Destroyer of Worlds

2

In the dead heat of the morning, they departed the Court of Endless Horizons, past the steady stream of refugees seeking shelter in the city. After the packed, sweltering, noisy streets, the blank, rolling wastes were a welcome relief, stilling the tense chatter of the mind and allowing them all to breathe a little easier.

Casting a threatening shadow across the ochre sands, the black cloud of the Morvren followed them, their cawing a jarring sound in the stillness that lay all around whenever the wind dropped. Lest they be lulled into a false state of overconfidence by the peace of the desolation, the scarlet, orange and gold shape of the Burning Man loomed up ahead of them against the silver-blue skyline, the outline now smudged black with greasy smoke. The closer they got to it, the more charged with dread the atmosphere became.

'What do you think it will look like when the Void fills the space?' Ruth was surprised to realise she was whispering.

'I do not think we should worry about that,' Shavi replied. 'Once the Void materialises, everything is over.'

Soon the gleaming towers of the court and the dark line of jungle disappeared from view, and there was only the rolling dunes scarred with the line of their footprints. They sipped sparingly from their water bottles, all of them aware of the dangers of getting lost.

Leading the way, Rachel pointed to a formation of glassy volcanic rock rising from the sands about three miles distant. 'I remember seeing that. I came through somewhere near there. I think.'

Laura sighed loudly, eliciting a cautionary glare from Church.

Veitch joined Church shortly after, his gaze fixed firmly on the horizon. 'You sure this is the best plan?'

'Have you been talking to Ruth?'

'It's just, none of us can see where this is going.'

'You could trust me.'

A pause. 'I do. Course I do. But everything that's happened since we got here has pushed us all to the limit. I know I'm not thinking straight.'

'I hear what you're saying, Ryan. So did you draw the short straw to come and get me back on the rails?'

'It's not like that.'

'Because that's a little funny. Not so long ago they were all afraid you'd kill them in their sleep. Now you're the voice of reason, and I'm the bad guy.'

'That's not fair.'

Church regretted his words instantly. Veitch had been trying his best to make up for his past actions when he had been destabilised by the Void; he deserved better than that, and Church had to do better if he was to be the leader they needed.

'You're right, I'm sorry,' he said. 'I don't want to tell any of you what I'm planning. In the Halls of the Drakusa, when we discovered that one of us is helping the enemy, that really hit hard. Once we got back together, I never thought we'd have to deal with a traitor in the group again, even after Tom got his warning from the boy on the train. Now I'm not taking any chances.'

'Even though Virginia's dead?'

'I'm not sure it was her.' Veitch's silence was pointed. 'I'm not saying it was you. I'm not saying it's anybody. I'm just thinking it's wise not to allow any opportunities for our plans to leak out to the enemy.' He added, 'I don't like to think this way. Mistrust is corrosive. Maybe that's all part of the Enemy's plan — letting it eat away at our relationships and the ties that make us stronger as a group. But I can't see another way to deal with it.'

Veitch appeared satisfied with this, and they fell silent again as the heat began to take its toll. Skidding down deep dunes and then climbing up through the shifting sands on the other side made their leg muscles burn and for a long while the rock formation appeared to be drawing no closer. But then they crested a steep incline onto a hardpan plateau scattered with boulders where a stronger wind blew and they saw colours shimmering in the sky like the aurora borealis. Here and there drifted strands of the pearly mist that Rachel had described.

'This is it,' Rachel said, turning slowly.

'What now?' Laura asked. Everyone looked to Church.

'We go home,' he replied.