Chapter 017: Sacrifice
"If
there is anger in fire
Then
I dance with the flame
Against
the cold deep in me
I
will not yield to your vision
Your
blind narrow view
Is
that as far as you see?
There
is no love that I do not give freely
In
my life
I
will defend all I love against hatred
With
my life"
The
Changeling - Aragon
"All
the Suns are Daughters"
Cerebus Title issue 110 - Dave Sim
It was no good. I could keep on staring like this at my Trumps for hours,
but that wouldn't get Aradia saved. I sighed. There was, however, no one I could
call upon without the imminent need for all kinds of explanations I was not yet
ready to give, save for Sand, who just happened to be unavailable at the moment.
So it looked like I was going to have to see this thing through on my own. Well,
I'd better get on with it then.
I started assessing the situation very carefully. Although I was more
adept at using my mental powers, I did think that this time I would have to rely
on my physical skills coupled with a lot of speed. I just didn't think that I
could mentally overpower all eight of those orange clad guys at the same time.
No, surprise and speed were the key here. Of course I would have preferred to
snatch Aradia away right from under their noses and be halfway back to Amber
before they had even noticed that she was gone, but somehow I didn't think it
would be easy.
The ledge Aradia was standing on did in fact appear to be the outcropping
of a small path which twisted and turned right up to the top of the
mountain-side. If I were to reach her I would have to climb for she was just too
high up for me to grab her, even from horseback. I looked carefully at the guys
in orange. Although their outfit was completely the same, it did seem to me that
one guy who was standing a little bit in front of the others was the leader. For
once I was glad that I had taken a crossbow with me. My plan would be simple: I
figured that I would only have enough time to give one of those guys a
crossbow-bolt through his head, so it might as well be that guy I had targeted
as the leader of the gang. After that, hopefully some panic and confusion would
ensue, which would grant me the opportunity to race towards Aradia and get her
away from here. At least, that was how I ideally envisioned it would happen.
This was how it really turned out.
First of all, shooting the leader worked out just fine, but as I saw
him go down I immediately knew that the rest wouldn't go as
planned. The other seven guys stopped singing and all took cover, but at
the same time they were spreading out and moving in my direction. They were
trying to surround me! These guys were a lot better than I had figured they
would be!
Suddenly the ground rolled under me, as if some kind of wave had passed
through it. What the...? No time to think. I dug in my heels and headed towards
Aradia. I had my sword ready for anyone who came too close, but they all managed
to stay out of my path. I had almost reached her when I felt something whizzing
past my ear. Apparently that orange crowd had some throwing-stars with them and
they knew how to use them too. That one had been really close!
I could see that Aradia was still very dazed, so I could forget about her
jumping down towards me; I just had to go up there and fetch her. I jumped down
from my horse and started running up the path. A sharp, slicing feeling of pain
sprung up from my left arm and some blood started trickling down my sleeve
adding another one to my personal colours. One of those guys had got lucky it
seemed, or my luck had just run out. Either way it didn't bade well for me. I
heard Dart whinny in pain. The bastards must have been aiming for her as well.
Poor girl. I didn't think that she would survive this encounter. As it was I
would be glad if I myself did live to tell the tale. Where was Adrian when I
needed him most?
When I reached the girl I didn't stop to look behind me, but kept on
going, dragging her after me to the top of the mountain-side. The vicious metal
stars whizzing all around us were proof enough that the enemy wasn't about to
let us slip away that easily. At the top I immediately glanced around me
searching for a suitable hiding place. It didn't look good. Before us a wide
plateau stretched out with no cover whatsoever except for the edge of a forest,
but we weren't exactly close to it. We would have to run for our lives if we
were to reach it in time. When those orange guys had also scaled the mountain,
as I was certain they would, those stars would start flying around once more and
we would be a perfect target here out in the open. One glance at Aradia told me
that her mind was still in some other place, far away. No help to be expected
from her. I cursed and started running towards the forest, dragging her along
behind me. If only she were
conscious, then she would be able to run by herself and we would have a better
chance of reaching the cover of the trees in time. Ah well, I guess a it is
somehow fitting for a damsel in distress to be helpless in situations like this.
Suddenly I again felt a sort of wave pass through the earth. The edge of
the forest even seemed to jump up and down before our eyes for a moment. Damn!
What was that? Could it be that Aradia was somehow causing this with that
strange power of hers?
I heard voices behind us and I started zigzagging in order to dodge those
stars. To my surprise none were thrown. Looking back I saw that all of those
clowns were running after us, and they were gaining on us too! Either they had
run out of stars, or their orders had just been changed from "shoot to
kill" to "capture alive". I wasn't sure whether or not this was a
good thing. Better not stick around to find out, though.
I strove to accelerate just a little more. If only we could reach those trees in time. I saw them come closer and closer, while
behind me I heard our pursuers coming closer as well. This was definitely not my
idea of a good time!
Then suddenly we burst into the forest. Under cover of the trees I
quickly looked for a safe spot. All I needed was to be left undisturbed for
about a minute or so and a hopefully helpful aunt answering my call. As I
started concentrating on the Trump I saw that some of the trees began to spin
rapidly along their axes. We had to get out of here soon...
Fortunately this time Aunt Sand was taking calls. She didn't look very
surprised to see me, which in its turn didn't surprise me all that much.
"It seems that you were right about that
meeting, dear Auntie" I said with a wry smile. "The opposition is a
bit greater than expected, though."
"Well, you'd better come through then, hadn't
you?" She said, giving me a
smile of her own. She extended her hand and guided Aradia, Wylde and me through
to her apartment. She immediately clapped her hands and an older man, clearly a
servant, appeared. While she ordered him to take care of Aradia, I had a chance
to look around me. The apartment was the same as the one I had viewed during our
earlier Trump contact. Trying not to seem too conspicuous I wandered around the
room, here and there stopping to glance at some of the paintings. That way I got
a closer look at the painting that had somehow seemed familiar to me. Yes, the
style was indeed very familiar, but I still couldn't say whose it was. I would
need some other piece of his or her work to compare it to to be really
certain...
"Would you like something to drink?" Sand
asked me.
I looked up and saw that Aradia and the old man had
left.
"Oh, yes, thank you. Red wine is fine, if you
have some."
She poured two glasses of wine and handed me one. As I took it my
attention was momentarily drawn to the wound on my left arm. It had stopped
bleeding and luckily it didn't hurt all that much. A closer look told me that it
was only a flesh wound, and a very clean cut at that. Now I had time to think
about it, I realised that I had been very lucky that the stars hadn't been
treated with some kind of poison. It seems my luck hadn't completely run out
after all.
"I guess we still have time enough for a
drink," Sand said.
"What do you mean? Time enough for what?"
"We will be travelling on shortly. I assume
that... Oh, but I forgot, you don't know that yet, do you? Well, anyway, we
shall have to hurry. You do want your daughter to survive all of this, don't
you?"
I nearly choked on my wine. Sand met my coughing fit, followed by a
stunned silence with an enigmatic expression. Finally, after a moment or two, I
managed to ask: "Daughter...?"
"Yes, your daughter. The child that was taken
from Suzanne."
"But... But I thought that it was a son!"
"Of course," she replied with a slight
smile. "It's exactly what Caine wanted you to believe. That's why he let
Suzanne overhear him saying that it was a boy."
All of this was too much for me. I didn't know what to say, so I just had
another sip of wine. If I were to believe Sand, then my nice Uncle Caine was the
one who was behind all of my problems. It still didn't make any sense, though.
Why had he done it? What did he hope to gain by it? And why would he have me
belief that I had a son, when in fact I had a daughter? A sudden and frightening
notion started creeping up on me. No, that couldn't be! Or could it...?
"We'll have to wait for Aradia," Sand
continued. "We need her special powers to break through the barrier that
Caine has laid around his castle. I do hope we have enough time left, but
rituals usually take a great deal of preparations, so I think we will be in
time."
"Wait a minute...," I said. "I have
a daughter? What is her name?"
"Well, can't you guess? It's Diana, of
course."
No! It couldn't be! It just...
But then, deep in my heart I realised that it could, indeed that it had to be. Oh, Caine sure must have liked his little trick of
having me take care of my own daughter as a favour to him. And of course it had
been Caine who had Trumped Diana away back in Amber. I had been right about
that, but if I were to believe Sand she wasn't as safe with him as I had though
she would be. Still, I didn't think Sand was lying about all of this; everything
just fitted all too well.
What was Caine going to do to her? What was it Sand had said?
Something about a ritual? I looked at her, a thousand questions whirling
around in my mind. It was as if some kind of tornado had suddenly decided to
rage through my brain, its sole purpose being to blow away everything that I
believed in. No more answers were forthcoming, though.
"You'll have to ask Caine for a further
explanation," she said. "We have
to get going if we want to be there in time."
I followed her through a couple of corridors until we came to the
stables. Here Aradia was waiting for us with three fresh horses. Sand didn't say
anything to her, but at that time it didn't seem strange to me. To tell the
truth, I was far too busy thinking about Caine and Diana to be more inquiring
about Aradia, her strange powers and the relationship between her and Sand. That
would have to wait until another time.
Sand produced a Trump and guided us all through to a place where a huge tree stood, larger than any tree I had ever seen before.
Even though I was pretty preoccupied I couldn't help but stare up at it in awe
and wonder.
"Greetings, my lady," I heard a deep voice say beside me. I
looked around but I couldn't see anybody apart from the three of us.
"Hello, Ygg," Sand replied. To my
surprise she seemed to be talking to the tree. "There is someone here I
ought to introduce to you," she said looking at me. "This is Dorian,
son of Deirdre. Dorian, this is Ygg."
"It is an honour to make your
acquaintance," that deep voice said to me.
I didn't know what to say really, so
I stammered something like: "Pleased to meet you." A talking tree! I
wondered what would be next. A unicorn on a bicycle perhaps? Fortunately we
didn't stay long with Ygg. I didn't have the slightest idea what the usual
topics for conversation with a talking tree were supposed to be.
At Sand's indication we mounted our horses and started following her.
This soon proved to be quite a task, since a Hellride of unmatched speed and
intensity ensued. I couldn't do anything but try to keep up with her, my eyes
never leaving her back. After what seemed to be eternity, it finally ended. Sand
drew rein and halted. Our surroundings reminded me most of the Scottish
highlands: a rugged terrain, obviously often plagued by rain and wind, with lots
of rocks. The only striking feature was the small castle on a nearby hill:
Caine's castle.
"Yes," Sand said, "that is the
place. We should be close to the barrier I think."
I tried whether I could feel it. Yow! Yes, it was indeed there, and both
very close and very powerful. I sensed that it lay around the whole castle. It
was a very effective way of saying "Do not disturb". However, I felt
that I, or rather we had to insist, and so did Sand. She went up to Aradia and
looked into her eyes. I had the feeling they were somehow communicating
mentally. Apparently what they had to say to each other was not meant for my
ears. Come to think of it, I didn't recall hearing Aradia's voice at all.
Strange...
Sand turned to me and beckoned me to come closer. I didn't know what was
going to happen, but I had a feeling that it might be pretty spectacular, so as
a kind of precaution I picked up Wylde and held her real close. I'd better keep
at least one person with me whom I knew I could trust.
As I found my place next to Sand I felt a great power beginning to
emanate from Aradia. Waves started passing through the ground again, just like
they had done before. So I had been right about that being a manifestation of
her power. This time it went a bit further, though: the whole ground started
moving. It was just as if it were a giant piece of canvas that was being wrapped
around us. In but a few moments I couldn't see anything anymore except for the
hazy substance of what had used to be solid ground steadily moving all around
us. I must admit I found this a bit unnerving. I am aware that the Pattern gives
us great powers over Shadow, but in some way this thing Aradia was doing seemed
to be at least as impressive. I wondered where she had got her powers from and
whether there were more people besides her that could do this little trick.
Meanwhile Aradia had begun to move forward and the swirling substance
around us kept pace with her, as if she was walking in the centre of some kind
of ball. Sand and I kept a tight grip on to her shoulders; I didn't know what
would happen if I were to touch that whirling stuff, but I had a feeling that I
wouldn't consider it to be a nice experience.
Aradia set a rather brisk pace, and after a minute or two she stopped and
let things return to normal. With her strange power she had somehow managed to
transport us through the barrier, just like Sand had said she would do.
"Good work, dear," Sand said, and she
immediately started running towards the castle. I didn't think twice and just
ran after her, leaving Aradia there on her own. Her work was done, it seemed,
and she wasn't about to get involved in my problems any further. Smart move.
The castle gate was wide open when we got there and there was no sign of
any guards. Still, Sand drew her blade and entered the castle with a lot of
caution. I followed suit, which proved to be a wise move, for when we had
entered the courtyard Caine's guards came running out of just about every
doorways. They were some kind of lizardmen with four instead of two arms. Some
of them were wielding multiple blades, while others had only one big sword,
which they grabbed with all four hands, and which looked rather heavy and
unwieldy to me. The guards didn't have any problems using them, though, and I
had a hard time parrying their heavy cuts with my by comparison patheticly small
sword. Why do my opponents always have to be that good? Or was it just that I
wasn't as good as I thought I was? Well, anyway, if it hadn't been for Sand I
would never had got through their defenses. One lizardman I might have been able
to handle on my own, but not a horde like that! So I went for what I considered
to be the smartest option available, that is, I fought purely defensively,
keeping close to Sand and letting her hack a path for us through the ranks of
those lizardmen. After all, she seemed to have a lot more experience in these
things than I had.
"I think it has already started," she called to me. "Can't
you feel it?" I refrained from
answering, since I was far too busy dodging swords and keeping up with her. And
I certainly didn't have any time to concentrate on whether there was anything
happening in the field of powers, which I guessed
was what she was hinting at. Next time I had to tackle such a force I would
first find me an able army of my own. Or maybe I should hire someone like Adrian
to do the fighting for me...
Suddenly Sand turned and grabbed me, hauling me through an opening in the
ranks. With one hand she pushed me through a doorway and with the other she
threw something behind her. Then, without looking back, she sheathed her sword
and beckoned me to walk on. I glanced over her shoulder and saw that there was
now some kind of barrier which kept the guards from coming after us. Neat trick,
that.
I sheathed my own weapon and took a few deep breaths. Now that I didn't
have to concentrate solely on fighting anymore, I could sense what Sand had been
talking about. There was indeed a large build-up of power somewhere ahead of us.
We moved through the corridors and chambers in the power's general direction
until we reached a big, solid wooden door. Sand glanced at me inquiringly, but I
gestured her to go first. I followed her into a big hall, completely filled with
all kinds of magic paraphernalia: candles, bottles in all kinds of shapes and
sizes, charts, runes, and of course heaps and heaps of books.
All these things were unimportant, though, for my attention was
immediately drawn to Diana, whose stark naked form was floating above a
pentagram in the middle of the hall. She appeared to be in some kind of trance,
completely oblivious to what was happening around her. Nearby my dear Uncle
Caine was cheerfully humming a tune, whilst leafing through some book. However,
he was immediately aware of our entrance and he looked up at us with a slightly
annoyed expression.
"My dear sister," he said, "I don't remember inviting you
for all of this." Then he turned to me with a sly smile. "I'm glad
that you're here to help me, though" he said. "I am indeed in need of
some assistance."
"What is going on here?" I asked a bit
disconcerted by his remark.
"Oh, these are just the final stages."
"I don't get it. The final stages of
what?"
"I have already told you what my current
business is," he replied, "I'm going to save your mother." He
turned his attention back to his book. "It should be in here somewhere. I'd
better go for the jugular, that would be easiest. Might be a bit messy,
though."
I had the unnerving feeling that he wasn't saying that just as a manner
of speech; seeing the way he was fingering his dagger I'd say he was deadly
serious.
"What are you going to do?" I pressed him.
"Well, I need a lot of blood, don't I?"
he said with a slightly irritated expression. "Diana was especially reared
for this purpose, since I couldn't use yours. It has to be the blood of a female
descendant of Deirdre. Don't worry, if everything goes right your mother will
soon be among us again."
He didn't wait for any response from me, but again began
leafing through his book. For a
moment I was quite dumbfounded by what he just had told me. He was going to
ritually sacrifice my daughter in order to bring back my mother? Never! Not
while I had anything to say about it!
"I don't give a damn about this ritual," I whispered and I
slowly started walking towards the pentagram. Caine didn't pay me any attention,
though, which I didn't like. I picked up a book and threw it in the middle of
the pentagram. That got his attention alright.
"What do you think you're doing?" he said
angrily. "You're disturbing the ritual!"
"Good," I said and picked up and threw a
second book.
"I have to warn you: if you were disturb the
ritual at this point, it is very likely that your Mother and Diana both will
die..."
This stopped me in my tracks.
"I don't think so," I heard Sand's voice
say behind me. I turned and saw her still standing by the door, arms crossed and
with a wistful expression.
"You, keep out of this!" Caine shouted.
Then he said to me in a more civil tone: "I advise you to disregard
anything that serpent might have to say; she has always hated your mother and
she will do anything that might help cause her death."
I regarded Sand. She didn't say anything in her
defense, she only looked at me with an innocent expression, as if to say:
"Would I lie to you?"
And I guess that currently was my real problem: who do I trust? My kind
Uncle Caine who was so concerned about my Mother that he was willing to murder
my daughter to bring her back? Or my dear Aunt Sand who was now helping me to
save Diana? Or was she? After all, she had known exactly where Caine was and
what he was planning, so why hadn't she warned me earlier? No, she was only
concerned with her own agenda, just like everybody else.
This was a peculiar situation, though. I had the feeling that I was
somehow caught in the middle of some elaborate game or rivalry (or both) between
the two of them. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they had had several
confrontations like this one before. This time, however, the stakes were pretty
high: the lives of both Diana and Deirdre. Yet I also felt that being caught in
the middle gave me a certain power. It was as if Caine and
Sand formed a set of scales that would be tipped either way by whatever I
would do or say. It was a very dangerous position to be in, yet I must say that
I didn't really handle it all that carefully. I was much too angry and concerned
about Diana, and I guess also about Deirdre, to be very diplomatic.
"Well," Caine said, "can I proceed with the ritual or not?
I have gone through an awful lot of trouble just to save Deirdre, you know. You
yourself have even promised to help me."
"You may be right," I replied, "but
the price is just too high."
"For my sister? I don't think so." When
he saw that this didn't convince me he sighed. "Ah well, I'm a reasonable
person," he said. "I can make do with a minimal amount of blood, so
that Diana at least will survive, although the risk of failure will be much
greater. For that matter, I do have Diana's consent to go along with this."
"Not that I know of," I replied calmly.
I could see that this made him rather angry. "You have my
word," he hissed at me in an icy voice.
Hmm, I guessed he must really be telling the truth
then, especially since Sand was there as a witness. One glance at her told me
she wasn't going to be much more than that, at least not for the moment. So it
was completely up to me.
"Alright," I said, "in that case,
get on with it. But you'd better make
sure that Diana stays alive."
Caine immediately resumed his leafing. "I guess I'll just have to
slash her wrists then. She'll probably survive that."
In horrified fascination I watched him suit
the action to his words. While the blood started trickling down on the floor,
forming little polls amidst the arcane scriblings, he used it to draw more
symbols all over Diana's body. When he was finished he stepped back and started
reciting something in some strange sounding language, while making all kinds of
gestures. It all looked very impressive.
Suddenly I felt the stirrings of an almost familiar power, which steadily
began to grow. It seemed to be a lot like the Blue Macaroni power, but then
again at the same time it wasn't. There seemed to be a slight difference,
although I couldn't put my finger on what it was. The pentagram was its source
and from there it was slowly creeping upwards. The scary thing was that it just
kept on growing, which got me wondering how Caine was still able to contain it.
He did seem completely concentrated on his task, with no eye for anything else
but the ritual.
Then, just when I thought that the power couldn't be increased any more,
all hell broke loose: I felt Caine's control slip for only a fraction of a
second and immediately a great many tiny, blue lines shot out from the
pentagram, reaching out and swirling throughout the hall. I could feel power
flowing all around me. It was as if I was standing smack in the middle of some
kind of heavy electrical storm. All around us objects started moving as if of
their own accord and I too had some trouble remaining on my feet, being rocked
from side to side by the multitude of blue lines. This definitely wasn't the way
it was supposed to go.
The next moment it all stopped. The power just disappeared all at once. I
saw Caine slump forward in exhaustion. He had failed: in the middle of the
pentagram lay only Diana, still covered in blood. I rushed towards her. Yes, she
was still alive, the Unicorn be thanked!
"You bungling fool!" I heard Sand say. I
couldn't tell whether she was angry, annoyed, amused or just plain mocking.
Maybe a combination of these four.
Caine slowly drew himself up. "Damn!" he
said. "She was so very close. I thought I'd made it... Damn!"
He appeared to be genuinely emotionally affected by his failure, and had
lost something of his usual selfcontrol. I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry
for him. His ends had been good ones, although I didn't like his means.
Diana stirred as I picked her up from the floor. I removed my cape and
wrapped it around her naked body. After a moment she opened her eyes and fixed
them on me. Her expression was confused and without recognition.
"Who... Who are you?" she asked me.
"Well, Dorian of course," I said.
"Don't you remember?"
It wasn't surprising for her to be somewhat
confused after the ordeal she had just been through, but there was something
else about her that didn't seem right. Her reaction to my reply reinforced that
feeling: she appeared both somewhat bewildered and very happy to see me.
"I had no idea that it had been this
long," she sighed.
This aroused a creeping suspicion in me, which was apparently shared by the others. Caine was the first to voice it.
"Deirdre?" he asked tentatively.
"You stupid fool!" she cried, affirming all our suspicions. "You almost murdered my granddaughter!"