“He's out and needs to stay that way. He's in no shape to talk and if we wake him, I would suspect the pain will be unbearable. His nerves are a mess, but they are mostly still connected and working,” the doctor replied.
“Can you wake him?” asked the Major General.
“I can but as the chief medical officer, I can't recommend it. The more stress he's under the faster the dehydration occurs. While he's sleeping, it's at its slowest and maybe I can find a way to save him,” the doctor replied.
“Wake him. That's an order,” the commander told him.
“No,” the doctor replied.
“You're refusing a direct order?” asked the commander.
“When it comes to medical issues, you don't outrank me. Waking him would accelerate his death and that's not an acceptable risk,” the doctor replied.
“Brother Crusader, I have no right to ask you to do this, but you know what I'm about to ask,” Brother Monk said.
“Brother Monk, can't we let him die in peace?” Sebastian asked.
“I would prefer that, but we don't know if he was working alone. We don't know if there are more bodies. We don't know how he got those powers. We need answers and the Wardens can order him to be woken up,” Brother Mason told him.
“Sebastian, he's right. I don't want to see anyone suffer, even a murderer. There are too many what ifs. We need answers and if he dies while asleep, we'll not get them,” Chelsea told him. “I can do it if you want. You're in charge of the mission but any of us have the authority.”
Sebastian swallowed and looked at the doctor and then back at Chelsea.
“No. It's my mission and I'll do it. Doctor, wake him. That's an order under Warden authority. Your medical authority is superseded based on the threat to public safety. Wake him up,” Sir Sebastian said.
“This is not a good idea,” the doctor said as he prepared an injection. He went over to the tank and two guards opened the panel on the front. The doctor injected the unconscious man and stepped back. The guards replaced the panel.
Sgt. George screamed as he regained consciousness. He tried to move but the nature of his bone and muscle issues made it impossible.
“Please...help me...so thirsty...so much pain,” he said with tears in his eyes and the pain evident in his labored words.
“I can't do anything for the thirst, but I can make him more comfortable. With your permission,” the doctor said to Sebastian.
“Please. If you can help him with the pain do so,” Sebastian replied. “Sgt. George, you're going to be given something to help with the pain. Do not resist and do not try anything. You're surrounded by Wardens and soldiers.”
The doctor prepared another injection. The guards removed the panel again but this time with weapons ready. Sgt. George did not move. The doctor gave him the injection and a couple of minutes later, Sgt. George stopped moaning and seemed to be relatively pain-free according to the monitors.
“Sergeant, can you speak?” asked Sebastian.
“I can...my head...it's cloudy...” the man replied.
“What kind of fey are you? You test as human but obviously are not,” Sebastian said.
“I am human...family...cursed...magic...” the man replied.
“What do you mean by cursed magic?” Sebastian asked.
“My family...we're cursed...they say we were wizards once...the stories...never believed...then the quakes...powers...so thirsty...” the man replied.
Sebastian looked at him. The man was a mess and obviously incoherent from the painkillers but somehow, he believed him.
“Why do you kill people and take their fluids?” Sebastian asked.
“So thirsty...must abate it.... water...no help...need more...don't want to...the thirst...” Sgt. George said and started weeping. “Can't control it...”
Sebastian stared at the man and their eyes met. Sebastian's eyes turned white and he fell into the man's memories. He saw a child playing in his grandmother's house, being told stories by the old woman about how their family was born of the sea. She told him that once, in ages long past, they could live under the water and breathe as if it were air. She told him of a time of magic and monsters and how powerful wizards once walked the earth and took the magic from everyone to keep it for themselves, locked in towers and castles and took their family's ability to walk in the ocean. He saw the man's life and family and realized he was an only child with no children of his own and no other relatives he knew of.
“Put him back to sleep, doctor,” Sebastian ordered.
“Kill me...please...can't live...not like this...I'm a monster...the pain...the thirst...” he said again.
“Knock him out, doctor,” Sebastian ordered again.
The doctor prepared another injection and within seconds of receiving it, the man was unconscious.
“That didn't make a whole lot of sense,” the Major said.
“It did. This man is most likely from a family with strong magical ability. When the cataclysm occurred, it released magic back into this world. This man had some natural genetic defect according to the doctor that seemed to worsen when his body was infused with magic. His natural instincts were to slate his thirst and he was magically able to do so. The only question is whether he was in control of his actions but even that is a moot point. He's in violation of numerous statutes and whether he's an unwilling slave to a magic that he can't control or a willing murderer, the sentence is the same,” Sebastian said and stopped.
“You don't have to,” the doctor told him. “His body is not able to function like it is after whatever you did to him in that fight. He'll be dead in a day or two either from the injuries or dehydration. I can keep him sedated until then and he can die in his sleep.”
“I wish we could leave it at that doctor, but we don't get a choice in this. The law is very clear. He's a danger and if he wakes up and can activate those powers again, his injuries will be meaningless if he can regain the amorphous state. We can't let him live,” Chelsea said as she pulled out her pistol.
“No. I'm in charge of this mission and it's my responsibility,” Sebastian said. “Open the tank.”
“Honey, you don't have to do this. I'll do it,” Chelsea said.
“I do have to do this. Not only am I in command but this man is a soldier. I may not be active anymore, but my honor wouldn't allow me to walk away and let someone else do my duty,” Sebastian replied.
“Brother Crusader, I don't envy you this burden. Taking a man's life is no easy thing. We trained to kill the enemy and we've both done so on many occasions but never like this. The Wardens train to kill hostile creatures. Having to take the life of a sleeping man...it's more than you should have to bear,” the Major said as he put his hand on Sebastian's shoulder.
“I'm going to leave. I won't be here for this. Tell me when it's over and I'll come in to pronounce the body,” the doctor said and walked out, seeming very angry and slammed the door as he left.
Sebastian watched him leave and started to say something, but Brother Mason stopped him.
“Let him go. He's a doctor and swore to do no harm. He knows why you have to do what you have to do and has to accept it but doesn't have to like it,” Brother Mason told him.
Sebastian walked over to the tank. He took out his pistol and stared at it then put it back. He reached into the tank and put his hand around the man's throat and pinched off the arteries taking blood to the brain. After a couple of minutes, the heart monitor flatlined and Sebastian walked out. No one said a word as the other Wardens followed him.
“Why didn't he just shoot him and make it quick?” asked Brother Stone.
“Because if you're going to take a man's life in cold blood you should do it in a way that you'll never forget, and he'll never forget this day. The world changed on us, son, and it changed Brother Crusader in ways we'll never understand,” Brother Mason said.
“I know. He's on the forefront of all this craziness. Do you know what his mission is?” asked Bro
ther Stone.
“I do. I have friends in the Warden Directorate and I know about the Seal and the dark wizard. I'm sure he's told you. He always considered you a close friend. I'll tell you one thing, Bobby. I feel safer knowing he's the one on that hunt,” Brother Mason said.
“Me too,” Brother Stone replied, and they left the room to get the doctor.
The Wardens waited until Trish was out of recovery and left the base.
#
The gates of Karnak were well fortified, but the guards still shifted with unease knowing the coming threat was soon upon them. The Necromancer’s temple of life was about to be besieged by death. A plague spawned by some dark magic had swept through several nearby villages and the victims, after dying a slow, painful death had arisen and formed a horde of undead. The suffering of their passing had filled them with hatred and anger. They had consumed or converted a few other villages and were moving slowly toward Karnak.
Nefertiti stood in the grand hall of the temple with Akhenaten. “A runner from the front just left. It seems our enemy was not stopped by the army but instead our troops swelled their ranks. The walls of Karnak are not unbreachable, especially by such great numbers. Ra has promised his aid but may not arrive in time. I say we fight. If we do nothing then we wait to die and join the horde of death,” she told her husband.
Her husband thought a moment and paced. “I agree my, dear. We fight. We might die today but it is better to die on our feet than die of starvation from a siege or be torn apart by that horde. We have powerful magic and great guardians. We will make our stand here. This is the temple of life and they are minions of death, this battle must be fought here,” he said.
“Give the order. We make our stand,” he shouted to the assembled guard.
Akhenaten and Nefertiti walked to the wall next to the gate and ascended to the parapet. He was powerful, but he knew her power was superior to his own. She would be the one to see this battle through if it could be won. She was a Master of the craft, of this he had no doubt. She had been training with Master Ra and even shown the ability to call the Divine Light, something no one else had ever managed to accomplish and in lieu of their high priest, Master Ra himself, there was no one better suited to stand on the parapet with him awaiting their enemy than Ra's greatest apprentice.
“So, Ra is to be your second husband. This pleases me. He is a powerful man and as head of our Order a powerful ally to have,” Akhenaten said. She had just returned from Giza and told him earlier that day.
“This is all true, but I marry him not for his power but for his heart. I have a powerful husband already. Our marriage cemented the two Orders together under Master Ra’s leadership and that has been fortunate. You are a good husband and I care for you, but my heart is Ra’s,” she said.
“And so, it is. We shall celebrate once this battle is won. Your wedding will be one of legend,” he told her. “You should wed here. The Necropolis is spectacular, but it is dark and isolated. Your wedding should be celebrated and known to all,” he said.
“That is our intention and you should preside as third in the Order and my first husband, but this must be discussed another time. I see the enemy approaching,” she said staring at the distance.
Akhenaten peered into the distance but saw nothing. Whether she could see them with her eyes or sense them he didn’t know but her word was good enough. It was time.
After a couple of minutes, he saw it as well. They were coming, and their numbers were larger than he expected. They raised a cloud of dust around them making it look like a small sandstorm coming towards Karnak. The army at Karnak stood before the gates and numerous sphinxes leaped out to join them. On either side of the gate, two gargantuan statues of Ra animated and lumbered forward, the ground trembling with their bulk as they moved past the soldiers and flanked the road then continued marching slowly forward. The sphinxes were right behind them. Nefertiti, with the aid of Akhenaten, began to channel a spell and a dust devil grew from the ground. The tornado approached the coming foes that were moving ahead of the stone sentinels.
The small tornado crashed into the marching horde of undead and tore them to shreds. Dozens were thrown aside as it whipped through them. Then it stopped and dissipated.
“There is powerful magic in that army. To stop that spell with such ease is a mark of power. This fight will be difficult,” she told her husband.
The undead continued to approach and the two sentinels along with the sphinxes smashed into their bulk. The sphinxes were fast and agile, and it made them hard for the undead to hit. The sphinxes leaped and slashed and shredded the undead, but the horde slowly culled the sphinxes numbers until none were left. The two great behemoths, armed with a khopesh in one hand and a club in the other, swung their mighty weapons laying waste to anything they hit. The undead swarmed over them covering them like a second skin. Eventually, after hundreds of undead were destroyed, they managed to pull the sentinels off their feet and smashed at them with rocks and clubs until they were shattered.
“Now comes the real fight,” said Nefertiti.
The undead charged chaotically into the well-formed line of Egyptian soldiers. Khopesh and shield met claw and tooth with ferocity. Akhenaten pulled his sword and started towards the stairs, but Nefertiti stopped him. “Wait. They are mindless. Someone or something controls them. That same something countered my dust devil and created these things. We find that, and we find the source of this scourge. Search. Reach out with your mind and feel for the strongest source of magic. Once we find it, that will be their master and that is where I strike,” Nefertiti told him.
“This is why Ra chose you as his apprentice over me. As always, your wisdom is great, and I shall heed your advice,” he said.
He focused his mind and felt the area.
“You were wrong Nefertiti. I have found the strongest source of magic and it isn’t in the opposing army. It is beside me where it has been for years,” he said smiling.
“Focus. Now is not the time for jest. Our soldiers die while you waste time on mirth,” she said, scolding him.
She reached her mind out across the battlefield and at first, found nothing. There was no sense of magic, no power of any kind even from the undead.
“This is a veil. Someone is masking their location,” she said and again focused.
She reached out and let her mind flow across the battle. She ripped away the veil and found it. Near the rear of the army was a power shining like a beacon as dark as the noonday sun is bright.
“I have it,” she said and drew her swords as she descended the stairs with her husband behind her.
She walked calmly into the crazed fray of the melee, swinging her khopeshes with the seasoned arm of a master swordsman. She cut a path through as Akhenaten was cut off by a swarm of the creatures.
“Go on, I’ll be fine. Stop their master,” he said as his blade cut and his spells flew into the things.
She continued to cut a swath through the monstrous dead and finally broke through their haphazard ranks. They didn’t pursue her; their focus was on the attacking soldiers.
She approached the source and at first saw nothing.
“I can feel you even if I can’t see you. It’s not necessary to see you to destroy you so if you wish to hide like a scared child then so be it,” she said.
A creature appeared from nowhere as it dropped its illusory magic and was not what she expected. She expected a dark wizard, not another undead. It looked like a little girl of no more than ten. Her long hair was tangled and matted, and her clothing torn and dirty. Her skin was pale as death and her face gaunt and drawn. Where her eyes should be, only empty sockets with a pinpoint of light shined in each of the dark holes.
“I’m scared. Are the mean men gone?” the little girl said sniffling as if she were crying but no tears fell from the empty eyes.
“The mean men hurt me and now I’m lost. I want my mommy,” the little girl said sounding despondent.
“I want m
y mommy,” she cried though no tears fell from the dead thing’s empty eyes.
“My friends try to protect me, but people keep trying to hurt them,” she told Nefertiti.
“By the gods. A revenant. You should have passed on and now your pain has created this horde. Your mind is too young to understand what happened. Death follows in your wake and you keep that death near to comfort your lost soul. I’m so sorry for whatever happened to you that made you into this. I can only try to give you a quick release, so your spirit can move on,” Nefertiti told the little girl.
“Where’s my mommy?” said the little girl.
“I’ll take you to her,” said Nefertiti.
Nefertiti pulled her khopesh, stilled herself and calmed her emotions. This lost spirit tore at her heart and it ached for whatever pain happened to this child to turn her into this abomination. She must have had a natural magical ability for her soul to cling to this world after her body died and it was creating more undead to be her ‘friends’ as the girl called them. This child had already suffered something horrendous to become a lingering spirit and now she had to make it suffer more to let it pass on. Such was the burden she had to bear but the little girl’s burden was greater, and her suffering must end.
She swung at the child and it moved faster than she anticipated. “You’re being mean to me. Why is everyone so mean to me?” it asked.
“I won’t let you hurt me. No one can hurt me anymore,” said the child and it started to change. The innocent face was replaced by a twisted visage and it grew larger. Its fingernails lengthened into claws and its teeth elongated.
“STOP TRYING TO HURT ME!” it screamed and came at her.
The two fought for a minute before Nefertiti realized many of the other undead were coming back towards them. She cast several spells at the creature, but it wasn’t fazed. She leaped back into the coming reinforcements and focused her magic on herself instead. She moved like a blur, cutting through the advancing fiends until none were left. She turned her attention back to the revenant.
Nefertiti charged it and as it swung at her she disappeared and two of her reappeared on either side of the revenant. The creature lunged at one of them and the two disappeared again and four reappeared. The four of them faced off against the creature, forming a circle around it. When it lunged at one, another would attack as that one defended. The attackers seemed to be little more than ghosts, their weapons passing through it, but it was enough to keep it distracted. It began to realize the ploy and turned to face one and laughed. Dark energy flowed from it and the illusion in front of it vanished along with the two beside it.
The Seal of Solomon Page 27