Chapter 10: Egypt
"D'Arvit!" Foaly swore, " this is too important."
Foaly then broke lockdown, and subsequently fairy law, by calling Holly.
Strangely it was this which worried Mulch most, Foaly never swore.
--0--
Opal had coveted the four treasures from childhood. Though with Dagda's Cauldron a protected historical artefact, the Sword of Light in Mud Man hands (not that they could do anything with it, you needed magic in your blood to properly wield it) and the remaining two treasures lost to the passage of time her chances seemed slim.
The Mud Men believed that the Lia Fáil lay atop a hill at Tara but it's true location was lost around the Frond dynasty. Along with the Spear of Destiny. Opal wasn't willing to accept this; in her youth she had access to thousands of books from wealthy fairy families. Thousands of hours of research, possibly millions of scrolls, thousands of records, tracing a line through history.
The line ended in Egypt.
"Egypt?" Xavier asked.
"I'm looking for the Spear of Destiny," Opal replied, not accustom to explaining herself. Although she was piloting the stolen shuttle, she had placed a pocket mirror on the dashboard and was continually checking her reflection.
Xavier, who had never even conceived of riding magma flares in a titanium egg, was still in too deep in shock to care. Though, as a defensive measure employed by his mind to avoid thinking about the current situation, Xavier recalled the legend of the Spear of Destiny.
A supposedly indestructible spear which protected the wielder from harm. One of the Four Treasures. The others: a cauldron, a sword and a stone.
"Your looking to unite the four treasures, why?"
"The four treasures are more than just a collection of items, they have magical abilities. Then brought together, they fulfil an ancient prophecy."
--0--
"Alexis?" Artemis asked. She turned to look at him, the pupils of her eyes were becoming a little ragged. "What had you planned to do with me?"
"I am going to expose you as a traitor to your species. Tomorrow I will make a public announcement once the world has absorbed the fact that we share this planet with another sentient species. I will tell them of your exploits and how you've been helping them," Alexis explained, her voice toneless.
"How will you disseminate this information?"
"There are three hundred and six servers worldwide which will dump a copy of the Sprite's book and it's translation onto the Internet."
"When?"
"Midnight, Greenwich Mean Time."
"Three hours from now?" Artemis asked.
"Yes."
"Order them to cancel," Artemis commanded.
"I cannot. The servers are on a timer, they can't be stopped."
"What does this mean?" Theris asked, confused.
"It means that, as of one second past midnight, the world we know will come to an end," Artemis answered, sitting in the chair which once bound him.
--0--
A very slight shimmer shot from the door of the Jet as soon as it opened at Edinburgh airport. Butler emerged, looked up to the sky and smiled.
"It's a girl thing," Juliet said over her brothers shoulder.
--0--
"Holly?" A voice came through her helmet comm.
"Foaly?"
"Holly, big problem. Very big problem. I think Opal is trying to reunite the four treasures."
"What!?"
"She already has Dagda's Cauldron and I'm getting a news feed here stating a sword was stolen from the Irish National Museum," Foaly told her reading his gas screens.
"The Claíomh Solais?"
"Looks like it."
"But if she-"
"I know Holly, I know. We have to stop her."
"One crisis at a time," Holly said, opening the throttle to test three years worth of improvements in wing design. She was impressed.
--0--
Minerva was quite surprised when both Butlers went for separate security lockers inside the main terminal and extracted an almost identical metal suitcase. In Juliet's a berretta, three gas grenades, two flash-bangs and an FN F2000 assault rifle.
Domovoi's contained the customary Sig Sauer, garrotte wire, two fairy sonix, fairy-filter goggles and a P90 rifle.
Minerva snapped open her mobile phone and dialled the number of a local car rental service.
"Let's hope," Minerva said as her mobile rang, "we are not too late."
--0--
A pyramid is not considered a dwelling, more a burial ground and so is not protected by the ancient magic prohibiting fairies from entering human residence. Museums however are a different matter, Mud Men actually put signs up which read 'visitors welcome'. Hence Opal's unhindered entrance to the Irish National Museum.
Being back underground was a mild relief but it took a certain breed of fairy to like the arid climate and bitter nights in Egypt. Opal didn't mind the temporary discomfort of venturing into the ancient tomb, despite it's poor Mud Man architecture.
The last record of the Spear of Destiny put it in a hidden compartment in the Pharaoh's tomb. Opal used a handheld device to pinpoint her location within the pyramid, marking the Pharaoh's tomb she set off in the direction of her goal.
--0--
"Alexis, how many are guarding this facility?" Artemis quizzed.
"Sixteen armed security personnel, four lab technicians."
"Armed with what?"
"MAC-10s, shotguns, rocket propelled grenade launchers and standard handguns."
Artemis's phone rang.
"Artemis? We might have a problem here…"
--0--
Holly told Artemis as she hovered outside the mansion, invisible. "One other thing; 'how do I get in?'"
"I'm working on it, I don't suppose a mesmerised invitation counts?"
"No, it- Artemis you said you lost your magic!"
"If I hadn't it would've no doubt resulted in a mind-wipe, at least. At the moment, however, we have more pressing concerns. How long till help arrives?"
"Minerva and company will be here within ten minutes," Holly answered albeit a little chagrined.
--0--
Opal made her way into the Pharaoh's chamber. Of course, it had been looted in antiquity. Mud men, grave robbers. The sarcophagus, open. On display, even. Do these humans have no respect for the dead?
'Now if I was an ancient spear, where would I hide?' Opal thought to herself, staring at the primitive hieroglyphics copied from her own noble language. He newly re-acquired gift of tongues allowed her to read the inscriptions, details of the burial procedure, mentions of which gods were venerated. Treasures!
Opal skimmed the whole list before going through it carefully, no mention of a spear.
--0--
"Four on the battlements, MAC-10s with laser sights," Butler said looking through the fairy-filtered goggles.
"Security cameras?" Minerva asked.
"Twelve."
"Holly's started early," Juliet said, she was watching through night-vision filtered binoculars.
Butler checked the battlements in time to see the last man collapsing due, no doubt, to a neutrino blast.
"Butler, may I?" Minerva asked gesturing to Domovoi's goggles. Butler handed them over.
She focused on one unconscious man who had fallen in one of the crenels, perhaps…
She watched as a five-man squad of security personnel came on to the battlements to discovery why the first group wasn't responding to radio calls.
Minerva picked up the field communicator Holly had given them.
"Holly. Guards have knowledge of fairy mesmer. They are all wearing sunglasses. Advise caution."
--0--
Alexis had, of course, known of the mesmer due to the fairy Book but she also knew the Sprite hadn't the magic to use it. She hadn't counted on Artemis possessing the ability however. Her sunglasses were in her suit's breast pocket, of little use to her now.
--0--
Spear of Destiny. Destiny. Fate. Destiny. Future. Egyptians believed that the soul rose up and that their version of heaven lay in the stars. Orion. There were air shafts built into the chambers facing the constellation in the nights sky.
Opal searched the shafts but came up empty. Then, remembering that the Egyptians related this constellation with Osiris. What Mud Men did not know was that 'Osiris' was ancient fairy for 'light'.
Opal drew the Sword of Light and channelled magic to it. It glowed with an ethereal light. A manic grin adorned Opal's features as one of the sandstone blocks in the room began to glow from a hidden compartment it had concealed for an aeon.