Ave Avid

Simply stunning. That's my considered opinion of this chapter of Church & State II. It covers so much ground, it's the end of this section of the book and it leaves you breathless. The artwork is also top notch.

It opens with one of Cirin's servants begging for time. It's hard to tell exactly what she's doing by lamplight, but you get the impression it will impact on events in this chapter or further on.

The action then crosses back to Astoria's trial. Cerebus is still confused, Astoria keeps turning into an aardvark and he's hearing voices in his head. The demanding voice of Powers is coming from outside it. Cerebus wants to know where his hat is. Posey eventually points it out and as usual the rabbit like cleric is frightened of his own shadow.

Something falls out of the hat when Cerebus picks it up and in his head he keeps flashing back to when he was Prime Minister and heard something fall. The object is a box. Astoria definitely doesn't want Cerebus to open it, but she's bound and gagged, so can't do an awful lot about it.

Inside the box is a perfect golden sphere with a note that reads Good Luck W. Somehow from beyond the grave Weisshaupt is influencing events. Cerebus strips off his robes and picks up the sphere. He tucks it under his arm and naked runs at the window/ The sphere becomes heavier and heavier and sweat streams from Cerebus body, but he hangs on and leaps, crashing through the window. Thus ends book 5 of Church and State II.