Chapter Twenty-Six:
Entropy
Even as he was holding down the Shah's sister, trying to keep her from gutting him with that knife of hers, Vin was more interested in where JD had gone.
Despite the somewhat frenzied struggles of the woman beneath him, Vin was used to going hand to hand with Indians who were a hell of a lot more challenge than this fanatic with her fancy knife. He was trying to pin her down, but she was fighting him every inch of the way and though he was resisting the urge to take his fists to her, he knew the time was fast dwindling when he had a choice in the matter. Even as she tried to take a bite out of his neck, which he responded to with a hard smack of his forehead against hers, he could see the kid stumbling away from the scene, the patch of blood soaking his shirt growing larger by the second.
Something moved in the corner of his eye and Vin had just enough time to glance over his shoulder before he saw the behemoth named Krestos about to bring both fists down on his back. With faster reflexes than the man about to attack him, Vin immediately let go of the woman's hand and rolled off her body. Krestos barely stopped himself from taking Vin's place on top of Aisha as his quarry slipped out of reach. Vin was still on the floor, needing to buy time to get upright. He kicked out his foot, the heel of his boot connecting with the man's ribs hard enough for Vin to hear something crack.
The Erran henchman uttered a groan as he staggered back, providing enough of a gap for Aisha to scramble out from under him and resumed her pursuit of JD again. Unfortunately, Vin was in no position to stop her. As it was, he wasn't even sure he could take this big bastard alone. A brief glance at the shadows closing in on Alex told Vin, he had no choice but to try. If he was going to be any help to her, he had to get past this son of a bitch.
Krestos reeled from the blow but recovered quickly enough. Once he overcame the shock that an unknown enemy had emerged out of nowhere and snatched the Shah away from them at the moment of their greatest triumph, he realized the Amira was now their leader and she was in danger. As he was duty bound to protect her brother, he was more determined to do the same for her because of their personal relationship. While Aisha was living and the Tablet was within reach, the Erran could still fulfill their destiny.
Vin saw the man towering over him and cursed under his breath. Aiming for the throat, it wasn't exactly the fairest way to fight but that chest was almost twice his size and Vin had a feeling, aiming for it was going to do little good. He threw a well-aimed punch but Krestos proved immediately he had reflexes almost as good, despite his size. He caught Vin's fist in his large meaty palm with ease and clenched so hard, Vin knew it wouldn't take much exertion for the man to break his fingers.
Son of a bitch, Vin cursed as Krestos chose to grab his arm and twist hard instead. Vin fairly spun around in mid-air before landing hard on his back. He had no more than a split second to catch his breath from that maneuver when he saw Krestos about to bring down a boot on his sternum. Vin rolled away just in time to avoid having his chest crushed but Krestos was determined to stomp him into the ground and crush him like an insect underfoot.
"Get away from him before I put a bullet in your goddamn head!" Chris Larabee's voice suddenly shouted over the sound of the roaring wind.
Vin knew Chris would never shoot a man in the back without a warning and hoped Krestos had sense enough to comply but even as Krestos started to turn around to face Chris, Vin could see the calculation in his eyes. Before he turned to face Chris, Vin glimpsed the murderous rage in his eyes and knew he was not going to go down without a fight. As he started to turn towards Chris, Vin saw his hand move ever so slightly but it was enough to prompt the sharpshooter to shout a warning.
"Chris watch out!"
Krestos flung a jambia at Chris who pulled the trigger at the same time. While the blade dug into Chris's thigh, the gunshot stuck Krestos in the shoulder, wounding him just as badly. Vin jumped to his feet and leaped onto Krestos's back, locking an arm around the man's throat and held on. He'd once had to break in a particularly testy horse when working at a ranch in Texas and Vin hoped this wasn't going to be as hard.
With blood running down his fingers, now staining his pants, JD saw Aisha coming at him again, now that she was able to escape Vin, who was preoccupied with Krestos. Searching the area, he saw the others busily fighting off the remaining Erran and knew he had no help there. The pain was almost total and JD knew in his present condition, he was in no shape to stop her. However, he was damned if he was going to let her have to let the tablet. Now when he could see Tiamat's spirit about to descend on Alex to take possession of her body. He estimated they had little more than minutes before it was too late.
"Give it to me!" Aisha stalked the boy once more, holding out her jambia like a lioness about to bring down game. She would endure no further delay. Even now, she could see her brother's dead body being covered by the shifting desert sands. If life was to be brought back to him, it had to be done now. "Give it to me and I'll make your death painless! Fight, and I'll carve you up like the pig you are."
Aisha lunged at JD, this time aiming for the young man's chest, aware his hands were too occupied to stop her from killing him. He stepped back instinctively when suddenly Mary Travis came out of the dust storm and caught Aisha's wrist, halting any attempt to impale him with the weapon. Mary followed up the catch with a timely kick to the woman's leg, driving her to her knees. As Mary maintained a vise-like grip of Aisha who was struggling to wrench her arm free, the blond turned to JD.
"JD! Go destroy that thing!" Mary Travis ordered before slamming a palm in Aisha's temple, this time driving her to the ground. "NOW!"
"No!" Aisha screamed when she hit the ground and saw through her daze, the boy staggering away, his clothes stained with blood but still clutching the Tablet tight. She watched him disappear into the growing dust storm taking over the square and headed to the epicenter of the maelstrom. She could no longer see Dash's body and realized he like the tablet was slipping out of reach.
Enraged she scrambled to her feet and faced the blond witch who was keeping her from the Tablet. Still clutching the knife, she glared at Orin Travis's daughter and jabbed the jambia in her direction, determined to slice the woman's belly open. "You have interfered in my affairs for the last time, infidel whore! I am going to kill you."
"So you say!" Mary retorted and sidestepped the woman 's overextended reach when she thrust the blade in Mary's direction. The blond journalist slammed an elbow against her back, sending her sprawling. Before she could fall, Mary kicked her once more, planting a foot in the small of her back and sent her stumbling out of control. Aisha landed on her knees again. But this time Mary didn't hold back. She kicked the hand holding the blade and sent it flying through the air, disappearing somewhere beyond the cloud of dust circling them.
As soon as the knife disappeared, Mary pulled Aisha to her feet by the shoulders and punched her hard enough to hear bone crunch. This time, when Aisha went down, she stayed there.
Grateful that Miss Travis was dealing with the Shah's sister, JD staggered away from the scene, searching for anything he could use to destroy the Tablet. He couldn't see Chris and Vin anymore, because the storm created by Tiamat's approach had made it damn near impossible to see. He was squinting through the grains of sand threatening to blind him, trying to see where the others were in this maelstrom of dust and wind. All he knew was above him, Tiamat was going to make her arrival.
Two figures appeared through the dust and JD tensed, unable to tell whether they were friend or foe. He had no weapon except the tablet and he was hurt. If they came to steal it from him, JD didn't know if he would be in any position to stop them. Taking a deep breath as they closed in, he resolved himself to fight them, because if he lost the tablet, it wouldn't be the end just for him, it would be the end of everything. He could not bear knowing his failure meant the friends, no the family, he found in the last year, who welcomed him into the fold, would be condemned right along with him.
However, when the shape appeared it wasn't an enemy, it was the one person JD wanted to see most if he was going to leave the mortal coil.
"Jesus Christ! JD!" Buck Wilmington exploded as soon as he realized the stumbling figure through the storm was JD Dunne. When the Professor had gone after the tablet, Buck chose to accompany him, aware that JD had gone after the thing himself and wanted to make sure the kid was alright. Staring at JD now, his shirt and pants soaked in blood, filled Buck with nothing less than raw panic. On top of his voice, Buck bellowed so loudly it might have given Tiamat who was about to make her earthly debut, pause.
"NATHAN! JD'S HURT!"
"Hey Buck," JD let out a deep sigh of relief at seeing both Buck and Orin Travis because it now meant he could rest and let this cup pass from him to another. In a way, it was only appropriate. This whole affair had begun with Orin Travis and his friends all those years ago. It was only right it ought to end with him.
"Hey Professor, you think you can take this thing now? It's getting kind of heavy."
"I imagine it is," Orin spoke, trying to keep the emotion from his voice. If anything were to happen to this boy because of the tablet, Orin would never forgive himself. So many had died already, paying for the sins of his youth. He couldn't bear it if that price also included JD Dunne. "You can rest easy son. You did well. I'll take care of this now."
Through the storm, he saw the familiar silhouette of Nathan Jackson appearing with the remaining members of the seven. The Erran, those who were not dead, were leaderless and in disarray. Orin saw these friends who forged a bond in the trenches of Europe, much like the one he shared with Hank, Donnie, and Will, and prayed they would always be seven. More than anything, he wished at this pivotal moment, he was not the last man standing. A profound sense of sorrow filled him then, along with the knowledge it was time to finish this, not for the sake of Alex or the world, but for the friends who were no longer here.
The kid had handed off the tablet and collapsed in the pilot's arms when Nathan reached them.
"Oh Christ," Nathan exclaimed seeing the state of their youngest member. They had taken from him most of his medical supplies, except what he carried on him, having been deemed during the search by the Erran to be harmless. Yet, seeing all that blood made Nathan fear, it was not nearly enough. "Quick, let me look at him."
As Nathan tended to JD with Buck holding him, Orin Travis knew his own course. "You take care of the boy, I'm going to destroy this thing."
"You ain't going anywhere alone Professor," Buck Wilmington looked up from where he was cradling JD in his arms as Nathan pulled open his bloodied shirt. "Ezra, Josiah go with him."
"I can manage alone..." Orin started to say when Ezra cut him off.
"Professor, you are not going to face this without us. If it were not for you, none of us would be here." Even though he was shouting, Ezra still managed to make his case most eloquently and the impassioned plea, one not customary for him, was affecting. "Resign yourself to the fact you are stuck with us."
"Amen," Josiah said adding his voice to the statement. Without Orin Travis, they would not have each other and their lives would be so much poorer for it. In the war, the man had kept them alive and after it, he had brought them together and gave them the bond they now shared. He was much a part of that brotherhood as any one of the seven and it was time Orin understood that.
Touched by the sentiment, and feeling emotions that were too hard to deal with at present, Orin looked up to the sky and saw the shadow of Tiamat finally upon them.
"Gentlemen, I believe we have a genie to put back in the bottle."
Somewhere in her mind, Alexandra Styles was screaming.
It felt as if she were trapped within a cell of glass, where she could see through her own eyes like one staring out a window but at the same time, her cell was shrinking. Smashing her fists against the barrier, she could do nothing to escape and was forced to witness her doom while being powerless to stop it. Those strange words she could hear being uttered using her voice but were not her own seemed to be the source of it all and even though she covered her mouth with her hand, hoping to silence herself, the words kept coming.
She saw Vin trying to reach her but her pleas to him went unheeded and the thing using her flesh like a suit of clothes, was hurting him. Watching his determination to reach her, no matter how much abuse his body suffered, made her heart break from the sheer pain of it. His love for her and that was what she was seeing in his eyes every time he looked at her, made Alex wish she had said it to him because she surely felt the same.
Now as the walls closed in around her until she was feeling doom press up against her spine, threatening to snuff out her existence for all time perhaps, she knew she was never going to get the chance.
"Good God!" Ezra exclaimed as they reached Alexandra Styles.
The woman standing in the middle of the square was not the young doctor in waiting whom they had come to know just a scant week ago. Gone was any trace of the lady who joked and bantered with Buck, who held her own in a poker game with him, or argued Descarte with Josiah. No longer was she the medical student who treated Nathan like a colleague, or the fellow college student of JD, and she was certainly not the girl who made Vin light up every time she walked in the room.
She was Tiamat.
Her skin was now marked by strange symbols and markings, not unlike those found on the tablet. Golden words were carved into her skin were glowing and all that could be seen of her eyes were the whites. Her hair was blowing around her like the serpent coils of a gorgon and her hands were no longer shackled. She was an empty receptacle, Ezra realized, waiting to be filled.
"Professor, I think we are out of time."
Orin nodded and saw Will's worst nightmare unfold before his eyes. Everything his old friend had ever done was to ensure their daughters never had to face this fate. Yet here he was now, seeing it about to claim Will's beloved Alexandra. As he stared at the girl, who was looking at him with Willi's eyes but lacking its warmth, there was not an ounce of recognition for any one of them. He had to do something before Tiamat's possession of her body became permanent. Searching the area for what he needed, Orin sighted it after a few seconds and knew if Alex wasn't registering them now, she soon would be.
"There!" Orin pointed and hurried to what he had found, the tablet clutched tightly next to his body.
Ezra followed him while Josiah remained behind to keep an eye on Alex since neither man was reluctant to leave her alone in her present condition or allow Orin to go anywhere on his own. With the storm's momentum at a climax, it was too easy to lose him in this maelstrom. When he caught up to the old scholar, Ezra found Orin standing next to a broken marble column whose jagged edge had been worn down to a slab by the harsh desert wind.
"Here goes nothing," Orin declared as he raised the Tablet over his head and prepared to smash it to pieces.
"Inspiring," Ezra said dryly as the Professor brought down the tablet against the marble.
When the Tablet of Destiny struck the column, it was not the sound of rock against marble that filled their ears but the outraged bellow of a titan from above. Its roar was powerful enough to be heard over the storm and suddenly, Ezra had a feeling Tiamat would be coming for them if they did not conclude this business quickly. The initial impact did not break the tablet as desired but a crack did fissure the golden words across its surface, interrupting the ritual.
"Keep going!" Ezra shouted.
Bringing down the tablet against the marble again, this time, the fracture became more pronounced, as did the howl from above. Whatever was descending upon them was not at all happy by the assault on the ancient artifact. As if responding to the battery, the hurricane surrounding Eridu became more intense, until Ezra could see objects being swept up into the air, guns, blades, a fluttering length of material that could have been an Erran robe. Overhead, the silver-speckled beast, Ezra now thought looked like a dragon was about to swoop down on them like a bird of prey.
Suddenly, through the swirling sand, Ezra saw Josiah being hurled through the air. The former preacher landed a few feet from him, groaning in pain as he landed on his side, before rolling onto his back after the hard impact.
"JOSIAH!" Ezra hurried to his side.
"Whatever you're going to do, you better do it fast!" Josiah grunted certain something had cracked when he hit the ground.
"What do you..."
He had no sooner spoken when he saw Alexandra Styles emerging through the dust. She appeared almost on fire, the inscriptions on her skin were glowing so brightly as if flames were bursting through the flesh. Walking past them, she was striding towards Orin, her fists clenched with an expression on her face that promised nothing less than menace. Without understanding how he was so certain, Ezra knew it was not Alex about to confront the Professor but Tiamat.
Jumping to his feet, Ezra knew he had to intercept her before she reached the older man and stopped him from continuing his assault on the tablet. Sprinting towards her, he reached out to grab her when she lashed out her arm and struck him across the face before he was able to get close enough.
Orin saw Tiamat closing in and knew he was out of time. If the Tablet wasn't destroyed now, the goddess, using Alexandra's body was going to kill him. That she was able to assume this much control on her future vessel without actually taking complete possession of Will's daughter, told him how close she was to achieving her goal. It was now or never. Mustering all the strength he had inside of him and praying Will and the others were with him, Orin Travis raised the Tablet of Destiny into the air above his head one last time.
The tablet smashed against the marble column as if it had dropped from a great height. The sound was like a crack of thunder eclipsing the chaos around them. Orin felt the artifact crumble beneath his fingers as the tablet split in half first and with that one crippling fracture, created fault lines of weakness across the rest of the slab that gave way immediately. Chunks of rock crumbled about his feet and with its destruction, a scream tore through the air.
It did not come from Alex but from whatever it was above them. The wraithlike beast that had been only seconds away from them, reared its serpentine head and opened its jaws to utter a final roar of fury and indignation before it lost cohesion completely. Returning to a formless, silver shower, it was soon drawn towards the vortex from which it had emerged, to begin with. As it retreated, it dragged with it, the canopy of the grey clouds blanketing the sky with darkness. As if howling in protest, thunder boomed impotently before it and the roaring wind faded into nothingness.
The peace that descended lasted only a second before the ground started quaking.
Chris Larabee wished he had a slingshot.
Maybe if he had one, taking down this Goliath in front of him might be a little less painful. The giant who served Adashir Shah so loyally even now was putting one hell of a fight, even though Chris had put a bullet into his shoulder. He'd managed to use Vin who was still attached to the back of him like a man riding a wild stallion, to knock the gun over his hand and forced Chris to go after him hand to hand, even though his leg hurt like hell after the son of a bitch managed to stick him in the thigh with a knife.
Still despite the pain in his leg and Vin's arm locked around the Erran's throat, refusing to be thrown off no matter how hard the man fought, the leader of the seven was able to act. Fortunately, the blade had penetrated the fleshy part of his thigh and Chris knew enough about human anatomy to know he was damned lucky the injury wasn't worse. Despite the man's dogged determination not to yield, his injured shoulder and the lack of oxygen was making Krestos increasingly incapable of fending off the punches Chris was throwing like a jackhammer.
Despite fighting them both like a demon, Chris knew the man was running out of steam. Vin was holding on for dear life, perfectly aware until this Erran was put down, he could not go after Alex. Vin was too loyal a creature to leave him to deal with Krestos on his own. For all their sakes, Chris hoped Orin was able to do what was necessary to help Alex because that spectral image in the sky was awfully close.
Then as if in answer to his prayer, the agonized howl of something terrible shook the air from above. All three men looked up to the sky and saw the silver silhouette disintegrate into a harmless cloud before being sucked into the vortex like poison being drawn from a wound.
"NO!" Krestos cried out in horror, understanding at that moment while he was busy dealing with the two men before him, the rest of these infidels had managed to stop Tiamat's arrival into the world. Worse than that, they had managed to send her back to the void.
"Orin's done it!" Chris shouted at Vin, still wrestling with Krestos. "It's over!"
"NEVER!" Krestos screamed and struggled even harder to break free, determined to reach the Amira and gain her counsel as to what was to be done next. Without the Shah, she now ruled the Erran, what remained of them anyway. The thought no sooner crossed his mind when suddenly, the ground rumbled violently, making both Krestos and the blond infidel stumble.
All three men fell silent for an instant, with Chris recognizing what that tremor meant better than anyone. He spent enough time in California to know what an earthquake felt like and when a fissure appeared a short distance away from them a second later, he knew they were about to have one now. When the ground shook again, Krestos took advantage of the distraction and flipped Vin over his shoulder, finally wrenching the sharpshooter free. Chris barely avoided the collision and searched for his gun when another fissure burst out the ground like the blowhole of a whale, spitting out hot gasses.
Taking advantage of his distraction, Krestos bolted away from the two men and Chris decided neither he nor Vin had the time or the inclination to go after him, not when it appeared Tiamat's banishment back to the netherworld where she had come from, had unforeseen consequences. Limping quickly to Vin, Chris leaned over and grabbed him by the arm, hauling the sharpshooter to his feet.
"Vin! We gotta move! I think this whole place is about to go!"
Vin, shaking the disorientation out of his head, could only think of one thing now he no longer had Krestos to deal with. "We have to get to Alex!"
Both men shifted their gazes to the square, visible now that the storm of sand had disappeared, although they were about to be hit with an equally dangerous calamity. Alex was lying across the dirt, seemingly unconscious with Ezra and Orin nearby. Vin leaped to his feet and sprinted forward, not waiting for Chris who hobbled after him. As they ran across the ground, more fissures appeared and Chris searched the space for Mary and found her near Buck and Nathan, dealing with JD who looked badly hurt.
Resisting the urge to demand how the boy was, Chris knew such questions could wait. Right now, they had to go out of Eridu fast.
"EVERYBODY GET MOVING!" Chris bellowed at them. "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"
They needed no further prompt than that, already suspecting as much but Chris's sharp bark got them moving, with Buck and Nathan lifting JD up. Mary met his gaze and quickly saw he was injured. Once again concerned filled her eyes and she crossed the space towards him, ignoring his order and making Chris wonder if it was possible her entire existence on this Earth was dedicated to ignoring every single thing he said.
"You're hurt!" She exclaimed in dismay, her eyes fixed on the blood she could see on his pant leg.
"I'll live!" Chris swore at her in irritation, wanting her to leave with Buck and Nathan. "We've gotta get out of the city. I got a feeling now that the Tablet's gone, it's going to take Eridu with it."
As if to prove his point, another eruption of hot gasses was vented through a new fissure in the rock, making Mary squeal in fright, fear crossing her face as she comprehended the danger and promptly grabbed his arm. "We'll let's get moving then!"
"I can walk on my own!" He grumbled but had to admit the arm she offered was welcomed because it allowed him to take some weight off his injured leg which was stinging like a son of a bitch. Of course, hell would freeze over before he admitted this to her.
"Don't be such a baby!" Mary retorted and started moving forward, ignoring his cursing as she dragged him along.
When he reached Alex, he saw Orin leaning over her and for a moment, despite what was happening around them, with geysers of hot air erupting all across the breadth of Eridu and the ground shaking beneath them, he was never more afraid then seeing her lying on the ground unmoving. For one terrible moment, he thought freedom from Tiamat's possession might mean death and the idea of it was so unimaginable, it made his gut twist in horror and his heart turned to ice in his chest.
"She's alive Vin!" The Professor stated quickly upon seeing Vin and reading the expression on his face before mercifully giving him the answer he needed before Vin descended into despair. "She's unconscious, probably exhausted from whatever she just went through."
Vin's held breath escaped him in a near gasp as the relief flooded his soul. Bolting forward, he skidded to her knees next to her, to get her out of this place. Alex was lying on her side, her dark hair splayed across her face, oblivious to what was taking place around her. He touched her skin and felt its warmth, taking in the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.
"Thank you," he met Orin's eyes as he slid his arm under her body to pick her up. "Thank you for saving her."
"No thanks needed, son," Orin answered. "I could no sooner sacrifice her than I could Mary. It's the least I could do for Will."
"Well then," Vin said as he lifted Alex off the ground and saw Ezra helping Josiah to his feet. "Let's get the hell out of here."
Orin couldn't argue with that. After long last, he was finally done with the Tablet of Destiny. He hoped wherever they were, Hank, Donnie, and Will could, at last, rest easy.
