Stone Soldiers 5: Black Knight Down (13 page)

The werewolf sprang to its feet, ready to fight. Despite the deep darkness of the tent, it had other senses at the ready. It knew precisely where its prey was. It leapt- and was surprised when a strong fist smashed into its head.

Father Schuler pressed his attack, moving in and tackling the creature. For all its supernatural prowess, the beast was no match for the Son of Zeus. It found its arms pinned to its sides, then its teeth all shattered by a tremendous headbutt.

Simone meanwhile aimed her hands toward the roof of the tent and unleashed a bright ring of purple flames- ascending rapidly upwards and bathing the area in an unearthly glow.

The centaur was just crouching for his bow once more- and found himself face to face with Colonel Kenslir. Before the man-beast could react, Kenslir slammed a silver-tipped arrow into the Centaur's forehead, splintering bone on the front and back of his skull.

As the ring of purple flames caught the tent above on fire, Thor's lifeless body immediately fell over loudly onto its side.

"No!" Simone screamed. "No, no, no!"

She extended her hands and unleashed twin streams of purple flame at Colonel Kenslir. The eerie fire passed harmlessly around him, green light flaring where the eldritch flames caressed his skin.

"You're next," Kenslir said, then stepped back. Despite the flickering glow from the burning nylon tent material high overhead, he seemed to vanish into thin air- swallowed by the shadows.

Simone braced her legs and held her hands out, purple flames rising from her palms.

"Kill the girl!" she hissed.

Almost simultaneously, she heard the muffled report of a silenced pistol. Then she heard the sound of two bodies falling to the ground.

Simone glanced over and saw that both Josie and Georgina had fallen.

"Georgina?" Simone asked.

Georgina lay unmoving on her back, a bullet hole in her forehead. But only for a moment. Blood began to well out of the hole, followed by lead. The second witch opened her eyes, ignoring the blood that had leaked into them. She sat up slowly. "I'm fine."

Simone looked back around the area. The light from her purple flames and the burning tent above was hardly sufficient. In the weak light provided by the flames overhead and her own purple fire, she could barely make out the form of the priest still wrestling against the werewolf.

Then Simone again heard the sound of a body falling. When she turned, this time Georgina was laying face down, a large Bowie knife sticking out of her back.

The witch whirled to face the direction the knife had come from. She quickly unleashed two basketball sized balls of purple flame- one from each hand. The fireballs swept forward, bathing the area in flickering purple light, then splashed against the rising slope of the ground. Purple flames spread, then quickly died out.

Simone's eyes narrowed to thin slights and she turned back to Josie, unconscious on the ground. The flames around her right hand winked out and her nails extended to a length of six inches. She raised her hand high for a killing stroke.

Another Bowie knife flashed through the air, punching through Simone's forearm. She screamed and staggered backwards. Composing herself, she quickly pulled the huge knife from her arm.

"Where are you?" she demanded.

Father Schuler was struggling with the werewolf now, doing his best to keep the wildly thrashing beast subdued- and avoid getting bit. He began to recite the Lor
d’
s prayer
.“
Our Father, who art in heave
n
…”

The werewolf shuddered once, and the black shadow of the dead witch that had possessed Jimmy came out of it. The shadowy figure streaked away from the priest, racing across the crash site and plunging into the last remaining witch.

Simon
e’
s body shook from the impact of her minion merging with her. She then stood up straighter, a confident look in her eyes. The crystal around her neck brightened in intensity.

“
Show yourself, you coward
!
”

A pistol barked- bright orange flashes marking the location of Colonel Kenslir. Twin .45 caliber bullets ripped into Simone's knee caps and she felt her legs give. She fell forward and barely caught herself.

"You can't kill us!" the witch exclaimed, rising up on her shattered knees. She held the Bowie knife high over her head.

Two more shots rang out and Simone felt slugs tunneling into her stomach. The pain was incredible.

Colonel Kenslir appeared, walking forward, out of the shadows, his USP pistol in his hand.

Simone glanced to her left, at Josie. The USP pistol barked out two more bullets and she felt the Bowie knife fly from her now-mangled hand.

"It's over witch, Kenslir said. He was now only a dozen feet away.

"If we can't have them- no one can!" Simone declared- then ripped her own throat out. The long nails of her right hand swept across her neck, tearing the flesh open. Blood sprayed out violently and the witch threw herself to the right, her hand extended toward the Black Knight. She just reached it.

Colonel Kenslir raced forward, but it was too late. The witch's hand was firmly against the side of the Black Knight, her blood filling the symbols beneath her fingers. Her eyes were lifeless, and a grin of evil triumph was on her dead face.

Kenslir knelt by Josie and lifted her up, onto his shoulder. He stood and gave the witch one last look- and froze in his tracks.

Where before, Simone had possessed the body of an athletic, nearly full-figured woman, her limbs and even her torso were now shriveling up. Her eyes seemed to pull back into her skull. It was as though her insides were being sucked out. Even the gemstone of her necklace was fading, the rich purple of the amethyst turning black.

The symbols under the witch's hand began to glow- a faint red. The glow extended out, like a ripple on water, filling other symbols. Soon the entire surface of the Black Knight was covered in glowing red characters of some unknown language.

Colonel Kenslir backed away from the satellite. He glanced at the priest- Schuler was now holding an unconscious Jimmy- the boy having once more reverted back to a human form.

"That's not good, is it?" Kenslir asked, still backing up the slope of ground toward the priest.

The ground began to tremble and a wind kicked up. The sides of the tent began to snap and crack. Long tears in the fabric split open. The skies overhead were rumbling.

"Any ideas?" Kenslir asked the priest when he'd drawn alongside him.

Jets of steam erupted from the ground all around the Black Knight. These quickly turned to water, covering the area in a fine mist. The spray of water coated the satellite, then boiled off.

"Get ready to fight," Father Schuler said.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The clouds overhead, barely visible in the scant moonlight, were moving. A strong wind had picked up from nowhere. Then the ground began to shake.

"This doesn't look good!" Chad Phillips said into the comm channel of his tactical visor. A microphone built into the rim of the goggles picked up his voice and a relayed it to the rest of the stone soldiers. All seven of the men were arranged in a circle around the crash site- watching the huge tent from behind cover.

"Command! Please advise!" Captain Smith called out.

In answer, the skies overhead rumbled and he could hear the crack of lighting. The head up display of the tactical goggles began to flicker. The electronics for the goggles was picking up massive electromagnetic interference.

The ground continued to shake and the wind picked up in intensity- long rips appearing in the sides of the huge tent over the crash site. Smith was glad he was made of stone, as grit and dust began to scrape over him- propelled by winds he was sure would knock a normal man down.

Debris within the site- papers, cartons, even planks of wood from equipment crates- began to move in the wind. Long sheets of fabric from the tent began to tear off.

Smith activated the aim light on the side of his M60 and waved it around. Other lights came on in the distance as the other soldiers around the site did the same. Smith rose from behind the crate he had been using for cover and began moving forward.

The strips of tent peeling away were huge now. Many flapped and rippled in the strong winds like tattered flags, then tore loose and were swept away. It was as if they were in the eye of a truly massive tornado.

By the time the men reached the edge of the impact crater, very little remained of the huge tent. Only its skeletal supports remained- and even those were beginning to bend in the force of the swirling winds.

Smith located Colonel Kenslir and the priest, crouched on the edge of the impact crater. They had pushed two heavy desks together and shoved Josie and Jimmy between them, unconscious. The two super humans struggled to hold the desks in place against the fierce winds, kneeling down so they weren't swept up themselves.

The Black Knight was glowing- a bright red, like a huge heating element. Water geysers, just a few inches in diameter, had erupted from the ground all around the satellite- several dozen. They were covering the ground in mud and steam.

"Sir!" Smith yelled over the winds as he crouched down beside Kenslir. "What's going on?"

"The witch sacrificed herself," Kenslir yelled back. His face was pitted with spots of gray- wounds inflicted by wind-driven debris. "The object is responding!"

"The TTVs are out!" Smith yelled. "How is that even possible?"

"Electromagnetic interference!" Kenslir said. "From the storm!" He pointed upwards.

Smith looked up and was surprised. The clouds he'd seen gathering were black now- but illuminated by an almost stroboscopic play of horizontal lightning back and forth. A never ending discharge of electricity that was lighting up the entire area nearly as well as a full moon.

Then, it all just stopped.

The wind just suddenly died out- debris churning in the air dropping to the ground. The geysers of water ended, like sprinklers suddenly switched off. Even the crackling maelstrom of lightning overhead simply winked out. The bright red glow continued from the satellite only for a moment, then it too began to fade.

The black crystalline surface of the Black Knight was moving now- flowing like water. Heated by strange energies, the crystal shell was melting and running off, forming a hot puddle on the ground around the satellite.

The Black Knight was now revealed to be a metallic construct- with bands and squares of silver and gold. Etchings and symbols covered its entire surface. It was a gleaming, bus-sized tube of precious metals.

The melted crystalline shell pooled on the ground like black water and began to cool rapidly. It hardened into a glass-like sheet on the ground around the satellite. Steam rose from the edges of the cooling crystal.

Then steam erupted from the sides of the Black Knight.

Long geysers of thick, white steam- cloud like- poured from vents located along the length of the satellite. The sound of heavy mechanical movements came from within. A seam appeared, horizontal to the ground, from one end to the other. Blinding white light poured from the seam, as though a huge spotlight were inside the satellite.

The head up displays on the tactical goggles came back on, filling with numbers and data- including air temperature, barometric pressure and magnetic readings. A garble of worried voices filled the speakers made into the goggles- the flood of voices from Command and the other stone soldiers.

>>>COMM SILENCE!<<< Colonel Kenslir typed out by cybernetic control. The comms went quiet and the team, there and in Miami, waited as the Black Knight began to open.

Like the petals of a flower, huge silver panels began to fold down, more steam escaping from within the satellite. Nearly half of the craft was some kind of series of panels, interlocked for millennia to form the outer shell of the satellite. And now they were opening.

The bright light pouring from the Black Knight was softer now, and as bright as a noon day sun. The many opening panels swung down silently, locking into place at an angle and revealing their interior to be lined with square-edge blocks, like stairs. A thick white fog lay on the ground, at least a foot deep, all around the open satellite.

Then something stirred within the Black. A hand- a blue hand.

It raised up out of the white fog slowly pouring out of the satellite. It was followed by another. Then two more. The hands gripped the edges of the Black Knight and something else stirred in the fog.

The hands raised up as a figure slowly stood. It was man-sized, with long, blue legs, ankles wrapped in bands of silver and gold and bare feet. The legs ran up to a muscular, feminine torso. Athletic hips were adorned with gold and silver chains, like necklaces. Two large breasts, the same medium blue as the rest of the woman's skin, came into view. They were only partially covered by more gold and silver chains- which seemed to support a string of small, white skulls the size of baseballs.

Long black, curly hair fell down on the blue woman's shoulders. Shoulders from which hung four muscular arms.

The woman reached back, plucking two long items from the smoky interior of the Black Knight- a long, golden trident and a staff of some kind- topped with something that resembled a human skull.

The woman stepped over the edge of the Black Knight, resting the tips of trident and spear on the cooled crystal on the ground. Her two free hands dropped to her waist, where it was now visible that four curved swords hung- two on each hip.

More figures began to emerge from the Black Knight. Three men, all blue skinned like the woman, all with four arms. The first, with blonde hair reaching just past his shoulders and a gold crown adorned with a crescent moon, carried a trident like the woman. Gleaming serpent pendants hung from a chain around his neck and he wore a tunic-like covering made of glistening white.

To his side, another man emerged- wearing long red robes that concealed his legs. A long white beard matched the shoulder length hair on his head, and he carried a long, golden staff encrusted with jewels.

The final man to emerge lingered, helping a fifth passenger from the Black Knight. He wore a gold crown from which a single peacock feather arose. On his back, a golden bow and quiver rested. He carried an axe in one hand, and a huge club in another. A large golden disk hung on his hip and he wore the same short white tunic as the white-bearded man.

The final passenger possessed long, dark, wavy hair that reached to her waist. Unlike her companions, her flesh was a light tan in color, pale and creamy. She wore bright red and gold robes adorned with fine stitchery.

"Kali..." Father Schuler murmured, his face filled with amazement.

The first woman to emerge from the craft turned and looked up the slope toward the priest, eyeing him closely. She spoke in a loud voice, in a language not heard in millennia.

"What's she saying?" Kenslir said. He and Schuler were now standing beside Captain Smith, watching the four-armed men and women from the Black Knight. The stone soldiers all were arranged in a wide circle around the rim of the impact crater, watching the scene quietly, rifles held tight against their shoulders.

The Colonel began to glow a faint green and everyone present except Kenslir heard a single word in their mind:
Peace.

The woman in red raised her four hands, palms out and smiled, tipping her head slightly to the left. "Peace," she repeated in English.

Colonel Kenslir took a step forward. "Who are you?"

He noticed the blue woman bristled and her two lower hands were now wrapped firmly around the hilts of two of her swords. She gave Kenslir a contemptuous look.

The peacock-crowned man looked to the red-robed woman and spoke in his alien, guttural language. The woman smiled and closed her eyes. A gem on her forehead, above the bridge of her nose, glowed faintly.

All four of the other former Black Knight passengers closed their eyes and a glow appeared on their foreheads. It lasted only for a second, then faded.

The peacock-crowned man, who Kenslir had no doubt was the leader of this group, gave the Colonel a condescending look. "Should you not bow before me, little one?"

Kenslir cocked an eyebrow in surprise. He had the high ground, and even at this distance he further guessed he was a good six inches taller than the four armed man.

"Please lay down your weapons," Kenslir said, "and identify yourselves."

The sword-carrying woman hissed and muttered some kind of curse in her own language.

The red-robed woman stepped forward and laid a hand gently on her shoulder. "Ah-moowatt, be calm."

"Do I hear you right, human?" the man with the crescent moon crown to the leader's right said loudly. "You dare give orders to B'Ashmayaw?"

Kenslir held his hands up. "Let's all just stay calm for a moment."

Father Schuler laid a hand on Kenslir's shoulder and whispered. "Don't trust them."

Now it was B'Ashmayaw, the peacock-crowned man's turn to bristle with anger. Again, the red-robed woman stepped over and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Peace, husband."

Then she turned back toward Kenslir and extended her four hands again. "Peace. Everyone."

All around the rim of the impact crater the stone soldiers seemed to relax. M60s held tightly to their shoulders began to lower. Even Father Schuler seemed to ease up, his hand slowly lowering back to his side, his tense body relaxing.

Colonel Kenslir looked around at his men, then down at his own hands. In the bright light from the Black Knight, he could just make out a faint green glow. That decided him.

In one fluid, rapid motion, Kenslir's right hand dropped to his right thigh and he quick drew the Desert Eagle. He fired it from his hip, the barrel just barely having cleared the low slung holster on his thigh.

The .50 caliber round fired by the pistol smashed into the red-robed woman's head, right into the bridge of her nose. Her head jerked back in surprise as a round hole appeared between her eyes.

Kenslir fired twice more, punching two more holes in the woman's chest, directly over her heart.

The blue-skinned men and woman were shocked, looking back and forth between Kenslir and the woman in red. They watched as she simply collapsed- as though sitting down heavily. Once her buttocks struck the ground, she fell over sideways, her eyes still open, surprised.

"Yo-ahyuwatt!" the peacock-crowned man, B'Ashyamaw, screamed in horror.

He spun around and snapped one of his four arms out, and open, and unleashed a bolt of lightning that slammed into Mark Kenslir and blew him off his feet.