PART TWO
21
No Rays from
Heaven
…
They burst out
of the entrance to the
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
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
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
“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
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
“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.)
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