Alliance

by S. C. Mitchell

  “You had company, other than Nathan, while you were in purgatory?” Kelly finally managed to ask.

  “Many of the spirits trapped there are free to move about and would stop by to chat with me. It was in this way I became somewhat fluent in eighteen languages including your modern English. Not that I am a master of the language mind you, but I did learn much from a recent acquaintance. I am, however, still unsure of the proper usage of the phrase yo, dude.” He smiled at her, seeming to enjoy his jest.

  Kelly was touched by the knight’s smile and genuine warmth. His tale had moved her to see the Knights Templar in a new and different light. She squeezed his hand. The contact felt intimate.

  “I’m glad you found your way back.”

  His smile grew larger. “Friends?” he asked. The tilt of his head and the sincerity in his eyes moved her heart to beat faster.

  “Friends,” she affirmed. And maybe more than just friends, she added silently.

  After Tunguska we became more like them. We went into hiding, and did our business under cover of night and illusion. But we continue to fight them to this day. – Frederick Johnson, Templar Historian, 1965

  Chapter 6

  Kelly pulled her small car into the parking lot of the old Episcopal Church on Seventh Street. The congregation had constructed a new building outside of town, and for the past five years, the old edifice had served as a mission house for the poor and homeless. A combination soup kitchen, thrift shop, and homeless shelter, the old church had seen better days. Windows were boarded up, paint was peeling, and some of the stonework was crumbling.

  It was now run by the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Cross. The non-profit organization always seemed to find just enough funding to keep the place running, though never enough to fix up the old church. Dilapidated as it was, the downtrodden could always find a hot meal, suitable clothing, and a place to sleep within its walls.

  Kelly noticed that Geoffrey’s knuckles were white from gripping the door handle of her car. She parked by the side door of the shelter and he couldn’t exit her vehicle fast enough when she finally came to a stop.

  “Are you alright?” she asked.

  Red-faced, Geoffrey breathed as if he’d just finished a marathon. “Sorry, I have never ridden in one of these mechanical beasts before. It was a bit…unsettling.”

  Kelly was still getting her head around the fact that he’d been somewhat dead for the past seven-hundred-thirty years.

  “It’s called a car,” she offered. “They make getting around quite a bit easier.”

  Geoffrey took a step back and gave the automobile a long appraisal. Kelly could only wonder what was passing through the Templar’s mind.

  “A car,” he finally said. “Yet another concept of this time period I will need to get used to, I see. They go very fast. Don’t you still have horses?”

  Kelly had to suppress a laugh. “Horses are still around, but we only ride them for fun these days.”

  He shook his head. “A pity…”

  As she walked around her car to where Geoffrey was standing, Kelly tried to give him a reassuring smile. The adjustment would take time. She’d just need to support him.

  “So, are there any modern conveniences you’ve found you like?”

  Geoffrey thought for a moment before answering. “Bathrooms are a nice change. I will certainly not look back fondly on chamber pots and garderobes.”

  Kelly did laugh then. She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the old church.

  “Come on. Let’s see if we can find this Ryan Chamberlain that Nathan was talking about.”

  Her internet search had confirmed that Ryan was a member of the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Cross and that he worked here. Kelly, and many of the Arcanists, had always suspected that the Brotherhood was a cover for the Knights Templar working in their area, but she had never seen any proof. If the organization was anything like this building, she doubted the Arcanists had anything to fear from them.

  The lighting fixtures inside the old church were missing about every other light bulb, making the place dim and drab. The thick stone walls made the old church feel massive yet confining. As Kelly and Geoffrey entered, they were greeted by a middle-aged man in faded blue jeans and a flannel shirt that had seen better days. He had sandy hair, sparkling brown eyes and a quick, friendly smile.

  “Welcome,” he said, giving them an appraising eye. “My name is Benjamin. How may I help you?”

  Geoffrey stood, eyes glazed, as if lost in thought.

  “We’re looking for Ryan Chamberlain,” Kelly said to cover the awkward silence.

  Benjamin’s eyes narrowed. His smile disappeared. “Is Ryan expecting you?”

  “I don’t think so, but we have a message for him,” Kelly answered, quickly adding, “from Nathan Gray.”

  “Nathan Gr…!” Benjamin looked a bit stunned. “Wait right here.”

  * * *

  Geoffrey had been so distracted by the feel of the place, he’d lost his concentration. Thankfully, Kelly had stepped up to cover for him. As Benjamin turned to leave them, Geoffrey sighed with old remembrances.

  “You do not feel it?” He said looking at Kelly.

  Kelly cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. Then she shook her head. “Feel what?”

  He pulled in a deep breath and let it out. He could almost smell it. “There is power here. Templar power.”

  “Yes, yes there is.” The voice came from the inner doorway. A young man dressed in worn khakis and a dark blue and tan striped shirt walked toward them. He carried himself like a warrior, confident but wary, walking on the balls of his feet. There was an air of power and authority about him, but he smiled warmly and extended his hand. “I’m Ryan Chamberlain.”

  Geoffrey placed the young man in his mid-twenties. An unkempt mane of dark brown hair crowned a pleasant face. The man’s deep brown eyes were accented by an expressive brow and were almost on a level with Geoffrey’s, putting him just over six feet tall.

  The slight crook of the little finger on the hand extended, brought Geoffrey up short. He smiled…almost laughed. Had his little joke survived over seven hundred years? He clasped the man’s wrist, rolling his own index finger under. He felt Ryan Chamberlain do likewise.

  The Templar hand clasp.

  He’d been very drunk the night he’d invented it. He’d spread the word to all the squires that it was the official, top secret signal that only another Templar would know. He remembered laughing himself silly over the next week as the young Templars had made fools of themselves with the older knights, trying to greet them properly. That had been just a month before the inquisition that had broken the Knights Templar. Obviously more than the Demon Gate had been taken into hiding by his young knights.

  “It is good to make your acquaintance, Ryan, I am Geoffrey le Court”, he said, “and this is my friend Kelly Grant.”

  Ryan raised his eyebrows. “You bear a famous name. Are you perhaps related? I wasn’t aware that any of his relatives survived.”

  “No, sadly they did not,” was all Geoffrey said in response. There was a brief, awkward silence as Ryan waited for more information.

  “Well, where are my manners,” the young man said finally. “Come in, follow me. If you have a message for me from Nathan Gray, we’d best not talk out here.”

  Ryan led them through a door and down a long hallway into a large kitchen. Men and women stood or sat at counters chopping vegetables and meats, or monitored cook tops, stirring soups and stews. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted through the air. There was a wholesomeness here. The appliances and pots were old and battered, but everything was neat and clean. Jovial banter filled the kitchen as people prepared food.

  At the back of the room Ryan opened a heavy aluminum door and ushered them into a large walk-in refrigerator. Closing the door behind them, he pulled out a security card and swiped it through a card reader that had been hidden behind an old pot hanging on the back wall. With a slight rumble, a part of
the wall slid open, revealing a small landing from which a stairway spiraled down.

  “Welcome to our safe house, Templars.” Ryan indicated the stairs. He followed them in and pushed a button that closed the wall behind.

  * * *

  Two sides of the same coin.

  The procedure was so like Kelly’s access to her archive, she couldn’t help but note the similarities. Hidden entrances, high security.

  The staircase spiraled deep underground. As they descended, Kelly noted that the old and unmaintained appearance of the upstairs gave way to newer, pristine construction below ground. At the bottom of the stairs was a reception room. Clean tiled floors and gray painted walls enclosed a business-like area with an immaculate reception desk and six chairs. From this chamber, passages led in all four directions. A gray-haired gentleman sat at the reception desk working on a computer. His gaze shifted from the screen to Ryan. “Room four.”

  “Thanks, Edward,” Ryan said, then he turned to Kelly and Geoffrey. “This way, please.” He took them down a short hallway to a room that held a small conference table and four chairs. A large mirror hung on the far wall next to a second doorway. The room was stark and otherwise empty.

  Ryan shut the door behind them. “Relax, and make yourselves comfortable,” he said indicating the chairs, which didn’t look all that comfortable to begin with. “I’ll just pop into the next room and get us some refreshments.” He exited through the other doorway.

  As the door closed, Kelly muttered under her breath, “I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”

  Locks clicked on both doors. A speaker crackled in the ceiling.

  “I don’t know what game you two are playing, but it reeks of Arcanist trickery,” came Ryan’s voice. “I know all about you, Miss Grant, hiding in your library these past years. Did you think us fools? You may have gotten in, but you won’t be leaving.”

  “I’m here with Geoffrey at Nathan Gray’s urging.” Kelly shouted to the air, though she turned to face what she suspected was a two-way mirror. Pulling Arcane energy was a challenge here in a Templar power center but she could siphon enough to weave a protective shield around herself and Geoffrey.

  “Ah yes,” Ryan continued, “Geoffrey le Court. You look pretty good for a man over nine hundred thirty years old. What are you really? A demon? A gollum? Some warped Arcanist conjureling?”

  Geoffrey laughed. Through it all he seemed at ease. “Mr. Chamberlain, I applaud your caution, but really, I am who I am.”

  The tension in the air was palpable. Ryan’s aura, red with anger, leaked through the mirrored glass. He was standing right there, probably pulling divine energy and preparing to attack.

  “Whatever you are,” Ryan responded, “your vile plans have been thwarted. You might as well come clean.”

  “Can a demon or Arcanist cast divine light?” Geoffrey asked as a ball of pure white light shot from his hand, filling the room with a warm glow. It also dispelled Kelly’s shield.

  “Um, hey.” It had taken all the arcane power Kelly could pull to hold that shield. Now she was powerless and totally in the hands of Geoffrey le Court. Could she trust the Templar here, among his own kind?

  “Can a gollum wear the Armor of Faith and wield the Sword of Light?” Geoffrey was again in his armor and holding his sword before him.

  He glanced at Kelly and shot her a quick wink. How could he be so self-assured? Still, his confidence and that wink scored high on her sexy-meter.

  There was a long moment of silence then a click as the door unlocked and slowly opened. Ryan stood wide-eyed in the doorway. “It’s been decades since any Templar has been able to call forth the Sword of Light, and no one can lie under the divine light. There can be no doubt that you are a Templar. You must indeed be what you claim but that’s impossible, unless...”

  Ryan sunk to his knees and bowed his head.

  Shaking his head, Geoffrey pulled hm back to his feet “I am not a god, just a brother knight.”

  Ryan’s gaze slid to Kelly. “But she is an Arcanist. Why have you brought her here?”

  His scowl reminded Kelly of how she’d felt when she’d found out Geoffrey was a Templar.

  “Yes,” Geoffrey said. “She is an Arcanist, and my ally and very good friend. She is also under my protection. Now, as we said before, we have a message for you from Nathan Gray. Are you ready to hear it?”

  Confusion still registered on Ryan’s face but he nodded.

  “The message is simply ‘the time has come’. Does that mean anything to you?”

  Ryan was instantly animated—his demeanor completely changed. “Really? Nathan Gray said that?” He beckoned them toward the inner doorway. “Follow me, please.” His gaze swept back to meet Geoffrey’s. “I promise, this isn’t another trap.”

  He led them through a series of rooms and hallways. As he walked, he pulled a cell phone from his pocket and punched in a number. “Launch plan Alpha,” he said. “Yes, all of it.”

  A sudden buzz of excitement filled the air. People rushed around the underground complex, which turned out to be much larger than Kelly had at first thought. She could hear the hum of machinery and feel the vibration of power in the air—Templar power.

  Certainly, magic was involved in the building of this base. This close to the lake, the water table was too high for an underground facility like this to exist. It had taken numerous enchantments to waterproof and secure the Arcanist’s archive under the library but, like this, it was in a place where no one would think to look.

  As Kelly and Geoffrey followed Ryan through the complex, he issued commands to the people they passed in the halls. “Instigate, code B.” “Yes, I meant to start that sequence.” And other such comments that didn’t make much sense to Kelly.

  After the whirlwind trek through the facility, they emerged into some kind of control center. Over two-dozen people sat at computer terminals. Many were speaking excitedly into headsets and clicking on keyboards. Maps and live video feeds could be seen on large monitors all around the room.

  Ryan stopped and turned to Geoffrey. “I need to brief a few people here, then I promise, I will bring you both up to speed.”

  He left them by the doorway and gathered a small group of people into a tight circle. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from time to time one of them would look their way.

  Finally, Ryan came back and escorted Geoffrey and Kelly to a small meeting room just off the control center. Comfortable chairs and functional furniture filled the room that was dominated by a large conference table.

  “First, let me apologize for my heavy-handed inquisition,” Ryan began when they were seated around the conference table. “I had no idea—”

  “I understand,” Geoffrey answered, “and believe me, it was nowhere near as painful as my last inquisition.”

  He had to be talking about his capture and execution over seven hundred years ago.

  Ryan’s eyes went wide. “You really are him.”

  It was a statement, not a question. Kelly could see the young templar’s belief in his aura, that glowed golden yellow.

  “You can accept that?” Geoffrey asked.

  Ryan nodded. “I have to, and this isn’t completely unexpected. Nathan Gray hinted at something like this when we last spoke.”

  Before the young man could explain further there was a knock at the door.

  “I took the liberty of ordering up some refreshments.” Ryan said, rising to open the door. An older man came in pushing a cart laden with pitchers and platters. Coffee, water and juice accompanied a platter of bakery and a basket of fruit. The fare was placed in the middle of the table with plates, cups, and flatware.

  “If there’s anything else I can get you, just call.” The man with the cart spoke to Ryan, but his eyes were fully on Geoffrey. Obviously, word of the risen Templar was spreading through the complex. The man exited the room, shutting the door as he left.

  “Now,” Ryan began, “I think it’s time I brought
you up to speed. I assume you are here because of the Demon Gate?”

  Geoffrey nodded. “Yes, Kelly has been helping me try to locate its current whereabouts. Any information you might have obtained over the years on that, or how to destroy it, would be appreciated.”

  Ryan began to pace the room, as if collecting his thoughts. “Well, we had the gate in our possession until around a hundred ten years ago, but we lost it and a good part of the Templar organization on one terribly devastating day.”

  Geoffrey sat up straighter, his brow creasing. “Tell me about it.”

  Discomfort and agitation colored Ryan’s aura. Something about the information he was about to divulge completely unsettled him.

  “It was the morning of June 30th, 1908.” Ryan turned to look at Kelly. “You are familiar with what happened on that day?”

  Kelly shuffled through the many facts she’d stuffed into her brain. Incredibly, something registered.

  “The Tunguska Event?”

  Ryan’s eyes darkened. His voice softened. “It wasn’t a meteoroid. It was two hundred fifty-six Templar Knights, calling down fire from heaven, blasting the area. Many demons died in the blast, but we lost so many good men and women that day. From all the reports I’ve read, we were prepared for the invasion. Every knight available was there. We knew what to expect and were ready for the demons to appear. Our spellkeepers were ready with the ritual to close the gate.

  “The Templars had been holding back the demon hoard for centuries. It’d become our main mission. We’d been forced to move the gate constantly, to keep the demons from finding it, so there had been no chance to wall it up, like in olden times.

  “Still, we knew our mission. We’d been fighting demons and closing the Demon Gate throughout the centuries it had been in our protection. Yes, the demon’s influence in the world had continued to grow. Those demons here continued to breed. But we shut them down wherever we found them.”

  Fighting the demons had also become the Arcanists main mission. With such similar goals, Kelly had to wonder why the two groups hadn’t been working together all along, instead of fighting each other. Were the Earth Mother and the High Lord so completely self-centered they couldn’t see the greater threat?