Chapter Twenty Five:
Tiamat

Chris didn't believe in divine intervention but when the Shah's head exploded, spraying blood and meat across Aisha and Krestos, Chris was ready to believe in God.

And damn if he didn't love the Almighty's methods.

A split second after the gunshot, which both Chris and Vin recognized immediately as one fired by a rifle, had a chance to fade away, the roar of the wind and the thunderclaps bursting like artillery shells, was temporarily eclipsed by Aisha's hysterical scream as she watched her brother sink to his knees. Shock and horror gripped the Erran as they watched their leader collapse to the ground, half his face missing, while his sister ran to his side anguished. Krestos was still staring at the grisly scene in stupefied shock, no longer noticing the ritual set in motion by what now appeared to be Adashir Shah's last words, was still continuing without him.

Alexandra Styles was oblivious to the unexpected wrinkle in her circumstances. She was staring up at the sky, looking into that black hole beyond the clouds, awaiting the arrival of whatever power was descending upon her like a spectral dragon about to consume her. Her lips were moving, continuing to recite the words that the Shah had been unable to complete. She appeared almost exultant as if welcoming the beast about to descend upon her.

"COMMAH OIAD NOSTOAH NANAEEL GEMEGANZA NOASMI AG NOSTOAH CORSI IP NANAEEL. OD NOROMI IP OL BRGDO CRCRG!"

It was only when the second rifle shot rang out, dropping another Erran, this one standing next to Krestos, who had obviously been the target, was when all hell broke loose. It was followed by another, in rapid succession by a third shot and this sent the entire area into complete pandemonium. Aisha was still kneeling at her brother's side, wailing in sorrow at his death, her robes covered in the Shah's blood. Krestos was shouting at the Erran, telling them to get cover even as another shot caused another one of his men to die where they were standing.

Taking advantage of the confusion gripping the Erran behind him as Krestos barked at the scattering Erran to locate their leader's killer, Chris Larabee decided the moment to escape was now.

Swinging around while the man who had a gun to his back was distracted, Chris twisted sharply and caught the hand holding the weapon. When the Erran saw what was happening, he instinctively pulled the trigger. Chris shoved his hand aside before the bullet was discharged, sending it into the Erran guarding Buck. The pilot reacted immediately, snapping his head back hard and connecting with the face behind it, even as its owner was reeling in pain from the bullet. Buck spun around and snatched the weapon from his hand before turning his attention to the other Erran guarding his friends.

As the man took aim to fire, JD threw himself back and slammed his body into the man's side, forcing him to pull the trigger and sending his shot wide. Cursing, the Erran was about to react before Buck promptly put a bullet in the man's skull and ended the son of a bitch before he could harm JD who just risked his life for Buck.

The latest shot from the high-powered rifle brought down another Erran and it appeared whoever was firing the shots were picking targets at random. In the same way Vin laid cover fire to provide them with a distraction whenever they got into trouble, their mysterious ally was out there putting down the Erran was performing the same service for them now. Whoever their guardian angel was, Chris was not about to argue because, with each Erran dropping to the ground, the rest were driven further into panic.

Meanwhile, the rest of the seven were utilizing the distraction provided most effectively. Josiah had gotten the upper hand with the Erran closest to him and was presently driving the man into a wall, forcing him to relinquish his gun. The weapon fell harmless against the hard, baked sand as Josiah repeated the action a second and a third time before the collision knocked him out cold and left a smear of blood against the rock. Picking up the weapon quickly, Josiah stepped over the body and went to seek out the rest of his friends.

Ezra was in the process of wrestling with his Erran assailant, elbowing the throat of the man he was fighting, cutting off the air from his lungs and distracting him long enough to wrestle away his gun. As the enemy clutched his throat, Ezra put him down for good and went to assist Nathan who was on the floor, rolling around with an Erran whose gun was out of reach but not the blade he was preparing to drive into the healer's stomach. However, when it came to knives, Nathan had no peer. Wrenching the dagger out of the man's grip, Nathan drove the blade through the soft flesh of the man's chin and ended him there and then.

And then there was Vin.

Vin Tanner was only focussed on one thing and that was what was still taking place in the middle of the square. Almost as if she was existing in a vacuum, completely oblivious to the carnage taking place around her, Alex was continuing the ritual even though the Shah was dead. Vin did not know what it was that was in that shower of silver descending upon her, the one that was shaped like some kind of dragon, but he knew if it reached her, without understanding how he could be so certain, it would be too late. Not just for Alex, but for all of them.

Rushing forward, he ignored the sound of gunfire coming from behind him, no doubt the result of Chris and the others getting loose or the sniper fire of someone who was apparently watching their backs. Whoever it was, Vin would like to buy them a drink, if they lived through this that is. Aisha was still sobbing with the Shah's body in her arms and if the bastard didn't completely deserve getting his brains blown out across the dirt, he might have felt sympathy for her but right now, all he could see was Alex.

"Alex!" Vin called her name but she was no longer registering him or anything else taking place around her.

Throughout the pandemonium of gunfire and bullets, the gusty wind and the claps of thunder had not abated. If anything they had intensified, making Vin think he was in the war, running through the ruined landscape in France, with artillery exploding around him and bodies lying everywhere as German and Allied guns attempted to annihilate each other. Yet Vin knew that was just a war, what would happen if this thing possessed Alex may well mean the end of everything.

"Alex!" He called out as he reached her, grabbing her arm so she would notice he was there.

She swept him aside with a backhanded blow hard enough to send him sprawling. Vin was almost airborne after she struck him and he landed a few feet away from her, gaping in astonishment as she continued to recite those terrible words he couldn't understand but oozed menace. The cloud was descending even faster, and though he was certain he was imagining it, he almost saw the silhouette of some great beast, flapping its wide, webbed wings as it slowly closed in on her.

Like Vin, JD's attention was fixed on what was happening to Alex, aware from his studies of William Styles's research, that the gunfight taking place around them was the least of their troubles. He did not know if the world was really going to uncreate but what was taking place around them was making a rather compelling argument for it. The sky was indeed opening up and whatever that shape approaching Alex was, he knew it had to be stopped and it had to be stopped now.

"Buck I gotta go help, Vin!" JD told the big man. "She's coming and we've gotta stop it!"

"Who's coming!" Buck asked as he shot another Erran from behind the wall they were taking refuge.

"Tiamat!" JD pointed to Alex, who had just swatted Vin away like a fly. "She's coming to take Alex. The minute she does, she'll be unstoppable! We can't let that happen!"

Buck was about to tell the kid he was crazy, that this was a whole load of hooey, but then he put the pieces together of everything they had seen since the Shah began reading from the Tablet. Hell, he didn't know if the world was about to end or not, but there were way too many ladies he had yet to meet for that idea to be palatable. Besides, JD was smarter than all of them put together, even if the kid was young. If the JD said there was a reason to worry, Buck was going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"GO!" Buck ordered. "I'll cover you!"

JD nodded and waited as Buck lay down the cover fire needed and rushed into the fray, hoping to hell they could stop a god from coming to earth.


When Chris saw Vin heading towards Alexandra Styles, it prompted him into seeking out Mary Travis now that things had gone to hell. It didn't take him long to find the golden-haired beauty in the scattering of red robes and gunfire. The Erran guard who had been restraining her was discovering just how tenacious and difficult the woman could be when one let one's guard down.

Welcome to my world, pal, Chris thought.

From his refuge behind a crumbling rock wall, he saw the gun carried by the Erran sail across the ground after Mary managed to get the drop on him by promptly kicking the weapon out of his hands. Not giving him enough time to go for the blade whose hilt was so obviously sticking out of his belt, she completed the maneuver with a roundhouse kick that had her spinning on heels like a dancer, before laying the guy out flat on his back.

He was about to go after her when suddenly he caught sight of Vin flying across the ground. The sharpshooter landed hard as Chris tried to unravel what he had seen. It took only a second for him to realize it was Alex who had done that to him and as Vin scrambled to his feet attempting to deal with the situation, he heard Orin Travis shouting after him.

"Chris!" The older man was crouched behind a jagged column, shielded from the bullets and the dust storm created by the strange forces surrounding the Tablet. Although Chris's first instincts had been to go to Mary, the truth was his conditioning to obey Orin was simply too strong. Keeping his head down, Chris narrowed the gap between them and was soon at his former commander's side

"You have to get Mary!" The professor shouted over the gale. "I'm going after the Tablet!"

"Why?" Chris shouted, having thought the best way to help Alex was to get rid of the Heart worn around her neck. Still, truth be told, this whole situation was so far out of his experience, he wasn't certain if it was entirely the right thing to do.

"Because Alex is connected to the Tablet!" Orin explained hastily. "To it and through it, Tiamat!"

Once again, Chris fought the urge to dismiss this whole thing as superstitious nonsense, but the impossible was unfolding in front of his eyes and he knew he had to accept it if he wanted to stop what was happening. Something was emerging from that black vortex from the sky, something with shape and substance, moving on its own power towards Alex, who was no longer fighting its approach but was caught in a trance that seemed to be inviting it in. This was beyond his understanding but it didn't matter, Orin was right. The Tablet was the key.

"How do we stop it?" Chris asked, discarding the last of his doubts the goddess was indeed on her way and with her arrival, the end of everything they knew would not be far behind.

"The Tablet has to be destroyed!" Orin stated, echoing the action Vin had wanted to take from the beginning. As it was, the sharpshooter was attempting to reach his girl with little success. "The link between them has to be broken. The Tablet was created by Tiamat and its how she's going to ride her way into Alex!"

Chris could well believe it. Alex was staring up at the heavens, the whites of her eyes only visible now as she held out her shackled hands as if she were about to welcome an old friend. Like Vin, Chris knew it that happened, they would lose her for good and then nothing would matter because Tiamat's day would have arrived.

And the Uncreation would begin.


Aisha was numb.

She held Dash's body in her arms, trying to comprehend how this corpse with its half face, was her brother. One side of his head was a ruined mess of flesh and bone while the other still retained his beauty. She knelt on the ground, still soaked in his blood, trapped in the disbelief at how the moment of their triumph could go so completely wrong. Sparing a brief glance across the ancient square, Aisha surveyed the situation and saw the Erran were still scattering to avoid the unknown assailant cutting them down. Equally bad was the escape of the seven men who had caused them such inconvenience.

"I will make them pay," she swore under her breath. "I will make certain the Goddess makes them all BURN!"

She saw the lover of William Styles's daughter making some futile attempt to reach her, although by now the link between her and Tiamat made that impossible. Even now, Aisha saw Tiamat's imminent arrival, saw her beating wings in the sky above and knew when the Goddess came, she would remake the world. Understanding struck Aisha at that instant with the intensity of the lightning flashes in the sky above her. The power of it left her gasping at the possibilities.

Tiamat could bring Dash back! If she could uncreate the world for a new one, she could bring back Dash, her most loyal servant. Surely, what they had gone through to shepherd her return to the world deserved a reward! Yes, Tiamat could bring Dash back!

This realization coincided with the observation one of the seven, the boy, was making a run for the Tablet. It took her but a second to discern what he was going to do and Aisha would not have it. The Tablet was Dash's best hope of survival, she would let nothing stop Tiamat's arrival Releasing her brother's body and uttering a soft sob when she saw him roll off her lap into the blood-soaked sand, Aisha allowed her anguish fuel her actions next.

If the boy tried to stop the ritual Aisha was going to kill him.


With the wind lashing at her blond hair, Mary brushed the strands of gold out of her face as she saw the Erran whom she had knocked flat on his back, get on his feet, his face a mask of outrage at the indignity of having a woman get the better of him. Flashing her a set of yellowed teeth that gave Mary the immediate urge to floss, she looked around for a weapon as he brandished the cruel looking jambia, ready to use it on her.

"I will gut you like a fish!" He swore at her and stabbed the point at her, forcing Mary to jump back in an effort to avoid the weapon. She knew the smart thing to do would be to run but there were too many bullets crisscrossing the square right now and she had been trying to reach Alex, who was caught in a supernatural nightmare with no help in sight.

Mary and Alex had grown up together and were practically sisters. Although they lived in separate cities, they still maintained a close relationship which was difficult to do, given Mary's nomadic lifestyle as a journalist.

Somehow Mary had to get past this chauvinistic buffoon to help her.

"I hope you do that better than you fight!" She shouted, dropping to her knees to avoid his latest swipe and scrambled away when suddenly, Chris Larabee appeared out of nowhere and brought the butt of his gun against the back of the man's skull. He tumbled forward, uttering a short shriek when he landed. As he rolled onto his back, Mary saw he had inadvertently impaled himself on his jambia and become his own killer.

"I softened him up for you," Mary looked up to see Chris offering her his hand.

"Yeah, I could tell," Chris remarked as he pulled her up, wearing his usual sardonic expression but in truth, he was relieved to see she was alright and also a little proud at how magnificently she had held her own with the son of a bitch bleeding at their feet. When another bullet exploded too close to his ear, Chris flinched and quickly grabbed her arm so they could get moving.

"Come on, we need to get you to cover!"

"To hell with that," Mary snapped. "We have to help Alex!"

Without giving him a chance to debate the matter, she darted past him, hurrying towards trouble, leaving Chris cursing after her and wondering to himself, how she had become the tiger he had caught by the tail.


The Tablet had flown out of the Shah's hand when he was shot, landing face up in the sand. As JD Dunne approached it, he saw the golden words gleaming with some hidden power and knew that it was Tiamat's approach making it glow. Keeping his head down amidst the gunfire, he knew Buck was covering him as he closed the distance. Vin was on the ground again, suffering another blow from Alex after his efforts to coax her back to herself had failed. Vin didn't understand Alex wasn't in charge anymore.

"VIN!" JD shouted at the man as he continued towards the Tablet, hoping to stop Vin from making any more futile attempts to reach Alex. "She can't hear you anymore! The Tablet's the only way to get her back."

From where he was, JD saw Vin's eyes flash in understanding before he returned his attention to the Tablet, still lying in the sand where the Shah had dropped it. As he closed in on the artifact, he saw the Shah's sister heading for it too, and judging by the glare she sent him, she had no intention of letting him get to it first. Refusing to let her beat him to the Tablet, JD sprinted forward, ignoring the danger to himself because if she got her hands on it, Alexandra Styles fate would be sealed and JD cared too much for Vin to see him devastated.

However, when he passed the Shah's dead body, it occurred to him Aisha might have stakes almost as high in the Tablet. With it, she might have a chance at resurrecting her dead brother.

JD skidded to the ground, even as bullets riddled the dirt and broken ruins around him, trailed by the same cloud that followed a runner sliding into home plate. As he did so, he snatched up the Tablet before coming to a stop, with the weight of the thing slowing him down quickly. It seemed to vibrate against him as if charged by power. Unfortunately, JD did not have much time to ponder this because when he looked up, he saw Aisha looming over him. She appeared almost savage, covered in her brother's fresh blood.

"GIVE ME THAT!" She demanded but the words sounded like the angry snarl of an animal.

"Sorry ma'am," JD replied rolling onto his knees. "I plan on finishing college and you uncreating the world is just gonna mess that up!"

"Infidel!" She cursed and rushed at JD, jabbing the blade in his direction.

JD blocked the strike with the tablet, feeling the customary shudder that came with the sound of metal chinking against stone. However, the woman was a hellion and she apparently knew how to wield a knife because she recovered far quicker than JD gave her credit and struck again. This time JD could not avoid the blade and felt it sink into his side. He uttered a cry of pain and felt warm blood spilling down his hip, soaking his shirt. The metallic smell almost made him gag but JD was not letting go of the Tablet.

"JD!" Vin cried out, seeing JD stagger, even though the kid had somehow remained on his feet and was continuing to keep his grip on the Tablet but he was hurt bad and Vin could see it even as he closed in on them. The woman, aware she had dealt a crippling blow, moved in to finish her victory with a kill. Vin was going to deny her that. Ignoring the fact he was dealing with a woman, Vin slammed into her like a linebacker. He heard her utter a cry of indignation as he tackled her to the ground, the knife still in her grip.

As Vin wrestled with the woman, JD grit his teeth and ignored the pain, his hand still clutching the Tablet, while the other was holding his side, trying to ease the blood flow he knew pulsing out of his wound. It didn't matter, he told himself. No one was getting their hands on the Tablet, not when the stakes were as high as they were. So many had died because of this thing already, he wasn't about to let another person end up the same way.

Even if the last life it took was his.