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 surrounding 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.
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 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 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.
Aspasia shadow led them along a corridor inside the Jabal Mosa complex. He did not seem particularly upset by what had just occurred. “Stroke. Counterstroke. So it has been for millennia. So it will continue until both sides awaken and finish this damn war.”
“What weapon is buried under Giza along the Roads?” Nosferatu asked.
Aspasia’s Shadow laughed. “It is none of your concern, half-breed.” He opened a door and they walked into a chamber filled with a half dozen black Airlia tubes. He went to the closest one and laid a pale hand on the top. “Horus’s body is within. As I told you, he is dead, but I have kept the corpse in stasis.” He went over to the side of the room and opened a black box, retrieving a syringe and two glass flasks.
Nosferatu felt the pang of hunger, even though he had fed just two nights earlier. Aspasia’s Shadow swung up the lid of the tube, revealing an Airlia body inside. Nosferatu recognized Horus and was suddenly flooded with memories — of being a child playing in the sand under the bright sun; of being trapped and bled for centuries; of his fellow half-breeds being killed; of Nekhbet imprisoned on the top of the Black Sphinx.
Aspasia’s Shadow slid the syringe into Horus’s neck. Dark red blood, almost black, slowly flowed along the tube into the first flask. “Unlike human blood,” Aspasia’s Shadow said, “because of what it contains, Airlia blood remains viable even if the body is dead. You can take this with you.” He finished filling the first small flask, then did the second. He glanced at Tian Dao Lin. “I suppose you desire some too?”
Tian Dao Lin nodded. “Get another flask.”
Tian Dao Lin did as ordered and Aspasia’s Shadow filled it. Then he removed the syringe and he returned it to the case. Aspasia’s Shadow shut the lid and put the flasks in a wooden case, which he handed to one of the silent Bedouins.