by Chris Fox
“Would that I could,” Isis said, giving a sigh. She turned to Liz. “Keep him safe. I will join you when I can, but until then I must slow Ra’s march, first to Olympus and then to The First Ark, should it come to that.”
“How will you do that?” Liz asked, folding her arms underneath her breasts. “You’re strong, but you’re only one against many.”
“True,” Isis said, giving an encouraging smile. “But I will not be alone when I face Ra and her forces. I will turn one of her most potent weapons against her, a creature that devours entire armies. The Sand Kraken will not be enough to stop her, but it will force her to deal with it, or risk losing her army.”
“And you can just control this thing?” Liz asked, more than a little dubiously.
“Of course,” Isis said, blinking once. “I tamed it to begin with.”
“You’ve made some really frightening things, Isis,” Blair said, heaving a sigh. “I don’t like anything about this plan, but I guess we don’t have a lot of choice. If we’re going to do this, then let’s do this.”
“Begin,” Isis commanded. Blair met Liz’s gaze. She gave a tight nod, squaring her shoulders.
He concentrated, willing the Nexus to activate the light bridge. There was a moment’s hesitation, then brilliant light exploded around them. A moment later they stood on an identical bridge, though the room itself was different. The hieroglyphs here were much more numerous, and clearly created by a different hand.
Blair gawked openly at them. Egyptology had always been a passion, but his training in anthropology had carried him across the world. He’d worked with Mayan, Cambodian, Indian, and Welsh writing. He knew their stylistic differences, which was why he was so positive he was looking at the precursor to both the Sumerian and Egyptian languages. This room held proof that not only were the two cultures linked, but they had a common parent culture.
“Blair, focus,” Isis’s voice cracked. She’d already moved from the light bridge, shifting as she did. In the blink of an eye she was ten feet of silver-furred muscle. “Liz, I’m going to teach you a new ability. You can use the shadows to cloak those around you for short period of time. That should keep you safe until we know how we’ll be received.”
“I’d say it’s too late for that, Mother,” came a wry voice from the doorway. Shadow rippled, revealing a man of average height with a pair of golden spectacles. Well-muscled with bronzed skin and a hawk-like nose, he somehow managed to look like a scholar.
“Horus,” Isis said, stretching out a hand towards the newcomer. Her voice was thick with emotion, and Blair saw tears in her eyes. “You survived the gulf of time. I was sick with worry.”
“Worried that Ra would leave me to wither and perish?” Horus asked, taking a step into the room. He extended both hands, and his golden bracelets melted and flowed into his hands. A moment later he held twin weapons like large pickaxes, but with three blades each. They resembled the enormous talons of some bird.
“I don’t claim to know her mind,” Isis said, assuming a defensive stance. A look of infinite sadness passed over her face. She turned her head slightly toward Liz, but kept her eyes on Horus. “Draw Blair to your chest, then summon the shadows. Your beast will show you how. Be aware that the ability is taxing, so use it only as long as you must to reach the central chamber. I will tend to my son, with violence if necessary.”
Horus blurred toward Liz, burying one of those massive talons in her gut. He flung her into the wall with bone shattering force, blood splattering his face. Blair saw red, shifting unconsciously even as he took his first step toward the strange deity.
“No,” Isis snapped in Blair’s direction. “Tend to Liz. Get her to the central chamber. This fight is beyond you.”
Blair restrained himself, blurring to Liz’s side. She’d already begun to heal, but he helped her to her feet anyway.
“He hits like a Mack truck,” she grunted, spitting out a little blood.
“Get in my shadow, you can heal on the way,” Blair said, watching Horus. The god stared cruelly at Isis, as the pair circled each other.
Liz flowed into inky tendrils of smoke, her body disappearing as she slid into his shadow. It no longer bothered him as it once had. If anything, it was reassuring. If they ran afoul of another god, maybe Liz could surprise him.
Blair blurred, as fast and hard as he could. He whipped past Horus, ducking under the casual swipe the god launched with one of his talons. Blair rolled out of the room, bounding off a wall as he blurred up the corridor. He knew the layout of this place intimately, having spent time in the Ark first in Peru, then later in San Francisco.
Blair continued up corridors, blurring past several slow-moving figures. From their garb he took them for servants, slow and nearly mindless deathless he didn’t bother to dispatch. It was possible they could report to their masters, but he was hoping by the time they did he’d have activated the light bridge and carried Liz to safety.
Or potential safety anyway. He still had no idea what to expect at Olympus. The idea that it wasn’t a mountain was exceedingly strange, and he found himself wondering again just what the place that had spawned so much legend was like.
Focus, Ka-Dun. You must tend to your surroundings, or you risk being ambushed by your enemies. The learning of secrets is laudable, but we’ve other prey this night.
Blair sighed, redoubling his pace as he leapt up a stairway in a single bound. The beast was right, but it still annoyed him to no end.
At long last Blair blurred up a familiar hallway, slowing as he approached the doorway. Faint light shone from within, and his breath caught as he started down the ramp into the central chamber. The place was markedly different from either of the other Arks he’d encountered. For starters, the walls glistened with golden hieroglyphs, but it went far beyond that.
Thick, plush carpet of the deepest scarlet led in a narrow path down the ramp to the base of a small set of stairs. The stairs led up to a throne that had its back set against the central obelisk, itself towering over both the throne and the rest of the room.
“You must be the Ka-Dun Irakesh warned us to expect,” came a warm feminine voice. A figure melted from the shadows, coalescing into a pretty woman with dark hair bound in hundreds of tiny braids. She gave him a too-white smile, split by a pair of fangs. “Have you come to seize control of the Ark then, little wolf? A bold move, Ka-Dun.”
She seemed friendly enough, but he knew she was likely lulling him into complacency. He’d have to deal with her if he expected to use the light bridge. That would take concentration for at least several seconds, and he doubted she’d allow him that time.
“You know who I am,” Blair rumbled, circling the room to keep distance between them as he approached the central obelisk. “Do you have a name?”
“I am called Anput. As I understand it some legends of me survive, though they mistakenly think me some meek little servant of my husband,” she said, taking several unhurried steps in Blair’s direction. The movement kept her close to the obelisk.
“Your husband?” Blair blinked, recognizing her name. “You’re married to Anubis?”
“I see you’re familiar with the imaginative tales of our exploits,” Anput said, giving a soft, feminine laugh.
“Maybe more so than anyone else in this age,” Blair said, taking another cautious step toward the central obelisk. “I’m an anthropologist. I study the past, particularly legends of your age.”
“Marvelous,” Anput said, sauntering closer still. She had an athletic build, and from the graceful way she moved Blair was certain she was a fighter. “I’ll be sure to visit your cell. We can talk often of these legends as we await Ra’s return.”
“Yeah I don’t think that’s going to work out,” Blair rumbled, only a few steps from the stairs leading up to the throne.
“And what makes you think you can stop me from imprisoning you, little wolf?” Anput asked, delivering a truly alarming smile that made clear just who was the predator here.
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“Because I didn’t come alone,” Blair grinned, ready for Liz to make her move.
“Neither did she,” rumbled a voice from behind Blair.
Her turned to see the stuff of nightmares. The black-furred Jackal must be Anubis. The grey-furred wolf could be none other than Wepwawet, the stench of decay making Blair gag. Yet it was the woman behind them who turned his bowels to water.
A fiery-haired woman with toxic green eyes stalked past the others, her gaze seizing Blair like a wayward mother scooping up a toddler.
Chapter 26- Secret Meeting
Mark closed the door to his tiny room, listening for several tense moments to ensure no one was lurking outside. He’d spent the last two hours in the makeshift ops center Osiris had constructed here, ostensibly so he could learn the ropes enough to be placed in command.
Osiris seemed to place a great deal of trust in him, and had given him leave to hand-pick his command staff from anyone in Syracuse. It was all a little too neat, and he sensed there was more at play here.
Mark straightened his tie, then concentrated as Elle had instructed him. He’d practiced using the ability to move across the room, but he’d yet to try something as audacious as teleporting the three hundred yards to the surface.
He could end up in the middle of a wall, or back in ops. Elle claimed the risk was low, but any risk was more than he liked.
A wellspring of energy flowed up inside him, bubbling to the surface and begging to be harnessed. Mark guided that energy as he’d done previously, visualizing his destination. He picked a small stand of oaks just beyond the fence ringing the compound.
There was a sharp pop, then he was elsewhere. He blinked several times, eyes rapidly adjusting to the reduction in light. It was a cloudy night with no moon, which meant the area was dark as pitch. The complex had no external lighting, which he’d have ordered if they hadn’t already been doing it. No sense letting enemies know anything of note existed here.
Mark surveyed the nondescript warehouse, with cracked paint and dirty windows. The place looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Perfect camouflage.
He turned on his heel, trotting into the darkness. Mark’s newfound powers ensured that he made no noise, and he found himself enjoying his rapid dash through the shadows. He had to be clocking at least twenty miles an hour, and it didn’t tax him in the slightest.
“You came,” a voice came from his right, and he nearly yanked the pistol from his jacket before he realized it was Elle. She materialized from the shadows near him, playful smile visible despite the limited light. “Follow me. It’s not far. They’re waiting.”
Mark fell into an easy trot behind her, loping through the wet grass as they climbed a gentle slope. Elle leapt over a chain link fence, moving silently onto a residential street. Mark followed, carefully noting their path in case he needed to flee back the way they came.
Long minutes later, they arrived in front of a two story brick house with boarded-up windows. Elle rapped twice at the door, which opened immediately to reveal a scowling man with thick black eyebrows. He ushered them inside wordlessly, scowl deepening as he took in Mark.
“Rest are downstairs. Bring the whelp, and be quiet about it,” he rumbled, closing the door and turning to peer through the peephole.
Mark’s doubts grew louder. If their sentry was trying to keep watch through a peephole maybe these people weren’t as impressive as Elle had made them out to be.
“Come on,” Elle said quietly, tugging at his trench coat. She led him to a narrow white door, which revealed steep stairs that descended into darkness. She started down, so he followed.
They arrived in a spacious basement that was clearly the reason this house had been chosen. It had been cleared, and now held a half-dozen hastily erected card tables with mismatched computers. Several were in use, though the people using them were now staring fixedly at Mark.
“So you managed to lure the progeny out of Osiris’s lair,” a gravelly voice rumbled from the back of the room. A man with thinning grey hair rose from one of the tables, clutching at a simple black cane. “Welcome, Director Phillips. We are pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“You know my name,” Mark said, licking his lips. “How about you share yours?”
“Very well,” the man said, delivering a cold smile as he clicked across the concrete to stand next to mark. He offered his free hand, which shook with age. “You may call me Acula. Doctor Acula.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Mark said, raising an eyebrow.
“I told you it was terrible,” Elle muttered, mostly under her breath.
The man let his hand fall, giving an apologetic smile. “I thought that if I must use an alias, I might as well chose an amusing one. We can’t be too careful, until we’re sure where your loyalties lie.”
“They aren’t with Osiris, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Mark said, folding his arms. He surveyed the room with a critical eye. “Not with you, either, if this is the best you have to offer. I don’t know what your plans are, but I can tell you they’re going to fail. Osiris is a professional. You lot are amateurs.”
“A sadly accurate assessment, I’m afraid,” Acula said, frowning. He gestured at Elle with the hand Mark had refused. “Elle is one of our best—promising, but young. We lack resources, and are faced with an impossible task. We have to stop Osiris, before he destroys the world.”
“I’d say you’re a little late for that,” Mark shot back, considering whether to start back up the stairs. He decided not to. Yet. “What’s your real name, and who are you people?”
“Grandfather, tell him,” Elle said, tone sharp. “He’s going to leave if you don’t offer him a reason not to.”
“All right,” the man said, adopting a shrewd look. “My name is Alaunus. Like you I was sired by Osiris, though my rebirth came a very, very long time ago. I served the man unquestioningly for centuries, until the world changed. When the sun robbed us of our powers, Osiris became a different man. Like the rest of us, he was forced to scavenge for power in order to survive, draining other gods, and artifacts of their precious strength.
“Somewhere along the way madness began to grow,” Alaunus continued, sadness sliding over his features. Mark wasn’t sure whether it was feigned or not. “Perhaps it was jealously of his brother, or perhaps he’s simply lived too long. Regardless, Osiris concocted a plan to wipe out all life on this planet.”
“So you and the Brady Bunch here decided you were going to stop him?” Mark snorted. “Where do I fit into this grand plan?”
“Osiris hasn’t sired progeny since the last age,” Elle said, resting a hand on Mark’s. “You’re his right hand. If you could feed us information, then maybe we can stop whatever he has planned.”
Mark was silent for a long moment. Something didn’t add up. If Osiris had to scavenge power in order to survive, what had this Alaunus needed to do? “I’ll think about it. Give me a few days.”
Alaunus and Elle shared a very alarming look, and Mark sensed movement behind him.
“Now that you know of our existence we can’t let you leave,” Alaunus said, straightening. All hint of the weak old man vanished. “I’m sure you understand.”
Chapter 27- Parlay
Isis stalked the shadows, prowling the edge of the room as she sought some sign of Horus. It was a delicate game she played. If she didn’t offer some sign of herself, then her son would likely assume she’d fled. If that happened, he’d head straight for the central chamber, very likely stopping Blair and Liz from light walking to Olympus. So she had to give him a sign.
“I am still proud of you, my son,” Isis said, moving slowly through the shadows. “You have accomplished much, both in the last age and already in this one. Getting Sekhmet to carry you forward to the present is no mean feat, and it suggests she relies on your counsel. It gladdens me that you are a check on her rash behavior.”
“Your opinion means little, Mother,” Horus snapped. The voice
came from the far side of the room. “You abandoned us. Abandoned me. You should be the voice checking Ra’s violent nature. You should be guiding her and Father to a wiser course. Yet instead you fled to another continent and set up your own empire. You deserted us, and everything fell apart. Hypocrite.”
It stung more than she’d expected, perhaps because she knew he was right. Isis could have stayed, could have argued longer and more loudly against the actions of Sekhmet, then later Osiris. Yet she hadn’t. She’d taken the easy route, giving up here and starting over.
“I apologize, Horus. You are not wrong,” she admitted, taking a cautious step from the shadows. Isis lowered her defenses, waiting. “If you wish to kill me I will not stop you. Come, vent your fury.”
It was a calculated risk. She didn’t truly believe her own son would kill her, but the truth was she barely knew the god he’d grown into. There was every chance Horus would end her life now. Yet Horus was her own offspring. She could not kill him, could not even harm him.
Long moments passed. Horus neither showed himself nor spoke. “Horus? My son, say something. I cannot bear this silence.”
Nothing. Isis felt a moment of deep terror. Horus had tricked her. Even now he made for the central chamber, that had to be it. Isis blurred, leaping off walls and around corners as she desperately sought to reach the central chamber before her son.
Faster and faster she moved, at last skidding into the shadows just outside the doorway to the central chamber. Blair had reached it, but he wasn’t alone. He knelt at the base of the stairs leading up to the First Throne, the one Isis had commissioned so many millennia ago to celebrate her near-sister’s rule.
The woman had changed little, her face proud as she stared imperiously down at the Ka-Dun. Rendering judgement, as always. Her court was scattered about the room, some of more concern than others. Anput would flee. Anubis would fight, as would Wepwawet. Horus was no doubt lurking in the shadows as well. She couldn’t fight them all.