by J. F. Penn
The visions dissipated with Gest’s interruption and Simon found himself obeying in a daze, walking to the mouth of the cave and radioing that they would report again in another hour. As he walked back through the cave of the dead, he tucked the book into his inner clothing, close to his heart, relishing the strength that he was drawing from its growing potency.
In the second chamber, he found Gest examining one of the walls.
“Look Si, these must be diamonds.” Gest turned, his face illuminated by the torchlight, eyes aflame with desire for limitless wealth. “This is where I rebuild my fortune.” He paused, clearly realizing his mistake. “Where we rebuild our fortune, brother. Together.”
Simon nodded, moving closer to examine the gems embedded in the ice wall, for behind the shining stones, he could see a darker shadow in the shape of an altar. He sensed that was the true goal and he felt his excitement soar as he realized that the Great Work could indeed be finished. He would be the one to return the book to its rightful place and he would claim the reward beyond temporal riches, leaving the jewels to Gest’s greed.
Simon reached for his pack and unhooked the pick-axe. He gripped the handle and hefted its weight, giving it a few swings to test the action.
“Careful with that,” Gest said, his voice imperious.
At his brother’s tone, Simon suddenly felt a desire for great physical strength, a need to turn his body into hard, powerful muscle. He was sick of being considered the studious weakling, disgusted with himself for allowing his brother’s dominance for too long. He ignored Gest and swung the axe heavily into the wall. The thud resounded through the chamber and Simon levered a hunk of the bejeweled ice to the floor where Gest started to break it into chunks with hammer and chisel, picking out the shining gems. They both removed their outer jackets, working up a sweat in the small cave with their labour.
The pile of jewels soon grew larger on the floor and Gest started to fill his rucksack as Simon broke through into an alcove that looked to be carved by ancient human hands. He worked faster to claw away the remaining ice and soon revealed an altar of black stone, carved with mysterious symbols. There was an indentation in the middle, and Simon knew instinctively that the book should be laid there.
“What is it?” Gest asked. “Do you think it’s worth anything?”
Simon felt rage erupt within him at his brother’s disregard for the sacred, his unthinking selfishness. He turned in anger and Gest shrank back at Simon’s expression of hatred.
“OK, OK,” he said, hands outstretched in mock surrender. “Let’s just pack up the diamonds and get out of here. We’ll get the team to come down and get the rest, but these jewels, we keep for ourselves.”
As Gest bent to fasten his rucksack, Simon reached into his clothes for the book. He unwrapped the precious tome, a dark pleasure rising up within him as he touched the skin of its covering. With reverence, he placed it on the altar within the boundaries of the indentation. It fit perfectly and Simon knelt before it, bending his head in veneration.
He heard Gest’s snort of derision at his actions, but then the chamber started to tremble, as if giants were shaking their limbs to free themselves from the ice. A hail of rock fell from the ceiling and the brothers covered their heads. A chunk knocked Simon over and he landed heavily on his side, his skull smacking against the ground as his vision darkened and then cleared again. As he sat up and rubbed his head, he saw that the altar had split down the centre of the rock beneath the book. An icy vapor started to ooze out of the newly-formed crack, dissipating into the air. Afraid that the book would be damaged, Simon reached for it, breathing in the tainted air as he did so. It smelled metallic and he tasted blood in his mouth, but within seconds he felt his senses sharpening and he could hear a terrible howling pouring from the abyss below, accompanied by the beating of demonic wings.
“We’d better hurry,” Gest said, as if he couldn’t hear the frenzied clamor or see the cloudy haze. “Clearly this cave isn’t stable. We need to get as many jewels out as we can in case it comes down before we can retrieve more.”
As he forced another chunk of gemstone into his pack, it glinted in the torchlight and Gest’s face seemed to shift. Simon rubbed his eyes again to check what he saw. His brother’s handsome profile was turning into that of a hideous lizard and behind him, a curved scorpion’s tail emerged from his ripped snowsuit. Simon fell back against the wall, watching as his brother’s face morphed from the Gest he knew into a sinister visage of reptilian scales, forked tongue flickering in the air. He understood that this was his brother’s genuine nature, revealed by the truth of the book, and he knew that this unholy demon must be slaughtered.
Simon felt his strength amplified from within and he pushed his brother to the floor. He raised his pick axe and as Gest screamed in terror, he brought it down in a terrific blow. Simon felt a kind of euphoria possess him and he became the avenger, the destroyer. He hacked relentlessly at his brother’s body as words from the book of skin ran through his mind and images from the precious tome appeared in visions before him. Simon’s breath was ragged as he cleaved the head from the mutilated torso, the ice slippery with gore as what remained of Gest’s body began to harden with ice crystals. Another tremor shook the cave and Simon knew that he had little time before it collapsed, concealing both riches and the murder within.
The two outer jackets still lay side by side away from the bloody mess, and Simon stood for a moment, thinking of the divergent lives that he and Gest had experienced. In that moment he saw a possible future, where earthly pleasure and power could be his as well as fulfilling the Great Work, and he smiled with delicious excitement. He removed his bloody top, exposing his chest to the chill air for a moment. His tattoo of Pluto’s astrological symbol shone black in the darkness. He tugged a fresh merino sweater from his pack, pulling it on and putting Gest’s jacket on over the top. He zipped it tight, straightening his back, affecting his brother’s proud posture, then he picked up the two heavy packs. It was time to tell the crew that his brother Simon had perished within the caves as they had collapsed, despite his own desperate attempts at rescue.
@ 2013 Joanna Penn
Ebook design: Brady Type
If you liked this, check out J.F. Penn’s Arkane series, available at the Kobo Bookstore
