Carlotta and the Krius Scepter (Carlotta Series Book 1)

by John Booth

  “Why the fancy necklaces?” I asked, though I had a sinking feeling that I already knew the answer.

  “Shaped explosive charge, the army uses those little strips to blow holes through walls. Before you get any ideas, the bombs will go off if you try to cut the strips. The only way to remove them is if you got the USB key. There’s only one of them.”

  The Don held up a tiny USB dongle on a chain. It was barely bigger than his fingernail. He put it in his pocket and took out a remote control.

  “You get too far from this remote for more than an hour, boom. Someone forgets to put in the right four digit code in it every two hours, boom. You try and put in the wrong code, boom. The code changes every two hours. Only I know the codes. You get the picture?”

  “You want us to rob a museum for you? Brian can barely stand.”

  “You understand what I’ve been sayin’?” The Don asked Brian. He nodded and The Don gave a signal to the man holding him. Brian’s cuffs were removed. It didn’t make much difference; he still looked as though he was on his last legs.

  “There’s a swimming pool and sun-deck up on the roof. You guys get stronger in sunlight and I’m sending you there to build your strength. Tonight, I’ll tell you about the heist and what you got to do. Try anything on the roof and the girl get’s her head blown off. Doesn’t matter which one of you starts it, it’s the girl who loses her head. Capiche?”

  “We rob your museum and steal whatever you want, you got no further use for us, boom,” I said cynically. I wish I could have used sarcasm as well, but the way I speak it’s either one or the other.

  The Don laughed. “You got a choice though, boom now or boom later. Watcha gonna do?”

  I sighed. He had us and there was nothing we could do about it. I hate it when that happens.

  10. War

  The trip up to the Sun-Deck was uneventful. Vinnie and Mike accompanied us, Vinnie kept his distance while Mike toyed with the remote control that could cut our heads from our bodies. It occurred to me that if I got close enough to the guy with the remote control he wouldn’t be able to trigger it without risking getting blown apart with me. Trouble was, that still didn’t leave us any options. If we escaped wearing the explosives it only gave us an hour, two at most if we took the remote control with us.

  Vinnie and Mike pulled dark glasses from their pockets and put them on before the elevator doors opened. I could see why, it was bright out there, bright and hot. Stepping into sunlight was ecstasy. How could I have thought I was a vampire? All I wanted to do was drink in the light from every pore of my body. I stretched my arms out wide drinking in the life giving energy. A firm push from Vinnie drove me onto the decking edging the pool.

  This must be a private area as it was empty apart from the four of us. Loungers and tables with umbrellas sprouting from their centers stood on the decking. I stepped away from a table to avoid being in its shadow.

  I looked to the horizon and gasped. We were so far up that it was like we were floating silently in the sky. The air was clean and invigorating, free of carbon monoxide and petrol fumes. It was as though we were on an island. A few other skyscrapers rose majestically to join us, other islands in the sky, but they were too far away to worry about. And too low, this was the highest building in the vicinity.

  “Make yourself at home,” Mike said as he took up watch at a table near the lift. I looked behind me and saw that the building extended on both sides of the lift forming another storey and that there were doors and windows. The glass was tinted so I couldn’t see what was inside.

  Brian chose a lounger positioned so the sun shone directly onto it. He was slowly and painfully removing his shirt. He was already looking better.

  Unlike the two hoods, I had no need of dark glasses though I felt a twinge of envy because they looked cool on Mike and sinister on Vinnie. My eyes had adapted perfectly to the sunshine, but I always wanted to look cool or sinister. Sometimes I wanted to look both at the same time.

  “You kids need any sunscreen?” Mike asked, a plastic bottle in his hand.

  “We don’t burn, we don’t even go brown,” Brian answered. He already sounded a lot stronger than when we talked, though I suspect most of that came from getting the cuffs off. Brian was down to his boxers and I wondered if he was going to take them off. I kept my eyes on him in eager anticipation. He slid onto the lounger and stared back at me.

  I decided to strip off, partly because I wanted to feel the sun on every part of my body and partly to wind up Vinnie. Being naked feels natural to me.

  I took my clothes off like a stripper, being sure to place my body in positions where it would tantalize my audience and using the shadows formed by my thighs to enhance the effect.

  I couldn’t be certain that the men were watching me, their eyes being hidden behind shades. But from the way Vinnie licked his lips and shuffled to hide the bulge in his designer trousers I was pretty sure I was getting the job done.

  There is being naked and there is being sensual while naked. Men don’t realize there’s a difference, but girls know it from childhood. I was being sensual and Vinnie was already stepping towards me.

  “You’ll have to blow my head off if Vinnie tries to touch me,” I informed Mike deadpan. “But be sure to let him get close enough first so I can take him with me.”

  Mike’s laugh contained not a trace of humor and it stopped Vinnie deader than any words of mine could have done.

  “I’m going back to the den,” Vinnie snarled as he turned on his heels.

  Mike shouted after him, “Send Pat up. I ain’t supposed to be up here with these two on my own.”

  Vinnie mumbled something in reply. I didn’t hear it because my eyes were soaking in the way he limped. There’s nothing quite so satisfying as enjoying the after effects of a job well done. I kept watching him until the elevator doors closed.

  I turned to the pool and caught a glimpse of what my naked act had done to the kid. His tongue was hanging out and the bulge in his boxers would have done credit to a horse. He rolled on his tummy as soon as he saw me looking at him.

  Mike laughed, this time there was real humor in it.

  “I gotta hand it to you, girl. You sure gotta way with men.

  I raised my head disdainfully and snorted. The bastard had the temerity to laugh even louder. I sank down onto my lounger face-down and let the sun beat upon my body. Yawning, I let the world drift away.

  -

  The warriors gathered on both sides of the aisle and cheered as we made our way to where the Queen waited for us. Never one for ceremony, I wished they’d either shut up or go away. I was in the centre of our party as befitted my status as eldest with Torin and Nevin flanking me. They looked older than me, perhaps in their late twenties, but appearances are deceptive among my kind and I was older than Torin by at least a thousand years. We looked alike, our thin bodies, pale skin, ash blond hair and deep blue eyes betraying us for what we were.

  As we approached the throne I saw the Queen fix her eyes on me and she didn’t look happy. Her daughters sat to either side of her in hooded black robes. I’d heard about what the Romans had done to them but thought they should have got over it by now. Humans took sex far too seriously, in my view. The Queen had asked a favor of us and I was sure she was going to be disappointed. Still beggars can’t be choosers and she would get what we chose to give and nothing more.

  An old man in robes of brightest blue stepped in front of our party before we mounted the dais.

  “Announce your names and state your intentions,” he said. He carried a staff of elder, which he thumped on the floor.

  Torin looked at me and I nodded.

  “Our greeting to Queen Boudicca of the Iceni. We have come in response to the plea you sent.”

  The Queen rose from her throne and I saw anger in her face. “We called on you by act of treaty in defense against our mutual enemies. I sent no plea.”

  “We have no quarrel with Rome. Your people surrendered to t
hem twenty years ago and now you find they can be harsh masters. It is a lesson that should be well learned.”

  The Queen’s soldiers pointed their spears at us. Some of the spears trembled. This did not surprise me as our reputation tends to spread before us.

  The Queen seemed to regain some of her composure. “Our treaty has been in place for more than two hundred years. Would you throw it in our faces the first time we call upon you?”

  I decided to take a direct hand in the matter. I motioned to Torin who stepped aside to make way for me.

  “We have a treaty. It called on both parties not to abuse the other, to acknowledge our mutual traditions and right to life. On our part, the treaty protected those of our young who might be born among you; on your part, we promised not to take from your people, especially their lives.”

  “Who are you, child, to speak for your people on this matter.”

  I decided not to take umbrage at her ignorance. We are few in number and not all humans understood our ways.

  “I was born when your people still lived in caves and spoke in grunts. I saw the fall of Atlantis and witnessed the great flood that destroyed the world. I sat at Gilgamesh’s right hand side when man reinvented the city. I was worshipped in the East of the world as a god. I am known to the western tribes of these islands as Arianrhod, but you know me best as Caer Lotha.”

  Nevin ruined my whole speech by adding, “She’s known almost everywhere as Ballbreaker because her favorite trick is taking a man by the …”

  “Enough!” If the Queen hadn’t stopped him, I would have had too. A girl teaches a few men a good lesson with a judicious twist and before you know it you have a reputation.

  “And what do your people propose to do to help the Iceni in their hour of need?”

  I grinned.

  “They sent me. I will fight in three of your battles against the Romans and because of that, you will win those battles. You get to choose which three.”

  “One girl. They send the Iceni one girl?”

  The Queen seemed to be having trouble with the message. I drew the sword at my side and all the Queen’s guards took one step back.

  “I thought your kind could not tolerate silver?” the old man with the staff asked.

  “Not silver,” I explained. “An alloy of iron that keeps its sharpness and can cut a bronze sword in two, slicing through it like butter. It does not decay with time. I brought this from the fall of Atlantis and I have fought in many battles since and never lost.”

  Everybody looked suitably impressed. I nudged Torin and Nevin and they started walking away between the cheering throng. I would have come alone, except looking like a young girl does not add gravitas and I usually have to kill a few people before I get the attention of their leaders.

  A Roman legion marching to war is an impressive sight. It’s the uniformity of look and their coordination that does it. They look and fight like a machine. Today they would die like one. There were over two thousand of them, arranged in lines to engage with the Iceni at the bottom of a valley. The legion commander must have been beside himself with glee at how stupid Boudicca was to choose to defend the low ground. He was about to find out differently when I attacked from the rear.

  The Queen had chosen to use me in the early battles to buoy up her troops with the energy and pride that comes from success. I would give her the victories she craved, but after three battles I would walk away and she would have to deal with the consequences. Her pride had been hurt and her daughters raped. It had made her act foolishly, but then, most humans do.

  We can move almost faster than the eye can see when the sun is shining on us and I had a sword that cut through flesh and sinew almost without the need for force. The Romans equip their soldiers well. Those that cannot afford metal used thick hardened leather that can withstand a dozen sword cuts though there would be bruising underneath. They protected their vitals but they had to be able to move and that was where their weakness lay.

  I slipped in among their whores on the night before the battle, dressed in rags. Then I stripped as the morning rays of the sun warmed me. My sword glinted in the sunlight. I looked along the flat of the blade and saw a reflection showing the eagerness in my eyes. This was going to be fun.

  Running behind the lines of troops, I sliced into the vulnerable flesh below their knees. These were not death blows in themselves, but they would render these men unable to fight. Their screams and the need to deal with them meant that for every man I wounded, another would be taken out of the battle dealing with him.

  The Iceni and their supporting tribes came in to kill the injured men and the few remaining battle-fit soldiers. In a time so short a candle could not have burned out, I had wounded nearly a thousand men. I listened to their screams as the tribesmen showed them no mercy. It would be the city of Londinium next and I doubted that it would be any more difficult. That would be my third and last battle and I would leave before the burning and looting stopped.

  -

  I woke with a smile on my face. That had been a truly stupid dream, but Caer Lotha was a much better name than Carlotta.

  11. Preparations

  As soon as the sun dropped below the level of the sun-deck I became fully awake. I was bursting with energy and the desire to see off the hoods guarding us almost overwhelmed me. It would take less than a moment to kill them both. Only the pressure of the plastic band around my throat stopped me. That and what it could do.

  Someone had replaced our clothes while we slept. The lounger, a few feet away from me, had neatly folded piles of clothes with ankle high leather boots placed on top of each of them. Apparently Brian and I were to be color coordinated in black. I approved of that and wondered if they had included a pair of sunglasses in the piles. That would be cool. Well, a girl can hope can’t she?

  “I bet you look good in black,” Brian said. He was sitting up on his lounger. My first thought was that he was looking good. My second was that he’d have to change out of his boxers and there was nowhere to hide. I was developing a curiosity about certain parts of his body, which I was sure he was unfairly hiding from me.

  “I look good in anything or nothing at all,” I replied and made sure he got an eyeful of my intimate parts as I got up from the chair and stretched my legs.

  Brian blushed and looked away, which I thought was sweet. I took the boots off my clothes and started to dress. He crouched as he came over to the clothes and grabbed the black boxers from the pile. I took the crouching to mean that my display had had the desired effect on him. Annoyingly, he turned his back as he stripped naked, but the ass on the kid almost made up for it. Tight as a drum and rippling with muscles. I stopped to watch and heard a chuckle from behind me.

  “You ain’t got time for that, girl.”

  I turned to Mike as I slipped on my bra. “There are some things a gal should always make time for.”

  He looked at his watch. “We got to be in the den in ten minutes so get a move on.”

  “What for?” Brian asked. I turned to find he was fully dressed and strapping a black diver’s watch to his wrist. I hoped there was one of those in my pile. If there wasn’t, The Don was going to hear some choice phrases in my best Anglo-Saxon.

  “Briefing. You can’t rob no museum if you don’t know what we want you to steal.”

  Brian said indifferently. “It’s the box isn’t it? Thampthis’s Box.”

  This image of a golden box with fancy decorations all over it floated into my mind. A vaguely familiar Egyptian guy with a stupid beard, thin and wearing ancient clothes, offered it to me and I was saying no to him. I wasn’t using polite language either. I came out of my muse to find I was shaking my head from side to side.

  Mike grinned at Brian and didn’t seem surprised that he’d guessed it first time.

  “Wise guy, huh? Yeah, that’s the thing.”

  “How did you know about the box?” I asked Brian as he stepped to my side. We talked as I finished dressing and strappe
d on my watch. No sunglasses provided.

  “It’s the biggest exhibition to hit this town in years. Some American archaeologist found a buried pyramid in Egypt using NASA satellites and infra-red photography. Turned out to be the tomb of this mythological fourth dynasty guy, Thampthis. Nobody was sure he even existed until they found the tomb. The Egyptians have let us borrow the finds for a year and it’s on tour around the US. The exhibition is here for six weeks. That must be almost up by now.”

  “Thampthis ruled for twelve years and was sweet, for a pharaoh,” I said absently and then cursed myself. Where was my mind dredging up all this nonsense from?

  “Nine, according to the guy on the news. I was going to go and see the exhibition, but some bastards kidnapped me.”

  “That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” Mike put in. He stood waiting patiently near the elevator with some other hood I suspected must be Pat. An Irish Mafioso, whatever next?

  “What’s so special about the box?” I asked.

  “It’s made of bronze, about so big,” Brian indicated something about shoebox sized. “And it’s plated with gold. They weren’t supposed to know how to plate things back then. The gold has pictures on it, made by sticking precious stones and stuff on it. It looks really cool, except someone scraped off the picture of a face in the middle of the longer sides.”

  A surge of anger ran through me, though nothing Brian had said could have caused it. “Bastard,” I whispered through clenched teeth.

  Brian gave me another strange look. “Anyway, it’s unique. So I guess a collector might pay a lot of money to get hold of it.”

  “Enough talk,” Mike said firmly. He waved us towards the elevator. I took Brian’s hand, much to his surprise, and led the way.

  The Don was waiting at the card table. Some kind of plans were spread out in front of him. It didn’t take any great powers of deduction to figure out what they showed.