6

Dominic’s Hourglass

6012 Minutes

They walked for what seemed like several hours and had to pause once for a restless sleep that left Dom more tired than when he had lain down.Then it was back to walking, or in Dom’s case shuffling up tunnels that turned and twisted and regularly came to unmarked intersections. Whenever a decision had to be made, Deora turned and deferred to Dominic. He had no idea why, and he felt his decisions were based on pure guesswork, but she always simply nodded and began walking up the path he chose. It gave him something to think about through the throbbing of his arm. Perhaps she was merely from a time where women expected men to make the decisions. This seemed far-fetched given Deora’s personality and he was still sure she had been wielding more power over the Nephilim than she had admitted. Maybe she still thought he was charmed. Ha! He looked at his fingers, which were rapidly turning pale blue. Could you die from loss of blood when you were already dead?

The walls of the Maze were narrow, the roof low and the only light came from the dim flickering of the torches. It was so much like the set of an adventure movie he reached out and ran his hand along the wall. It was smooth sandstone, marked from top to bottom with hieroglyphs. They looked Egyptian, but occasionally there was a triangular language he didn’t recognise and along the very top of the wall was something he could have sworn was Latin. None of it meant anything to him. Again, as he did every few minutes, he wished Eva were with him. She would be able to read the signs and at the very least she would actually care that his arm was still bleeding. Deora seemed to view it as a huge inconvenience.

Deora stopped abruptly, and he ran into her again. She barely moved, but Dom had stumbled and caught himself. The blood loss made him light-headed. She moved aside to reveal another intersection. This one was broad and well-lit with four bright torches. A glistening black marble statue stood in their way, its right hand reaching forward, palm upwards. The statue was in a large arched alcove and was at least eight feet tall, a head taller than Deora, and rather than human features it had the black skin and amber eyes of a jackal.

He sighed, hoping desperately this one would not animate when he spoke its name. ‘Anubis,’ he said quietly. It was silent, but it was as though the statue shed some sort of skin, melting into reality and looking down into Dom’s eyes with an intense glare. They were not friendly eyes. There was something incredibly cold about them. But the jackal smiled, his canines folding neatly over the lower jaw. It was a terrifying sight and both he and Deora took a step backward. The jackal made a strange coughing noise which he slowly realised was laughter and it shook its head the way he had seen dogs shake off water, only in this case, it shook away its dog features and was suddenly a man. No, an Angel.

The ebony-skinned Angel smiled broadly down at the two of them.

‘Dominic Mathers. The man I have been waiting to meet.’ His voice was a gruff, rich roar. It sounded like a voice that might dismember them. Dom nodded tentatively and waited for the Angel to acknowledge Deora. He did not.

‘Anubis? I have heard much about you. From Eduardo.’

‘Ha! Did you?’ The Angel laughed again and beneath the mirth was a slight snarl. ‘I never fail to be amused when I hear his name. Did you know he was one of those who, in their unfailing wisdom and love of humans, gave me the task of controlling the Maze? They believed I lacked respect for the process of death and mortality.’

‘I didn’t know that. No.’ Dom had no idea what to say.

‘I have learned a very great deal from this . . . assignment.’ He narrowed his amber eyes. ‘But I do not feel regret that it has come to an end.’

He did not explain himself, but rather raised both hands and let one point down each corridor. ‘A decision must be made here, Dominic. Will you go left or right? I will help you with this one since you are so . . . favoured by the Awe. Left will throw you back into the Maze and you will continue to wander until you find the River, unless of course your minutes run out. Choose the right and I will take you immediately to the room of the Weighing of the Heart and you can complete the ceremony.’

Dom watched Anubis carefully, studying his face for cracks of betrayal. Something bothered him. Why was the Angel offering to help him at all? He watched the golden eyes carefully. One of them twitched very slightly at the base. He wanted something. And he wanted it very much. And he was so carefully ignoring Deora, a difficult thing to do given her beauty and the glare she had fixed on him, that it seemed contrived. Dom took a breath and decided to push his luck.

‘My friend Eva is in the Maze. Somewhere. Can you take me to her? Then I will find my way to the River.’

He heard Deora give a theatrical sigh, but it was Anubis that surprised him the most. The Angel’s eyes twisted very slightly, into what seemed like a smile. Eduardo had been the same – the Angels could never completely hide their emotions – and Dom had been watching carefully. Anubis had wanted him to ask. The Angel spoke carefully. ‘At this moment there are four beings in the Maze. One of them is Nephilim. I cannot tell you more than that.’

Dom’s eyes glanced towards Deora, but her face offered nothing. Again she was waiting to see what he would do. He twisted his head to the side as he tried to keep up with what was clearly some sort of scheme on the part of the Angel. While he was thinking he caught the smallest flick of Anubis’ eyes towards Deora. It was the first time he had even acknowledged her presence. Dom had become adept at reading emotion in these strange beings. Fear. Why was Anubis afraid of Deora? Was she able to ruin his plan? Was he afraid of both of them? When Dom refocused the moment was gone and Anubis was bored.

‘I need to find Eva, Anubis. I still have time to locate her and complete the Maze.’ He tried to sound polite, but the Angel’s demeanour exploded into a snarl.

‘Will you . . . have enough time?’ The tip of his huge Angel wing waved towards the left tunnel and immediately three monstrous jackals were blocking the way, growling and salivating through their sharp white teeth.

‘Really?’ Dom removed the knife from his satchel. He cradled his blood-soaked arm against his chest, pulled himself up and headed towards the dogs.

‘Anubis!’ The voice was female and sounded like dozens of voices at once, echoing around the walls and causing the dogs to run back down the tunnel. Dom glanced around to see who had spoken. It wasn’t Deora’s voice. She was looking in the other direction. Anubis was petulant. A moment later a figure in white emerged into the dim, yellow light. It was a woman. Her white gown was long and loose and there were straps of thin gold wrapped around her waist and over her shoulders. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows, both of which were made from gold, hanging over one arm. Her dark hair was piled on her head, but it was barely visible underneath the white fabric that wrapped both her head and face like a veil. Only her eyes could be seen. Glistening like dark amber. She was the perfect picture of a goddess.

‘Anubis!’ She chastised him again and he said nothing. ‘It is not for you to determine the boy’s journey through the Maze. He has much more to learn yet, and he must cross the River.’ She turned to Dominic. ‘You have chosen wisely and should complete the journey your heart chooses. Your heart would not pass the ceremony if you had not been true to it.’ She nodded her head in gentle deference, though when she stood back up to her full height her eyes did not meet his. They were watching Deora carefully.

‘Uh.’ Dom searched for the right words. ‘Respectfully, may I ask who you are? I don’t remember learning about you when I prepared for the Maze. Are you a goddess?’

She turned her eyes to his. They were dark brown and warming. He imagined she was smiling at him underneath her mask. ‘I am the Maze Guide. Anubis is its Guardian. We work together.’ It was an admonition and Anubis snorted a little, but did not argue. ‘I Guide those who find the centre through the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony and, if they pass, into the next part of their journey. I was human, but here I take the form of a goddess. My name is Persephone.’

Dom wanted to ask her many things. Persephone. That was the Queen of the Underworld wasn’t it? Dom seemed to remember she was a bad queen, or a prisoner. Which was it? He wondered how a human had got this job, stuck in this dark warren of tunnels for all time. It didn’t seem a pleasant role at all. But he kept his mouth shut and simply nodded. ‘Thank you. We will keep going.’

He glanced at Deora and saw immediately that she was in turmoil. Her eyes were angry, her mouth tight. If she were angry with him, he was surprised she hadn’t said anything. Silence was not her strength.

Persephone watched her also. ‘Who are you? You are not human. Why are you here with the boy?’

Deora stayed silent.

‘She is Deora and is part-Nephilim. She has been here before.’ Dom watched both the women carefully. He knew he was missing something. Anubis moved closer and when Dom looked at him he saw . . . eagerness. What was going on?

‘You are not part-Nephilim. You are not Nephilim at all. You should not be here.’ Persephone’s actions were faster than Dom’s eyes could take in. She had her bow in her hands and an arrow directed at Deora’s heart in an instant. Deora’s face twisted into a smile and she reached out her hand to grab the arrow. Before Dom could do anything Persephone fired the arrow.

‘No!’ Dom leaped forward to push Deora out of the way, but he was far too late. The golden arrow had buried itself in her torso. She didn’t fall, but she stumbled slightly at the impact before righting herself. She looked at Dom, sighed heavily and then gripped the end of the arrow, jerking it heavily from her flesh. He flinched.

‘Are you okay, Deora?’

Persephone moved towards him and spoke rapidly. ‘Go. Find your friend and finish the Maze. Leave now.’

‘I can’t leave without Deora. Why did you do that?’

‘Go!’ Her voice was insistent.

Deora’s pale face was tight, but she was still standing, the arrow in her hands. He couldn’t leave her with these two. Moving closer he reached out to check on her injury and stopped. He couldn’t see where the arrow had hit her. Her white dress, though dirty and ripped from their journey, was still white.

‘Deora? What happened?’

Anubis snarled and spread his wings, taut and ready to fight.

Deora spoke to the Angel in a quiet, firm voice. ‘Not yet.’ And then she was gone. She didn’t turn or walk away. She simply vanished. He turned to Anubis and found only the original stone statue of the god he had seen when he had reached the tunnel intersection. Spinning around, he was relieved to find Persephone still standing on his other side.

‘What happened? Where is she? Why the hell did you shoot her?’

‘She is not good, Dominic, and she is not meant to be here. Trouble is coming and you need to finish the Maze before it does.’ Her eyes were worried, shadowed.

‘I know Deora, and no, she is not the best person. But why shoot her? Where did she go? What is going on with her and Anubis?’

Persephone sighed and contemplated the dark trinity of tunnels. ‘I did not know he would go this far. I knew he was discontent, but this?’ She looked back at Dom and her eyes attempted a smile. She grasped his arm. ‘Deora was not harmed, Dominic. I was testing a thought I had, that was all. You must continue alone. Take the path you were drawn to – it will lead you to the River, where you will have a task to perform. A challenge you have prepared for.’ She reached down and held his injured arm, her hands warming him at first, and then stinging like acid. After a brief moment, she released his arm and gracefully disappeared down the tunnel she had come from.

Dom could barely move with the thoughts swirling through his mind, and he was acutely aware of his solitude. It was the first time since he had died that he was truly alone with his thoughts, and they weighed him down like an anchor. Filling his legs with lead. Cementing him to the stone floor of the Maze.

After a few moments, he took a deep breath and put one foot forward and then the other, willing himself onward. Every decision was his to make, and he smiled a little, knowing that he was finally responsible for his own actions. He had to plan every step. There was no backup, and it felt good.

It was then he realised that the stinging in his arm had faded and he unwound the limp, bloodied bandage to find that it was completely healed.