The Morning Star (Katerina #3)

Militza led me all the way down to the end of the large stone hallway. One corridor veered to the left. A massive door blocked off the right hall. The grand duchess said, "This way," and headed down the left corridor without stopping to see if I was close behind.

I wanted to glance over my shoulder and look for Konstantin and Johanna, but I was afraid of what I would see.

I hurried to catch up with Militza. Her tears had dried and there was a hard bitterness to her face. She was worried for her brother, but now was clearly not the time to mourn him. Or to mourn George. We had to save the tsar. For all of our sakes.

"We cannot pass the seven gates without an initiated mage," I said, following her down another corridor. "How can we reach the sword now?"

"You will have to enter on your own. We can only pray your heart is pure enough, Katerina. Although I suspect you will have little trouble."

"But I am not a mage!" I said.

Militza sighed, exasperated. "Listen very carefully, because we are running out of time. Papus told us there was a chance that a necromancer who was sinless could withstand the trial of the seven gates on her own and retrieve the Morning Star. He did not want Konstantin to discover this. Obviously, Johanna cannot claim any sort of innocence." Militza took my hands and squeezed them tightly. Her fingers were cold as ice. "You are the only one, Katerina. You must believe in yourself."

My mouth dry and my heart pounding, I nodded slowly.

"Here," Militza said as we came to the end of the hallway. She waved a hand across a golden door on our right. The door opened and we slipped inside quietly. "Can you ward the door so they cannot get in?"

I shook my head, terrified. I felt useless.

"It makes no difference," Militza said. She beckoned me deeper into the room, which was a long, narrow chamber not unlike those in the pyramids. But there were no hieroglyphics on these stone walls. Only seven pairs of torches that gave off a strange light. A cold light. It baffled me.

"Those lights are actually guardians of the sword, Katerina," Militza explained as she saw my confusion. "Some Grigori gave up their physical forms in exchange for a spirit and eternal service to the Morning Star. When the sword is placed in the right person's hands, they will be allowed to join their brothers in the land of the living."

"What if it's placed in the wrong person's hands?" I asked.

Militza's smile was cold as she gazed at the lights. "Then they will execute that person. Are you ready?" I stared at the inner sanctuary at the end of the narrow chamber. A statue of a man stood in the tiny room, holding a sword horizontally in his outstretched hands. The sword did not glow, but I could feel my own cold light drawn toward it.

"Do I need to say something? Something to unlock the sword?" I asked.

Militza shook her head. "If we had a mage here, he would know the words to recite at each of the gates. But you are the necromancer who walks among both worlds and can bend cold light to your will. Hopefully that will be enough."

Shaking, I entered the narrow chamber and approached the first pair of torches. Closing my eyes, I took a step so I was standing between them. The cold light flickered, but nothing else happened. Cold sweat dripped down my back as I took another step forward. Still, there was nothing.

"You're wasting time, Duchess!" Militza hissed.

My heart pounding in my ears, I continued. Perhaps I was hallucinating, but I could have sworn I heard voices whispering as I passed each pair of lights. The voices were too low to understand. Whether the guardians of the gates were blessing me or cursing me, I could not tell.

Finally, as I reached the last pair of torches and passed between them, I felt cold, invisible hands pulling me back. I shrieked, both from fear and from frustration. I could see the statue holding the sword, just out of my reach.

"Don't give up," Militza called from behind me.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, willing my fear away. The invisible hands let go of me and I was able to step forward again. I was finally in the inner chamber, standing in front of the statue.

With a trembling hand, I reached out to take the sword. The hilt was beautiful, a heavy silver piece with winged creatures engraved along the sides. Two large stones were embedded in the hilt, both a brilliant dark black. It reminded me of the onyx in the Talisman of Isis. I bore the talisman and lived. I hoped I would fare the same with the sword.

As I took the sword, the tiny room flooded with cold light. "Those are your guardians!" Militza shouted. "Command them to do your bidding!"

"I command the guardians of the Morning Star to follow me," I said shakily. The sword was not as heavy as I'd expected it to be. The lights flew about the room in a spiral; then in a burst, they entered the sword. I felt a strong vibration and almost dropped the weapon. Behind me I heard Militza cry as she was knocked down by the force of the lights whirling around the room.

Militza slowly stood up. "Now, Katerina. We must hurry back to St. Petersburg."

As I rushed back down the narrow chamber toward her, the outer door crashed open. The guardian lights rushed to converge upon the invaders. I heard Princess Cantacuzene's cry as Konstantin tried to cast a spell. Militza grabbed my arm. "Use the sword. It is what you were born to do."

I nodded, my mouth dry and my heart pounding. A roar of cold wind had risen up inside the chamber. There was a small tempest whirling around us that kept Konstantin and the princess from reaching us.

I could end everything here and now if I killed Konstantin in the land of the dead. I hated that Militza would have to watch me attack her brother's body, but deep down she knew it had to be done. I would have to cut the lich tsar's head off and say the ritual of the second death. This would damn the lich tsar to oblivion. And probably Danilo as well.

Princess Cantacuzene was trying to fight the sword's guardians with her shadows. Her cold light had begun to grow strong again and she was drawing on its power. I closed my eyes and uttered the words of the second death as I lunged toward her.

Militza was standing behind me, fangs out to aid if she could. "Take her head!" she shouted, and the guardian lights seemed to wrap around her in my defense as well.

Princess Cantacuzene screamed when she realized she was trapped. There was no other spell that could help her now. I begged God in heaven to forgive me for what I was about to do and swung the sword at her neck, praying that the blade was sharp and my aim true.

My prayers were answered. Johanna's head fell from her shoulders onto the floor. I was amazed to see there was no blood. I remembered the first time I'd seen her die, in a different body, in a pool of blood at a St. Petersburg hospital where she'd killed Dr. Kruglevski. As Konstantin roared in fury, I hoped that the doctor's soul was at peace. I hoped Mala's soul would now be at peace as well.

"No sun shall rise over your grave. No birds will sing for you," I said wearily. "Nothing but eternal rest awaits you, Johanna Cantacuzene." The sword suddenly seemed much heavier.

Konstantin's face was contorted in cold rage. "I will kill you, necromancer, and there will be nothing peaceful about it."

I leveled the Morning Star at him. I was too numb to be afraid of my own death anymore. "Come and join your bride, Konstantin Pavlovich," I shouted.

The guardian lights swirled around him as if to hold him for me as they had the princess.

"No," Konstantin said softly, with a demonic, half-crazed smile. "Not this time."

I rushed toward him then, but before I could lift the sword, the lich tsar disappeared.

Suddenly the wind died down and the lights returned to their posts along the side walls. Only Militza and I were left in the room.

She stood next to me like a statue, not showing any signs of fatigue. In fact, she looked very regal. "Katerina, are you ready to return to St. Petersburg? We must use your magic to get there quickly. There is no other way."

I nodded, ignoring the hollow feeling inside. In St. Petersburg I knew I would have to face George's death all over again. And I would have to face his parents.

Militza turned toward me. "I am truly sorry, Katerina, that you did not marry my brother last summer. Perhaps you would have been able to help him hold on to his humanity."

"But would I have been able to hold on to my own?" I asked.

Militza said nothing at first. Her black eyes were moist but I saw no tears. "I am about to show you the secret to journeying through the Graylands. It is extremely draining, but we must hurry if we are to find Konstantin."

I nodded but secretly I felt defeated. I was already drained. I did not know how much energy I had left. Yet as long as Konstantin remained a danger to Russia, I had to keep going. I followed the grand duchess back out into the great hall, where she approached the enormous mirror we'd seen earlier. With a wave of her hand, the scene at the Gatchina Palace appeared again.

It was the most easily defended of the imperial palaces. The safest place for the tsar to be at this moment. Unfortunately, Konstantin knew the defenses of Gatchina well.

"You must take my hand, Duchess." Militza did not wait for me to respond but instead clasped her cold fingers around mine. "This might hurt a bit."

She took a step toward the mirror and pushed me through. My cold light did not like this method of traveling through space and time. Tendrils of light seemed to catch in the Graylands, dragging me back slowly while Militza prodded me forward. "Don't slow down," she said. "You must keep going."

I kept trying to forge ahead, toward the palace. Toward my family. But the weight of my cold light was heavy. Militza was firm. "It wants to remain in the land of the dead, Katerina. This is where the cold light naturally belongs. But you must convince it otherwise. Keep moving!"

My cold light wanted to stay in the Graylands because that was where George was. I was sure he was still there somewhere. If only I'd been faster. If only I'd not been rude to Dr. Badmaev and had accepted his generous offer to teach me sooner. How much time had I wasted remaining at Smolni when I could have been studying with the Tibetan?

Mentally, I tried to pull my cold light as close to me as possible, and I willed myself to move forward. Now even Militza was surprised at how I was pulling her the rest of the way through the passage.

We landed on the ground in the snow-covered gardens of Gatchina. I wanted to cry. There had not been snow before I left St. Petersburg. How long had I been gone? Members of the Order of St. Lazarus and the Order of St. John met us before we could stand up. The Grigori arrived as well, followed by Papus. "She bears the Morning Star!" one of them said. A hundred waxen-faced Grigori went down on bended knee before me. Papus nodded his head in respect as well.

Murmurs passed through the other soldiers, and I saw them part as one of the officers pushed his way to the front.

"Katiya! Thank God!" It was Petya. He swept me up in a suffocating embrace. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, brat!"

I closed my eyes and clung to him tightly. He smelled like tobacco and horses. Over his shoulder I could see Prince Kotchoubey, Dariya's friend, standing behind him. He wore the same smart uniform as my brother and clicked his heels with a gallant bow to me. Another brave soldier who would fight for the tsar.

"Katerina Alexandrovna," a familiar and uncertain voice addressed me. It was the tsarevitch. "Where is George?"