Fighting Pax, Part 4 of 4 by Robin Jarvis

Author:Robin Jarvis [Robin Jarvis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

27

BY THE TIME Martin reached the top of the spiral stairs within the South Tower, he was totally out of breath. Resting against the curved wall, he put his head on the cold stone and wheezed down deep gulps of air.

A torch burned above him and the golden dagger in his hand gleamed in its flaring light. Martin kept repeating to himself he had to do this. For the sake of humanity, he couldn’t shrink from this grisly responsibility. Lee had to die. The violent Peckham yob couldn’t be allowed to kill the Bad Shepherd.

“Come on,” the ex-teacher told himself. “Everything depends on this. You can do it. Just go out there and… It’ll be quick. He won’t even feel anything.”

He tried to picture in his mind a character from his favourite movies, someone he could draw strength from. But it didn’t help; his mind was a blank. There was no room for fantasy now. This one unbearably real moment was all that mattered.

Stepping out on to the roof of the tower, he wished desperately for it to be over. Then he saw the hospital bed, the medical equipment nearby – and Lee.

Overhead the cranes were bristling with electricity and lightning forked across the castle.

Martin approached the bed with leaden steps. His heart quailed. The dagger seemed to grow heavier in his hand as his sense of dread and horror mounted. And then he was looking down at Lee.

The boy appeared to be fast asleep – or dead. There wasn’t even any movement beneath the eyelids. His face had lost the hard belligerence it displayed during his waking hours. Right now he looked like any other sixteen-year-old, someone with a whole life ahead of him. A life that Martin had to take.

Gazing down at that vulnerable face, Martin’s resolve faltered. Could he seriously do this?

Around the castle the arc lights were exploding. At that moment the Christmas tree burst into flames. Martin raised his eyes. Across the battlements he saw it burning and wondered what it portended. Then he witnessed the harrowing sight of Lucifer rising through the fire, to scale the Keep. Martin watched the Harlequin Priests combust and the shining figure ascend the throne in a rippling heat haze. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen or imagined. He felt his spirit shrivel inside him. Nothing in any of his large collection of fantasy movies could ever have prepared him for this. The dagger almost fell from his fingers. He wanted to turn and run, to hide or hurl himself from the tower – anything to escape the tide of horror beating from that shimmering shape upon the throne. It was all he could do to remain standing, and he prayed that those pitiless, blazing eyes did not turn his way.

But the new lord of the earth was staring out, beyond the castle walls, at the world that was now his. Where his perilous gaze rested and he raised his left hand, pillars of flame leaped from the ground and soon the surrounding countryside was fenced with towering fires.

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