The Centaur (39 page)

“Thanks,” Luke told him automatically and then raced inside the tent. No one was inside. He ran directly into the Queen and Plotius when he exited the rear of the tent. Plotius caught him and shoved him toward a campfire, where the ‘meeting’ was on the verge of breaking up.

“Mother!” He made directly for Meredith. “What has happened? Where are Omar and Lemarik?”

“They are in the city, Luke,” Meredith said and raised one eyebrow at her son. “Where have you been?”

Luke looked around the gathering and then lied, “I’ve been scouting… to the south.”

“Do you do much scouting, Master Luke?” Lucifer smiled at him.

Luke ignored him.

“Where are Sir Ramsay and Lord Adalune?” Luke always referred to his father and his brother by their formal titles in mixed company.

“He hasn’t returned,” his mother answered him and then glared at the angelic chieftain from under her brows. “They were abandoned.”

“Abandoned? I hardly think that word is necessary, my dear Miss Merry,” Lucifer feigned a hurt look. “You people throw such harsh language about without forethought of conscience. There was a time when such a title would have brought a challenge to the death, my lady.” Lucifer bowed his head to her. “I am not
the
Abandoner
, though it would seem that some in this day and age have confused me with Shaitan, the Abandoner. It is as I have said. Uriel can well take care of himself. We all know this to be true.”

Luke wanted no argument with the angelic chieftain without the mediating effect of Michael Ian’s presence. Lucifer had already made a fair assessment of him on their first meeting, and he had no desire to bandy words with him on any level.

“I’m sure that Lord Lucifer is right, Mother.” Luke took his mother’s hand and patted it solicitously. “Father can take care of himself. And you know the Djinni. He’s probably having a good time. He loves battles, you know.”

Meredith jerked her hand from Luke’s and glared at him.

“Don’t tell me about Lemarik and your father,” she snapped at him. “I know very well how prone Mark Andrew is to finding trouble. As for your half-brother…” she shot another dark glance at Semiramis “I would just as soon not know what he is doing. We are concerned about the Tuathan.”

Semiramis walked toward them. Meredith stood up a bit straighter, unsure of what was about to happen.

“Come, Luke.” Semiramis took his arm and pulled him away from Meredith. Luke stumbled away from his mother, looking back at her apologetically. “We need to discuss the Tuathan’s welfare in a more hospitable environ.” She passed by Aurora and Dunya. The two women fell in behind her as they left the circle of makeshift chairs set around the campfire.

Menaka had abandoned them after the stinging insults flung early on and Ereshkigal had retired to her own tent with her Captain to consider what should be done next.

“Oh, I see how it is.” Meredith nodded slowly while Lucifer laughed. She turned her brilliant blue eyes on the angel and he choked to a halt. “So, tell me, Lucifer…” She took his arm and directed him from the circle in the opposite direction. “How is that you came by the terrible reputation that you’ve collected? Is it true you tricked Eve into eating the apple?”

“Oh, no you don’t, Miss Merry.” Lucifer smiled at her, but went along with her toward her tent. “I am not taking the fall for that or anything else again… ever.”

“Speaking of
the fall
…” Merry stopped outside her tent flap and waited for him to hold it open for her. “I would like very much to hear the story from your point of view.”

“That I
can
recount with pleasure for you, my lady.” He smiled and raised the flap.

Merry ducked inside and he dropped the flap. He turned quickly and looked at the faces of his warriors who had followed him to the tent.

“What is wrong, Lord Lucifer?” Haniel asked him. “Remember your oath, my Lord. Lord Adar will return and he will not be happy.” His other comrades all nodded solemnly in agreement with Haniel.

Before he could answer, Meredith stuck her head out of the tent and frowned at him. “Are you coming inside or what? I have honey and locusts. I hear they are favorites of yours.”

Lucifer shrugged, smiled broadly and then stepped inside, but when his companions attempted to enter, they found that they could not raise the flap. It was as if it weighed thousands of tons and no amount of pulling, pushing or prying would budge it.

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

“Let me see that!” Nergal shouted at the boggan as he dragged a heavy golden candlestick from the murky water. The pit at the base of the cliff had filled with water, flowed over the sides, running away down the cavern behind them. A number of boggans held torches over the undulating pool while several more sloshed about in the water at the direction of their Lord and Master.

The clumsy ape-like soldier plunked the candlestick on the rocks at Nergal’s feet. Nergal straightened it up and held it while Marduk walked around it, looking it up and down carefully.

“Well?” Nergal asked after a moment. “Is it?”

“Hmmm,” Marduk cupped his chin in his hand. “It looks familiar. Of course I’ve never really seen the genuine thing. This fits the descriptions I have heard and read.”

Nergal shoved one of the dripping wet boggans back into the pool. The water still flowed into the depression from the darkness above. The splashing and gurgling had diminished somewhat, but the sounds echoed terribly in the cavern. The miserable creature slogged out to the center of the miniature lake that had formed quite suddenly and began to feel about the bottom with its bare feet. Another of the soldiers came up from a sloppy dive holding a brass basin in his hands. Water poured onto his head his as he shouted almost gleefully over his find.

Again Marduk examined the relic with great care.

“Hmmm,” he remarked again. “This could be most anything.”

Nergal growled in disgust and tromped across the dry part of the enclosure to a rocky ledge where he sat down. They had found three golden candlesticks. A broken table. Several basins of brass and gold and an elaborate censor for burning incense. He jumped to his feet as one of the
boggans let out a howl and disappeared under the surface. The soldier came up a few feet further away, floundering in the water, slapping the surface and shouting for help. One of his comrades came to his aid and dragged him to shallower water. The pool was deeper than they had suspected. Nergal recalled his soldiers and interrogated them for several seconds while Marduk held his hands over his ears to block out their guttural language. When they were done, two of the soldiers clambered back into the water and headed for the deeper parts. Soon they were out of sight.

A few tense seconds passed while they waited and then the two unlikely divers broke the surface. They held a long wooden shaft overlaid with solid gold between them.

“That’s it!” Marduk’s face lit up. “That is one of the poles used to carry it!” His excitement was hard to disguise.

Nergal grinned a toothy grin and Marduk waded into the murky water, soiling his white robe.

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

Lucio opened the door to Nicole’s bedroom very slowly. He had never been in this room in all his days spent in the old house. Meredith had planned and personally overseen the transformation of the attic into spacious living quarters for her two unlikely offspring.
Meredith
. He was struck again by a pang of jealousy and remorse at the thought of Meredith and all that his love for her had caused. Further, he cringed inwardly when he thought of who she was and where she might be at that moment. If only he had known… but how could he have known? Meredith hadn’t even known. He still thought it a cruel trick Nanna had played on all of them. He often wondered if John Paul had known all along or if he, too, had been ignorant of his origins. Most likely neither of them had known or else the plan would not have worked
. Plan.
Why did it always have to be a plan? But then why did he never learn to stop asking why?

Nicole lay on her bed with her hands folded on her stomach. Whoever had placed her there had been very careful to arrange her as if she were dead. Her feet were crossed at the ankles like a deceased Templar. Lucio shook his head and looked about the room. It was a masterpiece of bizarre fashion. She still had everything that anyone had ever given her either hanging on her walls, setting on shelves or piled on her furniture. It was cluttered, but not messy. A ceiling fan turned lazily overhead, blowing the warmer air near the ceiling down over her. The comforter was deep scarlet and the pillows bright yellow. The rug was yellow and the drapes on the windows, deep red. Red and yellow. He had always thought of Nicole as a lilac and pink person. Her soul was lilac and pink shot through with streaks of silver, a wonderful combination. He hadn’t seen it since she had been a small child. If he could have seen Andrea’s soul, he would have known they were not the same person. But both Nicole and Andrea knew very well how to keep prying eyes from looking on their exposed auras. Nicole’s soul was very similar to her mother’s, and he was well aware of the fact that, had she not been sleeping, or rather unconscious, he would not have been allowed to see it now. He watched it for several seconds as it hovered over her sleeping form quite unaware of his presence.

He tiptoed across the room and sat down gingerly on the edge of her bed. Only then was he struck by the true beauty of the woman he had called his wife for short a time. She was even more beautiful than Meredith, combining the best features of both her mother and father in one almost perfect concoction. Why did she try so very hard to be bad when everything pointed to something quite the opposite?

What was it she wanted? Was it nothing more than any of them? Love? A home? Someone to call her own? But these things were not possible. In fact, to call someone your own was the height of selfish indulgence. To share the same moment in time, the same thoughts, the same words and the same feelings was all that was possible and then, inevitably, it would dissipate and dissolve into nothingness. He touched her arm and she jerked instinctively at his touch.

“Nicole?” He said her name softly to avoid startling her.

She stirred slightly and the hovering pink and lilac cloud formed itself into a cone just above her head.

“Nicole?” He tightened his grip on her arm slightly and the cloud of swirling colors seemed to burrow directly into the top of her head. It quickly enveloped her body and she opened her eyes. For a bare few seconds, he could see the outline of her aura before she snapped completely awake and shielded it from view.

“Lucio?” Her eyes widened a bit more and she pushed herself up against the headboard.

“
Si`
,” he nodded. “Do not be alarmed. I came to check on everyone. There are some very concerned people a few thousand miles from here. I don’t understand what has happened. Tell me what is going on.”

“It was not my fault,” she said quickly.

“Please…” He reached for her hand and she moved it out of reach.  “Nicole. I’m sorry for the way I treated you before. It was not right. I’m sorry.”

“You were watching my soul, weren’t you?” She narrowed her dark blue eyes and the resemblance to Andrea increased.

“I didn’t come up here to fight with you.” He sat back a bit. “I want to know what happened. I want to help. If Mark Andrew returns and finds this… this problem unresolved, he’ll have my head on a pike pole. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“I hate you, Lucio Dambretti,” she told him without the requisite amount of conviction and tone. “A pike pole up your ass is less than you deserve.”

“I know, I know, but you wouldn’t want to see me dead, would you?” He asked and tried his most disarming smile.

“I know that look, laddie,” she set her chin stubbornly. “I won’t be falling for it again.”

“Come on, Nicole,” Lucio relented. “Just tell me what happened. What is that fellow… Bardeck?… what is he doing with your wedding ring? Where did he come from? What happened to your fa… to Mark? Where is Sophia? Do you know anything about what happened to them?”

“I don’t know. I was down at the river…” She frowned and rubbed the back of her head. “Daddy was looking for something. I think he found it. A cave or something.
Barshak said the angel had been through there. I don’t know. It was all confusing and dark… like my dreams.” She looked down at the bed and then up at him. “Why did you marry me and then throw me aside, Lucio? What did I do wrong?”

The Italian was so taken aback by the direct questions, he could not begin to answer, but just stared at her instead.

“I never asked to marry you, you know,” she continued. “I only did it because Daddy asked me to. Daddy never asked me to do anything before. He asked me to do it for him. For you
and
for him. I didn’t understand it at the time. I was pretty strung out, and I just wanted to come home, you know? I thought maybe things had changed, and he wanted to make a place for me in his life. I had no idea.”

“He did it for both of us, I think,” Lucio caught his breath and nodded. “He cares about you…” his voice trailed off.