Mark Chadbourn - The Burning Man

‘Apoyan-Tachi, Sky Father God, has taken him,’ Coyote replied.

‘If you wish to find him again, you must first find your way through the Sky Maze,’ Raven stated. ‘Take a step off the highest point of any of the highest buildings in this city and perhaps you will find yourself standing on the invisible path.’

‘Or perhaps not,’ Coyote added.

New York was awake. From Battery Park to Harlem, the streets were already beginning to gridlock under the bright, silvery gleam of the dawn sky. In the diners, the cooks were preparing for the onslaught of morning customers, filling the air with steam from the coffee machines, loading trays of bagels and croissants, opening boxes of eggs. The chatter of life started low, the words not yet apparent.

Church sat on the sidewalk at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-Fourth Street, bone-weary from the night’s exertions, knowing the worst was yet to come. The Lexus pulled up next to him at speed and Laura lurched angrily out of the back seat.

‘God, the smell in there was disgusting. Ham. And shit.’

Nelson climbed out of the passenger seat. ‘You sure you want her back? I think we’ve got due cause to put her away — for being in possession of a dangerous mouth and a lethal personality.’

Exchanging a silent, knowing look with Nelson, Church hugged Laura as Tom emerged from the car carrying a long package wrapped loosely in pages from the New York Post . He handed Caledfwlch to Church.

Bad-tempered, Tombstone threw open the driver’s door. ‘More weird shit.’ The police radio was continually interrupted by bursts of loud static, within which Church could just make out a single repeated word: Croatoan. On Tombstone’s BlackBerry, random emails blinked in, quoting the same word.

‘Multiple streams of information transmitting the same message,’ Shavi said. ‘It is starting.’

‘Then we’d better get moving.’ Church unwrapped Caledfwlch and slipped it into the scabbard on his back.

‘We’re giving you one chance here,’ Nelson said.

‘That’s all I need.’

Nelson glanced at Tombstone, unsure. ‘You think we’ve been infected with stupidtron particles?’

‘Oh, yeah. You, me and the rest of the world.’

‘My girlfriend’s always going on about shit like this,’ Nelson confided. A flicker of doubt crossed his face. “The world is an illusion. We’re all tricked into believing a lie. The evidence is there if you look close enough.” She always thought it was funny — me, a detective with ten years’ service, couldn’t see the evidence. I used to laugh at her.’ He tapped his head. ‘Last week she tried to kill herself. Nearly did it, too. Now she won’t talk to me.’

‘Don’t start with all that maudlin shit again,’ Tombstone said. ‘She’ll come round, I told ya. Give her time.’ He grinned, but he couldn’t keep his true thoughts from his eyes.

Nelson looked up to the summit of the Empire State Building at Church’s back. ‘I still think you’re crazy.’

‘Main observatory is on the eighty-sixth floor, another on the one hundred and second,’ Tombstone said. ‘You can see eighty miles on a clear day. They say.’

‘You’ve not been up?’ Nelson asked.

‘Don’t like heights.’

‘That’s not high enough.’ Shielding his eyes, Church tried to see to the top of the one-hundred-and-two-storey structure. ‘Can you get me out at the very top?’

After Nelson and Tombstone spoke to security, they returned to the car as Church and the others took the elevator as high as it would go. Steel steps led to a small, circular, windowed observation area with a ladder leading up to a hatch that gave access to the dirigible mooring mast.

Pressing her face to the glass, Laura looked out over the city. ‘Church-dude, it’s not often I agree with the Filth, but that detective is right. You are seriously fucked in the head if you’re going out there.’

With his alien eye, Shavi searched for some sign of the invisible maze, but found nothing.

‘What if those gods were just ragging on you?’ Laura continued. ‘There’s nothing out there. One step, one thousand four hundred feet to the pavement. My friend Church, a fine red mist.’

‘That’s it — give him a pep talk,’ Tom said.

‘I’ve come prepared. To a point.’ Steeling himself, Church stepped onto the ladder. ‘We don’t have a choice. We need the Second Key now. If you listen carefully you can hear the city talking, repeating one word over and over again, everywhere. The Void isn’t going to take any chances. It’s going to pull the plug.’

‘I can go,’ Shavi said.

Church smiled unconvincingly. ‘You get to have the second go.’

They all fell silent. Church nodded once, then climbed the ladder and went through the metal hatch.

‘Idiot or hero, you decide.’ Laura glanced back out at the dizzying drop. ‘I think I’m going to vomit. Look away.’

The rattle of feet on steel made them think Church was returning until a low sound like a badly tuned radio set their teeth on edge. Veitch stepped into the room, the black flames of his sword casting odd shadows.

‘Here we are again,’ he said. ‘All together one last time.’ Behind him, Ruth looked uncomfortable and Miller kept his eyes down selfconsciously.

‘How did you find us, you tattooed fuck-head?’ Laura said.

‘Me and Church are like brothers these days, didn’t you know? Even more than we were in the old days.’ He began to climb the ladder to the hatch. ‘Time to finish this.’

Back on Summer-side, the rain still sheeted down and ran in torrents along the winding, cobbled streets. The Court of the Soaring Spirit cowered in the face of the storm. Mallory led a small army towards the Palace of Glorious Light, just a hulk lurking in the darkness.

Axe in hand and ready for battle, Decebalus strode beside him, and at their backs were the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons plucked from hundreds of years of Earth’s history. They were still coming to terms with their freedom, but Mallory could tell the Pendragon Spirit was alive in their hearts.

With Lugh and Rhiannon at their head, the Tuatha De Danann were grim-faced. They, too, were trying to come to terms with the new status quo, but their task was more difficult. Their race was built upon the mythology that they were special, perfect, above all other creatures. To be told their survival depended on fighting and defeating one of their own destroyed the very foundations of their existence.

Lightning flaring overhead, Mallory brought them to a halt on the approach to the palace. ‘Go back to the Hunter’s Moon and look after Virginia,’ he told Jerzy. ‘If we don’t survive, get her out of the city. Try to find Church. Just keep her safe.’

The Mocker grasped Mallory’s hand fervently. ‘I see you are a great man, as great as my good friend Jack Churchill. My life has been better for having known you.’

‘Just get the drinks in. And look after yourself.’

When Jerzy had scampered away, Mallory turned to Lugh. ‘Are you ready?’

‘It is my sister.’ Lugh’s voice trembled, though his face remained emotionless. ‘I am not ready. I will never be ready.’

‘That place is a fortress,’ Mallory said. ‘Our only option is a frontal assault. If we can take Niamh by surprise-’

‘She will be ready for us,’ Rhiannon said. ‘She already knows that the Watchtower has been breached and that the prisoners are free.’

‘You should go back with Jerzy …’ Mallory began until he saw her affronted expression.

She held up her stump. ‘One missing hand does not make me lesser. It does not amount to one fraction of the scars I have borne throughout all my time.’