘Don't touch me! Don't come near me unless you can bring her back!'

That's when the thought occurs to him. I hear it clearly reverberate into my head. He looks up at me, the request shimmering in the dark whirlpools his eyes have become. ‘Can you do it?'

My head shakes a negative. ‘No, I can't.'

He gets up. ‘But you're immortal! You have powers above the rest of us.' He turns to Arkarian. ‘Can he do it, Arkarian?' Before Arkarian answers he turns to the remaining Tribunal members. Sir Syford lifts his hands in an uncertain gesture and Ethan screams out, ‘Someone tell me!'

Spinning around he grabs my shoulders. ‘Matt, you have to try!'

‘Ethan, it's impossible.'

‘
Why?
What are immortals if they can't bring back the dead?'

‘Our powers lie in the living. We can extend life, as Lorian did for Arkarian and Isabel. On rare occasions we can even give immortality, as my father did for Neriah, but death … death is our destiny. It can't be changed.'

Isabel, with red eyes and tears streaming down her face, grips Ethan from behind. ‘I failed you. I'm so sorry!'

Ethan pulls her around and holds her, burying his head in her shoulder. He stays like that for a long moment, drawing strength, then lifts his head and looks into her eyes. ‘It's not your fault.' He looks at all of us. ‘It's not anyone's fault.' Then his eyes stop at Neriah. ‘Except …'

Pulling away from Isabel, Ethan inhales deeply. His whole body trembles as he releases a shuddering breath. ‘There's something I have to do.'

Neriah's grip on my arm tightens. Like everyone else here today, she knows exactly what Ethan is talking about.

Arkarian reminds him gently, ‘But, Ethan, Marduke is going to die soon anyway.' He looks to the west, where the sun is already beginning to set. ‘The curse has been activated.'

Ethan shakes his head. ‘I don't care about the curse! I have to do this!' In one sweeping movement he collects the golden arrow and takes off.

Arkarian's eyes fly to mine, and I nod. This is not something we will let Ethan do alone. We chase after him, catching up quickly.

He hears us and turns. ‘Don't even try to stop me.'

Silently we fall in on either side of him. Words are pointless right now. It will not be long anyway before we find Marduke; signs of his passage are everywhere. He is
running like a wounded bull, thrashing into trees and shrubs in his path. I take a broken branch in my hand. ‘He's already dying.'

Ethan glances at the distant sun, lowering quickly behind the ice-covered western ranges. ‘Then we'd better hurry.'

We find him sitting on a boulder, leaning forward and gasping for breath. Ethan's bow is at his feet. He senses us and looks up. The light has gone from his eye and he looks shrunken.

‘You have my daughter. She belongs to the light now. What have you done with my brother?'

‘He is deep in the underworld, where he belongs,' Ethan says through gritted teeth.

‘Will he escape?'

‘No.'

‘And the Goddess?'

‘Killed by her brother.'

‘What of Keziah?'

‘He has disappeared, but without his mistress to sustain his long life, he will wither away and die.'

‘Then I have nothing left. Do what you must. Revenge is something I respect.'

For a long moment Ethan simply stares. Before him is the monster of his nightmares: his sister's murderer, the beast who robbed him of his greatest love. How easy, how fulfilling would it be to take Marduke's life?

But the arrow in Ethan's hand slips from his fingers to the ground. ‘No. Even revenge is too great an honour for you.'

As night falls and brings an end to this long day of darkness, Marduke inhales his last staggered breath and his body turns to stone.

The
Guardians of Time
series was created with the help of many people. The following stand out for special recognition.

The first are my children. Amanda for being my sounding board and for those ‘just perfect' ideas. Danielle for her wonderful critiques when the manuscripts were almost ready. And my son Chris for his male, much needed 17-year-old perspective, and for his technical advice with the weapons.

I also want to acknowledge my husband John for his unfailing support and encouragement and those endless calming cups of tea.

I especially want to thank my agent Geoffrey Radford for his dedication, persistence and determination to get things done.

And finally I want to thank all the staff at Bloomsbury Publishing who have worked on this series. Most importantly I want to thank my editor Ele Fountain for her meticulous editing of all three books, for her uncanny ability to know exactly what's going to work, and for her enthusiasm for the unfolding story.

Marianne Curley

In 2004 I battled a serious illness called myelofibrosis. This was potentially a fatal condition that caused my bone marrow to malfunction and turn into scar tissue. Unfortunately, in my case, I had the kind of myelofibrosis that was quite aggressive. The only cure was a stem cell bone marrow transplant, which included many blood transfusions of pac cells, plasma and platelets. The transplant was performed at the Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia in May 2004 and has been a complete success.

One of the reasons I am writing this Acknowledgement is to ask you to think about joining the International Bone Marrow Registry, and to also think about becoming a regular blood donor. Without the generous donations of blood products that I received during my illness, I would not be here today to continue writing and being with the people I love. Since my illness, I have realized how important and worthy it is to be on the bone marrow registry and to be a regular blood donor. You would have the potential to save many people's lives, and one day the saved life might even be your own.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful and dedicated bone marrow transplant team of doctors and staff at the Westmead Hospital. I would particularly like to mention and thank from the bottom of my heart, Professor Ian Kerridge, a brilliant and compassionate doctor who, today, continues to monitor my health post-transplant.

With best wishes

Marianne Curley, 2005

The Guardians of Time series by Marianne Curley

The Named
(Book I)

The Dark
(Book II)

The Key
(Book III)

Other titles

Old Magic

Copyright © 2005 by Marianne Curley

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying,
printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Published in the United States of America in June 2005 by
Walker Publishing Company, Inc.
Electronic edition published in October 2012
www.bloomsburykids.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
available upon request

ISBN: 978-1-59990-717-8 (e-book)