Anne Bishop - Sebastian

Listen to me, he said on the link that traveled through waking dreams. Please listen. The Eater of the World has come back.

Fear came back to him. Sharp, jagged.

Then we are lost, some of the voices whispered. This time the Light will be devoured.

No, he replied, putting all of his conviction into the thought. Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna. Remember that. Heart’s hope lies within Belladonna.

He felt the scratching at the edges of his mind. Some of his tormentors had returned.

He withdrew his links with those other hearts, pulling his power back into himself as fast as he could. Before the wizards were able to slip into his mind to discover what he had just done, he had the secret surrounded with all the strength he had left.

All through the torturous night, while they whispered and whispered and whispered, he held on to the secret—and the shining warmth.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Lee, Glorianna watched the sun ease its way toward the western horizon of Sanctuary.

“It’s almost time,” Lee said.

She nodded. “You’re going to be in the eye of a storm. Can you hold your island above the wizards’ landscape?”

“I’ll hold it. You just make sure you stay within reach of it. If the wizards keep their wits enough to unleash the lightning…You’re not invulnerable, Glorianna.”

“I know. But once things are in motion, once Heart’s Justice has begun, they won’t dare try anything until the power is released. By the time they realize what I’ve done, it will be too late for them to attack me.”

“I hope you’re right.”

So do I.

She felt Lynnea approaching, causing ripples in Sanctuary’s serenity. Fear and hope. Uncertainty and courage. The catalyst whose presence had brought change to the Den. Who had brought opportunities and choices.

Now, in the face of what was to come, she hoped Lynnea could hold on to the fledgling courage the young woman was still discovering lived inside her.

She touched Lee’s arm to alert him. Then they both turned and waited for Lynnea to reach them.

“I’m going with you,” Lynnea said, her voice a mixture of fear and defiance. “Sebastian needs me.”

Yes, he does, Glorianna thought. More than you realize.

“Lynnea—” Lee began.

“She can come with us,” Glorianna said, cutting off her brother’s well-meant discouragement.

Teaser joined them, trailed by Yoshani. The incubus looked at Lynnea, then at her. “I’m going, too.”

“No.” The stricken look in Teaser’s eyes surprised her, then pleased her. The young incubus she’d met in the Den fifteen years ago wouldn’t have cared enough about anyone else to offer to help, let alone feel hurt when the offer was refused.

Before he could gather himself enough to argue, she added, “I need you to go back to the Den, Teaser.”

“But—”

“I need that.”

Yoshani stepped up beside Teaser. “Since Teaser is going back to the Den, would it cause a dissonance if I went with him? I have mentioned many times over the years that I would like to visit the Den.”

Yoshani had mentioned wanting to visit, but she’d always said, “Not yet,” because his presence would have caused a dissonance, could have shifted something before the hearts that were attuned to the Den were ready to change. But things had already changed in the Den, and Yoshani’s steady heart would balance Teaser’s more volatile one.

“An excellent suggestion, Honorable Yoshani,” Glorianna said.

Teaser sputtered. Yoshani smiled.

Lee looked over his shoulder to gauge the sun’s progress. “We’d better go.”

Glorianna nodded. “I want to get there ahead of the council so that I can choose the ground.”

Yoshani raised his hand. “May the Guardians of the Light watch over you.”

Teaser looked at Lynnea, then Lee, and finally at Glorianna. “Travel lightly.”

She turned away and followed the path that would take them to Lee’s small island.

Travel lightly. She hoped she would. She hoped she could.

Everything depended on it.

Teaser watched them go, wondering how he’d gotten stuck playing keeper to a holy man instead of doing something to help Sebastian.

“I left my bag on the bench over there,” Yoshani said. “I think it best if we reach the Den before the sun sets.”

“Sun doesn’t shine in the Den,” Teaser muttered.

“Before it sets here.”

Since he couldn’t think of a reason to delay, he followed Yoshani to the bench, then to the bridge he and Lynnea had used to reach Sanctuary. Then he tried to argue.

“You really shouldn’t be going to the Den,” he said.

“Why not?” Yoshani asked mildly.

“Because you live here, and the Den is the Den of Iniquity. There’s drinking and gambling.” When Yoshani just smiled, he felt a reckless panic rise up inside him. “And whoring. Lots of whoring. And…and erotic statues. Right out in public!”

“It sounds like a fascinating place. Shall we go?”

Teaser stared at Yoshani. The man should be outraged, scandalized!

“Something has not occurred to you, my friend.” Yoshani set his bag on the ground and held his hands out, holding them far apart. “You see Sanctuary and your Den as two places far from each other, too unlike to be connected in any way.”

“They are,” Teaser insisted.

Yoshani shook his head. “They are like this.” Holding up one hand, he ran a finger down the palm, then down the back. “They are just two sides of the same heart, two facets of Glorianna Belladonna.”

There was nothing Teaser could say to that, so he stared at the bridge.

Yoshani picked up his bag and rested a hand on Teaser’s shoulder. “If it eases your heart, I will tell you this.” He grinned. “I was not always a holy man.”

“You don’t have to exert yourself,” Harland said. “I promise you, justice will be done.”

Balanced on crutches, Koltak ignored the pain in what remained of his heavily bandaged left foot and looked the head of the Wizards’ Council in the eyes. “I want to be there when justice is done. I want to see that bastard get what he deserves. And I want to see her destruction.”

Harland studied Koltak for a moment, then smiled. “I thought that would be your answer, so I arranged a pony cart and a driver for you.”

As Koltak slowly made his way to the door, Harland said, “Yes, Koltak, this day will change the world. Before it ends, we will succeed in doing what generations of wizards have worked to accomplish. We will vanquish the last enemy, and the world will be ours. All ours.”

It flowed through the landscapes, a rippling shadow. The lesser enemies who had managed to escape Its attack on the school could not hurt It. Not anymore. They were caged in the landscapes they had fled to, unable to reach the other landscapes anchored in their gardens. Their power was fading in those abandoned places. Soon their resonance would be gone, leaving Ephemera without any guides to shape what was manifested. But It would be there, drifting among the landscapes, whispering to the dark side of the human heart until Ephemera changed itself to resonate with those hearts and became a dark, terrible place. But It would leave some threads of Light in those reshaped landscapes. After all, It could not crush hope if none existed. It could not devour kindness if there was no kindness left. It could not devastate love if no love could bloom. Yes, It would keep trickles of Light in Its Dark landscapes so Its prey would remain a delicious feast. But the Places of Light, those beacons of power… They had to be destroyed.