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“Children are often the true saviors,” Beranabus says. “Not knowing the rules of the universes, they can sometimes turn those rules on their head. We must trust, Raz Warlo. And hope.” I feel his eyes hot on my back. “The boy is all we have.”
I don’t think about my grave responsibility. All I focus on are the patches of light, pulsing in the air around me, more gliding into reach from the world outside, slipping through the ranks of Kallin and the wall of the barrier. Nothing can hold the lights back, interfere with them or divert them from their course. Except me. I’m their master. I can do anything with them that I like.
My hands blur. The panel of lights builds, two feet wide, three feet high... four... five. Just as I’m adding a large, hexagonal block of blue light to the mass, the lights pulse in unison a few times, then go a dull shade of steady white.
“By all the gods!” Raz gasps.
“I do not believe it!” Sharmila exclaims.
“No!” Nadia moans with disbelief.
Beranabus just chuckles and says, “My compliments, Kennel.”
“It’s Kernel,” I correct him, looking up at his bearded face and small dark eyes. “Kernel Fleck. Master of the lights.”
He tilts his head, acknowledging my power. I’ve never felt more alive or special. The others gape from me to the window, then back at me.
“How?” Nadia asks.
Beranabus speaks before I can. “Let’s save the explanations for when we’re not surrounded by thousands of demons.” He stares at the writhing ranks of the Kallin. Smiles. Then steps through the window of light. I glance at the others, grinning proudly. They’re smiling too now.
One last look at the Kallin. They’re screeching louder than ever, furious at us for escaping their trap. Laughing, I flip them the finger, then face the window of light and eagerly step forward after Beranabus, figuring nowhere in the universe can be as bad as this place.
Wrong!
FIRE
IKNOW instantly that we’re in trouble. Beranabus is fighting a variety of demons, snakelike, but with arms and claws, heads of tigers, lions, vultures. Several are locked in battle with the elderly magician, ripping at him with talons and fangs, moving incredibly fast. He’s striking back with bolts of lightning. A couple of demons are lying in pieces around him. But there are more to come.
In the distance, I spot another window, and a demon leaving through it. I’m not certain, but I think it’s Cadaver! In a rush of excitement I start towards the window, but then one of the other demons spots me. Shrieks like a bird of prey. Lashes backwards with its scaly tail, driving itself at me. I freeze, losing my new-found confidence. Looking past the demon, I see the window come apart, and I lose hope too. Cut off from my prey, isolated and terrified, I stand motionless and defenseless.
Raz steps through the window behind me. Yells with surprise and fear, then pushes ahead of me and grabs the attacking demon by its arms. Sinks his teeth into its throat. Bites it open, then spits the slimy flesh out. Puts his teeth up close to the hole in the thrashing demon’s throat. Blows into it — but magic comes out of his mouth, not air. Enters through the gash. The demon explodes. Raz tosses its carcass aside and moves to deal with the next in line.
Sharmila steps through, then Nadia. Sharmila gasps, looks around in wild terror, then gains control and steps up beside Raz. A jackal-headed demon leaps on her. She thrusts a hand at its stomach. As soon as she touches it, flames burst from her fingers. Seconds later, the demon’s on fire, writhing in the dust.
Nadia curses, starts forward, then looks back at me. “Shut the window!”
“But...we have to go back...we can’t stay here... there are —”
“The barrier won’t hold now that we’ve moved on!” she shouts. “If you don’t close it, the Kallin will be able to follow us through!”
I hate turning my back on the fighting, but I can’t ignore her warning. I stare at the window of white light, not sure what to do. So I try the first thing that comes into my head. Reach into the window, to rip it apart. But my hands slide through the light and nothing happens.
I can’t see anything through the window, but I imagine the Kallin massing on the other side. They could come slithering through at any second. I should run, get away from here, flee for my...
I force myself to take a breath. Consider the problem. It was easy to put the patches of light together, so it must be easy to take them apart. But how?
I begin to reach into the window again. Pause. Half close my eyes and study it carefully. Although it looks like a solid wall of light, if I squint I can make out thin lines where the original patches join. Tiny cracks running through the window, almost invisible. I run my left index finger around one of the larger patches near the center, thinking. Then, without trying to touch it, I slide my finger at the patch from the side, willing it to move.
The patch comes loose and glides away from my finger, becoming a pulsing strawberry color. After a few seconds it stops pulsing, hangs in the air a moment, then drifts away.
I work on freeing other patches. After removing about a dozen, the window disintegrates. The patches regain their original colors and slide away from one another in a slow, graceful explosion.
No time for pride. I check what’s happening with the demons. There aren’t as many as on the needle of rock, but they’re larger and stronger, and there’s no time to construct a barrier to keep them at bay.
They’re all around Beranabus and his Disciples. A few have caught hold of Raz and dragged him to the ground. He’s lashing out with his fists, trying to chew their throats open. But they stick to him like savage hounds. One rips off most of his right leg and devours the flesh, howling with satisfaction. A claw strikes his head and slices half his face away. He tries to scream but he no longer has a tongue.
I cry out with pity and terror, but there’s nothing I can do to help the fat black man who was so nice to me, who saved my life mere moments ago. He’s stronger than me. He knows how to fight demons. A true being of magic. If he can’t handle these monsters, what hope do I have?
