Pilgrim. Sara Douglass
“You were the only one picked.”
Noah’s mouth twitched. “Aye, Drago, you are right. I was the only one picked. I learned that the craft headed for a world — this world. I was appalled. Infect another world with what we carried? And with the other TimeKeepers?
“We knew,” he added, “that the five remaining TimeKeepers would follow us as best they could, hunting down Qeteb’s life parts. It was one of the reasons we fled through the universe, knowing that in doing so we would rid our own world of all the TimeKeepers.”
“And so you brought them to this world.”
Noah turned his head and stared out the windows. Faint starlight illuminated the scores of lines about his forehead and reflected the pain in his eyes.
“The craft brought them to this world,” he said softly, still not looking at Drago. “Not I. Not my race.”
“You thought only to flee, not thinking of the eventual consequences.”
Noah turned his eyes back to Drago. “Do not condemn us, Drago. Not you.”
Now Drago dropped his eyes. “Then why did the craft bring them here?”
“It has taken me a long time to come to this understanding, Drago. Let me speak, and do not interrupt me. What you hear will be hard.”
Noah swivelled his chair back to the windows. “Behold what will happen to your world when the TimeKeepers reconstitute Qeteb.”
When, not if? But the view in the window shifted before Drago had a chance to ask the question.
As Drago had seen the Demons ravaging Noah’s home world, now he saw them ravage Tencendor. Wasteland. Insanity. Deserts. People with no hope, nowhere to go. All beauty, love, hope and enchantment destroyed.
Drifting ashes where once had been forest.
Bones littering dust-swept streets where once had been cities.
Maddened animals ravening at will.
Horror.
Hopelessness.
“Tell me how to stop this!” Drago said.
The lizard stirred from its doze, lifted its head, stared at the image in the window, and then at Drago. Then it momentarily locked eyes with Noah.
Drago was too appalled by the vision of a devastated Tencendor to notice.
“I asked you to remain quiet,” Noah said, a note of command ringing through the pain in his voice. “What you will hear will be hard, and you must hear it all before you speak again.”
Drago jerked his head, apparently in acceptance. His violet eyes were very dark, and very hard.
Noah looked at him, and then waved a hand. The image of the devastated Tencendor was once more replaced with the tens of thousands of stars.
Drago relaxed very slightly.
“The craft brought Qeteb’s life parts to Tencendor,” Noah said, “because, drifting through the universe, they had come to the understanding that here, and here only, could Qeteb and his fellow demons finally be destroyed.”
Noah sighed. “Drago, you must allow the TimeKeepers to reconstitute Qeteb. Allow them to destroy Tencendor.”
“No!”
Noah did not chastise Drago for the outburst. He had the right.
“It is the only way to defeat him, Drago. Listen to me. We tried to destroy his life parts, and could not. But a whole Qeteb can be destroyed. This land is steeped in magic, although you — as so many of your brethren — are completely blind to it. Once Qeteb walks again, then, yes, Tencendor will become a true wasteland. The Demons will completely destroy it. Nothing will be left.”
Nothing save the existence it will gain through death, thought Noah, but knew he did not have the time to explain that to Drago. It was a knowledge better learned than told. “Nothing but its inherent magic,” Noah said. “And nothing but you.”
“Me? I came back through the Star Gate to aid Tencendor, Noah! To aid Tencendor and Caelum. Yet now you ask that I allow it to be destroyed.” Drago gave a bitter laugh. “Yet what else could be expected of Drago the treacherous, Drago the malevolent? No wonder all hate me.”
“Few truly hate you, Drago, although most are puzzled by you.”
“How will allowing Qeteb to rise again help? How can allowing Tencendor to be devastated —”
“Qeteb must be defeated this time, Drago. He must be dealt to death.”
Drago’s face was tight and tense, a muscle flickering uncertainly in his lower jaw. “How?”
“Listen,” Noah said, and he spoke for a very long time, his voice soft and desperate, his words tumbling over each other, and this time Drago did not interrupt at all.
When he finished Drago sat motionless, his own face almost as ashen as Noah’s, his eyes despairing. “No.”
“Yes. You have always known it.”
“No.”
“You knew it as an infant, it was instinctive knowledge! You acted badly, but you cannot be blamed for what you believed.”
“No!”
“You know it now. Why else that sack that hangs from your belt?”
Drago fingered it. “I … I just thought it …”
“Yes,” Noah said softly, and finally sat back down. “You just ‘thought’. Instinctively you knew it was necessary. Drago, from your parents you have inherited the magic of the stars and of this land. From … elsewhere … you have inherited the magic of this craft. You have been born and you have been made exclusively for this task. Qeteb will be defeated only by a combination of these craft — which are now entirely star music — and Tencendor’s enchantment.”
Drago shook his head slowly, trying desperately to deny what Noah had told him. “I cannot do this to Caelum again. I cannot.”
“You must.”
“I have already destroyed his life!” Drago cried. He scrambled to his feet and stared at Noah huddled in his chair. “Now you would have me feed him to the Lord of Darkness all over again?”
Drago took a deep breath. “He is the StarSon, Noah, and I will not again deprive him of that right!”
“I think you will find he may insist,” Noah said somewhat dryly.
“No,” Drago said in a very quiet and almost threatening tone. “Caelum is the StarSon. Caelum will meet Qeteb, and I will do everything in my power to aid him in that quest. I will not betray him again.”
“You have very much to accept,” Noah said quietly. “Very much.”
“I−”
“But if you want to do your best to aid Caelum and Tencendor, then do this. Go north, north to Gorkenfort. Seek your mother.”
“Azhure?”
“Nay,” Noah said, and smiled with such love that he unsettled Drago. “Your true mother. Your ancestral mother. Listen to her if you will not listen to me.”
And ignore her if you dare.
Drago stared at him, then slowly sank down to the floor before the dying man.
“How can I let Tencendor be destroyed?” he asked again, his voice breaking. “I came back through the Star Gate to save it, and yet you tell me to stand witness to its destruction! Would you have me deepen my sin against the land?”
Noah