Order of the Black Sun Box Set 9

by Preston William Child

  He started giving a rough translation of it aloud. “My oath brother took it. The spear that we were sworn to defend. He took it for himself when we needed to protect it. Tristan saw him rowing away, far away from the enemy as they breached our walls. He took the holiest of our treasures for himself. Once the Grand Master hears of this, we will find him and execute him for abandoning his duties in our time of need. If we survive this siege, he will be punished by God for his thievery. The spear will be recovered.”

  Nina and Julian both stood close, listening carefully and hanging onto every word Purdue spoke.

  “Who?” Julian asked. “Do they say what the name of the thief was?”

  “No,” Purdue said.

  “Damn it,” Julian paced back and forth. “So, it was here. We've missed it.”

  “By like five hundred years, yeah,” Purdue said. “It's long gone now. If that Hospitaller was desperate enough to betray his own allies to take the spear away, under penalty of death, then he would have gone far away from here.”

  Julian's calmness was slipping off of his face, revealing livid frustration beneath. They'd come all this way to Rhodes only to find that the spear was elsewhere, and this time they didn't even have a clue as to its possible location.

  The rubble and cobwebs around them were harsh reminder that they were far too late. Julian brushed his hand through his hair and signaled his lackeys forward. “We'll hold onto the parchment.”

  Purdue took a step back. “I don't think so. This is the only clue we have—”

  Before he could try and resist, his escort Lindsay grabbed the parchment. Purdue tightened his grip at the bottom of the page and Lindsay yanked it away, tearing the majority of it apart and away from Purdue, leaving him with a slim bottom portion of the page.

  “You're a proper bastard, Lindsay,” Purdue said as the Dark Sun agent walked away with the majority of the parchment.

  “We'll take a better look at it,” Julian said as he turned to Lindsay and Dana. “Bring it to Sasha. We'll keep searching around here.”

  “You sure?” The goon holding the parchment said. “We shouldn't leave you alone with these two.”

  “He does speak then,” Purdue said. “You've got no manners, Lindsay.”

  “I'll be fine,” Julian said. “And I'm sure our new friends would like a moment without you two hovering over them.”

  “Gee. We appreciate it,” Purdue said with fake friendliness.

  The two men walked out with the parchment, leaving Purdue, Nina, and Julian Corvus alone in the old room.

  “We found something,” Nina said. “Sure, it might be a dead end, but we did find something. Our arrangement is over then?”

  “Not even close,” Julian said. “Are you forgetting that I could make all of these lovely tourists and workers here have a very, very bad day?”

  Julian walked away and turned his back, looking over some of the pieces of armor strewn on the floor. Purdue stared hard at the man. At least with his backed turned, he wouldn't have to see Julian's chilling stare looking back at him. There was something about that man—something very unnerving.

  The Order of the Black Sun was ruthless. They weren't above assassinations to get what they wanted but Julian Corvus felt different. He was an altogether different kind of adversary. He wasn't the blunt force that Black Sun had displayed in their past encounters.

  Purdue had never really believed that evil was a real thing—but this man was the closest he'd ever seen. And the Order of the Black Sun knew better than to work with someone like that.

  He had to be sure. “You're not part of Black Sun, are you?”

  10

  The Eclipsed

  Julian was still turned away from them. Purdue wished he could see the reaction to the question on his face. Then he would know. He would know from his face. Instead, Julian was still, but you could almost feel the smile coming from the other side of his head.

  “I am,” Julian said, and finally turned around, a pleasant smirk on his face. “And I'm not.”

  That answer didn't even make any sense, and wasn't at all what Purdue was expecting. Whatever game Julian was playing, it was obnoxious.

  “The hell does that mean?” Purdue asked forcefully.

  “It means we're something off an offshoot, Mr. Purdue. The side of the family that isn't invited to all of the family parties. The black sheep, told to stay in the other room until we are needed.” Julian looked almost nostalgic talking about it but there was an anger brewing. Some deep-seeded rage that was just trying to break through the surface of his body. But as always, he kept himself composed as he spoke.

  “They've taken to calling us the Eclipsed. A sub-division of Black Sun, in a way. The lowest part of the totem pole that is our order. To be honest, they would cut us off completely if we weren't so dangerous. They don't want to risk it, not with everything we know. Not with everything we can do. They'd rather keep us in the fold than turn us into an enemy. So instead, they send us to the pits of the world to dig up things they don't feel like getting dirty for.”

  Purdue tried to process everything Julian was saying. If he wasn't spewing nonsense, then they were dealing with something maybe even more dangerous than the Black Sun itself. They were in the grasp of an almost rogue operation that had all of the funds but none of the restraint that Black Sun had displayed in the past. The monsters that even Black Sun could barely keep a leash on—the Eclipsed.

  “But they don't know you're doing this, do they?”

  “They know the broad strokes. The search for the Spear of Destiny. But they're unaware of the details, yes.”

  “And we're one of those details,” Purdue surmised. “They don't know you've gotten us involved in all of this.”

  “Didn't want to worry them—because that's what you've become to them, Mr. Purdue, a worry. But if I present the Spear of Destiny to them, well … we'll see if we're still looked down on. And when I tell them that I manipulated you to help, they'll be even more impressed. Perhaps I'll even give them your head as an extra gift. I haven't quite decided.”

  “Why do you want to impress them so bad?”

  “Because when I show them I have the Spear of Destiny, I will have manifested my own destiny. Collected one of the world's most important relics and outplayed you—their most troublesome foe—to do it. They'll have no choice but to make me leader, to shepherd the order into a new more promising age.”

  “You're planning a coup.”

  “A change in management,” Julian laughed. “With the Eclipsed stepping out of the shadows to take control. To properly guide the Black Sun into a new era. The hunt for this spear means everything to me, and I want you to know that whether I decide to kill you or not, I appreciate all of your help and hope you will continue to provide it, willingly or otherwise.”

  “Aye,” Purdue said with a nod. “Otherwise.”

  Purdue threw a right hook and smashed his knuckles against Julian's cheek. The man was thrown to the floor, already unconscious before he hit the ground.

  “What are you doing? Oh my god!” Nina gasped, her mouth hanging open. Despite her shock, she tried to keep her voice down to not attract Julian's men.

  “What do you think? Getting us the hell out of here.”

  “And where are we going exactly?” Nina was almost cute when she was so completely confused. She looked like she was tempted to punch him, to try and stop him from getting them all killed. But then there was a flash of pride in her expression, like she was impressed he had the stones to make a move like that. “We have no idea where to go next!”

  “Don't we?” Purdue opened his hand to show a torn piece of old parchment. Faded black script was written on it. “I may have skipped over the ending of the letter that knight left behind. I may even have made sure they didn't get it when they took it from my hands.”

  Nina thought back, and almost immediately realized what had happened. Purdue hadn't ripped the parchment by accident when Julian's goons took it. H
e was intentionally tearing off the bottom part that he'd omitted reading out loud to them all. It was genius.

  He managed to smuggle information off of the message right in front of everyone.

  And now it was there's.

  “You're really full of surprises sometimes,” Nina said.

  “I can't believe you thought you'd seen all my tricks,” Purdue replied. “Let's find Sam and get the hell out of here with this ... and this.”

  Purdue crouched down and rummaged his hands in Julian's jacket until he pulled out the old spearhead that, up until recently, he thought was the true Spear of Destiny. It was finally his again. Whether it was the true blade that pierced Christ or not, it was an ancient relic that needed to be protected and that was his again.

  Maybe it wasn't real, and the one the Hospitallers had was. Or maybe it was the opposite and he was holding the Spear of Destiny right now. Hell, maybe they were both legitimate and Christ had been stabbed twice. He didn't really care at this point. He just didn't want the Order of the Black Sun to have it.

  “Let's go!”

  They hurried out of the rundown chamber, leaving Julian in a heap on the floor. Once they made it out of the hole that had been knocked in the wall, they broke into a sprint through the main corridors of the castle. The quickest way outside would be from the battlements of the castle so they climbed up to the roof and ran along the exterior, getting a clear view of the palace's courtyard where Galen, Maddox, and Sam were all surrounded by members of the Eclipsed—and Sasha.

  “Where are Lindsay and Dana?” Purdue asked aloud, almost laughing to himself at the names he had dubbed them. “I don't see them.”

  Suddenly Purdue was hit by a large force from behind him, and before he knew it, was on the ground with Lindsay on top of him grabbing at his throat. “Lindsay this is no way to treat new friends.”

  Dana had his arms wrapped around Nina, who swung her head backward and bashed his nose in. He let out a primal yell and released her while Purdue managed to roll Lindsay off of him. When they both stood, Lindsay came for another tackle, but Purdue sidestepped, shoving Lindsay past him and over the side of the battlements off of the castle roof. It was quite a way down and it was doubtful that he could survive that fall.

  “Vaughn!” Dana spat in surprise, a bit muffled under his hands as he held his broken nose.

  “Vaughn?” Purdue looked over the edge where Lindsay had fallen. “That bastard should have been kissing my boot. His new name was a vast improvement. How about yours?”

  “I'll—b-b-vill—kill ... you,” Dana said through his hands and the blood pouring onto his mouth.

  “I really don't think so,” Purdue said. “But take your best shot.”

  Dana pulled the parchment from under his jacket and ran away from Purdue and Nina, down the battlements toward the courtyard. He was going to give it to Sasha and get his reinforcements at the same time. Purdue and Nina broke into a mad dash behind him. If they could stop him before he got there, they'd have a much better chance at sneaking up on Sasha and her goons to get Sam away.

  Unfortunately, Dana must have done cross country running in his youth because he was breaking quite a fair distance away from them.

  “Don't worry about the letter,” Purdue said through heavy breaths as they ran. It's pretty useless without our piece. Just worry about getting Sam and not getting killed by that crazy woman or any of the other Lindsays.”

  “And—wh-wh-what about Galen?” Nina asked, trying to keep up beside him.

  “If he makes it, he makes it. But he got us into this mess. I don't think we owe him any favors.” It was the honest truth. Ally and benefactor or not, Galen had fallen for the Black Sun—or the Eclipsed—giving him those clues to begin with. None of this would have happened if he had been more careful before rushing into this.

  Dana was approaching Sasha now and she turned and yelled, “Luther? The hell is happening?”

  Purdue shook his head and managed a tired laugh through his quick breaths. “Dana was a better name.”

  Sasha finally noticed Purdue and Nina trailing a short distance behind. And drew her gun. Thankfully, she seemed to be one of the only Eclipsed members that was armed because the rest of them that were waiting in the courtyard just watched instead of reaching for their own weapons.

  Before Sasha could fire off a shot at Luther's pursuers, Maddox rushed behind her and grabbed hold of her arm. A shot went off but with the angle that Maddox had twisted her arm, the bullet flew straight up into the air.

  Tourists and palace workers that were nearby all fled screaming and scrambling around, trying to find he exit. Maddox, using abilities that must have been useful in his profession, did some fancy maneuvering with his hands to pry Sasha's pistol away, and in a moment of seconds, had shot down most of the Eclipsed members besides Sasha and Luther, who stopped in his tracks.

  Maddox kicked out Sasha's legs from under her so she fell on her back, and in that same moment, pointed his newly acquired pistol at her face.

  “I thought you were one of us, Sasha,” Maddox sneered. “This is for my friends you gunned down and left bleeding in the sand in the Holy Land.”

  Maddox pulled the trigger and the pistol clicked but no bullet left its barrel. Sasha had looked terrified for a moment, but now her expression shifted into laughter.

  “What's the matter, Roland? Your revenge run out of ammo?”

  Maddox let out a roar and saw Luther approaching quickly, ready to tackle him to the ground. Maddox threw the pistol at Luther's already bloodied face, landing it square against his brow. The Eclipsed member fell sideways and hit the courtyard hard.

  “Let's go!” Purdue said, running past the downed criminal formerly known as Dana. “Now!”

  Sam, who had been looking baffled by all of the action around him, nodded his head and pulled Galen up. “You good?”

  Galen tapped Sam's leg with his crutch. “What do you think?”

  “I mean do you think you can keep up?” Sam asked.

  “Who knows? But you can bet your ass I'm not staying here.”

  Galen hobbled along briskly, as quickly as he could as the rest made haste for the castle's entrance. Sasha was getting up from the ground a short distance away, running to the pistol that Maddox had thrown, and reloaded it with a clip she had in her jacket.

  The group of them managed to file into a large group of tourists and workers who were hurrying to the ferries docked at the island's piers. To them, this was an emergency evacuation for some horrible gun violence that was going on in a public place. Purdue knew that they would probably be all over the news soon enough, if they weren't already.

  They pushed and shoved their way through the crowds, trying to stick together. Purdue grabbed hold of Nina's hands and slipped through a group of elderly tourists. Sam did his best to keep close too while Maddox helped his crippled benefactor make his way through the wave of people.

  Sasha was in close pursuit but she didn't fire her weapon. Her targets were too mixed into the crowd so she didn't have a clear shot, and unlike Julian, didn't seem overly excited about the idea of gunning down innocent bystanders.

  Keeping their heads low to hide in the shelter of the crowds, Purdue, Sam, and Nina managed to get onto one of the ferries, which was preparing to depart, having been filled to capacity. Maddox picked up Galen and heaved him up the ramp to get on, and only minutes later, the boat began to move.

  Purdue kept to the edge of the ship, hoping to catch a glimpse of where Sasha had ended up. Hopefully she hadn't made it on or this was going to be a very long boat ride. After looking past dozens of faces, he saw Sasha pushing through some people, looking feverishly through the crowd, and then finally at the departing boat.

  She and Purdue locked eyes and he watched her raise her weapon. He could practically see down the barrel of the newly reloaded weapon. Just when she seemed ready to fire, she lowered it and Purdue felt himself breath again.

  Maybe they were too far out of r
ange or maybe Sasha didn't want to cause more of a panic. It looked like she swore at herself and then took off away from the pier at a sprint. It occurred to Purdue that she was heading toward the helicopter they had arrived on, and he didn't like the idea of being hunted by her.

  Then there was Julian Corvus, who he'd left unconscious on the floor. Hopefully he didn't wake up for a long, long time.

  “That guy had an old paper,” Sam said beside him. “The one that got hit with the gun. He was holding something.”

  “It was a piece of writing from one of the Hospitaller knights,” Nina explained. “About who took the spear.”

  “So, the spear was there?” Sam asked, astonished.

  “Not anymore,” Nina said. “One of the Hospitaller knights took it during the Ottoman siege. The paper he had was just another knight recounting that the spear had been stolen by one of the knights sworn to protect it.”

  “Who?” Sam asked. “Who took it?”

  “I don't know,” Nina said. “But Purdue does.”

  Purdue held up the old ripped piece of paper for his two colleagues to see. “I do. And Julian Corvus and the Eclipsed don't.”

  The three of them looked at the end portion of the letter and then out to the sea in front of them. It glimmered orange in the setting sun as they sailed with a boat full of panicked tourists toward safety, far away Julian, Sasha, and the Eclipsed.

  Purdue pulled out the spearhead of the relic that had been taken from his home. They may not have found the spear of destiny they were after, but they found a spear of destiny all the same. Now they just needed the other.

  He couldn't believe it, but they had somehow made it through the day.

  11

  Rising Son

  INTERLUDE 2: RISING SON

  Julian Corvus was in his early thirties when the Order of the Black Sun recognized his ambition and recruited him into their ranks. They utilized his drive and passion for history to their advantage, and he quickly rose from a new recruit to someone that they could rely on.