by Alex Archer
That voice. Annja recognized it even though she hadn’t heard it in days. She tried to ease closer to the ledge and then in the flickering torchlight, she caught a glimpse of the rough-hewn face and knew who it was for certain.
Dufresne.
Annja felt her heart beat faster. The traitor! He’d insisted on remaining at the camp by the burial mound, but here he was. And how had he beaten Annja and the hunting party to the mountain?
Annja thought back to their journey and Wishman’s insistence that they do their best to set a trail that would delay pursuers. Did Wishman know that Dufresne was a traitor or did he even suspect it?
Yet somehow, Dufresne had reached the mountain first. Annja shook her head. What had become of the Araktak men who had stayed behind at the burial mound? Were all of Dufresne’s men evil, as well? Was this entire company hell-bent on sacrifice and resurrecting demons?
Annja wanted to know what had happened, but Dufresne wasn’t alone. There were other men with him now. And these faces, Annja did not recognize. Dufresne spoke to them in French, and they hustled Godwin, Wishman and Nyaktuk away, leaving Dufresne, Derek, and Hansen alone at the foot of the stairs.
Derek cleared his throat. “Who shall we deliver first?”
“The old man is one of the ancients. He has battled the forces of our master for many years. His death will bring him great pleasure,” Hansen said.
Derek nodded. “Excellent point. But what about Godwin? He has changed since I met him at the company. Where I once saw a young man who was shy, now he holds himself differently. I was no doubt deceived by him, but to what end?”
Dufresne chuckled. “We could torture him. Find out everything we need to know before we kill him.”
“He claims to be a half-breed Araktak, but there is something about his nature that speaks of his past. He’s tried hard to conceal it. Hell, he fooled the woman. And he fooled us, as well. But there is something about him, something deadly. I want to know what he’s about.”
Dufresne bowed once. “I will see to it personally.”
Derek smiled. “Make sure he’s still alive when you’re done. Our master does not like sacrifices that are already dead.”
“On my death I swear it,” Dufresne said. He withdrew from the chamber.
Hansen eyed Derek. “Are you sure that’s wise?”
Derek shrugged. “Godwin has a story. I would like to know it before I kill him. Did you see the way he looked at me? He knows how to kill—of that I have no doubt. But where did he learn? And has he killed before?”
“I’m certain of it,” Hansen said. “But we could find nothing of value in his records. It’s almost as if he’s some sort of ghost. His claims of being a half-breed don’t add up, either.”
Derek smiled. “Dufresne will find out his secrets. I’ve never met a man who could hold out against his technique.”
Hansen coughed and the sound echoed up to Annja. “What about the others? Wishman and Nyaktuk must be sacrificed soon. The hour of our master’s rebirth grows near.”
“We will sacrifice the ancient first. Then Nyaktuk. After that, Dufresne should be finished extracting all the information we need from Godwin. He can then join his fallen friends in the pits of Hell.”
“Excellent.”
They walked out of the chamber, the fires from their torches receding as they strolled down the unseen tunnel.
Annja crept down the last few steps and paused. In the darkness, she could see the tunnel entrance as a vague outline. The torchlight grew fainter in the distance. She took a breath and stole down the tunnel.
The mountain seemed to be honeycombed with a variety of tunnels and branches that shot off in unknown directions. Some of these, she imagined, might contain dead ends or traps. She’d been in enough ancient tunnels to know that their construction was simultaneously as devious as it was utilitarian.
But somewhere ahead of her, there had to be a room used for the sacrifices that Derek spoke of. That was where she would find Wishman and Nyaktuk.
She had a bigger problem, though. If she freed Wishman and Nyaktuk first, Dufresne might hear the commotion and simply kill Godwin. Likewise, if she freed Godwin first, Hansen and Derek would kill the others.
Annja hesitated at a fork, trying to decide which way to go. She could take the left option, which sloped upward toward some other destination. Or she could go to the right and continue on the level floor. Down that avenue, she could just make out the last of the torchlight from Derek and Hansen.
That would be where they would sacrifice Wishman and Nyaktuk.
Annja frowned and weighed the options. At last, she came to her decision and started up the slope toward the left. She would free Godwin first, trusting in his ability to fight and help her free Wishman and Nyaktuk.
She just hoped they would be able to take on the rest of the people in the mountain. Annja had no way of knowing how many of them there were. She would have to assume there were many more than she had seen so far.
She crept up the tunnel and paused every few feet to listen. Annja knew she was running out of time, but she needed her stealth in order to preserve her advantage for as long as possible.
As she climbed up the slope, she could see flickering torchlight ahead. They lit this area of the mountain. That must mean that there was more activity in this section than in other places.
Annja crouched by the turn and waited. She heard the scuffle of footsteps and noted their rhythmic quality.
A guard.
She would have to take him out before she could progress any farther. She listened carefully, judging when the guard walked closer to her position and when he moved away.
He seemed to be on a three-minute cycle, covering a wide section of the hallway. Annja risked a glance around the bend and saw the torch was fixed in a bracket in the wall of the mountain. At least that would work in her favor. She would have to stalk the guard when he turned his back to her.
She waited until he had come close to her and then turned.
Annja crept from her hiding place and padded down the corridor toward him.
His back was huge and Annja frowned. She never got the small guys to take out. She made sure she was lower than he was and just as he was about to turn back in her direction, Annja snaked an arm around his throat and threw herself backward, rolling back and jerking her arm toward her.
She felt his trachea give way and he started to retch, but Annja kept the pressure on as he fought desperately to clear his airway.
Annja wrapped her legs around his waist for better support and clenched her teeth, listening to him drown on his own vomit as he struggled to get free.
It took almost a full minute for him to pass out from the lack of oxygen to his brain. Annja slowly crawled away from him.
She took a breath as she untangled herself.
She crept up and beyond the range of the torchlight. The tunnel intersected with another and she had three new options to consider.
She could see more torchlight far off in the distance. Did that mean there was another guard down there? And if so, would she be able to get the jump on him as she had with this one?
She decided to move down the tunnel.
That was when the screaming started.
35
Annja no longer worried about the second guard. All she cared about was reaching Godwin and stopping whatever madness Dufresne had unleashed upon him in his torture chamber. She swooped down the corridor, her sword already unleashed.
The second guard she expected to find by the torch was also running down the corridor, but away from Annja toward the sound of the screaming. He had a gun out and as Annja caught up to him, he started to turn. She simply cut him down with a strike from her blade. She didn’t stay around long enough to watch his body twist and fall to the floor.
She came to a stop at the entrance to a large cavern that had been rigged with electrical lights. She could hear a generator humming, and the sight of the interior of the room mad
e her blood run cold.
Hospital gurneys stood side by side. All sorts of equipment was stocked in the room and at first, it looked more like an infirmary than anything else. But then she saw chains and long troughs cut into the sides of the room. The floor was also pitched slightly so as to allow the blood that invariably ran from the victims to be channeled into a bucket positioned underneath a spout at the far end.
It wasn’t an infirmary at all, but a place to enact all manner of evil upon chosen victims.
Annja shuddered, but something grabbed her attention. At the far corner of the room, two people struggled and in the dim light, Annja could not see who they were.
She figured one of them was Godwin. He proved her assumption correct when, in the next second, he pivoted and sent Dufresne flying across the space with a terrible crash. He whirled and Annja caught a glimpse of his face. It was set and firm, with no hint that he would give Dufresne any quarter.
Godwin reached into the tangled mass of machinery and hauled Dufresne out. Blood streamed out of cuts to the torturer’s face and Godwin peered into his eyes. “Have a fun time in the afterlife, you sick bastard.”
He wrenched Dufresne’s head. Annja heard the crack of bones and Dufresne went limp in Godwin’s hands.
Godwin let him slide from his grasp and saw Annja standing there with her sword in hand. She caught her breath. “You okay?”
“He was going to give me electroshock treatment.” Godwin shook his head. “Well, he’s in no position to do anything now.” He looked at Annja. “I’m glad to see you. We were concerned you’d die out on the mountain.”
“I heard a sound,” Annja said. “And when I went to investigate, I couldn’t find anything. I came back and you guys were gone.”
“They knocked us out and dragged us out of camp.” Godwin shook his head. “I’ve still got a terrible headache and I don’t think they were too gentle with us.”
“I came back and saw the tracks. Figured then was as good a time as any to follow. With the snow coming down, I would have lost you if I’d waited. And then I would have died. For certain.”
Godwin nodded toward the doorway. “The guard?”
“Dead.”
He glanced at her sword, but little of the guard’s blood remained on the blade.
“When we came to, they made us walk the rest of the way. Wishman is in a bad state. Probably the beginning stages of hypothermia. Plus, he’s angry with himself for letting them get the jump on us.”
Annja frowned. “I don’t know if I believe that. He’s been under the impression they knew we were coming all along. It’s not like they had to work at it or anything. We basically came to them.”
“For Wishman, this isn’t just about stopping their evil. I think it’s about coming full circle on something he should have done years ago.”
“Which is fine,” Annja said. “But I’m not happy that the rest of us were dragged along.”
“Speaking of which,” Godwin said. “They’re due to be sacrificed soon.”
Annja led them out of the torture chamber and back down the sloped hallway. She whispered into Godwin’s ear, “Let me take point. If we come across any more guards, I can deal with them.”
“Be my guest.”
Annja led them back to the fork and gestured for Godwin to take the other tunnel with her. They traveled the length of the dank tunnel and came out at the other end.
The wide-open expanse startled Annja for the briefest of moments. Her stomach ached and she could see why. A line of men in black robes filed out of the open room down a tunnel toward a distant flickering light.
Annja glanced at Godwin and pulled them both back into the gloom of the tunnel. “Well, that explains the lack of guards we’ve encountered so far.”
Godwin nodded. “They’re all waiting to see the sacrifice. But who are these guys?”
“That’s the company you worked for, apparently,” Annja said.
“Not the company I worked for,” Godwin said. “The company I infiltrated.”
Annja eyed him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He grinned. “I’ll explain later. For now, we need to get ourselves some robes and join that procession. Otherwise we’ll never reach Wishman and Nyaktuk in time.”
“How do you know they’re not already dead?”
Godwin shook his head. “They won’t start the ceremony without all of those guys present and watching. Sacrifices like that need an audience.”
“And you think they’re really going to resurrect this demon Onur?”
“I have no idea. But I do know that I can’t let them kill Wishman or Nyaktuk. Not while I still breathe.” He patted Annja’s arm. “Stay here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
Annja watched him slink out of the tunnel. She knew what he was going to do, but even still, as she watched from the dimly lit tunnel, his speed and skill surprised her.
Godwin stole up on the last two robed guards in line and knocked their heads together so hard they both collapsed instantly. He waved Annja on and she rushed to grab one of them.
“Hurry,” he whispered. “They’ll be starting soon.”
“What about the bodies?” Annja asked as she stripped the robe off the guard and slid it on.
“No time,” Godwin said. “Pull the cowl down over your face so they won’t see you and come on.”
Annja hid her face and then followed Godwin down the tunnel. They fell into place behind the other guards and then filed into a new room at the far end of the tunnel. Annja counted at least forty men in total.
Bad odds for any sort of action.
She and Godwin maneuvered closer to the raised dais in the center of the room. Annja could see that in the middle of the dais a large hole was cut into the floor that apparently ran right into the mountain.
Where did that lead?
She didn’t have time to consider the options because Derek and Hansen appeared at the back of the room and walked briskly to the dais. Behind them, two guards pushed Wishman and Nyaktuk through the crowd of robed followers.
None of the followers harassed the men, but a low chant started up that reminded Annja of a Gregorian chant.
Derek stood on the dais and held up his hands for silence. The room went quiet and Annja felt her heart start to hammer in her chest again.
“Brothers.”
A murmur of greeting went up from the men who watched Derek with adoring eyes.
He smiled broadly. “Our time is at hand.”
Hansen joined him on the dais and then looked out over the sea of followers. All of them had their cowls drawn over their faces. Annja felt reasonably secure where she and Godwin stood. She knew she could draw her sword instantly and be on the dais when the time came.
“We have worked long and hard to arrive at this point,” Derek said. “Many of our brethren have not made it this far.”
Another rumbling murmur coursed through the crowd like a wave. Annja did her best to mimic it as it lapped past her.
Derek continued. “But tonight, we have the opportunity to achieve what we set as a goal for ourselves a long time ago—the reunification of the society of Onur.”
He gazed at the crowd and then continued. “Long have we struggled as factions of isolated worshippers. And the promise of a more powerful union led us to join each other on this dangerous journey. But we persevered and overcame obstacle after obstacle until at last tonight, we are here. At this moment. In this hallowed place. At this righteous time.”
The murmuring increased in volume. Derek held his hands up again, and silence once again reigned over the room.
“I know that many of you thought this day would never arrive. Well, your patience is at last about to be rewarded. We will conduct the ceremony to unleash Onur from his prison and he will join us as our new leader. The promise of power and victory over our challengers is assured as the Age of Onur is ushered in!”
The chanting began again. Annja rolled her eyes. If they snapped th
eir fingers, this could be any Bohemian coffeehouse in the 1960s, she thought.
“A few days ago, I undertook a dangerous assignment. I was helped by the courage and tenacity of my second-in-command, Brother Hansen. He aided me in acquiring the one thing that had eluded us to this point.”
Annja was confused. “A few days ago” would have meant the incident at the burial mound. But hadn’t that been when Derek had insisted they were unleashing the creature? And hadn’t Annja killed it? She could see the battle in her mind’s eye. The red outline that had tried over and over to slay her. She could see the fight again, feel the impact of the creature’s hits and kicks.
Derek kept speaking. “The Araktak have protected this item since time immemorial. When it was entrusted to them by the Viking missionaries who landed in Greenland and then transported over the ice floes of Labrador and Newfoundland, the Araktak knew only that it was an item of immense power. They had no idea what its true purpose was.”
Annja could see that Wishman’s eyes were sad but curious. Nyaktuk also seemed to be listening intently.
“They hid it well,” Derek said. “And in a place no one expected anyone would find it.”
He beamed, milking the moment. “But we kept searching and eventually, we learned the secret of the item’s location.”
Hansen nodded, smiling as if he knew firsthand how long it had taken and how much it had cost in terms of time and energy.
“The Araktak people were proud of their role, but they were fools in the end. They underestimated the perseverance of the brotherhood. They never knew how close we truly were until it was far too late.”
Annja wanted to jump on the stage and cut him down before this went any further, but she was also wondering what Derek was talking about. Her curiosity needed calming. Derek apparently had all the answers, so she would let him finish.
And then she would finish him off.
“Behold!”
From beneath his robes, Derek lifted his right hand. Annja saw the brilliant diamond, larger than any she had seen before in her life. It was the size of a softball and cut in a strange way. Each facet seemed further cut into many lesser facets, each reflecting light out in different directions. Beams of light seemed to pierce the room at every angle.
