The Bride Wore Black Leather

like the sun,
said the Sun King. We were supposed to become superhumans, living gods, like him. Haul ourselves up by our own spiritual bootstraps; embrace the mind’s true liberation and make a Paradise on Earth. Imagine his reaction, when he finally walked out of the White Tower and got a good look at the twenty-first century.
    “He knew some time had passed, that he’d been gone a while; but he hadn’t realised how long. So he spent some time walking up and down in the world, walking among us as one of us, hiding his light behind a bushel of ordinariness . . . Catching up, looking the new world in the eye and disapproving of most of it. And now his long walk is over; he’s returned from the wilderness, and he has decided to put things right. To wake people up from the nightmare they’re living in and help them make a better world. He can change things simply by thinking about it, backed by the power of the Entities from Beyond. Whatever they actually are. And he’s starting with the Nightside because, as far as he’s concerned, it’s the most representative of everything that’s wrong with the world.”
    I had to ask. “How do you know all this, Julien?”
    “Because he told me. He rang me up, in my editorial offices in the
Night Times
, and I knew his voice at once. I could never forget that voice. We talked for ages, bringing each other up to date, then he told me of his plans. He was very eloquent. And really quite cheerful about it. He wanted me to know, so I could tell everyone else. So I could tell the Nightside he was coming. I was to be his John the Baptist, announcing his return and warning of the great change to come. I think he was actually quite shocked when I refused and put the phone down on him. How could I run all that in the
Night Times
, John? After all the wars and upheavals we’ve been through? There would have been mass panic, and God alone knows how many cases of over-reaction. The Nightside can’t afford another disaster, John. We have to stop him.”
    “You and me?” I said. “How the hell are we supposed to do that?”
    “I still think . . . If I can find him, and speak to him, I can talk him out of this,” said Julien. “I can help him remember who he used to be: the gentle man, the living god of non-violence. Not this hate-fuelled avatar of revenge.”
    “You always did have more faith in people than me,” I said. “Do you really think he can do what he says? Raise the sun here, in the Nightside?”
    “The man I remember certainly could,” said Julien. “And who knows what he’s capable of now, after so many years communing with the Entities from Beyond?”
    “Whatever they really are,” I said. I looked at the great empty hole. “You believe he did this?”
    “I know he did this. He told me he was going to. But it wasn’t until I remembered that my earlier self was there, that I knew why. I think that he thinks he can keep me from interfering by holding my old self, and Juliet, hostage.”
    “Is he right?” I said.
    “No. He’s been gone too long, and he doesn’t understand the modern world. All he can see is what’s wrong with it and not all the marvellous things we’ve achieved. I don’t entirely disagree with him, that we have lost our way, and that the world could use a good hard kick up its spiritual backside; but he’s wrong about the Nightside. It’s necessary. It serves a purpose.”
    “Yes,” I said. “It does.”
    “This is why I insisted on joining you on this case, as your partner,” said Julien. “I have to be here because I know the Sun King. He was my friend once, and a good man, as well as a great one. If you can find him, I’m sure I can reach him. And I wanted you on this case so I could prove that you are worthy to be Walker. Show the other Authorities you can stop a threat like the Sun King, and none of them will be able to deny your right to be Walker.”
    “Every now and again, I forget how devious you can be,” I said. “I think some of me must be rubbing off on you.”
    “What a truly appalling mental image,” said Julien.
    I had to smile. “Been a long time since we worked together on a case, the two of us. How many years has it been? Not since . . .”
    “We agreed never to talk about that,” Julien said sternly.
    “So we did,” I agree. “I still see her around, sometimes . . .”
    “Shut up, John.”
    “Just saying . . .”
    “Can you use your gift to find the missing Hawk’s Wind