“Yes, we must,” said Lilly satirically. Darcy didn’t seem to notice.

  “I sense them,” said Elaine.

  “Sense what?” I asked.

  Elaine looked like she was about to say, but stopped herself. “Do not go far. I will be back soon.”

  With that, she hurried across the square and out of sight.

  “Looks like Mom and Dad have everything under control,” said Lilly.

  “Huh?” said James, who was too caught up by the fact that he had just stepped into another dimension to follow Lilly’s humor.

  Darcy was now muscling the largest piece of wall he could carry toward the portal.

  “Are you alright there?” asked Lilly.

  “Though my flesh is gone, my-” started Darcy mournfully.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” said Lilly, “But I think you might do better to just direct me.” She reached out her hands in a manner quite like she had on Charlotte Island when Lachlan was in danger. The petal pendant that hung around her neck began to glow, and she had soon taken Darcy’s burden and was gliding it towards the portal. She seemed to have a lot more control over the petal’s power since losing her memories for a second time. Perhaps some innermost barrier had been broken down.

  “You are very talented,” said Darcy sadly.

  “Don’t be like that, hero,” said Lilly. “It’s annoying.”

  There was a scream, drawing my attention back to the city, and a certain crumbled building about fifteen feet away.

  Something dashed from one side of the ruin to the next, and then the scream fell away.

  “Come on,” I said to James. “If we are going to take people through, we are going to have to get on with it.”

  With one eye on the shadows, we began making our way through the fallen city in search of survivors. People were running here and there, marching on some orders of their own, mortal fear in their eyes. They were dressed in what looked to me like Shakespearian clothing adapted appropriately for desert life.

  “Hey!” cried James to one of the passing soldiers. She was tall and resolute, with an eruption of red hair issuing from beneath her headdress. “Hey!” repeated James. “We can save you.”

  The woman looked at James and I, baffled for a moment, and then marched off toward the tallest of the ruins, spear in hand and battle in her eyes.

  “What would you do if a bunch of teenagers wandered into your war zone?” I asked.

  James thought seriously for a few moments. “I would mourn their imminent death.”

  “Right,” I said. It wasn’t exactly the reply that I was expecting. There was something of Darcy’s frankness in James, but none of his confidence. I found myself wondering what it would be like to have him on our team when all this was done, while at the same time doubting that day would ever come.

  “We should keep moving,” I said. “There are things out there hunting those soldiers. Besides, we might have better luck rescuing civilians. That woman didn’t look like she intended to do anything today but die.”

  “Right,” said James.

  I knew that it was a bad idea to stay out in the open, and yet the thought of facing the alleyways, shaded as they were, made me anxious. There were things stalking in there, and I did not want to venture into their domain.

  We rounded a corner and found ourselves in a second open space. It was built around a central well and was strewn with what looked like the remains of a marketplace.

  The sounds of sobs drew my attention to one fallen stall.

  My heart stopped.

  Two creatures were sniffing around the stall’s edge, searching for their next meal.

  “No!” I yelled, without fully thinking of the consequences.

  The two creatures stopped sniffing and turned to look at me. They looked like dinosaurs, specifically, like velociraptors. They differed from what I had seen in the movies in that they had feathers covering their bodies, longer ones behind their arms as if they were echoes of wings yet to come.

  But these were not creatures native to this world.

  They were white all over, a splash of gold in their proto-wings and in the shine of their eyes. They looked at me with that vicious intelligence I had seen many times before.

  These were not raptors, these were Aeorankin.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  An instant later, the Aeorankin raptors were closing on our position. I didn’t have time to think. Calling on The Library’s power, I teleported toward the fallen stall in the hopes that I could find the poor soul hiding beneath.

  I immediately regretted my decision.

  I disappeared from that world and found myself momentarily buried beneath a mountain of ash and dust before reappearing by the market stall.

  I fell to my knees, coughing and gasping for air.

  Turning back, I saw James was standing his ground, waiting for the Aeorankin raptors to reach him.

  “James!” I spluttered, wondering if this boy had lost his mind.

  There was a flash of white light as his staff impacted the dusty street. A portal opened up in front of the creatures that were rapidly closing in on his position. They were moving fast, too fast, and were unable to stop before plunging right into the portal’s grasp.

  A moment later, a portal opened up some twenty feet in the air above the market and out fell the Aeorankin, plummeting toward the ground. They impacted the street with a sickening ‘thwop’.

  Recovering from my coughing fit, I began to search through the strewn debris.

  “It’s alright,” I said. “I can take you to safety.”

  There was a half-stifled sob. Whoever it was under all this mess, they didn’t seem to want to be found. Probably a child, I thought, and with that idea, I felt determination rise again within me.

  At last I found her, grubby faced and grasping her knees. She was a girl, perhaps six or seven, terrified and utterly lost to tears and despair.

  “It’s going to be alright,” I lied, taking her hand and leading her from her hiding place beneath an overturned cart.

  There was a flash of light as James appeared behind me.

  The girl recoiled at this. “It’s OK,” I said.

  “I think they are getting up,” said James urgently, gesturing over his shoulder.

  I looked back to where I had seen the Aeorankin fall. Sure enough, they were slowly rising to their feet. They looked mean and seemed to have already spotted us.

  “Can you get us out of here?” I asked. I dared not use library magic again. I couldn’t risk burying this girl under an ocean of ash.

  But before James could stammer out a reply, my attention was drawn by an indistinct hum of energy. Just then, an enormous energy blast rocketed into one of the creatures. This was followed by a second blast, which slammed into the other.

  “What now?” blurted James.

  There was something about the blast that unnerved me, and I recoiled as the whole scene was momentarily cast in a bright orange. The origin of these energy beams seemed to be some place above the city. They impacted the creatures with such force that they both hurtled across the marketplace, collided with an opposite building, and demolished it on impact.

  Glancing about, my eyes settled on the source of the blast. It was not Mary or Elaine as I might have guessed, but a massive Lionkin soldier, seated with another of his kind in a low-flying ship of some ilk, which hovered over the scene.

  “What on earth are they doing here?” I asked the universe at large.

  “What is that?” asked James, afraid. The Lionkin looked scarcely less terrifying that the Aeorankin they had just dispatched. Tall, armed, and snarling, the two Lionkin leaped down to the square, seemingly indifferent to the hight and the force of their impact.

  “Vicious has recruited them as soldiers,” I explained. “I don’t know if these are under her command, but I can’t think how else they could have obtained passage to a fallen world.”

  One of the Lionkin laid eyes on me, bared his teeth, but kept on walking toward where the Aeorankin were buried. This Lionkin was perhaps the most terrifying I had ever seen. His face was scarred, one arm had been replaced with an artificial one that looked to be magi-tech in build, and he was missing an eye.

  His companion took out a small device and scanned the destroyed building. Satisfied with what the device revealed, the Lionkin captain roared an order into his mouthpiece.

  “I didn’t know that such things could exist,” said James in disbelief.

  “This is just the start of it,” I said. “But why are they here?”

  A transport ship swooped down and landed next to the well in the center of the marketplace. It was full of Wildermen strapped up next to each-other, their seats open to the air and the wide world. Their safety, it seemed, was not deemed of much importance. These were, after all, the creatures the Lionkin habitually kept as slaves. They poured out of the transport, herding toward the Lionkin captain.

  “This has to be Vicious,” I said.

  “You mean she is here?”

  “I sure hope not,” I said.

  It was not long before the crew of Wildermen had dragged the Aeorankin dead from the rubble. The two Lionkin inspected the corpses carefully and critically.

  “They are hunters,” said James emphatically. “They are checking the pelts for damage.”

  “Creepy,” I said.

  “I suppose it is,” said James. “I bet Aeorankin remains fetch high prices in Rend.”

  I tried to push that idea from my mind. People were seriously messed up.

  “Might even be a delicacy,” said James.

  “Just stop talking,” I said flatly.

  “Sorry,” said James.

  I looked down at the girl we had rescued. She had stopped sobbing, but did not seem like she was all there.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  The girl didn’t reply.

  It was then that I noticed that the world was getting darker. It was too sudden to be the coming night.

  I scanned the skies and soon saw Mary flying overhead, clearly in her element. She swooped down to the city streets, seized one of the Aeorankin, rocked into the air and then dropped it onto the street.

  It didn’t get up again.

  “Needed more height, I guess,” said James reflectively.

  Mary was terrifying, her face distorted, blood-lust in her eyes. She was every bit the image of Kuyr as I had first seen him, terrorizing Kanboor, the seaside city where Mary was born. At least she was on our side.

  The Lionkin captain I had been watching smirked at the sight of Mary, took aim with his over-sized energy weapon, and fired on the death-god.

  Mary easily dodged the attack and was soon hurtling toward the Lionkin’s position. The Lionkin captain was quick, but his companion was not. Mary ripped into the slaver with two massive talons, and he was soon no-more.

  “That is one scary lady,” said James.

  Before I could agree, I saw Elaine appear on the far side of the market. She had with her twenty or so people, most of them civilians, but some of them soldiers.

  “Here!” she cried on spotting me.

  I noticed her notice the Lionkin and saw the corner of her lip curl, but she paid them no more heed.

  “Come on, little one,” I said to the silent girl. “It’s time we got away.”

  The little girl nodded, stuck her thumb in her mouth, and let me lead her toward Elaine’s group as they crossed the market, dodging debris as they marched.

  “Sethna!” cried one of the soldiers that was with Elaine. He bound ahead of the group, relief plastered on his face.

  The girl by my side looked at the man, and her eyes grew wide.

  “Gracious god!” cried the man as he reached us.

  The child broke free of my grip and stumbled towards the man who fell to his knees. Here, in the midst of their world’s ruin, they embraced.

  Tears were in the man’s eyes as he looked up to James and I and mouthed a silent thank you.

  Elaine nodded to me in greeting. I had not even time to form the beginnings of a hello, before a sudden and intense feeling washed over me. Dread permeated my every fiber.

  Elaine noticed my face darken and cocked her head inquisitively. “What is it?”

  I looked up to the dark sky and saw that something was there, something was curling, shifting, writhing. Mary had seen it too.

  “He’s here,” I said.

  Elaine looked grave. “That’s our cue to leave.”

  Then the earth cracked.

  The sound was hideous as, curling along the edge of the market, the world started to separate into pieces. A canyon opened up, some ten feet across. The force of the fissure sent us tumbling to the ground.

  “Oh, not again,” said Elaine.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I hardly had enough time to steady myself before the earth started shaking again. The group that Elaine had mustered looked like they were about to break and run. After all they had seen, it was not surprising that they looked so haunted. Would this be the last straw?

  There was another ripping sound as the market was divided by two once more, another canyon opening up to the depths of the underworld.

  “What is happening?” I asked Elaine, straining to be heard over the chaos.

  “No time,” said Elaine. “We must get these people back to the portal before we are all separated for good.”

  “How long do we have?” I asked.

  “Seconds,” said Elaine.

  Elaine’s voice was commanding, enhanced with a spell, perhaps. With only a few words, she managed to regroup those she led and began ushering them back the way we had come.

  The fracturing ground was not the only hazard we had to navigate. Great slabs of masonry were falling from crumbling buildings, crashing into the still shaking earth and only narrowly missing the few survivors still gathered together. James and I followed after Elaine and the others best we could, all the while making sure that no one was left behind or lost.

  A cloud of dust erupted to my right, knocking me off my balance and making my eyes sting.

  “Can’t you just make a portal for us?” I asked James.

  “For this many people? I don’t think so. I mean, I could, but I wouldn’t be able to guarantee where they might end up. What about you? Can’t you just teleport people into The Library?”

  “One or two, maybe, but I haven’t been able to land there before. Besides, I ended up under a pile of ash just before. I got out OK, but I don’t know what would happen with a whole group of people.”

  As we darted through the ruined streets, I noticed that there were a lot more Lionkin and Wildermen hunters than I had first thought. They too had decided that it was time to leave, pouring into their ships and other craft, barking orders, and taking off into the distance. One such ship I saw left two dozen or so Wildermen behind in their haste. The abandoned souls panicked and started rampaging through the streets, lost to the herd mentality.

  So engrossed was I in observation, that I almost ran right off the cliff of a newly formed canyon.

  “Alex, no!” cried James as, stumbling against the earthquake, he pulled me back from the precipice.

  My heart leaped, and I felt the sudden sensation of rising.

  “What’s happening?” I yelled.

  James had a frozen look in his eye, lost, as it seemed, to panic.

  “James?”

  Then I saw what he had seen. Behind us, the fractured desert city was floating away. It had been literally torn apart, forming dozens of floating sky islands, all hovering at different heights.

  And we were trapped on one of them.

  Behind the islands, lording over the scene, twisting, turning, writhing, was Aeoran, distant, translucent, dominating, lord of the end times.

  “James!” I yelled again, this time shaking the boy.

  He looked at me passively, looked without seeing.

  Then I did what I thought I would never do.

  I slapped him.

  James’ face contorted for a moment. It seemed he was as unused to being on the receiving end of violence as I was to performing violence myself.

  He looked at me, shocked.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said, then shook my head. “James. I need you to get us back to the portal. Can you do that?”

  Still slightly distant, James nodded. Then, going through the motions, he twisted his staff about and slammed it into the ground. The now familiar portal of white light appeared before us. Taking one last look back at the impossible destruction behind us, I stepped through.

  I found myself immediately confronted with the baffled face of Lilly.

  “It worked!” she cried.

  “What worked?” I asked, confused and searching for Elaine and the others.

  “I totally just summoned you,” explained Lilly.

  “You can’t reasonably expect-” started Darcy.

  “My powers are immense,” continued Lilly. “What’s up with him?”

  James was staring again.

  “This world is done for,” I said. “Elaine is on her way.”

  “It is fracturing,” said Darcy sadly.

  “What does that mean?” asked Lilly.

  “Some worlds do not succumb to chaos, but join it. We think they become a part of a new domain, a dimension made up entirely of pieces of destroyed worlds.”

  “Aeoran’s own domain?” I asked. We were both looking at the distant monster now. Aeoran looped in on himself thousands of times, giving the impression of many things moving. I knew there was only one mind behind all that.

  “So it seems,” said Darcy.

  Just then, Mary landed next to us. She was breathing heavily, had a massive smile on her face, and almost covered in blood. “The witch on her way?” she asked, wiping some blood from her face.

  “Yes,” I said, hoping that she too had not been carried off.

  Mary turned her attention to Lilly, and specifically her pendant. “Where is the rest of it?” she asked.

  “Huh?” said Lilly, baffled by the question.

  “The Rose of the Raven,” labored Mary. “I thought it was lost during the battle of Kanboor.”

 

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