The Black Madonna (The Mystique Trilogy) (22 page)

‘You might want to block your ears for a moment,’ he warned us.

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘The Yaktavian bells. They’re made of astral substance and undetectable to the human eye, but they alert—’

A deep sound began to vibrate within the cavern; as it drew closer it increased in intensity and shook the entire mountain. I hastily thrust my fingers in my ears, and only removed them when Polaris flinched beside me.

‘Ouch!’ He pulled a small dart from the side of his neck.

‘Nice shot,’ Arcturus said to our invisible assailant. ‘But your ammunition is wasted on the staff of Amenti.’

‘Albe-Ra!’ cried a chorus of high-pitched voices, and an army of little red-skinned men appeared around us, all bowed on one knee, their heads lowered in homage.

‘Red-skinned gnomes,’ I uttered under my breath, and looked to Arcturus, amused. ‘You truly are the spirit of the red gnome.’ This was the title Ashlee Granville-Devere had used to summon Albray to her ringstone and service by means of an old gypsy spell.

Then the strangest thing occurred. The auras of the worshipping mass rose as a single ball of energy and took the form of a glowing ethereal head.

‘They are a collective consciousness,’ Arcturus whispered to us. ‘They cannot abide humans as a rule and choose not to appear to nor speak with them.’

The spirit head tapered off into a ghostly tail at the neck, which trailed the entity as it approached to speak with Arcturus.

‘What did humans do to them to cause such a rift?’ Vespera asked quickly before the entity got too close.

‘The same thing we do to any species or race that appears smaller and weaker than ourselves,’ Dexter cut in, having a wide knowledge of the ET and other non-human races of this planet. ‘Like so many now extinct species or races that once shared the Earthly realms with us, their collective consciousness appealed to the spiritual guardians of this part of the Earth matrix to raise their frequency slightly. Thus they are still physical beings, but due to their high frequency they can drift between the Earthly realms and the lower astral and are no longer forced to associate with us.’

‘Are you saying that many of the species that have become extinct on Earth still exist here, but in a higher realm of frequency?’ Thana questioned.

‘Not some of the species,’ Dexter corrected, ‘
all
of them.’

The disembodied head glanced at Polaris, who was still rubbing his neck where the dart had hit, then spoke to Arcturus.
A thousand apologies to your associate, lord. With the activation of the Nefilim’s new facility this day, we feared the worst.

‘No harm done, Skell,’ Arcturus replied. ‘I am, however, in something of a hurry.’

Of course.
Skell bowed his head reverently.
Please follow me. The Ladies of the Elohim will be eager to speak with you.

‘Not half as eager as I am to speak with them,’ Arcturus assured Skell, then looked back to us. ‘This won’t take long.’

He followed the spirit into the tunnel, and then the miniature red warriors, the ethereal head and our comrade vanished.

‘There’s going to be a delay,’ Polaris said, contradicting Arcturus’s last words.

I scowled at his negativity. ‘Don’t keep saying that.’

Polaris smiled confidently. ‘Mark my words.’

We’d not been waiting very long when the army of little men and their collective talking head manifested before us again.

Our lord has requested that we lead you to him at once, and apologises for any delay this may cause.

I looked at Polaris who gave me a ‘Told you so’ smirk.

The wee army, who looked more akin to the native races of America than the fairytale images I’d seen of gnomes, did an about-face to lead us into the dark depths of beyond. As we moved to follow, the cavern filled with light and in the blink of an eye we were moving down a tunnel with sparkling jewelled walls, which melded into a high arched mirrored ceiling that reflected a floor of glowing gold. It was so rich in colour it appeared orange and bathed the whole passage with that colour frequency.

‘Doesn’t it feel like Albray?’ Thana said to me; in her lifetime as Lillet she had known Albray very well.

‘That might explain why I feel on edge,’ Polaris commented before I could respond.

The passage’s decorations were reminiscent of the exotic palaces of Persia, and thus this Signet station did feel very akin to the soul I knew best as Albray, whose mother had been born in the Near East. ‘It is exquisite,’ I said, admiring the jewelled mosaic walls.

Why, thank you.
The floating head turned to smile at my praise.
We Skell are rather fond of jewels, and my kinsmen craftsmen take great pride in integrating them into precious treasures with which to honour our benefactors, the wise and powerful Elohim.

Skell bowed his head to us, then continued to lead us towards a huge glowing oval disk of gold at the end of the passage. As we reached the disk, which seemed to be a solid gold barrier, Arcturus stepped straight through it to join us.

‘The Ladies of the Elohim have made a request,’ he said, staring at we three women in a strangely apprehensive manner.

‘They want you to retrieve the ring from the ark at Serabit while you’re here in 2003, don’t they?’ Polaris guessed.

‘But if I comply, then Molier won’t be killed.’ The request had clearly thrown Arcturus into a state of conflict. ‘And when we return, he’ll still be at large and will have had thirteen more years to damage the Earth and her people. I hadn’t done the math when I agreed to do this for the Ladies of the Elohim, and now I have I’m…’

‘—conflicted,’ I concluded on his behalf.

Dexter gave his advice. ‘This is something you should decide for yourself.’

‘There is no decision,’ Polaris objected. ‘The Ladies of the Elohim would not ask you to do anything that was going to be detrimental to their plan.’

Arcturus looked at Polaris, a little stunned. ‘You don’t know, do you?’

‘Know what?’

‘
They
are the Ladies of the Elohim.’ Arcturus motioned to Vespera, Thana and me. He nodded to Thana and said, ‘Hathor removed her mask in my presence and revealed her true identity to me. It seems you were present at my showdown with Molier all those years ago…not as Lillet’s conscious self, but as her higher self.’

Thana gasped at the suggestion that her soul mind would someday evolve beyond even her Ceres consciousness on Tara, up to Gaia’s evolutionary scheme where the great female energy known as Hathor of the Elohim resided.

‘We are all destined to become Elohim,’ Arcturus stated, rather overwhelmed by the fact.

‘That seems to indicate we do something right down here on Earth,’ Polaris said, slapping Arcturus on the shoulder to snap him out of his shock. ‘I know for a fact that you do retrieve the ring in this instance.’

‘How do you know?’ Arcturus looked relieved initially, although when Polaris smiled like the know-it-all he was, he seemed sorry he’d asked.

‘I retrieve the ring from you when we get back to the entrance of this cave…at least, the me I was back in 2003 retrieves it,’ Polaris enlightened him. ‘I give the ring to a trusted friend of ours, and it’s been residing on the hand of your wife for the past thirteen years and more recently on the hand of your daughter.’

‘The invisible ring.’ Arcturus smiled.

‘Just like our clothes, which are of an etheric nature, the Ring of the Ark can be willed to take the form of any ring one desires, which helps to keep it hidden and protected,’ Polaris explained. ‘But only in its coiled ring form can it be used in conjunction with the Rod of Power.’

‘On the bright side, André will never get his hands on Albray’s ringstone,’ I commented, referring to the Elohim’s request. ‘In fact, the ringstone, in theory, will never be lost.’

‘So we simply make another stop here in 2003,’ Dexter said with a shrug.

‘No, no,’ Arcturus corrected, ‘there’s a hidden porthole incorporated into the site at Serabit that connects that complex to the porthole in this Signet station.’

‘Really?’ I was fascinated, being familiar with the ancient temple in question. ‘I wonder where in the temple the porthole is hiding? In the Ark Chamber perhaps?’

‘Would you care to accompany me?’ Arcturus said.

I knew he saw a chance to get back at my partner for exclusively inviting Mia onto the
Klieo
’s control deck, but as I was curious, and a little annoyed at my partner myself, I took hold of Arcturus’s outstretched hand. ‘I’d love to,’ I said.

‘Me too,’ Thana said, having also had past experience with the Star-Fire Temple.

‘Come on then.’ Arcturus was more than delighted to take hold of a hand each and lead us through the golden barrier and into his Signet station.

As I passed through the glowing disk, I was overwhelmed by that ‘sense of Albray’ Thana had commented on earlier and I felt the old attraction to him begin to stir. Fond memories and sensual thoughts about him flooded my mind—orange was, after all, a vibrant and primal colour.

‘Wow,’ I said, trying to shake off my arousal before it landed me in strife.

‘All right!’ Thana shimmied like a Latino dancer aroused by a fiery tune.

‘Is something the matter, ladies?’ Arcturus couldn’t wipe the smile off his face; he knew full well that this place was potent with his personal essence.

‘Orange is my new favourite frequency,’ Thana boldly teased him, ‘at least until we get to the next Signet station.’

I laughed at her insight and glanced back to the entrance barrier, expecting Polaris to come storming through after us.

‘He’s locked out,’ Arcturus said, and pouted to mimic my husband’s reaction to the fact.

I had to smile at his cheek. ‘Why must you bait him constantly?’

‘One should always have a goal,’ he replied. ‘But quite apart from that, I really enjoy it.’

Inside, the Signet station had all the grandeur of a Turkish mosque. The main chamber was round and defined by great pillared arches of solid amber crystal that rose to support a transparent dome in the ceiling. Beyond the dome was a sky of orange, which rained bolts of Blue Flame energy upon the Signet station.

‘Is that the base of the Hathor pyramid?’ I asked. It was so huge I couldn’t see its sides.

‘It certainly is,’ Arcturus confirmed. ‘It encompasses the entire mountain.’

‘My goddess!’ Thana was awestruck by the etheric pyramid’s sheer magnitude.

‘Indeed,’ Arcturus agreed, his eyes resting on Thana. ‘Is it any wonder our lives have been so intertwined when you are the goddess of my stargate?’

Thana was charmed. ‘You always did have such a lovely way of putting things.’

Between the arched pillars were huge windows giving a view of a cavern that hosted a lake of bubbling molten magma. Unlike the other stations, whose crystal conductors were outside the control centre, the Blue Flame energy here was drawn down through the inside of the huge amber pillars and then directed into the Earth through a central funnel that ran from beneath the control centre and deep into the planet’s crust below the molten lake.

‘That’s why it’s so warm in here,’ I commented.

‘I thought you looked a little flushed,’ Albray teased, holding a hand to my cheek.

This was the first time I had been with my knight outside of Polaris’s presence since Albray had been reunited with his physical form, and his personal sonic was radiating through me intensely, even more so than the times his spirit had possessed my body.

‘Stop flirting,’ I said and walked past him towards the middle of the chamber where the solid amber crystal plate of the station’s porthole was set into the polished gold floor.

‘I never flirt,’ he defended himself, but when Thana and I couldn’t stop laughing, he reconsidered. ‘Well, maybe once or twice…but definitely not just then.’

‘You flirt and you don’t even know you’re doing it,’ I argued, ‘that’s how chronic it is with you.’

‘Well, orange is my frequency,’ he said. ‘What’s your excuse?’

‘My excuse?’ I gasped, surprised. ‘I’ve never flirted with you!’

He stared blankly at me.

‘All right, maybe once or twice…but definitely not just then.’ I grinned, as did he.

‘Well, I’m glad we’ve sorted that out,’ he said very charmingly.

‘Yes, quite,’ I agreed, and looked around for the control panel for the porthole.

Arcturus stepped straight onto the huge, round amber plate. ‘All Inner Earth technologies are telepathically operated,’ he explained, waving to us to join him.

‘So you just focus on Serabit?’ Thana asked.

He directed us to stare into the amber plate. An image began to materialise within the crystal and I found myself looking down upon the central platform of the circular entrance chamber of the Star-Fire Temple at Mount Serabit.

‘How can that be?’ I asked. ‘This platform has a great gold dome above it.’

Arcturus looked at me as if I were stupid. ‘The dome
is
the porthole,’ he said, raising his eyebrows.

I wanted to hit myself, but refrained as the glowing amber stone beneath our feet began to liquefy into a whirlpool; then its centre opened wide and the three of us dropped straight through onto the red-Orme-gold floor of the Star-Fire Chamber.

It had been hundreds of years since I’d set foot in this ancient place, and the last time I had, it near killed me, twice over. Thana’s experience here had almost been fatal too, and had hindered her spiritual development for hundreds of years.

The golden dome we’d just dropped through had reconstituted and gave no hint of its secret function. The round central platform we’d
landed on marked the intersection of two red-Orme-gold paths that crossed through the chamber—from the outside entrance to the Ark Chamber, and to opposing annexes on either side of the sacred dwelling that housed the ancient keys that opened the Ark Chamber. There were also concentric circular paths of stone radiating out from the central platform, separated by deep pits that could be filled with flammable liquid via a lever located near the entrance to the tunnel to the outside world.

Arcturus was gazing at a pile of bones near the tunnel entrance, which were his remains from his days as Albray the Crusader knight. His first visit to this site
had
killed him, and had seen him cursed to be a ghost for over seven hundred years.