THIRTY
Like so much of his life since he started his studies of true hard magic the Crystal Cave was enigmatic. The cave was oblong with a length of a hundred meters and width of half. The highest point some forty meters again covered with the bioluminescence alga creating a daylight environment in the central section, but darkness in the six little outlying rooms made of dense graphite. The central room was the enigma, great arching columns of carbon based crystals, diamonds, stalactite and stalagmites of crystalline forms of aluminum oxide, rubies, and mineral beryls, emeralds and aquamarine. Huge boulders of the crystalline form of aluminum oxide dotted the inside of the outer wall into the main cave.
Evan and Edgar walked through the cave reciting the ancient words that made the very air hum with energy as they walked from room to room. Now in the main room, Evan laid the aluminum briefcase down and opened it. Removing a heavy mallet then went around the room breaking off fist size pieces of the crystals filling the case with the colorful collection and sizes of crystals. Saying the second incantation that Merlin had given him, Evan walked quickly through the room touching the boulders as he went. He made six revolutions. Then picking up the mallet and briefcase he thought of the orchid pattern in the conservatory and disappeared.
She paced aguishly back and forth. The floor length sable cape pulled tightly around her shoulders for warmth. Her ravine black hair blended with the hairs of the thick fur. Her eyes flashed with anger, then worry. Doubt creased her brow. This was not what she wanted. The cave just felt wrong. This was not what she thought would happen. Devlin did not seem to care. She stopped in front of him. Her eyes burned into him with a mixture of love and hate. He sat so damn smug and confident that things would still work to their advantage as he sat atop one of the larger red crystalline boulders.
“We should just kill her and leave before he arrives, if he can even get here,” she raged at him for the twentieth time.
“Stop it,” he barked, “either calm down or go.”
“Maybe I will go home,” came the plaintive reply.
“No! If you leave now I never want to see you again, but you’re certainly free to leave my dear Morgana,” and his voice was threatening. “Just like that you’d throw me aside? After all these decades?” “Just like that you’d run out on me just when I need you most?” “You don’t need me!” I hate giving the words a bitter sound. “You’ve never needed me or anybody in your life. You have your precious Dark Lord.”
“That’s enough Morgana!” The threat was clear in his voice. “That’s enough what? Truth? Power? Wealth? You never have enough of anything. You always want more, but you’re never willing to give or share. Give me this one thing and I’ll never ask for anything else. Kill the bitch! She’s not his Other and let’s go now.”
“NO! I’m not going to kill her, yet.”
“Even if he could find out how to get here, why would he come for her? She’s nothing, just some pitiful bitch, useless.”
“Because that is just who he is, and he can’t help it any more that you can help complaining. He has that Hero Complex, so he’s coming.” “But you can’t hurt him. Drackmoruth said his only weakness is his Other and we don’t have her or even know who she is. He also said the Dark Lord wants him to join us. You can’t go against your Lord and Master?”
“I have no intention of going against the wishes of my Dark Lord. I will ask him to join us in our endeavors to aid the Dark Lord, but if he declines . . .”
“And you know he will because we have this woman,” Morgana interrupted.
“If he refuses or declines my offer then of course I have a free hand as to how I deal with this person.”
“How?” she demanded.
“Patience, my dear, patience. It’s something you’ve always lacked and I’ve tried to develop in you. Do you honestly think I’d come here if I didn’t have a workable plan of action? And his voice was contemptuously snide.
“What is it? How can you even know if it’ll work? You said yourself that you were unable to move with those two bodies against him at Hoover Dam. He had some type of protective barrier between himself and Kirkland. Then there were those damnable dogs. You hadn’t counted on the dogs.”
“He won’t be bringing any dogs with him here. He doesn’t even know the power that exists in this cave, and why I choose this place. I have everything under strict control, so relax and be patient.”
“Damn I wish I could,” she whispered as she began her nervous pacing again, “What time is it?”
“Midnight,” Evan said as he stepped out of one of the smaller caves. The massive head of the Watcher loomed out of the darkness beside Evan. Morgana spun around at the sound of the voice and screamed. “Welcome Mr. Cooper. It’s so good of you to join us on such short notice, and I see you brought a friend,” Devlin said placidly.
Evan stood for a moment surveying Devlin and Morgana. Her dark beauty stirred something deep within him, and he realized it was pure animal lust. An emotion that he had never before experienced. With that feeling came the image of a black widow spider, exquisite pleasure followed by certain death. The only thing to diminish the impression was the worried or even fearful light in her eyes. He held a definite advantage with her, but not Devlin. Calm and self assured he sat totally relaxed on one of the huge aluminum oxide crystal blocks which Merlin had explained acted as generators of incredible energies. Devlin was prepared; as he had said, ‘with a workable plan’.
Like a good boy scout, Evan was also prepared. His early arrival had allowed him to hear part of their argument. It had also allowed him to complete the second incantations, now only a word remained. The last element in his own ‘workable’ plan, albeit dangerous, but ‘workable’. “Where’s Cindy,” Evan asked in a nonchalant manner.
“All in good time,” and Devlin smiled as he stood up on the huge crystalline formation. “I thought we should talk first. Get to know one another better.”
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“I suppose we’ll have a drink too,” Evan said. His voice was flat.
“If you’d like to,” and with a wave of his right hand a service cart with an array of liquors appeared. “What will it be?”
“Scotch, neat.”
“Morgana, if you’d be so kind. What I’d like to talk to you about is your alliances.”
“If I remember correctly, you said that I was a risk, a remote risk, but a risk nevertheless, and that you did not like risks. How does my alliances alter that risk?”
“You’re a risk in that you’re unallied. If you were to give me your allegiance, then you’d no longer be a risk.”
Morgana handed him the glass. Their fingers touching only momentarily, electricity passing. Their eyes met briefly, an instant of understanding passing. She wanted the power that he controlled. Devlin wanted his life.
“I’m a free agent. I will not give my allegiance to anybody.” “And therein lies our problem. You’re a wild card that could turn up at any given moment,” and he paused thinking as he watched Evan take a sip of his drink. “Let me rephrase my proposition, I want you to join alliance with me.”
“To what purpose?”
“Greater power and understanding of the universe. The benefits would be untold. I can teach you things you’ve never dreamed of. I can offer you personal wealth and power. No more cares about the mundane things in life, only adventure and excitement. Together we’d make things happen that will stun the world.”
“We could rule together,” Evan said, the excitement in his voice showing his eagerness.
“Yes, yes! We’d rule the world with our power. We’d be the new gods, and our wishes would have to be obeyed. Wealth, power, women, knowledge, what more could any man ask for from this life. And we’re beyond life. We’re Immortal. We’d control the powers of all the Gates. All you have to do is join with me. Then all of your dreams come true. Just ask and I shall give.”
“But there is the Code.”
“We shall create our own Code. With our combined powers even the Guardians would have to bow before us.”
“Possibly, but how do I know if your offer is sincere? Trust is a big issue for me.”
“Just ask me for whatever you’d like, and I’ll give it to you. We’d be brothers and brothers share everything.”
“Morgana,” Evan said softly.
“What?” and the question came from both of them simultaneously.
“Morgana; I want her. She brings out my baser animal lust,” Evan said softly. A smile just beginning to touch the corners of his mouth.
Devlin laughed, the sound rolling around the cavern. “If you can tame her, then take her, but I will get your wife, Cindy, in return.”
“You can have her,” Evan said with a road smile.
“No!” Morgana screamed. “This is a trick of some kind. Can’t you see that? He only wants to separate us.”
“When three are one, like a tripod, we all stand stronger, taller, in balance with nature,” Evan said as he reached for her hand.
She pulled her arm out of his reach, hissing, “We’re not one. Not even close. We never could be or will be one.”
“But Devlin says we can, so relax and enjoy. I’m very good.”
“Never!” and she sprang back further into the main cave away from both Evan and Devlin. Her voice began to utter an incantation.
“Oh no you don’t!” Evan said softly but with anger in his voice. Before she had finished half of her spell, Evan raised his hand. A bolt of blue light jumped from his fingertips to the center of her chest, throwing her to the floor. She began to rise, anger and hatred flashing from her eyes. A low hissing sound coming from deep in her throat. Another bolt of blue light struck her; this time rendering her unconscious.
“She won’t be happy when she wakes up,” Devlin said maliciously.
“I’ll teach her to be happy, after all we’re going to have a long association together, right?”
“You can’t treat my wife like a common whore,” and Devlin's voice rose as he pointed a finger at Evan.
“There’s nothing common about her. Besides you have my wife; whom I have yet to see. So maybe we don’t have a deal.” Evan allowed the anger in his voice to match Devlin’s voice.
Tiny flecks of red danced through Devlin’s eyes as he said, “A deal, right. Sammy, Tony, bring her out here.”
The two men moved Cindy into the central cavern from one of the side caves. A tight grip on each arm. Tape covered her mouth. Her eyes were wild with terror and fear, changing to a pleading look when she saw Evan.
“Your wife is now mine and I want her heart,” and he raised his hand towards her as he began a low guttural incantation. Pain was now visible in her eyes as she struggled to free herself from the grip of the two men. Her chest rose faster, as if her heart was struggling to break free of its place in her chest pulled by a powerful magnetic force.
“I told you that you never wanted to see me again in your life,” Evan said loudly.
Then he mentally told the Watcher to attack Sammy and Tony. Evan clicked his tongue and pointed. Within a blink of the eye the Watcher was beside Evan, and then he was tearing Tony's throat out. It was over in seconds and Cindy slumped to the ground with the Watcher standing over her. Come to me, Evan thought.
“How dare you?” Devlin raged.
“I made them a promise, and I always keep my promises. I don’t think this is going to work. You must have missed or failed kindergarten, because you definitely don’t know how to share. You need to learn how to do things right.”
“Right?” and Devlin’s voice was a harsh whisper. “Right?” and this time the word roared through the cavernous room, echoing into the smaller caves. “I decide what is right. I choose to do what I want, when I want. I command and all obey! Immediately!”
Red flames flew his outstretched hands to bounce off the golden aura surrounding Evan. He roared in frustration, and the flames changed to white bolts of energy. The sight of Evan staggering backwards into the cave he originally exited encouraged Devlin to continue his attack. Evan was weakening and he would prevail, as he knew he would always prevail
Cindy was almost to Evan and the Watcher was backing up to cover her body. Then he heard the voice in his mind, “I’ve got her.” “All of you go,” Evan said and he was alone.
In a total rage, Devlin started the last part of his incantation to call forth a demon. The cavern came alive with new pulsating lights refracting through the different crystalline structures. Energy jumped and flashed from one crystal to another in a macabre dance. Chaos flourished, but with an underlying sanity to the madness. Amid the dance of energy black smoke rose from a pinpoint in the center of the floor. It started to turn counterclockwise, becoming more and more dense. A form began to appear in the center, with four yellow eyes looking out. A moment later grayish green arms bristling with wire like black hair was reaching out towards Evan.
Evan raised his own arms out to his side. Bolts of blue energy shot into the aluminum oxide crystals on each side. As each of the six bolts from each hand shot into the crystal, Evan repeated the final word to the incantation. The energy in the crystal circled around and around twenty times getting brighter and brighter before jumping to the next block in line. Like a particle accelerator, the energy kept doubling with each revolution in each boulder.
“Destroy him!” Devlin commanded the creature from the Dark Gate. At that moment Devlin noticed the bolts of energy racing towards him and started to jump off the boulder he stood upon. The toes of one foot still remained on the boulder as the bolts of energy combined a finial time for a power of one hundred twenty-eight times stronger than came from Evan’s hands. Devlin screamed.
The creature emerged from the black smoke, reeking of sulfur and decomposition. The creature reached out and placed his hands around Evan’s neck just as Evan winked out of the cavern.