The Ninth Nightmare Part 28

Once the throng of clowns and freaks had filled the stage, a gurney was wheeled out, and brought right to the very edge of the stage. Pinned to the gurney with leather straps was Walter Wisocky, dressed in nothing but a filthy white T-s.h.i.+rt. His face was swollen and his hair was sticking up and he looked as if he were only half conscious. Between his thighs there was nothing but a blood-crusted surgical dressing.

'Jesus,' said Dom Magator. 'Do you know who that is? Rhodajane - can you see who it is? It's that detective who gave me a hard time when I first took you into the Griffin House Hotel. Windsock, or whatever his name was.'

'That's probably what Mago Verde meant when he said that he'd mistaken your ident.i.ty,' said Xyrena. 'He must have caught him by mistake, thinking he was you. What did I call you two? Tweedleydum and Tweedleydee.'

'Jesus.'

But now the ringmaster cracked his whip yet again, and shouted, 'Ladies and gentlemen! Furr-eaks and misfits! I give you... the Grand Freak himself, for the very last time in the world of dreams, Brother Albrecht!'

Accompanied by another fanfare of trumpets, Brother Albrecht's black-canopied contraption was pushed on to the stage by his naked, tattooed entourage. The ringmaster wound the handle, and the canopy gradually opened up, revealing Brother Albrecht. His hair was tangled with fresh yellow flowers from the wheat fields around the circus site, and he was smiling in triumph.

He nodded to acknowledge the clapping and the cheering of the crowd. 'And now,' he announced. 'The ninth sacrifice! Opfer nummer neun!'

Walter moaned and struggled against his restraints, but it looked to Dom Magator as if he were either sedated or in shock. He hoped for his sake that he was sedated, and heavily. G.o.d alone knew what Brother Albrecht and his a.s.sembly of freaks were planning to do to him next.

'Now we can say goodbye to eight centuries of enforced exile!' Brother Albrecht cried out. 'Now we can exact our recompense for being treated as outcasts and inferiors! Es ist Zeit fur unsere Rache!'

From the rear of the stage, a man with spiky straw-colored hair appeared, wearing a long green surgeon's robe. He was carrying a wire cage, holding it up high so that everybody in the audience could see what was inside it.

'Oh my G.o.d,' said Xyrena.

Leaping and jumping inside the cage was a thin black river otter, with white markings on its face. The crowd roared again, and whistled, and applauded, and the otter went into a frenzy, hurling itself from one side of the cage to the other.

'What the h.e.l.l they plannin' to use that for?' asked Zebenjo'Yyx. 'Dom Magator - we should never of given up our weapons - we gotta stop them!'

The ringmaster led the man in the surgeon's robe up to the front of the stage. 'Ladies and gentlemen! Nondescripts! You are about to witness the conversion of our ninth sacrifice to a willing sacrifice! A freak who will agree to stay with us for ever! I give you Doctor Norman Agnew, and in turn Doctor Norman Agnew will give you Detective Walter Wisocky, Otter Lover!'

Doctor Agnew gave a gap-toothed grin, and unfastened the wire latch on the cage. He reached inside and lifted out the struggling otter, raising it up over his head. The crowd went wild, drumming their feet on the floor and standing on their seats and waving their arms.

'Otter Lover-' said Xyrena. 'My G.o.d, I know what they're going to do! That poor man!' Without any hesitation, she stood up and walked around An-Gryferai's chair and across to the center of the stage.

Dom Magator said, 'Xyrena-!' but she ignored him. She went right up close to Doctor Agnew and stood beside him, until he realized that she was there. Very slowly, he lowered the wriggling otter and stared at her.

'Yes, madam?' he asked her. 'And what do you want?'

Xyrena smiled at him. 'More to the point, doctor, what do you want?'

Doctor Agnew continued to stare at her. He didn't say anything, but it was obvious that he was breathing more deeply. He licked his lips, and then he looked toward the black contraption where Brother Albrecht was ensconced, as if he were guilty about feeling so aroused.

In his grip, even the otter began to rise up stiffly, as if it were a huge sleek member covered with s.h.i.+ny black fur.

Brother Albrecht called out, 'You again, Xyrena, you Lorelei! We didn't finish our conversation the last time, did we, when you and your friends caused such havoc?'

'So sorry about that,' said Xyrena. She reached out and stroked the otter all the way down its back and Doctor Agnew shuddered as if she had stroked his p.e.n.i.s. Then she walked over to Brother Albrecht's contraption and said, 'Congratulations are in order, then, your Grand Freakiness? Your ninth sacrifice, all ready to be converted into a sideshow attraction? What's so special about a girl with snakes for arms, when you have a man with a living otter for a membrum virile?'

Brother Albrecht said, 'Come closer. How is it you make me feel like this, Xyrena?'

'Just my personality, I guess.'

'No... you have much more than that. You have a power which I recognize. You remind me so much of the woman for whom I lost everything. Your eyes. Your hair.'

Between his truncated, tattooed thighs, his brown leather jerkin was swelling up. Xyrena reached her hand over the edge of his seat and almost touched him with her fingertips. Even though she didn't quite make contact, Brother Albrecht quivered, and closed his eyes, as if she had.

'Who are you?' he whispered. All around them, the circus folk on the stage were attentive and hushed, and even the a.s.sembled audience were much quieter, although they shuffled and coughed like any other audience.

'You know my name,' Xyrena told him.

He opened his eyes very wide. 'Yes. But you look so much like my Lisbeth. How can that be possible?'

'Coincidence,' said Xyrena. 'Fate. Or maybe you've forgotten what your Lisbeth really looks like. It's been eight hundred years, after all. A body can forget a whole lot in eight hundred years.'

'A body, yes,' Brother Albrecht, with an unexpectedly wry smile. 'A body without arms and legs.'

'You have everything that counts,' said Xyrena, her hand stroking up and down in the air, less than a half inch away from the contours of his bulging jerkin.

'What does that matter? You wouldn't willingly make love to me.'

'Who says?' she said, in a steady voice. And at the same time, she thought: would I? Could I? G.o.d, I sound like Barbra Streisand. But then she looked intently at his beautiful face and thought: I could, as a matter of fact. Plenty of women have lovers who are amputees or very special people. Even Prince Randian the Human Torso was married and had four children.

'You would try to kill me,' said Brother Albrecht.

'What?'

'You would try to make my blood boil, the same way you made my harlequin's blood boil. That's what you're here for, isn't it? You don't find me alluring at all. But you would be prepared to make love to me, just to slide those long fingernails of yours into my skin. Aber Sie konnten mich nicht toten. Ich bin nicht der selbe wie Sie. Ich nicht sogar komme von der Welt von Traumen.'

'What did you say? I don't understand Krautish.'

'I said that you cannot kill me, Xyrena. I am not the same as you. I am not even from the world of dreams. I was sent here by G.o.d as a punishment, but I ended up being punished far more harshly than I ever imagined possible. I can never forgive that.'

Xyrena said, 'I wasn't going to kill you, anyway. You're too beautiful to kill.

For the first time, she saw uncertainty in Brother Albrecht's eyes.

'We've tried all of our best weapons,' she said. 'Dom Magator even fired his Absence Gun at you, which is supposed to stop you having ever existed. But I thought, maybe you do have a heart, underneath all of that rage and all of that cruelty and all of those tattoos.

'And then I saw your face as close as this, and I thought, in spite of everything, maybe this man needs only one thing to change him back to what he once was. You were a man of G.o.d once. You were a lover once. You could be those again, if you could find somebody to love you for who you are.'

Brother Albrecht said, 'You're lying to me, Xyrena. You're trying to deceive me. You could never love me.'

She rested the palm of her hand between his legs, and squeezed him very gently, and looked intently into his eyes. 'I could - and if you want me to, I will. But I need to see the true Brother Albrecht. I need to see you for who you really are. I need to see what you've been denying for eight hundred years.'

'I can't. I've hurt and mutilated too many hundreds of people, all in the name of my own anger. Look at this circus! Look at these freaks! Look at these clowns! n.o.body could forgive me for all this!'

'Me,' said Xyrena. 'I can. If you're not the same as me, and you don't come from the world of dreams, then show me who you really are.'

Brother Albrecht's nostrils flared with pa.s.sion and l.u.s.t. 'I can't! It's impossible! I can't!'

'Then I'll go, shall I?' said Xyrena. 'I'll let you take your circus through to the waking world, and cause even more havoc, and even more pain, and even more killings. I just wonder what your Lisbeth would have said had she ever known what you would do.'

She turned away from him. All of the hundreds of people in the big top were standing silently, staring at her - even Mago Verde and the ringmaster.

'What have you done, you s.l.u.t?' said Mago Verde, his voice quaking. 'What have you done?'

'I've tried the only weapon against Brother Albrecht that I thought might work.' said Xyrena. 'Now why don't you get on with your sacrifice, you ghoul?'

'What have you done?' he screamed. 'What have you f.u.c.king done?'

Xyrena gradually became aware that the faces of the people who were staring at her were becoming more and more brightly illuminated. She could see reflections in the visors of the Night Warriors' helmets, and on Jekkalon and Jemexxa's black and silver suits. Within a few seconds, the whole interior of the big top was lit up so intensely that by comparison the chandeliers looked dim.

She turned around. Behind her, a tall figure of a man was standing, but a man so dazzling that she had to s.h.i.+eld her eyes with her hand. Although she was almost blinded, she recognized his face. It was Brother Albrecht, as beautiful as ever, but now the wild flowers had blown from his hair and he was crowned instead with scintillating sparks, rather like the crown that she herself was wearing.

He was wearing a golden robe that matched her golden cloak, and his arms were spread wide. His arms were whole again, and his legs had been restored, and the demonic tattoos had all been bleached from his body. Now Xyrena was sure what he was.

The whole of the big top was filled with a high singing sound that was barely audible to human ears, and every chandelier was jangling with its resonance.

Dom Magator stepped forward and put his arm around Xyrena's waist. 'You did it,' he said. 'I don't know how you did it, but you did it.'

'I told him I could love him, that's all. Don't you understand? He's an angel. That's why the Absence Gun didn't work on him. He was never born in the same way that you and me were born. You can't reverse something that never happened. But give him love - that's something different. G.o.d didn't love him any more. He lost the woman he loved. That's why he was always so vengeful.'

Brother Albrecht reached out his hand. 'Are you prepared to come with me, Xyrena, and love me?'

'Where?' asked Xyrena, but she already knew the answer to that.

Dom Magator said, 'I can't ask you to do this, Rhodajane. You can't sacrifice yourself for the rest of us.'

Xyrena looked at him and smiled. 'Yes, I can. And how much of a sacrifice are we talking about? Heaven has to be better than Cleveland.'

Zebenjo'Yyx came up to her now and held her tight. 'You had the best weapon of all of us, all the time, didn't you, sweet cheeks, and Springer knew that. You was the only one among us who could bring this full circle.'

Jekkalon and Jemexxa hugged her, too. 'Thank you, Rhodajane. We're never going to forget you, ever.'

'What about the circus?' screamed Mago Verde. 'Albrecht, you treacherous b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What about the circus? What about me?'

Brother Albrecht raised both arms. Shafts of bright light radiated from his outstretched hands like a brilliant sunrise. 'The circus is over,' he said. 'The tents are struck. The dreamer awakes.'

He took hold of Xyrena's hand and drew her toward him. He put his arms around her, and kissed her, and then they slowly streamed upward toward the roof of the tent, more like a s.h.i.+ning golden fountain than two people embracing each other.

The roof of the tent opened up like the petals of a huge black flower. Brother Albrecht and Xyrena rose up into the purple sky, and with a last scintillating glitter they were gone.

There was a moment's silence. Then, with a soft thunderous sound, the big top started to collapse. The audience screamed and panicked and rushed for the exits, but even as they struggled to escape they began to disappear. Brother Albrecht's dream was over and they were waking up, too.

Tonnes of black canvas dropped on top of the stage, drowning the clowns and the freaks and the circus hands like a huge black tidal wave. Jekkalon tried to battle against it, shouting out, 'Mom! Mom! Mom - where are you? Mom!' Dom Magator grabbed his arm and shouted, 'It's too late, Jekkalon! It's all over! There's nothing you can do!'

'But that's our mom!'

'She died, Jekkalon. She died a long time ago. We need to get out of here before Mickey Veralnik wakes up.'

Zebenjo'Yyx was tugging loose the knots that had fastened An-Gryferai to her chair. He untied her gag, and helped her down from the stage. Her wings had shed some feathers, and her arms were badly bruised, but otherwise she was unhurt.

Together, the Night Warriors struggled their way out of the big top and jogged out between the marquees and into the wheat fields. When they were clear of the circus site, they turned around to see the last of the black tents collapsing and the last of the caravans falling apart. In only a few minutes, the entire traveling circus and freak show was blowing away in a boiling cloud of black dust, which rose hundreds of feet in the air. Clowns and freaks blew away with it as if they had never existed, which most of them never had. The last structure to teeter and fall was the archway carrying the sign which said Albrecht's Traveling Circus & Freak Show.

As it fell, though, An-Gryferai said, 'Look! Over there!''

Running across the fields in the opposite direction was Mago Verde, his white hair flying behind him. His head was lowered in determination and his arms and legs were moving like a clockwork spider.

'He's escaped, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d,' said Zebenjo'Yyx. 'Why didn't he blow away like the rest of them?'

'He's a Dread, that's why,' Dom Magator told him. 'He belongs in his own dream, not this one. He's trying to get back there before this one collapses for good.'

'He's not getting away,' said An-Gryferai. 'Not after what he's done.'

She started to limp after him. Dom Magator said, 'Stop, An-Gryferai! You're hurt! He's not worth it! We'll get him some other time, in some other dream, I promise you!'

But An-Gryferai was determined. She ran faster and faster, and she began to beat her wings, harder and harder, and at last she took off and climbed up into the dark purple sky.

'An-Gryferai!' called Jekkalon and Jemexxa, but she ignored them and flew after Mago Verde like an eagle flying after a coyote. Stray feathers blew from her wings, and the crosswind made her angle and dip, but it took her only a few minutes before she had caught up with Mago Verde and was flying right over his head.

Panicking, he turned his head around and looked up at her, but he kept on running. 'Go away, you bird-b.i.t.c.h! Get the f.u.c.k away from me!'

But An-Gryferai was thinking of her grandmother Gryferai, and the way that Gryferai had finally destroyed the Black Shatterer. She knew now that it was a Night Warrior's duty to annihilate every kind of evil, regardless of the danger and regardless of the cost.

She opened up her talons and swooped down on Mago Verde, grasping his shoulders. Her claws pierced his black tailcoat and buried themselves an inch deep into his flesh. He screamed in pain and rage, but she beat her wings in a deep, steady rhythm, and she lifted him clear of the ground and up into the air. His legs pedaled wildly, but she took him higher and higher.

As she flew, she looked down and she could see her shadow flickering across the wheat fields, with Mago Verde dangling below her. She saw her fellow Night Warriors, the sun glinting off their armor. They waved up at her and she tried to smile back at them, although by now she was gasping with effort.

She turned in a semicircle and flew with Mago Verde back toward the towns.h.i.+p of Melancholy. Mago Verde was screeching and cursing, but he was helpless.

'You will suffer for this, bird-b.i.t.c.h! You will suffer so much!'

She reached Melancholy and flew along the main street. Strangely, n.o.body looked up at her. The dream was coming to an end and their existence was gradually fading away.

'I am Mago Verde! I am the Green Magician! I am Mago Verde!'

An-Gryferai lifted him up over the diminutive church. He was screaming and sobbing now, because had had guessed what she was going to do. She took him up a little higher, and hovered over the church spire, flapping her wings steadily to keep her position against the wind.

'Do you want mercy?' she shouted at him.

'Mercy!' he screamed. 'For Christ's sake, mercy!'

'You should have thought of that, a long time ago,' she told him; and then she released the mechanism of her claws and he dropped from her grasp, his arms and legs windmilling wildly.

He fell directly on to the gilded cross on top of the spire. It pierced his belly and was driven right through him. He ended up face down, his arms and legs dangling, with blood slowly sliding down the spire.

An-Gryferai circled the church once, and then she flew back slowly to join the rest of the Night Warriors. When she skip-landed in the wheat field next to them, they all whistled and clapped her, and Jemexxa hugged her tight. 'You're so brave, An-Gryferai. You're amazing.'

Together they walked through the fields toward the flickering blue portal in the distance. Halfway there, they saw four faded figures standing in the wheat, their images blurred in the dust and the sunlight. When they came closer they saw Kieran and Kieran's mother Jenyfer, in a simple gray dress, her hair pinned up, smiling at them. Not far away stood Michael-Row-The-Boat-Ash.o.r.e-Hallelujah, holding his puppy. A little further in the distance stood Detective Wisocky, one hand in his pocket, chewing a wheat stalk, and next to him, smiling, Maria Fortales.

Dom Magator raised his hand to Detective Wisocky and Detective Wisocky waved back. Then he turned around and started to walk away.