Destiny of Coins (10 page)

“So, how do you differentiate between classes, or is yours a socialistic nation?” asked Alistair.

I could tell my boy was very reluctant to pull his eyes from the view, and who could blame him? The shimmering city was dominated by hundreds of tall monoliths that looked like tapered golden spikes with glistening diamond windows along their lengths. Thousands of tiny dots moved through the air, which after studying them for several minutes, I realized were likely hovercrafts similar to the one we presently rode in.

Our vessel veered away and raced toward the Andes once more. The lurch threw Amy and Alistair off their feet, and Cedric joined them on the hovercraft’s floor, cussing like a proverbial sailor and drawing amusement from Roderick and me, although I, too, was growing concerned about Tampara’s erratic behavior.

“Now that you have seen my beautiful city, perhaps you will be less inclined to disrespect it,” he said in response to a silent musing of mine while we gained higher altitude. We would be crossing the western edge of the Andes foothills in a moment, based on our ever-increasing speed. The resultant wind flapped the snaps from my light jacket against my neck, to where it became uncomfortable.

“So, that really was you just jacking us around, huh?” Cedric sounded angrier. “And why in the hell do you have to push this thing so goddamned fast?”

“You saw how beautiful the city is,” said Roderick, coolly, although he still seemed to be taking in the conversation with some amusement. “Understanding Paititi—even only the beginning about what the place entails gives one a clearer perspective about the Yitari people…. And I daresay, it will put certain aspects of the Essenes’ castle in better perspective, as well. Speaking of which, Tampara will have us there in just a few minutes, which more than adequately answers your other question, Cedric.”

Roderick has never been fond of cussing that borders on sacrilege, regardless of the deity involved. Meanwhile, I admit to some confusion as to what his advisement meant to our present location. I would’ve assumed the castle was much farther away…but that was based on my previous recollections of this region as well as the one thing that has always helped me hone in to where I am: my blood coin’s call. I couldn’t hear it as strongly as I had earlier, and that worried me.

The hovercraft continued to gain altitude as it raced toward the highest peaks closest to us. As it did, the shimmering brilliant array of ochre to copper to gold of the vessel’s outer shell intensified to where the colors formed a blur bathing us all. Strangely, this phenomenon brought an incredible sense of well being. Then, without warning, the ship shot through the air with blazing speed.

This time, all of us lost our footing and only our leather restraints kept us from tumbling overboard.

“What in the hell is this all about?!” I yelled at Roderick, whose leather strap had loosened to where he was holding onto it for dear life.

“It must be another force pulling us to our destination—it’s the only time I’ve ever encountered this shit!”

That was comforting. Not to mention the fact my kid, his girl, and Cedric were clinging desperately to their strapped arms with their free hands—offering a mixture of profanity and prayers for salvation that might’ve been humorous if not for the fact the hovercraft was moving at a near vertical angle as it closely followed the contours of an enormous Andean peak. I wrapped my free hand around Roderick’s torso when I noticed his grip on his strap was slipping. My leather strap began to groan from the strain…I prayed fervently it held strong. In the midst of this confusion, I noticed Tampara seemed to be floating. Still at his ‘post’ at the front of the hovercraft, but hanging on to nothing. Nothing I could see, at least. And, yet, he remained upright. He glanced at me, offering an assuring smile and nod that all was well.

What the… Are you frigging serious?!

Obviously this wasn’t the optimum moment to chastise him—especially when I glanced below and caught a glimpse of the lush forest that by then was six to eight thousand feet beneath the vessel. Yet, despite our precarious spot, my soul told me that I needed to offer the same assurance he offered me to everyone else.

“Hold on, Roderick!”
I shouted
. “Ali, Amy, and Cedric—DON’T Let Go—Hang On!... We’re going to make it through this!”

It seemed like a small eternity before the ship righted itself again, and as it did, it dramatically slowed. We coasted down the other side of the mountain. As we approached the base, a majestic structure of dark red granite loomed before us, glistening beneath the late afternoon sun.

The castle of the Essenes?

It had to be.

“We are almost there!” Tampara announced. “I will pull over to the second archway, and we will complete our journey on foot.”

The hovercraft veered toward a pair of oblong boulders nearly identical to the ones we encountered earlier. As before, the two giant rocks leaned against each other to form a shelter offering slightly more coverage than the original one.

“You know, Mr. Tampara, son of Basshan…maybe you should drive us on up to the front door of the castle after the piss poor driving experience you delivered just now!” seethed Cedric, and ignoring Roderick’s signal to tread carefully. “I’m all out of patience for this shit, and seeing we’ll have at least a mile to travel, I believe the most courteous thing to do would be to just take us on up to the damned entrance and call it a day!”

Tampara regarded Cedric compassionately, to my surprise, and nodded thoughtfully as he unwrapped his leather strap and motioned for the rest of us to do the same. Then, without saying anything, he guided the craft over to the boulders, stopping just a few feet away.

“Come to me, Cedric,” he said, his Vulcan-like timber subdued but more noticeable in the relative peace and quiet in this valley. Similar to how it had been when we began our journey in this realm, it felt like a thousand hidden eyes studied us in silence from the wooded areas nearby. “For you to understand why it is best to follow the son of a great king’s admonishments, I believe this will suffice!”

Cedric laughed nervously, and seemed reluctant to join Tampara at the head of the hovercraft. An understandable response to an eight-foot human with obvious supernatural characteristics, and who at the moment glared at him. But he tentatively stepped up to where our Yitari companion waited. Tampara had pulled out an antique-looking spyglass encased in gold from inside his tunic and motioned for Cedric to take it.

“Point it toward the castle,” he said, pausing to look at the rest of us. His smug smile enhanced his handsomeness, which surely inflamed his allure to our lone female. “Once you are ready, take a look.”

He pointed toward the castle, where it looked like gargantuan eagles or condors were flying around the upper levels. Meanwhile, the familiar clicking noises we had heard earlier resumed in the nearby woods…and unlike earlier, they carried more urgency.

“Holy mother of…” whispered Cedric, reverently, and unable to finish. He pulled the spyglass down and looked over at Roderick and me. I had never seen such child-like wonder on his face before. “You absolutely won’t believe what I’m looking at, ya’ll!”

“Let me see!” said Alistair, who stepped up to the front with Amy in close tow. She seemed more preoccupied by the growing din of clicking chirps that also drew Roderick’s attention.

Tampara seemed pleased by Cedric’s response. But before my son could grab the telescope and see for himself what had excited my former CIA boss, Tampara grabbed the spyglass and returned it to his tunic before Alistair realized what had happened. Only Amy’s urgent tugging on her beau’s sleeve kept him from saying something as ill-advised as Cedric had just moments earlier.

“We need to go now,” Roderick advised, stepping toward Tampara while looking anxiously to where the loudest clicking emanated from, less than one hundred feet behind us. “Let me make the call to bring us back to our plane.”

Tampara nodded, while his smile faded noticeably. It was as if he suddenly became aware of the danger that now stealthily encroached. Without waiting, Roderick jumped out of the hovercraft and ran to the boulders. Unlike the casual approach he had taken earlier, when he caught us off guard with the unsettling shriek from beneath the first archway, this time he immediately threw his head back and offered a hoarse rendition of his earlier performance.

He might’ve waited too long this time, as something massive moved through the brush not far from the boulders. When it crept into the tall grass of a large meadow stretching from the tree line to our vessel, I could tell it was a much bigger reptile than what we encountered before. The tripods from earlier were babies and this thing was the momma.

“We must go!” ordered Tampara, motioning for all of us to run to where Roderick stood, beneath the massive oblong rocks. “If we leave now, your plane will reappear. Trust in what I say!”

The latest monster veered to where Roderick stood, surely spurred on by the druid’s shrill call. Regardless, our best option was to try and beat it. Especially, since what looked like pine trees began to appear behind the archway…pine trees and in the distance above, glacier snow. The world we understood was returning.

“Why can’t we just fly the ship over there?” asked Alistair, when I urged him to get his ass moving. “It seems the most log—”

“Because the energy needed to operate the aircraft cannot follow us out from this realm,” said Tampara, interrupting him. “There is insufficient time to explain—
Go NOW!”

There wasn’t time for another single word. I knew this beyond any doubt, and it came to me with the stark fear all parents who love their kids understand. Rather than wait for Cedric or Tampara—since I believed their heightened survival instincts would take care of them—I grabbed Alistair and Amy and pulled them with me as I sprinted to Roderick, praying his magic scream/chant/whatever would be done by the time we joined him beneath the ancient archway.

As often is the case for anyone facing a life or death moment, mortal or immortal, much of the details of our mad dash for survival became blurred and indistinct. I do recall seeing a mouth bigger than my torso coming at us from my left, forcing me to step between it and Amy. I felt the heat of the monster’s breath, as well as the stench of decay from whatever was stuck between its teeth from earlier meals. I prepared to be snatched from the living and thrown into the familiar whirlpool of light that would send me to another place and time—my usual death trip.

But it didn’t happen, although it truly surprised me that it didn’t. All five of us scrambled with Roderick through the archway while the immense lizard snapped at our asses. Not as keenly intelligent as its smaller kin, it wedged itself in the archway, where if it had just gone around the damned thing it might’ve gotten a taste of Cedric or me. Incensed, its thunderous roars shook the ground around us as it disappeared…giving way to a Bolivian mountainside that wasn’t anywhere near as green, and where a cool breeze fed by glacier snow chilled our skin.

Shivering from both fear and the chillier climate, we followed Tampara along a stone path leading to a rock shelf. A small fleet of black Jeeps was parked beneath it. Several men of Spanish descent stood waiting near the edge of the shelf. Each one carried an automatic rifle, and they wore somber expressions…except for one who was pudgier and slightly shorter than the others. Also older, this one bore the telltale graying sideburns of middle age. The man smiled.

“Rafael…how good of you to be here for us!” said Tampara, extending a hand to him. He took it and shook it warmly. The thought of Tampara looking like the Hulk compared to this much smaller man made me chuckle. “You remember Roderick, correct?”

“Yes, I certainly do. It’s been a very long time, Roderick. So good to see you both, amigos!”

The man named Rafael allowed his smile to widen as he regarded the rest of us. He absently exchanged handshakes with Tampara and Roderick, but never let his eyes leave me. I could tell he knew something about me…whether factual or instinctive at this point hardly mattered. I found it unsettling.

“It has indeed been a long time, Rafael,” said Roderick. “My, how time flies…you were just a kid, wet behind the ears, when we last saw each other. Almost seventeen at the time.” He smiled warmly.

“I still remember that summer clearly, as if it was only yesterday,” said Rafael, who blushed uncomfortably and then returned his attention to me.

“Oh, and these are our friends who have journeyed with us to this magical place,” said Roderick, motioning to the rest of us. “This is Rafael Diegas, assistant to the Essenes’ Superior, Francisco de Luciano…. And, this is Cedric Tomlinson, my esteemed associate with the United States government. Along with Dr. Alistair Barrow, Amy Golden Eagle, and William Barrow, the man Tampara told you was coming.”

“Judas,” said Rafael quietly. “Even before Tampara told us that you were bringing him here, we knew of his impending arrival.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, feeling even more uncomfortable under this diminutive man’s penetrating gaze.

“Francisco is expecting you,” he said. “You all must be famished from your journey, no?”

“We are,” said Alistair. My boy’s stomach had just rumbled loud enough for the rest of us to notice.

I took the opportunity to survey the immediate area—my second scan in the past few minutes. No sign of Viktor Kaslow…but I could hear my blood coin’s call to me, stronger than before. It was definitely here, hidden somewhere inside the castle.