A/N Back at the temple, and finding the Path of Silver.
THIRTEEN
"I hope you're ready." Helen slid the fresh cartridge into her hand pistol and locked it with a snap. She nodded to John.
John placed his hands on Will and Aurelian's shoulders. They disappeared a second later in a flash of orange light. Tesla brushed an invisible speck of dust off his shoulder in distaste. He hated being showed up.
John reappeared, grabbed Tesla and Ylerin and vanished again. Helen checked her messages one last time to confirm that Henry had made it to the South American Sanctuary in one piece.
A whisper of air across her face and John was standing beside her. He took her hand. "My lady?" He brought it to his lips and just as she felt them brush against her skin, they teleported.
They re-materialized in a small clearing of forest. Will was waiting for them and gestured for her to follow him. They made it to the edge of the clearing, and Helen noted they were on a rise, hidden by the tree line.
Below them were the ruins of the temple, and it was swarming with activity. A small city of tents and vehicles had been set up around the perimeter. There was a detail of what looked like twenty-five men stationed around the temple, heavily armed.
The front façade of the building had crumbled, blocking the entrance way. There was a second team of men on excavation detail, but the work was heavy and slow. Despite the cranes and bulldozers, they had to be careful to make sure the structure didn't crumble any further.
"Industrious little bastards," Helen breathed, a pair of binoculars up to her eyes.
"I can't teleport in there," John said gravely. "There's not telling what part of the structure is still standing and what's now buried under rubble."
"Is there any gap in the defenses?" Will asked.
"Not much." Druitt pointed in the distance. "The back of the temple when the guard shift changes. A minute at most."
Helen looked to Aurelian. "Is there any other entrance into the temple?"
"Several, though some have been destroyed. There is an antechamber on the other side of that wall with a hidden door. However, there is room for only one at a time."
Helen frowned. "Last resort then, a minute may not give us enough time."
"There is a tunnel," Ylerin began, training their direction to a spot about half a mile behind the temple in the forest, "that leads to the caverns."
"That sounds more like it," Tesla growled.
"I warn you," Aurelian said sternly, "should any of you get separated, it may be difficult to find you again."
Tesla grinned, slinging his arm around Druitt's neck. "Stick together, just like old times, huh Johnny?"
Druitt rolled his eyes and shoved Tesla's arm off of him wearily.
They trooped onward silently through the forest, pausing every now and again for the Sybarites to get their bearings. "We are close," Aurelian hissed, and Helen waved the team forward. The night air was still and quiet, a lone cicada singing somewhere in the underbrush.
"I think that's it," Will whispered, and pointed ahead. A few dozen yards ahead of them was a small stone grotto with markings that resembled those that adorned the temple.
Helen nodded and made her way into the clearing, Will not far behind. Ylerin had stopped however, grabbing Tesla's wrist. "Wait. Something isn't…"
Just as Helen and Will stepped into the clearing they suddenly heard the "click"s of a dozen safety catches being turned off. A group of men uniformed in commando gear emerged from the shadows, muzzles pointed directly at Helen and Will.
"Huh." Helen slowly raised her hands into the air. "Guess we've got company, Will."
"What are you doing here?" One of the men asked, his gun trained on Helen's head.
"Holiday?" Will answered weakly. The men did not seem amused and continued advancing.
Suddenly, there was a flash of orange light and a pale figure fell on top of one of the men. A split second later and John had grabbed Will and Helen's arms, teleporting them deeper into the forest.
Aurelian had his hands around a man's throat, forcing his mouth open viciously. The man seemed to positively bleed silver mist and Aurelian ripped it from him cruelly, it vanishing into his hungry maw.
There was a panicked burst of fire, bullets burying themselves into trees as Aurelian darted away, the man falling dead to the ground.
"Dammit." Helen swore under her breath as she crouched in the forest. She should have known this wasn't going to be easy.
"We can take these guys," Will insisted, pulling out his gun.
"They're going to radio in for backup, so no, we can't take them all," John growled. He disappeared, and then re-materialized with a hand on Aurelian, who had a few scratches on his face but otherwise seemed intact.
"We have to draw then away from the entrance somehow." Helen looked around them, desperately trying to jog inspiration.
"Come on, you and me blood demon. We'll get them all." Aurelian's eyes were flashing with unholy glee, and he looked as if he was going to dash back into the fray again. He was heady with adrenaline and kill-rage.
Tesla was fidgeting, muttering "what to do, what to do" under his breath. Finally settling on a decision, his internal struggle ending, he got to his feet and pushed Aurelian back at Will.
"Go on, all of you – run. Get into the tunnel, I'll head them off."
"Nikola, no—"
"Get moving," he growled in a voice barely human. His face softened for a moment as Helen ran up to him. He put a finger to his lips, cutting her off before she could berate him, then swooped down and kissed her.
He winked at John, who was livid, and turned back to Helen. "Speak well of me."
With a snarl he had transformed, his talons released with a deadly "snick" and he darted off into the forest. They heard screams and a new volley of fire.
John grabbed Helen's arm and pulled her way. "He's right – we have to go now."
They pelted through the forest, knowing they only had a short moment's distraction. Once at the clearing, Aurelian ran for the small grotto. A tendril of silvery breath left his lips and they heard a dull "chink". He pushed upon a stone panel and stepped inside. He waved at them to hurry.
Helen waited to go last. She scanned the night forest, straining her ears for gunfire one last time, before slipping into the stone entrance.
The tunnel was cool and surprisingly dry. It was pitch-black and Will snapped on his flashlight, the beam only illuminating a few feet in front of them.
Helen laid a hand on John's arm. "Do you think he'll be all right?"
"I don't rightly know."
The Sybarites went ahead of the flashlight's beam, able to see in the darkness adeptly. They found the light distracting.
"Where does this tunnel lead to?" Will asked.
Aurelian smiled faintly, tapping his right temple. "You know, it is in your memories."
"The Path of Silver," Will breathed. "What is it exactly?"
"A labyrinth," Ylerin said, quickly stalking forward.
Down underground, Helen could not tell how much time had passed. It felt like an eternity until they had reached the tunnel's end and it opened to a vast underground cavern.
"Wow." Will looked upward, the ceiling of the cavern was almost two storey's high. It was rough and dripping with stalagmites, as if the cavern had been hollowed out by a natural occurrence.
The entire place glowed with an eerie green light. "Phosphorous. There must be phosphorous deposits down here. Maybe in the moss." Helen looked around in awe. But something was bothering her. There was no labyrinth, just a blank wall.
"The Path is protected. It is a test," Ylerin offered, noting Helen's confusion.
"So, how do we get in?"
"Do you not see it, doctor?" Aurelian had a small, smug grin on his face. Helen felt a little annoyed. It seemed pointless to bring them this far, only to then start with more riddles. She was about to make a waspish remark when Will suddenly spoke up.
"I see it." He sounded as if someone within a dream. He was staring at the blank wall. "Turn off your flashlight."
Helen turned off her maglite with a click, Will doing the same. He pointed excitedly to the wall. "Do you see it?"
The phosphorous light in the caverns was broken up by the rocky growths. Helen could see some of it hitting the wall, creating faint outlines. She squinted, trying to make sense of it. "Not really."
"Don't look at the highlights, look at the shadows."
It took a moment for Helen to switch her focus, but then she saw it too. The shadows cast on the wall faintly made up the different phases of the moon. She watched as Will walked up to the wall, running his hand lightly over the smooth surface.
He went to the full moon first, running his fingers around the edge, trying to find some sort of etching or latch. There was none. He tried breathing on it, but that didn't work either.
"Balance, Will…" Aurelian intoned softly.
Balance? Will made his way to the center of the wall where the half-moon was. Frowning, he noticed a faint dark smudge in the middle, right where the dark and light half met. It could have been blood, but he wasn't sure.
Will breathed delicately on the line and they heard something "clunk". All of a sudden the wall began to slide and sank down into the ground. It revealed the rest of the cavern and a massive stone labyrinth. A hole in the ceiling revealed the night sky and moonlight streamed in.
"Well done," Druitt said, taking a step closer.
Helen clapped her hand to Will's shoulder, beaming with pride. "The Path of Silver."