“You can?” Kehla asked in rusty-sounding French.
“Oui.” He extended a hand. It was small and delicate, but corded with tendons.
None of you will survive… you will all belong to Me…
Doc shook his head. The pain was progressing, and the voice was growing along with it. He had to find a way to deal with the voice, and sooner rather than later. The pain rolled up his arm in waves almost like laughter.
“Sound good, Doc?” Vic’s voice brought him back to the present.
For a moment he couldn’t remember what she was talking about. “The underground passages, yes.”
She gave him that “are you okay” look, before turning away with that I’m filing things away for later discussion expression on her face. “Okay, people. Let’s get across the street, and into the tunnels the Chief here is talking about.”
It took less than a minute to get everyone out of the complex, across the street and down an access hatch that even Doc would have had a hard time finding. It was buried under a coat of the white moss, but somehow the old dinosaur knew exactly where to look for it. He dug his claws around the edges, then lifted the cover up, complete with a layer of moss.
“Quickly, quickly,” he called. “Get out of sight before they find us.”
No one appeared to need any encouragement, and so it was not more than another half a minute before Doc, as the tallest, was closing a metal door above them.
A few moments later, a soft glow arose from moss that lined the ceiling, brightening the gloom. They were in a tunnel much like the corridors in the arena, about eight feet wide and six high, extending into the dimness. The floor was worn smooth, with a dry channel running up the center. Ahead of Doc, the Chief led the way with a confident tread.
It only took a few minutes before they found themselves in a larger chamber, this one with seven-foot ceilings. It was about thirty feet across, with seven tunnels converging on it. All the channels converged in the center, then followed a larger channel moving off into the darkness. Doc was surprised to see benches around the outer edge, about four feet out from the wall.
“What is this place?” He asked the Chief; nothing he had seen about the ancient civilization had shown him anything quite like this. Maybe it was a sewer, but the benches didn’t make sense.
“You would have no word for it; it is a place we would come to escape the heat. This world was much warmer before the stars changed.” He arched his neck in a gesture Doc couldn’t quite interpret. “The spirit’s new slaves do not know it.”
Doc filed that away for later reference, but he thought the old dinosaur may well be right. How old was the Chief anyway? Doc had never seen anything about his race’s lifespan in the records, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. There was just too much data for anyone to hope to wade through in a lifetime.
By this point, Kehla and Jevan had helped Gus to a seat on one of the benches, and she’d come back to face Doc. “Alright, looks like we got your people and mine out, now what?”
“We take the Zeppelin,” Vic said.
“What?” Kehla’s voice rose and even Doc raised an eyebrow.
“We take the Zeppelin,” Vic repeated as if it were obvious. “There’s a perfectly good airship in the middle of the city just waiting for us to take it. It’ll carry all of us and it’s the fastest way to get out of here. Plus, if we take it they can’t use it to chase us down.”
Even in the dim light, Doc caught the glint in her eye. “You’re just mad I wouldn’t let you keep the sword.”
Vic grinned. “Nope. But even if I was, it still makes the most sense. We can drop the Chief and his people outside the volcano and then head for home.” Then she dropped her voice and switched to Basque. “But what about you?”
“What about me?” Doc replied in the same language.
Vic didn’t answer, but looked pointedly at his left wrist. He sighed mentally, Vic could be too observant for her own good. She knew something was up, even if he had been able to hide it from the rest of them..
“Enough with the lovey-dovey,” Kehla cut in, winking at Vic who looked nonplussed. “We need to make some plans, and you two talking gobbledy-gook at each other isn’t going to help.”
“I thought we were taking the Zeppelin and getting out of here?” Doc said, ignoring her insinuations. “The Chief can guide us to the field and then we can take the ship.”
“No.” The Chief rose to his full height, raising his crest as he stabbed a pointed finger towards Doc. “We are taking the Zeppelin, not you. You cannot go with us, you bear the taint of the burning spirit.”
Surrender now… the voice whispered seductively as Doc stood, surprised by the vehemence of the old dinosaur. Once touched by the True Flame, you are forever marked… Give in to your future…
Doc wrenched his attention back to the present, rewarded by a wave of pain from his wrist.
“Is this true?” Kehla moved up to Doc, invading his personal space as she glared up at the much taller human. “How long have you known about it? You don’t have the brand or I’d left you at the bottom of the cliff.”
“It caught my wrist just before I met you,” Doc admitted. “I was supposed to be its next vehicle, but I escaped.”
“That’s why you had trouble with your hand, isn’t it.”
Doc nodded.
Kehla turned to the Chief, surprising everyone when she rattled off a string of rapid-fire French. “What do you know about how the Flame possesses people? Do you know how to break the possession or should we just kill him now?”
Vic tried to protest, but Kehla just ignored her. “Can we even do anything? Or is there something else we don’t know about? Your people were here first, you must know something.”
The Chief didn’t flinch at her onslaught, just arching his neck in that funny gesture again. “I know something,” he cawed softly. “I remember the tales from long ago when I walked the city before the stars changed.
“The spirit can make slaves by branding; but that is all they are, slaves. Each slave it takes draws a little more strength from the spirit. The brand over the heart gives it a way into the soul, then the Flame can animate the body after death. This costs it more of its essence than when they are alive; it controls them like puppets, but it remains bound to the pit where it dwells.
“Only by possessing the living can it truly leave the pit. It must take a free soul and claim it, dominating body and soul. Then, it can ride the body throughout the world, and some say even between the stars.
“Its flame cannot be extinguished; it can only be trapped. Should the host be able to defeat its will, it must jump to another or return to the pit. There are legends that it cannot survive in a body that is dead and branded, but I do not know the truth of these tales.”
There was something in the way the Chief had recounted the tale that made everything feel real. The growing band of fire in his wrist was a clear sign that if he just kept running, eventually the Flame would take him over.
“So you go and I stay?” He said finally. “I’ll go try and find a way to break free of this. Meanwhile, you can go after the Zeppelin. Once you take control, come back and blast the lid off the inner spire. Use bombs if you’ve got them, the main guns if you haven’t. Even if you can’t do anything else, maybe you can blow the cavern shut and get beat it that way.”
“What about you?” Vic shoved herself forward towards Doc. “Do you really expect us to blow the Hell out of that cave with you inside?”
“You have to.” He sighed, then met her eyes. “If I don’t find a way to get this thing out of me I’m dead already. Worse than dead.” Doc reached out and took her right hand, running his thumb over the brand in her palm. After her grandmother’s death, he and Gus were the only family Vic had left. “Besides, I know I can trust you to put the Zeppelin close enough to send a shell right down the tunnel if you have to.”
Vic nodded, squeezing his hand. “If I’m that close, I can pull you out, too.�
� She smiled. “You still owe me for making me leave that sword behind.”
Doc let go of her hand, then turned toward the Chief. “Any advice you can give me?”
“Just this: never give up, and always go up.” The Chief glanced around the room. “I will guide these safely, you must follow your own path.” He pointed to one of the exits. “You must go that way; we will leave after you that you cannot tell another.”
The Chief shivered, ruffling his neck feathers to reveal an amulet around his neck. It looked like the one the leader of the dinosaurs outside had worn, but much older and more detailed.
“What’s that on your neck?” Doc leaned forward to try to get a closer look.
“It is my badge of office,” the Chief replied. “I do not know its origin, but it is said to be older than my people.” He ruffled his feathers again. “Some say that it gave the first Chiefs mastery over the Flame itself, but that is a tale from my before my first grandmother was an egg.”
“May I see it?”
“Of course.” The Chief reached under his neck and released a catch, then dropped the amulet into his palm.
When he handed it over, Doc had to close his hand tightly not to drop it. It was much heavier than it looked, made from a smooth metal. Lifting it up, he saw that the amulet itself was in the shape of a stylized flame, with faint but familiar markings that looked to have been rubbed away over time. It reminded him of the amulet the gorilla had worn back in New York. Like that one, it rested in a wire cage, there was no hole or natural attachment anywhere on it.
As he rubbed his thumb over it, Doc felt something give. Fumbling it around in his right hand, he held it up for a closer look. There was a small panel on the back of the amulet that looked like it might be movable. Ignoring the Chief’s horrified look, he dug a thumbnail into the crack and flipped it up.
An Archonate nanocircuit stared back at him.
The “amulet” was an Archonate tractor field generator; from one of the probes the base had sent down millions of years earlier. From the looks of things, it had simply run out of power. Doc smiled; if he could find a power source, this might give him the edge he needed.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but may I have this?”
The Chief pulled his head back in that strange curve. “You want to be Chief?”
“No, no.” Doc shook his head. “I think I know what this does, and if I can find a power source, I might be able to use it to defeat the Flame.”
The Chief looked dubious, but thought for a moment. “It does nothing for us, so take it with my blessings.”
“Thank you.”
Doc closed the panel and hooked the amulet around his neck. Now all he needed was something radioactive for a power source. Archonate technology didn’t need much power, just a little radiation to trigger the tap so it could connect to the station. With more hope than he had possessed even a moment ago, he started going over his gear. His left hand tried to protest, but he ignored the pain.
One handed, Doc reloaded the shot-pistol Kehla had given him. Before leaving, he walked over to where Gus was sitting with Kehla. “How are you doing, Gus?”
“Better than when I thought I my insides would be displayed for public education.” Gus grinned, showing a broken tooth. “You do have to come back, you know. I don’t trust any of the dentists in New York.”
Doc laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“I can’t say I know as much as the Chief,” Kehla said from her seat leaning up against Gus, “but I can tell you a little from our own history.
“Vel was the first of our people to become host to the Flame, and the only one to survive the experience. He broke his back in a rock slide and the Flame passed to his son. Then he left Vel to die.” Kehla’s eyes grew misty as she spoke. “However, his daughter came back to be with him so he wouldn’t die alone.
“He didn’t say much, but the one thing he did say was that the Flame couldn’t burn in the dead.” She smiled brightly. “So you’d probably be free if you killed yourself, but I don’t see that doing you any good.”
“No, that’s a last resort.”
“You’ll get it, Doc,” Gus said. “I have faith in you.”
Doc snorted. “I’m glad to hear someone does.”
He went and gripped Gilly’s hand, and then it was time to go.
The gloomy tunnel the Chief had suggested felt like one of the Gates of Hell. A wave of foreboding washed over him, but Doc shook it off, and stepped into the tunnel. As he walked, pulses of pain washed up his left arm.
…Abandon hope all ye who enter here…? …I like that… …Your hope is truly gone…
CHAPTER SIX
Flame of Revolution
Vic watched Doc walk into the darkness, then turned decisively back toward the others. Doc was going to make it, and even if he didn’t she had a job to do. “Right, which way to the Zeppelin?”
“That way.” The Chief pointed towards an opening almost two-thirds of the way around the chamber from where Doc had disappeared. “It should get us within a hundred paces or so of the ship; at least to the landing field.”
Vic nodded, drawing a mental picture of the landing field. “So then we just cross a hundred yards of open field covered of three five-nines supported by a dozen machine guns, storm the Zeppelin, and rescue Doc. Sounds simple enough.” She smiled broadly. “Plus, if we’re lucky, Mr. Schmidt will be there.”
Kehla quirked an eyebrow. “You have a strange definition of lucky. I would call it lucky if no one was there at all.”
“You’re no fun.”
“I would rather say that she is goal-oriented,” Gus said, a twinkle in his eye. “In this case I think she’s right; better to focus on the goal of capturing the airship, not the adrenalin rush of the battle.”
Vic sighed and shook her head. They were probably right. Oh well, there was still a chance they’d get some excitement out of it; surely nobody would leave a Zeppelin unguarded. In the meantime, she needed a weapon and just a bit more of a plan than charge screaming. Sure, it had worked on the tyrannosaur, but she’d also stayed on its blind side the whole way in.
The biggest problem was that she wasn’t the only one who needed a weapon. Kehla and her four remaining dissidents were pretty well equipped, but that was barely half of them. Jevan and Gus had clubs, the dinosaurs and Gilly had spears, but that was it. That left Vic and two gorillas still unarmed.
“It’s not enough,” Vic muttered.
“What’s not enough?” Kehla asked.
“We don’t have enough weapons.” Vic glared in the direction Doc had gone. “We’re not even a half a dozen guns. Hell, we don’t even have enough clubs to go around.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Gus asked mildly. “Do you think we should give up?”
“Of course not.” Vic rolled her eyes and laughed. “We should try and get more weapons, though.”
“There should be armed guards in the tower?” Kehla wrinkled her brow.
“That’ll work,” Vic grinned. “Two birds with one stone, take out the guards and arm ourselves against the Zeppelin.”
Gilly hefted his spear and grinned, his teeth white against his skin. He pointed to Vic, then to himself and gave a thumbs up. He looked like he was ready for anything.
“All right, let’s go. We should get moving while they’re still searching . With any luck they won’t have figured out we’re heading for the Zeppelin.” After all, who would expect them to do something that stupid? Anyone who knew Vic might, but somehow she doubted that described their enemies.
The Chief, who’d remained conspicuously silent throughout the discussion, led the way into the darkness, his spear in front of him. Vic and Kehla followed, staying a safe distance behind his tail. As they walked, Vic found her right hand clenching and unclenching, almost of its own volition. Meanwhile, the scar in her palm grew just a little warmer every time she touched it.
She remembered what the Chief had said to Doc, then just as
quickly pushed it out of her mind.
#
At first, the tunnel was level, easy walking for Doc despite the pain from his arm. The floor was smooth, and the luminescent moss provided just enough light that he had no difficulty seeing where he was going. That held true for a good half hour, as Doc passed several side tunnels, all sloping down and away. Remembering what the Chief had told him, he kept to the same passage, always going upwards.
The flame in his wrist kept whispering to him, but he ignored it. It seemed to be growing stronger as he moved closer to the far side of the caldera, but it was hard to tell without paying more attention to it and something told him that would be a very bad idea.
At least he was sure it would let him know if he went too far in the wrong direction.
The architecture itself was fascinating, especially as it gave Doc a chance to see something that even the artificial minds that raised him had never seen. He stopped to examine the workmanship, and an intense burst of pain shot up his arm. Doc dropped to one knee to fight it off. Even as the pain surged up one arm, a detached part of his mind was fascinated by the smoothness of the stone under his fingers. The tunnels were millions of years old, and when he touched the stone he felt the age was something physical like heat or cold.
He drove back the pain, then tried to rise, only to find something cool wrapping around his torso. Dry scales rustled against his skin as a huge constrictor slid around his body, squeezing his arm against his chest. It had come up from behind him, catching him off guard. In a moment it had slithered up his legs and around his chest.
The pain in his left arm was almost forgotten as the snake wrapped itself around his body. Doc took shallow breaths, fighting against the pressure with each inhalation. Every outward breath was a struggle. Doc scraped his right arm against rough scales, reaching for his pistol. He stretched his fingers, barely touching the handle.
All he needed was a few more inches.
The snake pulled its neck back, meeting Doc’s eyes with its soulless gaze. Time seemed to slow down as it dislocated its jaw. Saliva glistened between its upper and lower jaws. He struggled to reach his pistol, ripping his arm open on the scales of its belly. His hand closed around the grip, but he wasn’t going to make it in time.
Against the Eldest Flame Page 12
