DragonStar reviled himself for making her go through all this again, but it was necessary. Necessary for him to be able to make the right decision when Qeteb presented him with the choice.
Belaguez continued his lunge forward, and DragonStar arced down again and again with his sword.
Poor Faraday. He deserved her hate.
Faraday writhed in Qeteb's grip, overcome with the hopelessness of her situation, and railing at herself because she could do nothing to aid Katie.
The Midday Demon stood before the black marble tomb, facing the door of the mausoleum. He was attired in his black armour, black plate wings held out behind him.
He was invulnerable, impenetrable, unconquerable.
Qeteb had won, and he knew it.
He stood completely still, at odds with the two writhing figures he held out to either side of him.
His left hand was buried in the glossy brown curls of Katie, and she wept and cried softly, sickened by the closeness of the Demon, and by the hopelessness of the wasteland which, in this tomb, was magnified tenfold.
Qeteb's right hand dug into the vulnerable white flesh of Faraday's upper left arm.
Her white gown was torn and bloodied — all that held it to her body was the rainbow band about her waist — and Faraday was heavily bruised on her face and legs.
Faraday's fear, that she would be taken and offered again as sacrifice, had materialised into a horrible reality. DragonStar was riding through the Maze towards the Dark Tower — she could feel him with every beat of her heart. But Faraday could also feel his determination and his resolve, and she knew that nothing would stand in the way of his ultimate purpose, and that purpose was, as it had been for Axis, Tencendor. The salvation of the land before all else.
After all, hadn't every other part of her nightmare with Gorgrael been revisited? This would, too.
Faraday writhed and wept, and succumbed to hopelessness.
The StarSon rode, and he drew close to the Dark Tower.
As he did so, the black tide of maniacal creatures drew back, and let him be.
The final bite must be Qeteb's.
Belaguez snorted a last time, and shook his head so that stars littered the path leading to the Dark Tower.
There was a faint tinkle of music as the stallion trod carefully into the paved area before the Dark Tower.
DragonStar looked up. The tower rose bleak and silent, although DragonStar could feel it throbbing with purpose.
The Choice lay within.
DragonStar lowered his eyes.
Three hounds sat before the entrance. They were motley and diseased, and contagion dripped from their jaws.
Sheol, Mot and Barzula.
A slight movement to one side caught DragonStar's eye, and he glanced ... and nodded.
The shadow inclined its head, ever at service. His choice had been well made.
DragonStar looked back to the Tower, and slid down from Belaguez's back. "Wait," he said.
He walked towards the three demonic hounds, graceful, lithe, apparently confident.
"Step aside," DragonStar said as he approached them, "for my battle lies with your master, not you."
The hounds snarled, but they slunk to one side, and DragonStar looked beyond them.
The door gaped wide and black.
Faraday saw the shadow step into the door, and she sobbed. How had it all come to this? Why? Why?
DragonStar, as his father before him, barely glanced at Faraday's suffering, although it affected him as deeply as it had Axis.
His concentration was all on Qeteb.
"And so it has come to this," DragonStar said softly.
"And so it has come to this," Qeteb agreed. His voice was cold and harsh, as if he was consumed by such anger he could barely elucidate the words.
"I have no time for games, or sweet musings over past memories," Qeteb continued. "And so, as is my right, I offer you the final choice. Do you choose Katie, and so save Tencendor? Or do you choose from your heart, and sacrifice Tencendor for Faraday?"
"No! No! No/" Faraday screamed, writhing pitifully in Qeteb's agonising grip.
"DragonStar, I beg you, choose Katie! Save Katie!"
"You would sacrifice yourself?" Qeteb said, and laughed. "Again? My, my, Faraday, isn't your obsession with self-sacrifice a trifle self-destructive?"
