Order of the Black Sun Box Set 9

by Preston William Child

  “You're just not looking hard enough,” Arthur said, and seemed to be enjoying the few taunts he could hit Julian with. “The problem with treasure hunters today is that they always expect there to be something at the end that shows them that this was all part of the plan. For their treasure to be on top of a pedestal. On display somehow. The truth is, if you're going to hide something, you don't leave it out for just anyone to find even if they're two feet away. You make sure it's hidden even if the one who seeks it is right in front of it.”

  Julian waved his hand around like he was trying to catch air in his scarred palm. “So, what? It's invisible? Intangible? Where it is it!?”

  Arthur Rosewell gave a long sigh, and looked like his body was resisting him. He was still torn between his duty as a father and his duty as a Rosewell, and maybe trying to figure out if there was something in between.

  Finally, he raised his hands and reached up to the sharp stalactites above him. He yanked something that was wedged between two of the rocks and pulled down a long shape wrapped in cloth. Everyone stopped and stared at it as Arthur unwrapped it from its sheath.

  The Spear of Destiny wasn't ornate. It wasn't shining. It wasn't glowing. It wasn't forged using some material sent down from the heavens. It didn't look like anything special. It was just a long thin strip of metal that came to a sharp point, like any other spear. Nina supposed that made sense. The spear was owned by an ordinary guard. It wasn't made to be legendary. It wasn't made to have myths and legends surrounding it.

  Arthur Rosewell held it in his hands and it may have been Nina's imagination, but he seemed to grow as he held it, or at least he stood up with a newfound strength that he hadn't had before. He looked down at the weapon in his hands—the weapon his family had spent generations keeping safe—and he then brought his attention to Julian.

  “I've been thinking a lot about this bind I'm in...” Arthur gripped the spear so tightly, his knuckles were white. “You holding my family hostage, forcing me to do this for you. Threatening everyone I love. A person like you doesn't deserve this. I can't, in good conscience, give you this.”

  “Was I not clear that your son would die if you resisted? I can add on your daughter too if you really want but I thought you were hoping to avoid such bloodshed?”

  “You were clear. But putting my fatherhood aside, my whole family understands our responsibility, don't we, children?” Ben and Isobel both looked at their father with a mixture of shock and admiration. They'd never seen him like this. They both brightened and hollered in agreement. Arthur continued. “See? We all know the risks. We would rather die than give this to you.”

  “Heroic sentiment,” Julian said, agitation spreading across his face. “But a bit wasted at this point, don't you think? You're long past redeeming yourself in the eyes of your ancestors I imagine. If you wanted to really resist, you should have just done it from the beginning.”

  “And I should have. But I was too scared about what would happen to my kids. I've had some time to see clearly.”

  Julian looked at the ground and chuckled to himself but there was no humor in his laugh. It was raw irritation, that was quickly transfiguring into the utter rage they had seen flashes of. Julian looked back up and his gaze was murderous. “This is pointless, Mr. Rosewell. You've already brought us this far.”

  “And it's as far as you'll go,” Arthur said, standing firm.

  “I see. You'd prefer that we take it from your corpse then, or maybe torture your children for sport right in front of you. We can do it right now if you want. Which should we start with?”

  “Of course that's not my preference ... but I can't do it. I won't. No. My whole life, I’ve been preparing for this. I can never give you this. Never.”

  Sasha and the other goons looked to Julian hungrily, just waiting for the order to rip Arthur to pieces. Julian waved his hand to signal them to stand down.

  Nina was ready for it. The explosion that came whenever Julian was denied. Instead, Julian nodded, like it was a perfectly reasonable response and turned his back on Arthur. He was facing the cave wall. No one could see his face, but you could almost feel his anger oozing from his shape. He spoke, without turning around. “You're making your family proud, Mr. Rosewell.” His voice was remarkably calm for someone whose posture looked so hateful. “I'm sure they will miss you.”

  Julian drew a pistol from within his suit jacket and swung around. He pulled the trigger and Arthur gasped, stumbling backward.

  “No!” Isobel and Ben both tried to rush forward but were grabbed by Eclipsed members.

  The bullet had punched right through his chest. He looked at his children with wide, sorrowful eyes. The eyes of a father who wished he'd spent more time with them. The eyes of a father who never quite managed to replace their mother. The eyes of a father who wished he could see them grow far older than he was going to be able to.

  He just realized how much they'd grown. How far they'd come from the little kids he used to tell stories to. They would look up at him with wide, wonder-filled eyes as he told them about the Spear of Destiny and the family's role in keeping it safe.

  Now here they were, on the verge of adulthood, looking at him with those same wonder-filled eyes. He was holding the spear from all of those stories he used to tell. He was the heroic guardian of the Spear of Destiny. He knew they could see him as he always wished they could. He knew the burden of their family weighed hard on them. But now they saw how important it was. They saw that it wasn't just a bedtime story, or a duty that they performed despite never meeting any actual opposition.

  It wasn't a waste. Their family's task was worthy of their time.

  Arthur's gaze moved away from his children and then fell on Nina.

  In those last moments—with the last bit of life behind his gaze—understanding passed between the two of them. He had done his best, but now it was up to the people who told him that they were worth trusting. They had assured him that they never wanted to misuse the spear, that they were the good guys. This was their time to prove it. This was their time to show that they were just as willing to protect its power as they had been to find it.

  As his body crumbled under him, he flung his hands up, tossing the spear into the air. Everyone watched the weapon flip around above them. Galen let out a desperate yell, probably afraid the spear would end up in a chasm. It clanged when it landed hard on the cavern floor. Everyone was frozen in relief that it hadn't fallen anywhere they wouldn't be able to get it.

  There was a second or two of silence as everyone looked at the spear, not wanting to make the first move—then Galen did. He let out a loud yell and swung his crutch like a baseball bat, straight at Sasha beside him. It smashed into her face, knocking her to the ground. He raised the crutch high above his head, ready to bring it down for another strike.

  “You shouldn't have killed my employees or given me this fucking limp!”

  Sasha hit her head hard against the rocky floor. The entire world slowed around her. Her vision blurred and all she saw through the haze was Julian standing in the dark cave, very much the same as he had been when they first met.

  Sasha had been part of the Black Sun for quite some time in those days. An enforcer, a hunter. They plucked her out of prison for her participation in black arms deals in the Middle East. She always like having a cause to be a part of and the order was the perfect new cause to rally her life behind. She'd become one of their more effective collectors of artifacts. She was part of an experienced team that traveled all over the world finding things for the Black Sun.

  They were searching for a Mayan totem deep in South America the day she met Julian. Scouring a temple built under a mountain. Something had shifted in the structure around them; she always wondered if it was perhaps a trap they hadn't noticed, but the rocky walls of the temple came crashing down around them. Many of her group were crushed instantly as they tried to flee from the walls caving in. Sasha had nearly made it—nearly.

  She'd fal
len away from the collapsing rubble but her leg was caught, trapped underneath the heavy rocks. Her surviving colleagues who had been running ahead of her turned back and tried their best to pull her out or move the rocks to no avail. She begged them not to leave her but they said they were going to call the order for help, and then they left her alone in the dark.

  She'd been stuck alone in the temple for what felt like days when she finally heard someone coming. Her help had come at last.

  The Order of the Black Sun sent help in the form of a man named Julian Corvus.

  She'd heard of him. Everyone within the order had. They all knew him as the best relic hunter among the Black Sun. Everyone had also heard all of the talk that he was a lunatic who enjoyed murdering people in horribly gruesome ways.

  She had to admit that when she was trapped and alone in the dark with him, completely at his mercy, she had been more than afraid. She'd thought he was an angel of death come to put her out of her misery.

  He appeared out of the nowhere, like the surrounding darkness had conjured him up. He crouched down in front of her. The shards of ice in his eye sockets stared at her, seeming to shine in the darkness.

  Sasha would never forget the first words he spoke to her.

  “Why not just cut it off?”

  The mere suggestion startled her, especially how serious he sounded. She was sure that he was about to amputate her leg right then and there.

  “Please...” her voice was hoarse and cracking. “Please don't.”

  Julian looked at her with a striking amount of pity. “You'd rather lose a leg than stay here and rot, wouldn't you?”

  “Y-yes. I just don't...”

  “Good.” Julian pulled out the machete that Sasha had strapped to her belt. She had used it to cut down vines on their way to the temple and Julian was going to use it to sever her leg. He held it in front of her face. “It's going to hurt, I'm afraid.”

  She was shaking. Wet with both sweat and tears. She wriggled around, trying one last attempt to get free before such crippling action had to be taken. She couldn't get her leg out and she looked back to the blade in front of her face.

  “There has to be another way. There has to be.”

  “There's not.”

  She had fallen completely into despair then, caught between two horrible solutions to her problem. He was right. Losing her leg was the only chance she had.

  “Okay,” she said, closing her eyes tight and trembling. “Do it. Just do it.”

  She waited for the feel of the blade. Any moment she would be in the worst pain she had ever experienced. Instead of her own screams filling that ancient temple, there was a loud whistle.

  Sasha opened her and eyes to find two men holding sledgehammers and pickaxes approaching them. Julian looked at her with some sort of sick satisfaction and stood up, throwing the machete to the ground.

  “Well, well. You're not entirely gutless after all. We'll get you out of there completely whole and intact.”

  Sasha's panic had turned into just stunned silence. Julian had played some sadistic game with her. Made her believe she was about to be mutilated for the rest of her life, maybe even die from the blood loss. And forcing her to choose that for herself.

  “What the hell was this? A test?”

  “I wanted to see if you were worth saving,” Julian said condescendingly. “You failed to collect the totem but weren't crushed to death like some of your friends behind you. To be honest, I thought you were just going to cry your life away and choose to die rather than lose one little leg. It look a little prodding, but look at you now. I'm slightly impressed ... but don't waste this chance. Don't fail our order again.”

  She remembered the pickaxes and hammers smashing apart the stones behind her. The feeling of being saved by a man who sent shivers down her spine. She remembered his gray eyes examining her like she was a piece of meat that he wasn't sure hadn't spoiled.

  And now, she lay in a cave with Julian standing before her once again. Only this time they weren't going to fail in collecting the prize. Julian could finally attain the Spear of Destiny. He needed to for the good of society. He was their only hope.

  It was the only way to salvage the Order of the Black Sun.

  Julian was the society's savior.

  With Galen's sudden courage knocking down Sasha, Purdue saw his chance, and nodded to Sam who was thinking the same thing. This was it. The only opportunity they had to fight back, maybe turn the tide and rip control away from the Eclipsed. They each threw themselves at one of the other two members of Julian's gang. The cave turned into a brawl with them grappling with each other on the ground.

  Purdue tackled Luther to the ground, very quickly gaining the upper hand. The Eclipsed member tried to push him off but Purdue had him pinned fairly well. He found it fitting, that he was once again taking a shot at one of the two escorts he'd had on Rhodes. And it was particularly satisfying that it was Luther. He owed him one for discarding the name he'd given him.

  “You know...” Purdue tried to talk to him through heavy breaths as he tried to keep Luther from getting a good hold on him. He needed to keep him on the ground and off balance. “It's not too late if you want to change your name back to Dana and join our team. We could always use an extraordinarily masculine man like yourself.”

  “Go to hell,” Luther spat. “You're so dead, Purdue. For what you did to Dalton. I'm going to make sure it hurts!” Despite his threats, Luther was still on the bottom of their two man pile and Purdue was keeping a steadfast defense up to make sure it stayed that way.

  Julian aimed his gun at the heap. He probably didn't care who he shot as long as his enemies died too. Before he could pull the trigger, Ben came up from behind him and the young Rosewell smacked the gun out of his hand, sending it tumbling over the edge of the rocks into the chasm. Julian sneered and backhanded the young man to the ground.

  When he turned to face him, he saw the spear still on the ground. It was almost directly between him and Nina, who was looking at it just as curiously. Their gazes both shifted from the spear to each other and they looked at one another knowing exactly what was going to happen next. It was a race.

  Nina dashed into a sprint, trying to keep her balance on the uneven, rocky terrain. Julian was doing the same, looking ravenous. She didn't know if she could beat him to the spear and even if she did, he was a trained killer. She wasn't sure she could keep him from getting it.

  Ben was still on the ground and tried to grab hold of Julian's leg. Julian stumbled, nearly falling on his face. Julian let out a hiss and yanked his leg away from Ben. It was enough to slow him down though, and Nina got to the spear.

  Nina put both hands on the weapon's long shaft and pulled it from the ground. The moment she touched it, there felt like a surge of air rushed through her body, snapping everything into focus. Even with all of the travel they had done, how exhausted she'd been, she now felt like she could run a mile.

  It was one of the strangest feelings she'd ever had—and she felt so safe now. Like this spear could protect her from anyone who dared oppose her. Maybe she could now. Maybe the Spear of Destiny would keep whatever her own destiny was intact.

  But at the back of her mind, she remembered how many people had killed each other for the spear centuries ago. It clearly didn't make you indestructible if most of its owners had been viciously murdered.

  She didn't have time to really take it all in. Those icy eyes were looking at her with utter contempt. Julian charged at her, his face contorted into a feral sneer. Nina moved the spear in front of her, the only thing between her and Julian.

  The tip of the spear sunk into his chest. He gasped, not able to stop his charge in time. He came to a sudden halt, but the spear had already run him through. He stood between two halves of the lance's shaft, his body entirely skewered.

  Nina stood her ground, shaking. Julian stared at her with a confused mixture of shock and fury. His mouth moved silently, blood and saliva bubbling from it. He t
ook a step toward her, forcing his body forward along the spear, driving it further through him, but allowing him to approach her. He looked like he was seconds away from death, yet he still came closer.

  Julian reached out to her with his scarred hands. They touched her face and Nina let out a desperate scream as he tried to grab her head. She kicked her feet, tightened her grip on the spear, and rushed forward, pushing the impaled mad ahead of her toward the edge of the cliff.

  He desperately tried to clutch her face, his fingers writhing centimeters from her eyes. She could see it in his eyes. He wanted to see her bleed. He wanted to see her dead. He'd decided that if this was his end, then it was going to be hers too. He would keep coming, no matter how deep the spear went.

  “You want the spear so bad?” Nina cried. “Do you!? Have it then! Keep it!”

  Julian spat one final hiss. His expression was warped with the kind of madness only a desperate dying man could produce. Everything he had worked toward. All of his time with the Order of the Black Sun, all of the murders he had committed on his journey, none of it would matter if he died. He had to get the spear. He needed to see the look on the inner circle's face when he presented them with it. He needed to use the spear to draw out the path to the future. The Black Sun would be nothing without him. Nothing.

  He would never be the king that he'd wanted to be since he was two years old. He'd die as a slightly more respected underling for people who thought they were royalty. He could have worn the crown better than anyone. He could have been the king, the leader, that the Order of the Black Sun had been severely lacking. He could have salvaged their dwindling society and made it into something far more powerful. He would have been their savior, their messiah. Julian would be a god-king. All he had to do was kill the doctor that was pushing him to the edge; and it seemed too late to actually be able to stop her.

  Reaching the precipice, Nina let go of the spear and watched Julian tumble over the edge, with the Spear of Destiny still embedded in in his body. Nina got one last look at his icy gray eyes as they fell away. Julian and the Holy Lance descended into the darkness below.