Area 51: Nosferatu-8 (24 page)

As soon as they had the sphere balanced precariously on the poles, the soldiers quickly moved out of the way.

Cing Ho continued to work the console and cables snaked out of the poles, wrapping around the sphere. Then the poles began to extend once more. As they did so they spread apart. The sphere suddenly dropped, only to come to a halt five meters below, suspended from the cables. The poles continued to extend until they had bridged the chasm and the sphere was directly in the center.

Cing Ho ordered his men back. Then he hit one last hexagonal.

Nosferatu dived to the floor as the sphere gave off a fierce red glow, bathing the immediate area with light. Cing Ho and the soldiers were so focused on the sphere that they didn't spot him. A shelf slid out of the console, and upon it rested a small black sphere that Cing Ho removed and placed in a leather satchel at his side. Nosferatu got to his feet and ran back up the cavern into the darkness.

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Looking over his shoulder he could see that Cing Ho and his men were also heading back.

Nosferatu sprinted on, keeping ahead of the group. Heading upslope, the cavern seemed even larger. He had no idea how long they had been underground, but his internal sense of time told him that it would be daylight. He moved to the right, out of the direct path to the exit, and allowed Cing Ho and his men to pass.

He sat down on the smooth stone to wait. Cing Ho and his group passed out of sight. Nosferatu had no idea what he had just witnessed, but he was sure there was great power revolving around the mysterious red sphere.

Several hours later, Nosferatu heard the sound of metal on stone echoing down the cavern. He panicked, worried that Cing Ho was sealing the cavern from the outside. He dashed upslope until he could see several torches near the entrance, but quickly came to a halt when he realized they weren't blocking the entrance.

They had erected a black stone, three meters high by one in width. Several men were polishing the surface smooth while another was chiseling something on it as soon as they finished a spot.

This went on for several hours, then the group departed, leaving Nosferatu in darkness once more. He went up to the stone. He could just make out the Chinese writing. He'd learned the language while on board ship and he read the words: Cing Ho reached this place as directed. He did his duty as ordered.

They made landfall at Jidda, a small

port along the Arabian coast. Nosferatu had easily beaten Cing Ho and his men back to the fleet and told

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Tian Dao Lin about what he had witnessed. They discussed it at length but had to accept that they had no idea what the purpose of putting the ruby sphere in the cavern could be. They also discovered that Cing Ho had had every man who'd gone into the cavern with him executed during the march back, their bodies buried in the barren countryside.

Leaving a guard force of five thousand sailors, Cing Ho led the rest of the contingent, roughly twenty-three thousand men, ashore. He took the entire town of Jidda hostage and located Jabal Mosa by the expedient methods of torture and execution.

Finding the mountain's location was easy, but getting there would be another matter. According to the information they received, the mountain was located inland, across inhospitable desert. Cing Ho approached it as if they were simply continuing their long voyage on land. Numerous water casks were unloaded from the ships, along with other provisions, and the army set forth with several captives who claimed to know the location of the mountain at the head of the column. They marched at night, resting during the heat of the day.

Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin rose each evening and ranged out from the long, dusty column, searching the countryside. On the fourth evening, the two crested a small hill and looked to the south and east. They could see two mountains in the distance. Looking back the way they had come, they could see a plume of dust indicating the progress of Admiral Ho's column, the lead about a half mile behind them.

Nosferatu knew without having to consult any of the captives that the mountain to the left was Jabal Mosa even though the other was taller. It was a jagged peak, with a gray cloud swirling around the top, a most strange 208

phenomenon as the sky was otherwise clear, the stars sparkling overhead.

They waited until Cing Ho rode up to their position. The Chinese admiral stared at the two peaks for several moments in silence, then he spoke. "The locals—the desert people—they worship the mountain. They say a demon lives there."

"That would fit," Nosferatu said. "Aspasia's Shadow enjoys sowing fear."

"I will encircle the mountain this evening. Tomorrow evening we will assault it. You will follow the assault to finish off Aspasia's Shadow once we have him cornered."

Nosferatu said nothing as Cing Ho went off to deploy his large army. When he was out of earshot, Tian Dao Lin expressed what Nosferatu was thinking. "It has been too easy."

Nosferatu continued to stare at the cloud-crowned peak. "Thus far it has. I think that will change tomorrow evening."

As dawn broke, Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin sat on the hill, their bodies draped in robes, turbans wrapped around their faces, protecting their eyes. Through the layers of cloth both could see the dust raised by the Chinese army as it moved forward toward Jabal Mosa. Bugles relayed commands, keeping the advance coordinated. By early afternoon the mountain was surrounded by a cordon of troops.

"There is something strange about the mountain," Tian Dao Lin said. "One can understand why the local people believe it is haunted."

The unnatural cloud that swirled around the peak had not dissipated all day and yet remained. There wasn't any

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sign of life on the slopes of the mountain even though Cing Ho made no attempt to hide his preparations for attack.

As darkness fell, the thousands of torches that the Chinese soldiers had carried with them were lit, encircling Jabal Mosa with a ring of fire.

Nosferatu sniffed the air. "Something is not right."

Tian Dao Lin was looking about, left and right. "We're not alone. Humans.

Close. Behind us."

Nosferatu saw nothing, but he could smell the sweat of men. He stood when a half dozen figures appeared, bows with drawn arrows in their hands. Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin drew their own weapons, prepared to give battle.

"Hold." The language was that of the Airlia, followed immediately by something in Arabic to the warriors. The speaker strode forward.

"You must have come close to Artad," Aspasia's Shadow said, coming to a halt in front of the two Undead. He looked past them at the circle of fire and laughed. "But you did not slay him it appears. You have been gone a very long time." He looked at Tian Dao Lin. "Another half-breed. By Artad?"

Tian Dao Lin nodded. "Artad is my father."

"It is rather amazing that the Airlia have been viewed as Gods for so long considering how they seem to want to consort with inferior species." He gestured back the way he had come. "Come with me."

"Where?" Nosferatu held fast.

"Come with me or die here and now."

Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin bowed to the inevitable and irresistible and followed Aspasia's Shadow as he made his way down the hill. More Bedouin warriors appeared in the dark, completely surrounding them. Peering about, Nosferatu realized there was a massive army of

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Bedouins surrounding the Chinese. How so many had managed to move up unnoticed he didn't know, but if anyone could do it here, he knew it would be the desert people.

Aspasia's Shadow seemed to disappear behind a boulder and when they followed, they discovered a door, similar to the guarded entrances to the Roads of Rostau, that opened on the back side of the boulder. They entered along with a guard of a dozen Bedouin warriors. As soon as they were all inside, the door slid shut.

The corridor was dimly lit by recessed lighting of a form Nosferatu had never seen before. They descended, then reached a long, straight tunnel of smoothly cut stone. They went along the tunnel for quite a while and Nosferatu realized they were passing underneath the encircling Chinese troops. Soon the tunnel began to ascend and they entered a large hallway with wood doors along both sides.

Aspasia's Shadow halted in front of one of the doors. "Now you will see my power." He opened the door and walked down a short corridor. A second door, this one of black metal, slid open at his approach. "Stand here," Aspasia's Shadow ordered, indicating the entryway.

Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin went to the indicated location and looked into the strange room. Aspasia's Shadow went to the center of a hemispheric chamber. He pulled a sword out of a sheath on his side and slid it into a dark red crystal directly in front of him. A golden field emanated from the pommel of the sword, covering Aspasia's Shadow and reaching the walls. Nosferatu felt it pass over his skin with a crackle, the same feeling he'd had sometimes at sea during a storm when lightning played along the masts of the ship.

The walls came alive with a view of the terrain sur-

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rounding Jabal Mosa. It was as if they were standing on the top and able to look in all directions. The ring of approaching Chinese troops was readily apparent, with every fifth man carrying a torch.

What Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin couldn't see was the fifty-foot black metal pole that extended up out of the top of the mountain. Mounted on the very end was a golden sphere, which was hidden inside the black swirling cloud covering the peak.

Aspasia's shadow directed his gaze toward a section of the incoming Chinese line. His hand was on the pommel of the sword. He squeezed the grip.

A bolt of lightning arced from the golden sphere to the spot Aspasia's Shadow was looking at. It hit with a tremendous explosion and sent a surge of electricity through the ground. Those within fifty meters of the impact point were killed outright by the explosion. Anyone outside of that range but within two hundred meters was electrocuted by the power coursing up from the ground.

Nosferatu and Tian Dao Lin watched in amazement as Aspasia's Shadow shot bolts along the front of the Chinese line, killing hundreds, then thousands. The attack came to a halt, then the troops began to turn and run, unable to face an assault from what appeared to be the Gods themselves.

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Aspasia's Shadow laughed as he continued firing. "Who is the commander of this force?" he demanded.

"An admiral named Cing Ho," Nosferatu said.

"Do you see him?" As he asked, Aspasia's Shadow twisted the sword's handle and they saw a close-up view of a section of the panicked troops, then the view rotated slowly, circling the mountain, pausing when Aspasia's Shadow realized he had found the command group. A bright red banner fluttered, embroidered with a dragon. In front of it stood Cing Ho, shouting commands, sending couriers off to the troops, trying to keep them from fleeing. As Aspasia's Shadow zoomed in on the commander, they could see he was holding up a small black sphere in one hand as if presenting it to someone.

"That is not good," Aspasia's Shadow murmured.

"That is he," Nosferatu confirmed. "But beware," he added.

Aspasia's Shadow let go of the pommel and turned to Nosferatu. "Beware what?"

"Beware what Cing Ho has in his hands."

"I recognize it," Aspasia's Shadow said. "It is a command module." Aspasia's Shadow looked at them. "What does it have command of?"

Nosferatu smiled for the first time. "Why should we tell you? You plan on killing us, don't you?"

Aspasia's Shadow looked back at the image of Cing Ho. The admiral's forehead was covered in sweat and his hands were shaking. He held the black sphere with both hands and was staring up at the peak of the mountain from which the lightning had come.

Aspasia's Shadow cursed. "I cannot fire at him—the power surge might activate the sphere. And whatever it controls. Tell me and I will give you what you want.

The

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blood of an Airlia. And I will let you leave here alive. I give you my word on it."

Nosferatu wasn't certain how much Aspasia's Shadow's word was worth, but he knew there was no choice. He had a feeling no one wanted Cing Ho to activate the black sphere. It was obvious that even the admiral was afraid of what he held.

"Before we came here, Cing Ho led an expedition into Africa. Far inland, where a deep valley cuts into the Earth. He went into a cavern, cut out of stone, much like this place. Obviously by the Airlia. At the very bottom, over a flaming chasm, he emplaced a glowing red sphere. It now hangs over that chasm. I believe he can drop the red sphere with the device he holds in his hands."

Aspasia's Shadow cursed once more. "Artad! Always a move ahead." Aspasia's Shadow shifted the view on the walls to the 360-degree display. Cing Ho had regained control of his forces, but the soldiers were refusing to advance. He still held the command module in his hands. Aspasia's Shadow looked at Tian Dao Lin. "Do you speak his language?"

"Yes."

Aspasia's Shadow reached into a pocket and pulled out a six-inch-long black rod with a green button on one end. He tossed it to Tian Dao Lin. "When you push the green button, your voice will sound as if it comes out of the mountain itself. This Cing Ho will hear you. You will say what I tell you to. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Speaking in Chinese, Tian Dao Lin translated Aspasia's Shadow's words into the device and they echoed off the top of the mountain:

"This is the voice of Al-Iblis, ruler of Sinai, descendant of the Gods. The truce has been restored. Return whence

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you came and never return and I will disband my forces. And I will not seek the weapon beneath Giza if you do not activate what you have emplaced."

Nosferatu watched the screen. Cing Ho was staring up at the mountain, listening. His troops were cowering, first from the lightning assault and now from the God-like voice speaking their language.

Cing Ho lowered the command sphere and bowed every so slightly in the direction of the mountain, then began issuing orders. The Chinese army started to withdraw.