‘I guess you rejoin the Grigori sooner than expected. Keep still.’ Rhun urged, as Noah ducked for cover behind a solid moulded metal chair. The leader lowered the weapon, and huffed out his frustration. ‘This is not the way this was supposed to go.’
‘But it has gone as well as you could possibly hope for!’ Noah told him. ‘We could just explain your problem to the Draconians?’
‘How can I explain it, without going into the whole time paradox that led us here? Which does not paint our guest in the best light.’ Rhun took a seat, disheartened for the present. ‘I was really counting on the Draconians being lying bastards, as usual.’
‘Well, that will teach you to underestimate your own divine influence,’ Noah came out and took the seat alongside him. ‘I commend that you want to fix the injustice done to your brother, but this is the way it was meant to be — the timekeepers were never meant to be here.’
‘Avery won’t see it that way,’ Rhun was certain. ‘And I cannot allow a discord to develop between the material world and the elemental realms.’
‘If any discord results, it is not your fault,’ Noah stressed the fact he seemed to be overlooking.
‘I lost Avery the first chance to have a child in one hundred years!’ Rhun stood to stress, and his eyes moistened, as his emotion welled. ‘I know I give him a hard time, someone has to, in order keep his massive ego in check! But I love him, dearly … he has saved my arse more times than I care to remember —’
‘If memory serves, you have also saved his,’ Noah allowed.
‘I am his elder brother, that’s my job! This is not about me feeling guilty, it’s about me wanting my little brother’s greatest happiness.’ Rhun insisted, passionately. ‘I won’t dash his only desire. I will give him back his opportunity to be a father, if I have to create another cosmic fuck-up to do it!’
Sybil materialised before them, appearing unusually frazzled. ‘Whenever you are ready, gentlemen,’ she eyed the colourful glowing weapon in her husband’s hands, with disapproval. ‘There is an ever-growing crowd of people in your office, awaiting your attendance.’
Noah raised both his brow at Rhun. ‘We need to get our priorities straight here.’
Rhun saw the wisdom in that. ‘We’re right behind you,’ he advised Sybil.
‘Right behind me,’ she cautioned, with a look of ire.
‘I know today has been challenging, but bear with me,’ Rhun rubbed the top of her arm, affectionately. ‘I promise the results will be worth it.’
‘In fact, they are already a world away from what could have eventuated this day on Kila,’ Noah added, reminding Rhun to count his achievements, and not just focus on his shortcomings.
Sybil resolved to smile in encouragement. ‘It’s certainly not a boring day at the office.’
‘I miss boring days at the office,’ Rhun told her mournfully; those were the days they locked the doors and made love all afternoon.
‘Tomorrow perhaps?’ She grinned winningly and stepped away from him. ‘But not today,’ she concluded with a pout.
‘We’ll see about that,’ Rhun challenged as she vanished, and looked back at Noah, who was admiring the view in an attempt not to note the governor flirting with his wife.
‘Do you feel it?’ Noah queried still gazing out at the garden.
‘What’s that?’ Rhun wondered.
‘Peace,’ he advised. ‘I feel we’ve done something incredibly right.’
‘That would be a pleasant change of pace for us.’ Rhun didn’t share his certainty, but appreciated Noah voicing it. ‘Onwards and upwards then,’ he tried to sound more convincing, as he departed to make their appointment with the final outcome of their timekeeping agenda.
In reception, Rhun found his wife speaking with Fallon, trying to convince her to stay.
‘Here he is,’ Fallon breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the governor.
‘Sorry to keep you, I won’t be too much longer,’ Rhun assured her from afar with a wave, and proceeded through to his office.
‘What could be so important, that it could not be put off for another day?’ she asked, but he only held up a finger to implore her patience, before the doors manifested to enclose Rhun and Noah in his office, with the timekeepers and the Dracon.
Asher was the first to approach Rhun as he entered. ‘Who are these people?’ Asher whispered the query quietly to his father.
‘Surely you recognise them?’ Rhun posed, evading the question.
‘I do,’ Asher was annoyed. ‘But what are they doing here?’’
‘I think you are about to find out,’ Rhun grinned, and moved to join his guests, who were introducing themselves; but in reality no introductions were necessary — everyone’s reputations proceeded them.
‘So you are Taren?’ Vugar was saying. ‘The one the Grigori were so keen to protect?’
‘Really?’ She hadn’t taken that trip back in time, and looked to Zeven.
‘We were worried about not making it back to you, and the situation that would have left you in,’ he explained.
And Taren tipped her head sideways and smiled, touched that they had been so concerned for her. ‘You always come through in the end.’
‘Even for those who would seem your enemies,’ Vugar granted, looking to Zeven, who the Draconian leader addressed by his Grigorian name. ‘We are honoured to meet you, Sammael,’ Vugar looked about at all the timekeepers, recognising many of them, ‘and all you Grigori.’
Zeven held out a hand in a friendly fashion as Vugar’s attention turned back to him.
But the Dracon royals avoided the gesture to kneel down in front of Zeven to the shock of those present.
‘You gave up your souls to the Nefilim’s cruel genetic experiments on the human race, in order that our soul-mind could be free of a sub-universal virus,’ Vugar stated the fact with huge gratitude.
‘It amazes me that you remember back to that incident,’ Zeven, not as used to being venerated as many of his other incarnations, made light of their adoration, and so crouched down his aging form to continue the discussion at their level.
‘“Release his mind-eater into a soul-group like the reptilians have and you effectively make this menace immortal!”’ Vugar looked to Zeven, quoting Sammael’s words from countless thousands of years ago. ‘“And don’t think it will kill them all off eventually, it won’t, it’s smart. It will take your lab and start producing its own food supply!”’
‘That’s word for word.’ The fact completely blew Zeven’s mind.
‘You stood up to our Nefilim oppressors who wished to blackmail us into giving up on our caste on Ki, which we very nearly did,’ Vugar explained.
‘The Nefilim still led you to believe that they had injected the mind-eater into one of their hybrid reptilians, which they had on ice.’ Zeven understood that was the plan.
‘As the virus spread to the next most powerful reptilian in the vicinity, we kept our distance from Ki, where that caste were forced into slavery. Due to the genetic imperfections of their genetic structure, and the fact they could not procreate on their own, they developed a taste for humans, whose vital fluids, they discovered, could prolong their lives indefinitely.’
‘We saw instances of this in ancient China,’ Taren was saddened to recall, and the Draconian leader appeared just as sickened by the fact.
‘We only mention this shameful degeneration, in order to assure you that this abuse of humanity will come to an end,’ Vugar stated.
‘So you made contact with your caste on Earth — I mean, Ki?’ Zeven assumed.
‘There was one among us that dared to challenge the word of the Nefilim, who instilled in us a long-held belief that our caste on Ki were all infected with disease and beyond salvation.’ Vugar looked aside to his companion, to give her credit. ‘Even at the risk of being infected and being doomed never to return home, she was determined.’
‘That is very admirable,’ Zeven awarded, as everyone’s attention shifted to
Aysel.
‘Upon making contact with a reptilian hive-mind on Ki, I gained the knowledge of their full history,’ she explained. ‘Including the memories of their greatest forefather, Kingu, who, in the lab of Ninharsag, bore witness to the Grigori’s great sacrifice to save the reptilians from a mind-eating virus.’
‘Kingu was the son of Tiamat,’ Taren recalled, ‘who incarnated into a physical form to warn the Nefilim, but for his trouble he was imprisoned by them in cryogen instead.’
‘Thus we of the royal line of the Dracon, now know of the great debt our kind owe yours,’ Aysel concluded.
‘We appreciate that you acknowledge our aid,’ Zeven granted. ‘But what I would appreciate more is if we could all stand, or better still be seated?’
‘Of course.’ Vugar and Aysel rose, and gave Zeven a hand up.
‘Many thanks,’ he stated, as they let him go. ‘Please, be seated.’
Once everyone was comfortable, Zeven resumed. ‘What I don’t understand, is how did you know how and when to find the timekeepers here on Kila?’
Vugar placed a hand on the ornate dragon buckle on his belt — the same mysterious belt Aysel had used to guide her forth to the timekeepers once before.
‘The Dragon’s Eye,’ Zeven said, upon recognising it.
‘You know of it?’ Vugar sounded proud the legend had spread so far. ‘It is one of our most sacred relics.’
‘It detects treachery, as only the pure of heart can stand in its presence,’ Zeven recounted what he’d been told of its function. ‘It is also deadly to the touch of anyone but its chosen guardian.’
Vugar had been nodding in accord, but that last part of Zeven’s tutorial confused him. ‘This sacred relic would never kill!’
‘My mistake,’ Zeven looked to Aysel, suspecting she’d lied to him about that the last time they had met.
‘It is our direct connection to the great dragon spirit,’ Aysel allowed graciously, ‘it only serves the greater good, which is never served by killing.’
‘Tiamat,’ Taren uttered, having suddenly made the connection. ‘Tiamat is the great dragon spirit.’
Vugar gave a nod to grant this was correct. ‘Thus, the great dragon acknowledges that the Grigori debt to her has been paid in full.’
This announcement was received with much revelry from those present.
‘Those of our kind remaining on Earth shall be quietly tracked down and returned to Fiameadi to be re-educated and assimilated back into our hive-mind.’ Aysel added to the mirth.
‘And if that doesn’t work, you’ll just hit them with this,’ Rhun patted the weapon in his possession.
Aysel found his suggestion amusing, although a little extreme. ‘The effects of that weapon, good or bad, can only be temporary if the character of your subject is contrary,’ she explained. ‘You cannot enforce enlightenment on a demon, any more than you can force a spiritual master to destroy.’
‘Effects, good or bad?’ Rhun queried. ‘The weapon function can be reversed?’
‘It can,’ Aysel admitted, warily, almost apologetically. ‘But there is a code required to activate the reverse mode, that only Vugar knows, for such a strike against another being would be an extremely malicious act.’
Rhun looked to Noah whom he could tell was silently praying that his governor did not openly ask for the code. The historian need not have feared, Rhun was not as telepathically talented as some of his other siblings, and had learned to turn off this talent as mostly, it just gave him a headache. But he could clearly read the thoughts of another through touching a subject, and had been able to do this from quite a young age.
‘Well, I guess that about wraps up everything,’ Rhun was eager to get business done, and sort out his little family problem.
‘There is one thing that still bothers me,’ Telmo spoke up, directing the gripe at the governor.
‘And what’s that?’ Rhun had a feeling he didn’t want to know.
‘How the “virus” managed to shift Ling Hu through time as it did?’ he said cryptically, so that their guests might be intrigued but not offended — it was Rhun who was offended.
‘You just had to bring that up again, didn’t you?’ Rhun challenged.
‘The Taliesin in me couldn’t help it.’ Telmo concurred.
‘It’s lost in the timelines, just accept that.’ Rhun closed the topic for discussion.
Vugar raised a claw, hoping he might be permitted to comment. ‘There is another purpose to our visit.’
‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise,’ Rhun didn’t want to seem rude or unaccommodating. ‘Please continue.’
Vugar stood, as all eyes turned his way. If you would like to see us back to your landing dock, I’ll enlighten you there.’
Many curious looks were exchanged as the timekeepers accompanied the royals back to where the governor had first greeted them that day, and there in the dock was the time chariot. The sight gave Rhun and Noah a mild heart attack at first, for they assumed the Dracon had somehow penetrated their defences here on Kila to steal the one chariot that remained.
‘How did you come by this?’ Rhun couldn’t keep the panic out of his tone.
‘We didn’t,’ Aysel replied calmly, ‘some of our caste on Earth found it buried in an underwater cave after Atlantis sank … our ilk are excellent swimmers.’
‘Oh, it’s that chariot.’ This was the second chariot, the one they had lost! The relief overwhelmed Rhun, as he turned to Telmo, hoping he would now drop the subject.
‘Tamat claims it belongs to you?’ Vugar was puzzled by Rhun’s vagueness on the matter.
‘Your dragon guardian is absolutely correct,’ Rhun assured the Dracon.
‘Our good governor and his brother managed to lose it, when they were lads,’ Telmo added, to the Draconians’ slight amusement and Rhun’s agitation.
‘Our caste on Ki never managed to work out its function,’ Aysel added, in consolation to the governor’s obvious embarrassment. ‘Perhaps, with your smart virus however …’
Rhun nodded, following her train of thought. ‘The virus had the chariot and was using it all along.’
‘That would explain how it knew how to use it, when he first stole it from you,’ Telmo was careful not to mention the chariot’s twin.
‘I thought you said he lost it?’ Vugar pointed out.
‘It has gone amiss on more than one occasion,’ Telmo added to make matters worse.
‘As timekeepers you should probably be more careful with your precious treasures,’ the older Draconian ruler suggested. ‘You can’t afford to have just anyone zipping about through time, unsupervised.’
‘I have certainly learned a valuable lesson this day, Vugar,’ the governor was suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude towards his new allies, who obviously knew what the chariot’s function was. ‘Only a truly wise and honest being would have returned such amazing treasure to its owner, and not used it to further their own ends —’
‘Amazing treasure!’ Vugar laughed. ‘If you are a timekeeper, perhaps. But to us normal, century-to-century kind of beings, it’s a bloody curse!’ Vugar looked to Aysel, and she served him a sly wink, before Vugar looked back to Rhun, and held out a hand toward him. ‘We would rather leave time and causality in the hands of the experts.’
‘Ha!’ Telmo suppressed his amusement.
Rhun ignored his old mentor, eager to shake the Draconian leader’s hand, for by so doing he garnered the code to unlock the forbidden function on the weapon Vugar had gifted him earlier.
Once the Dracon departed, the first priority was to return the chariot to its twin, in high security under the Institute of Immortal History.
‘I’ll take it back,’ Noah volunteered.
‘I shall take it,’ Rhun insisted, looking to Zeven. ‘Would you mind giving me a hand?’
Everyone present was puzzled by the request as Rhun had psychokinesis — obviously the governor wished to get Zeven alone.
‘Not me?’ Telmo question
ed, since he had been so passionate about finding the missing treasure.
‘No, just Song,’ Rhun answered simply, making Telmo twice as curious, which made Zeven smile. ‘I’ll see the rest of you back in my office,’ Rhun finalised the matter, then he and Zeven vanished with the time-hopping transport.
‘Could you be any more obvious?’ Zeven queried upon arrival in the vault, where they landed the chariot back where it belonged alongside the other.
‘I need your help with something,’ Rhun admitted.
‘Shoot!’ Zeven was all ears.
‘I know that the timelines had altered and so this never really happened,’ Rhun outlined. ‘But I once promised the Dropa I would take care of Wu Geng, but he was lost, his memory of enlightenment along with him.’
‘Don’t say any more,’ Zeven insisted. ‘I already plan to take care of it.’
Rhun wasn’t too sure how to interpret that statement.
‘I promised I would not abandon Wu Geng, in this universe or the next,’ Zeven lowered his voice despite being locked in a vault alone with Rhun.
‘How do you plan —’
‘Don’t ask,’ Zeven insisted, and then confessed. ‘It’s kind of a plan in progress really.’
‘Does the timekeeper know your intent?’ Rhun wasn’t getting the vibe that she did.
‘Nah,’ Zeven waved off Rhun’s caution, ‘I think Khalid needs to be a solo project, Taren has enough to contend with.’
‘Look,’ Rhun was feeling guilty and wary now. ‘We just got our timeline sorted out. I don’t want to encourage you to do anything that will fuck up yours!’
‘I won’t fuck it up!’ Zeven insisted, and Rhun held both his hands up in truce. ‘Remember the mutant!’
‘I believe you.’ The governor insisted. ‘And I do remember, I reminded you.’
‘Well good,’ Zeven calmed down. ‘Surely Khalid can’t be any worse than that!’ he concluded, sounding unsure if he was trying to convince Rhun or himself.
Upon Rhun and Zeven’s return to the governor’s office, Rhun was immediately confronted by his son, Asher, who was most baffled. ‘What just happened?’
Eternity Gate Page 41
