The Anzu's Egg 3 by J F Mehentee

Author:J F Mehentee [Mehentee, J F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912402267
Publisher: P in C Publishing
Published: 2020-03-26T22:00:00+00:00

9

The abbot and the monks behind him watched as Biyu soared over and beyond us. She landed halfway between them and the compound’s exit and close to one of its side walls. After she’d carefully deposited Cubchick on the dirt, she shrank. The air surrounding her darkened and shimmered.

‘We’re here to help,’ I said. I descended the last few steps and stopped before the group, the sceptre raised. The abbot turned back. Shorter than the other monks, he stared at the sceptre with the same confused expression he’d had when I’d first held it up. ‘This belonged to Ragna,’ I explained. ‘Destroy it and his daughter, Ragni, can’t open the hellmouth.’

The abbot’s eyes met mine, and he tilted his head as if to express his condolences. Before he spoke, I saw how the sceptre was of no consequence to him. I thought I’d imagined the chill of the sceptre against my palm as a sign of my disappointment. But now that I no longer stood on the shrine’s steps, I felt power pulsing through the ground, a cold slithering energy that made me shiver. Condensation covered the sceptre. My proximity to the hellmouth repelled the power the sceptre contained.

‘You don’t need that piece of metal to unlock the Door to Hell,’ the abbot said. ‘It will open for any demon royalty who recites the correct incantation.’

The sceptre’s iciness had crept up my wrist and made my forearm ache. Unable to bear its touch, I dropped it into my shoulder bag. I ignored the hands that grabbed my upper arms. Another hand shoved me into a march away from the shrine and towards the compound’s exit.

The demoness had tricked us. None of this, from the moment a poisoned Rahmat had entered the practice until now, was about the sceptre. Ragni had wanted the staff, or rather she’d wanted a way to cross from Anganera to Arlanga, a way that avoided wards. She’d shown the Leyakians how to neutralise the wards on Anganera. As for the wards surrounding this compound and the hellmouth, I doubted they’d prove much of an obstacle if she could channel the power coursing beneath my feet.

Sanjay. It was Biyu. I, the abbot and the other monks headed in her direction. What’s happening?

I told her about how the demoness had duped us. She listened, though I sensed something distracted her.

Biyu. You’re not listening, really listening.

She held Cubchick, her back to me.

I heard you. But there’s something on these walls you should see.

My being captured and monks heading her way didn’t bother Biyu. She didn’t move, and she wouldn’t until she’d shared whatever it was she’d seen.

All right, tell me, quickly.

She described four panels that ran along the inside of the compound’s wall. On the first panel, a demon stood before the hellmouth, a sceptre in his hand. On the second, the hellmouth began to open, an army of demons just visible beyond the opening doorway. An azu appeared behind the demon. The third panel depicted a battle between the demon and the anzu.

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