by Chris Fox
“News of Osiris,” Isis said, brow furrowing. “Tell me.”
“Hades claims that as soon as the hibernation began, Osiris launched a war,” Blair explained, trying to make sure he got it all right. “He created an army of what Hades called demons. I’m guessing you know more about those than I do.”
“I’m familiar with their ilk,” Isis said, anger darkening her features. “The term was coined by Set to describe his minions. One of the chief uses Ark Lords put their Arks to is the creation of new life. They craft minions the way a potter makes vessels. Demons are black things, incapable of any emotion save hate. They are violence incarnate, the perfect servants with which to flood a battle field.”
“Well, Osiris used these troops to conquer the underworld,” Blair continued. He turned to face the rail, gazing off at the storm. “They pushed Hades back, and eventually severed the conduit connecting Olympus to the Well. Hades also believed Osiris was severing all connections to the Nexus.”
Blair trailed off as he looked to Isis. She was silent for a long moment, then finally turned to face them. Her green eyes sparkled in the storm’s fading light, and a single tear slid down one cheek.
“If Hades is not deceiving us, then it seems my husband has done dark and terrible things during my long hibernation,” she began, slowly, as if the words were forced from her. “I do not want to believe it. Osiris was the best of us, a leader for uncounted centuries. The idea that he would sever the connection to the Nexus is unthinkable. That would mean the destruction of the Ark network. What motivation could he possibly have?”
Blair looked at Liz, but she offered him no help. He turned back to Isis. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if Hades was telling the truth, but he certainly seemed scared. It also seemed like Olympus was stuck between dimensions somehow, for whatever that’s worth.”
“That’s troubling,” Isis admitted. She shook her head slowly. “It should have returned when the sun changed. The fact that it has not means the Olympian pantheon may be dead. Even if they aren’t, their faction is lost to us. If Osiris has gone insane, then we’d have to face him alone. That is not a fight we can win.”
“They’re dead,” Blair said, leaving it at that. He didn’t want to dwell on the strange, empty city. Or on Hades’s obvious grief.
“So we’d have to find allies then,” Liz said. She looked determined, as always. “Lots of allies. If the Director was right, Osiris controls Mohn Corp. That gives him a lot of firepower, especially if he has an army of demons to back it up. How do you plan to fight him?”
“There is only one way,” Isis said. The tears were gone now, blown away by the hot wind that somehow seeped through the slipsail’s skin. “We’d have to ally with Sekhmet, my near-sister. Only together would we have a chance, though even then our odds are slim. Osiris has had thirteen millennia to learn this world and to grow stronger. All that time he could have used the Well to create minions, and build weaponry.”
Something about that tickled the back of Blair’s mind. There was something obvious here he was missing, but he wasn’t sure what. At least not yet. “Liz and I discussed places like ancient Egypt. We had a theory about the Great Pyramids. Is it possible structures like that were built to drain energy from sleeping Arks?”
Isis blinked several times, then cocked her head. “It is definitely possible. I’ve never directly inspected these pyramids, but their placement and composition are consistent with energy retrieval.”
“And since Osiris was awake while the rest of you slept, he’s the most likely person to have built these, right?” Blair asked. An idea was forming.
“Most likely,” Isis conceded. “Where are you going with this?”
“If Osiris had access to the near infinite power in the Well, why spend decades building pyramids to siphon a trickle of energy from the Arks? What was the point?” Blair asked, connections forming. “I mean, I get the reasoning behind influencing cultures. If you wanted the world to be a certain way when the Arks returned, it would make sense to shape it. But why all the effort to make structures like the pyramids?”
Isis and Liz were both silent for long moments.
Isis finally spoke. “An interesting question. The energy gained from such work would be minimal, useful only to the desperate or miserly. Perhaps Osiris sought to rob his enemies of strength.”
“Maybe,” Blair said, shrugging. “The point is, we don’t know his motivations. We have nothing but supposition. We need more data before we commit to a course of action. I’ve had enough of rash plans and mistakes. Let’s do this—whatever this turns out to be—right.”
“Agreed,” Liz said, giving a tight nod. “We paid a heavy price back in San Francisco. I don’t want to pay a similar price here, especially not with so much on the line.”
“You speak with much wisdom, Ka-Dun,” Isis said. She reached out and squeezed Blair’s forearm, which nearly made him wet himself. She wasn’t cruel, but she’d made it clear she didn’t regard his opinion very highly. This was a definite reversal. “For now, I believe our course is clear. If Osiris is the enemy, then we need allies. The only ally strong enough to help is the very one we just fled. We will have to not only convince her of our intentions, but also make reparations for the hideous damage I wrought to her army.”
“Yes, that giant worm thing was pretty messed up,” Blair said, giving a half smile. “I’d be pretty pissed if someone unleashed it on my army.”
“What if Ra isn’t willing to work with us? If we wait for her, she could just attack and kill us,” Liz pointed out. She was biting her lip, a habit he’d first noticed back in Peru.
“Trevor is with her,” Blair pointed out. “He’s not going to let her harm us.”
“Your friend is powerful, but young. He would be nothing but a gnat to Ra,” Isis said, snorting as she gave a dismissive gesture. “If Ra seeks combat, it will come down to me and her. You two will have to do the best you can against Ra’s underlings. Pray that she does not bring Horus, Wepwawet, or Anubis.”
“I don’t think he’ll have to fight her,” Blair said, giving a grin now. “Trevor hasn’t been enslaved and he hasn’t been killed. Wepwawet told us he’d been adopted into her court. Put yourself in Ra’s shoes. You’ve been asleep for thirteen thousand years and a guy who studies the sun is dropped into your lap. Trevor is a warrior, a scientist, and an all-around badass. I bet you this ship she’s taken him on as an advisor. Trevor will advise that she talk to us, at the very least. It isn’t much but, hey, I’ll take what we can get.”
“You raise an interesting point,” Isis conceded, glancing to the glowing clouds in the west. “There is a place of great significance in the land you’d know as France. How far are we from there?”
“I don’t know exactly; we don’t really have GPS,” Blair said. His tone drew a sharp glance from Liz, so he moderated it. “I know what direction it is at least. I’d guess our speed at about two hundred miles per hour. We’ll probably be there by morning.”
“Excellent. I will use the time to meditate. When we arrive in the land of France, fetch me and we will discuss our next move,” Isis commanded, her imperious demeanor back in full force. She turned on her heel and headed for the far side of the cabin, leaving them in silence.
“I hope you’re right,” Liz said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder.
Blair sucked in a breath, and summoned the courage to act on an urge he’d been suppressing for weeks. He put his arm around Liz and pulled her close as they stared at the sunset.
48
Now What?
Trevor eyed Wepwawet with concern as their party exited the crumbling building, emerging back onto the surface. Thankfully the storm had abated, though a hot wind still whipped sand and grit into Trevor’s eyes. Still, it was preferable to being below.
The underworld, what little he’d seen of it, wasn’t a place he’d like to visit again. It stank of coal and fire, and reminded him a little too much of depictions of hell. He�
�d been interested in the armor and weaponry Vulcan had been constructing, but not enough to spend much time there.
“What course now, mighty Ra? I itch to do violence,” Wepwawet said in a strangely digitized voice, pausing next to Ra. If anything, he was even more intimidating in the strange black armor. It covered him from head to toe, with bulky contraptions around the right wrist and left shoulder. Those looked familiar. Too familiar. They brought Trevor back to San Diego, where Mohn Corp. had invaded his house. If this armor was similar, both the wrist and shoulder likely packed missiles.
“Fetch Anubis. Tell him to begin marching northeast. We make for the First Ark. You will have your chance to kill soon enough,” Ra commanded. She strode up a hill, pausing at the top. The keening wind twisted her scarlet hair wildly around her.
Trevor watched Irakesh follow her up the hillside, Steve not far behind. Steve always lurked in Irakesh’s shadow, and it wasn’t hard to guess his game. He was ingratiating himself, fading into the background until he saw an opportunity.
Jordan’s departure worried Trevor, at least a little. It meant he was alone against Steve and Irakesh, and he doubted he could take them both. Steve definitely, but Irakesh was canny and powerful, and had more knowledge of his abilities than Trevor did.
That left him alone in an enemy camp, of course. He’d been embraced here, in a way, but he had no illusions about how far he was trusted. Ra seemed to like him, but he’d seen her moods shift quickly. She could just as easily decide to kill him as elevate him in rank. That meant in many ways he was playing a political game, something he’d never been very good at.
You’ve done well so far, my host. Yet you must exhibit more caution, or risk the ire of your more powerful brethren. Anubis is the greatest threat, though you are wise to fear Irakesh. We will overcome that one in time, but we are not ready for such a confrontation yet.
Trevor started walking toward the base of the hill. The wind prevented him from hearing the conversation between Ra and Irakesh, but Irakesh looked angry, his mouth an animated snarl. Ra raised one hand, silencing him. The dark-skinned deathless turned on his heel, stalking away from Ra with the grace of a jungle cat. He glared hatefully at Trevor as he passed, Steve trailing in his wake like some housebroken puppy.
“Trevor,” Ra called, beckoning him to approach.
He did so, walking quickly up the hillside to join her at the crest. He didn’t say anything when he got there, instead waiting for her to explain what she wanted. Silence was a powerful weapon, one that came naturally to introverts like himself. Let the other person tell you what they wanted. Sometimes they revealed more than they intended; even if they didn’t, at least you didn’t have to make awkward small talk.
“I am deeply troubled by the events of the past day,” she finally said, turning those emerald eyes on him. Her gaze was searching, and also softer than it had been before. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Irakesh has asked that I punish you. Did you know that? He believes you should have kept a closer watch on the Ka-Dun Jordan, and he blames you for the escape.”
“He’s not wrong,” Trevor admitted with a shrug. “I left Jordan to watch over Wepwawet. If I’d kept him with me, then he and Hades wouldn’t have met. He wouldn’t have escaped.”
“Does his escape displease you?” Ra asked, raising a delicate eyebrow.
“No,” Trevor admitted. “I didn’t like the fact that you put a collar on him. He’s a real bastard, but he’s a good soldier and he’s fighting on the right side.”
“The right side being Isis and her pack,” Ra said, her tone curiously neutral. Perhaps dangerously so.
“Yeah, exactly,” Trevor said, meeting her gaze. Thus far, honesty had worked pretty damned well, so he saw no reason to change that now. “I know I’m one of you. A deathless, I guess. But that doesn’t take away my ability to know right from wrong. Wrong is murdering the entire world. Wrong is turning everyone into a walking corpse.”
Ra cocked her head to the side, eyeing him curiously. “I like you, Trevor. Your honesty is refreshing, as is your raw ignorance. It affords a different perspective than I am used to.”
“Ignorance?” Trevor shot back, bristling in spite of himself.
“Indeed,” Ra said, folding her arms and giving him a smile that dared him to press the issue. When he didn’t, she continued. “Try to look at this from my perspective. You are, among other things, a scientist, are you not?”
“Where are you going with this?”
“Patience, Trevor. It’s a quality scientists should possess, yes? I want you to imagine that you will live forever. This should be easier for you, since you will live forever. You understand biologically how your body has changed, and that you will progress through the millennia without aging,” Ra said, pausing as she watched him. She licked her lips, exposing a mouthful of inhuman fangs. “What if you saw countless generations rise, then die? Generation after generation, century after century, millennia after millennia. Always, people make the same mistakes. They are forever trapped in their narrow perspective of the world. They understand only what is important to them in this instant.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Trevor said, shaking his head. “It doesn’t mean you should devalue life, though. Isis still values it, and she has the same perspective you do.”
“Isis is weak,” Ra said, eyes glittering dangerously. “She makes foolish decisions of the heart. I use reason. The kind of logic you should understand, being a scientist.”
“Okay, then explain to me why you murdered the world? I had a conversation with Irakesh a few months back, but his reasons for so much death were shit,” Trevor said, recalling his former master’s argument that the deathless were stewards not just of humanity, but also of nature. Keeping mankind in check also kept a natural balance, because otherwise man would do…exactly what man had done. Pollute the world and wipe out thousands of species.
“No doubt they were. My son is many things, but a wise orator is not one of them,” she gave back, smiling cruelly now. “Listen to my reasons, and judge for yourself. What if you knew that enemies far worse than the deathless were coming? What if the only way you could fight them was to breed an army of incredible size? There are seven Arks, Trevor. You’ve met the lords of two, and, if I understand it, your companion has become the lord of a third. The remaining four are not kind, nor are they inclined to share. I assure you their plans for humanity are far more abhorrent than mine. You heard what Hades had to say about Osiris, and he is not the worst of us.”
“So the ends justify the means then?” Trevor asked, clenching his fists.
“Of course they do,” Ra said, raising an eyebrow as if he were a foolish child. “Win. At any cost. Because if you lose, nothing else matters. I have done as I have done to ensure that humanity has a future. If I took the timid path of Isis, there is every chance humanity would be obliterated, our entire race nothing but a memory of those who’d twist us to their own uses. You’ve never seen such enemies. Right now, I am the worst thing you have ever encountered, a monster in your eyes. Is this not so?”
Trevor had a difficult time answering that question. Ra was beautiful. Oh, there was savagery to that beauty, like a lioness, but she was breathtaking too. Something he could stare at all day, simply appreciating. “Yes, I do think you’re a monster, at least by my standards. Maybe these enemies exist, and maybe they’re worse than you. The thing is, when you fight a monster, you risk becoming one. In your case you’ve made too many compromises, too many concessions to win. I’m willing to bet that’s why you and Isis don’t see eye to eye.”
Ra began to laugh, a thick musical laughter. She smiled warmly at him. “Yes, I definitely like you, Trevor. Not a single one of my followers would have the courage to say something like that, but perhaps that is the kind of counsel I will need in the coming days. If that treacherous snake of a god Hades is telling the truth, Osiris is the gravest immediate threat. We must wrest the First Ark from him, but that is somet
hing I do not believe I can do without help. Especially since Sobek has stolen the Primary Access Key. Without it, my powers are limited.”
“So what do you plan to do?” he asked, more than a little grateful the topic had changed. He’d been treading on dangerous ground, and the last thing he wanted was to piss her off to the point where she killed him. He might not like what he’d become, but he was definitely attached to being alive. Well, un-alive, to be accurate.
“I’m unsure, a rare state for me. I need allies, but the only one who might possibly be of use would be Isis herself,” Ra said, brushing a lock of scarlet from her face. “Unfortunately, she is blind to the truth and does not see Osiris as a threat. He must be dealt with, so I will marshal my forces, and make for the First Ark. We will do our utmost to pry Osiris from its depths, and when we have dragged him into the light we will kill him.”
She made it sound so easy, but Trevor heard something he’d never expected from the seemingly implacable goddess: fear.
49
France
“Set down there,” Isis commanded. Blair did as she asked, guiding the slipsail slowly into the valley. They were surrounded by high cliffs of bare white stone, broken by a smattering of green trees. More trees lined the valley floor, which had a wide, slow-moving river flowing through it. The place was familiar, though Blair wasn’t sure why, since he’d never been to southern France.
The ship settled to a halt on a narrow ridge, about midway up one of the cliffs. He held his breath as it stopped, praying it wouldn’t tumble into the valley below. Several moments later, he finally released his link to the control obelisk. Isis and Liz had already passed through the ship’s skin to the rock below. Blair joined them, shifting as he did so. It was damn cold, more so than he’d have expected. Sometimes having fur was nice.