Dragons, and the sacrifice of people who cared.
The Bone Inspector slipped away respectfully while they buried Veitch by torchlight on the heights of Hampstead Heath overlooking the city. None of them really knew what to say; the loss was too acute, the atmosphere of broken dreams too oppressive. As they started to throw the clods of earth back into the hole, Shavi finally broke down.
'Goodbye, my good friend,' he said, the tears streaming down his face. 'You brought something to all of us. And you did your best, often despite yourself, and that is more than enough. I will miss you more than you ever could have believed.'
And then they were all crying, not just for Veitch, but for all the ones they had lost, and for themselves, who would have to deal with the world left behind and the lack of their friends in it; and none of them tried to hide their tears, not even Laura, who surprised herself with the weight of the emotion pouring out of her.
When all their tears were gone, and the mound of brown earth stood complete and alone in the rolling green, they turned to face the uncertain times ahead.
The night felt subtly different. The lamp of the moon cast a beautiful white light from a sable sky now devoid of storm clouds. The sourness in the air that had arrived with Balor's rebirth was gone, replaced by the aroma of green vegetation in an atmosphere slowly ridding itself of pollution; it smelled like hope.
Beneath the stars, Shavi, Ruth and Laura huddled together around a bonfire against the October chill. The Bone Inspector leaned against his staff and watched the city thoughtfully. They sensed the spirits of the Invisible World were beginning to venture abroad, as they always did on that night that had come to be known as Hallowe'en, yet the small group felt no sense of threat.
'How are you doing?' Laura said to Ruth after a long period of silence, punctuated only by the crackle of the fire. Her voice held a real tenderness that made Ruth even more emotional after their long period of rivalry.
'At the moment I feel dead.' Distractedly, she prodded the grass with a stick, before releasing a juddering sigh. 'And I know it's going to get worse before it gets better. I know we won… I know the whole world benefited… but the price we paid seems so high.'
Laura tossed more wood on the fire, though it hardly needed it. 'You can talk about Church, you know.'
'Thanks. Really.' Ruth wiped away a stray tear, smiled. 'It seems so unfair. Personally, I mean. I'm being selfish here and I know anyone else would tell me to get some perspective-
'That is not how grief works,' Shavi interjected.
'It took us so long to get together,' Ruth said, 'but when we did I felt happy, truly happy, for the first time in my life. Church was always talking about searching for meaning, and for me that was where I found meaning in my life: in my love for him. Does that sound vomit-inducing?'
'Yes, but keep going. I need to make a space for dinner.' Laura's gibe was gentle and Ruth couldn't help laughing.
'It would have been perfect for me if we'd stayed together into old age, and I know it's a childish thing, but sometimes you think that's reason enough for it to keep going. But life has its own plan. I think that's when you know you've grown up-when you can accept you have no control over anything. Church told me the Tuatha De Danann believe everything is fluid. I suppose the mind has complete control over everything, and that if you wish hard enough you can change reality. Well, I wished and I wished. And he still hasn't come back to me.'
Laura fumbled for her hand and gave it a squeeze. Shavi slipped an arm round her shoulders. Overhead, a shooting star blazed across the heavens, reminding them of other times, when they had been all together.
'All I think now is what would he have wanted me to do,' Ruth said. 'And the answer's obvious: keep doing the right thing, make the world a better place, ignore what anybody else might tell you. Emotionally, it will be hard for me, for all of us, but that's a good reason for living. Don't you think?'
They all agreed.
'You know, I don't really want to think about this,' Laura said, 'but, do you reckon he suffered? I mean, he'd been stabbed and all, I know. But that gate he was sucked through-'
'I don't know. But even if he did he would probably say pain is transitory and there are better things to look forward to.'
'You believe that?'
'I do. Now. I'll see him again one day, I know it.'
Laura remained silent for a long moment, then said, 'You know Veitch and me didn't get on. He scared me. But I think the real reason was because we were so alike. Two losers trying to escape the past that held them back. I feel bad that I'm here and he's not.'
'Don't feel guilty.' Ruth gave her arm a squeeze.
'No, Ryan would not want that.' Shavi leaned forward into the firelight. 'Ryan did the best he could, but he was a victim, and that is the great tragedy of what happened to him. Under other circumstances, he would have found his redemption, as you did.'
'Those bastards took it away from him,' Laura said vehemently.
'Exactly. We were all manipulated by higher powers, run ragged and forced to suffer, yet in the end we- humanity-still won. Despite everything inflicted on us. That is our great success.'
Ruth watched the sparks flying high in the smoke. 'When do you think the Tuatha De Danann first stuck that Caraprix in Veitch's head?'
'I do not know,' Shavi replied, 'but they were manipulating us from the moment we were born. They knew they needed the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons together ready to free them if the Fomorii ever got the upper hand. And to achieve our destiny we all had to experience death at first hand, so they utilised Veitch to engineer that state. With the Caraprix driving him, he set off on his murderous spree. I wonder how that must have affected him? His conscious mind did not know, but it was there in his subconscious, eating away at him.'
'Why Witch?' Ruth asked. 'Why didn't they get you or me to do their dirty work?'
'Because Ryan was perfect for the job. His life already contained violence. He had crossed a barrier that the rest of us would have found hard to deal with.'
'So he did exactly what they wanted,' Laura said bitterly, 'you'd have thought they'd have left him alone after that. But they gave him that silver hand to do Church in at the end.'
'That was the faction that didn't want humanity to become a threat,' Ruth said. 'They were scheming all the time, both the Tuatha De Danann and the Fomorii. Plan after plan, manipulation after manipulation. We were like kids in comparison, so trusting.'
'It did not do them any good,' Shavi said. 'In fact, it was their arrogance that did it for them in the end. The Fomorii never saw us as a real threat. They had implanted their own Caraprix in Ryan's head, but it only came into play right at the end when it actually looked like we might stand a chance. If they had set Ryan to pick us off one by one over a period of time, they would have won. But we were just Fragile Creatures; beneath their notice.'
'That'll teach the bastards,' Laura said. 'It's like the French Revolution all over again.'
Ruth stretched, the aches of the past few days finally coming out. ' Liberte, fraternite, egalite.'
'Look. What's that?' Laura pointed to a light that suddenly flared brightly in the sea of night.
As they scanned the darkness, their breath caught in their throats, others glimmered faintly across the city. It was such a simple thing, but after so long it seemed like an act of God.
Shavi thought for a moment, then said, 'An emergency generator has come on.'
They were all silent for a long moment, barely daring to believe what it meant. It was Ruth who gave voice to it: 'Technology is working again.'
'What's left of it.' With a fake dismissive shrug, Laura played up to what they expected of her. 'No web, no MP3, no ER. What's the point?'
'Technology and magic, side by side,' Shavi mused. 'Interesting times lie ahead.'
They spent the next half hour talking animatedly about what the coming months would hold as humanity crawled out from the wreckage of society and attempted to make a new life out of the devastation. Power lost, industry destroyed, food distribution ruined, transport in tatters, and how many deadthousands? Millions? How long would it take them to get even a modicum of organisation up and running again? In the short term the hardship would be intense, but they all agreed there was hope. After all, mankind was now on a new road, one rising to a glorious future.
Eventually they decided to wander away from the fire for a while, to stretch the chill from their legs and be alone with their thoughts. Ruth found herself drawn to a dark copse; even before she had entered the trees she
