)))))))))))))
The King of the Tuatha de Danann drew in his rein in front of the excited healer and stared down at him disdainfully from his elevated position. He wore his golden battle helmet and carried an array of the finest Tuathan weapons on his person and his livery. His captain stopped behind him and waited.
Selwig leaned his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. He had run as fast as he could down the length of the lawn and then veered off to the right after signaling his identity to the advance guard. The King had ridden out to meet him in order to keep him away from the main body of the troops. Mistreating Selwig was his only consolation as far Mark Ramsay was concerned. Why his Master and Lord, Lugh, would have given the healer over to the Knight of Death, he had no idea, but it sickened him to hear Selwig speak of Ramsay with such great reverence. Selwig’s banishment had been his idea. He had known eventually Ramsay would hear of it and the effect would be worth the loss of one healer.
“Get hold of yourself, little one!” Corrigan snapped at him and Selwig straightened up immediately.
“Your pardon, my King,” Selwig apologized quickly and then bowed low before his King. “I must make haste!”
“Did you see Ramsay?” The King turned his nervous mount about and scanned the dark line of trees and shrubbery with suspicion. He did not want to be here and did not understand why Lugh had made him come.
“I did, my Lord and he sends these words.” Selwig drew himself up as tall as possible. “He requires my presence as hostage to your honor.”
“What?!” The King rode closer to the healer and leaned over him. “My honor? What do you mean?”
“Lord Adar said I must return to him at once or he will come after me,” Selwig said with just the slightest bit of arrogance in his voice. “He appreciates the aid offered by our great Lord Lugh and requests you stay alert and watchful at the borders and sound the alarm if strangers draw nigh.”
Corrigan raised up and glanced at his captain.
“That sounds reasonable,” Corrigan nodded. “We can do that. But what does he want with you?”
“That… I am not sure of his motives, Your Highness. He simply wishes to hold me to ensure that you will not interfere with his work, I believe.”
“Hold you?” Corrigan laughed. “He can have you! Who is there with him?”
Selwig frowned at the King. He did not like Corrigan. It had been Corrigan that had suggested to Lugh that the healer be banished from the Kingdom. Selwig had returned home bearing tales of adventure and brave deeds of the Order, clearly showing his admiration for the people whom Corrigan so despised. Corrigan had convinced Lugh such words would be detrimental to the Tuatha and would present them with a false view of Ramsay and his men. When Lugh had learned how Ramsay’s grandson had used the golden hand to absorb the power of the evil one, he had blamed Selwig for giving him the power to defeat them, almost calling him a traitor at one point and threatening to execute him for treason.
Selwig had understood none of it, but Corrigan had experienced from a last minute pang of guilt upon seeing the suffering of the healer and had magnanimously asked Lugh to spare his life. Corrigan’s own people had seen this as great benevolence on their King’s part and the whole thing had worked out very favorably for everyone except Selwig, who had been banished to live alone in the forests of the Center.
“There are three. Lord Adar; his companion, Lord Konrad; and the son of the Healer, a giant… called Levi.”
“A giant?” Corrigan laughed. “Simon’s son, a giant?”
“He is formidable, Your Grace. I saw him sleeping in his bed before I spoke with Lord Adar.” Selwig told him. “A great, tall man of considerable strength and power.”
“Levi,” Corrigan repeated the name. “Then let them go about their business! Tell them that we will patrol the borders of this land, and if the enemy comes, we will sound the alarm. Does he not request our aid if such should occur?”
“He did not, my King.”
“Then let it be done. If they come to destroy him, then let that be done as well. Go back and tell him that we will gladly abide by his word.”
“And what of me, Your Grace?” Selwig asked him.
“What of you?” Corrigan turned the horse again and tossed his head.
“What shall I do when the business is finished?” Selwig called after his King.
“I suggest you hurry back to us, my little friend, or else be left behind. As far as I am concerned, you would do well to remain here with your friends. We will ride out as soon as we are released from this dreadful obligation.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Selwig bowed again and Corrigan kicked his horse.
The healer watched as they rode back rapidly toward the line of lighted torches, kicking up bits of sod and grass in his face. He brushed at his hair and clothes before turning on his heel and running back toward the house.
(((((((((((((
“Levi!” Jozsef Daniel’s eyes gleamed in the darkness of the bower. “I know that name.”
“He is one of the younger sons of Simon of Grenoble.” The general said and pushed back his hood.
“Yes! Levi.” Jozsef nodded. “The one who would open the Ark, my friend. His brother told me that Levi would be the priest, who would open the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Solomon. Why would Ramsay bring this one here? This must be a great treasure indeed. We must have it, Abaddon! We must.”
“It might not be so easy to take it from Ramsay, Your Grace.” The general frowned. They had come here merely to observe or, at least, that was what Jozsef Daniel had told him. Abaddon was sorely afraid of the one called Adar. He knew quite well that Adar could banish him easily, more easily even than his former master, Marduk. “We should not confront him without troops. It could be dangerous.”
“And so you are right,” Jozsef Daniel agreed. “I regret I came unprepared. We will observe this thing and see where he takes it. There are many ways to skin a cat, Abaddon.”
The General sighed in relief and relaxed a bit. But not so easy to skin a live tiger, he thought.
“Let’s get a bit closer to the house so we may follow them when they come out.”
Jozsef moved off under the cover of the thick foliage.
Chapter Sixteen of Twenty
what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
“Are we ready then?”
Ramsay looked at his small entourage. Two clurichauns, the Tuathan healer, the Knight of the Apocalypse and Levi. Levi’s appearance when he had finally come down with the two clurichauns, had shocked him almost as much as the appearance of the faeries. He wore a long robe over a long-sleeved tunic. The robe was deep scarlet, purple and white with a golden fringe on the hem. Under his arm, he carried a very carefully folded gold and white cloth. On his head, he wore a small cap much like the hats worn by the Jewish rabbis, but Levi was not a rabbi. He could not be a rabbi. He was not married.
Konrad seemed to be taking everything in stride, but Konrad was not prone to displaying his emotions on his face. He checked his daggers and his sword once more and pulled his light jacket more tightly around him.
“We are ready, Brother.” The Knight smiled at him laconically. “Let’s get this sideshow on the road, shall we?” He laid hold of the door knob and pulled the door open for his companions with a theatrical flourish.
Mark Andrew took the lead and the others followed close behind him as he led them rapidly across the side yard toward the elaborate gardens. The moon lit their way as they walked down the bricked paths that twisted and turned under the flowering trees and fragrant shrubbery. They passed through a formal rose garden and entered a picturesque little desert. The rock garden. The place was beautiful even in the pale light cast by the moon. Mark led them to a low, but wide tunnel under an artfully constructed pile of rocks and stopped. Atop the manmade rock cavern grew a tremendous old tree. Its branches spread out toward the adjoining waterscapes, dark against the light of the full moon. The gnarl
ed roots and tendrils enveloping the opening of the tunnel were very familiar. This was exactly where Ashmodel had told him he would find what he was looking for. Clever little Ashmodel. The tree was the same tree that he had seen on the bank of the tributary running across his property in Lothian.
The night was full of floating fluffs from an unidentified plant filtering down around them like so much snow. The moonlight reflected off of these ephemeral drifts, giving the place an otherworldly appearance.
“This is as far as you go,” he told the clurichauns. “Stay out here and stay alert!”
“Aye,” the cousins said in unison and took up positions on either side of the tunnel entrance. They would not want to be too close to the powerful artifacts hidden within the tunnel.
“Selwig.” Mark turned to the healer. “Stay with them.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Selwig’s eyes were very large in the moonlight. He carried no weapons, only his yellow bag full of healing herbs and materials slung over his shoulder.
Mark nodded to Levi and headed into the dim interior of the small manmade cavern. Near the rear of the tunnel, the Knight of Death stopped again and knelt on the floor. He ran one hand over the ground and turned about, squinting into the darkness.
“They paved over it,” he said and stood up. “Stand back.”
Mark Andrew sat down on the walkway and pressed his palms together. Konrad faced the entrance, while Levi watched Mark with great interest.
The Knight of Death began an ancient spell chant. Levi pressed his hands over his ears and Konrad recognized the ancient tongue of the Sumerians. The tunnel filled with a greenish glow and then a brilliant flash of blue light lit up their faces momentarily, accompanied by an ominous grating noise.
Mark Andrew got up and stood looking down at the floor with his hands on his hips. The pavement in front of him appeared to have been peeled back on either side of a smooth rounded stone.
Konrad turned back to look down at the thing.
“Is that it?” he asked unimpressed and Mark nodded.
“Help me with this.”
The two Knights got down on their knees and scooped away the crumbled rock around the edges of the oblong stone. When the rubble was cleared, the exposed rock was revealed to be the lid of a carved box made of dark, blue stone. The two men moved around to either end and then grasped the lid by the rounded corners, straining to lift the heavy weight. The stone grated and resisted and finally came free, and they moved it aside to reveal a dark cavity below.
“Levi!” Mark Andrew called to the priest. “Take a look first.”
Levi knelt on the floor and Konrad shined a small flashlight into the opening.
“Ahhhh.” Levi’s eyes grew wider at the sight of the objects within the box. He quickly spread the white and gold cloth on the ground beside him and reached cautiously into the opening. “Turn your eyes away, my friends,” he told them and they obeyed him readily.
They waited, eyes closed, expecting the worst as Levi uttered a prayer in the Ancient Hebrew tongue. They heard several noises and then nothing for several more seconds.
“You may open your eyes now.”
Levi stood up again, clutching his bundle to his chest protectively.
Konrad held the light while Mark reached into the box. He pulled out what looked like a stack of thin stone plates of dark material. Gold and silver sparkled in the beam of the small flashlight as he laid them aside. He reached for Konrad’s light and held it over the box, perusing the interior intently. Konrad drew a sharp breath at the sight of the golden tablets lying at the bottom of the box.
Mark inspected the enclosure and then nodded to himself. He handed the light back to Konrad and them moved the stone book into a leather valise with brass fittings that Konrad had brought especially to carry the item.
Once more, the two Knights knelt on the floor and placed the lid back on the box. The lid fell into place with a hollow boom.
“You are leaving the gold?” Konrad whispered to him.
“Aye. We don’t need it,” Mark Andrew told him. “It is better left where it is.”
The Knight of Death sat down again and pressed his palms together. After a few moments, the floor looked exactly as it had before. Not a trace of the box remained to be seen. He got up again and hefted the straps of the valise over his left shoulder.
“Well!” He smiled at them. “That went extremely well. Are you all right, Levi?”
“I’m well,” the priest answered quietly.
“Is that what you expected to find?” he asked him as they started back toward the entrance.
“It is beyond words, Master.” Levi sounded almost trance-like. “The Urim and Thummin. Just as described in the Word of God. The crystals of Purity and Truth to be worn on the inner breastplate of the priests when in the presence of the Ark. It is a great honor and privilege for me to have seen them!”
When they stepped out into the moonlight, Seamus and Paddy backed away from them. The two clurichauns could sense the powerful presence of the items they carried. Selwig stumbled behind them, clutching his yellow bag in fright.
“Everything went well,” Mark Andrew told his friends. “Your help is greatly appreciated, but I believe we can handle it from here.”
“Perhaps, you speak too soon, Brother,” Konrad’s low voice made Mark Andrew freeze as he recognized the thunderous sounds of horses’ hooves drawing near.
Mark pulled the straps of the valise from his shoulder and thrust the bag at the priest as he drew his sword. Konrad stood next to him with his sword drawn as well and they were flanked by the two cousins. Selwig scrambled around the rocks and got behind Levi as several black horses came into view, galloping toward them down the garden path.
“What treachery is this?” Mark Andrew asked under his breath. Had Corrigan turned on him?
The great beasts skidded to a halt in front of the four swordsmen. They snorted and neighed, pawing the air. The riders, also clothed in black cloaks reined the horses about in confusion for several seconds as Mark Andrew and Konrad stood their ground in front of the priest. The objects in the priest’s hands made the horses extremely skittish.
“Adar!” The lead rider called and pushed back his hood and smiled down at the Knight of Death.
“Ahhh.” Mark Andrew returned the smile sarcastically. “So the cockroaches are finally coming out of the cracks! What brings you good fellows out on this lovely evening?”
“You know very well why we are here, Brother,” al Sajek said as he slid from the horse in front of Mark Andrew. “You are looking quite well, though a bit less lovely than last I saw you.” The Arab’s dark eyes glittered with amused malice. “And who have we here? Brave soldiers?” He glanced at the fierce faces of the clurichauns. “You little ones had best scurry back to your little holes before you get hurt! Now!” He drew his curved blade from his scabbard and squared off with Ramsay as another of his companions dismounted, drawing yet another long, gleaming sword from his own belt. The second figure threw back his hood, revealing the curly hair and darkly handsome face of Gerald Lorn, recently Lord Nergal of the Fifth Gate.
“You are a slippery devil!” Nergal told him as he took up a position in front of Konrad.
“You are outnumbered here, Adar.” Marduk laughed at him as a third horseman dismounted. The rest of Maduk’s company crowded about behind them in a tight semi-circle as they heard the clinks and zings of many blades being drawn simultaneously. The third figure joined them, revealing none other than the long bearded, yellow Ifrit, Bombarik. “Hand over your treasures and your little friends will live to fight another day.”
“I cannot do that, sir.” Mark Andrew shook his head as the sounds of more hooves on soft earth and paved walkways came to their ears. The blasts of several horns split the air as the Tuathan troops fell in behind the dark horses, cutting off their retreat.
“Ahhh. More faeries,” Marduk glanced behind him and growled. “Surely, they do not think
to stand against the powers of the Abyss?”
“Get back in the tunnel!” Mark Andrew shouted over his shoulder to Levi and Selwig.
Selwig tugged on the priest’s robes, and then shrieked, and ran into the darkness as Levi backed reluctantly into the opening behind him, clutching both his bundle and the leather valise in front of him.
“Get back!!” Mark Andrew shouted at the priest again and a strange warbling sound erupted from the Tuathans as they prepared to charge.
“Bombarik! Kill them!” Marduk waved one hand at the Djinni and then lunged at Mark Andrew.
The Ifrit lifted his arms, smiled wickedly at Ramsay and then brought them down again abruptly. A flash of yellow light erupted between the dark riders and the Tuathan calvary. The archers let fly a round of arrows, but they were incinerated in the yellow flames. Konrad engaged the Lord of the Fifth Gate while Mark and al Sajek exchanged blow for blow, and the world immediately around them became complete chaos.
Paddy and Seamus came together and attacked the Djinni as he turned again. Seamus struck him a painful blow in the left knee with his sword. The Djinni exclaimed loudly in pain and surprise before swinging at the clurichaun with his curved blade. Seamus leaped away from him as Paddy closed in from his blind side. The second clurichaun’s short, but razor sharp blade narrowly missed the Ifrit’s neck and took off the greater part of his beard instead. Bombarik stumbled backward, clutching at nothing as his precious whiskers went flying through the air. Seamus laughed aloud at the sight and stopped long enough to congratulate his cousin, Paddy. They hugged each other and clapped each other on the back as the Djinni recovered himself a few yards away, complaining loudly. They broke apart and charged the enraged Djinni again with their swords raised over their heads, shrieking the frenzied battle cries of the ancient Gaels.
Bombarik leaped onto the nearest pile of rocks and climbed nimbly to the top as his two opponents clambered after him. The Ifrit reached the top of the pile and turned to face his pursuers. When he finally got a good look at the two colorfully dressed faeries, he put his hands on his hips and waited on them with an evil smile on his dark face. They continued up the rocks determinedly until they were almost within reach and then the Djinni waved one hand at the two clurichauns and they rolled back down the stony mound in a tangle of arms, legs and swords.
Thoth, the Atlantean Page 33