Wolves of the Tesseract Collection

by Christopher D Schmitz

  “Yes. Yes, she’s fine.” Jenner handed Sam a wrapped bundle of documents.

  “What’s this?”

  “Tay-lore sent me. He wanted to get your insights on this and bring you up to speed, even though you’re out of touch for the foreseeable feature. Is this your friend?”

  Sam nodded even as he began plowing through the documents at an unbelievable pace. He was a well-practiced speed reader and nearly finished the stack of papers by the time Jenner finally grew tired of examining the Earth technology. He pulled the sheets closer to his tired eyes on the last packet that detailed their pending plans and read it in greater detail.

  “When are they leaving to try and grab this… hierophanticus?”

  Jenner checked his timepiece. “They’ve already left by now, for sure. A few hours ago, most likely. It took some time to find you.”

  Sam sprang to his feet and hurried Jenner out the door while he scrawled on a piece of paper. “I need you to get this to Shandra as soon as possible,” he stuffed the paper into the young soldier’s hand as he pulled up an astronomical chart on his smartphone. “You know where the nearest portal location is that will get you back to the Prime?”

  Jenner nodded.

  "Saint Patrick's Cathedral," he told him anyway. "My lunar chart says it will be open until midnight. After that, it will either take a week for it to reopen or else we'll have to travel half-way down the coast to find a connecting portal. Now go—and bring Shandra to that address as soon as possible!"

  “But, Dr. Jones… why?”

  “Because you guys are all after the wrong thing!”

  ***

  Harken caught up to Jackie as they walked through the hallways. The corridors led to the mirror room where their team awaited. Harken walked close enough that their arms brushed against each other and he smiled, revealing his deep, gorgeous dimples.

  Jackie smiled and looked away. She felt a twinge of shame well up within her at the thought that Wulftone might notice.

  The muscular soldier grinned when he spotted her reaction—and her guilty response. “Am I intruding? I mean… are you and Wulftone together now?”

  Jackie blushed. Not all of the men in the Prime were as romantically reluctant as Zabe. "No," she said. "Well, I mean, kind of—but we haven't really talked about it. Like, are we exclusive?" she asked herself aloud.

  Harken smiled and playfully pushed her into the wall; her armor clacked against the brick. “Then you can have dinner with me after this mission?”

  She pushed him back. “Maybe I will, then.”

  He grinned boyishly and with a nod they turned back to their duty.

  A moment later the door opened to let them into the Hall of Mirrors. Wulftone stood in the entry and they both hurried inside where a small cadre of troops waited composed of a handful of soldiers under Harken’s command and a few Guardian Corpsmen under Wulftone’s charge.

  Gita surreptitiously winked at Jackie as she entered with beau number two.

  Tay-lore stood in the center of the room, holding a small, hand-held device with a tiny display screen. It looked like a miniature radar. "Glad you two could finally make it," his voice dripped with so much sarcasm that Jackie cringed.

  “Too much?” the android asked in his more natural and serious tone.

  Jackie nodded as her apprehensive look finally began melting away.

  “My apologies. I had read that humor and sarcasm can sometimes take the edge off of tense situations… I will keep trying.”

  Wulftone interjected, "Maybe just tell us how to use the locator, instead?"

  Tay-lore seemed off-put, even for an artificial being, but shrugged and demonstrated the power toggle. It operated almost exactly like a radar, in fact. “You can see the approximate location of artifacts imbued with arcane power.” He put it into Wulftone’s hand.

  The display screen showed they were surrounded by a cluster of thirty-two little blips. “You can see it’s registering the mirrors,” he continued. “They do not contain any darquematter, however. They were crafted by the Veritas during the time of exploration by The Brothers—before their corruption was discovered and the Grimmorium Nitthogr was confiscated.” He toggled the second switch two clicks and the mirrors stopped displaying.

  “This mode isolates the reading to only darquematter pieces—specifically the darquegate keys.”

  “Thanks,” Wulftone said before turning to his troops. Tay-lore nodded and ducked out. He had more important places to be at the moment.

  ***

  Zabe stood on the rooftop of the museum with five other soldiers. They’d left for earth some time before the others and needed the extra time to get into position; the portal gate in New York City lay quite a distance away from their target. The team also needed an opportunity to buy supplies for their heist—they didn’t want to look conspicuous walking through the city carrying tools specific to thievery.

  He did feel naked, however, without the Stone Glaive strapped across his back. The huge sword would have made walking the earth streets difficult in daylight; the police would surely stop them if he openly carried a giant sword through the urban setting. Zabe also felt it best to leave it with Respan for now—perhaps he would have a scientific breakthrough with him away.

  The Guardian Corps commander signaled the others to keep noise to a minimum. Stealth was their highest priority.

  He watched over the edge of the building and consulted his timepiece. Zabe nodded as the security guard walked by; they’d spent the last four hours mapping on-site security movements.

  A few minutes after the lonely patroller left, the intruders dropped their coils of cord over the rooftop and repelled the side of the building. On the floor, one of Zabe’s men disabled the sensors on the sliding, transparent doors and disengaged the lock.

  Clad head to toe in black, they slipped within the building like a collection of wraiths. Zabe paused near a junction leading to different exhibition wings and consulted his map. He was no stranger to museum raids, but hadn’t needed to avoid security before. He had no desire to harm any humans tasked with protecting the historical artifacts.

  He slid the directions back into his pocket and led his crew down the proper hall. Minutes later they emerged in an ancient Egyptian world staged by the traveling exhibit staff.

  They fanned out and filtered through the displays, each keeping their eyes trained on Zabe, ready to receive silent instructions. The display pieces descended backward through time, arranged chronologically according to the rule of different ancient leaders of the era.

  Zabe held up a clenched fist as they crept past a series of dioramas depicting slaves and the building of a temple dedicated to the worship of Set. An adjacent graphic displayed a replica of the god defeating Apophis. Set, a giant snake, represented the ancient Egyptian force of chaos. Everything Trenzlr told him about the civil war between the tarkhūn shade who became Pharaoh Akroth, and his brother Chirasq I, ancient ruler of the tarkhūn, suddenly made sense.

  Whispers broke the silence. Someone else had entered the room.

  Zabe motioned to his troops and they crouched as low as possible. Someone else had infiltrated the Egyptian wing at the same time, only they didn’t have the same sense to remain silent.

  ***

  Jackie picked herself up off of the hot sand and turned in time to see Gita fly through the portal, bursting into existence as she did a somersault and rolled into a crouch beside her friend in the desert sands. The portal location was nothing more than a broken, obsidian foundation which might have once been the base of an obelisk or some other magnificent architectural achievement. Now, only rubble remained.

  Harken and Wulftone both reached for Jackie to help her up. Gita intercepted Wulftone’s hand and stood, thanking him.

  It was barely nine in the morning, but already the morning sun baked the ground and dried up any evening moisture that might have clung to the sand. Gita and Jackie pulled sand-hu
ed camouflaged hoods over their heads to block the fiercely hot sun and to obfuscate their presence.

  Wulftone pointed to the deep grooves in the sand and waived Jackie closer.

  “Tire tracks,” she confirmed.

  The leader nodded. “Desert winds should’ve filled these back in if they were more than a few days old.”

  Even Harken agreed. “We ought to proceed as if the enemy is already here.”

  Gita, the most diminutive of the force that invaded the Egyptian landscape, crawled up the shoulders of a tall soldier. She turned a slow arc with a handheld ocular scouter pressed to her face. Dropping the binocs she pointed into the distance.

  “Over there,” Gita called out to Wulftone and Harken, but not too loud. “There’s some sort of excavation that way.” She patted the soldier on the shoulder and then slid back to the ground. “Thanks, Murdo.”

  The party moved out, swiftly, but cautiously. Jackie shot Gita a worried glance as Harken and Wulftone each walked closely on either side of her. Gita merely grinned, but something about the way they hovered during the build-up to potential conflict irked her.

  Jackie spotted a stone outcropping and intentionally struck her foot on it as if it might trip her up. Instead, she reeled backward and watched Harken and Wulftone each lunge forward to steady her; they accidentally grabbed each other's hands instead.

  With her arms folded she shook her head chidingly. They looked back. Each wore an embarrassed look on his face, but took the hint and afforded her more room to operate in.

  A few minutes later they crested the edge of an illicit excavation zone hidden among the desert sands. Trenches and deep rows cut through the dunes had been dug haphazardly until the tomb raiders found what they'd been looking for. A shallow basin opened around a central structure, unearthed by the equipment and vehicles parked nearby under the tan, camo netting.

  The forces strategically moved through the dig site with weapons drawn and ready until they surrounded the small building. Murdo, the tall soldier Gita had ridden atop of earlier, ducked inside to scout the area. He returned a few seconds after.

  “It’s a stair. It goes deep below ground; all seems quiet.”

  Wulftone nodded. “Let’s go exploring, then.”

  ***

  Tay-lore stood next to Claire in the throne room, discussing the nature of what he’d learned of the Mae’le-ggath and how it might’ve changed over the course of the religion’s bloody history. It had undoubtedly evolved through a number of iterations before solidifying into the current cult. His conversations with Trenzlr had proved very informative.

  “You’re hovering—and you’re stalling,” the princess accused. He stood nearby while she trained with Pollando. The leader of the Mystic branch of the Veritas, he tried to help hone Claire’s skills on the psychic and eldritch planes. Bithia had been immensely talented, and Claire’s weaker abilities left the throne in a comparative vacuum.

  Pollando had just finished with her daily instruction. He bowed and departed for the monastery in silence.

  “What? I never…” Tay-lore couldn’t believe he’d been quite so transparent.

  “It’s okay,” she laughed. “I understand.”

  Tay-lore relaxed, glad he hadn’t offended the princess. He had been hovering. Something worried him on a deep level: her father and fiancé were both away, as were many of the most skilled warriors in the Prime.

  He glanced at Claire. Something about her connected to him on a deep level and made him fiercely protective. Tay-lore wondered if that was what love felt like; he would certainly die for her were that ever required.

  “Princess, can I ask you for a favor?”

  She looked at him funny. “How can I help?”

  He’d never had to ask for something before, but he had a plan that required some resources. “I need a large sum of gold.”

  Claire laughed audibly. “Whatever does an android need gold for?”

  “You’ll see… if my hunch pays off.”

  She chuckled again at the notion the artificial intelligence had a hunch. “Of course. Requisition whatever you think you need from the vault.”

  The android suddenly whirled around. His sensors picked up a potential threat; footsteps sprinted towards the throne room doors. Tay-lore tensed and a compact laser battery dropped from each forearm in readiness.

  Claire tensed at the act.

  As the double doors burst open Jenner hurried towards the princess. His lungs heaved and he sucked air to regain his breath.

  Tay-lore and Claire both relaxed as the young soldier collapsed to his hands and knees.

  “Princess Claire… your father…”

  “What? What happened to my father?” She leapt to her feet.

  “He sent me to tell you that everyone is after the wrong thing. Sam knows where the artifact is and told me that you're all chasing the wrong item. He sent me back for support—he gave me directions and told me to meet him there.”

  “But everyone is already gone,” Claire said. She stepped off the dais. “Let’s go, then!”

  “Princess,” Tay-lore said worriedly. “You can’t run off and into battle blindly! What if you are needed here?” He lied, using a convenient truth. Tay-lore had noted Zabe’s suspicions of a traitor within the castle—it was why he’d been hovering in the first place.

  Claire blinked and everything within Bithia testified to her royal obligations. Claire nodded, but still looked confused.

  “Should I call for Shandra?” the android asked. “Surely she could assist Sam Jones? She’s already recommended the planeswalk.”

  Claire nodded. “Do it.” She looked at the soldier, the youngest they’d ever before let into the Guardian Corps without a father or mother to train under as an apprentice. He’d proven capable in the years since entering the company. “Jenner, keep them safe.”

  ***

  Wulftone, guided by Tay-lore’s tracking system, led the small force through the darkness. They’d arrived unchallenged to the bottom of the winding stairs and tunnels which eventually opened into a large chamber. Rows and rows of pylons supported the stone ceiling; each pillar bore intricate tapestries of lore preserved in ancient hieroglyphics which wrapped around the vertical structures.

  They skulked through the dark, ignoring the carved plinths and tables adorned with suspicious, potentially valuable relics from the ancient world. As they closed in, the glowing blip on the sensor moved ever nearer the center of the HUD.

  Suddenly, a shot rang out and a grenade exploded rattling the pylons and shaking millennia-old dust from where it caked the stonework ahead. Shouts echoed in the distance and bursts of light from both muzzle flashes and chemical flares illuminated the cavern. Chaos erupted.

  “There it is!” Wulftone shouted to his forces. The enemy’s flares backlit a central stand where a half-moon curved blade rested in a place of honor.

  “I’ve got it!” A nearby soldier ducked his head as his support laid several bursts of laser fire as cover. He got three paces from it when a burst of automatic gunfire mowed him down.

  The enemy forces ducked around the edges of the pillars, trying to get an angle on the men from the Prime. Casualties fell on both sides to weapons fire.

  Jackie turned to face Gita. The girl looked terrified, but she continued pulling the trigger. Adrenaline pulsed through her body and pounded in her ears.

  “No—him again!” she yelled as a familiar man walked through the gunfire. She leveled her rifle at the magician and opened fire.

  Jacob Sisyphus batted away any energy bursts that came close enough to damage him. Jackie howled with rage as she poured on the intense fire. The former pro wrestler looked even more ominous than in their last encounter in Nebraska, half a world away.

  Her high rate of fire finally snuck a shot through, sizzling through his defenses and blackening the flesh of his shoulder.

  Sisyphus snarled and locked eyes with her. He seemed even
more empowered by his rage and he snapped up the artifact amid the chaos of the battle.

  "Finally, it's mine," he roared as his fingers closed around the handle of the wicked khopesh. He whirled the ancient sword around in a few practiced motions and batted the bursts of deadly energy from the air with the weapon's keen, alien edge. He laughed as the khopesh glowed with an arcane light which his eyes mirrored.

  "The power is finally mine!" Sisyphus waved his arms and a telekinetic burst knocked back the entire remaining cadre from the Prime. Only Wulftone was unaffected. He felt a surge of defiant power as Zahaben's bracer protected him from the darquematter artifact's abilities.

  Jackie crawled to her feet even as Wulftone’s shape blurred and grew into his lycan form.

  Wulftone snarled and shrugged off the bullets fired by the Heptobscurantum grave robbers. He leapt towards Sisyphus and traded blows. A group of cultists threw themselves at the werewolf as the muscular wizard sidestepped the battle and used an outstretched arm to mentally grab ahold of the very foundations of the ancient, buried structure.

  It trembled and then shook violently as the support pillars on the Prime’s side of the engagement began to crumble and break.

  Harken sprinted towards the magician where he stood, momentarily concentrating. The cult leader reacted too quickly and kicked the soldier in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground even as Wulftone finished off his remaining attackers.

  Sisyphus telekinetically grabbed the structure again, but this time directly over Jackie’s head. He howled with rage and ripped the ceiling free, collapsing swaths of rubble all around the musty, burial chamber.

  Jackie screamed as stone and dust rained down from overhead.

  Harken and Wulftone both charged back to rescue her, searching frantically among the debris and billowing clouds of grime. All gunfire suddenly ceased as the cultists retreated with their prize and the interdimensional troops were left alone to search for their dead and wounded.

  ***

  Zabe signaled three of his men to circle around and watch their flank as he and two others crept closer towards their goal. Only a short distance away, a glass enclosure protected the royal scepter of the mad Pharaoh Akroth.