He took hold with his left hand, gripping his weapon in his right and preparing to fire upon arrival.
In a dance-like motion they turned outwards, to defend each other’s backs.
‘Ready, friend?’ Candace gave notice of their departure.
‘I was reborn ready.’ Noah picked up on Candace’s mental image of the security station, and the laboratory in which they stood became saturated with the blue-white etheric light of their passage.
As Candace had predicted, there were only two guards in the security station, both of which the Governess managed to blast into unconsciousness before they even knew they had company.
‘These are Dumuzi’s offspring all right.’ Candace noticed the vague Nefilim genetic traits in their physical appearance as she hoisted them out of the control seats.
Their eyes were larger and more almond-shaped than those of humankind, their features were a little pixie-like and they were tall and slim of stature. The Chosen Ones had not inherited Marduk’s Nefilim features as he’d always assumed a human form, right down to a cellular level, when spreading his seed among humanity. The only genetic difference Marduk maintained during his intercourse with humanity was that of his God gene, to ensure that his immortality was passed on to the Chosen Ones, but his genetic features were not. This ensured Marduk’s offspring remained outwardly undetectable from any human being. Dumuzi had not bothered taking any such precautions.
Candace concealed their victims in a storage cupboard before taking a seat in front of the wall of soft-light screens that were monitoring the interior of the Aten. To her surprise the Star Chamber that contained the quartz throne, the command seat of the vessel, was currently empty. ‘Damn it!’ She’d felt so confident of learning the identity of their major adversary. ‘Where’s the ringleader?’
As Noah was viewing the screens monitoring the exterior of the vessel, he had other concerns. ‘Holy cow, that’s Gaia.’ He vaguely motioned to the monitor displaying the image. ‘We’re parked in orbit around her.’
Candace willed her hover seat closer to the external monitors to take a look for herself.
‘Oh, Goddess!’ Noah startled himself as he noted that there were no city lights illumating the darkness on the night side of the planet and the same was true of the dark side of the moon. ‘No cities, no moon colonies … when on earth are we?’
‘Maybe …’ Candace searched for another explanation, ‘the power grid is down.’
‘Where is the orbiting power station, and all of earth’s satellites?’
All they observed on the monitors was virgin atmosphere, uncluttered by human space debris.
‘My husband told us not to get sidetracked.’ Candace brushed off her curiosity and returned to her search of the interior. ‘We have to locate Cordella.’
She was right, of course, and Noah joined her in front of the screens to help with the search, until he came up with another idea.
Dragging one of the unconscious thieves — they were both a Falcon-Nefilim mix — from the storage cupboard, Noah placed the unconscious man’s hand on the PKA control plate of the security database and then placed his own hand over the top, being sure not to touch the control plate himself.
‘Will that work?’ His lateral thinking amused Candace.
‘There is a chance it won’t, I guess.’ Noah hesitated, even though he felt they were pressed for time. ‘I’ve never tried projecting my will through somebody else’s body before. Do you want me to refrain?’
Candace shook her head. ‘Continue.’ She rose from her seat and drew her weapon. ‘If we set the alarm off, head straight back to the chariot.’
Noah instructed the database that he wished to be advised of the location of Cordella, Governess of Lura.
‘Excellent.’ Candace understood the garble of information the database spat forth onto the soft-light screen. ‘They’ve got her in a cell on the prison levels. Request a visual on security camera PL5–92.’
Noah did as Candace bade him and they both smiled broadly upon seeing Cordella pacing her prison cell alone.
Candace pulled an Enzu-Guz from her toolbelt. This handy little device had been developed for the removal of NERGUZ modules back on Gaia, when the psychic restraining device had first been introduced as a weapon. The NERGUZ had a tiny needle on the inside of the wrist module which penetrated the skin of the prisoner; the Enzu-Guz severed this pin and freed one from the NERGUZ’s restraint. Candace had not had to use an Enzu-Guz since the time of the great Gathering on Gaia, which was over seventy years past.
‘I’m going to get her,’ Candace instructed. ‘You keep watch until I return and then we’ll all head to the chariot together.’
Noah served her a reassuring nod, quietly formulating another plan.
Candace left his presence and reappeared on the soft-light screen. He observed the two women as they briefly embraced. Candace cut the Delphinus Governess loose of the device that was restraining her and immediately teleported them forth from the cell to appear before him.
‘En Noah,’ Cordella gasped, when she saw the great Sage. ‘I am so indebted to you both.’
‘Thank him later.’ Candace gave Noah the nod to proceed to the chariot.
‘May I have the NERGUZ you cut off, Cordella?’ Noah asked upon their arrival in the laboratory.
‘Why?’ Candace frowned, as she ushered Cordella into the chariot ahead of her.
Noah’s physical form transformed into that of the Delphinus Governess. ‘I’m going to stay with the Aten and keep track of the time hopping adventures of our foe. If I replace Cordella, then there’s a good chance our foe won’t even know we’ve been here.’
Candace’s jaw dropped. She wanted to forbid it, but she could not when it was actually the sensible thing to do. She handed over the deactivated NERGUZ, which looked untampered with once it was snapped back onto Noah’s wrist.
Cordella was speechless as she watched the Sage conceal his weapon under the long skirt of the dress he now wore; her dress, in fact, on her body! ‘Thank you for getting me out, En Noah,’ she finally found her voice. ‘But I fear you should come back with us. My kindred hold no love for me any more. You will be in grave danger.’
‘I’ll be fine, Nin,’ he assured the Delphinus ruler, as Candace joined her in the chariot. ‘Give my love to my wife.’ He stepped away from the transport, eager to see the women depart for home.
‘Take good care, Noah. I’ll send the chariot back to you,’ Candace advised, fearful of the historian becoming lost in time.
Noah nodded in appreciation as he waved them farewell.
Maelgwn entered the vault beneath the Institute of Immortal History, and was not surprised to find the Governor, Vice-Governor and Tory already present. ‘You thought of the chariots already. I suspected that you might have.’
Zabeel entered close behind his father and was momentarily relieved to find his relatives on the case. ‘Have you had any luck tracking the Aten down?’ He was desperate for some good news, as Floyd had yet to get the tracking system for the Aten up and running, and so the technologist had stayed on Lura to persevere with this quest.
Brian motioned to the empty space beside the high-tech chariot before them. ‘Well, one of the chariots has gone somewhere, so I guess you could say we’ve made some progress.’
‘Who has gone after Cordella?’ Maelgwn was surprised to find his wife still present.
‘Candace and Noah went after her.’ Brian felt vexed by this fact, in retrospect. ‘If I’d stalled her a couple of minutes, you could have gone.’
‘How long have they been absent?’ Zabeel implored, obviously worried out of his mind.
‘They went a good couple of seconds before you got here.’ Rhun stepped in to calm his younger half-brother. ‘And I’ll bet you that they’re back within the count of twenty.’
Tory had to smile. She could tell Zabeel had started to count in his head and in so doing, he unconsciously relaxed a little — all her children had so
much faith in their oldest brother that his word was almost gospel.
‘See, what did I tell you?’ Rhun announced as the chariot manifested and he won his bet. But Zabeel was already lost in an embrace with his wife, as was Brian. ‘I would have brought the little woman if I’d known it was going to be this kind of an affair,’ Rhun jested, turning back to his parents.
‘Where’s Noah?’ Tory was alarmed by her dear friend’s absence.
Candace left her husband to return to the chariot, and placing her hand upon it, it vanished back to Gibal’s laboratory.
When she saw the chariot depart, Tory was relieved. ‘So Noah is coming back?’
‘Eventually.’ Candace broke the news gently. ‘We have reason to suspect our foe may intend to alter the past. How or when, we don’t know. Noah has assumed Cordella’s form to discover what the children of Dumuzi have in mind.’
‘Your foe has a name …’ Cordella spoke up to enlighten them all, ‘… and his name is Viper. He found Dumuzi’s secret stash of Orme and has been using it to maintain an immortal state.’
‘But why should he have to maintain an immortal state?’ Brian wondered. ‘Once the gene is activated he should just remain immortal.’
‘Not if his soul-mind has dark aspirations,’ Maelgwn clarified and Cordella nodded to confirm this.
‘Viper is searching for an incantation spell.’ Cordella hesitated to say more as Viper’s claims had sounded rather fantastic when he’d conveyed them to her.
Tory felt suddenly ill; in her gut she knew what the spell was for. ‘Is this incantation used to summon an evil spirit?’
Cordella’s emerald green eyes parted wide with horror. ‘A crone he called it.’
‘But Mahaud is no longer able to wield any power in the physical world,’ Brian voiced his understanding of the situation, knowing what his sister feared.
‘In the present that is true,’ Tory mused, and then frowned. ‘But in the past?’ She shrugged. ‘I think that could be problematic.’
‘Problematic!’ Brian boomed. ‘If Mahaud latches onto an immortal, it will be a bloody disaster!’
‘Viper is very smart.’ Cordella’s gaze fell on Tory. ‘Much like Avery.’
‘Like Avery?’ Tory frowned. ‘Why this comparison?’
Cordella appeared afraid to voice what she knew, but it had to be said. ‘I believe Viper is a Nefilim-Falcon reincarnation of the pending Lord of the Otherworld.’
‘What!’ Tory gasped, her mind boggling at the implications of having two immortal incarnations of the same soul-mind running around — this was a cosmic first so far as she knew.
Maelgwn, however, was slowly nodding his head. ‘This information explains a great many things.’ He looked to Brian and Candace. ‘I don’t want to alarm you two, but I suspect that our foe may have already contacted your daughter, Fallon, disguised as my son.’
‘Oh my Goddess!’ Candace was horrified. ‘Did he hurt her?’
‘Well, no …’ Maelgwn proceeded cautiously. ‘I have a feeling he might have taken a liking to her.’ Brian was silently turning red with rage and Maelgwn was beginning to wish he hadn’t mentioned it. ‘I just thought I should make you aware.’
‘And how long have you know about this?’ Brian queried, supressing his urge to start yelling.
Maelgwn could see he was walking a razor’s edge here. ‘Up until a second ago I thought Avery might have been drunk and forgotten about their …’ He was going to say encounter, but thought better of it.
‘Forgotten about their what?’ Brian grabbed Maelgwn by the shirt. ‘What happened?’ Willing to know so desperately, Brian perceived telepathically what Avery had told Maelgwn. Brian, being one of the fourteen appointed guardians of the Logoi, could perceive the thoughts of anyone, whether they were wearing a thought-wave neutraliser or not.
‘This Viper person tried to seduce my daughter! That’s a little different to merely contacting her, don’t you think?’ When Brian saw he was distressing Candace he let go of his brother-in-law and regained a civil tone. ‘How extreme was this seduction?’
Maelgwn smiled to relieve their concern. ‘You have raised a discerning and chaste daughter, have no fear of that. She declined his stronger advances.’
‘Oh, thank god,’ Candace breathed a sigh of relief. ‘For a minute there I was having terrible visions of being grandmother to the Antichrist.’
‘So why the interest in my daughter? To vex me?’ Brian supposed.
‘Not necessarily.’ Tory offered her view. ‘I think we all realise Avery is very fond of Fallon, even if he doesn’t know it yet. If it turns out that she is his Chosen other and that Viper is a past-life incarnation of Avery, then … it stands to reason that Viper will be attracted to Fallon also.’
‘Just wonderful!’ Brian threw his hands in the air. ‘How are we going to explain all this to my daughter?’
Candace bit her lip and drew a deep breath. ‘Very delicately.’
You could have knocked Noah over with a feather when a half-caste Nefilim-Falcon male who was the very image of Avery entered his cell. It was a silent relief for the Sage, as now he understood the forecast of the Tablet of Destinies and that this was the leader of their adversaries — the pending Lord of the Otherworld was in the clear.
‘Bring her,’ he instructed the pair of Leonine-Nefilim males who had followed him through the cell door.
‘Shall I blindfold the prisoner, Lord Viper?’ queried the taller of the Leonine guards.
Lord, is it? Noah noted on the quiet.
‘I don’t think that shall be necessary.’ Viper moved closer to Noah to stare down the captive. ‘There’s no way she can get back to her kin from here and I control her will.’ Viper admired the NERGUZ control module that was clamped to his wrist. ‘After we get where we’re going, it won’t matter how much she knows. She will become a devotee of the Dark Lodge, just like the rest of us.’
The young man’s confidence would have been unnerving, but Noah knew his threats were no longer plausible.
‘So,’ Viper concluded, ‘why miss the enjoyment of watching my great-aunt here strain her little brain as she attempts to figure out what the hell we are playing at, when she has no knowledge of Gaia’s history.’
Noah lowered his eyes as if ashamed by the claim, suppressing his urge to grin. At least he knew he was dealing with Gaia’s past now, not the distant future or some alternative dimension. And when it came to Gaia’s history, there was nobody more knowledgeable than he — in the physical world, that is.
‘Move it, auntie.’ Viper shoved Noah into the possession of his guards who hauled the Sage all the way to a small five-man reconnaissance vessel.
If Viper was calling Cordella aunt he must be a grandson of Dumuzi, which explained why the traits of the Falcon kind featured more strongly in his appearance than the physical traits of his Nefilim grandfather.
It was a Falcon-Nefilim female named Gazelle who manned the pilot’s seat of their craft.
‘Why are we bringing the traitor?’ The pilot appeared positively repulsed by the Delphinus leader’s presence.
‘My every decision has purpose, dear sister.’ Viper motioned her back to her job. ‘Have I ever given you cause to doubt my judgement?’ he asked harshly.
To avoid an argument, Gazelle turned back to her controls.
Noah was not surprised to hear Viper refer to Gazelle as sister, as she resembled Lirathea as much as Viper did Avery.
Sparrowhawk’s future bride, perhaps? Noah assessed her possible connection to the visions the Tablet had shown him. For as hard as Sparrowhawk had struggled to keep his deep affection for his sister, Lirathea, to himself, it had not escaped his tutor’s notice. Noah knew this to be the cause of the rift between the new Falcon leader and his Otherworldly brother, Avery.
‘Where are you taking me?’ Noah appealed, with a tinge of desperation in his assumed female voice.
‘I thought I ordered you not to speak?’ Viper tapped the control modu
le he wore on his wrist, fearing it to be faulty.
Noah had not considered this, and wondered what else his foe had forbid Cordella to do.
Viper approached and looked over the module Noah wore and, as all appeared in order, he cast her arm aside and then smacked Noah in the jaw. ‘You be silent, bitch. You have lied to and betrayed your own kind, your very existence disgusts me. I have already told you all you need to know.’
Although Noah was immortal, a punch in the jaw still hurt. But better him than Cordella; he shuddered to think what Lura’s Governess had already endured.
Noah watched as their craft descended through the atmosphere of the planet towards Europe. In his soul he knew they were headed for Britain, and ancient Gwynedd most likely. The man’s heart froze with fear and yet soared with delight. The Dark Ages weren’t named thus for no good reason. Evil thrived in this barbaric era of chaos and despotism. To every heroic legend there was an equally dark legend attached. And yet, if there was one destination in the whole of history that Noah desired to visit, it was the Dragon’s birthplace and he pulled himself up when he realised he was willing it to be so.
It was a beautiful day in Central Park. Chailida had clear aquamarine sky for as far as the eye could see, and a warm wind danced through the gardens.
Fallon sat on a bench in the shade of a large tree, not really reading the book in her hands; the book was just an excuse to be left in peace for a while.
She’d never imagined one tiny encounter with Avery would cause such a huge fuss, but then, it hadn’t even been Avery! The thought kept sending shock-waves through Fallon’s body, as the memory of the encounter had been such a treasure to her of late that it was difficult to write it off as a violation. What was worse was that everybody seemed to know about it.
The Cosmic Logos Page 7
