Chapter 2 - Cataclysm in the Templum
Twenty minutes later, Number Six sped away in a black SUV with Boe still unconscious and bundled into the back seat, the woman in the passenger seat, and the two mice on the dashboard running back and forth.
The woman held a miniature replica of the black SUV in her lap.
She cupped it in her hands, chanting quietly to herself.
Spherical layers of haze and light grew around the replica until it hung suspended within them.
“Better call our contact with the Van Boesons,” she said quietly, her eyes on the replica, her hands still moving around it.
“An’ tell ‘im what?”
“Tell him that Boe made it out of the Pravus, but there’s been a hitch, and they can’t take him out of Serenity now, maybe not ever. You’ll call when we know more.”
Number Six grunted agreement and used voice commands to make the phone call.
“Yeah,” a male voice answered.
“Plans’ve changed. Meetup cancelled. The package’ll be stayin’ in town for now. More later.”
“Got it.” The male hung up.
Number Six grunted and tapped the brakes, making the woman look up at the road. A police car was coming their way, lights flashing silently. She pulled the covered replica in close to her chest and whispered urgently to it, then said, “They won’t see us.”
She gestured to the forest across the road, splaying her fingers out, whispering unintelligible words.
A luminous fox ran from the underbrush near the roadside, then weaved through some bushes. The police car pulled over, and an officer got out. He pulled a flashlight from his belt, said something into his radio, then followed the fox into the bushes.
Number Six laughed, the sound grating like a chainsaw, and then the road curved and they sped away down the winding road.
They reached the river and took a left, following the road a short way, then taking another left onto Morning Bluff Drive, then a right onto Morning Woods Drive, which switch-backed up Morning Bluff through thick forest. They drove in silence for several moments and passed no other cars.
The woman tucked away the miniature vehicle with its layers of protection into an inner pocket of her cloak.
She turned in her seat so she could see Boe in the back.
She stayed that way, staring at him, her face set in lines of deep concentration.
The road widened and a large sign appeared on their right. It was a stylized sun rising through evergreen trees. Bronze letters proclaimed:
THE MORNING WOOD INN
HOME OF THE STATE’S BEST SUNRISE
Est. 1944
WOLVES SHOT ON SIGHT
“Roof or bluff entrance?” Number Six asked.
“Roof.”
Number Six grunted acknowledgement and drove past to a hidden road.
He put the vehicle in four-wheel drive and followed the road for a short way, then turned left and plunged directly into the forest. He stopped at a dark clearing and turned off his headlights, then rolled down his window and pointed to one of the mice.
It ran to the window, outside, up on the roof, and then jumped to the closest tree and scampered down a limb toward the trunk.
A moment later, a bush near them moved mechanically on hidden tracks, revealing a dark, covered stall.
Number Six drove into it, creeping to a stop, then he and the woman got out in near-total darkness.
Number Six turned on a red-filtered flashlight and led the woman out and around to the back of the stall to a trail.
They followed it to a collection of boulders, all bigger than a man.
The front boulder was fake. Number Six went straight for it, bending to unlock hasp locks on all sides, then he heaved it up and out of the way on hydraulic tracks, revealing a trap door into the ground.
The woman hurried under the fake boulder and Number Six sprinted in front of her to pull open the trap door, then he held her hand as she stepped in and down. She took several steps down, let go of his hand, grasped a handrail, then spoke.
“Bring him.”
Number Six ran back to the vehicle. The woman descended the steps slowly and carefully into a dark cavern, with small points of light all around.
“Molofi!” she commanded, the word echoing.
The points of light flared brightly, revealing that they were torches set into sconces on cave walls.
“Evincifi!” she called out, stopping to watch.
A curtain of burning light blazed through the area for a moment, ceiling to floor, revealing a large cavern.
Pools and tendrils of smokey haze spread across the ground and collected in the corners.
There was one circular, brick well set in the middle of the area with a thick metal chain running from the ceiling and dropping directly down into the well.
A beam of light shot upward from the depths of the well, casting an unnatural spotlight on the ceiling anchor holding the chain in place.
The chain vibrated and shook, dancing in the light, calling attention to an occasional low rumble drifting up, sounding far away.
A transparent pipe ran up the length of the well, then to the wall, where it disappeared into a hole.
The pipe was filled with gray smoke and crackling red lightning, which moved swiftly along the pipe into the wall.
The curtain of light faded and disappeared and so did the unnatural spotlight and smokey haze, and now the pipe looked empty.
Satisfied, the woman returned to descending the stone staircase.
She lifted her hands and clapped them, making electric lights turn on, revealing more of the area.
Set in a loose circle around the center well were six other wells.
Beyond them were three tiny houses with flat ceilings and no windows, positioned in a row.
Near them was a pile of twisted and maimed fox statues—30 or more.
Beyond this, along one cave wall, was a massive cement slab set on two carved rocks, bringing to mind an altar.
Set on a raised portion of the slab was a slim, fox statue in a stalking pose, made from a strange, glittering metal of indeterminate alloy.
The woman hurried to the well closest to her. On the side was a bell with a rope attached. The woman pulled the rope and the bell clanged. She waited a beat, then pulled the rope again, and called out, “Ethedra, come quick—I need you and I need my cask!”
Seeming to appear out of nowhere, another woman walked to the space directly above the well and stood there on an invisible platform. She looked like the sister of the other woman, and was dressed similarly in a thick, floor-length brown dress and cloak, holding a fox pelt in her hand.
“Stars and stones, Abigail!” Ethedra said crossly, holding out the pelt. “No need to yell. Here it is, perfectly taken care of.”
Abigail reached up, grabbed the fox pelt and yanked hard. Lightning seemed to flash between the two women and a sharp POP echoed through the room when the pelt left Ethedra. Abigail shook the fox pelt, then placed it on her shoulders. She hurried toward the altar without another word.
Across the cavern, Number Six came down the stairs slowly, only his lower half visible at first.
“Hey Sixy,” Ethedra called out, her voice flirtatious.
Number Six came fully into view, with the unconscious male draped over one shoulder.
“Oh no,” Ethedra said. “What happened?” Her voice carried easily across the cavern.
“You’ll see,” Abigail said. She waved Number Six to the cement slab and they gently maneuvered Boe onto it, face-up.
Boe rolled and his hand grazed the fox statue. A chime sounded, then faded.
“The time is served,” Boe muttered, his eyes closed, his hands idly grasping for what he had touched. “The Promised has come, the young are kindled, the future is secured. Boeson can die now.”
Abigail took Boe’s hands and put them, arms crossed, on his chest. “No dying yet,” she said. “We still need you, Boe. The time is served, but the Tether isn’t broken.”
Boe collapsed into oblivious silence again.
Abigail motioned to Ethedra. “Watch closely—the spell only lasts for five seconds.” She raised her hands above Boe, the palms facing him, and commanded, “Evincifi.”
Boe lit up like the sun, radiating intense light. Number Six and Ethedra both covered their eyes.
Abigail squinted. “So much power,” she whispered. “I can dampen it.”
The light faded to nothing. Abigail retrieved a handful of sparkling powder from a pocket. She sprinkled it on Boe like she was seasoning a meal, murmuring softly to herself, then she called out, “Evincifi!” again.
Strong light shot from Boe, seeming to come from his nostrils, his eyes, his ears—even his hair follicles. His body was so bright, his clothes were transparent, revealing an unholy three-clawed gash on his chest from shoulder to hip. Light poured from each gash.
“By the crow’s eye!” Ethedra whispered.
Abigail gestured at the light. “The demon’s power of omnipresence,” she said.
Ethedra spoke quickly, her tone incredulous. “How’d Boe get it out of the Pravus?”
“Just you wait,” Abigail said. The light faded and she sprinkled more powder and said a few quiet words, then told Ethedra, “Wait till you see.”
The glow returned not as bright and now swarming with colors. Abigail placed her left hand six inches above Boe’s chest, and with her right hand, she reached down and plucked at what looked like a wispy plume of purple smoke caught on Boe’s shirt.
“Dragen power,” she said.
“Ooh,” Ethedra said, leaning forward, hands grasping. She took a step forward and disappeared from above the well, then reappeared above another well closer to the action, her face and manner eager.
The purple smoke dissipated and under it was a thick layer of smokey silver haze, flecked with gold bits.
This layer wound around Boe and around the strong light emanating from him.
It punched through the light in places like a vine, seeming to hold it in place.
Abigail tugged and poked at it but couldn’t move it.