An Abyss of Light (The Light Trilogy) (70 page)

“Everything. Can you bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?”

Hatred swelled suffocatingly in her chest. “I’m human. Of course, I can’t!”

“When you can, then you’ll have the right to argue with Me. Until that time—”

“I’ll never stop arguing with you! It would have been better that we were never born, than to endure in misery all our lives!”

“Don’t be foolish. Aktariel has deceived you into believing all of existence is suffering. Have you never seen a sunset? Have you never counted the wildflowers in the deserts in the spring? Do you wish your beautiful daughter had never been born?”

Rachel’s heart ached. Her mind filled with images of dark tousled curls, wide brown eyes and joyous smiles. She knew now that God offered no infinite solace for her aches. Only in the arms of her little girl would the pain ease. “Adom said Milcom told him the suffering would progressively get worse. Will it?”

“Chaos becomes more intricate as time passes, yes. It’s fascinating to observe the wealth of new patterns that have burst into existence in just the time we’ve been talking.”

Despair swept her. “I hate you.
I hate you, Epagael!
”

“So …” he murmured. “So.”

And for a long time, she stood, glaring across into the black whirlwind. Then the floor went out from under her feet. She was falling, falling, falling.

CHAPTER 44

Yosef and Ari wandered down the cluttered hall, the lamp in Ari’s hand trembling so that it was a menace to what remained of the palace. Candlelight flickered eerily over shattered rose agate statues and crushed furniture. Marble pillars leaned precariously, supported by walls that sagged inward.

“A death trap,” Ari muttered, eyes focused on the dark ceiling. “There could be anything up there waiting to fall on us and we wouldn’t know.”

Dressed in a tattered gray robe, his friend’s face shone with sweat. He nervously fiddled with the pistol hanging from his belt. Yosef had one, too, though he didn’t like to think about it. They’d taken them from dead palace guards yesterday, just in case they had to “shoot their way out,” Ari had suggested.

“Such a shame. The building used to be so beautiful.”

“I wonder why the cannon blasts have stopped? You think maybe the war’s over?”

Yosef shrugged. He desperately hoped so, but dared not believe yet. “Maybe it’s just a lull in the firing while Jeremiel gets into a better position.”

“Maybe.”

“Let’s hurry and get to the lower levels, just in case.”

“Sure.” Ari reached over and patted Yosef’s shoulder tenderly, as though sensing the depths of his fear.

They descended a staircase to the dark basement level and found an intact hall. Breathing easier, Yosef trudged ahead. Perhaps they could find a sanctuary to hide in for the next few days?

“You think Baruch’s winning?” Ari asked as they turned a corner.

“Who knows? It seems like the entire world has gone up in flames in the past few hours. No one wins a war. Everybody loses.”

“But we will have to fight, Yosef. If we fight enough, maybe we can prove to our enemies we’re not going to lie down and die just because they say so.”

He pursed his lips and stared at the floor. Zadok had said something like that to him after the first Gamant Revolt. In his mind, he heard his brother’s vehement voice again: “If they think they can step on us, they will! We have to prove we bite back.
Or our people will cease to exist!
”

Ari threw out a hand to stop him from turning the next corner. Yosef, deep in thought, hadn’t noticed the faint glow of other lamps that penetrated the darkness. He stopped abruptly, holding his breath.

“Hear them?” Ari whispered.

Yosef strained to hear and caught the murmur of low voices. A deep baritone hissed, “I don’t know. Some folks are saying he’s that leader of the Underground, Baruch. But I’m not sure I believe it.”

“Baruch?” another voice spat disbelievingly. “Brought in at gunpoint by an old man? I don’t buy it, either. Besides, you saw how the councilman treated him. A blow like that across my chops would have laid me down for an hour. If he was really Baruch, why wouldn’t the councilman be sidling up to him for help? We’re all Gamants, for God’s sake.”

Ari gave Yosef a worried look, shaking his shaggy gray head. He breathed, “The
snake?”

Yosef nodded. Had Jeremiel returned to the caves and been captured by the very traitor he sought? The thought set Yosef s heart to throbbing. He cupped a hand to his ear to see what else he could hear.

“But what if he is Baruch?” the baritone asked.

“What difference would it make now?”

“Maybe a lot. Suppose these fellas we’ve got shackled in here are his cohorts? Maybe his army is waiting just over the hill to come riding down on us.”

“Baruch, betray Gamants? I don’t believe it.”

“We’re not true Gamants, though. We believe in a different god. Milcom—”

“Don’t talk about it, Sam! I can’t bear the thought of the Mashiah being dead. It—it makes my belly ache.”

Yosef squeezed his eyes closed, grief swelling to fill him. So that’s why the firing had stopped? Rachel had taken the heart out of Adom’s followers? Were Ornias’ forces breaking and running even now?
Blessed Epagael, he hoped so and yet, what a price to pay.

He gazed at Ari. His friend hung his head, staring at the candlelit floor. When he looked up, a strange fire glowed in his ancient eyes. He whispered, “We’ve got to break into that room and free those men.”

“But what if they’re not Jeremiel’s forces? What if—”

“Doesn’t matter,” Ari insisted. “Anybody that ugly councilman would shackle in his Chamber of Horrors deserves to be rescued.”

A swallow bobbed uncomfortably in Yosefs throat. “How?”

Ari’s face darkened. He drew the pistol from his holster and held the barrel pointed toward the ceiling.

Yosef looked down. He touched his own gun, but jerked his hand away, unable to bear the thought of killing another human being. “Ari, I—I don’t know if I can—”

“You don’t have to, Yosef. You stay here. Cover the hall for me.”

“No,” Yosef said softly, shaking his head. “I won’t let you go out alone.” Forcing his hand down, he pulled the pistol and held it inexpertly pointed at his foot. He pushed his spectacles up on his nose. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Together, they rounded the corner. The guards leapt up from their seats, chairs squealing to slam into the wall as they grabbed for their weapons.

“Don’t!” Ari shouted, aiming at the tall corporal’s stomach. The men halted, raising their hands.

“Aren’t you the Mashiah’s aides?” the redheaded corporal asked, licking his lips nervously.

“Yes. Open that door.”

“I don’t get it, old man. Did you decide to go turncoat when you found out he’d been murdered? Goddamn, now’s the time we’ve got to stick together. The councilman says the Mashiah’s been speaking to him from beyond the grave.”

“Open that door!”

“All right. Don’t get jumpy.” The corporal lifted his key ring and jiggled it in the lock, then swung the door open. The private stood rigidly still, eyes fixed on Ari’s gun.

“Yosef,” Ari ordered gently. “Go see who’s in there. I’ll stand in the door and keep an eye on these two.”

Quickly, he trotted ahead, gingerly going down the steps. He saw Ari enter and stand rigidly in the doorway behind him. A horrifying sight met his eyes. Four men hung a foot off the ground, shackled to the long wall. One had been dead for weeks. The man’s shrunken face twisted in terrible agony, mouth open, eyes staring wide and horrified at the ceiling. Yosef gazed forlornly at him. Probably he’d been a handsome man. Who was he? Some other innocent victim of this terrible war? Would the man have been alive today if he and Ari had made it down the night they’d planned? The night they’d seen Jeremiel dragged up the stairs? His heart ached, wishing they could have saved him.

He tugged his gaze back to the living. “Are you part of Jeremiel’s forces?”

“Yes,” the captive nearest, a gray-haired man said. “Did he send you to save us?”

“No, we …”

In the hallway, a shrill blast of rifle fire erupted. Ari lunged backward, knocking Yosef to the floor. He covered his head. Bedlam let loose outside, soldiers screaming, shouting, violet flashes shredding the corridor … and then it all went silent. Yosef got to his feet and ran to look out the door. Both marine guards were dead, slumped over each other on the floor, and two men in gray uniforms crouched in the hall.

“Come out of that room!” the tall black man ordered.

Yosef eased out with his hands up, but Ari mysteriously stayed behind.

“Who are you?”

Yosef locked his trembling knees. “We’re loyal followers of the Mashiah. We came down here to—”

“Harper?”
the gray-haired man in the Chamber of Horrors shouted and Yosef whirled. “Harper, for God’s sake, get us out of here!”

“Bromy?” The black man ran forward. “How the hell did you get captured?”

“Jeremiel’s plan was working great until we took a wrong turn and ran into a mess of guards.”

Yosef smiled at the short blond who still had his pistol aimed at Yosef’s pudgy stomach. “You’re part of Jeremiel’s forces?”

“I am. Who are you?”

“I’m Yosef Calas. My friend, Ari Funk, is—”

“Right here,” Ari said. He pushed out of the room, his gun shoved in Harper’s chest. “How do we know these guys are working for Baruch?” he questioned suspiciously.

Yosef blinked, going back and forth between Ari’s pistol and the blond’s. If Ari killed Harper, the blond would certainly kill him. It didn’t look good. “Well … let’s test them,” he suggested. “What planet is Baruch from?”

Harper blinked incredulously. “Tikkun.”

“What was his mother’s maiden name?”

“I … I haven’t the vaguest idea. But, excuse me, what did you say your name was?”

“Calas.”

The man’s gaze softened, a smile touching his lips. “Zadok’s brother from Tikkun. Yes, I remember. He spoke of you often. I’m Avel Harper.”

“You knew my brother?”

“Yes, please, Mister Calas, Zadok recruited me years ago to serve as his eyes and ears here on Horeb. I must find Councilman Ornias. We are all in very great danger.”

“If you knew my brother, you’d know his wife’s name.”

“Nelda. She died during the last revolt after having been captured and held by the Magistrates. She—”

“That’s good enough. We’ll have to take the chance. Jeremiel’s in trouble. He needs help badly.”

Harper’s face slackened in horror. “He’s
here?”

“That’s what the guards said when we sneaked up on them. He’s been captured. He’s with the councilman.”

“Oh, God, then we’ve got to hurry. Even if we rescue Jeremiel, we’ve got a long day left.”

“Cut off these irons!” The men inside the chamber shouted.

Harper dodged past Ari and the sound of metal squealing under rifle fire sounded. In only moments, all four men emerged from the chamber.

“Where’s Baruch being held captive?” Harper asked.

“In the old gardens. We need to go down this hall and descend the stairs, then go straight ahead, past the ivory statue of Milcom. It’s the first door on the right. But it’ll be heavily guarded. You might want to—”

Ari interrupted. “Let us go first. We know the way and we were the Mashiah’s personal aides. Many of the guards know us.” Dragging Yosef forward, he pressed between the gray-clad men and headed down the hall.

Zadok braced his shoulder against the wall of the seventh crystal palace of God, gazing out over the beauty. Sunset fired the skies, splashing drifting clouds with bands of mauve and crimson. He yawned, watching an elk cow and calf graze in the viridian meadow that spread along the dirt trail back to the sixth heaven. The cool breeze carried the sweet scents of wildflowers and pines.

“Zadok?” Anapiel’s heavenly voice called.

He straightened, rushing for the doors to the palace. The huge angel appeared, his dark blue robe glimmering purplish in the sunset.

“Will Epagael see me now?”

“Yes. Come in.”

Zadok hurried through the entry, sucking in a deep breath at the wild orange sparkles of the crystal walls. Fluttering shadows danced across his brown robe as though alive.

“I’ve never seen Arabot look so beautiful,” he murmured as he raced down the long hall. Ahead, he could see the waves of heat rising from the River of Fire.

Anapiel kept pace at his side. “Perhaps it’s just for you, Zadok?”

“Why would that be, Lord?”

“To impress you, of course.”

“I hardly think Epagael needs to work at that.”

Anapiel laughed, giving him a thorough appraisal. “Really?”

“Is there something you’re trying to tell me?”

“Me? No. Not I. One of my goals in life is to tell you as little as possible, Zadok.”