Page 88 of The Simurgh

‘I’m afraid I do not know, your grace.’

Gabriel raised his chin, and in the way of the peacock that he resembled, he’d grown larger in some intangible way. There was no fanned tail, not even a hint of his wings, but the angel used all the space surrounding him. The soldier went quite pale. His counterpart gasped, his peach-coloured eyes widening. There was a startled cry. A choked gasp from the pair of them. Their thin hands flew to their necks, where high collars sat tight beneath their chins.

‘Find the Erlking at once. Have every guard in the palace put to it. Now.’

‘Yes, your grace.’ The guard’s hand flew to his throat, his honey-coloured eyes streaked with black. ‘Wh…wh…where should we send him, your grace?’ This from the other guard, whose fear brought a touch of ice-blue to his cheeks.

‘The conservatory.’

‘Would you have us search too, your grace?’ Lucifer decided the captain of the Erlking’s Lorebiders would say such a thing, and being sent off would make it easier for him to secret his way into the conservatory on his own terms.

‘No. Walk with me to the conservatory. You can regale me with more tales of the simurgh, captain.’

Gabriel continued on, leaving the elves shaking in his wake, and Lucifer and the two other lorebiders trailing behind. He could curse his luck at being made to remain close to the angel, or Lucifer could view it as the boon it was. And draw out the Trumpeter. Release the Lord’s Wrath in this fine establishment and walk away.

But why not wait a few more moments until the Erlking was here? The UnSeelie Court were to pay for their concealment of the Morrigan, but this was just a cockaigne, not the heart of those Faelands. If Lucifer brought down the Erlking however, his loss would spark a civil war in the UnSeelie Court. A punishment in itself.

They travelled down a lengthy hallway that serpentined. There was the strangest sense of movement in the glass walls around them and the high domed ceiling overhead, as though they were heavy curtains and not solid panels. From outside, the entire palace had appeared made of pellucid glass, but the interior walls were opaque. Lucifer had no sense of what, if anything lay beyond the walls of this hall. Gabriel seemed to have forgotten his request for talk of the simurgh, instead he was focused upon the pandora he cradled, where the Cultivation was confined. He did not speak a word as they moved.

Before long a pair of bright yellow doors appeared ahead, two guards at either side, positioned in alcoves that were shaped to their silhouettes. They deferred to the angel as he drew near, with a slant of their staffs.

‘That is far enough, captain.’ Gabriel’s command made a distracted Lucifer jump. ‘You will all ensure none but the Erlking may enter.’

Gabriel slammed the bright yellow doors behind him, a startling splash of colour in the uniformity of pearly white. Lucifer cursed softly, staring at the closed door.

‘Sir?’

Lucifer withdrew from his thoughts. His lorebiders waited on him.

‘What is it?’

‘Where would you like us positioned, sir?’ Odion, with his especially sharp chin, betrayed a tiny amount of exasperation in his question.

‘Assume position two feet clear of the door, closely aligned. You shall be the first line of defence if need be.’

‘Very well, sir.’ Both lorebiders busied themselves, their relief at having clear instruction evident.

‘I’ll return shortly,’ Lucifer declared.

At once he had four sets of eyes upon him. A nervous lick of the lips preceded Wethen’s query.

‘Are you leaving, sir?’

‘Do you not think yourselves capable?’

‘Of course, but…’ Another lick of obscenely curved lips followed. ‘Well, sir, his grace gave orders for us to remain here. All of us.’

Lucifer stared at his audience. Seeing very clearly what this was. They were afraid of Gabriel. So much so, they were willing to challenge their own captain. The lorebiders were no fools.

‘I’ll take full responsibility if his grace has need of us before I return. Now, do not question me again, or this will be your last day as a lorebider. Do you understand me?’

He needed to make sure they were just as afraid of him too. Satisfied he had made his point, Lucifer turned to leave.

The rhythmic stomp of feet announced that someone approached, likely more than one person, but it was some time before the sway of the winding passageway allowed sight of who it was.

Lucifer nearly choked on his surprise.

Walking towards him, with all the poise in the world, was the Dullahan–the creature he’d left far behind in York, in a makeshift prison sealed three times over.