by Chris Fox
“You’d better hope so,” Jordan muttered from his place on the wall opposite Irakesh. He tugged absently at the golden collar, and Trevor gave a wince of sympathy. He hated what had been done to the man, and he hated his unwitting role in it even more. “If we’re going to buy it you can be damn sure we’re taking you with us.”
“My queen,” a voice bellowed, so loud that Trevor was forced to clap his hands over his ears. He recognized the jackal immediately. “Wepwawet has found prey. In the skies above. A slipsail has emerged from Olympus, and is fleeing north.”
A trumpet blew and the mammoth stopped. Trevor briefly debated asking Irakesh what was going on, but his former master was unlikely to give him a truthful answer. Instead he nodded at Jordan. “Let’s go see what this is about.”
Trevor leapt through the flap, landing in a crouch nearly forty feet below. The stench of the mammoth was thick, making Trevor gag. It overpowered even the rotting army of undead that trailed in their wake. Jordan’s muscled form landed next to Trevor a moment later, his landing sending up a puff of dust. He was still in human form, and other than the golden collar looked exactly like the same man who’d blown up Trevor’s house back in San Diego. The camo pants and skintight black t-shirt were sweat-stained and dirty now, but they still belonged on the man more than any other uniform.
“Looks like that’s what’s causing the commotion,” Jordan said, donning his sunglasses as he nodded at the horizon.
Trevor turned to face that way, spotting the trouble immediately. The storm batted a silver ship all over the place, knocking it around like a plastic bag in a tornado. A bronze skiff had risen from the area near Ra’s howdah. It made its way cautiously into the air, much less affected by the growing storm. Wepwawet’s white-grey form hunched low over the skiff, which was slowly gaining on the silver vessel.
The caravan had halted, a small cluster of figures gathering at the head. Trevor recognized Anubis, who towered over the others. Ra was unmistakable as well, her scarlet hair a spot of bright color in a sea of white clothing. Trevor began trotting in that direction, Jordan falling into step beside him. He hadn’t insisted Jordan follow his orders, or done anything to make his situation worse. Yet the man’s already sizable animosity was clearly growing. Trevor doubted that would ever change, nor was he sure he wanted it to. Even now part of him wanted to kill Jordan.
Then do so, you’ll never have a better time to strike. It might deprive you of a tool, but it will also prove your strength to the other deathless.
“Hang back a little,” Trevor told Jordan, slowing as he reached the knot of figures surrounding Ra. Anubis eyed him balefully, but none of the rest seemed to notice his appearance.
“It seems clear Hades dispatched the slipsail,” Ra was saying, her attention focused on the vessel landing in the distance. “The question is why? He clearly saw our approach, but I cannot think he would abandon Olympus. If he desired to, he’d have fled to the underworld. So why dispatch so precious a tool into the maw of a sunstorm?”
None of the figures surrounding her answered, but Trevor found himself speaking. “Because he wants us to pursue them.”
Ra turned to face him, glittering green eyes sizing him up for long moments before she spoke. “And what makes you think you have the slightest inkling of the motivation of a god you’ve never met?”
“I don’t have to know him to guess at his motives. If you’re right and he knew we were coming why else would he have sent the ship? If he wanted to hide someone, couldn’t he have them flee into the underworld? We’d never even know they existed. Sending them out in a ship he knows for sure we’ll see seems pretty stupid,” Trevor argued.
“Obviously. Yet, sadly, you are the only one among my retinue to see it. You are one to watch, Trevor Gregg,” Ra said, giving a tight nod. “Anubis, make ready for battle in case this is some kind of trap. The rest of you….”
The ground bucked wildly, knocking Trevor to the dust. Jordan fell as well, though the rest of the gods somehow kept their balance. A deep rumbling sounded somewhere deep beneath them.
Trevor shifted into a cloud of energy, drifting a few feet off the ground in a cloud of crackling green motes. It was the best defense he could muster without knowing more. He peered around them. Ra’s army was in chaos, zombies flailing to regain their footing with little success, as the ground continued to quake. Only the mighty anakim kept their footing.
“No. No, no, no,” Ra wailed, spinning in place as if searching for something. A moment later, Trevor knew exactly what she’d been searching for, and why she seemed so disturbed by it.
An enormous grey creature burst from the ground in the distance. Up and up it went, a titanic worm hundreds of feet thick, dwarfing anything found on Arikas. A tiny figure clung to the worm’s back, which gave it scale. Trevor couldn’t make out much, save a shock of silver fur. Uh oh.
“She wouldn’t dare,” Ra whispered, as her minions scattered. The worm’s body plunged into the sky, then began to fall. Its passage kicked up a whirlwind of dust and gravel, and had Trevor not been transmuted to energy he would have been blown backwards by the gale that knocked deathless and zombie alike to the ground. Jordan had erected a telekinetic dome around himself, much like he’d used to ward off the nuclear blast back in San Francisco. “Anubis, fall back and protect the army.”
“But my queen, if we kill the Sand Kraken…” Anubis protested.
Ra whirled on him, expression thunderous. “Do you think I do not realize the cost? If we do not kill the Kraken it will lay waste to my army. When it is finished, Isis will free the beast, and we’ll lose both the Ark’s chief guardian and my fledgling army. That’s no doubt exactly what Isis seeks here. It cannot be coincidence that it attacks us here, at this precise moment.”
“What of the ship?” Anubis asked, nodding toward the silver vessel. It had made progress into the storm, but Wepwawet’s skiff was still gaining on it.
A tremendous boom crashed over them as the worm’s body finally struck the earth. Hundreds of deathless were crushed beneath its mass, including two of the giant Anakim. The colossal white body began rolling and thrashing, crushing dozens more under its thick hide.
“We have no time. The Kraken must die,” Ra snarled.
Now is a time to gain much prestige, my host. If you aid in the killing of this beast, then you will secure your position here.
Damn it. Trevor knew the voice was right, but helping Ra carried a heavy price.
Chapter 39- Dog Fight
Blair struggled to adjust to the massive volume of data rolling through his mind. He’d suddenly gained a dozen senses instead of five. He could feel the ship’s velocity and energy levels, and could perceive all directions at once. His breathing grew ragged as the ship passed through the temporal field and back into the storm on the other side
Seek your calm, Ka-Dun. This is not unlike every other skill you have mastered. In time it will be as natural as breathing.
Maybe the beast was right; he still wanted to panic. Enormous winds buffeted the ship, knocking it about like a kite. It was all he could do to keep it anything close to level, and he wanted to throw up from the vertigo.
He focused primarily on his vision, looking around the ship for points of interest. He found more than he’d like, all bad from his perspective. He willed the entire ship to become transparent.
“Liz, below us,” he roared, scanning the horizon to the southwest. “Do you see them?”
Liz rested a hand on his back, the touch dimmed by his other senses. “Yeah, I see them. Looks like Ra is about to catch up with us. I see a bunch of elephants, and what I’m guessing are giant zombies like the one we fought back in that hangar in Panama.”
“Shit,” Blair said, commanding the ship to zip skyward. “Doesn’t look like we have a lot of options. If Hades is right we need to find Isis, but I have no idea where she is. We need to find a way to deal with the storm.”
“Maybe we can fly over it?” Liz asked, gr
abbing onto the control console as the ship picked up speed.
“I’ll try, but we’re already over a mile up, and I can’t see the top of it,” Blair said. He felt a buzzing in his ear, and focused on it. It was some sort of alert. “Shit. We’re about to have company. There’s another ship approaching. It’s smaller, like a flying chariot. Is that—? It looks like there’s a werewolf on it.”
“Isis?” Liz asked. Blair could hear the hope in her voice.
“We’re not that lucky. The thing looks male, but it’s too large to be….” Blair realized what he was seeing. The sickly grey fur didn’t belong to a werewolf. This was something else. Unless he missed his guess, it was some sort of deathless that had been shaped into a wolf.
“How long before it gets here?” Liz asked, resting a foot on the lowest rung of the ladder.
“I don’t know,” Blair said, commanding the ship to sail faster. He aimed it north, deeper into the storm. He wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but he still had time to break off if he had to. Another buzzing in his ear. “Shit. Liz, those giant zombies? They’re throwing rocks at us.”
Blair forced the ship to dodge right, narrowly avoiding a chunk of stone the size of a compact car. It sailed past with a hum, arcing back down to the ground almost a mile below. How strong did those things have to be to hurl something that big, with that kind of speed and accuracy?
“Can you dodge them?” Liz asked.
Blair didn’t answer for a moment, saving his concentration for flying. He dodged three more, increasing the ship’s speed as they sailed toward the storm. “Yeah, but it’s slowing me down. The skiff is getting closer. It will be on us in a moment.”
“I’ll deal with him,” Liz rumbled. Auburn fur faded into the shadows as she disappeared out of sight.
Blair hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but they weren’t escaping unless he did something drastic. He gauged the distance to the storm. Maybe thirty or forty more seconds to reach those angry orange clouds.
You dance with death, Ka-Dun. Remember the words of the treacherous Hades. Such storms are not often survived, especially when flying.
“So what’s your plan?” Blair growled, urging the ship to still greater speed. The skiff was approaching from below. He guessed it was no more than a few hundred yards away.
I have none, Ka-Dun. I wish only to advise you of the danger.
A bolt of eldritch fire, green and baleful, shot from the prow of the skiff. It struck the back of the slipsail, the energy playing across the silver metal like lightning. Pain rippled through Blair, and he clenched his teeth as he forced himself to focus on flying. The ship had slowed during his momentary lapse, and the skiff had taken the opportunity to narrow the gap.
It fired another green burst, but this time Blair dodged to the left. The bolt sailed harmlessly by—but another, then another, shot by. Blair did a barrel roll, drawing on instinctual knowledge provided by the beast as he narrowly avoided the staccato of fire.
It was only then that he realized what the skiff was doing. Each shot was timed to forced an evasion, and each evasion brought the skiff that much closer.
Liz, he thought. We’re about to be boarded. I have to focus on flying. See what you can do to keep this thing off me.
Chapter 40- Boarded
Liz extended her right hand, summoning her sunsteel sword as she scanned the horizon behind them. A moment later the skiff burst into view, a jaguar pouncing. It closed rapidly, nearly touching the deck as a single figure leapt toward them.
Blair had left the the ship’s surface transparent, so Liz was easily able to position herself to intercept. Their attacker was the strange, dead wolf-thing from Ra’s court. Wepwajebus or whatever. His golden spear was cradled like a lance, stabbing into the hull as he landed.
Ripples of golden energy spread from it, and Blair gave a cry of pain. Then the dead wolf passed through the skin of the ship just as they had when they entered. His stench came with him: rotting meat, and less pleasant things.
Liz glided forward, bunching her muscles as she poured all of her strength into the thrust. She kept the blade parallel with her foe’s spine, bracing herself as the weapon pierced bone and flesh. She swept upward in a tight arc, slicing his spine cleanly in two from the small of the back all the way to the base of his skull. She whirled, reversing her strike as she decapitated her opponent in one smooth motion. The blade passed through his neck with almost no resistance, and the headless body toppled to the deck.
“Impressive, especially for one so young,” rumbled a voice from behind her. She spun, bringing her sword up defensively. There stood Wepwawet, apparently unharmed. He raised a paw-like hand in a placating gesture. “Peace. Command your Ka-Dun to land the slipsail and there need be no violence. Resist, however, and I will not hesitate to slay both of you.”
“You know we can’t do that,” she growled, assuming a combat stance as she slipped into the shadows next to the console. “Ra will kill us as soon as we land.”
“You know her that well, then?” the dead wolf asked, giving an expression of surprise. “Two of your pack invaded the Ark. Yet both live. One was made a prisoner, the other a vassal of Ra. Both you and your Ka-Dun will be treated fairly, if you surrender. I will not ask again.”
Liz hesitated, glancing behind her at the storm. They were getting closer, but it would be another minute or two before they got there. If the dead wolf could use the illusions of a deathless, as he’d just demonstrated, then he almost certainly had their ability to blur. He could kill Blair before she could stop him. Even if she could get away, where would she go? She couldn’t fly the ship, and even if she could she doubted Wepwawet would allow that.
“Trevor is alive?” she asked, playing for time.
“Alive is an interesting word to apply to a deathless, but he is no more dead than he was when he arrived,” Wepwawet said, shrugging. He started walking toward the ladder leading into the hold. “The Ka-Dun Jordan lives as well. He has been given to Trevor, and if Jordan pleases Ra she may eventually grant his freedom. Now convince your Ka-Dun to set the slipsail down, before I must engage in violence.”
“All right,” Liz said. She dropped her voice to a tight whisper she knew his enhanced senses would still pick up. “Do as he says, Blair. I don’t think we can fight this thing and have any chance of living.”
In answer the ship began to descend smoothly. Liz tensed as the dead wolf shifted his weight, but relaxed when he rested his spear against the wall. He folded his arms, approaching slowly. “You have chosen wisely, Ka-Dun. I will see that you are both treated fairly when Ra boards this vessel.”
Chapter 41- Demons
“What am I looking at?” Mark asked, staring at the feed dominating the main screen. It was tiny compared to the one in Syracuse, just a simple sixty-five-inch television that had been safely stored in an underground warehouse when the CME hit. He’d had it installed just the day before.
He ignored the hunger gnawing at his insides, capitalizing on an iron will he’d cultivated over decades. He wasn’t going to kill one of his subordinates; he needed them. If he did have to feed, he’d speak to Osiris about options. In the meantime, he had an operation to run.
“Sir, it looks like another CME,” Benson said, stepping up to the television to join him. “Preliminary research suggests it’s larger than the one that wiped out power. We should be safe down here, but anyone in the Middle East or Northern Africa is about to be hit with another wave. If our data is accurate, a third CME will erupt within a week. We don’t have telemetry yet, but we’re guessing it will hit somewhere below the equator.”
“Wonderful,” Mark said, trying not to focus on the vein throbbing in Benson’s neck. “Do you have an update on the army leaving the Cairo Ark?”
“Yes sir,” Benson said, reaching down to tap her tablet. The feed on the TV shifted, now showing a cloud of dust. She zoomed in, showing towering undead figures. Mammoths lumbered along next to them, all heading in roughly the sam
e direction.
“Why have they stopped?” he asked, noticing that the figures were no longer moving.
“We’re not sure, though it could have to do with the solar storm,” Benson theorized, panning out a bit to show the massive storm moving in their direction. “That much radiation could cook even those walking corpses. Maybe the army is battening down and waiting for it to pass.”
“Maybe,” Mark replied, tapping his own tablet. He panned the camera around, stopping when he saw something erupting from the earth. For just a split second he thought it was another Ark, but the color and size were all wrong. Whatever this was, it seemed to be alive. A truly gargantuan creature with thick grey hide. Like a worm that had been growing for thousands of years.
The creature began thrashing out, crushing hundreds of undead as it tore through the army that had departed from the Cairo Ark. “Get Osiris up here. He’s going to want to see this.”
Chapter 42- Reunited
Blair had rarely felt this helpless, even in all the fucked-up situations they’d had to deal with recently.
“You have my respect, Ka-Ken,” Wepwawet rumbled. He addressed the patch of darkness next to the bed where Blair sat, roughly where Liz hid herself in the shadows. “You could flee, and we couldn’t stop you,” Wepwawet continued addressing Liz. “Yet you choose to remain, to protect your Ka-Dun as best you are able. I will petition Ra to give you both into my care, much as the Ka-Dun Jordan was entrusted to the deathless Trevor.”
“Exactly what does that entail?” Blair asked, rising from the bed. Part of him longed to fight, but he knew he was outmatched. There was no way they could take on someone as old as Wepwawet. Hell, they’d barely been able to take out Irakesh with their entire pack, and from what Blair understood Irakesh was considered a child in Ra’s court.
