Page 33 of The Death Wish

The Hag of Beara left the room, hollering her instructions to any poor attendant nearby, and Silas looked to Sybilla. ‘You haven’t told her?’

The angel, clad in a light coat of grey, with a darker hue in her trousers, lowered herself onto the settee. ‘She was sleeping when I returned…and I’ll admit, I’d decided to wait until we had a proper sign that the journey was to begin.’ Sybilla gestured at Charlie. ‘But now we happily have Charlie back with us, I’ll let you tell her, Silas.’

He winced. ‘Why me?’

‘What’s this about?’ Jane frowned, and the curtains behind her fluttered with an impossible breeze.

‘You’re not coming with us,’ Pitch replied. ‘None of you. We are down to the privileged few, and only myself and Silas–and I presume that loathsome bird –are counted among them. Speaking of which…does the simurgh still remain? Or has it seen fit to fly off and take care of this debacle under its own steam?’

‘I’d like to see it try. The wisp and the ghost make fine guards, and very serious ones at that,’ Sybilla said, and lo and behold there was a twitch at her lips. The angel was amused, almost smiling. The Valkyrie was nearer to her old self than he’d known since the dreadful events after Sherwood Forest.

‘Don’t glare at me, Jane. I don’t make the bloody rules,’ declared Pitch. ‘If I did, it would be compulsory that I stay in a suite in the Savoy in London, and be debauched by a deadman until I could not stand, which would necessitate him hand-feeding me cake and jellies. Sadly, I am here with you lot instead.’

Jane ignored his nonsense. ‘I don’t understand why we cannot go with you.’

‘And it is not for us to understand,’ Sybilla said. ‘The Lady Satine was very short on explanation, but I know beyond anything else, that this is how it must be.’

Silas watched Jane, her complexion the palest he’d ever seen, making her wondrously large brown eyes seem like fathomless pools. ‘It is for the best, Jane. You will all be safe.’

She turned on him. ‘You won’t be, though, will you? I hate this, Silas.’

‘I know.’ He moved to the air elemental who tried to shrink away from him, pressing herself up against a bookshelf.

‘Don’t try to placate me.’ She scowled up at him. ‘Don’t tell me you shall be fine.’

‘I shall do no such thing, for I have no idea. I truly hope so. I hope we shall deliver the simurgh to the Sanctuary and that it shall do what the angel intended, and end the travesty of Blood Lake, without any great disaster or violence.’ He held her gaze, knowing that she thought as he did; such a tidy outcome was unlikely.

‘Oh Silas,’ she whispered. ‘I am so sorry such a sweet man has been given such a bitter task. You come back to us. You hear me, Mr Mercer? You too, Tobias. Both of you had bloody well better drag your arses back to us, or there shall be hell to pay. Look after each other as you have done so well, and get back to Holly Village as soon as you can, for it shall be dreadfully quiet without you. And dull. Gods, so dull.’

‘I doubt all in the village shall think so. Gilmore will savour knowing the drunken dandy who tossed him in the air has died a foul and final death,’ Pitch’s nonchalance made Silas sick to his very stomach. ‘And I doubt he’ll be the only one.’

Anger spilled beneath Silas’s skin. ‘Don’t speak like that. Did you not hear Jane, and Tyvain, and Charlie? They are concerned for you. None of them shall farewell you with a happy heart.’

He would not, simplywould not, listen to Pitch discount his own worth so easily.

The soothsayer had returned, and stood in the doorway glowering. Isaac was with her, adorned in his numerous layers. ‘When was anybody gonna bother tellin’ me that you’re goin’ on alone, then?’

Silas darted a glance at Sybilla. She lifted her shoulders in a subtle shrug, and a look that said this situation was his to bear.

But it was Pitch who did the talking. ‘Fine. You’re done with, hag, and your services are no longer required. There, happy now?’

Tyvain surprised Silas by laughing, a genuine belly laugh, her temper vanishing in an instant.

‘Saints, you’re a prick. And it’s kinda a relief to see you’re still the cunt we all know and despise, Astaroth. But I wish me cards ‘adn’t been so right. Don’t much like the idea of stayin’ behind.’

‘What did your cards tell you, Tyvain?’ Silas asked.

‘That she’s lousy at shuffling a pack,’ Pitch said.

Tyvain sucked at her teeth. ‘That she spent last night thinkin’ she was just pissed, and readin’ ‘em wrong, when they kept sayin’ this here town was the end ‘a the road for most of us.’

Sybilla made a small sound. ‘Truly? You said nothing of it.’

‘The angel thought you’d throw an almighty tantrum to hear it,’ Pitch declared. ‘Left it up to Silas to tell you.’

Tyvain snorted, tugging at the generous folds of her smock. ‘Oh I threw me tantrum alright. In the privacy of me own room. Then had to spend half an hour trying to find where all me feckin’ cards had flown to. The floorboards in this place aren’t close enough together for my liking.’

‘I’ll admit, I’m shocked at how well you’ve hidden it,’ Jane said, gently. ‘Did the cards have anything else important to say?’