“I don’t buy it.”
Ray closed his eyes to collect his thoughts. “Sarah,” he opened his eyes and met with hers, reaching for Sarah’s hand. “I can’t let any more people walk in to their death because of something I am. The least I can do is to be with them. I have to see through this.”
Sarah’s eyes watered. “There…may be doors or locks that need opening.” She tried to suppress her tears with a faint smile. “Just…be careful.”
“We will.”
She darted from her seat, hugged Ray and landed a kiss on his cheek.
“All right, now I’m blushing.”
“Shut up!” Sarah laughed, rubbing her tears. “Ga’an, bring yourselves back in one piece.”
Ga’an nodded and the two left the cockpit.
Colonel Pats’ team was already on the ground securing the perimeter when Ray and Ga’an joined them. The ramp rose behind them as the two stepped onto the moist ground and Sarah locked the ship, turning off all systems but the life support and the emergency engine start. She would wait in the cockpit and prep the ship for a quick launch if things went wrong. Ray turned and looked one last time at the Fox’s glass windows before the team entered the woods. Sarah held Darty’s paw and waved it, smiling timidly, holding the animal firm.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER ANYWAY?
It took over an hour for the group to reach the premises of the huge, rectangular temple. They made their way through the dense forest with some effort, trying not to stumble over unearthed roots and bushes. The woods were cold and damp but Ray couldn’t complain. So far, the trees had hidden their presence from the enemy patrols but their luck would only go so far.
At least three hundred meters of open ground stretched between the woods and the structure’s backdoor entrance. A few ancient statues and big rocks stood here and there but hiding eight people would be near-impossible. The soldiers were well-equipped with heat-based projectile rifles—Ray and Ga’an had told them about standard pistols not being effective on the Baeal. The team also had grenades, vision goggles with thermal and frequency rotation to spot the invisible animals Ray and Ga’an had warned them about, and X2 claymores in case they needed an aggressive retreat. All looked great, except the enemy had battalions of men occupying the surrounding area.
“What’s the plan?” Ray asked, crawling to the colonel who was observing the temple and the Baeal patrols with his binoculars.
Pats looked around a bit more before answering. The rectangular temple was placed in the middle of a huge clearing deep within a mountain formation, surrounded by dense forest on all sides. It was secluded from the farmlands they’d seen when they flew over the settlements by the huge jungle and sharp rocks that would make climbing almost impossible. The backdoor entrance was a few hundred meters away from the forest line where they stood. The structure’s side walls went on for over a kilometer and the group could see the landed troopships in the clearing, beyond the main entrance at the other end. “There,” he pointed finally, “the patrols are least focused there, near the right back end corner. We can crawl through there with optic camouflage.”
“Optic camouflage?” Ray asked.
“Like those cat things you’ve described. We have our own tricks Mr. Harris.”
“How do we know they won’t see through that?”
“We don’t,” Pats said. “Frankly, I don’t see any other way.” The colonel’s argument was sound. “The front yard has an army but they’re still deploying. One setback of having huge numbers is it slows your movements. We sneak in, we sneak out before the enemy settles in.” If they were to enter the temple, they had to push forward and soon.
Colonel Pats made a sign with his left hand and his squad pulled what appeared to be folded clothes from their packs, wearing them on top of their field gear.
At first, Ray didn’t see the point but soon, his skepticism turned into admiration. The sheets were thin cloaks that bent the light around them, rendering the wearer invisible to the naked eye.
“Unless you’re real close and paying attention, it’s hard to notice,” Colonel Pats said and handed Ray and Ga’an their cloaks. “And it’s passive. Scanners can catch active thermo-optic suits without a sweat.”
“I can see you, Colonel Pats,” Ga’an said coldly.
“Yeah, he does that,” Ray nodded admittedly.
“Well, let’s hope it’s a rare gift only you possess,” the veteran soldier grimaced, sounding disheartened. He signaled the group to move, taking the lead himself.
They crawled until it was dark, and barely avoided gunfight twice when a patrol came too close to their path in the woods. The upside; their cloaks were working, to their surprise, but with nightfall, they heard howling that sounded disturbingly close to what Ray and Ga’an had heard back on the asteroid base. If the source of those howls were anything like the hounds Ray knew, their cloaks would only work to hide the gross scene of their torn bodies.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice the signal Pats gave through the communicator, almost bumping into the man. Ray cursed when he saw the reason for their stop. A third patrol came toward them and this time, they had one of those tiger-like animals with them, its deadly orange eyes piercing the dark of the night.
Ray’s heart missed a beat when the big cat stopped and sniffed the air, alerting the two hovering bald guards. One looked where the animal was staring and said something inaudible.
“They’re on to us,” Ray whispered.
The predator made a sound as if to confirm its master’s order and flickered, turning invisible in seconds. The leaves moving near the path was the only warning they had. The creature now hunted. Ray heard Colonel Pats cursing under his breath. He himself did the same.
“All right. Johnson, Holmes, take the one to the right,” Colonel Pats’ voice whispered in Ray’s ear through his communicator. “Samir, Eugenia, you take the guard on the left. Rest, try and focus on the pet. We’ve got one shot.”
No one said anything over the radio but Ray heard the soldiers switching their goggles to rotation mode and he did the same with his own, moving as slowly and as silent as he can. Next to the commandos, he felt like an elephant in a gift shop, trying not to break anything.
The moment he turned his goggles on, his vision turned into nothing but gleaming tones of blue except a bright, yellow shape moving toward their position in the distance.
“On my mark,” he heard the colonel’s voice and readied himself, hoping the field training he had a decade ago would finally pay off.
“Mark!”
He pulled the trigger a few times, trying to aim as best as he could and the yellow shape suddenly disappeared from his sights.
“Targets are down,” he heard a woman speak softly through the communicator and allowed himself to breathe again. “God, they’re ugly,” the woman added a while later.
“Wilma, take out a cloak and hide the bodies. Let’s keep our presence as hidden as possible.” Colonel Pats looked at one of the dead, bald figures. “They’re very tall and look strong. I wouldn’t want a hand-to-hand situation with these guys.”
“They’ll know something’s wrong when this patrol miss their report,” Captain Samir reasoned.”
“With any luck we’ll be long gone by then,” Colonel Pats replied.
Both of the Baeal soldiers had been shot in their foreheads with astonishing precision. The hound had two hits to its groin, possibly by his bad aim, but the killing wound had been inflicted by one of the commandos, directly in the lower right eye, piercing the orange eyeball through to the back of its skull. “All right, heat rounds work.”
“Told you, an overheated oven drilling your head’s deadly, no matter where you’re from.” Captain Samir patted Ray’s shoulder.
By the time they reached the temple entrance, Ray was already exhausted, whether from crouching for several hundred meters with his rusty legs or from stress. He looked back to see how was Ga’an doing
but couldn’t make out the tall man in his camouflage. For his eyes, six blurred shapes followed him and the colonel.
“All right,” Colonel Pats whispered again, stopping the band, “Lieutenant Holmes, same drill.”
A few seconds later, the two guards at the back entrance lay dead. The colonel signaled them to move forward, climbing the stairs of the ancient building. Ray wondered what Reverend Marcus would say if he had a chance to study the elegantly crafted carvings that went all the way to the top of the walls and covered the beams.
“It looks like a battle painting,” Captain Samir said, standing near Ray.
“It tells the story of light battling the hordes of darkness, Captain Samir,” Ga’an said, breaking his silence. “The warriors at the top are the defenders of life and the shadows crawling from the bottom are the forces of evil. I saw this exact carving at another temple in the early years of our search for a Lohil or a way to use the stones.”
“You really don’t look like an alien, Ga’an,” Captain Samir said, leaning his head to right. “Yeah, tall, and the Colonel says it’s the jaw and chin. I just don’t see it.”
“You all right with him being an alien?” Ray asked. “I thought the reaction would be different. You know…”
“Buddy, look around you. We’re in a temple, hunted by invisible cats and bald freaks. This man here looks better than my neighbor!”
“Well put.” Ray looked at the wall one more time, but he didn’t have the knowledge to appreciate the historic importance of the structure and the huge mural. They were no longer crouched on their knees, but the group still avoided making any noise. With his sloppy steps, Ray had to pay extra attention.
“We got to move,” Colonel Pats signaled.
“Why they didn’t post any more guards?” Ray whispered.
“They probably don’t expect anyone to be this crazy to attack a battalion of soldiers,” Lieutenant Holmes answered. “Or they’re still deploying.”
“Let’s not push our luck. Mr. Harris, now where?” Colonel Pats asked when they reached to the tall archway.
“Reverend Marcus said the stone should be in the center of the building according to the ancient ritual tomes,” Ray answered. “If this building’s the same as the temple back on Bunari, we’ll pass through three corridors surrounding the central court. They go inward like spiral ways, connecting to the main hall.”
“Let’s move,” Colonel Pats whispered, entering the huge structure.
Reverend Marcus was right; the corridors were designed as a maze, surrounding the center of the structure like a snail shell. Ray felt the incline under his feet the more they walked through the passageways. He heard one of the soldiers grumble about inaccessible architecture over the communicator more than a few times before they reached the end of the labyrinth. They bumped into two guards overseeing the big room before them. The band took them down in silence and pulled their bodies into the darkness of the hall.
“Hush!” the colonel’s voice warned them, halting the group right before they entered the chamber. “There,” he whispered, crouching, “near the pedestal.”
A marble altar stood in the center of the room, with a big statue of a robed man looming over it. The statue’s eyes glowed pale white and its stone clothing was covered with signs. “I saw this statue before, in Bunari. The signs were different and the color of its glow was different, but it was the same.” He left the part about how he saw the statue.
However, Colonel Pats wasn’t pointing at the statue. At least a dozen guards were positioned around the altar in pairs, blocking access to the main chamber. Ray had no idea where the other corridors led, but judging by the ceiling height and the building’s size, he guessed there would be hundreds of rooms on the upper floors, if not more, surrounding the central hub. The hulking animals wandered the room, sniffing the air for any intruders.
Another bald figure in black robes stood before the altar, chanting in a guttural, irritating tone. He held a staff in his hand and waved it at the stone every now and then. Whenever he pointed his staff at the Arinar before him, a black crystal attached to the shaft-tip glowed, radiating its blackness. It looked as if the crystal was absorbing the stone’s power, sucking the light out of it.
“How do we proceed?” Ray asked.
“We don’t have many options,” the veteran soldier said, biting his lips. “I’m guessing that stone thing this nut-job’s singing to is our target.” His face clouded, then he shook his head.
“What?”
“There’s no way to avoid a confrontation.” Pats pointed to the blocked exits. “We’ll snipe as many as we can and then rush to the stone.” He shrugged. “I suggest you stay close to your tall friend and hope for the best. Get in touch with the Fox to be ready for extraction.”
Ray nodded; there was no backing out now, and the scarred man was the expert. “Sarah?” Ray waited for an answer but no one responded. “Sarah!” he hissed. “Damn, nothing! It must be the walls.”
“Well, we’ll worry about that later.” The colonel gave the signal and soldiers fired at the dark-skinned guards. Before they could react, four guards and two of the animals were down. However, that was all the advantage they had and the guards quickly recovered from the initial surprise.
The Baeal men carried staffs similar to that of the robed figure in the middle. One yelled something that sounded like an order and the bald figures fired.
“Watch those weapons!” Captain Samir yelled, rolling to his side.
The projectiles looked like balls of light. Whenever a shot hit the temple walls, it burst stones and ash in small explosions. In a matter of seconds, the hall was a warzone; soldiers jumping from one corner to another, attacking their targets in frenzy, the Baeal firing on anything that moved. One of the columns had come down with their staff blasts and Ray hoped it wasn’t a support structure. Ga’an shot at the animals that had become invisible the moment the first rounds fired, and with each blast, big pieces of stones rained in the chamber, raising the ancient dust off the floor.
“Man, they’re practically tearing this place apart!” Colonel Pats yelled over the noise. “Look out for the falling rocks!”
Ray didn’t dare look around, focusing his stare on Mara’tthane standing on the pedestal. He rushed to the altar, firing his rifle at a bald soldier who jumped before him. Ga’an’s warning made him duck just in time and Ray gulped, watching a blurry shape pass over him, missing his neck by a few centimeters.
In a moment, he was alone on the pedestal but for the Arinar and the robed Baeal who watched him calmly with black, fathomless eyes. The chaos around him blurred, the sounds of the clash dimming to silence. It was as if an aura surrounded the pedestal, separating them from the rest.
From the corner of his eye, Ray saw Lieutenant Holmes ripped to pieces by one of the animals and Ga’an smashing a tiger-like creature’s head against the floor.
“Imn u narak!” the bald man spoke in his guttural language, focusing his attention back on the stone. The figure hit the floor three times with the end of his staff and Ray heard thunder cracking with the third hit.
The air above the pedestal morphed into a face. To Ray’s surprise, it was—or looked—human. A bearded man.
“Greetings Mr. Harris.” The bearded man’s voice sounded as if there were several different layers to it, several people talking at the same time, but he looked like an ordinary man in his late fifties; light brown hair with graying temples. His beard was shaven in a short, boxy style, its color complementing the man’s hazel eyes. He wore a top-class light brown jacket with thin, pale yellow stripes and a tie to match.
“Who are you?” Ray asked. From the man’s appearance, he could be a law firm’s accountant.
“Known with many names in many cultures,” the figure said with a perfect accent, “but I am known as Theobald Goehring on your home planet.”
“Are you human? Baeal?” Ray asked. He didn’t recognize the name.
“It is a wond
er they are still using that name, but yes,” the man answered, looking bored. “I am Baeal.” He used the word mockingly.
“How come you’re different from them?” Ray asked, pointing at the bald figure standing near him, watching the exchange in silence. In…respect?
“Details, details,” the man sighed, “However, if you must know…” The man’s face changed into a dark blue figure with black eyes that looked endless. His pointy ears went to the top of his head, connecting to his skin. Unlike the other Baeal Ray had seen, this one had markings on his face and ornaments attached to his right ear. The robed figure standing beside Ray dropped to his knees, groveling, as if for him to look at this apparition’s face was blasphemy. “Ah, that was refreshing. You have no idea how long I have been enduring this masquerade.”
“What do you want?” Ray asked, looking at the apparition before him in disbelief.
“Nothing,” the figure shrugged, “At least, nothing from you.” He smirked. “I admit, I fell in for my curiosity and wanted to see who you really are.”
“What?”
“You did not think I would let you wander into this temple like this, did you? You and your crew were supposed to die in that crash and stay dead, Mr. Harris. Then you were supposed to die on Bunari, and on Tarra. For some reason, you keep surviving and it makes me curious.”
“Well, I’m glad I disappointed you.”
“The nature of creation is…astonishing to say the least. It is a wonder why it allowed bystanders like you to survive this long. Perhaps the fate liked you.” The Baeal smiled, really seeming astonished by the notion. “Anyway, it had to come to an end and it is now.”
Ray felt anger rising in him, “I will stop you.”
The man gave a laugh that sounded like a thousand people roaring at once. “Will you now? Do you even know what you are stopping?”
“Yes! Some egomaniac bald alien with bad makeup!” He dashed forward and grabbed Mara’tthane, and the stone glowed with blinding white light. The air surrounding the Baeal around him rippled and the dark shapes slowed down, then came to a halt as if time around them stopped. They disappeared one by one. Ray looked at the apparition and gave a conquering smile. “This is my galaxy!”
Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) Page 25