The Gods' War

Chapter 23

                 LAURA PREPARED TO do what she had been training for – to return Gadlel to life. She had been planning to do it on the day they stormed Arnone, but unless they defeated this army, that day would never come. She needed him now.

                As she tried to clear her mind, her thoughts were interrupted by the things that blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl had said to her. Had she really betrayed Lucas? No, she was helping him. Death would be easier for him than life.

                 And then there had been Mr. Daglinson – Druiden, she realized. Druiden had been keeping an eye on things and had told her Erebus wasn’t the only god who had a hand in the war.  Then there was what Necram had told her – there were more than five gods. He had told her there were minor gods and goddesses which no-one knew about. That was quite disturbing to Laura. She wondered how it must feel to be forgotten by the Earth.

                 Focus, she scolded herself.

                 She was on a cliff face on one of the mountains. A circle of candles were lit about her, glowing in the night sky, like stars that had fallen to the Earth. She willed the flames from the candles to glow brighter, brighter. She started muttering the words of the spell, her voice growing louder and louder without her in any way increasing the volume at which she spoke. The smoke from the candles twirled around in the air, forming a barrier.

                The candle light dimmed, even though the flames were the same size.  The stars in the sky did not cast as much light as they had a second before, and the moon was dark. A rush of whispers floated through the air, racing around her. The unformed words, so close to being heard but not able to be heard, tried to distract her from her muttering.

                “Gadlel,” she spoke, “I summon you.”

                 After Laura had spoken, Gadlel’s life had flashed through her eyes. It was surprisingly short. There, was the wonder of life, seeing the gods, the honour of being chosen, then fear of death – for what sane creature was not? And then he had watched the woman’s death, and then ran, he was caught by the gods, they were punishing men for the next thousand years because of him, then he went through the Rift, and there was Hgin, god of judging and judges, judging him, then there was Grin, god of evil. That was the last thing Laura saw in the vision.

                 The smoke from the barrier all collected into a swirling vortex in front of Laura. It compressed itself, and then – it was Gadlel. He wore upon his face an evil grin. His body looked just as it had in Hell. He crawled over the floor, using both his hands and feet to walk, always looking at Laura.

                “Mistress,” he acknowledged her with his other-worldly voice.

                “Gadlel,” Laura acknowledged him, rising to her feet, “Welcome, to life.”

                It was morning, and the clouds hid the blue of the sky. They stared at her and the odd, crouched figure crawling next to her. They were holding a white flag.

                “Jesse,” Lucas asked, “what is Laura doing?”

                 “I am without a clue, Lucas,” Jesse replied.

                 “What should we do?” Asgald asked.

                 “Well isn’t it obvious?” Druiden asked, “Lucas should go out there. She wants a meeting.”