PART TWO
Thule
21
No Rays from
Heaven
…
They burst out
of the entrance to the Silent
City-
And into the
middle of a horrible tableau.
Fog was still
curling everywhere, white strands like the web of an enormous spider. But Emma
could see what she needed to see. Dozens of Livvy’s rebels knelt in silence,
hand behind their heads. Behind them stood long rows of Bedarkened armed with
bayonets and machine guns. Tessa was still slumped against the pillar of the
archway, but it was Raphael holding her now, and with surprising care,
Livvy was on her
feet, in the center of the group of Bedarkened and rebels. She was on her feet
because Julian – a taller, older, bigger Julian, with bleak, deadly grin,
dressed all in red – was standing behind her, one arm lashed around her throat.
His free hand held a pistol to her temple.
Behind him,
stood Sebastian, in another expensive dark suit, and with Sebastian, flanking
him, were Jace and Ash. Ash was weaponless, but Jace carried a sword that Emma
recognized: Heosphoros, which in her world had been Clary’s. It was a beautiful
sword, its cross-guard gold and obsidian, the dark silver blade stamped with
black stars.
Everything
seemed to slow the crawl. Emma heard Julian’s breath rattle in his throat; he
stopped dead, as if he had been turned to stone.
“Julian
Blackthorn,” Sebastian said, and the white mist curling around him was the
color of his hair, of Ash’s hair. Two winter princes. “Did you really think I’d be fooled by your poor
performance in the nightclub?”
“Annabel,”
Julian said, his voice hoarse, and Emma knew what he was thinking: Annabel must
have betrayed, Annabel, who knew who they really were.
Sebastian’s brow
furrowed. “What about Annabel?”
Ash shook his
head slightly. It was a tiny movement, a minuscule negation, but Emma saw it,
and she was fairly sure Julian had seen it too. No, he was saying, Annabel
didn’t betray you.
But why would
Ash-?
“Drop your gun,”
Sebastian said, and Julian did, tossing into a fog. Sebastian had barely looked
at Emma; now he turned his lazy contemptuous gaze in her direction. “And you.
Drop the cheap sword.”
Emma dropped the
longsword with a clang. He had not seen Mortal Sword strapped across her back.
“You have the
sun in your skin,” Sebastian said. “That alone would have told me you weren’t
from Thule. And
thanks to Ash, I know the story of your world. I knew of the Portal. I’ve been
wondering all this time if one of you would stumble through it. I knew you’d go
straight for the Mortal Instruments to hide them from me. All I had to do was
post some guards here and wait for the tip-off.” He grinned like a jaguar. “Now
hand over the Mortal Instruments, or Julian here will blow your sister’s head
off.”
The real Julian
looked at Livvy. Emma was screaming inside He
can’ watch her die again, not again, nobody could live through that twice.
Livvy’s gaze was
steady on her brother’s. There was no fear in her expression.
“You won’t let
her live,” Julian said. “No matter what I do, you’ll kill her.”
Sebastian grinned
a little wider. “You’ll have to wait and see.”
“All right,”
Julian said. His shoulders slumped. “I’m reaching fro the Cup,” he said,
holding up one hand as the other unzipped his jacket. Emma watched him in
dismay as he reached inside. “I’m going to hold it out to you-“
He drew his hand
out from his jacket; he was holding a throwing knife, small and sharp with red
stones in the hilt; Emma barely had time to recognize it before he had flung
it. It whipped throw the air, grazing Livvy’s chek and sinking deeply into eye
of the Endarkened Julian who held her.
He didn’t even
scream. He fell back, hitting the pavement with a thud, his pistol rolling out
of his open hand; Sebastian shouted but Livvy was already gone, ducking and
rolling into the mist.
Emma drew the
Mortal Sword and charged, directly at Sebastian.
The world
exploded into chaos. Sebastian yelled for his Endarkened and they came running,
abandoning the rebels to throw themselves between Emma and their leader. Jace
lunged at Emma, pushing Ash behind him, but Julian was already there; he had
caught up the fallen longsword and it charged, hard against Heosphoros as he
drove Jace back, away from Emma.
Emma slashed out
at the nearest Endarkened with the Mortal Sword. Its heaviness had turned to
light in her grip; it sang as she wielded it as only Cortana had sung in her
hand before, and suddenly she remembered its name: Maellartach. An Endarkened
with close-cropped blond hair aimed a pistol at her; the bulled clanged off the
blade of Maellartach. The Endarkened gaped at her and Emma drove the Mortal
Sword into his chest flinging him backward with such force that he took another
Endarkened down with him as he fell.
She heard some
cry out; it was Livvy, leaping into the fray. She ducked, rolled and shot, taking
out an Endarkened who was charging at Bat. The sounds of battle echoed like
dull thunder off the walls of mist that curled and slid around them.
Maellartach was
a silver blur in Emma’s hand, turning away blades and bullets as she inched
closer to Sebastian. She saw Bat move toward Ash, bayonet in hand. Ash wasn’t
moving; he was standing watching the chaos like an onlooker at the theater.
“Put your hands
behind your back,” Bat said, and Ash glanced over at him with a frown, as if he
were a rude guest who had interrupted a play. Bat raised the bayonet. “Look,
kid, you’d better-“
Ash fixed Bat
with a steady green gaze. “You don’t want to do that.” He said.
Bat froze,
gripping his weapon. Ash turned and walked away – not hurrying, almost sauntering, really – and vanished into
the fog.
“Bat! Look out!” Maia shouted, and Bat spun to
plunge his bayonet into the body of an advancing Endarkened warrior.
And then came
the scream. A howl of agony so shrill and intense, it pierced the fog. A woman
in Endarkend gear flew across the square, her hair unfurling behind her like a
banner spun out of gold, and threw herself across the dead body of this world’s
Julian Blackthorn.
Emma knew it was
herself; the herself of Thule,
clutching at he body of her dead partner, sobbing against his chest, her
fingers clawing his blood-wet clothes. She screamed over and over, each a
sharp, short howl, like a car alarm going off on an empty street.
Emma couldn’t
help staring, and Julian – her own Julian – jerked in surprise and spun to look
– recognizing the sound of Emma’s voice, she guessed. The split-second break in
his attention left an opening for Jace, who lunged forward with Heosphoros;
Julian, twisting to the side, just barely avoided the blade, but stumbled; Jace
swept his feet out from under him and he went down.
No. Emma spun around,
reversing course, but if Jace brought the sword down, there was no way she’d
get there in time-
A plume of
yellow flame shot between Jace and Julian. Julian scrambled back as Jace turned
to stare; Raphael was holding Tessa upright, and her hand was stretched out,
yellow fire still dancing at her fingertips. She looked frayed and exhausted,
but her eyes were dark with sorrow as they fixed on Jace.
It was an odd,
frozen moment, the kind that sometimes happened in the midst of the battle. It
was broken by a figure stumbling from the entrance to the Silent city – Diana,
bloodstained and painting, but alive. Emma’s heart leaped with relief.
Sebastian’s eyes
narrowed. “Go into the city!” he shouted. “Find everything! Spell books!
Records! Bring it all to me!”
Tessa gasped.
“No – the destruction he could wreak –“
Jace immediately
turned away from Julian, as if he’d forgotten he was there. “Endarkened,” he
called. His voice was deep and flat, without any tone or emotion. “Come to me.”
Emma turned to
run toward the City entrance; she could hear Sebastian laughing; Julian had
sprung to his feet and was beside her; Livvy spun, kicked at an Endarkened, and
run toward Tessa and the others. “Shut the doors! Shut the doors!”
“No!” Diana
looked wildly around the scene of carnage. “Cameron is still there!”
Julian turned
toward Tessa. “What can we do?”
“I can shut the
doors, but you must understand that I cannot open them again,” Tessa said.
“Cameron will be trapped”.
A look of agony
passed across Livvy’s face. Jace and the other Endarkened were moving toward
them; there were seconds to spare.
The agony didn’t
leave Livvy’s eyes, but her jaw hardened. In that moment, she had never looked
more like Julian. “Close the doors,” she said.
“Stop the
warlock!” Sebastian cried. “Stop her – “
He broke off
with a howl. Maia, behind him, had plunged a sword into his side. The blade
drove into him, smeared with blackish blood. He barely seemed to notice.
“Tessa –“ Emma
began, and she didn’t know what she planned to say, whether she planned to ask
Tessa if she had the strength to close the doors, whether she intended to tell
her to do it or not to do it. Tessa moved before she could finish her sentence,
raising her slender arms, murmuring words Emma would always try to remember and
always find sliding out of her mind.
Golden sparks
flew from Tessa’s fingers, illuminating the archway. The doors began to slide
closed, grinding and rattling. Sebastian yelled with rage and grabbed the sword
protruding from his side. He yanked it free and flung it at Maia, who threw
herself to the ground to avoid being struck.
“Stop!” he
shouted, striding toward the entrance to the City. “Stop now-”
The doors
slammed shut with an echo that reverberated through the fog. Emma looked at
Tessa, who gave her a sweet, sad smile. Blood was running from the corners of
Tessa’s mouth, from her split fingernails.
“No,” said Raphael. He had been so quiet,:
the cut across Emma had almost forgotten
he was there. “Tessa –“
Tessa Gray burst
into flame. It was not as if she had caught fire, not really; in between one
moment and the next, she became fire,
became a glowing pillar of conflagration. The burning light was white and gold:
it cut throw the mist, illuminating the world.
Raphael fell
back, an arm across his face to shield himself from the light. In the
brilliance, Emma could see sharp details: the cut across Livvy’s face where
Julian’s blade had grazed her, the tears in Diana’s eyes, the rage on
Sebastian’s face as he stared to the shut doors, the fear of Endarkened as they
cringed away from the light.
“Cowards! The
light cannot hurt you!” Sebastian shouted. “Fight on!”
“We have to get
back to the Bradbury,” Livia said desperately. “We have to get out of here.”
“Livvy,” Julian
said. “We can’t lead them back to your headquarters. We have to deal with them
now.”
“And there’s
only one way to do that,” Emma said. She tightened her grip on the Mortal Sword
and started toward Sebastian.
She was burning
with a new fury, filling her, sustaining her. Cameron. Tessa. She thought of Livvy, having lost someone else she
loved. And she launched herself at Sebastian, the Mortal Sword curving through
the air like a whip made of fire and gold.
Sebastian
growled. Phaesphoros leaped into his hand, and he strode toward Emma. Fury
seemed to dance around him like sparks. “You think to strike me down with the
Mortal Sword,” he said. “Isabelle Lightwood tried that, and now she molders in
a grave in Idris.”
“What if I cut
your head off?” Emma taunted. “Do you keep on being the dickweed ruler of this
planet in two different pieces?”
Sebastian spun,
the Morgenstern sword a black-and-silver blur. Emma leaped, the sword slashing
under her feet. She landed on the toppled fire hydrant. “Go ahead and try,” Sebastian
said in a bored voice. “Others have; I cannot be killed. I will tire you out,
girl, and cut you into puzzle pieces to amuse the demons.”
The clash of
battle was all around them. Tessa’s fire was dimming, and in the clamor of the
mist, Emma could just see Julian, battling Jace. Julian had taken one of the
Endarkened’s swords and was fighting defensively, as Diana, had taught them when
their opponent was stronger than they were.
Livvy was
fighting Endarkened with a new angry and energy. So was Raphael. As Emma
flicked her glance toward the others, she saw Raphael seize a red-haired
Endarkened woman and tear her throat out with his teeth.
And then she saw
it: a glow in the distance. A whirling, spinning illumination she knew well:
the light of a Portal.
Emma leaped down
of the fire hydrant and pressed her attack; Sebastian actually fell back for a
moment in surprise before he recovered and struck back even harder. The blade
hummed in Emma’s hand as her heart beat out two words: distract him, distract him.
Phaesphorus
slammed against Maellartach. Sebastian bared his teeth in a grin that was
nothing like a real grin. Emma wondered if he’d once been able to fake a human
smile and forgotten how. She thought of the way Clary spoke of him, of someone
who had been lost long before he died.
A sharp pain cut
through her. Sebastian’s sword had scored the front of her left thigh; blood
stained the rip in her canvas pants. He grinned again and kicked the wound,
violently; the pain whited out her vision and she felt herself tilt. She hit
the ground with a crack that she was fairly sure was her collarbone snapping.
“You begin to
bore me,” Sebastian said, prowling above her like a cat. Her vision was blurry
with pain, but she could see the Portal light growing stronger. The air seemed
to shimmer. In the distance, she could still hear the other Emma sobbing.
“Other worlds?”
he mused. “Why should I care about some other world when I rule this one? What
should someone other world mean to me?”
“Do you want to
know how you died there?” Emma said. The pain of her broken bone seared through
her. She could hear battle all around her, hear Julian and Jace fighting. She
fought to keep from fainting. The longer she distracted Sebastian, the better.
“You want to
live forever in this world,” she said. “Don’t you want to know how you died in
our world? Maybe it could happen here, too. Ash wouldn’t know about it. Neither
would Annabel. But I do.”
He lowered
Phaesphoros and let the tip of it nick her collarbone. Emma almost screamed
from the pain. “Tell me.”
“Clary killed
you,” Emma said, and saw his eyes fly wide open. “With heavenly fire. It burned
out everything that was evil on you, and there wasn’t enough left to live for
long. But you died in your mother’s
arms, and your sister cried over you. In the club yesterday you talked about
the weight on you, crushing you. In our world, your last words were `I’ve never
felt so light`.”
His face
twisted. For a moment there was fear – regret perhaps, even pain.
“You lie,” he hissed, sliding the tip of his
sword down to her sternum, where a stabbing blow would sever her abdominal
aorta. She would bleed out in agony. “Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me!”
His hand
tightened on the blade.
There was a blur
behind him, a flurry of wings, and something struck him hard, a blow to the
shoulder that made him stagger sideways. Emma saw Sebastian whirl around, a
look of fury on his face. “Ash! What
are you doing?
Emma’s mouth
dropped open in surprise. It was Ash
– and from his back extended a pair of wings. For Emma, who had been raised all
her life on images of Raziel, it was like a blow: She pushed herself up on her
elbows, staring.
They were
angel’s wings, and yet they weren’t. They were black, tipped with silver; they
shimmered like the night sky. She guessed they were wider than the span of his
outstretched arms.
They were
beautiful, the most beautiful thing she had seen in Thule.
“No,” Ash said
calmly, looking at his father, and plucked the sword from Sebastian’s hand. He
stepped back, and Emma rolled to her feet, her collarbone screaming in pain,
and thrust the Mortal Sword into Sebastian’s chest.
She yanked it
free, feeling the blade scrape against the bone of his rib cage, prepared to
thrust again, tu cut him into pieces-
As she drew the
sword back, he shuddered. He hadn’t made a sound when she stabbed him; now his
mouth opened, and black blood cascaded over his lower lip and chin as his eyes rolled
back. Emma could hear the Endarkened screaming. His skin began to to slit and
burn.
He threw his
head back in a silent scream and burst apart into ashes, the way demons
vanished in Emma’s world.
The screaming of
Thule Emma cut off abruptly. She sprawled lifeless over her Julian’s body. One
by one, the other Endarkened began to fall, crumpling at the feet of the rebels
they were fighting.
Jace gave a cry
and fell to his knees. Behind him Emma could see the illumination of the
Portal, open now and blazing with blue light.
“Jace,” she
whispered, and moved to go toward him.
Ash stepped in
front of her.
“I wouldn’t,” he
said. He spoke in that same eerily calm voice in which he had said to his
father, No. “He’s been under
Sebastian control too long. He isn’t what you think. He can’t go back.”
She swung her
sword up to point at Ash, close to nausea from the pain of her broken
collarbone. Ash looked back at her, unflinching.
“Why did you do
that?” she demanded. “Betray Sebastian. Why?”
“He was going to
kill me,” Ash said. He had a low voice, slightly husky, not the boy’s voice
he’d had in the Unseelie Court.
“Besides, I liked your speech about Clary. It was interesting.”
Julian had
turned away from Jace, who still knelt on the ground, staring down at the sword
in his hands. Julian moved toward Emma as Livvy starred; she was slashed with
wounds but still standing, and her rebels were approaching to circle around
her. They wore expressions of shock and disbelief.
A scream cut
through eerie silence of dead Endarkened and stunned warriors. A scream that
Emma knew well.
“Don’t hurt
him!” Annabel cried. She raced toward Ash, her hands outstretched. She wore her
red gown, and her feet were bare as she run.
She seized hold
of Ash’s arm and began to drag him toward the Portal.
Emma broke from
her frozen state and began to rum toward Julian as she moved to stand in front
of the Portal. His sword flashed out as he raised it, just as Ash pulled hard
against Annabel’s grip. He was shouting at her that he didn’t want to go, not
without Jace.
Annabel was
strong; Emma knew how strong. But it appeared that Ash was stronger. He yanked
free of her grip and began to run toward Jace.
The light of the
Portal had begun to dim. Was Annabel closing it, or was it dying on its own,
naturally? Either way, Emma’s heart kicked into high gear, slamming against her
rib cage. She leaped over the body of an Endarkened and came down in the other
side just as Annabel whirled on her.
“Stay back!”
Annabel shouted. “Neither of you can enter the Portal! Not without Ash!”
Ash turned to
look at the sound of his name; he was kneeling beside Jace, his hand on Jace’s
shoulder. Ash’s face was twisted with what looked like grief.
Annabel began to
advance on Emma. Her face was frighteningly blank, the way it had been that day
on the dais. The day she’s thrust the Mortal Sword into Livvy’s heart and
stopped it forever.
Behind Annabel,
Julian lifted his free hand. Emma knew immediately what he meant, what he
wanted.
She raised the
Mortal Sword, gritting her teeth in pain, and threw it.
It flashed past
Annabel; Julian cast his own sword aside and caught it out of the air. He swung
its still-bloodied blade in a curving arc, slicing through Annabel’s spine.
Annabel gave a
terrible, inhuman shriek, like the shriek of a fisher cat. She spun like a
malfunctioning top, and Julian rammed the Mortal Sword into her chest, just as
she’d done to Livvy.
He pulled the
blade free, her blood dripping over his clenched fist, spattering his skin. He
stood like a statue, gripping the Mortal Sword as Annabel collapsed to the
ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
She lay on her
back, her face upturned, a pool of scarlet beginning to spread around her,
mixing with the torn frills of her red dress. Her hands, knotted into claws at
her sides, relaxed in death; her bare feet were dark scarlet, as if she was
wearing slippers made of blood.
Julian looked
down at her body. Her eyes – still Blackthorn blue – were already beginning to
film over.
“Queen of Air
and Darkness,” he said in the low voice. “I will be never like Malcolm.”
Emma took a
long, ragged breath as Julian handed her back the Mortal Sword. Then he tore
the bloodied rag from his wrist and cast it down beside Annabel’s body.
Her blood began
to soak into it, mixing with Livvy’s.
Before Emma
could speak, she heard Ash cry out. Whether it was a cry of pain or triumph,
she couldn’t tell. He was still kneeling beside Jace.
Julian held out
his hand. “Ash!” he cried. “Come with us! I swear we’ll take care of you!”
Ash looked at
him for a long moment with steady, unreadable green eyes. Then he shook his
head. His wings beat darkly against the air; catching hold of Jace, he sailed
upward, both of them vanishing into the cloudy sky.
Julian lowered
his hand, his face troubled, but Livvy was already running toward him, her face
white with distress. “Jules! Emma! The Portal!”
Emma swung
around; the Portal had dimmed even further, its light wavering. Livvy reached
Julian and he slung an arm around her, hugging her tight against his side.
“We have to go,”
he said. “The Portal is fading – it’ll only hang for a few minutes now
Annabel’s gone.”
Livvy pressed
her face into Julian shoulder and, for a moment, hugged him incredibly tightly.
When she let go, her face was shining with tears. “Go”, she whispered.
”Come with us,”
Julian said.
“No Julian. You
know I can’t,” Livvy said. “My people finally have a chance. You gave us a
chance. I’m grateful, but I can’t have Cameron die for the safety of the world
that I’m willing to run away from.”
Emma was afraid
Julian would protest. He didn’t. Maybe he’d been more prepared for this then
she’s thought. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the Cup; it gleamed
dull gold in the Portal Light – the blue light of a sky with a real sun. “Take
this.” He pressed it into Livvy’s hands. “With it, perhaps the Nephilim can be
reborn here.”
Livvy cradle it
in her fingers. “I may never be able to use this.”
“But you might,”
Emma said. “Take it.”
“And let me give
you one last thing,” Julian said. He bent and whispered in Livvy’s ear. Her
eyes went wide.
“Go!” someone
shouted: it was Raphael, who along with Diana, Bat, and Maia, was watching
them. “You stupid humans, go before it is too late!”
Julian and Emma
looked at each other one last time. When he turned away, Emma thought she could
hear the sound of his heart tearing itself apart: One piece would always be
here, in Thule,
with Livvy.
“Go!” Raphael
shouted again; the Portal had narrowed to a gap smaller than a doorway. “And
tell Magnus and Alec to rename their child!”
Emma slid her
had into Julian’s. Her other hand gripped the Mortal Sword. Julian looked down
at her; in the sunlight of the Portal, his eyes were sea-blue.
“See you on the
other side,” he whispered, and together they stepped through.
22
The Worst and
the Best
…
(Cassandra
Clare: Queen of Air and Darkness
– THE DARK ARTIFICES book three; изд. SIMON &
SCHUSTER 2018 год.)