by Ben Yallop
Sam and Amy ran in the same direction, her short blond hair swaying as she moved. ‘Thanks for the phone call,’ she said as she ducked a blast of energy which fizzed past like lightning. ‘I brought the cavalry.’
Sam saw that as well as the man who had fired a shot at him there were a number of other people, whom Sam guessed were agents, taking on the Riven King clones. Sam and Amy skidded into a corner to find Tarak cringing and hiding a look of pure terror on his face.
Amy gave him a push. ‘Hey,’ she said.
He shook himself and spoke in an urgent whisper. 'Sam, these copies of the King are identical to him at the point that they were created. Each has that same terrible power and that same terrifying desire to use it against those who will not follow him. But there is one material difference so long as they are all together. The doppelgänger effect. Whilst they are together the world does not want them to live. They are weaker, and more prone. We must keep them in this cavern and fight and hope that fate will help us pick them off. Don’t let them leave. Take them down one by one.'
A few moments later Sam was forced into an attack. Towards the back of the cavern he came across a King standing motionless watching the lights flit around the room. He seemed unwilling or unable to join the fray. Then he saw Kya and suddenly seemed to come awake taking aim at her. Sam ran forwards and sent his presence into the rock above the King's head. He pushed his thought between cracks in the rock until he felt as though he had imaginary fingers behind it, firmly lodged. He pulled down as hard as he could wrenching a large chunk of rock away from the ceiling. The split second it began to move he pulled down with all his strength and it flew down at incredible speed onto the oblivious clone crushing him in an instant, a moment before his attack reached Kya. More rocks tumbled afterwards until the pile was large enough to cover the body. A huge cloud of pulverised dust blew into the cavern so that suddenly it was as though a heavy fog had descended. The lights that the clones held illuminated the cloud from within. Sam wondered what effect the cave-in had had on the surface.
Sam ran again, trying to always keep moving and now able to use the fog of the dust as cover. He came across one of the agents that Amy had brought staring blankly at the ceiling, a trickle of blood from his mouth pooling in the dust on the ground. Sam closed his eyes for a moment and turned his head away. Then he dragged himself past and dashed into a corner, using the dust cloud to hide. When the dust seemed to begin to settle he gave a wide and soft push of presence throughout the room, a gentle wind that caught the powdered rock up again and caused it to billow around keeping him better hidden. He had to keep the Kings together. If they left and spread out the war would be lost before it had really even started.
The cavern was still in chaos. Lights flashed and wove as the presence lights of the Kings moved around the room, Bursts of what looked like electricity flashed too through the dust which hung like smoke in the air. Loud cracks, which hurt Sam’s ears each time, came each time a gun was fired and his ears rang and were muffled. A light moved towards him out of the murk and Sam gathered rocks from the pile behind him and flung them hard towards the unseen clone. Something must have hit its mark as the light winked out, although whether because the King had been hurt or just distracted Sam could not tell.
The spies, who all seemed to have presence, were fighting as hard as they could, but they were no match for the Kings and Sam saw two more lying broken and bloodied as he leapt and twisted around using presence, looking for opportunities to strike.
Suddenly three lights moved towards Sam out of the dust and he staggered backwards, finding himself up against the wall. Three identical faces loomed out at him. Each lit from beneath by a presence light so that for a moment Sam was reminded of holding a torch under his own chin to tell ghost stories. Each face looked like a dark skull. Three accursed kings. Sam realised that he was right next to the wall and he backed up against it, nowhere else to go.
The clone in the centre stretched an arm out towards Sam and he tried to form a barrier in front of himself. When the burst of presence came Sam was surprised to feel that it didn't really test his shield. Instead the clone in front of him dropped to the ground as a trickle of blood came from its nose. Amy stood behind him. One of the other two figures dropped a moment later as another agent took him down. The third King turned and with a scream of hatred picked up Amy's colleague using presence and shook him apart in the air. Sam turned away in horror as blood sprayed into the air like a red mist.
Suddenly Sam felt a change in the room. In the billowing fog he caught a flash of light and he saw a group of clones facing each other. Their hands together. The whole cavern seemed to vibrate and shake as the raw power of presence made the air buzz. Then suddenly Sam felt another line open. The Blood Line had been there throughout, but it had been the only one. Now there was another. How was that possible?
As the line opened Sam felt the air crackle with power around him. How could that be? There had been no lines in the cavern other than the Blood Line. The one that had caused all this mess. But now Sam could feel a new doorway open. Then he realised, the remaining Riven Kings were leaving. In a moment Sam understood that using the power of several versions of himself at once the King had torn open a new line. They had to be stopped. If they disappeared from this cavern they could scatter. The dust was thinning and suddenly Sam could see the whole room. As if in slow motion he saw the danger. Three clones left. Only Kya, Amy and a few others were still standing. Three Kings were left, this was it. The doppelgänger effect only weakened clones when they were near each other, affected by each other’s presence. If they managed to open that door fully and leave it was all over.
All the defenders who had realised what was happening and were still alive moved quickly towards the Kings and the new line. Sam saw Amy was closest as she rushed towards the clones, hands outstretched, ready to fire at the remaining Kings. Sam saw it happen as if in slow motion and he began running too. As he approached he saw Amy suddenly stagger and fall, her presence going wide and missing the clones. As she fell Sam saw a new figure come into view. Tarak. He was facing Amy, his hand out. He had knocked her attack wide. Now Sam was the only one running towards the trio pulling open the line. Tarak brought his hand up again to point at Sam. Sam saw his mouth form a single word, sorry. And Sam leapt.
Sam dove, launching himself at the clones. He was just able to grab the edge of a black cloak tightly in his fist. But the Kings were already entering the line and the force, as it drew him in, tugged Sam through the air, away from Tarak’s attack and into nothingness, into the line. Sam was unable to do anything other than to cling to his mortal enemy, now three times more powerful. He could do nothing but wait to see where the doorway would open. Behind him, in Jack Cade’s Cavern, the line vanished.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Blackheath, London
April 8 2002
The next day Amy and Kya stood side by side watching the men setting up their workspace inside the cordon around the hole that had appeared in the road leading from Blackheath to London. The battle which had raged below in Jack Cade’s Cavern had caused a cave-in which had led part of the road to collapse inwards. Amy’s team were already feeding appropriate theories to the newspapers about old chalk mines in the area and how rain sometimes caused these unusual sinkholes.
Kya had not left since the events of the day before and had stayed close to Amy. The morning before, right after the fatal battle underground, she seen her father being escorted away, his head hung low. She hadn’t really known what to do since.
‘We’ll take good care of Tarak, I promise,’ said Amy as if reading her thoughts. ‘But we can’t leave him free. He has an interest in the Riven King remaining at large so he can play his part in the establishment of your world, after this one. I had the Riven King in my sights, all of the final three of them. I could have stopped them all permanently but Tarak shoved me just at the wrong moment. He needed a King to survive. He may not have wanted the t
hreat of multiple copies of the King in Mu, that’s why he came here to stop him using the Line, but he needed at least one to live. We were all too late, and now our problems are worse than before. Box couldn’t have predicted that.’
Kya just nodded glumly.
‘For that matter, as a citizen of Mu, you also have an interest in the end of our world.’
Kya looked up fiercely at that. ‘Trade the lives of billions for the kind of future that the Riven King has created. Doesn’t seem like a good deal to me.’
Amy nodded, apparently satisfied for the moment. ‘Sam called me on the way to the Blood Line to fill me in. We knew where and when to find you. I’m just sorry we couldn’t all get here sooner. Sam said he also had a suspicion about your father’s motives, although he hoped that he was wrong. Unfortunately, he was right.’
Kya kicked a stone into the hole in front of them.
‘We’ll seal the Blood Line off, using these roadworks as a cover,’ said Amy. ’Once we’ve removed the bodies we’ll fill in the Cavern, seal it under as much concrete as we can fit in, and we’ll keep an eye on it. We might try to find a line which would lead us here at an earlier time so we can stop the Riven King before he clones himself. But I suspect we won’t find one. The lines are shifting and changing. The universe seems to be on course to a certain path. Whether that’s a path we might like or not, who can say.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Kya. ‘For what he did.’ It sounded feeble even to her own ears.
‘Hey, you’ve nothing to apologise for. It’s not your fault. Tarak did it from both love and self-preservation I suppose. No matter how terrible his actions there was an element of good there perhaps. If Sam’s suspicions were right, the Riven King plays rather a greater part in the end of our world than we thought. But your father knows that if this world continues then everyone he cares about, including you, never comes to be.’
‘I still want to stop the Riven King,’ said Kya, lifting her chin. ‘And I’m going to find Sam.’
Amy turned her head to look at her.
‘You like him don’t you?’
Kya nodded. ‘The very first time he touched my arm it sent a presence through me that I’ve never been able to forget. I know he’s out there somewhere, still alive, despite what happened. My father believed he would be one of those who would cross over into the next world, and survive the end of this one, whether that is because of his ability to travel through the lines or for some other reason I don’t know. He’ll survive. But how are we ever going to take down three Riven Kings?’
A voice came from behind them. ‘I might have an idea.’ They turned to see a man limping towards them. Clad in a black cloak he looked like one of the Riven. But Amy moved to him and shook his hand.
‘Box, So good to see you again. How are you feeling?’ She stepped back to look at him.
He grunted. ‘Like I’ve been hit by a truck, but I’ll live.’
‘Box? But I thought Qayin killed you?’ said Kya.
‘That’s what I wanted everyone to think. I had a plan. I lured Qayin into a showdown and when I beat him I took his clothes and pretended to be him. I travelled to the Rivenrok Complex and went before the King. I told him the location of the Blood Line.’
‘What? Why?’ said Kya.
‘Well, first off so that he would trust me. Alfred Boxall would never have told him the location of such a powerful weapon. And secondly, so I could get him alone and vulnerable. I knew he wouldn’t bring anyone else with him to this spot.’ Box peered into the hole in the middle of the road. ‘I knew he wouldn’t want to risk any of the other Riven coming and learning of the location. So I pretended to be Qayin and said I would lead him here. I knew what date the line would arrive. I’d already figured that out, so I left some clues which I knew Tarak would eventually come across and I came here with the Riven King. I meant to attack him at the moment he stepped from the Blood Line when he would be fully in the grip of the doppelgänger effect. I thought I could take him out once and for all. Tarak and whoever else he brought were the back-up. But, Tarak didn’t arrive as quickly as I hoped and the Riven King had already sussed me. He struck at me before he entered the line and I couldn’t withstand him. I was unconscious when you arrived.’
Box gave a sigh.
‘I’m so sorry. I had to act fast but I got it wrong. There was no way everyone could have got here in time. It was a desperate gamble, but I lost. I knew that the Riven King would find the Blood Line eventually and I thought it would be better if we had an element of control over when that was. But perhaps I’ve doomed us all. One thing I never predicted was that he could use the combined power of three to tear open space time and force a line where one had not existed before. I think the effect of the weakness caused by the doppelgänger effect will have unsettled him though. He won’t want to risk defeat again. I think he’ll spread out.’
Amy looked at him. ‘But you said you might have an idea?’
Box nodded. ‘Being close to the King I’ve seen what he’s turning into, what his twisted presence is creating.’
‘I don’t follow,’ said Kya.
‘Who is the greatest villain ever to exist in the history of man? “La plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas." The greatest trick of the devil is to persuade you he does not exist.’
‘What? I don’t understand. Are you saying that the Riven King is becoming the devil? Like Satan? Lucifer?’ asked Amy.
‘Not like him. The power he is absorbing is changing him beyond all recognition. I’m not saying that he will become a red skinned, cloven hoofed, beast who carries a trident. That is simply how history has decided to represent him. But I do believe he is becoming diabolical. He has become pure evil and has the ability to travel far back in time. Yes. I think he quite likes the idea of being Beelzebub. It is one of the biggest myths of all time. One which we’ve never really considered. And if he is becoming devilish, there might be something we can use against him.’
‘What?’ asked Amy.
‘The Ring of Solomon.’
‘What’s the Ring of Solomon? A magic ring? Isn’t that a little corny?’ asked Kya.
‘You forget, if a story or legend seems clichéd it may be because it has an element of truth. Why are there so many stories of magic rings? Because there is some truth in it. The Ring of Solomon is very ancient. It has a red stone which glows if worn by someone with presence. It is said to be able to control demons. That and allow the wearer to communicate with animals. I am pleased to say that I have never yet had the opportunity to test the former.’
‘And where is this ring?’
‘One of my clones had it. Last I heard he had taken it to London. 1666.
‘The same time that Sam went with Weewalk and Hadan?’
‘Yes. It seems as though that place and time is something of a nexus. A place in time which hold a special significance for some reason. We’ll need to go and see if we can find it.’
‘First I‘m going to find Sam,’ said Kya.
‘I just hope he’s still alive,’ said Amy. ‘We’ll keep an eye out for him, throughout history. Who knows where he ended up?’
*
Tarak sat in a cell, guarded by men without presence. Whether it was intentional that they should not have a presence Tarak did not know but it meant that he had no chance of touching their minds and influencing their actions. He couldn’t affect everyone with presence and he had kept the power hidden from everyone, even Kya. No matter how hard he had tried be hadn’t been able to exert any control over any of the Riven. There was already something within their heads which he couldn’t penetrate. But the Polish man, Aleksy, Tarak had been able to whisper to him right up until his death. He had been lucky to find someone like that in the cells under the Complex. It had been hard to position him and keeping a link across the barriers of time was enormously hard. But that faint and vague control he had had on the man had allowed him to ensure that Ferus had been unsupported by
the King when he had struck at Sam.
And as for Sam, Tarak had just about been able to keep the lightest of touches on him. He had tried to fix a link with Sam while standing at the Firefall in Yosemite but it had been difficult to establish. Sam had proved exceptionally difficult to monitor and Tarak had had to use Sam’s own presence to power the link when he was in Mu. But the faint link had been enough to send Kya in the right direction to find him. Once they had been together Tarak had been able to relinquish the contact. It hadn’t been strong enough to convince Sam to return to where Tarak needed him, but it had been enough, exhausting as it was to maintain his hold. Once he realised that Sam had new information he had needed him to return. He hadn’t been able to find out what that information was but Kya had been able to bring him back as he had hoped she would. Ultimately he needed Sam to survive, at least for now. He couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t become expendable.
The power was useful though. He had been able to suggest to Owd Hob that he should return to Kalapa for reinforcements. Tarak hoped that little venture paid off. Even if it didn’t it was probably good to keep Owd Hob and Sam apart. They were an effective team. He had been astounded by what they had achieved whilst he had allowed himself to be held by Ferus. He would need to use them to stop the Riven King, but only when he was ready, when the future of Mu was secure.
Tarak hadn’t managed to touch the Box minds. They were too well guarded against Qayin. He had found Qayin’s mind once but it had been terrifying and he had dropped it like a hot coal. It was chaotic, full of hate, ruined and at his touch had turned to him like a fiery eye, turning a bitter gaze on him. He had never tried again. The minds of the others were shielded, although he couldn’t say why. Perhaps they were too similar to each other affecting it in some way. Or maybe they shielded themselves against Qayin.
Anyway, with such a power he wouldn’t be here long. He didn’t know where he was. He had been brought here at night and with his head covered in a cloth bag which had stank of fear and vomit. But now he would send his presence out and see what he could find out. The secret keeper would gather new secrets yet.
