‘We were recording his words,’ Chen said, and held up a small device to show Sarah. ‘He said nothing like you claim. His words were the same gibberish he’s been speaking for days.’ She wiped a tear from her eye, gathered herself and then replayed the file for all to hear.
‘Are you sure you didn’t imagine it?’ Zinetti said. ‘You don’t look very well. Have you taken your drugs?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘I’m fine and I know what I heard.’
‘She’s had a shock,’ Avery said. ‘I’d be shaking if I were in her position.’ He touched Sarah’s hand, as she watched the man’s body being wrapped up in a plastic sheet, and then carried from the tent by two Swiss guards.
‘Are you sure that’s what you heard?’ Ruben asked her.
Sarah tried to recall what the man had said. ‘The blood of the sacrificed will open the gates of heaven or hell.’ She suddenly remembered something and looked at Zinetti. ‘That’s what I heard you say to Major Lanter. The blood of the scarified will open the gates.’ Sarah struggled to rise. ‘You said it had been written and that Ruben was too blind to see its purpose.’
Zinetti looked confused. ‘I said no such thing.’
‘You’re lying,’ Sarah said, growing angry. ‘Ruben,’ – she gestured at the monk who stood nearby – ‘he said you brought the blood to him. The giant’s blood, he’s going to use it to open the gate.’
‘Silly girl,’ Zinetti said. ‘If that were true, which it’s not, we’ve already told you we want to open the gate, Heaven’s Gate.’ He gave her a pitying look, but Ruben gazed out from beneath his heavy brows, his eyes fixing Zinetti with a penetrating stare.
‘Is that true?’ Avery said to his fellow cardinal. ‘Are you hiding something from us, Zinetti?’
‘Are you going to believe the ramblings of a madman and a woman high on drugs over me?’
No one spoke and Zinetti stalked away to the door of the tent. He turned back to look at them, pointed at Sarah and said something to Avery in Latin, and then left without another word.
Chen continued to replay the recording and Sarah said, ‘Stop it there, replay that last section.’
Chen looked at her and then at Avery, who nodded, and the Australian rewound it and played it back once more.
‘Slower,’ Sarah said. ‘Just before he stopped talking, when he screamed, it sounded like Latin.’
Chen slowed the audio as requested and turned up the volume and Sarah squinted as she tried to make sense of it.
‘I didn’t hear any Latin,’ Avery said. ‘Just a terrible scream.’
Ruben’s expression changed and he said, ‘Slower.’
The audio replayed slower still, the scream changing to a deeper, more chilling tone.
‘Cave seraphim amoris,’ Ruben said, concentrating, ‘Contrarium est in nobis! Est in nobis!’
‘Beware seraph’s love,’ Avery said in translation. ‘Its opposite is in us. It is in us.’
‘There’s something else,’ Sarah said. ‘Right at the end.’
Chen decreased the speed of the recording even further until the dying man’s speech sounded like a drawn-out growl.
One of Chen’s team whispered, ‘Mother of God. What is that?’
‘Replay it,’ Ruben said.
Chen did so and Ruben took a step closer to the device and motioned at Chen. ‘Again.’
‘They know we are here,’ Avery said. ‘It’s too late; they are coming. They are coming.’
The pitch at the very end of the speech altered as the speech slowed to a demonic crawl.
Sarah felt the hairs prickle on the back of her neck as the dead man’s distorted voice echoed through the silent tent.
Ruben looked up at Avery, his eyes mirroring the disquiet in the cardinal’s expression.
‘What does it say?’ Sarah said, disturbed as much by Ruben’s fear as the frightening words, which continued to send chills down her spine.
Chen played it back once more.
Ruben bowed his head. ‘We know you are there, we know you are listening.’ He looked up at Sarah with haunted eyes. ‘Death is coming. Death is coming for you all.’
Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Six
‘Wait!’ Chen said. ‘Come back!’
Sarah watched from the main tent as Chen’s team collected their possessions and climbing gear and headed for the distant cliff edge. The explorers had finally had enough. With one of their number dead by a mysterious illness, another at death’s door and others missing, Sarah couldn’t blame them. And after hearing the terrifying words hidden in their friend’s dying scream she felt like joining them, but with Trish and Jason among those disappeared, she had no choice but to stay.
‘It seems our expedition just got smaller,’ Zinetti said, his voice tinged with amusement.
Sarah glanced round at the dark-haired cardinal, who stared into the darkness after the receding flashlights of Chen’s departing team. She hadn’t noticed him come back in.
Meanwhile, the Australian continued in vain to try to convince her men to stay, but out of her entire team only Farish, the Malaysian, decided to remain, along with Chen, herself.
‘Sarah,’ Avery said from nearby. ‘I think it’s time we showed you what we’ve found.’
Sarah nodded. Her mind was still swirling with thoughts of the dead man and the words she’d thought she’d heard. Did I really understand him? she thought in a daze, as she followed Avery and Ruben back outside into the snow. The Latin was real, so why not the rest? Because he was speaking in tongues, Sarah told herself, and no one else could understand it. What had Avery said? Interpretation was a gift in itself. Do I possess that gift?
As she mulled over the implications of such a truth, Sarah found herself in a part of the dig site she hadn’t seen before. With Avery in the lead, she was led down into a huge excavation pit, where six Swiss guards stood sentry atop its wall-like perimeter, their sophisticated weapons and helmet visors scanning the exterior terrain through an otherwise impenetrable night-time mist.
Sarah wondered if Konstantin was close, just one of a thousand thoughts that filled her mind and choked her heart with dread. Who, or what, knew we were listening? she wondered. The notion that something spoke to them directly from beyond the veil was frightening enough, but that it claimed they were all to die was far more disturbing. She remembered the ghostly entity that shadowed her movements and wondered if it was that which had communicated through the dying man’s scream. She shivered and looked around to see if she could see that which remained hidden, but as usual there was nothing there except the freezing Mongolian darkness and tendrils of mist.
Sarah continued to trudge onwards. Her arms and legs felt heavy and the concoction of drugs, which her system cried out for, clouded her mind and increased her pain. It reminded her of being really drunk and really ill at the same time. Her stomach churned in protest and it was all she could do to keep whatever was left in her stomach from spewing forth.
‘Are you okay?’ Avery said. He motioned to Ruben. ‘Give her some water.’
Sarah accepted the flask and drank her fill. She wiped her mouth and stood up straighter.
‘Better?’ Avery asked.
She nodded. Her head felt clearer already.
‘You need to keep your fluids up,’ Avery said, looking at her in concern. ‘The drugs will dehydrate you.’
She murmured her agreement, while secretly determined not to take another dose. I will not die without them, she thought. I don’t have brain damage. They’re lying to me. You can’t trust them, you can’t trust anyone. Sarah’s eyes darted around, searching for signs of danger as the group bypassed more ancient foundations of long gone Anakim structures and entered a large freshly dug tunnel hewn out of the earth.
Avery and Ruben switched on flashlights and moved inside, and Sarah and Zinetti followed them in.
Their muffled footfalls echoed through ice cold air as they descended into darkness, before the way opened up into a vast chamber.
Chen’s team were busy in my absence, Sarah thought, as she looked around.
Bright lights had been positioned around the edge of the newly exposed cave, highlighting an object on the far wall.
Sarah’s eyes grew wide.
A partially uncovered frieze glistened beneath a thin film of water, the previous snowfall having seeped through the topsoil to drip down onto its jet-black surface. At either end, the ancient sculpture disappeared into the compacted earth, where yet more of its length waited to be discovered. But it wasn’t the size of the object that drew the eye – although it must have been over twenty feet high – nor was it the metallic sheen of browns and dark yellows that ran across its centre, like sedimentary strata. No, it was the hundreds of inscriptions carved around the edge of its granite-like substrate. Inscriptions Sarah knew to be Anakim in origin.
‘This is near the pit where the previous expedition found the section of frieze you saw in our vault.’ Avery gestured to a small excavator parked nearby. ‘It didn’t take long to find the rest.’
Sarah studied the cracked surface of the ancient sculpture.
Like the one she’d seen before, this section contained images of Anakim warriors with a massive ocean wave rearing above them in the background.
‘What does it mean?’ she murmured, her current circumstances momentarily forgotten.
Avery turned to her. ‘We were hoping you could tell us.’
She approached it and reached up to run her hand over the indecipherable lettering, the object icy to the touch. She looked behind to see no one else came close. ‘Is this the source of the outbreak?’ she said, realising no one had stopped her from touching it. And why would they? she thought. They think I’m already infected. She cursed her lapse of judgement. If she wasn’t under its influence before, she would be now.
Avery stepped closer. ‘We’re not sure.’
Sarah stared at her hand for a moment and then walked along the sculpture’s length, examining it, before coming back to where she’d started. ‘It’s definitely Anakim, I recognise some of the symbols.’ She paused and reached out to scrape away at the dirt to further reveal something she should have noticed before: a circular indent.
She studied it for a moment and then realised what she was looking at. ‘It’s a transportation device,’ she whispered. ‘Like the ones in Sanctuary.’
‘Like what in Sanctuary?’ Zinetti said, also moving closer.
Sarah didn’t reply, instead she looked down at the ground beneath her feet to where she knew a platform might be located. Is this really what it is? She looked back at the frieze and couldn’t help but wonder where it would take her if she still had the pendant to activate it. It was different to the devices in Sanctuary and this was cast from some unknown mixture of metals she couldn’t begin to fathom.
‘There’s something under the ground,’ Zinetti said in realisation. He waved at one of the soldiers. ‘Get Chen, she has work to do.’
Sarah looked at Avery, who gave her an apologetic look. She still didn’t care what they were looking for and when Chen finally arrived with only Farish in tow, it seemed neither did they.
‘I don’t care what you want,’ Chen said, while avoiding Sarah’s gaze. ‘I’m not working anymore. Not after ... what happened.’
Farish looked in Sarah’s direction, his expression hostile.
It was something Sarah was getting used to. She glanced beyond Chen to where Major Lanter stood with two of his men, their faces displaying the same emotion as they stared right back at her. She was still a danger in their eyes. And why shouldn’t I be? she thought. I don’t even know why I’m here anymore. Maybe I did kill that man.
You’re here for Trish and Jason, don’t you remember? She gave a shake of her head. Yes, yes of course I do.
‘We’ve agreed to your demands,’ Zinetti said. ‘And we’re tending to your injured and Major Lanter is still continuing his search for the missing.’
‘They’re not injured,’ Chen said, furious. ‘One’s in a coma and the other’s dead.’
‘And yet you’re still here,’ Zinetti said, ‘because you know the value of this place. Like we do.’
‘Value?’ Chen looked around. ‘It’s just as I said, this place is empty. There are no precious artefacts. There’s nothing except this sculpture.’ She gestured at the frieze.
‘The only reason you haven’t found anything,’ Zinetti said, ‘is because our expedition leader has been out of action.’
Chen looked at Sarah. ‘Is that what you call it?’
‘There’s still no evidence to say Ms Morgan is to blame for recent events,’ Avery said.
‘But there’s nothing to say she isn’t, either.’ Chen avoided Sarah’s gaze and gestured to Farish to leave.
‘Where are you going?’ Zinetti said, as the two explorers walked away.
‘We’re done here,’ Chen said. ‘I came here to tell you the deal’s off; we’re leaving.’
Major Lanter and his Swiss guards moved to block the pit exit. ‘No one’s going anywhere.’
Farish drew his weapons, but Chen touched his arm to stop him. They were outgunned and outnumbered, as two more Swiss guards had appeared to join their three comrades.
‘You’d cut us down in cold blood?’ Chen said. ‘I thought you were men of God.’
‘Lower your guns!’ Avery strode forward and stood between Lanter and the two explorers. ‘We’re all here for the same reason, not to fight.’
The Malaysian held onto his weapons until Avery pushed Lanter’s rifle towards the ground.
‘Please reconsider,’ Avery said to Chen. ‘You must know this site is beyond anything you’ve ever seen before and we’re so close to unlocking its secrets.’ He looked at Sarah. ‘Isn’t that so, Sarah?’
Sarah stared at him and then looked at Chen.
The Australian appeared caught in two minds before she reached into a pocket, looked at something that glinted in the palm of her hand and then threw it to Sarah.
Sarah caught the object and opened her hand to reveal a necklace with a small golden locket attached. She frowned, wiped off the dirt and clicked open the mechanism to reveal a picture of Christ on one side and a photo of Sarah with Trish in the other. She gasped and looked up in shock. ‘Where did you find this?’
Chen pointed at the base of the frieze. ‘I found it this morning.’
‘Perhaps you dropped it during your late-night excursions,’ Zinetti said to Sarah.
Sarah glared at the Italian cardinal before looking back at the photo of her friend. ‘This isn’t mine, it belongs to Trish.’ She touched the image with a finger and then turned back to the sculpture and put her hands on the circle and willed it to work.
Nothing happened.
She slammed her fist against the metallic wall. ‘Trish!’ She pressed her hands against it and pushed. ‘JASON!’ Her shouts echoed back down the tunnel, but no one replied. She placed her hand on the circle once more and closed her eyes. Work, she pleaded. Please, God, work!
But despite her calls for heavenly intervention, the way ahead remained closed, and Sarah knew in that moment she was forsaken, as God wasn’t listening … or if he was, one thing was for certain – he didn’t care.
Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Seven
Sarah remained standing in front of the frieze, and was just about to remove her hand from it when a tingle of sensation pulsed through her chest. She opened her eyes in desperate hope. The tingling came again and she couldn’t help but wonder if God had been listening after all.
‘What’s she doing?’ Zinetti said, and waved Major Lanter forward. ‘Get her away from there. We need to see what’s under the ground.’
‘Wait,’ Avery said. ‘Let’s see what happens.’
The tingling in Sarah’s chest increased.
A shot of electricity flashed across her eyes and she cried out in pain.
Images cascaded through her mind. Images of Sanctuary, images of the Pharos, images of
her friends. The pain increased and Sarah cried out again and sank to her knees, her hands still pressed onto the circle.
An image of the giant on the train filled her mind, its eyes staring into hers. The light grew brighter.
‘Misrak arak,’ the Anakim said. ‘Misrak arak. Mor ... gan.’
Sarah’s eyes rolled back into her head.
The sun skimmed across the horizon, night turned to day, day turned to night. The stars shone, the rain fell, snow melted, the summer sang and the seasons spun faster and faster. The pain grew stronger and Sarah screamed and screamed again, before everything fell dark.
Light blossomed in the black and a voice grew stronger, bolder, brighter.
‘Sarah, can you hear me?’
Sarah didn’t know where she was, but she recognised that voice. How could she not? She frowned. ‘Mother?’
‘Sarah, this is going to hurt, sweetheart. Stay strong, my love.’
Sarah looked down at her hand. She was a child once more and her mother was standing before her. ‘Mum, I’ve missed you so much.’
Sarah’s mother smiled, reached out and touched her daughter’s chubby cheek. ‘I know, I’ve missed you, too. Don’t worry; it will all be over soon.’
‘I can’t find my friends. I don’t know what to do.’
‘Don’t be scared, my love,’ her mother said. ‘All you need to do is follow your heart.’
‘I don’t know how. Whatever I do leads to suffering and pain. They say I’ve done things. They say I’m dying. They say I’m possessed. I’ve sacrificed so much, sometimes,’ – Sarah’s voice broke – ‘sometimes I don’t know if I can go on.’
‘Open your heart,’ her mother said, and drew her to her, the feeling of her body pressed to Sarah’s igniting lost memories past. ‘No matter what, just open your heart. That’s all you need to do. Pain and grief, they are the gateway you seek.’
‘What?’
Her mother’s presence faded into the darkness and the pain slowly returned. ‘Pain and grief are the gateway you seek.’
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 96
