Part 27 (1/2)

He took her hands and smiled. 'No mockery, I promise. But I was reading the Bible all last night, and I tell you there's power in it. Not miracles and suchlike, but the way one man can bind a people together merely by telling them he's G.o.d's mouthpiece. And it seems they'll fight like devils if they think G.o.d is with them.'

'But it wasn't G.o.d 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 G.o.d and the, convoy?' His eyes were s.h.i.+ning and Cade glanced at Lisa, suddenly ill at ease.

'Of course it was true, Sebastian.'

'Dammit, Daniel. d.a.m.n it all to h.e.l.l,' 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d lies to you?'

Cade chuckled. That was all in the Bible too, Lisa. It's a smart book. When things go right, G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 h.e.l.lborn bearing down on them.

'Time to run, Daniel?'

'Not yet,' said Cade, pulling clear his long rifle and c.o.c.king 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.

Sh.e.l.ls whistled round their ears.

'Now, Daniel?'

'd.a.m.n right!'

They wheeled their horses and thundered towards the pa.s.s.

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. .h.i.t twice but it gamely stuck to its run into the pa.s.s; 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 h.e.l.lborn bore down on them.

Hidden in the rocks all around the pa.s.s, 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 h.e.l.lborn rifles and pistols. His eyes raked the warriors with their s.h.i.+ning black breastplates and curious helms.

'G.o.d d.a.m.n you all!' he said.

A rifle shot broke the silence and Cade winced, but the sh.e.l.l came from the pa.s.s and smashed a h.e.l.lborn from the saddle. Suddenly the air was alive with a merciless hail of bullets that shrieked and screamed into the ma.s.sed ranks of the enemy. The noise echoed in the mountains like the wrath of G.o.d, and-when the smoke cleared the dozen or so h.e.l.lborn survivors were racing from the pa.s.s.

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 h.e.l.lborn couldn't shoot you, and you on your knees and unarmed. And then you called on G.o.d . . .'

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

'Who would have believed it? Daniel Cade, chosen by G.o.d!'

'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.'