Destroying the Citadel

Hello all, this story is called Destroying the Citadel and is inspired very much so by Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy and therefore I apologise for any offense which may be caused by this story in a religious or social context. I hope you however do enjoy it and I would love to hear your feedback. Also, you can keep up-to-date with everything on The Memoirs of a Witchfinder by following me on Twitter @Harry_Tennison.

I wrap my fur coat closer to my body. It is getting colder, the chilly air biting at my neck. I look across the sky and see her. The zeppelin in the distance is still hours away, but there is no denying it is her. Her red hair burning bright against the black of the Arctic sky; but tonight it is not black. Flickering amongst the stars this evening is a sea of colour. Green, red, blue, purple, white. It is the Aurora. And it is why she is coming.

I look down over the chasm on which I stand. To one side of me is a bottomless drop and almost certain death. To the other my faithful companion, Adara. She feels no cold.

“Are you with me?” I ask

“Till the end.” She replies, wrapping herself around my leg.

The contact eases me. I know I am not alone. Looking to the sky I realise the rate at which the zeppelin is moving. What once was hours is slipping quickly into minutes. From below the zeppelin shoots great balls of fire. The armies of the North have shown where their allegiances lie.

A cloud of smoke appears. She must have been hit. Adara roars with delight. She is answered by the beasts below, fighting alongside men. This is a war for everyone.

“How long do we wait?” I am asked.

I shake my head.

“Not yet.”

The smoke is littered with the lights of the Aurora. As a strand of green skips through the smog, there is a flash and something drops from the cloud.

Suddenly an enormous flash engulfs the ground. A wave of snow and ice is blown across the chasm towards us and I shield my eyes. Looking back the earth burns green: the bodies of the men lie discarded upon the snow.

“Well Adara,” I say, running my hand along the backbone of my companion, “it looks like the fight has just begun.”

The zeppelin is close now. I see the white crucifix logo emblazoned upon the outside and there she stands, looking out from the cargo hold at the base of the giant. Wearing a red dress she would have looked divine if it were not for the evil which the depths of her beauty was contaminated with.

The Aurora ripples through the cosmic unknown high above, the tides flowing effortlessly though nothing and so much at the same time. Pointed buildings, towers and castles are flashed in the light, all of which looking glorious and angelic, yet sinister and evil all the same.

The zeppelin was near. Near enough to reach out and touch...and there she was. She stepped from her compartment and onto the peak. She was flanked by two guards, both with scimitar swords at their belts.

“The Magisterium sends his best wishes, Lord Carius.” She said to me, “He would like to remind you that the offer to withdraw your forces and surrender yourself to the Church still stands.”

“Please return these wishes; but also remind him that I have rejected his offer previously and have no intention of accepting.” I replied, stoned face.

Her face showed no expression. Her lips curled up at the corners, she took a step towards me, placing a hand on my chest, another on her chest.

“Carius, do you remember what it was like before all of this? When it was just you and me?” she said softly.

“I do; I never forget a thing.” I replied before grasping the hand behind my back and swinging it in front of me. She was holding a dagger. I smiled.

“I’m afraid that now is the end. You have brought me exactly what I need.”

And with that, Adara leapt on to the shoulders of each of her guards, ripping out their throats and tossing them into the chasm below. 

The knife was ready.

“Goodbye Rebecca.” I said as I plunged the knife into her chest. Her screams were swallowed by a huge tearing sound from above me. The night sky looked as if a great blade had been plunged into it, and the gash left led straight into the Aurora itself.

I turned to face Adara.

“What next?” the tiger purred.

“Now we go through. It’s time to destroy the Citadel.”

And it was from there that we stepped into the Aurora, side by side, to finish what we’d started.