HA SATAN (THE ADVERSARY): An Elena Duran/Corazon Negro Story 4/12
Vi Moreau (vmoreau@DIRECTVINTERNET.COM)
Mon, 16 Sep 2002 14:12:48 -0400
HA SATAN (THE ADVERSARY)
An Elena Duran-Corazon Negro Story 4/12
vmoreau@directvinternet.com & divad72@prodigy.net.mx
"This place is a maze," Corazon Negro said ten minutes later. "We've been
wandering these tunnels for thirty minutes without coming across any sign of
Myrddin's lair. As best I can tell, we're going around in circles. I'm
getting frustrated."
"Can't you use one of your new abilities as a Dreamer to locate his
sanctum?" Elena asked, her expression as disgusted as Corazon Negro's.
The Aztec shook his head. "The Dream is closed right now. Lilitu is blocking
it. Besides, it wouldn't matter if we knew where Myrddin was. I'm pretty
sure he's at the center of this labyrinth. What we need to do is find the
proper tunnels to lead us to his hideaway. We're not moles; we can't just
burrow a path through the walls to reach him."
"I feel like we're characters in a Sartre play," Elena responded. "All we
need is Lucifer, dressed in faded blue jeans, commenting on our
predicament."
"Actually, my love," Corazon Negro spoke as they kept walking hand in hand,
"I'm surprised we haven't run into Myrddin himself. After the scream of pain
minutes ago, I sense we are not the only ones in these tunnels right now.
With all the activity, and with the cameras I'm sure he has installed, I
would have expected that Myrddin would have deduced by now that we're the
only ones in the cave who are on his side. It's clear that the others are
his enemies."
"Maybe, mi vida. The problem is communication. Remember the traps in the
walls and floor?"
"No surprise," Corazon Negro said. "Myrddin isn't partial to visitors."
"But none of the traps in this section of the maze are working. Myrddin has
shut them down, clearing the way to his lair. Obviously he wants us to find
him."
"Following a trail of nonfunctioning snares will take hours. We don't have
that much time."
"Do you hear something?" Elena asked suddenly, stopping her walk. "There's
something alive and moving in the darkness."
Corazon Negro stood still, an intense look on his face. "Ahead of us, coming
closer. You're right. There's some movement in the tunnel. I'm not sure what
it is. But we'd better find out."
Lights from their flashlight held up to illuminate the corridor, Elena and
Corazon Negro marched forward. They didn't have far to go. Their tunnel
crossed paths with another about fifteen meters further. And there they saw
it: five pairs of yellow eyes gazing at them.
"What's that?" Elena asked, grabbing the hilt of her German broadsword.
"Animals. Big ones. Some sort of guard animals?"
Corazon Negro sniffed the air. The familiar smell reached his nostrils.
"Yes," he whispered, relieved. The eyes moved ahead in the shadow as Elena
started to pull out her sword. "Wait," Corazon Negro whispered, putting a
hand on her left arm. "Come here; come here, brothers," he said to the
shadows.
One after another, huge black wolves appeared in front of them. The leader
of
the pack approached, wagging its tail like the dog it was, and licked
Corazon Negro's hand. "Good boy," the Aztec said. "Where is your master?"
"Wolves?" Elena asked.
Corazon Negro smiled, caressing the huge wolf's head. The other members of
the pack were surrounding them, making her very nervous. "Yes," he said.
"They are Myrddin's guides to his headquarters. The wolves came for us. All
we have to do is follow them."
"Muy bien," a voice came over hidden speakers in accented Spanish, the
language Elena and the Aztec had been using. "Sigan a Aneirin, por favor. El
los traera hacia mi. Y bienvenidos a mi humilde domicilio. Mi casa es su
casa."
"Humble abode my ass," Elena whispered, realizing Myrddin had audio as well
as video of them. She ventured to pet the wolf that was brushing against her
leg, and it didn't seem to mind. In fact, it pressed against her happily.
"They're just like big dogs," she said, smiling. Elena liked big dogs.
At the sound of the voice on the speaker, the lead wolf, the one called
Aneirin, had barked and turned away. "Let's go," Corazon Negro said as the
other wolves followed their leader.
Together, Elena and Corazon Negro plunged into the tunnel, escorted by the
wolves. The passage twisted and turned at right angles. Parts of it were
covered with thin pools of water. In other sections, the passage was only
three feet wide and a few feet high.
"I can feel him," Elena whispered. "We are near."
"Yes, you are near," Myrddin's voice answered.
Elena couldn't tell whether to be irritated or pleased by Myrddin's spying
and decided to wait to meet him before making her final judgment. At least
he hadn't killed them with his traps. A few minutes later she and Corazon
Negro emerged into a huge cavern filled with computers. The walls glowed
green from the reflection of the light of a dozen monitors. And inside the
room, surrounded by his wolves, was Myrddin.
The Mage stood waiting for them at the far end of the chamber. He wore a
gray robe in the old style. Fully six feet tall, his bearded face shone by
the light reflected by the monitors, his long gray hair rested on his broad
shoulders. Elena sighed. It was true! The legends, Camelot, her favorite,
Sir Gawain -- it was all true! Myrddin, Merlin! The mythical Wizard stood
looking directly at her exactly like she'd pictured him. !Que barbaridad!
"Welcome to my inner sanctum," said Myrddin, his voice mild and pleasant. "I
am Myrddin, a humble member of the Ancient Gathering."
Elena was impressed by the man's humility and obvious warmth. She felt a
strong urge to hug the Mage but decided to wait and see first. !Coitela!
Caution! her
aya had always warned.
"I believe I have the pleasure of addressing Elena Duran, daughter of
Roderigo Rubio, and Corazon Negro, son of Quetzalcohuatl, of the Aztlantaca
people," Myrddin continued.
"You are right, wise one," Corazon Negro answered. His gaze traveled across
the astonishing display of high-tech gear. "Wonderful place you've got here.
Very advanced."
Myrddin laughed. "It's nothing much really, Son of the Wolf," he declared.
"Still, these caverns have been my home for centuries. I will miss the
solitude. Until recently, it was always magnificently quiet -- except for
the
hum of the machinery, and the sounds made by my friends here," he said,
nodding to the wolves. "I knew you would have a special affinity for my
companions," he added, as he bent to pet one of them and was rewarded by
enthusiastic tail wagging. "It was a perfect place to conduct research
without interruption. But no longer. The traffic lately has become
unbearable." As if to punctuate his words, a human scream came from a
speaker, and Corazon Negro watched as one of the Hunters on one of the video
screens fell into a pit.
Elena deliberately avoided looking at the video monitors. The pit they had
encountered had had a bridge across it -- another upspring trap to guide
them
to the Mage. The Hunters were getting a different reception. Killing an
opponent in a fight was one thing, but this long-distance slaughter,
although necessary when the numbers were against you, was not to her liking.
It went against what she'd been taught a warrior should be; although she'd
also been taught that a warrior could not battle unless she survived. She
studied the ancient Immortal before her. Unlike her companion, Elena was not
interested in the place or the computers, only the man.
"Are you leaving?" asked Elena, picking up the thread of thought.
"Abandoning your haven?" She knew how hard it was to leave home -- after
all,
she'd lived in the same place, on and off, for almost five hundred years.
"I was only waiting for your arrival," answered Myrddin. "The Hunters are in
the labyrinth, armed with flamethrowers and machine guns. My traps killed
some, but more continue to come in. There seem to be an endless supply of
enemies. What a waste of lives! I could destroy them like the vermin they
are, but such pests are impossible to eradicate completely. They are like
ants."
"An apt comparison," Corazon Negro said.
Myrddin nodded. "Now that the Watchers -- and especially the Hunters -- know
of
me and my whereabouts, they will always return."
Watchers and Immortals alike knew about Elena's estancia in Argentina, and
Immortals did, periodically, come for her; but obviously she wasn't the kind
of prize that the famous Myrddin was!
"Agreed. So what do we do next?" Corazon Negro asked.
"There is no reason to remain. I've been making preparations for the past
hour. It will only take a few minutes to finish the job. Go now, my loyal
friends," he said to the wolves that started to run, disappearing into the
tunnel. "I will miss them, but wild animals can always cope, and they know
where to go," the Mage whispered more to himself than to Elena or Corazon
Negro.
It occurred to Elena that, alone for centuries, Myrddin must talk to
himself -- and to his wolves -- a lot. "Well, we're leaving, but what about
the
Hunters?" she asked. "You don't want to leave all these enemies alive to
fight another day, do you?"
Myrddin smiled unpleasantly. "After I blow up all the entrances, they will
be trapped in the maze. They are going to be permanent guests in my cave.
Poetic justice, in my humble opinion." He pressed another series of keys. He
nodded in satisfaction. "I've used sliding walls to seal off the passages
leading to the buried exits. The maze now forms a self-contained loop with
no visible means of departure. It is a labyrinth with no beginning or end."
Stepping away from the keyboard, Myrddin tugged at a switch on a control
panel on the wall. "That fuses the mechanisms in all the equipment outside
this chamber. It also opens all the pits and traps."
"You seem to be well prepared for disaster," said Corazon Negro.
"Always. I expect the worst and I'm rarely disappointed. Are you ready to
depart?" he said, as he typed the word, 'Unload'. He pulled out a stainless
steel briefcase and opened it, revealing two foam inserts. A minute later
there were two hunks and he reached into the machinery and pulled out two
blocks, which he fit into the briefcase. He snapped it closed and handed the
case to Corazon Negro. "Take care of this, and don't try to open the
case. It's booby-trapped."
"It must be valuable," the Aztec commented.
"Valuable? Yes! It holds my entire encyclopedia."
"Encyclopedia?" repeated Elena.
"An annotated index of Immortals. It was originally Methos' idea, now mine,"
said Myrddin smiling. "It could hold the secret Lilitu fears." Then he
retrieved a black notebook. "This is a very powerful personal computer,
designed to my specifications. Hand me that coat from the closet, will you?"
he asked Elena, who complied. He slipped the computer into one of its
pockets, then reached into a closed case and pulled out a sheathed long
sword with a beautifully detailed wheel pommel and straight cross-guard, and
belted it on. It had a diamond section steel blade with ricasso, and a long
wooden grip wrapped with leather. A Celtic long sword.
"Excalibur," he commented simply, as Elena drew in her breath, staring
openly at one of the most famous weapons in history or legend.
Myrddin pulled a second switch on the control panel. A section of the wall
slid back, revealing a small closet-like compartment. "Shall we?"
Elena and Corazon Negro stepped inside and Myrddin squeezed in after them.
It was a tight fit, but the door closed without any problems. Power hummed
and an unseen hand pressed down on them. The compartment was an elevator and
it hurtled upward at an astonishing rate of speed. As they neared the top, a
dull thump echoed through the cavern. A second followed. Then another after
another, until the air was filled with a muffled roar. The floor shook, as
if an enormous hammer had hit it.
"Explosives detonating at the thirty-seven different entrances to my cave,"
explained Myrddin. "I'm destroying them all. The tunnels are sealed. No one
can get in or out. Three, two, one," Myrddin counted down. A thunderous roar
greeted the last number. "The explosive charges just brought down the
ceiling of the inner sanctum. Unfortunately I can't destroy the entire cave
complex, as the town of Glastonbury above us might just sink into the
ground. In another ten seconds, this shaft will also collapse. Thus, when
the door opens, I would advise that we make haste."
They made it out of the chamber with three seconds to spare. A hundred tons
of rock ensured that no one would follow.
"Where are we?" asked Elena. They were inside a building filled with boxes
of electronic equipment. "What is this place?"
"It is one of the several warehouses I own throughout Glastonbury," answered
Myrddin. "I use the elevator to transport important computer equipment down
to my cave."
"What about your equipment?" asked Corazon Negro. "You're abandoning that,
too?"
"Don't worry; even if a group of diggers using heavy equipment reach that
cavern, the computers have been destroyed, and equipment is replaceable."
Myrddin smiled. "I have dwelled in this region for more than a thousand
years. It is time for me to leave and settle elsewhere after we kill Lilitu.
Tintagel, perhaps. Maybe Stonehenge. Or even better, back to Cornwall." He
seemed to consider it carefully then added, "I mean, if we survive."
"Before you make any travel plans," Corazon Negro said respectfully, "We
need to find the other members of the Ancient Gathering, starting with
Heru-sa-aset. The Prince is still outside in the town. He made it possible
for us to get down here to you. After we find him we can check the
information you have about our mutual enemy."
"Heru-sa-aset is here?" Myrddin asked smiling. "Well, that is a surprise.
The Prince never abandons his fortress in the Ural Mountains. I'm flattered.
It will be my pleasure to come with you to reveal everything I know, then to
face Lilitu." He led them to the end of the warehouse, where he pulled the
cover off a vintage silver Jaguar. "At least we can travel in style," he
said. The engine purred smoothly as the warehouse door opened and they drove
out into the darkness of a back street.
"First order of business -- find Heru-sa-aset," Myrddin sighed, gripping the
wheel. "We have a battle on our hands, children. Until that monster and her
Headless Children are destroyed, none of us will be safe, Immortals or
mortals."
"Amen," Elena said.
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