The Green Lama: Unbound (The Green Lama Legacy Book 3) (42 page)

She held her breath and placed the crystalline Tablet down, turning it ever so slightly to fit perfectly with the cut. Her heart pounded in her throat. Jean risked opening her eyes and looked down at the crystalline egg. “Nothing happened.”

Ken furrowed his brow. “Wait, what about the blood sacrifice?”

• • •

Nyarlathotep fell back into the panicked crowd. Everything was going wrong. The prophecies, the thousands of years of waiting, it was all being upended so quickly. He felt his control over Vasili shatter, could sense the Tablets being set in place, and most horrifically, watched as his god was struck again by the Green Lama—a human—green lightning filling the chamber.

No, he decided, this will not end well. No matter what had been prophesied, no matter the planning, the tides of fate were drifting away from them, and he refused to be pulled out to sea. Backing into the shadows, Nyarlathotep drew open a doorway and disappeared into the darkness.

• • •

“What happened?” Caraway asked, when nothing did.

Vasili looked over the silent stone. “The blood sacrifice,” he murmured. Reaching down, he pressed his fingers deep into his bullet wound, coating them with blood. “Ο Χριστός ο Θεός μας…” he began to pray as he smeared his blood along the stone Tablet, “ποιοι σε αυτό όλος-τέλειο και τη γιορτή αποταμίευσης, είναι ευγενικά ευτυχείς να αποδεχθούν τις εξευμενιστικές προσευχές για εκείνους που φυλακίζονται στην κόλαση…”

There was the soft sound of stone scratching against stone as the Tablet, glowing with green light,
grew
into the surrounding shrine, illuminating the room. Falling to his knees, Vasili closed his eyes and smiled mournfully. “Rest in peace, my love.”

• • •

Jean winced as she pressed the palm of her hand against the sharp edge of the crystal Tablet’s crack, drawing blood. “So long, Cthulhu,” she whispered as the blood dripped down over the intricate engravings. A sound like falling glass reverberated up as the Tablet’s base reattached itself to the crystal stanchion, the already glowing shrine now becoming a blinding source of emerald light.

Ken thrust his hands into the air triumphantly. “Yes!”

Jean smiled and looked out on the Temple floor. “Your turn, Tulku.”

• • •

Avoiding another powerful blast of energy from the Green Lama, Cthulhu flew up into the air, its massive wings flapping to keep it afloat. Black blood oozed over his scaly grey-green body in long streams. All around there were the screams of a thousand inhuman creatures crying out as their god bled.

“Y
OU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME
, D
UMONT
!” it said defiantly.

The Green Lama replied with a small smile, blood dripping down his chin. Wiping it away with the back of his hand, the crimson fluid ran over the Jade Tablet, seeping into the threads.

“
OM! MA-NI PAD-ME HUM!
” he shouted, racing toward the peninsula’s edge. He pressed his hand into the imprint and the mound erupted with light. At that moment, two beams of energy shot out from both ends of the horseshoe balcony, striking the center Tablet. The Green Lama screamed as the Temple filled with light. Small bolts of electricity ignited off the Tablet and began racing up his arm, illuminating his body from within. His eyes rolled back in his head as he rose into the air, energy seething through him.

For a moment he could see through the walls of the world, through the windows of time. He saw the darkness ahead—a bloody triangle within a circle—the victories and the defeats. He looked into the many universes that sat alongside his and understood, for a brief instant, that the Tablets were more than a simple gateway to power—upon them rested the very bonds of this and all realties. There were other, more powerful objects throughout the galaxy, but without the Tablets, all life would cease to exist. And for this instance, for this one moment, all the power in all the universes, in all the realms, was flowing through him.

He was the Scion. He was the Green Lama. He opened his eyes and all was Jade.

C
HAPTER 21

THE SINKING CITY

A deafening explosion threw Jean and Ken to the floor. The ground began to vibrate, threatening to crack. Small chunks of coral began to rain down from the ceiling. Below, a thousand screams echoed up like unending death.

Jean looked out onto the Temple floor. Her jaw dropped as her eyes fell upon the floating emerald man that had been the Green Lama. Cthulhu screamed, a sound of unparalleled pain that radiated out through her mind. Clutching her head, she watched as the winged monstrosity fell away from the Green Lama’s impenetrable light, back into the darkness, back to his eternal sleep. The Green Lama wasn’t killing Cthulhu, Jean realized. Cthulhu was more than simple flesh and blood; he was something
between
this realm and the next. Nothing, not even the Green Lama, could ever destroy him.

The Nazis and monsters on the Temple floor did not fare as well as their tentacled god, however; they were all evaporated by the Green Lama’s power in an instant.

“Holy Christ!” Ken exclaimed, falling over himself as he tried to stand after another tremor. “What in God’s name is happening?”

Jean pried her gaze away from the Green Lama’s emerald form. “The city is sinking.”

• • •

“Aw, crap,” Caraway growled as a chunk of the ceiling collapsed beside them. “This can’t be good.”

“It never gets easy, does it?” Rick mused.

“Nope, never does,” Caraway agreed. “Come on, Vasili, time to make our exit.”

“Leave me,” Vasili said, shaking his head. “There is nothing left for me. Let me die here.”

Shaking his head, Caraway forced Vasili to his feet. “Not an option, buddy. Like it or not, you’re coming with us.”

• • •

“John!” Jean exclaimed when they met Caraway and the others at the end of the balcony. “You’re all right!” She caught sight of Vasili’s wounded leg. “Jesus, is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Rick indignantly answered for him.

“He shot me,” Vasili replied, indicating Caraway.

“
After
he knocked me out,” Rick added angrily.

Caraway sighed. “It’s not a fun story to tell.”

The walls rumbled and hairline cracks began to spread across the floor.

“We’ll do story time later,” Ken said, trying to hide the panic in his voice. “Right now, let’s get the hell out of here before we go Atlantis.”

Jean nodded in agreement. “Follow me.”

• • •

Wading through the rising water, they made their way through the city’s curving streets following Jean’s lead. All around them, buildings cracked and shattered, massive chunks of coral tumbling down.

“How much further?” Rick shouted over the destruction.

“We’re almost there,” Jean called back. “Just don’t stop moving!”

As they neared the gates, a low rumble reverberated around them and the floor broke open beneath Jean’s feet. Screaming, she slid down the coral toward the pit below when someone caught her by the hand. Gazing up at her savior, she saw Vasili’s grim face looking back, water pouring down around him.

“Do not let go, Miss Farrell,” he said calmly. “It is a very big drop.”

She gave him a panicked nod. “Wasn’t really planning on it,” she said as Ken and Caraway appeared at Vasili’s sides, grabbing her other arm.

“Hang on there, girl. We got you,” Caraway grunted as they began to pull her up.

“Where do we go now?” Ken asked once Jean was safe, looking over the small canyon standing between them and their escape.

Rick silently looked over the crater, measuring the distance in his head.

“We jump.”

• • •

“Okay, we’re all doin’ this at once,” Rick reminded them as they stepped back from the edge of the crater, their arms laced together. The water was beginning to rise faster, the buildings crumbling in rapid succession. “No hesitating, we only got one shot at this.”

“You gonna be all right to jump, Vasili?” Ken asked, indicating the bleeding bullet wound.

“I will be fine,” he replied, his expression like stone.

“
Om! Ma-ni Pad-me Hum!
” Jean whispered.

Caraway gave her a sidelong glance. “
Om! Ma-ni Pad-me Hum!
” he softly repeated with a small nod.

“On three.” Rick licked his lips. He was taking a vacation after this he had decided. “One, two… Three!”

• • •

The sunlight was blinding, drawing harsh shadows along the narrow coral platform outside the gates of R’lyeh. Explosions sounded from within and the coral city began to list and tilt as it slid back into the ocean.

“How the hell are we gonna get off this rock?” Caraway shouted as they ran up the platform’s rapidly increasing incline.

“We’ll take the U-boat!” Jean said, pointing at the silent submarine.

Caraway looked to Rick. “You think you can drive that thing?”

“Do we have a choice?” he replied with a shrug.

“Look!” Ken exclaimed. “The gates are closing!”

Jean stopped short, her heart hammering as she watched the black gates slowly close, a soft green glow peeking through. “What about Jethro?” she breathed.

“Emerald boy can take care of himself, Jean,” Caraway growled, unsure if he believed it himself. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward the U-boat. “We don’t get off the rock now, we’re gonna have to swim home.”

“Don’t worry about him,” Ken said calmly. “He’s
the Green Lama
.”

But even then, her throat dry with fear, Jean couldn’t remove her gaze from the gates, hoping against hope she would see the man she loved walk through before it was too late, and knowing that she wouldn’t.

• • •

“Everything’s in German!” Rick complained as he sat down at the U-boat’s controls.

“Surprise, surprise,” Caraway said sardonically, grabbing the seat beside Rick. “Don’t worry. Next time we steal a submarine I’ll make sure to get you an American one.”

“You know, I’m not sure what worries me more, John,” Rick said as he brought the engines to life. “The fact that you just said you’d steal an American submarine, or that I fully believe it will actually happen.”

• • •

Jean tightened the impromptu tourniquet around Vasili’s leg. “You lost a lot of blood, but I think you’re going to be fine. Ken, look after him.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Up,” she replied as she climbed the ladder out to the hull.

• • •

Jean stood on the bow of the submarine, her arms wrapped around her body as she watched R’lyeh collapse in on itself and slowly descend into the water. Her gaze unwavering, she didn’t see Ken climb out onto the hull and walk up beside her; didn’t respond when he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Ken softly cleared his throat. “Jean, you should come back—”

“He isn’t dead,” she said sharply. Jethro—the Green Lama couldn’t, wouldn’t die. She refused to even consider the possibility. She had just seen him survive being stabbed in the throat, surely he could survive something as simple as a sinking city.

Ken firmed his lips and nodded slowly as he turned back toward the conning tower.

“Look over there!” Jean cried.

Ken spun around to see a glowing green ball of light shoot out from the remains of R’lyeh into the sky. The luminescent orb circled through the sky before turning toward them. Shielding his eyes from the light, Ken watched as the orb approached the U-boat, quickly taking on a human form.

“
Tashi shog
, Ne-tso-hbum!”” the Green Lama said jovially as he floated down before them, the light dissipating as his feet touched the hull. “Greetings to you as well, Mr. Clayton.”

A broad smile spread across Jean’s face as she stepped toward him. “You had us worried there for a second,
Smug
. Not me, though,” she added defiantly. “Ken, he was worried sick.”

Ken scoffed at that, biting back a smile.

The Green Lama removed his hood, revealing the smiling face of Jethro Dumont. “My apologies. I never meant to worry you,” he said to Jean.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked into his blue-grey eyes. She placed her hands on his chest, tiny electric shocks tingling her fingertips. “Cthulhu?” she asked quietly.

Jethro lovingly touched her face, wiping away her tears with his thumb. “Gone. For now. The Tablets as well.”

She closed her eyes in relief. “Good,” she whispered.

“Hate to break you two lovebirds up,” Ken said, stepping in. “But we better get inside before Rick and Caraway decide they’re Captain Nemo.”