The Burning Man

12

Along the endless corridors they moved, flinging open doors to reveal pale faces, blinking eyes, hope rekindled: women in dirty flapper dresses; men in sharp suits with slicked-back hair; a Spitfire pilot still wearing his leather flight jacket, goggles pushed back on top of his head; a hard-faced woman in rough, rural dress from some time at the end of the nineteenth century. And more, scores of them, from different eras, dressed in different styles, but the Pendragon Spirit clear and strong in all.

And when they found Aula, Decebalus crushed her to his chest and wept tears of joy. The Roman woman cursed and spat and forced her way free before giving him the briefest of revealing smiles.

Finally they climbed a set of stone steps to another corridor that was sealed by a newly installed iron gate. Breaking through it, they found that all the doors were treble-locked and marked with sigils that Rhiannon said were ancient spells of imprisonment. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons shattered the doors to reveal the missing Tuatha De Danann, who emerged into the corridor with the expressions of people who still couldn’t comprehend how their world had been upturned. Math the sorcerer was bound with chains, his head sheathed in an iron mask. Another chamber was filled with an impenetrable darkness that persisted even when torches were brought to the door. Two red eyes glowed from the depths. All concerned left the Morrigan to emerge in her own time.

Lugh, the great warrior and god of light, was one of the last rescued. He hugged Rhiannon silently for several moments. When he turned to Mallory, his eyes were wet. ‘You have my thanks, Brother of Dragons, and those of all my people. A terrible blow has been struck against the Golden Ones, one from which we shall not easily recover. To be betrayed by one of our own, to be imprisoned and tortured, it strikes to the very heart of who we are.’ He drew a deep breath. ‘To be betrayed by my own sister.’

Rhiannon comforted him with a gentle hug.

‘From this day on, we will never forget what the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons have done for the Golden Ones,’ he continued. ‘This is the start of a new age, when Fragile Creatures will take their place alongside my people at the heart of Existence. We stand with you now, Brother of Dragons, and always.’

‘Then gather your people and get ready,’ Mallory said. ‘We’re taking this fight back to the Court of the Soaring Spirit. It’s war.’