Stealing Sacred Fire

by Constantine, Storm

  Helen fidgeted in her seat. They were nearly there. She knew that Enniel had superficially agreed to let them go their own way, but there were certain people on the plane she felt uneasy about. She’d mentioned them to her mother, who’d merely pursed her mouth in annoyance and said, ‘Don’t worry. If anyone’s our unofficial bodyguard, we’ll give them the slip when we land.’

  Helen could not suppress an involuntary shudder. Would operatives of Enniel’s make her feel so troubled?

  * * *

  Daniel stared up at the Sphinx, shading his eyes against the blinding morning sunlight. The monument’s enclosure was thick with tourists, but just by gazing on the mysterious, impassive countenance above him, Daniel could blot their buzzing presence from his mind. He remembered the time he had stood before Azumi, the rock sphinx of Cornwall, equally mystified yet desperate for answers. Why won’t you relinquish your secrets? he thought. Will you only reveal them to Shem? He sighed heavily. Today was New Year’s Eve. The new millennium was only hours away, and still Shem had not appeared. Daniel had no idea what he and his companions should do. He could only keep looking, keep guessing, until the last possible moment.

  The Giza plateau was swarming with people, and there was a heavy military presence, supposedly to protect the road crews of the bands who were due to begin playing around mid-day. Mesh fencing had been hastily erected around the central stage area. A massive sound and lighting system had been installed, and a pyramid erected over the stage. Nearby, the original monuments seemed to look down in distaste. Daniel didn’t blame them.

  Where was the entrance to the Chambers? The meditation last night had been helpful in that they had all picked up imagery of a crypt beneath the church, but the dedication name of the church had eluded them, so they still had no way of locating it precisely.

  Salamiel and the others had gone off on a field trip. They were investigating as many churches as possible, although it seemed likely that all Coptic churches in Cairo would have crypts and also priests who would object to strangers poking around them, in fear of Muslim persecution. Daniel closed his eyes and attempted to blot out all sounds around him. He had to get the information they needed.

  As he tried to concentrate, he became aware of being watched and opened his eyes quickly. Quite a lot of people were milling around the monument, but his eyes were drawn immediately to a woman who stood smoking a cigarette, leaning against the eroded wall of the enclosure. She was dressed in jeans and a black shirt and wore shades, her dark hair pinned up loosely on her head. A large leather bag was slung over her shoulder. Why was she watching him? He got the impression it was more than a casual interest. Daniel stared back at her, although he could not see her eyes and could no longer be sure whether she was looking at him. She stubbed out her cigarette and walked away, quickly, pushing aggressively through a knot of sight-seers, who complained loudly. Daniel followed her, making people repeat their objections as he shouldered past them. He kept the woman in sight as they left the enclosure. She walked purposefully through the temple complex that lay before the Sphinx. Daniel was confused when she disappeared for a few moments as a crowd of sight-seers, freshly delivered from Cairo’s centre, disembarked from a coach and milled around like mindless sheep in front of him. He clawed his way through them, and saw the woman ahead of him, about to board one of the buses that ferried people to and from the city. He ran after her and managed to climb on the bus just as the driver was about to shut the doors. Quickly, he sat down and scanned the passengers, finally catching sight of his quarry further up the bus. She appeared to be examining something in her lap.

  Daniel clasped his hands together between his knees. What was he doing? He shouldn’t have followed her. She was doubtlessly just a tourist who had no interest in him at all. Yet his instincts screamed otherwise.

  Once they reached the city centre, the woman got off the bus, along with several other people, in a busy market area of the older part of the town. Daniel followed as discretely as possible, lingering by the bus as the woman strode off across a stall-packed square, where reproductions of Ancient Egyptian art were laid out on tables to tempt the gullible tourists. Once the bus pulled off, Daniel could not see his quarry at all. Perplexed, he began to wander through the stalls, inspecting the crowd minutely. Stall-holders attempted to interest him in their wares with some persistence, but he ignored them. The woman had vanished very quickly.

  Daniel had just given up the idea of being able to find her, when someone grabbed him and pulled him roughly into a narrow, empty side street, where the blank walls of what appeared to be residential buildings rose high to either side. His face was pushed roughly against the wall and he heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked close to his ear. Something cold and hard was pressed against his hair. Daniel forced himself to relax. He sensed he mustn’t struggle.

  ‘Who the fuck are you?’ a woman’s low voice demanded.

  ‘Daniel Cranton,’ he said. Would she kill him?

  ‘Daniel...’ With one final unnecessary shove, she released him. He turned round slowly. The woman was standing before him with folded arms. There was no sign of a weapon in her hands, but perhaps she had already secreted it in her shoulder bag. She smiled at him. ‘I thought I knew who you were, but I had to be sure. Sorry.’

  Daniel rubbed his head. ‘Who are you?’ Could this be the seventh avatar they were looking for? She did not look like a Grigori, mainly because she wasn’t tall enough. Her manners, however, had a certain rogue Grigori flavour to them.

  ‘It doesn’t matter who I am. I’ve been looking for you. You must come with me, now.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Daniel answered, adding insouciantly, ‘I was always told to keep away from strangers’

  She removed her shades and took a step towards him. Hands on hips, she tapped her foot impatiently. ‘Look, I asked nicely, so don’t give me any trouble.’ Her eyes were hard. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘I think you’d better give me a good reason why first.’

  ‘Brave boy, aren’t you!’ She shrugged. ‘OK. A friend of yours sent me. You really want to meet him. So come on. We’re wasting time.’

  Daniel’s heart lurched. He knew then that he had to go with her. ‘All right. You go ahead. I’ll follow.’

  ‘Right!’ She stalked off up the street and Daniel went after her, maintaining a slight distance between them. They did not speak to one another. She led him through a maze of alleys to a cramped street of tall buildings with narrow doorways approached by short flights of steps. The woman marched up to one of the doors and turned to Daniel. ‘Here we are. Come in.’

  Daniel followed her into the building. It was spacious inside, yet bare, the walls scabrous with age. He could see a courtyard beyond a window and wooden stairs leading to an upper storey. The floor was tiled and covered with Turkish rugs. The air smelled of frankincense and tobacco. Somewhere, in a distant room, someone was moving what sounded like iron pots around.

  The woman began to climb the stairs, Daniel following. On the first floor, she turned down a small landing and then entered a room, where she paused in the door-way and beckoned for Daniel to enter. Hesitantly, Daniel squeezed past her into a small, low-ceilinged room, where a man sat at a table by the window. It was Shemyaza. He did not turn round immediately. He had a glass of tea in front of him and appeared to be looking out at the courtyard, the planes of his face sculpted by mellow light. Daniel paused at the threshold, stunned. ‘Shem!’

  Shemyaza turned then and looked at him. ‘Hello, Daniel.’

  Daniel was not altogether surprised, but still felt slightly disorientated to find Shemyaza there. ‘What’s all this about? Where have you been? Who’s this female thug?’

  ‘Come in,’ Shemyaza said. ‘Sit down. Drink tea.’

  Daniel walked over to the table. Shem appeared to be relaxed and in good health. What game was this? ‘Why didn’t you contact us? We’ve been half crazy with worry!’

  Shemyaza did not react
to Daniel’s carping tone. ‘I have contacted you. That’s why you’re here. My friend Melandra has been looking for you for some days.’

  ‘Was the gun necessary?’

  Shemyaza laughed and glanced at the woman, who was now leaning against the closed door. ‘Gun, Melandra? I hope you haven’t been intimidating poor Daniel.’

  The woman bared her teeth in a predatory grin. ‘You want me to work for you, but I do the job my way.’

  Shemyaza shook his head and poured Daniel a glass of tea from a tall brass pot. ‘Are you ready to work now, Daniel?’ He pushed the glass towards Daniel’s hands.

  Daniel felt dazed. ‘Work?’

  ‘Yes, you remember. The Chambers of Light? Have you found the church yet?’

  Daniel groaned. ‘Why do you do things to me like this? Why couldn’t you just come to the hotel like any normal person?’

  ‘Of course, you do not expect me to answer that,’ Shemyaza said. ‘We need to start work tonight. Are the others ready?’

  Daniel blinked at him. ‘There are five of us. We lack one.’

  ‘No, that has been attended to. Have you had a good look round St Menas?’

  ‘St Menas?’

  ‘Daniel, you seem half asleep! The church, where we have to perform the opening rite.’

  Daniel rubbed his eyes. ‘The Coptic church. No. We were unable to discover the dedication.’

  Shemyaza expressed his impatience. ‘Tch! What have you been doing?’

  ‘Waiting for you mostly. What else could we do?’

  ‘Daniel, I am disappointed. You were clever enough to bring everyone here, so I would have expected you to have located the church by now.’ He sighed. ‘No matter. It shouldn’t take long.’ He gestured at the woman. ‘Perhaps you could make some enquiries instead?’

  Melandra made a languid gesture with one arm. ‘I’m onto it already.’ She left the room.

  ‘Efficient but dangerous,’ Shemyaza said.

  ‘Who is she?’

  ‘The assassin who stalked me in Istanbul.’

  Daniel couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity of the situation. ‘Shem! What have you done to her, or perhaps I shouldn’t ask?’

  Shem did not join in with the laughter. ‘Daniel, there might be complications.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That woman, Melandra, she works for an organisation dedicated to making sure I’m dead.’ He raised a hand to silence Daniel’s outburst. ‘No, you don’t understand. There is a Grigori faction behind it.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You heard me. Oh Daniel, you won’t believe what I’ve learned, but the truth is there are elements of our people who do not want me to fulfil my destiny. They will try to stop me.’

  ‘Can that woman be trusted?’

  He shrugged. ‘She may be unpredictable, but she’s furious to discover that she’s not working for enemies of the Grigori as she’d been led to believe.’

  ‘What do you think your enemies will do?’

  ‘They will use people to obstruct me, as they already have. I don’t know if they’re aware of the church, but they are certainly behind the threat to bomb the Sphinx. That’s what happens, Daniel. They use people’s beliefs for their own ends, whether they are Islamic or Christian. People believe they are fighting for god, but they’re not. They’re fighting for Grigori, the traditional enemies of their gods.’

  Daniel drew his hands over his face. This was so much to take in. ‘We’ll need protection, then.’

  ‘We have Melandra. As I said, she’s quite efficient and happy to be putting her talents to some use now that I’ve convinced her not to kill me.’

  ‘One woman against — what? How many?’

  Shemyaza took a sip of tea. ‘Return to your companions,’ he said. ‘We must all go to the church at sunset. Tell Gadreel to bring Qimir’s swords with her.’

  Daniel nodded. ‘OK. But what if your killer woman can’t find the church?’

  ‘She will.’

  Daniel returned to his hotel, with the promise that the woman, Melandra, would contact him in a couple of hours. Shemyaza told him to make sure the others were ready. He had told Daniel the story of what had happened to him since they were separated, and had introduced him to Penemue and Tiy. Shem’s whole attitude seemed to have changed. He seemed more confident and sure about his role, but also more distant and melancholy. It was as if something was bothering him, of which he would not speak.

  Although Daniel was glad that Penemue had been found, he could not help but feel slightly annoyed that other players had been brought into the game: Melandra and Tiy. He found it very hard to credit Tiy was actually Shemyaza’s mother. As for Penemue, he was a revelation. He still lived in the body that had walked the earth in the days of Eden. He seemed ill at ease in the western-style clothes he wore — desert fatigues — as if his body was made for being draped in long robes. He could speak only in the ancient tongue, which meant he necessarily remained a silent, looming presence.

  Back at his hotel, Daniel gritted his teeth before summoning the others to his room and filling them in about all that had happened. As he’d expected, Gadreel and Salamiel seemed put out that only Daniel had been taken to meet Shemyaza, while Pharmaros became jittery at the prospect of coming face to face with him later on. Only Kashday appeared pleased with developments and was clearly eager for the next stage of the game.

  While they were still discussing the situation, the phone rang and Daniel answered it. He recognised the drawling American tone straight away. ‘We have a location, Mr Cranton. It’s in Old Cairo, of course, the Coptic quarter. Shemyaza calls this Old Babylon. Do you think you and your crew will be capable of finding St Menas alone?’

  Daniel stiffened with irritation. He had the impression that Melandra believed him and his companions to be bumbling idiots, helpless without Shemyaza’s guidance. ‘We’ll see you outside in an hour,’ he said and was about to put down the phone without waiting for her response.

  ‘Not so fast,’ Melandra snapped, as if sensing he was going to break the connection. ‘Shemyaza wants you to wait for Penemue. He’ll be coming to the church with you. Now, he can’t speak English, Cranton, so send someone down to the lobby to wait for him. I’ll put him in a cab and he’ll be with you within a quarter of an hour. Got that?’

  ‘All right,’ Daniel said. He felt confused about this development. If Penemue was coming to their hotel, why couldn’t Shem accompany him? What was he planning? Daniel put down the phone with a frown on his face.

  ‘What is it?’ Salamiel asked.

  Daniel shrugged. ‘Penemue is coming here.’

  ‘Alone?’

  Daniel nodded. ‘Yes. Apparently.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The Dark Brotherhood

  Cairo, Egypt

  Helen and her mother walked the streets of Old Babylon. Lily held her daughter’s right hand, although in the other Helen carried the jar containing Met-Met. She had insisted on bringing the scarab with her. ‘Why here, love?’ Lily asked as they strolled down a winding, narrow street. All seemed unusually quiet, as if they had stepped from the bustling chaos of Cairo into an older time. This was a very ancient quarter of the city, the last bastion of the Copts. Mosques were not so prevalent here.

  ‘Met-Met has told me to come here,’ Helen said, as if the fact was obvious.

  ‘But why?’ Lily looked around herself. Would Shemyaza or Daniel step from around a corner? She didn’t like this place; it spooked her.

  ‘Met-Met has a job for me,’ Helen said.

  Lily glanced down at her daughter. ‘Honey, who exactly is Met-Met? Why does he tell you to do things?’

  ‘He’s my friend,’ Helen answered. ‘I can’t see him, but I know he looks after me.’

  ‘Has he told you what this job is that you have to do?’

  Helen shook her head. ‘Not yet. He’s just taking us somewhere.’

  Helen could not tell her mother how she sensed danger al
l around. Lily might want them to return to their hotel if she knew about that. Helen was frightened, because to her, the danger felt like a dense black smoke creeping down every alley. These strands of darkness were converging on a single point, and there, she knew, a wonderful brightness would be found. The evil smoke wanted to extinguish this radiance. The light belonged to her. She was part of it and must protect it.

  ‘It’ll be dark soon,’ Lily said, her voice tense. ‘I think we should go back to the hotel. We can continue this walk tomorrow.’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Helen in a quiet, firm voice.

  ‘Well, here we are,’ Gadreel said. The group stood before the entrance to St Menas. The church door was situated at the bottom of a short flight of steps. There was no garden around the building, not even a yard. The frontage was unornamented, faced with yellow-painted plaster. Its only external adornment was two pillars encrusted with blue mosaic tiles, on either side of the narrow double doors. A decorated arch curved above the lintel.

  ‘I expected something a little more splendid,’ Pharmaros said lamely, voicing the thought in all her companions’ minds.

  Daniel led the way inside. The church itself was cramped and lacked ostentation. Five black pillars ran down each side of the narrow room, framing a simple altar at the far end, below a leaded-glass window. The glass was not coloured, but the coppery light of the sky outside lent an orange hue to the panes. A statue stood to the left of the altar, which upon inspection, the group discovered represented John the Baptist. A statue of Mary riding a donkey, on the right of the altar, was placed near to a high pulpit reached by a flight of wooden steps. Two banks of plain dark wood pews flanked the narrow aisle. The air smelled musty, of old, cheap frankincense. There were no priests, and no worshippers. The place felt deserted.