Wolf in Shadow

'But it wasn't God who told you about the convoy, it was Sebastian.'

'But who led Sebastian to the convoy?'

'Don't play with words, Daniel. I am afraid for you.'

He was about to reply when Lisa placed her fingers on her lips in warning and he turned to see Sebastian climbing the hill. The young man squatted down beside him.

'Was it true, Dan?'

'What, lad?'

'About God and the, convoy?' His eyes were shining and Cade glanced at Lisa, suddenly ill at ease.

'Of course it was true, Sebastian.'

'Dammit, Daniel. Damn it all to Hell,' said Sebastian happily. He smiled at Lisa and then sprinted away over the mountainside.

'Would you believe that?' said Cade.

'No, but he did!'

'What does that mean?'

'Didn't you look at his face, Daniel? He was overjoyed. He looks up in the sky now and he sees God smiling down on him.'

'Is that so bad?'

'I don't think you realize the full power of such a deceit.'

Tower is what I want, Lisa. And it won't hurt Sebastian to think that God loves him.'

'I'm not sure that is true,' said Lisa, 'but let's wait and see. I am more worried about you. What will you tell them when things go wrong? How will you explain when God lies to you?'

Cade chuckled. That was all in the Bible too, Lisa. It's a smart book. When things go right, God did it. When they go wrong, it was because he was disobeyed, or the people were unholy, or it was a punishment. He never loses and neither will I. Me and God, we understand one another.

Trust me.'

'I trust you, Daniel. I love you. You're all I have — all I want.'

'I'll give you the world, Lisa. Wait and see.'

Two days later Cade and Gambion sat their horses on the plain before the Yeager mountains, watching the column of Hellborn bearing down on them.

'Time to run, Daniel?'

'Not yet,' said Cade, pulling clear his long rifle and cocking it. Leaning forward, he sighted the weapon on the lead rider and gently tightened the trigger. The rifle bucked against his shoulder and the rider tumbled from the saddle.

Shells whistled round their ears.

'Now, Daniel?'

'Damn right!'

They wheeled their horses and thundered towards the pass.

Cade cursed, knowing he had left it a little late. A shot killed his horse and the animal pitched head-first to the ground, catapulting Cade from the saddle. He landed hard and screamed as his knee cracked against a rock. Gambion was almost clear and he dragged his mount back, drew his pistol and charged back towards Cade. By some miracle he was not hit and his hairy hand grasped Cade's collar, hauling him across the saddle.

Gambion's horse was hit twice but it gamely stuck to its run into the pass; then, with blood pumping from its nostrils, it sank to the ground. Gambion leapt clear, pulled Cade across his shoulders and ran for the rocks. Bullets screamed close and the Hellborn bore down on them.

Hidden in the rocks all around the pass, the riflemen of Yeager took careful aim. But they could not fire, for Gambion and Cade were virtually in the midst of the enemy.

Gambion shot two riders from their mounts before a bullet struck his shoulder, knocking him back. He fell heavily, pitching the stunned Cade to the ground.

Cade rolled and came up on his knees to find himself staring into the black muzzles of the Hellborn rifles and pistols. His eyes raked the warriors with their shining black breastplates and curious helms.

'God damn you all!' he said.

A rifle shot broke the silence and Cade winced, but the shell came from the pass and smashed a Hellborn from the saddle. Suddenly the air was alive with a merciless hail of bullets that shrieked and screamed into the massed ranks of the enemy. The noise echoed in the mountains like the wrath of God, and-when the smoke cleared the dozen or so Hellborn survivors were racing from the pass.

Cade limped back to Gambion. The big man was alive, the wound high in his chest cutting the muscle above his collar-bone.

He gripped Cade's arm. 'I never seen nothing like it, Daniel,' he whispered. 'Never! I thought you was lying to them farmers, but now I've seen it with my own eyes. Them Hellborn couldn't shoot you, and you on your knees and unarmed. And then you called on God. .'

'Lie there, Ephram. Rest and I'll stop that bleeding.'

'Who would have believed it? Daniel Cade, chosen by God!'

'Yes,' said Cade sadly. 'Who could believe it?'

The spirit of Donna Taybard soared out of control in a blur of speed and light that caused her mind to spin. Her thoughts were incoherent and a thousand voices lashed at her like whips of roaring sound.

Stars sped by like comets and she hurtled through the hearts of many suns, feeling neither heat nor cold in her mad race to escape the voices in her mind.

A hand touched hers and she screamed, but the hand held on, pulling her, and the voices faded.

'Be calm, child, I am with you,' said Karitas.

'I can't endure this any more. What is happening to me?'

'It is the land, Donna. As your child grows within you, so too does the power.'

'I don't want it.'

'It is not a question of want; you must conquer it. You will never overcome fear by running away from it.'

Together they floated above a peaceful blue planet and watched the swirling clouds below.

'I cannot cope with it, Karitas. I am losing all sense of reality.'

'It is all real — both the life of the flesh and the power of the spirit. This is real. Con Griffin is real.

Abaddon is real.'

'He covered me with black wings and talons. He told me he could take me whenever he chose.'

'He is a princely liar. Who knows where your power will lead you?'

'I can't control it, Karitas. I was sitting at home looking after Jacob, dressing his wounds, when he opened his eyes and could not see me. And I realized that my body was asleep in a chair before the fire and I had come to him as a spirit. And I did not even know!'

'But you will,' he said soothingly. 'I promise you. And I will help you.'

'What have I become, Karitas? What am I becoming?'

'You are a woman. And a very pretty woman. Were I a couple of hundred years younger, and not dead, I would pay court to you myself!'

She smiled then and some of the tension eased from her.

'What are the voices?'

'They are the souls of sleepers, dreamers. Imagine yourself in a river of souls; they are just random voices, not directed at you. You must learn to screen them out, as you screen out the noise of the wind in the trees.'

'And my pregnancy is the cause of this?'

'Yes and no. The babe and the land, working together.'

'And will she be harmed by what is happening to me? Will she be changed?'

'She?'

'It is a girl. . she is a girl.'

'I do not know, Donna. We'll see.'

'Will you take me home?'

'No. You must find your own way.'

'I can't, I am lost.'

'Try. I will follow you.'

Donna flashed towards the blue planet, skimming mountains and crossing wide glistening lakes and rolling prairies. There was nothing she recognized. She saw settlements of tents, homes of stone — cabins, huts and even cave dwellings. She crossed an ocean and watched ships with triangular sails battling storms and reefs, until at last she came to a world of ice and glaciers, like palaces, tall and stately.

'I cannot find my way,' she said.

'Close your eyes and think yourself home.'

She tried, but when she opened them she was below the sea, watching sharks gliding around the spiked head of an enormous statue. She panicked and flew and Karitas caught her.

'Listen to me, Donna. Fear and panic are your enemies. Look on them with loathing as the servants of Abaddon and dismiss them from your mind. Your home is a warm cabin where your husband and your son wait for you. Be drawn by their love and their need; you can explore sunken cities at any time.'