Blood Infernal: The Order of the Sanguines Series (49 page)

Rhun felt peace, order, and calm emanating from that sculpture—a welcome contrast to the evil that hovered outside.

As one, the monks put their hands together and bowed to the statue, then marched them behind the Buddha to a tall temple. Its bell-shaped tower rose gracefully, almost to the ceiling. Lines strung out from it, hanging with flags, all made of stone, sculpted to appear as if they were still flapping to a long-lost wind.

Closer at hand, two statues guarded the door to the temple. On the right side, a stylized dragon coiled on a plinth, its mouth slightly open to display teeth that looked sharp enough to cut. To the left, a shaggy creature stood upright on its hind legs, its powerful arms raised, exposing heavy claws. It looked like a cross between an ape and a bear. Rhun had never seen its like.

The cub sniffed at the dragon, his hackles slightly raised, as if expecting the winged beast to come alive at any moment.

Jordan ran his fingers over the other’s monstrous features. “Looks like some sort of bigfoot.”

“No,” Erin said, drawing closer herself. “I . . . I think it’s a yeti. A creature said to haunt the Himalayas.”

She looked to Xao for confirmation.

His face remained inscrutable. “It is the likeness of a creature, one of several of its ilk that escaped from the lake. Beasts of various guises periodically crawl into our world from that darker space. Some are naked and quickly succumb to the cold. Others, like this one, roam the mountains for years before we can bring them back, inspiring fireside legends.”

“What do you mean by
bring them back
?” Jordan asked.

“We capture those that have escaped and return them to the lake. We try to keep them from being harmed or harming others, although we all too often fail.”

“But aren’t they demons?” asked Sophia.

“Our philosophy cannot condemn such beasts for their natures,” Xao answered piously, sounding much like Hugh de Payens. “We are here to protect all.”

Xao turned and waved toward the open temple doors. “But let us continue. We have important tasks before us.”

Rhun did not argue. With his Sanguinist senses, he felt the dying of the sun outside, its blaze slowly being consumed by the moon’s shadow.

They were almost out of time.

March 20, 11:22
A
.
M
.
NPT

Tsum Valley, Nepal

Elizabeth trailed the others into the temple, following them like some lowly commoner. She hated to be pushed to the back, but it also allowed her time to study everything, free of the judgment of Rhun and the others. Hugh de Payens had shown her another way to live, another way to balance the light and the dark, the night and the day. These monks clearly embodied that same path.

I could teach the same to Tommy
.

So for the moment, she bided her time, hoping to learn as much as she could before she made her escape and returned to Tommy, to save the boy from a death that he did not deserve.

As she entered the heart of the temple, the flowery smell of jasmine drifted across the wide room. Underfoot, the stone floor had been carved to resemble wooden planks, a task that must have taken years of devotion. A serene Buddha waited at the far end of the long room. Unlike the statue outside, this one had been carved with its eyes open.

She wondered why this temple complex was so large, if only these
three
monks lived here. She listened for others, but she heard no telltale scuff of sandal on rock, no brush of robe against skin, no rustle of prayer beads. It seemed only these three sentinels of the valley remained.

The monks took them to a large crimson table, topped by a shallow silver tray. The table sat in front of the Buddha. Within the tray, sands and salts in a multitude of shades and colors had been artfully combined to create a sand painting. It showed a perfect replica of the outer winter valley: white sands for snow, black salt for the lake. Two gray trees stood on one shore, each gnarled limb perfectly replicated.

The young lion sniffed at the tray, until Rhun waved the curious animal back.

The three monks then stepped around the table and took Erin, Jordan, and Rhun by the hand and led them to different corners of the tray. Each stood in one corner, while the trees anchored the fourth.

Xao pointed, rolling his wrist, allowing a finger to hover over a tiny figure painted in the sand on the same side of the lake as Erin. The monk dropped a tiny ruby in front of that figure.

“The sun rises in the east,” he intoned.

Another monk stepped past Rhun’s shoulder, and with a tiny silver dropper, placed a perfect pearl of water upon the sands in front of a figure on that side.

“The moon sets in the west,” Xao added.

The last monk leaned by Jordan and gently blew a green seed from his small palm. It wafted down and landed before a figure painted there.

“The garden collects light from the south,” Xao said. The monk then stepped to the remaining corner himself and pointed to the pair of painted trees in the sand. “While eternal roots anchor the north.”

“What does this mean?” Jordan said, squinting at the figure before him.

“It’s how we open the gate, isn’t it?” Erin asked.

Xao gave the smallest bow of his head in acknowledgment. “The stones must be placed on pillars, each at their proper compass points. When the sun rises to its zenith and its light falls upon the stones, the gems will cast back their brilliance, lancing out over the lake. Once their individual rays strike together, a new light will be born, one of the purest white.”

Erin looked vaguely skeptical. “So you’re saying, the three colors of reflected light—red, blue, and green—will merge to produce a
white
light.”

Jordan straightened. “Makes sense. It’s like old TV screens. Built with RBG emitters. Red, blue, green. From those three hues, all other colors can be made.”

Xao offered a more elegant answer. “Darkness is the absence of light, while within white light hides a rainbow.”

“The full spectrum,” Jordan concurred with a nod.

“What happens then?” Elizabeth asked, not truly understanding such matters, but accepting them for now.

Xao explained, “This pure light will pierce the eternal darkness that shrouds the lake. And like lancing a sickly boil with a hot needle, the evil below will rise to the surface. But fear not, the pyramid of light created by the three gems will contain those creatures born of such malevolence, stopping them from entering our world.”

Elizabeth began to understand. “Like a cage with bars of light.”

“Just so,” Xao said. “But we must take great care. If the stones are moved while the gate is still open, the bars of light will break, and the evil will be set loose upon the world.”

“Sounds like you’ve done this before,” Jordan said.

“Is that how you returned those creatures who escaped in the past?” Erin asked. “Like the yeti?”

A mournful expression shadowed Xao’s features. “It is the only way to return them to their dark lands, to return balance here.”

Another of the monks gently touched a finger to Xao’s robe, as if prodding him to hurry. For these quiet souls, the simple gesture was likely the equivalent of a violent shake.

Xao nodded. “And now we face an even greater task. The darkness has been growing stronger for the past several months. The dark king who reigns below—the one you call Lucifer—has loosed his bonds, enough to crack the surface of the lake. We must open the gate and repair his broken chains before he shatters fully free.”

“And how do we do that?” Erin asked.

“We must summon him into that gate, lured by that which he can’t resist.” Xao looked across at the three of them. “The scions of this world: Warrior, Woman, and the Knight who has mastered the king’s own dark blood.”

Erin looked aghast.

Jordan gave a small shake of his head. “So in other words, we’re
bait
.”

Even Rhun appeared shaken, still staring at the tray, as if searching for answers in those squiggles of sand. “And once Lucifer is summoned, what must we do? How do we shackle him anew?”

“We have prepared for this day. Millennia ago. This blessed temple was carved at the edge of this valley to hold not just the three gems, but to protect and hold sacred a great treasure, one sculpted by a single pair of hands. Only the Enlightened One could create such perfection.”

Xao turned and bowed to the statue.

“The Buddha,” Erin said, awe filling her voice.

The three monks stepped over to the statue, and Xao opened a door in the belly of the Buddha, the hatch so seamlessly built that even Elizabeth had failed to note it. From the hollow inside, two of the monks withdrew a large chest of polished white wood, with lotus blossoms painted along its sides.

From the strain in the bearers’ faces, it was of immense weight. Still they held it aloft, as if fearful of letting it touch the floor. As the pair supported it, Xao opened the lid—and a wash of holiness flooded forth.

The Sanguinists gasped. Rhun leaned closer to the chest, drawn toward that blessed font. Elizabeth backed away, wanting to escape it, the chest’s sanctity exposing the dark places inside her.

Even the lion bowed down before the open chest, sinking to his belly.

Jordan and Erin stepped closer to view the treasure inside.

“Chains,” Jordan said. “Silver chains.”

His words did pale justice to their beauty. The chains were the purest silver, burning forth with holiness. Each link was perfection, sculpted and etched to show every leaf and creature that lived under the sun. It was the natural world, rendered in silver.

“And we can reshackle Lucifer with these chains?” Erin asked.

Xao looked to her, then Jordan. “Not you two. Only creatures such as ourselves, such as your companions, can ferry this treasure through the planes of that pyramid of light. It would be death to those whose heart still beats to cross that barrier. Only the damned may pass unscathed, those who have balanced light and darkness within them.”

Xao bowed to his fellow monks, then to the Sanguinists.

Christian stepped forward. “Let me go. Rhun must guard his pillar of this pyramid. But I can enter that pyramid and take those chains to Lucifer.”

“But not alone,” Sophia said. “I will go with you.”

From the strain in the shoulders of the two monks who carried the chest, it would take two Sanguinists to haul that load. Possibly three. But Elizabeth held her tongue. She would not go unless ordered, and perhaps not even then.

Xao came forward and abased himself before Christian and Sophia, dropping to one knee to kiss both their hands. “Our blessings will go with you. The journey into the darkness within that pyramid of light is not an easy one.”

Erin muttered to herself. “Hmm . . .”

“What is it?” Jordan asked.

The archaeologist turned her back on the monks and held a hand out to Jordan. “Let me see your green stone.”

Jordan reached to his pocket and extracted the two halves and passed them to her. While the Sanguinists remained entranced by the chest and what it held, Elizabeth joined Erin. Erin fitted the two halves together and rotated the gem to expose the design imbedded in the stone. Only this time, she reversed the image, turning that chalice-shaped symbol upside down.

“Could this symbol be some representation of that pyramid of light?” Erin asked.

Erin swung around to Xao, plainly seeking confirmation. In her hands, the stone slipped askew, separating into the two halves.

The monk stared down, and for the first time, he showed a strong reaction, his placid features wrenching into a look of horror and dismay. “No, it can’t be.” His face went hard with fury, stepping menacingly toward Erin. “What have you done?”

Erin backed away as Rhun rushed to stand between the woman and the monk.

“She didn’t do anything,” Rhun said, his tone full of warning.

Xao shook his head. “The Garden Stone is shattered. In such a state, it cannot open the gate.” The monk gaped at them, his face lost. “With this key broken, there is no future. The world ends this day.”