the Two Keys?'
'I thought Revelation was supposed to refer to some Roman Emperor or something back when the Bible was written?' Mallory mused.
Animated, the Doctor fetched more books from the shelves. 'The patterns, man. They're everywhere. The true template behind reality. See the patterns and you get what it's all about. A trip, the biggest trip of all. Numbers are the key, see.' He giggled. 'The key. Numbers are the key in music. Music is the key to the universe.'
Mallory sighed. 'You're having a rush, Doctor.'
'Sorry, man, sorry. But it's the numbers! Science and magic… maybe it's the same thing. The pattern is everywhere. The Aztecs had the Legend of the Five Suns. Five was an important number to them. Each sun was an age, and when a sun died, there was chaos and the gods destroyed the world and started again. We're on the fifth sun now. The last one. This is the sun of movement, Tonatiu, the Rising Eagle, and when it's over the world gets torn apart.'
'If that's a prediction, it doesn't sound like they've got a lot of faith in us,' Mallory said.
Doctor Jay hesitated. 'Maybe we don't fail. Maybe we cause it.'
'Your brain is addled,' Decebalus spat.
'The Indian myths are like the Aztec one, in a way. The universe goes through cycles of birth and death and rebirth. The Hindus believe that Vishnu, the Preserver of Order, comes during times of chaos to save humankind. He appears in a different form each time… an avatar… and he will appear in ten forms before the universe ends.'
'You're saying that number is significant?' Mallory asked. 'Like the number of the last two groups of Brothers and Sisters of Dragons. Except… except there are only nine…' He rubbed his forehead where the familiar painful emptiness had risen again.
'Don't know, man. But Vishnu has appeared in nine of his forms already. For the tenth, he will come as a man riding on a horse, to destroy the Earth.'
They considered this for a moment. Sensing a darkening mood, Doctor Jay moved on. 'The Norse had their myths of Ragnarok, the end of gods and humans, when the world is destroyed after a final battle. There's more, from all over the world, but I think you get the picture.'
Decebalus snorted. 'Patterns can be broken. And stories are like the gods. They tell you one thing but mean another. The truth is slippery.'
A sudden crash made them all jump. Jerzy had pitched forwards, sending phials and bottles flying. Spasming on the floor, his eyes rolled back so that only the whites were visible. Mallory, Decebalus and the Doctor struggled to stop him hurting himself.
'A seizure?' Mallory said as Jerzy finally grew still.
'The Court of the Final Word changed him so much, it's impossible to tell what's going on inside him,' Doctor Jay said.
Jerzy remained unresponsive. But as Mallory carried him to the bed in the adjoining quarters, a low-pitched hum emanated from the Mocker, growing more intense by the second until it set all their teeth on edge.
'What the hell's that?' Mallory reeled away from the bed.
Doctor Jay clamped his hands over his ears. 'Strange days are upon us, man. It sounds like some weird radio signal.'
All attempts to revive Jerzy failed. A silvery substance, like mercury, emerged from his tear ducts and slid across the surface of his eyes until they were like mirrors, reflecting the troubled faces of Mallory, Decebalus and Doctor Jay.
'Get all the court's medics together,' Mallory said. 'I want to know what's happening to him, why it's happening now and what it means.'
5
With a screech of metal and a billowing cloud of hissing steam, the Last Train juddered to a halt at the gates of the Court of the Soaring Spirit.
'You ready to face all those bastards again?' Leaning on the window, Veitch watched the massive obsidian gates creak slowly open as puzzled guards emerged, weapons drawn, to investigate the arrival.
'We're on the same side now,' Church replied. 'This war is going to make a lot of difficult allies.'
'Tell me about it.' Veitch flashed a knowing glance at Church. 'Common aims, right?'
'Whatever's happened, you're one of us, Ryan. You always were and you always will be.'
Veitch grunted noncommittally, but the brief glance he exchanged with Laura as she made her way along the carriage ahead of Ruth and Shavi spoke clearly of the problems ahead.
'Congratulations, dude,' she said. 'You finished a whole train journey without killing one of us.'
'Leave him alone,' Ruth snapped.
'Oh, yeah, you would say that. Is there a man around here you haven't tapped?'
Her cheeks flushing, Ruth's eyes flashed angrily. Shavi stepped in with a gentle hand on her arm. 'It's just Laura,' he said softly.
Amidst an odour of loam and a sound like dry insect casings rattling, Ahken arrived, his obsequiousness undiminished.
'Your journey on the Last Train is over,' he said, 'and it is time to make payment.' As he spoke, Tom, Crowther and the others made their way into the carriage.
'What's the price?' Church asked.
'More than you can bear!' Tom raced up, thrusting himself between Church and Ahken.
'Most peoples of the Far Lands and the Fixed Lands only ride the Last Train once, and their destination is always the same,' Ahken continued with an unsettling edge to his voice. 'Out of deference, I have allowed the Seelie Court free passage on their flight back to their homeland. They will join me again shortly. But you, Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, have journeyed on the Last Train three times, and three times is the limit.'
Outside the window, on the dusty approach to the city, the members of the Seelie Court waited curiously for the other passengers to join them. Instinctively, Church felt that the train had already started moving imperceptibly, gradually building speed.
'You must let them alight,' Tom insisted. 'You allowed them passage from the Fixed Lands-'
'The Last Train was summoned by blood,' Ahken said.
'You cannot take them to the Final Destination! The survival of everything depends on them!'
As Ahken's smile broadened, Church had the uneasy feeling that something was squirming just beneath his skin. 'Your kind has little respect for the eternal patterns of Existence and the great inviolable rules. That one-' Ahken pointed to Veitch '-transgressed the ultimate law when he travelled to the Grim Lands to bring back this one.' Ahken indicated Shavi. 'That has not been forgotten. Indeed, the current crisis that grips all the lands is a direct result of that action. You are architects of this suffering.'
Church and Veitch stepped forwards, hands on their swords. Tom held them back. 'Don't,' he said quietly. 'You can't hurt it. What you see is not what is.'
'You were our only chance to escape Earth when the spiders came,' Church said. 'We had no choice but to call you.'
'Every action has repercussions, seen and unforeseen. You must take responsibility for them.'
'Wait,' Tom said. 'They are too important for their lives to be forfeit-'
'No one is too important.' There was a crack like thunder to Ahken's voice.
'Take me in lieu,' Tom pressed.
'I have you anyway, True Thomas. You knew the price asked the last time you travelled with me. But you have traded away your future, and now you are worthless to me.'
Recognising that Ahken would not back down, Church part-drew Caledfwlch and the Blue Fire fizzed and crackled around him. The gravity surrounding Ahken grew by the moment, and Church was now in no doubt as to whom he represented. They could not defeat such a force.
'Quick, now! Be swift, like mercury, like the wind!' The voice rose up around them before Church caught a glimpse of a figure slipping low and lithe along the carriage, more mischievous grin and sizzling eyes than
