Chapter 25 #3
Tommy returns with heavy-duty glue that I use to seal the hole, but it won’t even dry; it just drips off while the glass becomes so hot I can’t even hold on to it. And when the glue sloughs away, I watch grains of sand fall with it. I wrap my hand around it even as it burns into my flesh.
“Stop! Riley, let go of it!” Mickey shouts while pain eats into my hand, but I can’t let my horse die. I can’t let him die.
Mickey grabs my fingers, prying them up and ripping my hand off the hourglass.
“What the fuck did that solve?” he asks as he pushes my burned hand away from it.
“I’m a monster who killed thousands of people, a monster who has fallen in love with the man I’ve hurt the most… and as soon as the last grain of sand falls out of this, my horse will die and I will die with him.”
“Why the fuck would you keep this to yourself?” Mickey demands, releasing my hand. “Let’s… put something around it to catch the sand, okay? Something that’s not touching the glass but can still catch the sand. And we’ll figure this out.”
“I have to go free Conquest.”
“Conquest? The dude who tried destroying this world? There’s still so much destruction left that he caused,” Mickey says while he bats a soul at my face, like he hopes getting smacked with one will wake me up some.
I’ve gotten so used to them bobbing around me that I barely notice them until someone decides to harass them.
“We don’t know if Conquest is lying to you.
We don’t know if he’s trying to use you.
What if this god is using Conquest to draw you out? ”
I know everything he’s saying is true, but we have to do something.
“I don’t think we can stop War. I really don’t.
So then we have Conquest, whether that means we have to lock him up somewhere or gain some control over him before Aemon convinces him to strike again.
And then… if I die, you guys will have a horseman who can help. One who’s actually powerful.”
“You’re pissing me off,” Mickey growls.
I grab his shoulders and force him to face me. “You’re the smart one here. Tell me what the fuck I should do, then.”
“I believe there’s more to that first book you found and translated than what we have. There might even be a second book,” he says.
“What?”
“The book you—the former Death—were carrying when Torin attacked… it’s all just…
ramblings I believe were written by Aemon, but there are a few sections where someone else adds things…
I think that person might have been you.
And I feel like there’s a possibility that you added more elsewhere.
Possibly a journal or something. I think there’s a chance that you left details on how you tried to kill the god. It might explain how we can stop him.”
“It’d be nice if I knew where that info is, but I have no idea. It might have been destroyed, for all I know. All I have is the medallion I found out in the battlefield and the book.”
“I still have no idea what the medallion does,” Mickey muses. “It looks like it’s a part of something larger. Maybe it came off a weapon or a piece of armor.”
Torin speaks up from behind me. “I’ll bring Conquest back.”
I turn quickly, my stomach sinking as I wonder what he heard.
“I will do anything for a chance to keep you alive,” he says. “I can’t live through such great loss again.”
That tells me he heard it all, and guilt hits me since I tried to hide this from him. “I don’t know that Conquest will save me. I just… having him could stop Aemon from completing his plan.”
Torin nods, looking determined. Of course he is. He’s always prepared to do anything for me. “Then let’s go.”
“You’re just going to go?” Mickey asks, grabbing me. “No, please. It was so dangerous last time. This time won’t go any better.”
“What choice do we have?” Torin asks.
Mickey seems panicked while he clings to me, as if being a weight will keep me here. “No, let’s… let’s think this through. Please. Give me three hours. Can you do that? Please. I’ll come up with a plan. During those three hours, I need you both to relax and let your magic recover from yesterday.”
Then Mickey lets go of me and runs through the Door, nearly hitting Vero on his way in.
“What’s going on and why wasn’t I invited?” Vero asks.
“I thought you didn’t want to be invited to any of our stuff?” Torin counters.
“Well now I do,” Vero growls, like he’s ready to throw down right here and now.
Torin’s quiet for a moment before he says, “We’re going back into Aemon’s world to try to get Conquest and find a way to reverse the hourglass.”
“Will War be there?” he asks.
“We will not be seeking out a fight with War,” I say sharply.
“Don’t you remember what I just told you?
Why kill yourself and not even win? If you’d like to help me then I will take your help, but we are getting Conquest out and possibly finding a way to reverse the hourglass that doesn’t involve a fight with Aemon. Understood?”
He ignores me, but I have the feeling he understands. Vero might act hotheaded, but every time I’ve asked, he’s backed down and retreated with me.