‘Why would you condemn them to die?’ Samuel asked, incredulous at their intention. ‘Has everyone gone mad?’
‘It is not worth arguing over. Time is of the essence,’ and Cang looked at Eric, for the first time showing some urgency on his face. ‘Time is fleeting. Make your spell, boy, or we are lost.’
‘How can I?’ Eric stammered, but Cang stepped over and guided him firmly into the middle of the stones.
‘All you need to do is focus on a room identical to this, but coloured blue as the desert sky. Focus on that and your mind will find the place we seek. The circle stones here and at our destination are cut from the same source. Use that, too, to guide your spell. In all the world there is only one such place unique as that. It should only take you a moment.’
Cang then hurried out of the raised circle and Balten and Celios followed, leaving Samuel alone with his friend.
‘What should I do, Samuel?’ he asked.
‘Go,’ Samuel told him. ‘I will follow. Damn this lot and damn their plans. We will make do.’ And he moved out from the circle of stones, beside the others.
‘I feel theDemonKingapproaching!’ Celios called out, looking around with alarm, as if the door to hell could open anywhere about him.
‘Very well,’ Eric said and closed his eyes. He began knitting the spell, weaving a lattice of magic around himself. The power that went into the thing was not enormous, for it was a masterpiece of efficiency, based on precision rather than brute force. Samuel took careful note of all around him, and he noted Cang’s eyes darting about as Eric moulded his spell.
‘It’s done,’ Eric said, standing in the middle of the spell, as it slowly revolved around him. ‘I can feel the destination. I only hope everything is as you say, or this will be the last time you see me.’
‘I’m sure you’ve done well, young Master Pot,’ Cang said, circling the spell and ogling it with interest. ‘I never would have guessed some of this. It is intricate,as I expected, but some of the design seems confounding. The concepts are beyond my understanding. You are truly talented.’
‘I don’t know how it works,’ Eric said. ‘It just does. Let me test it.’
And with that his spell fell inwards and Eric disappeared.
‘Wait!’ Cang called after him but he was too late. Eric had gone.
‘It’s coming!’ called a strained voice from the side chamber. It was the Koian woman, calling out in pain.
Samuel ran to the room and went to her side. The bed sheets were wet and the three Paatin women there were helping as best they could. One waswaitingbeside the foot of the bed, where the sheets had been rolled up, with her handspoised readyas if to catch something. Master Celios rushed in beside Samuel and began gawking at the labouring woman and Samuel had to push the man back towards the doorway.
‘It is coming! Push now,’ one of the midwives said, gesturing to the Koian woman with her hands. Taking her prompting, the Koian woman puffed and panted, then paused, before pushing again with all her might as the midwife instructed.
‘It is coming! It is coming!’ Celios echoed with glee.
Samuel tried to quieten him, but he kept jumping and clapping like a senile fool,and so Samuel did his best to ignore the man as he danced and cavorted just outside the doorway.
The Koian woman continued puffing and shouting intermittently, crying out so as to fill Samuel with alarm. She strained and sobbed until, unexpectedly, the chief midwife stood up and she helda newborn infant in her hands, wet with fluid and covered in streaks of blood. She immediately set the child onto a towel beside the bed and began to gently clean it off. The Koian woman took great breaths to recover her strength and closed her eyes with utter relief.
Samuel went beside the midwife to look at his child and he could see that it was a healthy boy. There was no aura of life around it, just as with himselfand the mother, but he supposed it was natural that the child should also share their common traits. Looking to the midwife, Samuel felt bewildered, for that woman,too,had no radiance of power about her and Samuel looked around to the others in the room, for he realised his magician’s
‘What’s happening?’ he asked aloud, but Master Celios’ crazed shouts in the doorway interrupted his thoughts.
‘He is here! He is here!’ Celios cried. ‘The king is here!’
‘What are you talking about, you fool!’ Samuel asked, turning to the man furiously, for he could tolerate Celios’ ranting no longer.
‘My Lord has arrived! Lin is here, reborn to rule the earth! Don’t you understand, yet, you stupid boy?’ Celios cried out, mocking him. ‘The moment we have been waiting for has arrived!’
‘Stop this nonsense, you idiot! Stop your ranting!’ Samuel shouted back and struck the old Master, sending him sprawling out of the room.
‘I’m afraid he’s right, Samuel,’ Cang said, stepping gingerly into the room. ‘This birth is what we have been waiting for.’
‘What are you all talking about?’
‘There are many kinds of portals and many forms of doorways, Samuel. Lin requires a way to enter our world in body and soul and this is the only way to accomplish it for the purposes he requires. Anthem was right, in a way, that your child would be special, but not as a saviour as he thought. This baby is Lin himself, returned in mortal form.’
‘But the relics…’ Samuel began.
‘You are the relics, Samuel-you and the Koian woman. The two devices that would return him to this world- that would seal humanity’s destruction-are human. He left you both behind and, like the three Ancients, your spirits are immortal, delving from one body to the next-but there is a difference. When the Ancient Ones die, they immediately inhabit another suitable body. But you and the woman live from birth to death, born at the same time to die at the same time. Yours lives are as matched as your natures. You each contain the seeds for his return and,only by combining them,can he be reborn. His plan is ingenious, for you are left at opposite ends of the earth. Only once civilisation is sufficiently developed can you be brought together: in natural ways by sea or land or air- borne by the natural processes of trade or diplomacy or war. The details do not matter, but the outcome is always the same.
‘Man should know better than to force such a child into being, but you have seen how the Koians and the Order behaved. They knew you were different, that you were unusual but,like irresponsible children,they could not wait to see what would result from putting you together. They plotted and schemed until it was done, against their better judgement and against the legends and warnings left from the past, and then they stood back to see what would be the result. In every Age,this has happened, and here-it has happened again. Today, the end of this Age has begun. Lin, your son, has returned.’
Samuel felt weak.
‘What does he mean?’ the Koian woman called faintly from her bed. ‘What is he saying about our baby?’
Samuel was still struggling to grasp what Cang was saying. ‘But, why would this happen to us? He is just a baby.’
‘Now he is but a baby, but he will grow. Inside him is the spirit of a demon. Already, he is learningabouthis new surroundings: growing accustomed to the light, the sounds, the smell of us and the room. He will grow as a normal child, but his thoughts are already that of Lin. It takes time to grow into a new body, but he is in no hurry. It is hardly a moment for him. He will grow as a normal boy, watching and observing the world. Once his body is ready, and once he decides the time is right, he will begin his work.
‘The world is already in turmoil and thosedepartedsouls that have already joined the ether will be his for the taking. He will kill those who remain and add them to his strength. Then, once his grim task is done and only a few of us remain, he will depart and the next Age will begin. Did you think the Demon King would descend from the sky, bathed in flames and hurling bolts of lightning? I’m afraid not, Samuel. This is how the world ends. There is no need of hell-spawn and demons to assist him. The wars of man are sufficientfor himto procure the food that he needs, although I am sure he will do his best to help. He will walk the earth unchallenged and fell armies with his blows.’
