Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) (63 page)

Shay'tan's snout hardened into an expression of hatred. Twin columns of smoke snorted out of the old dragon's nostrils.

It struck Abaddon how similar the copper glow which burned in Shay'tan's burnished gold eyes reminded him of the Eternal Emperor when he was angry. He clutched his pulse rifle, ready to fire. It might not kill the ascended being, but it might injure him long enough to escape.

"Hashem accuses me of censoring Sata'anic history," Shay'tan taunted him. "And yet his own creations remain ignorant of the true enemy he and I were placed here to guard against."

"The only enemy I see is you," Abaddon said.

Shay'tan's maw curved up into a smirk.

"That is true," Shay'tan said. "And yet, even a Sata'anic hatchling is taught to fear the Devourer of Children. Tell me, Destroyer. Until you walked in here and saw the statue for yourself, did you believe in Evil? Or did you believe, as Hashem wishes, that the old stories were nothing but a bunch of fairy tales?"

Abaddon glanced over at the computer.

"The password?" Abaddon said. "You wished to test my knowledge?"

"Yes," Shay'tan said. The cavern floor shuddered as the old dragon chuckled. "I feared you'd never figure it out."

"If you intend to kill me," Abaddon said, "then why the riddle? Why not just kill me right away?"

Shay'tan pretended to pick cavern-gunk out of the underside of his claws. The old dragon was toying with him. Whatever his game, it appeared Shay'tan wanted to take his time.

"Who do you serve, Destroyer?" Shay'tan asked.

"I serve the Alliance," Abaddon said.

"And Hashem?"

Abaddon hesitated. "I have served the Eternal Emperor my entire life."

"And yet you sided with Lucifer against him?"

"Lucifer is dead."

Shay'tan snorted. "That remains to be seen."

"You have intelligence he's still alive?"

The old dragon snorted again.

"I have nothing. Not even the location of Earth!"

"What?" Abaddon lowered the muzzle of his pulse rifle. "I thought you had the humans under the grip of Sata'anic rule?"

"So did -I-." Shay'tan's voice deepened into an ominous rumble. "Or at least I did until you stepped into Parliament and revealed you had a human wife hidden beneath your wing."

Abaddon's head began to swim.

"But … my wife …"

Sarvenaz had insisted all along that she'd never seen the lizard people until the day slavers had captured her and sold her into slavery. Even with her spotty memory, his wife was adamant that humans did not belong to an empire filled with lizards.

"Lucifer said she was a gift from
you
," Abaddon said.

Shay'tan craned his neck down level to Abaddon's face. Fear clenched Abaddon's gut, but he forced his expression to remain neutral. He was acutely aware that the old dragon could swallow him in a single gulp.

"
Lucifer's
wife was a gift from me," Shay'tan said. "Ba'al Zebub showed up with her one day and suggested we find out if their species was still genetically compatible. 74,000 years is a lot of time for genetic drift to occur."

The old dragon pointed to the ancient computer hooked up to the one which had questioned Abaddon for a password.

"As for the rest of the humans? I have no idea what Ba'al Zebub had running behind my back. He told me Earth was located
here
, but when I sent my ships to investigate, all I found was this barely habitable world."

Shay'tan snuffled an irritated puff of smoke. Abaddon stared at the dragon's scarlet scales. Just for a moment, he could have sworn he'd seen flames lick along the length of the old dragon's torso.

"How long have you known this laboratory existed?" Abaddon asked.

"-I- am asking the questions here, mortal!" Shay'tan stepped closer, his leathery wings rustling like a dried paper bag. "How long have you known Ba'al Zebub was trafficking humans?"

Abaddon stared into the old dragon's intense, golden eyes which scrutinized him for the tiniest movement which would betray what he was thinking. So? That was what this was all about? Ba'al Zebub had hoodwinked him and Shay'tan thought Lucifer might have passed along some of the slimy lizard-king's secrets!

"You know it would be treason for me to tell you anything," Abaddon said. He'd be damned before he helped Shay'tan beat him to Sarvenaz's homeworld.

Shay'tan growled. "And your testimony before Parliament?"

Everyone knew Shay'tan had spies there. To admit what the old dragon already knew would do little harm.

"My testimony was said under oath." Abaddon said.

From the time he was a little boy, Shemijaza's son had played with Hashem's armies like chess pieces to turn the tide of war against Emperor Shay'tan. Lucifer had told Abaddon the secret of outwitting the old dragon.

"Lucifer said you never break your oath or tell a lie," Abaddon said. "Why, Sir, would you assume that I would be any different?"

Shay'tan made a 'erm-hrmm' sound deep within his chest.

"What didn't you tell them?"

And that was the other half of what Lucifer had warned him about. While Shay'tan did not lie, he was not always forthright with information and, therefore, was naturally suspicious that others did not do the same. He thought of Sarvenaz, unaware her husband lay in mortal danger. What would Lucifer say to buy himself time, clever bastard that he was? He would say half-truths, interesting facts that carried little intelligence value.

"Lucifer claimed humans were less than sentient," Abaddon said, "but once I got her back to my ship we discovered that she'd been drugged. Once we cleared the drugs out of her system, she was every bit as intelligent as you or I."

"Why would you believe such a lie?" Shay'tan asked. "They are the origin of your species."

"Hashem always claimed it was
him
who made us intelligent," Abaddon said.

"Hashem is
from
Nibiru," Shay'tan chuckled. "It's funny how he always omits that little tidbit from your history books."

Abaddon's mouth opened and shut. The Eternal Emperor was once a human? It was a lie. It had to be a lie? Wasn't it?

No. The old dragon did not lie. Given how incredibly intelligent Sarvenaz was, he could easily believe such a thing. In his mind, Sarvenaz was one step closer to a god than he was, himself.

"What did your wife tell you about her homeworld?" Shay'tan asked. He sat back on his haunches, less overbearing, and curled his tail around his legs, twirling the forked end with interest. His brilliant golden eyes glowed almost white with curiosity.

Yes. Shay'tan had lured him here because he was even more in the dark than Abaddon was, and if there was one thing the old dragon hated, it was not having his claws in everybody else's business.

"She doesn't remember much," Abaddon said. "We thought you did something to selectively wipe her memories so we couldn't find her homeworld by backtracking through the placement of constellations."

"I have no such technology," Shay'tan said. He raised one enormous clawed hand to point to the statue of Moloch. "But he does. Selective memory loss is one of his favorite games."

Abaddon slipped one hand behind his back to feel the edge of the brazier pressed against his wings. The statue was built against the wall, while Shay'tan blocked his egress to the front. He could attempt to fly out of here, but within the confines of the cavern, all Shay'tan had to do was flare his wings.

"If this world has nothing to do with humans," Abaddon said, "why did you lure me here?"

"Because some of the men stationed here were loyal unto death," Shay'tan said. "They filed reports, complaints of suspicious behavior."

"Why didn't you act on it sooner?" Abaddon asked.

"I did," Shay'tan growled. "I put my best man on it. I had no reason to believe Ba'al Zebub would betray me at the time."

A ripple of fire licked down the dragon's back and sputtered into a flame before winking out of existence, like the Electrophori earlier today, only instead of electricity, it was rumored that when upset, Shay'tan would burst into flames. Abaddon tugged at the collar of his uniform. It was hot this close to the dragon.

"How long have you known about this facility?" Abaddon asked.

"Down here? Only about a week." Shay'tan shrugged. "What little intelligence we've been able to piece together indicates Ba'al Zebub was trying to resurrect some of Shemijaza's experiments."

A week? Abaddon glanced around him. The chamber had been jury-rigged with primitive work lights strung from the ceiling using extension cords. Everything indicated Shay'tan spoke the truth.

"So why lure me here?" Abaddon asked.

"Ba'al Zebub stole something from me," Shay'tan said. "I want it back. I thought, perhaps, you might know more than I do."

"You think Ba'al Zebub was consorting with us?" Abaddon asked.

Shay'tan snorted. "Hashem's too transparent to hide a chess piece like that up his sleeve!" Shay'tan's features turned serious. "But before Ba'al Zebub disappeared, it was brought to my attention there was something unusual about my most recent conquests. Not just humans. But the planets I'd captured the last few decades."

"What?"

"I never did figure it out." Shay'tan's voice rose in irritation. "I sent my best man to investigate where all that extra money was coming from, but then he disappeared along with my armada." The old dragon picked up his tail and twirled it the way a nervous girl might twirl her pigtail. "I assume Utbah is probably dead. Murdered. Pity. There's so few mortals a jaded old dragon like me can trust."

Abaddon forced himself to not ask the questions. An armada? Missing? More puzzle pieces fell into place. Shay'tan's lackluster response to Abaddon's incursion into old Third Empire colonies. The ancient warship pulled out of mothballs. The near-geriatric general pulled out of retirement. So, Hashem wasn't the only old god dealing with a rebellion?

So where did … had … Lucifer fit into all of this?

That uneasy feeling he'd had ever since he'd watched the video footage of Lucifer's diplomatic carrier getting blown up alongside Ba'al Zebub's ship clenched at his gut once more. What was really going on here? And Haven forbid, had Lucifer aligned with Ba'al Zebub and snookered Abaddon into choosing the wrong side?

Shay'tan's snout curved up into a pleased smile. Damantia! Lucifer had claimed Hashem could read people's minds. Could Shay'tan? Abaddon filled his mind with thoughts of all the widgets he needed to order to resupply the sewage recycling system of the Jehoshaphat, the least important system he could think of.

A sound distracted them back from the direction of the tunnel. Shay'tan's head whipped around to see who had intruded on his game, no longer the erudite emperor, but the fearsome animal which had once been sent to destroy entire planets. It was a familiar voice, Lieutenant Valac.

"General Abaddon! General Abaddon!" Valac shouted. "Sir! The Jehoshaphat's come under attack!"

Abaddon realized the real purpose of Shay'tan's elaborate trap.

"Deceiver!" Abaddon said. "To you this is nothing but a game!"

Shay'tan's posture grew threatening, no longer toying with him.

"I was honest with you, Destroyer," Shay'tan said. "I told you that I intended to kill you."

"Why lure me down into the tunnels?" Abaddon slid his hand down to caress the hilt of his sword. "Why not just kill me in battle as Admiral Saladin intended?"

"I had to find out what you knew," Shay'tan said. The old dragon chuckled. "Besides, while you've been down here, out of contact with your fleet, my real admiral, Admiral Musab, leaped out of hyperspace and has been slaughtering your carrier group. Without you there to lead them, they are inexperienced."

Abaddon pulled the trigger before the thought even finished registering that Shay'tan had just outsmarted him.

"You bastard!"

Shay'tan flinched as the weapons fire exploded against his scales, scattering bits of charred flesh onto Moloch's outstretched hands. The old dragon roared and reared up like a Centauri stallion about to charge. Abaddon pulled his sword and rushed towards Shay'tan's exposed underbelly. Sparks flew as the sword made contact with Shay'tan's scales and failed to penetrate them.

Shay'tan whirled as agile as a feline, snapping at him with an enormous, fanged maw. Abaddon pulled his pulse pistol and emptied the power supply fruitlessly into the old dragon's nearly impenetrable natural armor. Shay'tan roared, grabbing at the place where Abaddon had concentrated his weapons fire. Somewhere behind him, a second weapon fired.

Shay'tan glanced behind him to see who else was shooting at him.

Abaddon took to the air and flew into the dragon's blind spot. Sword in hand, Abaddon hacked at and shot whatever limb came into view, trying to slip the blade between the old dragon's scales to get at his more sensitive flesh.

The old dragon inhaled. The scent of sulfur filled the cave. With a roared expletive, a pillar of fire shot out of Shay'tan's mouth which shook the entire cavern.