The Centaur (49 page)

“It was sealed by Solomon, himself, and the Cherubim who watched over it,” Nergal muttered as he strode past them. “I still say we’ve recently had visitors in the Gates. Someone beat us to it, and it was someone of great power.”

“Speaking of great power.” Ereshkigal let go of Nergal and followed after the distraught Lord of the Sixth Gate. “Nergal has told me you are missing some of your slaves. Have you located them?”

“Nergal has a loose tongue,” Marduk growled and the Queen laughed. “I am going to the Sixth Gate to check my holdings. I suggest you inventory your own property. I will return, and then we will visit the Seventh Gate together. If we find nothing amiss there, we will visit our old friend Shammash and see if he has anything to tell.”

Reshki made a face at him as he disappeared through the narrow entry into her treasure room.

“I’m glad you are home, Reshki.” Nergal kissed her hand when she returned to him. “I missed you. You should not go off alone like that again.”

“I had plenty of company, my love,” she said. “Once we had vanquished the Queen Mother, there was no need to linger. She has gone back to the depths where she belongs. Lord Adar and Lucifer assured us she would be easier to defeat after Sabaoth had been destroyed.”

“But
Sabaoth cannot be destroyed, my dear Reshki.” The dark Lord, led her through the piles of treasure toward the exit. “Your fearless Lord Adar may have banished him, but vanquished is not quite applicable. Lord Marduk tells me he is invincible. In fact, Lord Marduk admitted Sabaoth and Adar are brothers of a sort. Not only that, Marduk is apparently related to them as well.”

“My, my, you don’t say?” Ereshkigal frowned. “At any rate, Adar went into the palace to make sure she was gone. Lucifer told us Adar and his disgusting pet Tuathan escaped well in advance of the flood. It seems only Adar’s son and grandson may have perished in the deluge.”

“Oh? Is that so? A pity.”

“Yes, quite. You cannot imagine what it is like to lose a child, my Lord.”

“And I have no intention of learning,” he laughed and she scowled.

“Speaking of children….” she changed her expression and ran one finger over his armored chest. “Would it be too much to ask your indulgence? I would love to visit with my children. I have not seen them for some time, and I have lost one already.”

“I would prefer it if you would bring them here to the Fifth Gate. I want you to stay close until this thing is settled. Lord Marduk may be right. There may be yet more danger.” Nergal’s eyes actually showed a hint of fear.  “I have checked my reserves and found them depleted. It takes ages to grow a formidable army and hours to lose it.”

“Whatever you say,” she smiled, truly pleased. Her children would be pleased. A family reunion. How quaint. Semiramis would be green with envy, though it was a real shame that none of her children had been sired by Adar, but that was unimportant now. Her mind was racing faster than her feet. “I will send out invitations,” she said and left him staring after her.

Nergal’s shoulders fell. He did not like children, and he didn’t care for humans in general. They were nothing, but trouble. He would have to monitor the situation or else Reshki would turn his gate into a sanctuary for wayward orphans. He slapped one fist in his palm and then froze. Something had moved. The sparkling lights reflected in the gold and silver treasures almost hurt his eyes as he tried to learn what had caught his eye. Something was in the treasure room with him. He could hear its furtive movements now that Reshki had left him. It had not looked like a rat or any of the other vermin inhabiting the lower regions. Perhaps a thief had come to rob his queen. Perhaps this was what Marduk had sensed. He crept quietly through the disheveled boxes and chests toward the tiny sounds. The room was a maze of stacked and scattered vessels of every description, cauldrons made of gold and brass, vases carved of alabaster, marble pedestals, crystal objects of immense value lay heaped and piled in every nook and cranny.

Nergal rounded a pedestal of green marble and was startled out of his wits when something leaped onto his head. He saw only a shadow and then felt the slight weight as it struck his dark curls. He screeched and fell back, knocking over the pedestal in his haste to escape, batting wildly at his head, but coming up with nothing. When he gathered his wits, he checked himself over and found nothing amiss. He listened for several minutes, but heard nothing more of the intruder. It had to have been some resident of the Abyss, lost perhaps, or displaced by the recent flood. Whatever it was, it was gone. Once more he checked the chamber and then hurried after Ereshkigal, his thoughts once again on her brats.

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

Mark Andrew stood atop the ruins of the Baghdad Bank and Trust building, overlooking what was left of the city of New Babylon. The flood continued to flow from the location of the destroyed palace. The murky brown water rocketed skyward some fifteen to twenty meters in three separate locations now. Most of the less well built buildings had crumbled and washed into the Tigris River, clogging its main course and causing it to flood the plains below the city. The residents of New Babylon had dispersed to cities and towns north of New Babylon as well as the countryside upstream. The siege armies had left the plain, packing up their tents and belongings and simply disappearing into the realms from whence they had come. Only the taller, steel-reinforced businesses, hotels and apartment buildings remained standing. Their top floors were visible, but the walls had been washed out, leaving only the metal and concrete frames above the swirling waters. There was no sense in looking further into the flood. He had already lost track of Lemarik and Omar, he would take no more chances with the lives of his charges. Selwig wandered about the roof of the bank in a daze. The water made the Tuathan very nervous, but Michael and Galen were impressed with the extent of the flood brought on by Huber.

“Do you think she is gone for good, Uncle Mark?” Galen ventured the question after several minutes of observation with a pair of infrared binoculars. “I can see nothing left of the palace whatsoever.”

“I think that she has departed this place,” Mark frowned slightly. A dark cloud was approaching from the northwest and the smell of a storm was in the air. Just what they needed more water and rainstorms were extremely rare in the desert. “I can only wish we may not hear from her again.”

“The Great Huber is not likely to let her wounds fester for long, Uriel,” Ashmodel’s voice drifted across the roof to them. He was perched atop a microwave dish attached to one corner of the building. His long hair and white robes fluttered in the stiff breeze.  “She will regroup and return. Let us go from this place. There is no need to further jeopardize these little ones. We can deposit them on safe ground and see who remains to help us shed ourselves of this plague of evil.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Mark turned a worried look on the healer. “I suppose we could take them to Scotland. It would be the safest place… or the islands.”

“We prefer to remain with you, Papa,” Michael told him. “We are too old to stop fighting now.” The image of John Paul smiled at him and the skin around his eyes crinkled.

“I should think age would make one more apt to stop fighting.” Selwig looked at him in wonder.

“That is how it usually works, Master Selwig,” Galen sighed and then smiled at the healer. “It is Michael’s way of joking. Not very funny, is it?”

“Exactly so,” Mark turned and walked across the roof. “You have both wasted your best years in the service of angels. I think it is time you lived as men and enjoyed what normalcy is left to you.”

Michael followed after him, drawing John Paul’s gold and silver sword of as he went.

“Look, Papa!” He said and Mark turned back momentarily to glance at the magnificent blade.

“You made this for John Paul. Remember?” Michael followed after him. “John would not have me throw it down before the work is done. You said yourself she will not be satisfied with this flood.”

“She planned to destroy the whole world, Michael.” Mark stepped up onto the ledge of the building and waved his arms over his head at what appeared to be a darker shadow in the water on the lee side of the building. “Her plans were diverted at a great price.”

“What do you mean?” Michael stopped behind him and watched as Leviathan’s smooth black body broke the surface of the water. “Did you stop it? What price?”

“It was not me.” He glanced at Ashmodel who was now inspecting the small structure that housed the mechanisms for the defunct elevators and ventilation works. “I failed to realize what it was that was happening and where it was coming from. I thought God was sending another flood to destroy us, and I thought we were deserving of it. But Mark saw the truth of it. It was he who stopped the Centaur from its planned course.”

“Mark? You meant your… son?”

“Yes, whatever,” Mark signaled the creature again and it rose into the air. Water streamed off its back as it turned its huge mouth toward them, preparing to take them in again. “He did what I did not think or dared not think to do and in doing so, he has damaged himself.”

“How do you know?” Michael caught his arm. None of them had seen or heard from Mark and Sophia since they had defeated Jozsef Daniel’s army at Armageddon and the forces had split. “You said that you have not been home. Have you seen them?”

“I have seen Mark only once.” The Knight of Death waved to Ashmodel and Selwig, calling them over. “And then it was very confusing. He hurt himself and he also loosed the Urim and Thummin. As if we didn’t have enough trouble. His
innocence has become a burden to him. He needs training if he is going to delve into the Arts.”

“Then you will need to train him,” Galen suggested.

“I think it would be better if he had someone else… like you and Michael.” Mark smiled at them.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Michael shook his head. “I’m no teacher.”

“What about Cousin Luke?” Galen asked. “He trained us.”

“Yes, and look at the trouble you are in.” Mark stepped into the mouth of Leviathan. The ridges in the lower mouth of the great beast acted as a stairway into the bright interior. Mark was silhouetted against the glow.

Michael looked at Galen in disbelief. “Trouble? What trouble?” He asked and his ‘cousin’ shrugged. “Hey! Selwig! Wait up, young fellow!” Michael shouted at the Tuathan who had broken into a run up the ‘staircase’ after his Master.

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

“I would like my protest to be duly recorded!” Bari stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and stomped one foot petulantly.

“You’re not the Emperor
any more,” Nicole reminded him as she fastened her backpack snaps and then adjusted the straps to fit her shoulders. She hefted the heavy bag and groaned slightly as it fell into place. “And there’s no one here to write down your words.”

“Well, you know what I mean,” he said, slumped in defeat and then ran after her into the hall. Her boots clunked on the hardwood steps. “Nicole, please don’t go. Don’t leave me here alone.”

“You won’t be alone, Bari, for Christ’s sake,” she answered without slowing. “Captain Galipoli and his men will be here. If you need anything, they’ll know where and how to get it.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he whined. “You are my only kinsman… woman in this place. If you take Mr. Dambretti and the twins with you. I’ll be alone. I’ll have no one to talk to. You can’t expect me to consort with the servants and soldiers.”

“I don’t expect you to do anything, and Gregory and Nicholas are not twins. You should not call Lucio ‘mister’. He is a Knight of the Council. His title is ‘Sir’.”

“He doesn’t call me ‘Sir’,” Bari said indignantly.

“That’s because you are not a ‘Sir’. You’re nothing but an ex-emperor, and I don’t know if such things carry titles,” she said as he followed close behind her. “Perhaps, you should apply to the Order for training in Sir Barry’s Academy. I’m sure he will be starting it up again as soon as they get back to Italy.”

“Italy! Now you want to send me off to a foreign country!”

“Hush, now, Bari,” she stopped on the second floor in front of Lucio’s room and brushed back her hair before knocking on the door.

The Italian opened the door and stepped into the hall. They were dressed in identical black combat uniforms.

“Gregory! Nicky!” Lucio shouted down the hall and then frowned slightly at Bari’s miserable face. “Are you sure that you don’t want to come with us? It’s sure to be an adventure you won’t forget.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,
Sir
,” Bari said, but looked disgusted.

Lucio slapped him on the back, adding to his discontent. “Trust, my son. Trust. You must learn to trust your betters.”

“My betters?” Bari turned on Nicole. “Why…”

“We’re ready!” Gregory slid to a stop in the hall. His face was glowing with excitement. He was thrilled to be on the move again. Nicholas followed more slowly. The elder of the two was not sure this was a good idea. Lucio agreed with him as well and was not far from the same mood in spite of his forced good spirits.

They clumped down the stairs and out the front door under the baleful eye of Captain Galipoli, who waited in front of the library doors. He followed them outside and Nicole gave him a peck on the cheek.