timelord4
The never on time lord
This is a piece from a Challenge. Sorry about the sudden change in POV tense. It is part of the Challenge. Hope you enjoy it.
The Holy Relic
Jon Hart stumbled into the cellar sweating profusely. Resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath, he fixed his gaze on the three landscapes framed against one wall.
Behind him the thick steel door boomed and ripples shimmered across its surface as the door began to buckle. It wouldn’t take long for the Beast to break through - he had to move fast.
In the first picture, night had fallen and in the background, a castle nestled within the embrace of a tall mountain range.
The foreground showed a gentle rise blanketed in snow. A figure stood at the top, holding the reins of two horses. A look of urgency lit the woman’s face as if she were waiting for someone... or something.
Jon’s eyes slid left to the second painting.
Two moons, silver and gold, drooped in a lighted night sky. An intercontinental jump-fighter stood parked in a docking bay ready for embarking. Standing beside the fighter, a fully armed robot waited expectantly for the pilot. Painted against the background, an aerial battle was in progress and beams of coloured light flickering over a city.
The last landscape was dark and Jon moved closer in order to see better. A moon, kissed blush by a setting sun, dangled huge in the sky at the end of an alleyway. Beyond, smudged figures - creatures of the night - loitered beneath gas street lamps and at the right side of the painting, the profile of a handsome young man peered back out at him. Framed by a black cowl, dark eyes swirled in fear and his soft lips seemed to form a silent word.
A deafening crack caused Jon to turn and he looked at a rent in the door, rapidly becoming wider. He had seconds in which to make up his mind. He closed his eyes and after a heartbeat, he reached up and pulled himself into one of the paintings.
I gasped from the sudden cold.
It was an abrupt change from the heat of the cellar and I shivered, slowly releasing my heated breath and watched it curl and taper in the air till it faded to nothing. The snow crunched beneath my body when I rolled over and heaved myself to my feet. Brushing the flakes from my clothing, I straightened and rotated my head to ease the tightness across my shoulders and relieve the bunched muscles in my neck. I was getting too old for this.
‘Hello, Jon.’
That voice. As pristine as a chime from a crystal bell, it brought the memories crashing back.
She stood patiently, staring down the slope at me. Tugging gently on the reins, she led the horses forward.
Memories caught in my chest as I watched her approach. The light of the half-moon caught strands of gold spun throughout her dark cloak and the thread sparkled like a thousand shiny gems. Time hadn’t changed her much; black wild hair, as if she’d just been caught in a frantic wind framed a face softened by the moonlight. Sable eyes burned bright in pools of darkness, sat beneath long lashes and a red pouting mouth turned upwards in smile.
‘Hiatus,’ I replied, afraid of how much I should put into it. She grabbed me around the back of the head and pressed her mouth to mine, before stepping back and slapping me.
Well that was quickly sorted, I thought, gingerly rubbing my cheek.
‘High Priestess Hiatus, Jon.’
What was I to say to that? Oh, my, that cloak really suits you, my dear. We have come up in the world, haven’t we, darling? Remember the times we spent in France in the eighteenth-century... you do remember those times, don’t you? You were a tavern maid back then, weren’t you?
In the end I merely nodded and took the reins from her hand.
The high priestess looked over my shoulder, then to me. ‘Zimri?’
‘Don’t know,’ I sighed, turning the horse to retreat up the rise. ‘But he’s loosed the Beast.’
Hiatus sucked in air. That Zimri could do such a thing hadn’t surprised her, but I felt that the Beast being loose did.
She snapped her fingers and a huge black shape coalesced from beneath the snow-laden branches of nearby trees.
The panther was enormous. Sleek and soot black, it coruscated across the snow like ripples across a pond.
‘Come, Brahma.’ The cat leapt to her side, rumbling a deep purr as he nudged his head against the priestess’ ribs.
Brahma turned slitted, amber eyes towards me. Hart.
Hello, Brahma. You’ve grown since last I saw you.
Brahma swished his tail. Always thought you were sharp, the cat replied, mind oozing with sarcasm. Still laugh about my named, Jon?
Brahma yawned. I was amazed a cat could grow such large teeth. When he scratched the snow in a flurry of gnashing claws, I was convinced.
‘Always thought it was a pretty name, myself.’ I helped Hiatus into the saddle, then stepped up onto my own horse.
‘The others?’ I enquired, slipping into the cloak she handed me.
Hiatus stared across at the castle cradled in the side of the mountains and pointed with her chin.
We urged our horses into a gallop and amid a spray of glistening snow, we made our way across the valley.
A black mass, malevolent and malicious, slid across the cellar floor and paused in front of the paintings. From the roiling filth, a huge black head raised itself and burning eyes like embers blown bright in a bed of charcoal, scanned the three paintings in turn. A chitinous snout, turned in the air and snuffled each painting, then as if its mind was set, it bared its rows of teeth, dribbling acidic drool from its gape and poured into one of the paintings.
The chamber was ill lit with a small hearth at one end and a scattering of iron sconces settled against the walls.
The people present were seated around a long, solid table and the room clamoured with the sound of their voices as each one vied for the others’ attention.
Pausing at the door, I shook my head. God, what had happened to the efficient machine I had come to expect? Where was the gathering of academics that would make decisions with quiet confidence, entice me to walk back out bearing a mantle of responsibility with nothing more than my sword and their good wishes?
The Chagan tapped the table with his tankard. ‘Be still, I beg you.’ He waited until the noise quietened and turned towards me in apology. ‘I’m sorry, Jon.’
I walked into his huge embrace and hugged him hard. We had been through so much together, he and I. ‘You’re putting on weight, my lord,’ I said, looking him up and down.
He smiled and nodded his head. ‘I have, since I’ve been out of the field.’ Turning to the rest, he gestured. ‘You probably know everyone, so let’s get down to business.’
I nodded at the people, certain I knew none of them. I was seated to the right of the Chagan and Hiatus sat directly opposite. She had risen in the world.
They waited expectantly for me to speak, fidgeting and frowning beneath their brows. ‘The Beast has been set loose,’ I said. ‘And Zimri has disappeared, so now we can’t keep an eye on him.’
The storm this caused made me nervous. I looked at the Chagan and he raised an eyebrow at me, shaking his head slightly.
My first impressions had proven right. Except for the Chagan and Hiatus, these people were far too concerned in fretting and less concerned in solutions.
I shuddered.
Listening to their arguments, they horded the past like buried treasure and spat pieces of it out at their own discretion. I felt weary and the game had barely began. So much depended on what the outcome was here, I wanted to walk away and never look back.
Hiatus caught my eye and nodded towards the door. The Chagan hadn’t missed the motion and dipped his head in assent.
On top of the battlement, I gazed up at the night sky while Hiatus leaned against the crenels and idly stroked the fur of her huge panther.
‘What’s happened, Hiatus? When did it all come to this?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s always been this way, you were never around to see it.’
That didn’t make me any happier. Granted, I had been away for a thousand years, but during that time, they had changed. Caution had paralysed them, either that or their seed had become diluted with so much inbreeding. ‘Those people, they’re the direct ancestors of Solomon, they carry his blood. Where’s the mettle gone? They look like a group of despairing Rabbi... and you and the Chagan are mad if you think each generation of them, makes them grow stronger.’ I clucked my tongue and slapped the palm of my hand against the stone.
She turned her gaze upon the valley. ‘We work with the tools we have and it hasn’t been easy. But at least we work.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
She bristled and swivelled to face me. ‘You’ve been away for a thousand years, without a word! If the Chagan hadn’t called for you, would you even have come back?’
‘That’s not fair! You know why I didn’t come back.’
There was a stiff silence that stood like a wall between us and I could feel it reach out to suffocate us both.
Her eyes misted and when she spoke, it sounded distant... resigned. ‘Whatever happened to us, Jon? The you and I. After I went off to find Solomon’s Seal and you to seek the Grail, you just never came back.’
I didn’t want to talk about it. I hadn’t gone back. That grated on me now, just as much as it had then. Hiatus had found the Seal, but I had never found the Grail. For years, I sought it, digging through the past, rummaging dirt long gone to powder with the passing of time, but I had never found it. And it had chafed me... still did for that matter, and for all that time.
There was a short pause. ‘We found out where it is.’
I found out where it is.
My eyes shifted from Hiatus to the cat. ‘The Grail... Where?’ I wanted to shout and grab her by the shoulders and shake her, but that wouldn’t have made the answer come any faster.
‘That’s part of why the Chagan asked you to come back.’
I shook my head. The other reason was what I feared.
‘The answer was in the Seal all the time. Solomon’s ring had two parts; we didn’t know that. What I found was just the first part, the second part overlaid the first to complete a diagram.’
This at least was exciting news, I felt the energy flow towards me just as surely as I had felt it, down below in the chamber, flowing away.
‘You know I went to Jerusalem, because that’s where we thought the ring was? It wasn’t. When Jeroboam inherited the kingdom of Israel after the death of Solomon, he split the ring in its two halves and hid them in two different places.’
I nodded for her to continue.
‘The first half, I found in Anatolia, as you know.’
I remembered. Later, Hiatus had come to me in Montpellier to help me search for the Grail in the eighteenth-century. She had been called back. Now I knew why.
‘You found just one piece of the ring in Constantinople?’ I had thought like everyone else, that it was the only piece.
‘Yes. Constantine had it buried beneath the Hagia Sofia. But, it wasn’t until we studied the scrolls found in Bethlehem, that we discovered the ring we had, wasn’t the same as the one described in the scrolls. When we looked at it, it was all wrong.’
Until I told them there was a part missing.
I looked at the cat, seeing him in a different light. Brahma would see things that we humans couldn’t, a change of perspective, so to say.
The priestess nodded. ‘Yes, there was a piece missing.’
‘Where did you find the other part?’
‘Now, that was easy, after we realised what was wrong. The other part was in Ur, in the Euphrates basin.’
Now I was becoming confused. ‘How did you work that out?’
Hiatus laughed, sensing my confusion. ‘There were a brother and sister that lived in Judah at the time of Jeroboam - close friends of his. They travelled to Israel to see Jeroboam and vanished about the same time as the ring disappeared.’
‘So? They may have carried the ring and obviously they did. But why Ur? If one went to Constantinople.’
‘Because the girl, Sofia, was born of a Turkish father, and the other was born of a Mesopotamian father. The brother’s name was Uruk. The ring was in the Great Zuggerat, under the Throne of Learning, in Ur.’
It clicked. I knew now why the old men downstairs were so valuable, it had taken a lot to assemble something with just a patchwork of fabrications to work off. They not only traced the first part of the ring, they had found out about the second part, and found that as well.
Now they had found the Grail. Something I hadn’t been able to do, and I had a lot more time than they had. Downstairs, I had mistaken their determination for caution, I had been wrong to snub them and walk away. Their lives were so short and they achieved so much within that period. They didn’t enjoy the longevity that we did – they lived normally, like normal people. Sometimes I felt jealous because of that.
‘Okay,’ I said getting back to the Grail. “Then, where is the Grail?’
She looked at me and giggled. ‘Not far from where we were in France. Under the Chartres Cathedral.’
It slithered onto the fishplate of the landing bay.
Gears whirred and the robot spun to meet the challenger, its arsenal already primed and turning to train on the virulent mass gelling into a solid body. Before the robot could shoot, a muscled arm shot out and wrenched the head off the machine, throwing it hard onto the deck and the Beast began to tear the robot’s body apart.
An awesome piece of machinery the FC2500AAR, it boosted the top of the art in sophistication and weaponry in any Full Combat All Armed Robotics defence and offence machine of destruction. Electronic pulse signals were received in one five thousandth of a second, with reaction time, one fifth that. And yet, here it was, oozing synthetic blood across the cold plate and hissing sparks from fused circuitry.
The Beast roared and trampled what remained of the robot into a pile of indistinguishable junk.
Eventually, it turned to face the city and raised its head, flicking a heinous tongue out to taste the air. Black muscles slid up and down its gleaming body, the chitin armour slamming shut, plating its growing body.
It could smell him - the Adversary. Knew he had been here. His stench traced away to the south. No matter that it had faded, it still left an imprint - a trail.
The Beast unfurled immense onyx coloured wings and leapt into the air turning quickly to wing its way south.
I knew it was going to be bad, by the way the Chagan looked at me with wide puppy eyes and a simpering smile.
‘No,’ I said reaching for my second glass of wine. I raised it and peered at him through the sanguine liquid, watching his distorted figure as he moved. ‘Notice how I moved my lips. No.’
The grin didn’t leave his face. He merely shook his head and retorted. ‘Well, Hiatus, it looks like you’re going there all on your own.’
I lowered my glass. ‘What?’
‘Hiatus, she’s got to go anyway, but now she goes by herself.’
The Chagan always was a man who spoke around riddles, and it used to amuse me in the early days. Now I saw no humour in the statement. ‘Why does she need to go?’
He grabbed the priestess by the wrist and raised her hand, showing me the ring fused on her finger. ‘The Seal of Solomon, it’s forged itself to her since we overlaid the second part. It won’t come off and the ring needs to be present for the raising of the Grail.’
Damn! I reassessed my friends. Maybe I was right the first time, perhaps they were mad, the pair of them, all wrapped up with that bunch of Rabbi sitting there waiting for me to save the world.
They’re not all Rabbi, Jon.
I jumped, startled by the smooth ripple that undulated across my thoughts. The cat sat in the corner preening its fur.
What?
There are some Mullah amongst them, and Bishops.
Hell. That’s all I need. A melting pot of clergymen. I drained my drink and poured a third.
And women, some of them are women. Solomon made sure his offspring, both men and women would enlist all religions to his cause, to ensure this would come about. He had the vision, four thousand years after his death, peace would return. Two thousand years of chaos followed by two thousand years of servitude, then the return of the Golden Era. In your time, Hart, that’s now.
Thanks!
Glad I could be of service. Now stop your pouting and offer to escort Hiatus to the cathedral.
‘What about de Montford? He must be available.’ I wasn’t beaten yet.
‘Simon de Montford is presently in the thirtieth-century. He’s at the sacred site.’
I pinched my eyes, wondering why the knight was there. Simon was another of the Golden Knights, like the three of us... the Long Lived. Later, Simon, the Chagan and I had become leaders in the Knights Templar, to keep our true identities hidden.
‘Any of the others, Porsha, Thadius, Bollinger... anyone?’ Their mute stares told it all. Sighing heavily, I nodded and drained the last of the wine and collapsed into my seat not at all impressed by the smiles and grins from those around me.
I caught the glance Hiatus cast me, and saw the Chagan’s hand as it crept across hers to squeeze it with more than a little familiarity. The priestess’ eyes gleamed at me, accusing eyes that promised nothing more than I had given her... sadness.
When all was said and done, our instructions were clear. Retrieve the Grail, whatever that was, and use our discretion to either return or take advantage of our situation and press on to the next part of the plan.
I nearly choked. What plan?
My morose deepened when I thought about Chartres Cathedral. The distinct image that lay stamped on my mind was the blush kissed moon at the end of the alley and the frightened look sketched across the face of the acolyte.
The Beast terrified me, however the Dark Landscape came a very close second. Travelling amongst the Twilight People was certainly not fun, and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
The Holy Relic
Jon Hart stumbled into the cellar sweating profusely. Resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath, he fixed his gaze on the three landscapes framed against one wall.
Behind him the thick steel door boomed and ripples shimmered across its surface as the door began to buckle. It wouldn’t take long for the Beast to break through - he had to move fast.
In the first picture, night had fallen and in the background, a castle nestled within the embrace of a tall mountain range.
The foreground showed a gentle rise blanketed in snow. A figure stood at the top, holding the reins of two horses. A look of urgency lit the woman’s face as if she were waiting for someone... or something.
Jon’s eyes slid left to the second painting.
Two moons, silver and gold, drooped in a lighted night sky. An intercontinental jump-fighter stood parked in a docking bay ready for embarking. Standing beside the fighter, a fully armed robot waited expectantly for the pilot. Painted against the background, an aerial battle was in progress and beams of coloured light flickering over a city.
The last landscape was dark and Jon moved closer in order to see better. A moon, kissed blush by a setting sun, dangled huge in the sky at the end of an alleyway. Beyond, smudged figures - creatures of the night - loitered beneath gas street lamps and at the right side of the painting, the profile of a handsome young man peered back out at him. Framed by a black cowl, dark eyes swirled in fear and his soft lips seemed to form a silent word.
A deafening crack caused Jon to turn and he looked at a rent in the door, rapidly becoming wider. He had seconds in which to make up his mind. He closed his eyes and after a heartbeat, he reached up and pulled himself into one of the paintings.
#
I gasped from the sudden cold.
It was an abrupt change from the heat of the cellar and I shivered, slowly releasing my heated breath and watched it curl and taper in the air till it faded to nothing. The snow crunched beneath my body when I rolled over and heaved myself to my feet. Brushing the flakes from my clothing, I straightened and rotated my head to ease the tightness across my shoulders and relieve the bunched muscles in my neck. I was getting too old for this.
‘Hello, Jon.’
That voice. As pristine as a chime from a crystal bell, it brought the memories crashing back.
She stood patiently, staring down the slope at me. Tugging gently on the reins, she led the horses forward.
Memories caught in my chest as I watched her approach. The light of the half-moon caught strands of gold spun throughout her dark cloak and the thread sparkled like a thousand shiny gems. Time hadn’t changed her much; black wild hair, as if she’d just been caught in a frantic wind framed a face softened by the moonlight. Sable eyes burned bright in pools of darkness, sat beneath long lashes and a red pouting mouth turned upwards in smile.
‘Hiatus,’ I replied, afraid of how much I should put into it. She grabbed me around the back of the head and pressed her mouth to mine, before stepping back and slapping me.
Well that was quickly sorted, I thought, gingerly rubbing my cheek.
‘High Priestess Hiatus, Jon.’
What was I to say to that? Oh, my, that cloak really suits you, my dear. We have come up in the world, haven’t we, darling? Remember the times we spent in France in the eighteenth-century... you do remember those times, don’t you? You were a tavern maid back then, weren’t you?
In the end I merely nodded and took the reins from her hand.
The high priestess looked over my shoulder, then to me. ‘Zimri?’
‘Don’t know,’ I sighed, turning the horse to retreat up the rise. ‘But he’s loosed the Beast.’
Hiatus sucked in air. That Zimri could do such a thing hadn’t surprised her, but I felt that the Beast being loose did.
She snapped her fingers and a huge black shape coalesced from beneath the snow-laden branches of nearby trees.
The panther was enormous. Sleek and soot black, it coruscated across the snow like ripples across a pond.
‘Come, Brahma.’ The cat leapt to her side, rumbling a deep purr as he nudged his head against the priestess’ ribs.
Brahma turned slitted, amber eyes towards me. Hart.
Hello, Brahma. You’ve grown since last I saw you.
Brahma swished his tail. Always thought you were sharp, the cat replied, mind oozing with sarcasm. Still laugh about my named, Jon?
Brahma yawned. I was amazed a cat could grow such large teeth. When he scratched the snow in a flurry of gnashing claws, I was convinced.
‘Always thought it was a pretty name, myself.’ I helped Hiatus into the saddle, then stepped up onto my own horse.
‘The others?’ I enquired, slipping into the cloak she handed me.
Hiatus stared across at the castle cradled in the side of the mountains and pointed with her chin.
We urged our horses into a gallop and amid a spray of glistening snow, we made our way across the valley.
#
A black mass, malevolent and malicious, slid across the cellar floor and paused in front of the paintings. From the roiling filth, a huge black head raised itself and burning eyes like embers blown bright in a bed of charcoal, scanned the three paintings in turn. A chitinous snout, turned in the air and snuffled each painting, then as if its mind was set, it bared its rows of teeth, dribbling acidic drool from its gape and poured into one of the paintings.
#
The chamber was ill lit with a small hearth at one end and a scattering of iron sconces settled against the walls.
The people present were seated around a long, solid table and the room clamoured with the sound of their voices as each one vied for the others’ attention.
Pausing at the door, I shook my head. God, what had happened to the efficient machine I had come to expect? Where was the gathering of academics that would make decisions with quiet confidence, entice me to walk back out bearing a mantle of responsibility with nothing more than my sword and their good wishes?
The Chagan tapped the table with his tankard. ‘Be still, I beg you.’ He waited until the noise quietened and turned towards me in apology. ‘I’m sorry, Jon.’
I walked into his huge embrace and hugged him hard. We had been through so much together, he and I. ‘You’re putting on weight, my lord,’ I said, looking him up and down.
He smiled and nodded his head. ‘I have, since I’ve been out of the field.’ Turning to the rest, he gestured. ‘You probably know everyone, so let’s get down to business.’
I nodded at the people, certain I knew none of them. I was seated to the right of the Chagan and Hiatus sat directly opposite. She had risen in the world.
They waited expectantly for me to speak, fidgeting and frowning beneath their brows. ‘The Beast has been set loose,’ I said. ‘And Zimri has disappeared, so now we can’t keep an eye on him.’
The storm this caused made me nervous. I looked at the Chagan and he raised an eyebrow at me, shaking his head slightly.
My first impressions had proven right. Except for the Chagan and Hiatus, these people were far too concerned in fretting and less concerned in solutions.
I shuddered.
Listening to their arguments, they horded the past like buried treasure and spat pieces of it out at their own discretion. I felt weary and the game had barely began. So much depended on what the outcome was here, I wanted to walk away and never look back.
Hiatus caught my eye and nodded towards the door. The Chagan hadn’t missed the motion and dipped his head in assent.
On top of the battlement, I gazed up at the night sky while Hiatus leaned against the crenels and idly stroked the fur of her huge panther.
‘What’s happened, Hiatus? When did it all come to this?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s always been this way, you were never around to see it.’
That didn’t make me any happier. Granted, I had been away for a thousand years, but during that time, they had changed. Caution had paralysed them, either that or their seed had become diluted with so much inbreeding. ‘Those people, they’re the direct ancestors of Solomon, they carry his blood. Where’s the mettle gone? They look like a group of despairing Rabbi... and you and the Chagan are mad if you think each generation of them, makes them grow stronger.’ I clucked my tongue and slapped the palm of my hand against the stone.
She turned her gaze upon the valley. ‘We work with the tools we have and it hasn’t been easy. But at least we work.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
She bristled and swivelled to face me. ‘You’ve been away for a thousand years, without a word! If the Chagan hadn’t called for you, would you even have come back?’
‘That’s not fair! You know why I didn’t come back.’
There was a stiff silence that stood like a wall between us and I could feel it reach out to suffocate us both.
Her eyes misted and when she spoke, it sounded distant... resigned. ‘Whatever happened to us, Jon? The you and I. After I went off to find Solomon’s Seal and you to seek the Grail, you just never came back.’
I didn’t want to talk about it. I hadn’t gone back. That grated on me now, just as much as it had then. Hiatus had found the Seal, but I had never found the Grail. For years, I sought it, digging through the past, rummaging dirt long gone to powder with the passing of time, but I had never found it. And it had chafed me... still did for that matter, and for all that time.
There was a short pause. ‘We found out where it is.’
I found out where it is.
My eyes shifted from Hiatus to the cat. ‘The Grail... Where?’ I wanted to shout and grab her by the shoulders and shake her, but that wouldn’t have made the answer come any faster.
‘That’s part of why the Chagan asked you to come back.’
I shook my head. The other reason was what I feared.
‘The answer was in the Seal all the time. Solomon’s ring had two parts; we didn’t know that. What I found was just the first part, the second part overlaid the first to complete a diagram.’
This at least was exciting news, I felt the energy flow towards me just as surely as I had felt it, down below in the chamber, flowing away.
‘You know I went to Jerusalem, because that’s where we thought the ring was? It wasn’t. When Jeroboam inherited the kingdom of Israel after the death of Solomon, he split the ring in its two halves and hid them in two different places.’
I nodded for her to continue.
‘The first half, I found in Anatolia, as you know.’
I remembered. Later, Hiatus had come to me in Montpellier to help me search for the Grail in the eighteenth-century. She had been called back. Now I knew why.
‘You found just one piece of the ring in Constantinople?’ I had thought like everyone else, that it was the only piece.
‘Yes. Constantine had it buried beneath the Hagia Sofia. But, it wasn’t until we studied the scrolls found in Bethlehem, that we discovered the ring we had, wasn’t the same as the one described in the scrolls. When we looked at it, it was all wrong.’
Until I told them there was a part missing.
I looked at the cat, seeing him in a different light. Brahma would see things that we humans couldn’t, a change of perspective, so to say.
The priestess nodded. ‘Yes, there was a piece missing.’
‘Where did you find the other part?’
‘Now, that was easy, after we realised what was wrong. The other part was in Ur, in the Euphrates basin.’
Now I was becoming confused. ‘How did you work that out?’
Hiatus laughed, sensing my confusion. ‘There were a brother and sister that lived in Judah at the time of Jeroboam - close friends of his. They travelled to Israel to see Jeroboam and vanished about the same time as the ring disappeared.’
‘So? They may have carried the ring and obviously they did. But why Ur? If one went to Constantinople.’
‘Because the girl, Sofia, was born of a Turkish father, and the other was born of a Mesopotamian father. The brother’s name was Uruk. The ring was in the Great Zuggerat, under the Throne of Learning, in Ur.’
It clicked. I knew now why the old men downstairs were so valuable, it had taken a lot to assemble something with just a patchwork of fabrications to work off. They not only traced the first part of the ring, they had found out about the second part, and found that as well.
Now they had found the Grail. Something I hadn’t been able to do, and I had a lot more time than they had. Downstairs, I had mistaken their determination for caution, I had been wrong to snub them and walk away. Their lives were so short and they achieved so much within that period. They didn’t enjoy the longevity that we did – they lived normally, like normal people. Sometimes I felt jealous because of that.
‘Okay,’ I said getting back to the Grail. “Then, where is the Grail?’
She looked at me and giggled. ‘Not far from where we were in France. Under the Chartres Cathedral.’
#
It slithered onto the fishplate of the landing bay.
Gears whirred and the robot spun to meet the challenger, its arsenal already primed and turning to train on the virulent mass gelling into a solid body. Before the robot could shoot, a muscled arm shot out and wrenched the head off the machine, throwing it hard onto the deck and the Beast began to tear the robot’s body apart.
An awesome piece of machinery the FC2500AAR, it boosted the top of the art in sophistication and weaponry in any Full Combat All Armed Robotics defence and offence machine of destruction. Electronic pulse signals were received in one five thousandth of a second, with reaction time, one fifth that. And yet, here it was, oozing synthetic blood across the cold plate and hissing sparks from fused circuitry.
The Beast roared and trampled what remained of the robot into a pile of indistinguishable junk.
Eventually, it turned to face the city and raised its head, flicking a heinous tongue out to taste the air. Black muscles slid up and down its gleaming body, the chitin armour slamming shut, plating its growing body.
It could smell him - the Adversary. Knew he had been here. His stench traced away to the south. No matter that it had faded, it still left an imprint - a trail.
The Beast unfurled immense onyx coloured wings and leapt into the air turning quickly to wing its way south.
#
I knew it was going to be bad, by the way the Chagan looked at me with wide puppy eyes and a simpering smile.
‘No,’ I said reaching for my second glass of wine. I raised it and peered at him through the sanguine liquid, watching his distorted figure as he moved. ‘Notice how I moved my lips. No.’
The grin didn’t leave his face. He merely shook his head and retorted. ‘Well, Hiatus, it looks like you’re going there all on your own.’
I lowered my glass. ‘What?’
‘Hiatus, she’s got to go anyway, but now she goes by herself.’
The Chagan always was a man who spoke around riddles, and it used to amuse me in the early days. Now I saw no humour in the statement. ‘Why does she need to go?’
He grabbed the priestess by the wrist and raised her hand, showing me the ring fused on her finger. ‘The Seal of Solomon, it’s forged itself to her since we overlaid the second part. It won’t come off and the ring needs to be present for the raising of the Grail.’
Damn! I reassessed my friends. Maybe I was right the first time, perhaps they were mad, the pair of them, all wrapped up with that bunch of Rabbi sitting there waiting for me to save the world.
They’re not all Rabbi, Jon.
I jumped, startled by the smooth ripple that undulated across my thoughts. The cat sat in the corner preening its fur.
What?
There are some Mullah amongst them, and Bishops.
Hell. That’s all I need. A melting pot of clergymen. I drained my drink and poured a third.
And women, some of them are women. Solomon made sure his offspring, both men and women would enlist all religions to his cause, to ensure this would come about. He had the vision, four thousand years after his death, peace would return. Two thousand years of chaos followed by two thousand years of servitude, then the return of the Golden Era. In your time, Hart, that’s now.
Thanks!
Glad I could be of service. Now stop your pouting and offer to escort Hiatus to the cathedral.
‘What about de Montford? He must be available.’ I wasn’t beaten yet.
‘Simon de Montford is presently in the thirtieth-century. He’s at the sacred site.’
I pinched my eyes, wondering why the knight was there. Simon was another of the Golden Knights, like the three of us... the Long Lived. Later, Simon, the Chagan and I had become leaders in the Knights Templar, to keep our true identities hidden.
‘Any of the others, Porsha, Thadius, Bollinger... anyone?’ Their mute stares told it all. Sighing heavily, I nodded and drained the last of the wine and collapsed into my seat not at all impressed by the smiles and grins from those around me.
I caught the glance Hiatus cast me, and saw the Chagan’s hand as it crept across hers to squeeze it with more than a little familiarity. The priestess’ eyes gleamed at me, accusing eyes that promised nothing more than I had given her... sadness.
When all was said and done, our instructions were clear. Retrieve the Grail, whatever that was, and use our discretion to either return or take advantage of our situation and press on to the next part of the plan.
I nearly choked. What plan?
My morose deepened when I thought about Chartres Cathedral. The distinct image that lay stamped on my mind was the blush kissed moon at the end of the alley and the frightened look sketched across the face of the acolyte.
The Beast terrified me, however the Dark Landscape came a very close second. Travelling amongst the Twilight People was certainly not fun, and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
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