by C Lee Tocci
Todd looked at the knife in his hand; he had no time to consider what Keotak-se meant when he called it the Dagger of Quaban, but he did remember when they had defeated that snake-demon; he had stabbed it at the above the eyes and it had died quickly.
One of the scorpion’s tails swung near him. Clenching his knife between his teeth, He leapt at the tail as it passed then wrapped his arms and legs around it, keeping clear of the stinger. The beast must have sensed him clinging; the other stinger whipped around to try to stab him. He released his legs and hung from his arms, jerking himself out of the way of the second stinger. Then, waiting until the momentum was with him, he released his grip and swung himself, landing on the creature’s back.
The torso of beast was cold, slippery and rock hard. The scales on its back ran right up to cover the back of its man-like head. They overlapped tightly and Todd doubted that his knife would be able to even scratch them. Maybe he could force it up between the plates, but first he needed to hold on; his hands had nothing to grip and he found himself sliding off its side.
Pulling his knife from between his teeth, he tried sticking it between the cracks hoping that it might snag on something long enough to slow his skid. He had already slipped halfway off the side when he stabbed his knife into the back.
The knife plunged through the scale, shattering it like glass. Beneath the scales, the body of the scorpion was like wet packed sand and the blade slid into it without resistance.
Still the beast did not scream but it released Keotak-se and whipped its head and tails, trying to attack Todd. Todd didn’t hesitate; using his imbedded knife like an anchor, he hoisted himself up and straddled the beast’s back.
Between the searing fury of Keotak-se’s staff and the repeated stabs of his knife, the beast was weakening, but the stinger tails, though they struck out blindly, were still a threat and twice Todd had to twist to avoid being impaled. Finally, reaching its head, he drove his knife through the scales on the crest of its head, his arm throbbing with the impact.
Its mouth opened in a voiceless roar and its tails curled into tight spirals. Todd leapt to the ground just as the beast flipped onto its back; its legs and pincers twitching frantically as it quickly died.
Pulling out Tai-Kwee, Todd lit up the cavern and ran over to where Keotak-se sat, gasping. The wounds on his chest had already stopped bleeding and the gouges on his head and shoulders were seeping slower, healing as he watched. But Keotak-se was leaning weakly against his staff as he wiped the sweat and gore from his eyes. He reached out and gripped Todd’s arm with a bloody hand.
“Hear me, young stone warrior,” Keotak-se rasped. “The venom of the Cheetola is fatal. I only have a few minutes left before I sink into the shadows, so listen carefully.”
Todd would have argued, but a look from Keotak-se silenced him.
“Know this. The demon Syxx has very little power of its own. In truth, in the last seven months, Lilibit’s connection with the Earth Stone has grown so strong, Syxx no longer has the power to kill her himself. But Lilibit is still in danger; she can be killed by humans and Syxx’s greatest power has always been his ability to lie, to twist and to deceive others into using their powers for his own ends. Do not underestimate the Enemy, but do not overestimate him either. Both mistakes can be fatal.”
Keotak-se sunk to his knees, but continued to speak. “It is for you to decide whether to proceed or return to Kiva. Syxx will have detected the destruction of the Cheetola and will anticipate your next action. The wisest choice might be to retreat and return another day. But remember, Syxx’s goal is either to destroy Lilibit or to corrupt her to the point that he can prevent her from fulfilling her destiny.
“While an Infant Stone Voice lives, a new Infant cannot rise. Corrupting Lilibit will promote his objective better than her death, but I do not think she will easily fall to corruption. There is an honesty within her that does not nurture deceit, yet it is possible that Syxx may try, nonetheless. This may give you more time if you choose to delay the rescue. The decision is yours.”
Keotak-se breath heaved in his chest and his eyes clouded.
“A Cheetola?” Todd asked, panic warring with grief. “What is a Cheetola?”
“The demon snake that attacked you on the way to Kiva was a Cheetola, as was this monster.” Keotak-se whispered. “They are fallen warriors, who as men, chose to believe the lies of the Deceiver. Promised immortality, they suffer eternity as assassins, mindless weapons, twisted by their own corruption into parodies of nature. Considering this one’s ability to open and close the chasm as directed by Syxx, I suspect that this was once a warrior of the Nether Rock, long since fallen and forgotten. He will bless you in the next life for releasing him from this hell.”
Keotak-se’s eyes closed and his head dropped as he fell to the venom of the Cheetola. Todd recalled only too well the pain of the near-coma that would follow. His arms shook as he gently lowered the Stone Warrior to the ground.
No sooner had Keotak-se’s head touched the floor then a scratchy rumble filled the cavern. Todd leapt to his feet and, lifting his stone higher, saw a crevice open on one of the walls. He picked up Keotak-se’s staff and watched the crack widen and crumble.
Five towering man-like figures emerged into the cavern. As they stepped quickly forward, Todd saw that they were Netherockians, like Ulex, only taller and, unlike Ulex whose crystal skin was a bright milky white, these Netherockians were different shades of dark grey. They were taller too; the shortest was still over eight feet tall. He’d never thought of it before, but Todd wondered how old Ulex was. He’d assumed he was full grown, but maybe he wasn’t; that he might end up as tall as these Elders was mind-boggling.
For that’s what they were: the Elders of the Nether Rock that Ulex had called. They must have been closer to Commerce City than Ulex was, since Ulex was still hours away.
The Elders stared at the slain beast, then at Keotak-se’s unconscious body and then at Todd. Todd shrugged.
He sidestepped warily and edged his way to the place directly beneath the chasm opening. The opening had seemed so huge when they’d stood above it, but seen from the cavern floor, it looked like a crack in the ceiling. He cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed up to the surface.
“MARLA! JEFF! DONNY! GET DOWN HERE!”
His yells echoed through the cavern, taking what seemed like forever to fade out. The Elders stood and stared at him but made no move.
A flutter of movement from above and three small silhouettes grew larger as they descended. Marla lost her focus and morphed back to herself. Todd ran to catch her, but she yelled out “Kissy-face!” again and managed to land safely.
At first, Marla, Jeff and Donny just stared at the dead beast in horror, but then Marla noticed the Elders.
“Oh!” she whispered and then grabbed the stone at her throat. After a moment, she said, “they came to contain the monster. They’re surprised to see that it’s dead.”
“How do you know that?” asked Jeff.
“Ulex can hear them and I can hear Ulex,” she answered.
“Listen, Marla!” Todd grabbed her by the shoulders. “Keotak-se’s been stung by the Cheetola. We need to get him back to Kiva. If we don’t get him to Nita soon, he’ll die!” When Todd, Jeff and Lilibit had been poisoned by the snake-cheetola, it had been Nita’s stone that had healed them.
Marla looked stunned. “What’s a Cheetola?”
“That thing!” He turned her to look at the beast. “It’s an Assassin. One of Syxx’s minions. The same as that demon snake that attacked us on the way to Kiva.”
“It’s nothing like that snake-thing!” Jeff said, torn between disgust and awe.
“It’s different, but it’s the same.” Todd waved Jeff off. “I’ll explain later.” He turned back to Marla. “Only Nita can help him now, but we have to get him back to Kiva. Maybe the Elders can carry him to Ulex and Ulex can bring him back to Kiva.”
He hadn’t even finished that last s
entence when one of the Elders walked over to Keotak-se and gently lifted him. He was the tallest and the palest of the Elders and it didn’t look like he felt Keotak-se’s weight at all. Holding him in his arms like a sleeping child, he turned and ran out of the cavern.
“Hey!” cried Todd, but they were gone. He stroked Tai-Kwee brighter, but the crevice was black and empty.
“Ulex doesn’t want to have to take Keotak-se back.” Marla sounded unusually stubborn and irritable as she echoed Ulex’s words. “He wants to join us here and help rescue Lilibit.”
“He can’t!” Todd wiped his sleeve across his face. “He’s the only one that can pass under the Sienna Sentries. If he doesn’t take him all the way, then Keotak-se will die!”
Marla’s brow furrowed as she clung to her stone. Her lips twitched as she argued with Ulex, but finally, with a burst of exasperation, she pulled her hand from her neck. “He’ll do it, but he’s not happy.”
There was nothing more Todd could do for Keotak-se. Pushing him to the back of his mind, he turned to the others.
“Keotak-se warned me that Syxx will know that we’re coming and that we’ve destroyed the Cheetola.”
“What’s this ‘we’ crap?” Jeff muttered. “I didn’t touch his Cheetola.”
Ignoring him, Todd continued. “There’s a chance that Syxx won’t try to kill Lilibit right away. So, the question is, do we go back to Kiva and wait for Keotak-se to heal and then try again, or do we go forward?”
Surprisingly, it was Donny that answered first. “Get Lilibit now,” he said baldly.
“Get Lilibit now.” Jeff and Marla echoed.
Todd’s breath escaped in a decisive whoosh. “It’s unanimous then. We get Lilibit. Now.”
Chapter Forty-Two
The Compound
They flew up from the chasm as birds but now stood on the rim as themselves. Todd held Keotak-se’s staff and watched as the Elders sealed up the chasm, even restoring the pavement of the driveway. No one would look at that area and have a clue as to the horror that once lurked beneath. Taking a deep breath, Todd turned and faced the compound.
The driveway continued straight and seemless, crossing the remaining distance to where the building loomed. It looked taller than just the six stories that Jeff claimed it was; solid concrete with no windows and only one huge steel door in the center, big enough for a truck to pass through. For a moment, Todd wondered why there were no guards posted on the outside, but maybe Syxx didn’t want to have to explain a fifty-foot wide chasm that appeared and disappeared on command.
There was nowhere to hide, but then again, there was no one to see, either.
The halogen lights glared from the barren expanse surrounding the compound, but didn’t quite seem to illuminate the building. Darkness clung to it like a shadowy fog. Clutching Keotak-se’s staff in his hand, Todd started up the driveway. The others fell in quietly behind him.
The attack came without warning. One moment they were alone, creeping silently toward the building, the next moment, they were surrounded. Dobermans, German Shepherds, Rotweillers and mongrels poured out from the back of the building. Heads down, teeth bared and ruff raised, they encircled the four of them, panting with an eerie silence.
They all froze, four sets of human eyes staring into dozens of canine eyes.
“Oh, yeah,” Jeff whispered. “I forgot. Guard dogs.”
“Donny?” Todd barely moved, keeping his attention on the pack. “Can you---?”
He got no further, Donny was already moving forward, stepping into the pack. The dogs gave way, their ruffs smoothing and their tails wagging as they swarmed around Donny, jostling each other for the chance to be close to him. Donny reached down to pat a brindle pitbull and the rest of the dogs mobbed him, licking and wheezing.
“Why don’t they bark?” Marla asked, her color returning as the dogs edged away. “Why do they make that weird gasping sound?”
Donny’s face puckered as he stared into the eyes of the brindle pit. “They can’t bark. The men fixed them so they can’t bark anymore.”
Donny seemed angry about this, but there was no time to feel sorry for the dogs. “C’mon Donny.” Todd nudged Donny’s shoulder. “We need to get going.”
The dogs dropped away as they walked towards the building, all but the brindle pit, who followed at Donny’s heel.
Todd stared up at the walls. “There are no windows,” he said, puzzled.
“Yeah? And?” asked Jeff.
“We could fly in through a window, if there was one.” Todd snapped at Jeff. “So how are we going to get in?”
“Through the door?” Jeff answered. He didn’t add “Duh!” but he might as well have from the tone of his voice.
“How about security?”
“There’s a security office on the second floor,” Jeff’s computer flickered in his hand, “but it’s not near the front door. They monitor the garage with cameras, but I can just loop the tape again.”
Todd’s scalp buzzed like a swarm of ants was climbing over his head. He tried to rub away the feeling of dread but it wasn’t helping. With an audible gulp, he swallowed his qualms. “Okay. Let’s go.”
The garage door sounded like a freight train as it rattled up.
“Stop it there!” Todd told Jeff; the door had risen barely a foot from the ground. “We’ll crawl under.”
They shimmied under the door; Donny ordered the pitbull to stay. It peeked through the opening and whined as the door noisily clattered down again.
The garage was brightly lit and their feet echoed as they walked past the parked vehicles. Five huge military humvees were lined up on one side of the garage and three luxury sedans were parked along the other. Jeff pointed to the elevators at the far end of the building and they quickly walked toward them.
Jeff reached to push the elevator button, but Todd grabbed his arm to stop him. “Too loud,” he whispered. “We’ll use the stairs.” He pointed to the door to the stairwell which was tucked into an alcove behind the elevator.
Jeff checked his computer before nodding. Todd slowly and silently pushed open the door.
The stairwell was bare concrete, lit with fluorescent bulbs that glared even brighter than the light of the garage. As they headed up the stairs, Todd noticed small cameras, mounted high on the walls. Worried, he tapped Jeff on the shoulder and then pointed them out.
“Don’t worry,” Jeff whispered. “I’ve got them looped so all they’re showing is five minutes of empty stairwell. We’re good.”
They reached the door to the sixth level and pulled on the lever. It was locked. Todd looked at Jeff.
Jeff tapped furiously at his computer. “There’s no internet signal in here! I can’t override the lock!” he whispered with frustration.
“Let’s go down one level and see if you can get a signal. If we can’t get in there, then we’ll go back to the garage and then you can unlock the stairwell doors from there.”
Todd’s scalp bristled as he approached the fifth floor door. He motioned the others to stand back as he pushed the lever. The door clicked and he pulled it open.
The room was dark. The light from the stairwell spilled in, but it only lit a semi-circle around the door. Beyond that, the room was pitch black. Todd pulled out Tai-Kwee. With a stroke of his thumb, his stone flared brightly.
By the light of his stone, he saw that the room was huge. It took up the entire floor of the building and the ceiling was at least thirty feet high. Banks of equipment lined the walls and pulleys and cables hung from the ceiling. Lamps and mechanical devices were mounted on stands and surrounded two clinical-looking tables, the kind that might be seen in an operating room. To Todd, it looked ominous; a tableau of soulless technology, and he felt chilled to his soul.
Jeff stepped in to the room, followed by Marla and Donny.
“Okay,” Jeff said, his computer flickering. “I’ve unlocked the sixth floor stairwell door. Let’s go back.”
Donny stepped in and let the
door close behind him. The others froze as the door banged shut, its slam echoing throughout the chamber.
Suddenly, the lights crashed on, flooding the room with brilliance. Todd rushed to the door but before he reached it, a flurry of red pinprick beams of light began to ricochet around the room.
“I don’t know!” Jeff cried out, answering the unasked question. “Whatever security’s in this room, it’s not connected to the Internet.”
Todd pushed on the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. One of the red pinpricks found Donny and it was immediately followed by a white stabbing beam of energy. It crackled as it hit him and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Todd dropped Keotak-se’s staff as he rushed to Donny but another dot of red light found him before he got more than two steps. White lighting lunged out and struck him, searing every cell in his body.
He collapsed onto the floor in a senseless heap.
Chapter Forty-Three
Hospitality
Bone dry. It was the first thing that Todd became aware of. He felt like every drop of fluid had been sucked out of his body. His mouth was dry; his eyeballs were dry; even his fingers and toes felt dried out. He tried to push himself up to see if his entire body had turned into a shriveled raisin, but as soon as he moved, every muscle screamed and he collapsed back on the floor, aching and panting.
Cold vinyl flooring pressed against his cheek. He blinked and blinked until his eyes finally started working again. He was in another large room with white walls and bright lights. Ignoring his throbbing muscles, he slowly rolled to a sitting position.
Marla, Jeff and Donny were still lying on the floor. He crawled over to them and tried to shake them awake. Marla and Jeff groaned vaguely and Donny didn’t respond at all. Todd checked his pocket for Tai-Kwee and sighed with relief as his fingers wrapped around it. He left it in his pocket and pulled himself to his feet.
The ceiling was high with glaring fluorescent lights. Three walls were white and bare with no windows or doors, the fourth wall looked like dark smoked glass. He hobbled over to it and, cupping his hands around his eyes, tried to see beyond it into the dark.