The Dove (18 page)

Everything had been fine when they had gone to bed.  The sentries were doubled, the roving patrols were making their rounds on the desert, searching for the white braid and the clear night sky had been absolutely breathtaking.  Jozsef had spent over an hour simply sitting under the flap of his tent, staring up at the ghostly path of the Milky Way before retiring to his bed.  The little one, who had possessed this body was a great lover of the night sky and knew almost all the constellations by heart and many of the more elusive celestial objects such as Venus and Mars and the location of the Andromeda Galaxy.  The Milky Way’s great sister galaxy that was inexorably approaching on a collision course with the Milky Way. 

And he knew the location of the Crab Nebula, the remnants of an exploded star first seen in the year 1054 CE by the Chinese astronomers.  He also knew that the supernova’s visible light had taken six thousand years to reach earth after it exploded.  But Sabaoth knew more about this particular star remnant than Jozsef Daniel Sinclair-Ramsay had known. 

The star had actually exploded in 5000 BC, give or take a few years, but the force that had brought about the destruction of the star had begun some 2600 years earlier when a terrible force had traveled through the universe.  This awful force and the resulting disturbance in the hyper-light world had been the triggering influence on a certain comet veering off course and caused it to crash into the earth.  The result: the first world wide flood of this cycle. 

He also knew Yaldabaoth had caused the awesome disturbance in order to destroy the world because he had become bored with the progress of his creation on the planet.  Furthermore, he knew the same god had caused another comet to strike the earth in response to the Watchers rebellion against him in the cycle before man had climbed down from the trees and up out of the caves.  His own creations had turned against him in favor of mankind and had begun to teach them what they needed to know in order to protect themselves from the false gods that had ruled the earth prior to and since the first flood. 

It seemed ironic to Sabaoth that Jozsef Daniel had set such great store by this particular anomaly in the night sky.

He considered these most recent events, wondering how he had slipped enough to let it happen in the first place.  The angels and their whereabouts should have been his first priority, but he had become preoccupied with the puzzling circumstances surrounding the ruin of of Uriel.  When Abaddon had awakened him in a panic, he had emerged from his tent in time to see one of Lucifer’s minions seated on one of the prancing, winged horses in the midst of the encampment blowing on a golden trumpet.  At first, he had thought it ridiculous and simply an annoyance and that Lucifer had sent one of his angels to disturb their rest, but shortly after the angel had sounded and then taken flight, a burning hailstorm had commenced.  Lucifer was playing rough just as Abaddon had predicted.

Now he walked about the ruins of his encampment in a rage, kicking at this and that until he had become covered with ashes and red soot.  He ordered the surviving soldiers to pack up what was still usable and prepare to move out.  Apparently, he was not going to be allowed to rest. No rest.  No rest.  No rest would be found in Heaven or in earth.  No rest. If he went back to Hubur, she would nag at him continually to release more of their kind.  Bringing her here had been a mistake; he would not make another.  He would dispatch her back to the beyond and take this world for himself, and then he would find rest.  For now, he would have to watch the skies himself and keep the Urim and Thummin handy in case more of the cursed angels returned to plague them.

When he saw the soldiers trying to dig graves in the hard-packed earth to bury the dead, he ordered them to stop and sent them off without another thought for the men who had died here for nothing.

Chapter Seven of Sixteen

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea

The news was slow in coming from the east, but it was very encouraging.  Edgard recognized the handiwork of Lucifer without being told who or what was causing all the problems for the ‘Prophet of New Babylon’.  The ‘Prophet’ was totally unaware of the gradual insurrection occurring among his Fox troops.  The growing number of defectors to the west would have been most alarming, if he had been aware of it, but Colonel McGuffy had done his work quite well before leaving the ‘Holy City’ for parts unknown.  Everywhere, there were members of his army-within-the-army, and the facts reported back from the western provinces and frontiers was filtered many times before it reached Jozsef Daniel’s ears.  The Emperor’s army was crumbling from within and he didn’t even know it.  Jozsef Daniel was still in the deserts south of old Baghdad, chasing after the Emperor and his little band of traitors, but his progress was impeded at every turn by the machinations of Lucifer and his band of warriors.  The angels stayed just out of reach, appearing from nowhere, striking suddenly and then dissipating into nothingness, but the ‘Prophet’ marched on with his dwindling regiment toward the Sinai Peninsula.

Hubur remained in New Babylon, conjuring up more and more of her creatures, sending them out to all parts of the earth to wreak havoc on the straggling remnants of mankind in what had once been Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas.  She had been unable to penetrate the forces in Europe, but she was biding her time impatiently, waiting for Sabaoth to grow tired of his little crusade to the south and return to the business at hand.  She had no real authority in New Persia and Jozsef Daniel’s loyal cronies were running the affairs of state in the Emperor’s absence, still under the mistaken notion that the Emperor had been abducted by hostile forces.

Abaddon slid from his horse and approached the somewhat tattered purple and white tent occupied by his Master.  Jozsef Daniel was lying in the midst of a pile of cushions, contemplating the crystal skull.  He wore a black leather glove over the golden hand, taking no chances with the possible danger involved in mingling the two powerful devices.

“Master!”  Abaddon bowed low before him.

“Abaddon.”  Jozsef pushed himself up and laid the skull carefully on a cushion in front of him.  “What news of the west?”

“Adar has gone north, Your Grace.”  The dark angel collapsed into a chair and pulled his hat from his head.  Even his hair seemed dusty.  He ran his fingers through the curly locks and shook his head.  “I could not get close enough to see what he is about.  He is working some devilry on the islands north of Scotland.”

“Oh?”  Jozsef frowned and checked the memories of his captives for information concerning the islands in question, finding nothing.  “And what does your intuition tell you about this?”

“These islands are known as the Orkneys, sir.”  The general dragged a bottle of wine across the table and helped himself to a glass.  “There are many ruins on them from ancient days.  Stone constructions from the time before the flood and since.”

“Which flood?”  Jozsef frowned.

“The second one.  These things were once used for making astronomical observations.  The mind of Schweikert tells me they are akin to the stones on the Salisbury plain in southern Britain.”

“What is the significance?”  Jozsef was frustrated.  The time period in question was alien to him.  He knew very little about anything that had occurred after the first great flood.

“I believe that he is looking for something in the sky, but I do not know what it might be.”

“Hmmm. Are there no other sites that might give us some hint of this activity?” 

“There are a few sites in Eastern Europe, but they are in total ruin.  And there were once great stone circles in the deserts of the Sinai, but time and the encroachment of civilization has obscured them.  One is said to lie below the very Temple of Solomon.  It is said the location of the Temple was purposefully set over this site due to its historical significance, and that Solomon, the Wise, imported Sumerians or rather, their descendents, the Phoenicians, to build his Temple according to the old knowledge of these stone builders.”

“That is most interesting.”  Jozsef nodded and then got up.  He sat down across from his servant, and Abaddon poured him a glass of the wine.  “But useless to us.”

“Quite.”  Abaddon agreed.  “It is very disturbing as well.  I should have taken a Templar’s body, Your Grace.  Perhaps one of them would have known more than the good general Schweikert.  But speaking of Templars, the armies of King Ramsay of Britain and King Louis of France are converging on Rome.  There is to be a great council of war, and then they will make their move against us.  Perhaps we should give up this chase and return to New Babylon before they start our way.  We need to bolster our forces and increase our numbers.”

“General Kadish is taking care of that.  The refugees are still pouring in from the east, running from Hubur’s little pets.  They have nothing and the opportunity to serve in the army is more than they could have hoped for, wretched creatures that they are.  Most of them are illiterate.  Many are nothing more than criminals, but they make good soldiers.”

“Cannon fodder, of course, Your Grace.”  Abaddon agreed.  “Kadish is going ahead with the reconstruction I take it?”

“His daily dispatches are very encouraging.  We will have time to join forces with him long before the Templars arrive in Turkey.”

“I do not believe that they will go to Turkey, Your Grace.  I have heard that they are leaning more toward the Sinai or perhaps Egypt as possible springboards.   I had thought they would have launched some sort of mission against Jerusalem by now.  Our contingency there reports all is quiet.  This leads me to be very suspicious.”

“Once we have overtaken our elusive emperor, we will pass through Jerusalem and take the Ark back to New Babylon.”  Jozsef waved one hand.  “I will then encourage Ruth to fill Sinai with her children.  That should discourage them.  We’ll force them into a bottleneck in Turkey.  They will either have to come over the mountains to the north or sail into the harbors.  I intend to make it impossible for them to sail into southern Turkey.  When they try to cross the Straits of the Bosporus, we will have them,” he smiled and made a tight fist with his gloved hand “…unless they plan to open up the Sea of Marmara like Moses crossing the Red Sea!”  Jozsef laughed.  “I don’t think they can manage that.”

Abaddon laughed with him though he was not so sure that those coming after them would not be able to open a sea or even an ocean to get to them.

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

“Hut! Hut!”  Mark Andrew kicked at his camel with his right heel and held the reins out in both hands.  He was finally getting the hang of this and was quite proud of himself.  Riding anything was preferable to walking on his poor, tired feet.  Their rendezvous with McGuffey’s men had been successful, and they had made fairly good time since meeting up with the small band of Fox soldiers in the foothills after the firestorm.

“Don’t push your luck, Mark!”  Sophia clung to his back and pressed her chin against his shoulder.  But she had no need to worry.  This camel was not going to go any faster than the others.  It duly ignored the rider’s urging and plodded along beside the Emperor’s beast.

Mark turned his face toward her and smiled before laughing out loud at the sight of her dust-smeared face.

“Sophia is dirty.  She needs a bath,” he told her.

“Cover your face!”  She told him and tugged the cloth of his kaffiyeh from between them.  She fastened the cloth over his mouth and nose against the dust.

“Smother!”  He told her and pulled the thing down off his nose.

“All right, choke to death then.”  She laughed and adjusted the scarf on her own face.  They were near the middle of the long procession and the dust was a constant companion.

They were passing very near a wrecked train.  The metal gleamed in the moonlight and there were many half-buried corpses visible in the sands, desiccated and baked by many endless days of exposure in the hot, dry air.  It was hard to tell how long the train had lain there.

Mark watched these hideous things pass by them beneath the feet of the camel, leaning out dangerously to see them.

“People.”  Mark frowned down at them and then drew back.  “Ugly.”

“They are dead, Mark.”  Sophia whispered in his ear.  “It’s not nice to speak ill of the dead.”

“Dead?”  Mark raised one eyebrow.  “How so?”  This was another phrase he used, which she was sure she had not taught him.

“Yes… ahhhh, lifeless.  They will move no more.”  She tried to think how to explain death to him.  “They are gone to God.”

“Not gone to God.  Sleeping.”  He shook his head.  “Sleeping in the dirt.”

“Whatever.”  Sophia sighed.  Death had never been on her list of topics to teach him about.  She thought how ironic it was the Knight of Death no longer knew what death was.

“They should move.”  He told her.  “This is very dangerous. My horse could step on them.”

“The desert will cover them and this beast is a camel.  Caaa-mel.  Not a horse.”

Mark shook his head again.  This did not sound good to him.

“Smother.”  He was unconvinced.  “The desert will smother them.  Caaa-mel.  Hut! Hut!”

“It won’t matter.  They don’t breathe any more.  They are dead.”  Sophia tried again.