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The Hypogeum Ch. 01

By: virtualatheist



"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love." - Martin Luther King 

The older of the two men adjusted his cuff links as he sat and waited for the other to pour him a whisky and soda. He accepted the glass and raised it to his thin, cruel lips and took a small sip, a brief moment of enjoyment and then a nod. 

This was good whisky. 

He waited as the younger man settled himself into the other chair in the plush office and then silently indicated with a wave of his manicured hand that his underling should report. He liked that word, 'underling'. It had a ring to it that appealed to him, employee seemed crass and minion was overstated. No, underling was the word of choice and also how he viewed everyone that he came into contact with. 

Well, almost everyone. 

Richard Hardacre took a sip of his own drink and looked around the managing director's office of the latest acquisition of, and new headquarters of WinCom. He could not understand why, Sir Nigel Winthrop, one of the most powerful captains of industry had decided to move his centre of operations to Salisbury from the towers of Canary Wharf in London. 

There was an ornately carved and highly polished, oak desk behind which sat a high-backed, executive chair. On the desk were a leather blotter pad, two telephones and a gold Parker pen placed centrally in front of the blotter. A small assortment of lush, green potted plants sat in front of the wide window, that allowed the viewer a panoramic view of Salisbury with the Cathedral in the middle distance. To one side sat a modern meeting table surrounded by six plain chairs and one throne-like affair. At the other end of the table set into the wall, was a small aquarium, home to an assortment of rare and highly expensive tropical fish. The men were seated in two red leather chesterfield armchairs. 

Richard grimaced inwardly at the artful falseness of it all. This was an office designed to look like the seat of power, a power that Sir Nigel Winthrop was born to, but did not in Richard's opinion carry off, not quite. 

Richard took another sip of his drink before speaking in his rich, deep voice, "He knows there is something unusual about DataVault, but he has no real understanding of it. I know that he's mentioned it to a few of his team, but all of them have been checked out and... warned." 

"Warned? I hope you were careful." 

"Sir, please. I think I know how to handle this sort of situation, I've been in this business for a long time." 

Sir Nigel Winthrop shifted slightly in his seat, "Nonetheless, we have worked too long and too hard on this project for it to be placed in jeopardy." 

Hardacre leaned forward slightly to interrupt, "Sir Nigel-" 

A warning finger cut him short, "Mr Hardacre, I believe that you have had to be reminded of your place before." 

Sir Nigel waited until his subordinate fell silent before continuing, "As I was saying, we have worked too long and too hard on this project for it to be placed in jeopardy, especially now at this most crucial of times," he regarded Hardacre's puzzled expression and continued, "There is more, much more than you can imagine, coming together in our plan. We are at a crucial stage and any threat, however minimal must be dealt with." 

He fixed a stern gaze upon Richard Hardacre and murmured, "Am I quite clear?" 

The younger man did not return the stare, but dropped his eyes to his drink as he absently used his thumb to turn the platinum wedding band on the third finger of his left hand, "Crystal... Sir," was his only response. 

Suddenly, Sir Nigel's mood seemed to lighten, "Come on Richard, no need to be so surly. After all, it's not the first time you have had to orchestrate something necessary, if somewhat distasteful." 

Richard knocked back his drink in a single gulp and forced his outward appearance to hide the rage that he felt inside. 

The insufferable old fool! Full of mysterious nonsense about his supposed secret society. Placing himself over the likes of hard working, confident and diligent Richard Hardacre, just because of who his great, great grandfather killed to get a title! None of his money earned. Born into it, just as he was born into a select section of society forever denied to Richard, based purely on the throw of genetic dice. 

Hardacre stood up and adjusted his tie before bowing slightly to Sir Nigel, "Well, I have my orders Sir, so if you'll excuse me, I need to start attending to things. Sometimes the brushwood needs to be swept away so that the great trees can survive." 

His superior nodded, "That is not an analogy that I am altogether comfortable with, but yes, you are correct," before waving Hardacre away in dismissal. 

Richard left the room silently. Sir Nigel watched him exit through the carved oak door and then murmured, "Careful Mr Hardacre, you are not the only tool at my disposal, and you are far from indispensable." 

Sir Nigel stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankles, savouring his whisky and soda. He gazed out of the window as he thought about the plan, the plan that he was helping to set in motion. The plan that would make him even richer and more powerful than he already was. 

Richard Hardacre waited at the door of the lift that was the only way in and out of Sir Nigel's penthouse office suite. He grimaced as he waited for the lift to arrive, ignoring Sir Nigel's personal assistant who was busily filing. He was fuming inwardly as once again he was being used to 'orchestrate something necessary and distasteful.' 

Sir Nigel lived in a world of euphemism and wouldn't sully his palate with words like theft, blackmail or murder. But still required them to take place from time to time and as usual he, Richard Hardacre, was to be the instrument of choice. 

The lift arrived and the doors slid open with a gentle electronic ding. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the fourth floor. 

Once back in his own office, nowhere near as plush or comfortable as the one he had just left, Richard Hardacre 

thought briefly about the terse conversations he had held with several members of one of the teams of programmers employed at the company. The veiled threats involving sacking and blacklisting if they talked about DataVault, a brand new computer security product that WinCom was working on, aimed at the higher end of the corporate scale, and especially if they discussed with anyone the separate routine that Eric Jenkins and his small group on the third floor were developing in the highest security section of the building. A routine that even he, the Head of Security had no knowledge except for the name, Hypogeum. 

Richard reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a printed list of names, all of which were crossed out, except one. Jonathon Baines, the lead programmer for the team in question. He knew the name and a little about the man, but had no personal experience of him. However, that would change tomorrow when Baines came for his interview. 

CHAPTER ONE 

"Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible." - Marcel Proust 

Alma Baines glanced out of the window of her kitchen briefly; she could have sworn she saw movement in the shadow of the apple tree that dominated the back garden of the three-bedroom, semi-detached house she shared with her husband. 

Probably next door's cat again, she thought to herself as she brushed an errant lock of her shoulder length, strawberry blonde hair from her eyes, then continued buttering the bread that would accompany the bowl of onion soup she was preparing. The microwave beeped and she transferred the steaming bowl to a small wooden tray that already held two mugs of tea. No sugar in hers, but three in Jonathon's. She shuddered once again at the thought and then piled the bread on to a small plate that also went onto the She collected the tray and navigated her way out of the cluttered kitchen, around the tall kitchen stool that Jonathon kept meaning to fix. Alma let a small grin pass over her delicate features as she thought about how long he had been 'meaning to fix' that particular item. Not in this lifetime, she thought to herself. She butted the light switch with her chin to turn the kitchen light off and then passed across the narrow hallway and into the small dining room. Or at least, originally built to be a dining room, it had been turned into a home office that both used for official work and for other IT jobs that came their way in order to supplement their not altogether satisfactory salaries. 

Alma paused in the doorway and looked at where Jonathon sat at his desk, staring into a screen full of computer code. She regarded the light thinning of his hair at the crown, that was all the more noticeable due to his very dark colouring. He heard her behind him, glanced at the clock in the bottom right corner of the monitor, and turned to face his wife with a slightly embarrassed grin, "Sorry Alma, I didn't realise it was so late." 

Alma smiled back, "Don't worry. I know you're cutting the deadlines close on this one." She placed the tray on the desk next to him and said, "Eat up. You'll need your strength later," and made a sound like a cat purring. 

Jonathon responded to the comment by digging into the food with gusto, although Alma thought the mood was lost slightly as he howled like a wolf after he had swallowed the first mouthful. That was one of the things about him that had originally attracted her to him. Not handsome and with a bit of a paunch, but there was a certain something about his olive complexion and dark, almost black eyes, in addition to his sometimes child-like, but not childish manner. 

Jonathon on the other hand, always maintained that he had no idea how he had managed to marry such a beautiful woman. The hair, the heart-shaped face with delicate, elfin features and those eyes. Those blue eyes that were seemed to range from a rich, cornflower blue when she was happy, but turned into sparkling sapphires when she was angry or aroused. 

Jonathon wolfed down the food and then took a sip of his tea, before burping gently into his hand as he mumbled, "That was lovely, thanks." 

Alma sipped her tea and then leaned back to stretch her spine muscles. 

Jonathon reached over to gently stroke her large, baby filled tummy and asked, "Want me to give you a back rub tonight?" 

She enjoyed the feeling as his warm hand slid from side to side across her abdomen, "Mmmm, please. You certainly know how to get on my right side."

Jonathon moved back towards the desk and said, "Okay, I'll just save this and then we'll get to bed." 

Both mugs of tea were forgotten and left on the tray as Jonathon saved his work, switched off the computer and followed his wife upstairs to their bedroom. 

Alma lay naked on her side and snuggled her head into the pillow as Jonathon applied some lotion to his hands and then began to work them up and down her spine in long, sweeping strokes. She loved it when Jonathon massaged her aching back, but could not contain a giggle when he touched the sensitive part between her shoulder blades. She revelled in the love she could feel through his fingers as they worked their magic on her aches and pains. Her eyes started to close, but opened suddenly with a start, "That's not my back, Mister!" she cried. 

With artful innocence, Jonathon answered, "Oh, sorry missus, slip of the hand." And moved his fingers back to her spine. 

She glanced over her shoulder and looked him in the eye, "I didn't say it was unwelcome. Get those fingers back there right now!" 

Jonathon's eyes flashed and the boyish grin returned, "If you insist." 

She felt him touch her intimately once again and re-closed her eyes as the gentle sensations started to build. She felt his lips plant butterfly kisses on her neck and she moaned, before lifting her free arm around her back so that she could touch her husband as he was touching her. Slowly they fell into 

the tender motions that were the physical manifestation of the love they shared.

The alarm clock sang it's harsh melody in the morning. Jonathon reached out and hit it with the palm of his hand to stop the noise, before yawning deeply and rubbing his eyes. He sat up, stretched and looked over at Alma, still asleep on her side with one leg poking out from under the duvet. 

He quietly climbed out of bed and moved round to her side so he could carefully push the straying limb back onto the mattress and cover it back up. Then he went to the bathroom to complete his morning ablutions before dressing and made his way downstairs for breakfast. 

Jonathon was munching his way through his second slice of toast and orange marmalade when a bleary-eyed Alma appeared in the kitchen door, wrapped in a towelling bathrobe. 

"Morning Lazybones," he said chirpily. 

Alma ignored him and ambled over to the mug of fresh tea that waited on the side for her, "How can you be so bloody cheerful at," she glanced at the clock, "six bloody thirty in the morning?" 

In truth, Alma was not a morning person and could not for the life of her understand how anyone could be in a good mood before at least nine o'clock and the second cup of tea of the day! 

Her husband grinned, brushed the crumbs from the front of his shirt and gave her a peck on the cheek. Well used to the morning monster he had married, he brushed off her bad temper, "It's the best part of the day. Besides when I wake up, the first thing I see is you, so how could I be anything other than happy?" 

"Sod off!" 

Jonathon chuckled and kissed her on the cheek again, "You're just pissed 

off because you have to stay at home for now." He patted her lightly on the tummy, "It won't be for ever and you'll soon be back at work, and probably wishing you were back at home again." 

Suddenly contrite, Alma whispered, "I'm sorry, Love. I'm just not a morning person. And I am so bored stuck here at home all day, it's driving me up the wall." 

Jonathon gathered her in his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head, "Two or three more weeks until Junior makes the grand entrance, six weeks maternity leave after that and then we'll both be back in the office earning his university fees." 

Alma was forced to laugh, "I suppose," she gently disengaged from his embrace and planted a kiss on his lips, "Anyway, talking of work. Get a move on or you'll be late." 

It was Jonathon's turn to look at the clock, "Oh Christ!" He grabbed his jacket and briefcase and half ran to the front door, with a shouted "Bye, see you later!" as the door slammed shut, he was off down the path to his car and away. 

Alma finished her tea in a couple of large mouthfuls and then contemplated returning to her warm bed. She resigned herself to staying up, even though not a morning person, once Alma was up, she was up. She walked out of the kitchen and accidentally brushed the faulty stool with her hip, the loose leg shifted in the joint and it fell over... again. So she picked it up... again! 

Silently, she cursed Jonathon for still not sorting it out and then once she was sure it wouldn't collapse again, made her way upstairs to brush her teeth, shower and get dressed, ready to begin another day stuck at home. 

She chided her unborn baby, "You better be worth all this, kid!" As if in response to her comment, she felt a, now familiar, sensation of a kick. 

She grinned to herself, "Not born yet and already arguing with your Mum."

Once cleaned and dressed, Alma made herself busy with the daily routine of house cleaning. 

Jonathon arrived at work and switched on his computer. He had an email waiting and was surprised to see that it was from Richard Hardacre, "What on Earth does he want?" he wondered as he read the terse message to report to Hardacre's office at ten o'clock sharp. Somewhat nonplussed, Jonathon set his machine to remind him at ten minutes to ten, so he could be up on the fifth floor in good time. He had never met Hardacre, but knew from others that the man was a stickler for punctuality and expressed the view that lateness was an insult not only to him, but also to the company, Her Majesty the Queen and God Almighty! 

He poured himself a coffee from the pot that was kept on the go at all times in the corner of the communal office that his team dwelled in, heaped three generous sugars into it and then took a sip before sitting back at his desk. It was only eight thirty, so Jonathon had plenty of time to look back over the coding he had written last night. He inserted his portable USB memory stick into the slot in order to save the program onto the team's directory on the server, but was surprised when the system would not allow him to access it. Jonathon telephoned the system support department. 

"Good morning, System Support." 

"Ah, hello. It's Jonathan Baines on the DataVault team. Employee ID number 67119B. My USB slot isn't working. Would you mind having a quick look at it please?" 

There was a pause and then the voice answered, "Sorry Mr Baines. It looks like your external storage rights have been revoked." 

"Eh? What? But I need them. I have a large amount of work on my USB stick and I need to get it into the shared directory." 

"Sorry. Your access has been revoked by the Security section." 

"Why? What on Earth for?" 

"I'm afraid I really can't comment on that. Sorry. -click" 

Jonathon was puzzled. Why would they remove his external access rights? He hadn't done anything wrong. Jonathon was aware of the sensitivity of the project he was working on, but he hadn't broken any rules that he was aware of. 

He leaned around his monitor and called out to one of his colleagues, "George, have they switched off your USB slot?" 

His colleague, a middle-aged man called George Finlay answered, "They did. But then I had an interview with Hardacre in security and I got it back later that day."

Jonathon frowned in perplexity, "I know this is pretty hush-hush, but they're going a bit over the top aren't they?" 

George answered, "I wouldn't know what they think to be honest. All I know is, I do my work, keep my trap shut and the mortgage gets paid," and turned back to his own workstation to continue working. 

Jonathon was stumped. This didn't make sense. They were nearing the closing stages of software development; in fact several sections were already in testing. The only component of the whole thing that he didn't know about was the Hypogeum routine that Jenkins was building upstairs. 

As he found himself unable to do anything, Jonathon was resigned to surfing the Internet until his appointment with Richard Hardacre. Unfortunately, his Internet Gateway access had also been suspended. He sighed and reached into his desk drawer for the paperback he usually read during his lunch break. 

Five minutes before ten o'clock, Jonathon found himself waiting outside 

Richard Hardacre's office, he could see the head of security though the half-open door. The man glanced up, saw Jonathon and checked his watch, before continuing to type on his keyboard. After another quick glance at his watch, he pressed the save key and waved Jonathon into the office. 

Richard indicated that Jonathon should close the door and motioned to a wooden chair placed in front of his desk. Jonathon sat down and waited for Richard to speak. Hardacre seemed to ignore him as he opened a file on his desk and quickly read through it. 

Jonathon was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, as the silence grew longer, until Richard cleared his throat and said, "I see you're married to another one of our employees, Mr Baines. Alma Baines, employee ID 345091B. Currently on maternity leave awaiting the birth of your first child."


The Hypogeum Ch. 01



"Yes. Due in a couple of weeks." 

Hardacre fixed Jonathon with a cold eye for a long moment before murmuring, "Congratulations." 

Not sure what to make of this interview, Jonathon asked a question of his own, "Mr Hardacre, can you tell me why my USB access was disabled?" 

Richard Hardacre looked Jonathon full in the face for the first time and answered, "Yes. Standard practice when an employee working on sensitive material turns out to be something of a security risk." 

Jonathon was shocked and blurted out, "Security risk? Me?" 

"Yes Mr Baines. You. Removing proprietary code from the premises, placing it on an un-cleared and unsecured system. Also, attempting to gain information from the Hypogeum team." 

Jonathon was amazed. He had taken work home many times in the past and had never been accused like this before, "What are you talking about?" he spluttered finally, "I've taken work home on any amount of occasions. My PC at home was placed there by the company and it's swept regularly for viruses and malicious code. I mean, the USB stick is one your department cleared before I was issued with it! And as for attempting to gain information on the Hypogeum, I really don't know what you mean!" 

Richard raised a hand, half in placation but also to stop Jonathon from talking further, "Your home PC does belong to the company as does your USB stick and both are, as you say, cleared for working on company software. But not DataVault. I am sure that you understand the company's need to take great care in handling DataVault, when you consider that it will be the number one security watchdog for almost all of the major corporations and banks." 

Jonathon's mouth fell open, "How can you know that? It's still being built for God's sake. Won't be ready for final testing for at least two more months and even that depends on this Hypogeum thing being ready for installation... Which reminds me what do you mean by attempting to gain information from the Hypogeum team? I spoke to Eric Jenkins once and asked him about it, he told me it was most hush-hush and he couldn't say anything. I've never asked again!" 

Richard Hardacre's voice was cold when he responded; " I know that DataVault will be the number one security software on the market because I have great faith in the company Mr Baines. Faith I feel that you do not share."

"Oh come on! Of course I have faith, but I'm also a realist. We won't know if it's a success until we see the orders coming in." 

There was a long drawn out pause as both men stared at each other. 

Jonathon could feel his colour rising as he was both annoyed and embarrassed that this man could make him feel like something of a naughty schoolboy. Hardacre on the other hand was wearing his usual bland expression and Jonathon could not read anything in his demeanour about what he was thinking. 

Suddenly, Richard smiled, an expression that did not come naturally to him, "Of course Mr Baines." He slipped a pre-printed form from the folder and slid it across the desk towards Jonathon, "Sign this please." 

As he automatically reached for the pen in his jacket pocket, Jonathon asked, "What is it?" 

"Merely the standard security declaration and agreement to abide by company policy." 

Never having heard of such a form, Jonathon scanned through it before signing. His eyes alighted on one of the sub-clauses, namely: 

"6g. The employee, if having been found in breech of company security regulations and policies shall be immediately dismissed from the company and escorted from the building. Signature of this declaration indicates the individual's agreement to waive normal dismissal procedures and also agrees to waive all employee statutory rights in this case." 

Jonathon was appalled, "This is outrageous! And it can't be legally binding. I refuse to sign." 

Hardacre lost his smile, "All employees working for this company will be required to sign once DataVault goes live Mr Baines. For now though, only those who are working on it must sign. At least they must if they wish to continue working here. Think of your position. A new addition to the family on the way, sadly in the light of the current economic climate, downsizing may be the only option open to WinCom. It would be a shame if you were to be made redundant and your wife, Thelma, isn't it? If Thelma found that she had no job to come back to." 

Jonathon could barely hold his temper in check, "That sounds like blackmail to me!" 

"Why no, Mr Baines. This is merely a discussion on the options open to WinCom based purely on economics. The politics of the marketplace can be fickle."

Jonathon didn't trust himself to speak without really losing his temper; he knew that Hardacre was correct. He had rights as an employee, but he was also a realist and he knew that WinCom wouldn't think twice about using one of their high-priced lawyers to fight an unfair dismissal case. He could stand on his rights, go to court and then spend the next five years tied up in red tape and bureaucracy... whilst his family starved. He sighed heavily and then signed the form. Jonathon slid it back across the desk and stood up, "If you have nothing else, I'd like to get back to work now." 

Richard placed the form carefully back in the flimsy folder and then said, "Thank you for your time Mr Baines. Your permissions will be granted immediately and you should be able to use your USD stick by the time you are back at your desk. A word of caution however, from this point on, no coding that frames part of the DataVault project will leave this building. Other programs, yes. DataVault no. Under any circumstances. You may go."

He waited until Jonathon had left the room and then reached for his telephone and whilst he waited for the connection, looked at the photographs that were also in the folder, hidden under the flap while Jonathon had been in the room, one was a poor quality black and white image of a remarkably pretty young woman looking out of a kitchen window, "Sir Nigel? I've spoken to him and sadly I must agree with you. I will make the necessary arrangements... Yes Sir, I'm aware of that. It's a shame though, she is rather pretty... You want what, Sir... I see. Do we really have to... Yes Sir... I understand, but that will make the job a lot more difficult to... Yes Sir. Goodbye." 

Hardacre pressed the button on the phone to clear the line and made another call, "Davy? I have a job for you... Yes, one of those jobs," he couldn't keep the distaste out of his voice as he continued, "And I think you probably like this one. Be in my office at seven o'clock tonight." 

He replaced the handset back on the telephone and looked again at the photo of Alma. He really didn't understand why she had to be dealt with as well, for as far as he was aware, she had nothing to do with the current situation. But orders were orders. If anything Sir Nigel seemed more interested in having Alma dealt with than her husband, who, if Richard were any judge, seemed to be classed as collateral damage and nothing more. He pondered, or maybe there was more to this after all. Maybe they wanted Alma Baines to suffer before she died, although he was puzzled as to why that should be. Still that was really not his business, a fact that Sir Nigel liked to rub his nose in quite regularly. The society or committee or whatever they were, wanted Jonathon Baines to die and they wanted Alma Baines to suffer horribly and then die, and he was the agent that would make sure it happened. 

When Jonathon arrived home that evening, he was still livid about his treatment at the hands of Richard Hardacre. Alma was equally angry once he had explained. She stormed into the kitchen and slammed the cups down as she made each of them a hot drink. 

Jonathon followed her into the kitchen and listened as she raged, "That awful pipsqueak! Who the Hell does he think he is? I'll tell you what Johnny! I'll tell you what! I'm not going back there again. I mean, I know we could do with the money right now, but I'll be buggered if I work for a company that wants me to sign away all my rights! And I think you should start casting about for a new job Jonathon was content to let her stamp about and shout until she ran down and then, once she had calmed down, they would be able to discuss their next move. Although he had to agree, that her current choice of finding new employment seemed rather attractive to him too. 

They sat in silence in the living room, both lost in their own thoughts as the television droned on in the background. Normally, Alma would be watching a soap opera at this time of the early evening, but at the moment, she wasn't in the mood for light entertainment. 

She reached out and placed her hand on his, "So, what do we do?"

Jonathon blew out heavily and then answered, "I'm still for finding a new job. WinCom don't have to know about it until I get something, then I hand my notice in and move straight from one to the other. I think you should stay there for now, at least until you are ready to go back to work. I see no reason why those arrogant bastards can't continue to pay you for staying at She didn't like the idea of continuing her professional relationship with WinCom, but Alma did see the good sense in what Jonathon was saying. 

"Okay, " she agreed, "I'll stay with WinCom, at least for now. But you start looking around elsewhere. Start tomorrow!" 

Jonathon grinned at her, "I will. I promise," he glanced at his watch and stifled a yawn, "Early night? Dunno about you, but I'm knackered. Been quite a big day, today." 

Alma yawned in sympathy and then agreed to an early night. 

As they snuggled together under the duvet, neither was aware of a dark figure stood in the shadows at the side of their house. He looked up at the bedroom window and waited for the light to be switched off. Dressed in dark clothing and wearing a black balaclava, the figure pulled a small package and a soot-blackened blade from his pocket and knelt down next to Jonathon's car. He reached underneath and placed the package against the fuel tank, where it stuck with a gentle clang as the magnet took hold. Then, with the blade he made a quick slice into a pipe that was attached to the back wheel. He stood up and faded back into the shadows, "Nice one Davy," he thought to himself as he made his way back through the back garden and over the fence to the alleyway beyond where a dark blue Mercedes Sedan was waiting. 

The engine revved slightly and then the vehicle made its quiet way out of the alleyway and away from The Baines residence.



The Hypogeum Ch. 02-03



CHAPTER TWO 

"The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character." - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

As was usual, the front door of 42 Welby Drive in the sleepy Wiltshire village of Morton Abbas slammed shut and Jonathon climbed behind the wheel of his beloved Peugeot 307. He turned the key in the ignition, slipped the car into reverse and drove backwards off his drive and into the road. Selecting first, he pulled smoothly forwards and began his usual commute into Salisbury. 

Jonathon never noticed the small lake of dark fluid that had pooled on the surface of the drive that had a dim rainbow patina in the harsh morning light. He was rather preoccupied this morning due to his impending search for new employment and didn't even notice the dark blue Mercedes pull in behind him as he left the country road that connected his village to the A345. 

As he approached the slip road onto the major road, he increased speed to match the already impressive mass of traffic. 

The small nick in the break line continued its ceaseless dripping as fluid left the system and spattered on the road in tiny droplets. The first Jonathon knew about the problem with his brakes was when he hit the build-up of traffic as he approached the West Harnham area of Salisbury. He applied pressure to the middle pedal and it took him a moment to realise that he was not slowing down. 

He started to panic as he could see the break lights on the large articulated lorry in front of him shine red. Jonathon had time to stamp ineffectively on the brake pedal one last time before the little car slammed directly into the back bumper of the lorry. The crumple zone did its job and Jonathon stared in slow motion horror as the scene in front of him played out. The bodywork of his car crunched harshly as it contertina'd backwards, the radiator and its mounting took the brunt of the impact and sheared backwards into the engine block. The front wheels moved sideways and skewed as the shockwave travelled backwards towards Jonathon. It seemed like years, but was only an instant as the airbag in the steering wheel deployed. The plastic casing flew off and up towards the windscreen that was cracking and splintering. 

Jonathon jolted forwards and his face embedded itself into the rough canvas, then he snapped back sharply to sit in his seat. He blinked and watched as the airbag, its job done, deflated almost as rapidly as it had deployed. 

Dimly he could hear the shouts and cries of alarm of the other road users and looked from side to side. He vaguely registered a dark car slip silently past him, but could not see the passenger in the back seat press a button on the casing of a small, black plastic box. The tiny explosive package attached to the fuel tank exploded and ignited the petrol it contained, the fireball engulfed the car and Jonathon briefly registered heat, pain and then he died. 

The passenger in the Mercedes made a call on his mobile phone and said, "Part one accomplished," before replacing the phone in his pocket and indicating to the driver that they should be elsewhere before the emergency services arrived. 

It was mid-morning when Alma heard the front door bell ring as she was washing up. She glanced at the clock and wondered who it could be while she quickly dried her hands on a tea towel and walked to the front door. She opened the door and was surprised to see two uniformed policemen on the step. The taller of the two, removed his hat and asked, "Mrs Baines? Mrs Alma Baines?" 

Alma ran cold, "Yes... What's happened?" 

Her expression turned from mild worry to dread as the officer answered quietly, "May we come in?" 

The dark shadow of doubt and worry started to fill her mind as she led them inside and into the kitchen. She didn't know why she led them in there, rather than in the living room. It was as though she knew they had bad news and she didn't want to hear what they had to say, she wanted to get back to the washing up and continue normally as if they weren't there. 

Sadly though, she couldn't. 

Again, she asked, "What's happened? Is it Johnny?" 

She waited as the policeman gathered his thoughts and then told her, "I'm sorry Mrs Baines, but I'm afraid your husband has been involved in a traffic collision this morning in Salisbury." 

A cold shiver ran down her spine, "What! Is he okay? Where is he?" 

The policeman held his hat in both hands in front of him, turning it slowly in his hands as he responded in as gentle fashion as he could manage, "I'm afraid he's dead. He died at the scene... I'm so sorry." 

"Johnny? Dead? No! You're a liar! I saw him this morning..." 

Alma looked from one policeman to the other and back again as she desperately tried to make sense of what she had been told. She was desperate for them to start smiling as though it was really a joke and her Jonathon was coming back to her. Then the reality hit and she staggered, dropping the tea towel onto the floor, she took a step forward and tripped on the towel, as she stumbled, Alma reached out to steady herself on the nearest thing to hand, which was the kitchen stool. 

Horrified, the policeman nearest to Alma reached out to grab her as she fell heavily on top of the collapsing stool. Her head hit the corner of the kitchen worktop and she grunted as pain exploded through her skull. She saw bright lights against a black field and slipped into unconsciousness. There was a loud crack when the leg finally snapped off completely and he could only stare at the small figure lying face-down on top of the broken chair and saw a pool of thick red fluid seeping from underneath her. 

The sight of blood spurred him into action and the young policeman knelt down next to Alma. He could see a large mark on her forehead just above her left eye that was slightly scratched and little droplets of blood were beginning to form along its length. 

His partner was talking rapidly into his radio, requesting an ambulance as a matter of urgency. But he took no notice of that as he gently moved Alma onto her side. He could see that short length of wood that had been part of the leg of the stool had split into a sharp point, which had embedded itself into the side of her abdomen. He was tempted to pull it out, but then his training kicked in and he left it where it was, as he knew that even though it looked bad, it was probably helping to seal the wound and was stopping Alma from losing blood a lot more rapidly. 

He felt helpless because all he could do was watch and wait for the ambulance to arrive. 

* * *

Alma was walking through a forest. It was a bright sunny day and light was twinkling through the lush green leaves that formed a canopy high above her head. She could hear the gentle twittering of birds high in the trees, going about their daily business and when she came near to a babbling stream, she watched as a Roe deer stared at her nervously guarding a fawn that was gulping down small mouthfuls of the clear, cold water. 

Alma backed slowly away from the animals in order not to frighten them away and turned off along another path that wended its way between the trees. Even though she was in such a peaceful and calm setting, Alma was puzzled and a little bit frightened, she had lost something and she needed to find it. 

She stopped suddenly as a sharp pain stabbed her in the stomach. She almost cried out, but as quickly as the pain had, it had gone and left only a mild, dull ache in its place. She rubbed her stomach lightly and then continued on her way. 

Suddenly, Alma came to a clearing. She could see a small, brick-built cottage that seemed rather modern and somewhat out of place in such a picturesque setting. A small tilled area of land lay at the western wall of the house and Alma could see lines of small green plants stood in it. 

She walked up to the front door, but before she could knock, it opened and a very old woman stared at her. Alma asked, "Can you help me? I've lost something, but I don't know what it is... I only know, I've lost it." 

The old woman studied Alma's face for a long moment before she answered, "I think you'd better come inside, child. I have the kettle on the go, so we can have a nice drink and you can tell me all about it."

Alma followed the old woman into the house uncertainly. Once inside, her fears dimmed somewhat. The inside of the house was a single room that was mainly given over to a cross between a kitchen and what she would imagine a medieval alchemist's laboratory would look like. To one side asset of rough-hewn steps led up to a platform that contained the sleeping quarters. The whole affair was more in keeping with the aesthetic of the forest than the exterior of the house, which seemed to be far too modern and austere. 

The old woman waved toward a finely carved wooden chair, "Sit down, child. Make yourself comfy and I'll get you a drink. Do you drink Camellia?" 

"What's Camellia?" 

The old woman laughed to herself and then answered, "I be forgetting myself. You call it tea I'm thinking." 

"Oh, yes. Yes I'd love some tea please, Miss...?" 

The old woman turned and looked Alma full in the face, her blue eyes that had seemed dim and misty now shone with inner fire and her face took on a disapproving aspect, "Oh don't be calling me Miss or Mrs or Madame. Taika, I be called with none of your fangled titles and such." 

Alma shrank back in her chair with an involuntary shudder. There was a power in this strange old lady that she did not understand and it scared her. The fire died in Taika's eyes and her expression returned to a welcoming, friendly smile, "Be of no mind young Alma. I'm old and some things irritate the old folk like perhaps they shouldn't." 

She grabbed a small handful of dried leaves from a glass jar on a small shelf next to her open fire that had an old fashioned cauldron full of bubbling water set above it and crushed them with her hand as she sprinkled them into a wooden mug. Taking a ladle that hung next to the shelf, she carefully spooned some boiling water into the cup, a quick stir with the other end of the ladle and then she handed the mug to Alma. "Have a care now, child. It be hot," she warned. 

Alma gratefully accepted the drink and took a cautious sip. Taika was right, it was very hot, but also very tasty, just this side of bitter, but with a sparkling after taste. Then a thought struck her, "How did you know my name? I never told you it." 

Taika had filled a mug of her own with Camellia and sat down opposite Alma, she ignored the question but posed one of her own, "What you be searching for, here in The Forest?" 

The younger woman could almost hear the capital letters that Taika used when she referred to the forest and answered, "I... I don't know. I just know I've lost something-" 

Again she felt a stab in her belly and this time the pain made her double over. She cried out and dropped her mug on the floor where it clattered and bounced and spilled its contents all over the reed covered stone flags, and once again, the pain disappeared just as rapidly as it had attacked. Alma could feel her eyes fill with stinging tears as she whispered, "I'm sorry, I've made a mess." 

Taika hadn't moved, but she responded kindly enough, "Pay the drink no mind, Alma. And think not for now about what be lost and what you be forgetting. It'll come to you in time, I have no doubts." 

She glanced out of the window and noted, "The sky be darkening and I'm sure I smelled a thunder storm coming in." 

Taika reached into a pocket in her voluminous skirt and handed Alma a small handkerchief, "Dry your tears, Alma. Now be not the time for grief, no matter what you think... Or will be thinking soon. Now be the time for hope as well as happiness and love, or at least the beginnings of it. But only if you be strong and believe in yourself. Lose hope and lose all as they say. But as to who 'they' are I wouldn't know, but 'they' do have their share of common sense." 

Alma dabbed her eyes with the piece of soft cloth. She had a thousand questions for this strange old woman, but couldn't ask any of them. It was as though she had been struck dumb. 

Taika stood up and took Alma's hand, "Come child, time for sleeping I think." 

The young woman allowed Taika to lead her gently up the steps to the sleeping area, which turned out to be a huge pile of soft furs. Alma let Taika cover her as she lay still with her eyes closed. The old woman lightly stroked her forehead and whispered a mantra in an unknown language. Alma drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep. 

* * *

Countless hours later, a loud noise woke Alma with a start. She looked around and found herself in a metal-framed bed under a crisp white sheet. A machine off to one side had a screen showing her heart rate and blood pressure. There was a night table on the other side of her bed upon which stood a plastic jug of water and a small glass. The sound that had woken her was a large trolley being pushed along the hospital ward by a volunteer selling a selection of sweets, drinks and magazines. 

Somewhat bewildered, Alma wondered what had happened to Taika and the calm forest... And then the memories flooded back in. The policeman... falling... the sharp pain in her head. Thankfully that had gone now as she discovered when she pressed a finger lightly to the area just above her eye. She couldn't even feel any scarring. And then a further realisation hit her! Jonathon was dead. Her Johnny with the sunny, boyish disposition and the charming grin was gone forever. She started to cry as the grief filled her to the marrow. She had lost her love, her husband and the father of her child. Her stomach exploded in pain and she grimaced. 

Automatically, she reached down to cradle her baby as it slept in her womb whilst the pain subsided and looked down in horror when she didn't feel the familiar large tummy of a heavily pregnant woman. Her bump was gone. Her baby wasn't inside her any more! 

She screamed! 

A nurse appeared at her side and tried to calm her down, gently pressing Alma's shoulders back onto the mattress and whispering words of meaningless comfort. A doctor came to the other side of the bed, took a quick glance at the monitor and then slipped a syringe into the drip feeder that was bandaged into Alma's forearm. 

As the drugs took a hold, Alma calmed down and began to slip back to sleep. The doctor had to lean over Alma to hear what she was muttering as she slipped away again, "My baby... Where's my baby gone?" 

The doctor stood up and checked the readout again, "She'll be out for another two or three hours at least. Erica, could you page Dr Magnusson please, he'll want to be here when she wakes back up." 

The nurse nodded and hurried away to comply with his request. When Alma came back round, she opened her eyes and discovered that she had been moved to a smaller room set apart from the main ward. She shook her head to try and clear the muzziness and then she saw the middle-aged man dressed in old-fashioned tweeds sat in the cheap armchair across from her. He spoke with a soft Scottish accent, "I see you're awake Alma. Good afternoon, I'm Hamish Magnusson. I suspect that you have some questions for me."  

She was still a little confused and muttered, "Doesn't sound like a Scottish name." 

He laughed briefly and answered, "Och no, Mum was a Scot, but dad was Icelandic although I was raised in Scotland... What gave it away? Was it the tweeds? People always notice the tweeds." 

Alma couldn't help but laugh. Until the cobwebs cleared a little more and she remembered why she was here. Tears rose unbidden to her eyes once more as she recalled that Johnny was gone forever. She glanced down at where her stomach was under the sheet and where her baby should have been. "Where's my baby?" 

Dr Magnusson sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between finger and thumb before speaking, "I'm sorry Alma. When you fell, you were injured quite severely. A sharp piece of wood pierced your abdomen and hit the wee man. I'm so sorry. There's no easy way for me to tell you this. But I'm afraid you lost your child. We tried. God alone knows how we tried tae save him, but... I'm so very sorry." 

Alma was numb. She felt cold. Her world had collapsed and she was beyond crying. There were not enough tears in the world that would be enough to grieve over her lost husband and now her lost baby. She looked directly at Dr Magnusson and asked, "I was carrying a son?" 

"Aye." 

"I see." 

And then the tears did come. 

Alma lay in the bed and wept. She didn't cry out, she didn't scream. She just wept.

Silently. Her hands were tightly clasped together, one balled into a fist inside the other, and slowly she began to sob, louder and louder and louder until she released a scream, "NOOOOOOOOO!" 

The older man came to stand next to her and tried to take her hand. He could see that her nails were digging into the palm and blood was beginning to flow.

Gently but firmly, he broke her grip and took one of her hands into both of his. Unable to say anything to soothe the poor young woman who had lost everything, he merely held her hand and waited patiently for the grief to run its course. 

It was two weeks later that Alma was able to leave the hospital and return home. The taxi dropped her off outside her front door and she stood silently in front of it, unsure that she ever wanted to enter the house again. It no longer seemed like the home she had known and loved. 

There was a twinge of intense pain in her stomach, but as usual, before she really had time to react, it had gone leaving the usual dull ache in its place. It was the spur she needed to dig her keys out of her handbag; the policemen who had been with her at the time of her fall had retrieved it from the house and left it for her at the hospital. 

She placed the key in the lock and took a deep breath before turning it and pushing the door back. It swung wide open, but still she hesitated. Alma wasn't sure that all of her tears had been shed, or that she would be able to handle seeing the house again, especially now, without Jonathon and her son to make it a home. 

She turned and looked around at the street. Several curtains were twitching and she knew that the jungle drums were already signalling to each other as the local gossips passed the news of her return. She could see the streetlights were beginning to switch on as the late afternoon turned into early evening.

Across the road, almost directly in line with her drive, some workmen were digging up the road. Although as far as she could see, not a lot of work had taken place. 

They had set up a red and white tent that she supposed covered a manhole or something and one of the men, the youngest looking, swung lazily at the surface of the road with a pickaxe. However, two other men stood leaning against shovels, drinking tea and chatting quietly together. 

Both of the idle workmen were tall, one stood at about 6'2" with a serious demeanour and a solemn yet darkly handsome face. He had longish black hair tied back in a ponytail. 

The other tea drinker was something else, He looked like he was nearer 7 feet tall with massive shoulders and huge arms that were making the fabric of the donkey jacket he was wearing bulge and show real strain. 

Seemingly none of the men had registered her arrival, but she still felt a shiver down her spine as she got the impression that they were watching her. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 02-03



She never noticed the dark blue Mercedes that was parked about thirty yards up the road. Davy made a call on his mobile, "Hello Boss? She's home. Should I finish the job now?... Okay. I'll call you later when I'm done." 

He replaced the mobile phone in his jacket pocket and turned to the driver, "Move round the back. I'll go in through the garden again." 

He thought a moment about the pretty, young woman he had been ordered to kill and changed his mind. With a leer he said, "In fact, drop me here and head back. I think I might take a little time with this one." 

The driver ignored the comment. His only reaction was to look away in disgust as he realised what Davy had in mind and waited until his passenger had exited the vehicle before pulling away and returning to base. 

Davy looked around once or twice and then made his way round to the alleyway that ran along the back of the houses. Once he reached Alma's back gate, he looked up and down the alley to make sure the coast was clear before letting himself silently into the garden. Once inside, he settled himself in the shadow of the apple tree and waited until he saw movement through the window upstairs and then quietly let himself into the back door.

Alma took a deep breath and walked into her house, slamming the door shut behind her. She walked into the kitchen and found it almost exactly as she remembered. There was the sink, half full of dirty dishes, sitting in now awful smelling water. The tea towel, covered in dried blood lay on the floor and there was the remains of the stool, all except the piece that had stuck into her and had to be removed by the surgeon who had saved her life. She moved upstairs to their... her bedroom. 

She needed a bath. Alma, slipped off her clothing and looked at herself in the mirror. Her stomach was getting flatter again, but now had a feminine bulge. There was a small scar on the right hand side where the wood had stuck into her and a sprinkling of stretch marks around her lower belly. Her breasts were full and she remembered with mild distaste her instructions to use the milking device to empty them regularly. 

Once again she felt the pain in her belly. 

She would be pumping out the milk that was supposed to feed her baby. Alma moved in closely to the mirror so that she could examine the wound on her head. She was pleasantly surprised to see that it was barely noticeable as it was mostly hidden beneath her eyebrow. 

She grabbed a towel from the airing cupboard and went into the bathroom. The warm water felt very nice as she lay down almost flat. She could feel some of her aches and pains melting away as she wallowed. The bath did nothing to help the pain in her heart and her belly, but it did help her aching muscles. She had left the door of the bathroom open and as she bathed, 

Davy was watching. He had known she was pretty, but he hadn't realised just how attractive she was until now. His plans changed. He had intended to indulge in a bit of gratuitous torture before he strangled her, but now he had a better idea. 

He stormed into the bathroom and grabbed a shocked Alma by the shoulders. He pushed her down under the water and held her there as she struggled and kicked. He let her up and she breathed in heavily before gasping and started the scream. Davy released one shoulder and gave her a stinging backhanded slap across the face, before pushing her back under the water again. This time he held her for longer until her struggles started to weaken. 

Alma was panicking now, she couldn't breath and the blood was pounding in her head. She could feel herself weakening and was unable to take in why this was happening to her. Hadn't she suffered enough? Just before Alma lost consciousness, Davy pulled her back up and let her breath. 

As she gasped for air he snarled, "I could have killed you then. But I didn't. If you want to live, you better start being nice to me." 

As Alma desperately filled her lungs with air, his words registered. 

Oh God, No! 

CHAPTER THREE 

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

Alma knew what he was going to do. She started to struggle against him again, desperate to get away, but this only earned her another ringing slap. Her head snapped sideways with the force of the blow and she banged her head on the enamel of the edge of the bath. Neither of them noticed a small shadow hovering outside the window. More like an insect than a machine, tiny wings flapped rapidly in a figure-eight motion, holding the machine perfectly still. With tiny cameras for eyes, it recorded everything going on in the bathroom. 

The young workman sat in the small red and white tent, pulled the goggles away from his face and said, "Someone in the house. She's in danger!" 

The largest of the three men scrambled out of the tent and made his way quickly and quietly to the front door, he pushed a sliver of metal into the lock and waited for a moment for it to align itself with the design of the barrel, before turning it and silently entered the house. 

The long-haired workman also exited the tent and made his way around to the back of the house to make sure there weren't any other enemies around. 

Alma was in shock. She could only watch as this man... this monster dragged her roughly from the bath and across the landing into her bedroom. He picked her up and threw her onto the bed. He knelt down next to her and pinched her breast roughly, "Remember what I said. Better be nice to me, if you want to live." 

Davy had no intention of letting Alma see another day, but she didn't know that, so she lay naked on the bed and tried to withdraw inside herself even more so she couldn't be a part of what was about to happen. She watched with a dull glassy stare as he stood back up and started to release his belt buckle, he pushed his trousers down and was about to fall forwards on top of her when something startled him. 

A gargantuan arm appeared round his neck and another grabbed the side of his head. A quick and efficient movement broke Davy's neck with a sickly crunch. The tallest of the three workmen that Alma had seen earlier allowed the dead body to fall to the ground in front of him and looked down at Alma as she lay on the bed. The shock of her attack on top of the losses she had suffered already and now to see a human being brutally murdered in front of her, even if he was about to rape her, she found she could barely stomach the thought. 

The workman spoke quickly in mild, lilting Welsh tones, "I'm sorry you had to see that Lady, but I had no time left for niceties. If I'd seen him earlier, I might have done different. Never would I knowingly let you suffer so. It was only that a Watcher saw through the window that I'm here at all." 

Alma stared at him, whispered, "How can someone as big as you have such a quiet voice?" and then fainted backwards onto the bed.

The giant examined Alma briefly before he stalked across the room to the wardrobe and grabbed the first item of clothing that came to hand, which happened to be one of Jonathon's shirts. He gently sat her back up and cradled her in one arm as he slipped the shirt up her free arm, struggled to alter his grip of the tiny woman and pulled the other sleeve on, then he laid her back down and buttoned the shirt closed. 

"Is she injured, Aloysius?" asked a voice from the doorway. 

The giant looked up at the other tall workman who now stood in the doorway, his face full of concern. Aloysius shook his head, "No. Possibly in shock, but the scum was yet to harm her. I just thought it best to clothe the Lady and give her back some dignity." 

He stood back up, holding his head at a slight angle in order to avoid the ceiling and spoke again, "I felt nothing broke when I held her, but there's something not right, I could see it in her eyes. The Lady has pain inside." 

The other man nodded his agreement, "To lose her man and her little one all at once like this, it saddens me, but if Taika has the right of it, then there was no other way it could be." 

"Harrumph! I sometimes think Taika likes the playing of the game over the feelings of the players, Ranulf." 

He was about to respond when a commotion from the stairwell interrupted him. The third workman shouted up the stairs, "Ranulf, Aloysius! Should we not be making a move?" 

Ranulf's dark eyes flashed and then he snapped out orders, "Aloysius, get rid of the body. Loki, set some of your surprises here. I'll take the Lady to the Forest, if anyone can help her, they can." 

Loki ran back to the foot of the stairs and opened a large backpack he had dropped there, quickly he pulled out several small silver balls and rammed them into his pockets, before reaching back in and grabbing several tiny explosive devices. 

Back upstairs, Aloysius reached inside his jacket and retrieved a small emerald set in a silver brooch-like object. He ignored the strange patterns etched in the metal surround and placed his thumb on to the gem. He reached down with his other arm and lifted the dead body by the scruff of the neck as if Davy weighed no more than a bag of sugar. With a slight nod he said, "I'll wait at Taika's," and pressed the gem with his thumb, both he and the dead body disappeared with a slight pop as the air rushed in to fill the space he had just occupied. 

Loki busied himself downstairs quickly stripping a plastic film off the back of each of the explosives in order to expose the adhesive strip, he placed one in the door frame of the living room, and pressed firmly to secure it, then he flicked a small switch on the side to arm it and carefully closed the door. 

A few seconds later, a red light flashed on and off indicating that it was no longer safe to open the door. In fact it was no longer safe to be anywhere near anyone opening the door. Always one for overkill, Loki placed an explosive in every door in the house except for the master bedroom. 

Meanwhile, Ranulf retrieved his own travel stone and carefully gathered the unconscious Alma into his arms. He pressed the stone with his thumb and exited the house in the same way that Aloysius had done. Loki paused at the top of the stairs to scatter the silver balls around and then he retired to the master bedroom, booby-trapped the door and then fled the building as well using a travel stone of his own. 

* * *

Sir Nigel Winthrop sat in the study of his large house in the Wiltshire countryside. He was nursing a whisky and soda and pondering over his success. Not only had he succeeded in killing Jonathon Baines, but also by happy chance, his wife had lost her baby and it was only a matter of time before she was dead as well. He believed that the loss of her husband and child as well as the torture he knew she was currently enduring, would surely show the Hypogeum that he was worthy of joining the Inner Fellowship. 

He stared at the open fire that crackled merrily in the large and ornately carved fireplace. He saw a coal pop and then noticed that the fire seemed to be taking on a slightly different aspect. Another coal popped and splintered and what had, moments before, seemed like a welcome friend, now seemed altogether more threatening. It flared up and Sir Nigel shuddered slightly. He was coming here? 

The flames danced and changed so that the old man could make out a face in the fire. He quickly came to his feet and placed the drink on the table before standing almost at attention as he waited for the face to address him. 

A deep rumbling voice seemed to talk directly in his mind instead of through his ears, "You have failed us." 

Nonplussed and more than a little worried about the tone the voice had adopted, he stammered a reply, "M... Milord. How have I failed you? The husband is dead, the child is dead and the woman is suffering and will soon be dead as well." 

The fire flared up even higher and the voice roared, "NO!" 

Pain filled every fibre of Sir Nigel's being and he stumbled, threw his hands up to cover his face and fell to his knees. The voice continued, "You were only ordered to see that they all died. Your petty arrogance and willingness to flatter me has placed the whole scheme at risk."

Slowly he let his hands fall back to his sides and answered, "Milord, I only wanted to prove my-" 

"You wanted to prove that you could be worthy to join the Inner Fellowship? All you proved was your incompetence. You should die for what has transpired this night."

Sir Nigel Winthrop knew that he had never been closer to death than he was right now, and he began to shake uncontrollably. His usual urbane tone of superiority was stripped away and he couldn't stop the fear from showing in his voice, "What is it that I have done wrong, Milord?"

"The man you sent is dead. Do not ask how we know, it is not your place to question us, just accept the fact that it is so. The Lady has been taken to another place beyond our reach, so we can only wait for her return... And before you ask, yes, she will return. And when she does we will be waiting. Your task is to kill her, quickly and without any embellishment. Also, you must ensure that the DataVault system is completed on schedule. Do these things and you may yet earn the scarlet cloak of the Inner Fellowship." 

Sir Nigel was almost beside himself. He had another chance! And this time, he wouldn't fail. He dared to raise his eyes to look directly at the fire and said, "I will not fail you again, Milord. I shall redouble my efforts on DataVault and I shall set one of my best teams to watch the house." 

"She will not return there, beside there is no doubt that it would be dangerous to approach." 

"How can that be?" 

"Did we not warn you against questioning us?" 

Sir Nigel looked down at the floor again and whimpered, "Forgive me, it was just..." 

The fire flared up once again, "Do not embarrass yourself. Just make sure that DataVault is ready on time. We will tell you when you can go after the Lady. One thing though, your head of security is a weak link in the chain. Remove him." 

"Yes, Milord." 

The flames flickered and died in the hearth. Sir Nigel waited a long moment before he dared stand back up. He half stumbled back to where his drink stood on the table, picked it up and downed it in one great gulp. He was both scared witless and ashamed of what had just transpired. He was also amazed that he had escaped death, for he already had first hand knowledge of how the Hypogeum treated those who failed them. 

Sir Nigel could still remember, all those years ago when a colleague had been ordered to blackmail a politician into supporting a bill through parliament that would have been advantageous for the Hypogeum. 

Malcolm Dowd had failed in his task because the politician, Nigel couldn't even remember his name, had turned out to be incorruptible. Eight hooded and cloaked figures stood at each of the cardinal points of the compass inscribed in the stone floor. Each dressed in brown denoting a lesser order of the Hypogeum and each holding a wicked dagger embellished with a dragon's head for a handle with a long sharp tongue sticking out and forming the unmerciful blade. 

A bound and gagged figure knelt in the centre of the circle directly over an inscription in some ancient language and a circular stone carving of some nameless horror that could only exist in the worst of any man's nightmare. It showed a large humanoid body, but instead of arms, it had a mass of writhing tentacles growing from the shoulders and the face held an expression of such evil with a large grinning mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. 

Each of the hooded men took a step forward in turn and made a quick slash on the arms and body of the man in the middle of the group. His muffled screams were disregarded as the hooded ones merely stepped back to their allotted places along the circumference of the circle. Then they waited. And watched. Blood from the wounds they had inflicted on Malcolm Dowd flowed down his body and arms and dripped onto the floor. Any spots that landed on the plain flagstones surrounding the carving splashed and started to congeal as the fluid cooled, but those that landed on the carving itself seeped into the stone. 

A keening howl began that could only be heard at the very edge of one's conscious, but grew steadily louder with each drop of blood that hit the mark. 

As Malcolm became aware of the sound, he started to struggle even harder against his bonds, desperate to break free and run to freedom. But it was not to be. The howling grew to such proportions that it seemed as though it could break down the walls of the vault where the scene was playing out. The gag slipped from Malcolm's mouth and he was screaming and pleading with the men watching his plight, he offered them his wealth, he begged and he cried as all stood mute. 

Suddenly, the carving started to move. The grin grew even broader and the huge eyes moved to stare directly at Malcolm. The tentacles writhed and grew, within seconds they were thicker than a man's arm and about six feet long. The tentacles wrapped themselves around Malcolm and then lifted him off the ground, he thrashed about with his legs, trying to kick them off him, but failed. 

Slowly, the tentacles increased their grip until the wind was squeezed out of his lungs and his legs were tightly bound together. Then they started to turn, his body was turned to the left, whilst his legs were turned to the right. More and more pressure was applied until the resistance offered by Malcolm's spine and hips was beginning to break. 

Tendons snapped and internal organs ruptured. The agony overcame him and his eyes rolled back into his head as he fainted. Still the tentacles rotated his body in different directions. The already straining bones gave in and there was a series of sickening cracks as vertebrae shattered, his thighbones snapped and his ribs splintered. 

Malcolm Dowd died. 

The tentacles released their hold and the twisted remains of the man fell back to the ground. The stone carving was once again just a stone carving and the silence in the room seemed even more deafening than the howling that had so recently threatened to burst eardrums and drive men mad. The hooded figures retreated from the room and left the body where it was for the rats to feed upon. 

Once out of the main temple and back in the small side room where the cloaks were stored, a young Nigel Winthrop shuddered. He had not realised what he was letting himself in for when he joined this society. He had been under the impression that it would be similar in nature to the Freemasons or the Order of Buffaloes. But even with this newfound knowledge, he still hungered for the power and wealth that membership of this club could give him. 

And now, years later he knew that he would have to be very careful that he did not share Malcolm Dowd's grisly fate. Sir Nigel poured himself another whisky, neat this time, from the crystal decanter on the side table and thought about his next move. The Baines woman would have to wait. The Hypogeum had been quite definite about that. He had more immediate concerns and that was the removal of Hardacre. The man had been sloppy and had sent one man when he should have sent a team. Well, Nigel wouldn't make the same mistake. He made a quick telephone call and left terse instructions. Then he downed his drink and poured yet another. 

Richard Hardacre was worried. 

It was late in the evening and he still had no call from Davy. The man was a psychopath, but a reliable one and Richard had used his services on countless occasions. It wasn't like him to be late. Regretfully, he switched off the light to his office and shut the door behind him before making his way down to the car park where his E type Jaguar was parked. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 02-03



As he approached it, he couldn't help but feel an itch between his shoulder blades, like he was being watched. Nervously he reached into his pocket to retrieve his car keys, but dropped them as they caught on the hem of his pocket. Richard bent down to collect them and as he stood up he saw a man approach. 

The stranger was walking from the direction of the street, dressed casually in jeans and a rugby shirt and whistling tunelessly to himself. The man stopped near Richard and asked, "Excuse me mate, do you know how I get to Wilton from here?" 

Richard knew that Wilton was a small village just to the south of Salisbury, too far to walk... This seemed wrong. Richard could feel the jaws of a trap springing closed so he decided to strike first. He balled his hand into a fist and kept his voice light as he answered, "Of course, you need to head back towards the Cathedral and then-" He swung his fist and felt it connect with the stranger's jaw; the man staggered slightly but didn't fall. 

Almost as quickly as Richard had attacked, the other man had rolled his head to try and ride the punch, not altogether unsuccessfully. His own arms came up and he adopted a fighting stance. Richard could see the glint of metal in his right hand as light from a nearby lamppost shone on the blade of a flick knife. 

Before Richard could react, another pair of arms grabbed him tightly from behind and a foot drove into the back of his knee, forcing him to the ground. The man in front of him took the opportunity to step forward and slowly push his blade in and up between the third and fourth rib on Richard's left side. Pain exploded in his ribcage, then the blade was removed and blood started to pump out of his body, dimly he saw the man smile as he whispered, "Sir Nigel considers you dispensable." 

That was the last thing that Richard Hardacre ever saw or heard. 

Early the next morning, Sir Nigel Winthrop spooned some scrambled egg onto a slice of toast and added a sausage and two slices of bacon from a silver tray. Then he sat down at the great dining table and waited as his butler poured his coffee. After he replaced the coffee pot on the burner on the side table, the butler returned and said, "The local paper, Sir." 

Sir Nigel answered, "Thank you Harvey," as he accepted the newspaper and flicked his eye over the headline story about a local man who had been stabbed to death, apparently during a robbery. A theory supported by his missing wallet and his burnt out Jaguar being found in a field just outside Amesbury. 

The paper was laid to one side and Nigel took a bite out of his bacon. It was cooked perfectly; he was content that the local police would not be looking in his direction as they investigated Hardacre's death, so he turned his attention to other matters. 

He would have to ensure that the development of DataVault continued apace and also wait for orders regarding the Baines woman. Then Sir Nigel started eating his breakfast with enthusiasm.



The Hypogeum Ch. 04-05



CHAPTER FOUR

"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you." – Matthew 5:4

Alma wandered between the trees, she was in the midst of a huge forest. Tired, footsore and hungry, she walked. Not knowing where to go or even why she was going there. All she knew was that she had lost something and needed to find it again. Not only that, but every few steps she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her belly. 

Stepping out into a clearing, she spied a man standing with his back to her. She approached him warily and asked, "Where am I?" 

The man continued to face away from her, but replied, "You are where you belong, on the road to death." 

Alma winced as yet another dart of pain shot through her stomach and his words chilled her, "What do you mean?" 

"I mean what I say. You are travelling toward your death, as are we all. Life is but a march through misery and pain until we meet the inevitable end." 

Alma moved around to stand in front of him, she looked into his face, but it seemed to be wreathed in shadow even though the sun was high in the sky. 

She said, "There must be more to it than that. What about love, hope, happiness?" 

"What about them?" 

"Aren't they a part of life as well?" 

There was a chuckle as the man replied, "You speak of these transient things as though they are important. Trust me, they are not," he paused briefly and then spat, "Misery, pain and death are all you should consider, because they are all you deserve!" 

Alma took a step back at the change in his voice. She felt that she should recognise it, although she could not remember whom it had belonged to, she was sure that she never heard it with such a cruel tone before. A single tear came unbidden to her eye as she asked him, "Why? Why do you say that?" 

The man's voice took on a mocking quality, "Because you are weak, worthless and a murderer!" Alma could only stand silent in the face of this accusation. 

She didn't know where she was, where she was going or even what she was looking for. All she knew was her own name and that she had lost something." 

The man continued harshly, "You are looking for something. But you'll never find it, because it's gone. Gone forever and its all your fault!" 

Almost screaming, Alma responded, "What's gone? Tell me, what have I lost?" 

"Ha ha ha! Everything!" 

Confused and afraid, Alma fell to the ground sobbing, the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She couldn't understand why this stranger was saying these things to her and the pain in her stomach was now constant and brutal, like a sword being rammed into her abdomen again and again and again. 

A soft breeze picked up, warm when it should have been cool and she dimly made out a whisper of soft voices. Her sobbing died down as they washed over her. "The trees say no, Lady." 

She raised her head and looked around her, through bleary eyes she could see that the strange man had gone. 

Alma wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffled once or twice. Already she could feel the despair leaving her to be replaced with something else, something warm, something comforting. 

Again she heard the voices in the wind, "The trees say no, Lady. You are burdened with pain that is not truly yours. Let it go. The trees say no... The Elm and the Oak and the Yew say no..." 

Alma woke up with a start and sat up. She found herself sat in the shade of a large Oak tree. She looked down at the shirt she was wearing, it was one of Jonathon's and her legs were covered in a thick woollen blanket. 

A few feet away, a small fire was gently heating a billycan full of water and on the other side of the fire sat two rucksacks, one of which had a blanket similar to her own, rolled up and secured in place by two leather straps. 

A movement to her left caught Alma's eye and she turned to see Ranulf step into view from behind a Birch tree, he saw she was awake and smiled as he approached. He was carrying some small pieces of wood, which he dropped next to the rucksacks before coming to stand nearer the fire. 

He was no longer dressed in the council coveralls and donkey jacket that she had last seen him in. Now he was dressed in green corduroy trousers, a white shirt and rough leather waistcoat and on his feet, he wore a pair of sturdy hiking boots. 

"I see you're awake, Lady. The waters boils ready for tea if you'd like some." 

The loss of her husband and unborn child, the dreams, the pain in her stomach that wouldn't go away even though the doctors could find no physical reason for it, the attack, the sight of her would-be rapist having his neck broken in front of her and now this! 

Waking up in the middle of a strange forest with a stranger was too much for Alma. 

She burst into tears, curled into a ball and hid her face in her hands as she sobbed. Ranulf squatted down next to her and tried to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off and continued to cry her heart out. Impotently, Ranulf could only stare at this lovely young woman as she succumbed to the despair that was threatening her health, sanity and even her life. He knew to his cost what despair was capable of.

He tried again to touch her shoulder as the sobs racked Alma's body, "Please Lady. Take heart, I know you've suffered. Much more than anyone should, but please Lady, take heart." 

Silently cursing himself, Ranulf retreated from where Alma lay and sat down next to the packs. If only Taika were here, she would know what to do. As this thought crossed his mind, Ranulf once again wondered why his travelstone had brought them here instead of straight to Taika's house. He knew the Forest like the back of his hand and he considered that they were several days walk from Taika. 

He reached into his pack for a mug and some Camellia leaves which he crumbled into the mug before using it to scoop some of the boiling water from the billycan. Then he waited and watched over Alma. It took quite some time for Alma to calm down. 

Her stomach was still cramping, but had settled back into a dull ache rather than the intense stabbing sensation, also in addition to the grief that filled her heart, she now felt embarrassed as she realised that she had made something of a spectacle of herself in front of this stranger. 

Self-consciously, she uncurled from a ball and sat up, she drew her knees up to her chest and held her knees in her arms. Looking down towards the fire, she murmured, "I'm sorry." 

Ranulf took a sip of Camellia and asked, "What for, Lady?" 

"For making such a scene." 

He waved away her apology and answered, "Nothing to be ashamed of or sorry about. I know many men who would cry like a baby for having had half your woes." 

Alma glanced up at his open, honest face and gave a half smile, "I wouldn't know about that. But I'm still sorry you had to listen to me." 

Ranulf smiled in return, "Lady, I can think of few places I would rather be than with you and many more where I would definitely not." 

Unsure quite how to take his words, Alma decided to ignore them. She glanced around the clearing and asked, "Where are we?" 

"This is the Forest, Lady." 

"Which forest?" 

"The Forest." 

Alma raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?" 

There was a long pause before he sighed and replied, "Lady... I don't have the words for the explanations you want. Best to wait until Taika can speak to you." 

Alma jumped slightly at the mention of the name, she knew it from somewhere... It was the old woman in her dream. She was called Taika. 

Ranulf did not notice her reaction to the name and continued speaking, "All I can say, Lady is that this is a very special place. A place of peace and safety," he frowned, "Actually I thought to bring you straight to Taika, but for some reason the travelstone brought us here, some days walk from her house." 

He took another sip of Camellia, "Still, I'm not the one to question the wisdom of the Trees. If they brought us here then I'm sure they had good reason. Would you like a mug of tea now?" 

Alma nodded absently and accepted a mug, but her thoughts were elsewhere, Trees having wisdom? People from my dreams? Am I going mad? She was distracted by a twinge of pain in her stomach and she rubbed it absently with an open hand. Then she took a sip of the Camellia and a startled expression crossed her face, it was just as delicious as it had been in her dream... If it really had been a dream. Greedily, she drank the Camellia as quickly as its temperature would allow. 

Once it was finished, Ranulf stowed her mug away in one of the backpacks. He helped her to stand and then said, "Lady, you might want to think about changing for the journey." 

She looked down at herself and was forced to agree with him. She wore only the shirt that had belonged to her husband and nothing else. She looked back up to see that Ranulf had pulled some items from the pack and handed them to her before turning around to face in the opposite direction so she could change with a modicum of privacy. 

Alma quickly shrugged off her shirt, feeling a little uncomfortable to be naked in the presence of someone other than Jonathon, so she rapidly dressed in the clothing that he had given to her. A pair of dark blue, utilitarian panties, thin cotton socks, a pair of green corduroy trousers that matched those worn by Ranulf and a white smock blouse. "It's okay, you can turn around now." 

Ranulf turned to face Alma and smiled, then he reached once more into the pack and produced a pair of hiking boots in Alma's size and passed them to her. Whilst she sat down and laced the boots up, he made himself busy tidying up their temporary campsite. 

He banked the fire, poured the unused water from the billycan away and wrapped it in a grey cloth. Although the billycan was far too hot to touch with bare hands, he had no difficulty with it once it was wrapped and it went into his pack. 

Ranulf stowed Alma's blanket in the same way that his, then said, "Well, if you're ready, we can make tracks." 

He picked up the backpacks and handed the smaller one to Alma, before shouldering his own. 

As Alma jostled the pack into a comfortable position, Ranulf pointed along a track led meandered through the trees to the east, "we're heading this way," and set off at a gentle stroll. 

After a couple of hours, Alma was beginning to feel the strain. The pack she carried, although much lighter than Ranulf's, was starting to feel heavier and heavier on her back and she could feel a bead of sweat roll from her neck, between her shoulder blades and down her back. 

She stopped to glance up through the broad green leaves at the blue sky above where the sun was beginning to dip towards the west. "That's it," she gasped and shrugged off her burden and dropped it on the floor, "I need a rest." 

Kicking the pack to one side, Alma sat down in the shade of a wide oak tree and wiped the light sheen of sweat from her forehead. Aching muscles creaked and complained when she stretched her legs out in front of her. 

This was their first break as lunch had been taken on the march, some small snacks and a piece of Kendall mint cake, washed down with a couple of gulps of water from Ranulf's canteen 

Ranulf asked, "The pace isn't too fast, is it?" even though he considered their walk a gentle stroll. 

A deep breath and a glance at her watch, which appeared to be broken as the second hand ticked forward once and then back again, staying between the ten and eleven on the watch face. She answered, "No. I'm just not used to all this walking. Besides, it must be close to dinner time." 

He grinned and agreed. Dropping his pack next to Alma's, he reached inside for a couple of tins. Baked beans and hotdog sausages were poured into his billycan and placed over a small fire that he built expertly and quickly. 

As Alma smelled the aroma of the simple meal cooking, her mouth watered and she looked all around. Trees of every type stretched off in all directions, but even though the forest was quite dense, the atmosphere was still light and airy.

A gentle breeze picked up and she enjoyed the cooling sensation on her sweat-dampened skin. The cry of an unknown bird occasionally broke the silence and her eye caught the quick movement on the branch above her, which turned out to be a small red squirrel. Alma considered that it seemed to be quite confident, even with her and Ranulf so close. 

She pondered, "I think..." 

Ranulf stirred the food and answered, "What?"

"I think... This is a very special place." 

He did not answer, but his eyes glittered as he turned his attention back to the beans and sausages. Alma had noticed how the light had caught his dark eyes and she was surprised at the thought of how handsome he was, especially when he wore a smile. 

A stab of pain shot through her, Alma's eyes shot wide open and she held her hands to her stomach. 

Ranulf glanced up and he was concerned, "Are you okay?" 

As the pain ebbed away, she said, "Fine, fine. Just a twinge, that's all." 

He seemed unconvinced, but remained silent and went back to the food. 

Inside, Alma was raging at herself. How could you! How could you even think about another man with Jonathon not gone even a few weeks. You bitch! You worthless bitch! Silently a tear made its way down her cheek. 

A bowl of food appeared under her nose and she accepted it without a word. 

Ranulf frowned, "Lady?" 

Alma turned her head away, unable to face him as the recriminations continued inside her head. Ranulf bit back a swear word and retreated back to the fire. He sat down and began to eat the remainder of the food in the billycan, silently cursing himself with each mouthful. 

He was a strong man, calm under pressure, able to react and make decisions that were normally the correct ones, at least he hoped so and he had stared death in the face. But now he felt helpless in the face of the torture that Alma was going through. All he was able to do was stay silent and let Alma work this out by herself. 

Mechanically, he finished the food and then looked back at where Alma still hadn't eaten. Gently he called, "Lady, you should eat something." 

Alma turned her red-rimmed eyes to the bowl she still carried and whispered, "Sorry. I'm not very hungry," and placed it on the ground next to her. 

Ranulf sighed, "No problem, leave it there, you might be hungry later," he looked at the darkening sky and continued, "We may as well set up camp now, it's getting late." 

He unpacked their blankets and built the fire up a little. Then he laid his own blanket nearest the track and handed the other to Alma, "Best get some sleep," he said, "We still have a way to go and you look like you could do with the rest." 

Alma tried to smile her thanks at Ranulf, but could not. The pain inside wouldn't let her. 

* * *

Sir Nigel Winthrop's vintage Bentley pulled up outside the old farmhouse and he waited for his chauffeur to get to his door. 

Once it had been opened, he eased himself from the seat and took a deep breath of the crisp air. "Wait here, Reece," were his only words to his driver before stalking across to the dry stone barn that stood near the farmhouse. 

He knew the keeper of this property, whose family had owned it for as long as anyone could remember, just as he also knew that the family's links to the area stretched back more than any genealogist could imagine. In fact, it was not commonly known that one of the family was responsible for the building of the castle at Old Sarum, now a ruin, but once the beating heart of a thriving community. 

In fact, the original cathedral was once in the castle grounds until it was torn down and moved to where it now stood in Salisbury. The castle was now a tourist attraction with a visitor centre, several shops and a cafe, it was also a popular spot for locals to bring their dogs for walks in the grounds. 

The history of the place was well documented, but it still had a secret. A dark and evil secret buried deep beneath the centre of the courtyard area. 

It had a vaulted chamber, not accessible from the castle itself, but only along the dank underground passage, that started from the hidden trapdoor in the floor of the old barn, in the farm half a mile away. In the middle of the main room was a circular carving of a horror that haunted the dreams of man since before recorded history began. 

Several other men, all from powerful families or important in the fields of finance and industry were already in the barn when Sir Nigel entered. He took his place in the line as they each made their way down the stone steps to the underground corridor and along to the robing room. 

In the past, each would have needed a torch to see where he was going and to avoid the rats and their mess, but in the early 1950's the then owner of the farm had installed electric lighting and Sir Nigel could see rat traps spaced evenly along the length of the corridor. 

He regretted keeping his outer coat on as the warmth and closeness of the atmosphere was making him sweat. Soon, he joined the group of men in the robing room. A simple undecorated area that had a collection of brown robes hanging from iron hooks on the far wall. The north wall had an oak door set into it, banded with strips of ancient iron and a large metal handle. Next to the door was a wooden rack that held a number of finely decorated ceremonial daggers. 

Once the men were robed, they each took a dagger from the rack and then made their way quietly through the door. They filed past the stone carving one at a time and as they came to it, each man pulled back the sleeve of the robe to expose a bare left forearm that was decorated with a network of scars, a quick slice with the dagger and then a clenched fist to make the blood run more quickly, they allowed the red fluid to pour over the carving. Then they each moved to their allotted space around the circle etched into the floor. 

The men stood in silence as they watched the carving soak up their spilled blood and waited expectantly as a wailing began to fill the room, the sound that heralded the arrival of their leader, Baphomet. 

The carving began to move, the carved tentacles writhed and grew and the obscene parody of a face grinned. Baphomet pulled himself up changing before his disciples' eyes from stone to flesh until he stood before them naked and awash with their blood. He turned slowly on the spot until his eye fell upon the robed figure almost directly across from Sir Nigel, in deep growling tones he said, "Have you done as instructed?" 

The man swallowed hard and then answered, "Yes Milord. I have used my influence with the council to ensure that Stonehenge will be closed to the public when we need it. As far as anyone will know, it will be closed for renovation." 

Baphomet nodded in satisfaction before spinning round to face Sir Nigel, who almost staggered as he felt the strength of will that was directed at him through Baphomet's black, soulless eyes. "And you Winthrop? How does the DataVault project fare?" 

If Sir Nigel felt any affront at being addressed by his last name, he hid it well, "It is ahead of schedule as I promised Milord. I have ensured that all but the Hypogeum routine are already in final testing and it is performing well." 

"Why is the Hypogeum still not part of the machine's mind?" 

Sir Nigel knew that Baphomet was tied to the past and had difficulty understanding modern technology, even though from one perspective, he was its father. "We hit a number of small snags, but the team have ironed them out and it will be installed into the final program this week." 

Baphomet held Sir Nigel's eye for a long second before he said, "Good." 




The Hypogeum Ch. 04-05



Suddenly, Baphomet roared, "Leave! Now!" 

All of the men took a step back and then turned to exit, when the demon pointed one tentacle at Sir Nigel and another at the only other man who had spoken, "You two will stay, we have much still to discuss." 

The two men stood silent as the remainder filed out of the room, more than one covetous stare was directed at them for the honour they had of a private audience with Baphomet. When the last of the disciples had left Baphomet and the two men alone, the demon roared once more and the oak door slammed closed. 

Uncertain and nervous, they waited until Baphomet addressed the other man, "Lazenby, are you certain that the Henge will be free of interlopers at the allotted time?" 

"Yes Milord. I assure you that we will not be disturbed." 

"Do you have need to watch over the proceeding of the motion through the council." 

The man shook his head fervently and replied, "No Milord, everything is set and nothing will stand in our way. I have thought of everything." 

"Then you are useful for only one more thing." 

The man's expression changed from nervousness to fear and he stood petrified as Baphomet reached out and grabbed him. The demon raised the suddenly screaming man to his massive mouth, the scream changed to a gurgle and then silence as his head was neatly nipped off. Baphomet spat out the head and raised and inverted the dead body, so he could squeeze every last drop of blood down his throat. 

Once he was sated, he threw the husk that had, moments ago, been a living, breathing, misguided man to the floor at his clawed feet. 

Sir Nigel went deathly pale as Baphomet wheeled round to face him, "Be not feared, Winthrop. His fate shall not be yours. I have something else in mind for you." 

The old man swallowed hard and tried to calm his breathing. With a quavering voice he whispered, "What is that, Milord?" 

"Know that I am well pleased with you, Winthrop. I believe that it is time for you don the red robe of the Inner Fellowship." 

Sir Nigel was staggered that he had been offered this honour and he felt weak at the knees. Considering only seconds before, he thought that he faced a grisly death, but now to be invited into the inner circle of Baphomet's most trusted and powerful disciples. "Milord... I don't know what to say..." 

"Then say nothing, I do not require your thanks, only your obedience!" snapped the demon, "But there is still more for you to learn if you are continue to be useful to me." 

The human, knelt down and bowed his head, "I live, but to serve you, Milord." 

Baphomet struck out with his huge, clawed foot and sent Sir Nigel sprawling across the floor, "Spare me your mindless posturing!" 

Sir Nigel clambered quickly to his feet and whispered, "Yes Milord." 

The demon began pacing up and down in front of his newest red robe and said, "Until now you have been unaware of the true purpose of my plan. Now is the time for you to learn." 

The human waited expectantly for his master to continue, "I cannot currently enter this world completely in my true form. DataVault will change that, for it will be the agent that will allow me to open the gateway from my world to this one and take my place as the ruler of mankind. I shall build a palace of human skulls and thousands shall die for my amusement." 

As Baphomet got into his stride, Sir Nigel could see that the demon was beginning to drool as he spoke about his vision of the future, "All mankind shall bow down before me, and live or die at my whim. But not all shall be my slaves... Some shall be my trusted advisors and they are those who wear the robes of red," he stopped pacing to stand and face Sir Nigel and said, "The wealth and power you now enjoy is as nothing to that which awaits you." 

His disciple could not believe his tremendous good fortune. Sir Nigel would be a king, all men would kneel before him and all women would be eager to share his bed. He was, however, shaken from the vision when Baphomet finished, "Unless you fail me Winthrop... Then the worst nightmares you can imagine will be as nothing to the pain and terror that I shall inflict upon you." 

He roared and the door flew open, "Go!" he shouted and watched as Sir Nigel ran from the room. 

CHAPTER FIVE

"We are all broken and wounded in this world. Some choose to grow strong at the broken places." - Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt

Alma stood in a dark glade of trees, unlike the rest of the forest, which had a feeling of warmth and goodness, this was a cold and unfriendly place. The trees had black bark that oozed with thick amber sap. None were in leaf as though this was an oasis of winter in the midst of summer. 

She looked around but could see no escape back to the light, the branches although bare, were densely packed together forming an impenetrable barrier. The man with the face in shadow appeared before her. 

She stood up straight and asked, "Where is my baby?" 

There was a harsh laugh, "Your baby? You murdered him, don't you remember?" 

Alma faltered, "It was an accident. I didn't mean to-" 

"But you did. Your baby died and you are to blame!" 

She couldn't help crying as this evil man continued to pour spite and bile over her, "If you had been any kind of a decent person, your baby would be alive now... And your husband as well!" 

Shock set in as the memories came flooding into her mind. How could she have forgotten that she had a husband? Jake? James? No, John... Athon... His name was Jonathon, "I have a husband." 

"Wrong! You had a husband, but you let him die, just like you let your son die." 

"What did I do?" 

"You lived. Your husband died, you killed your baby and now you throw yourself at other men like a cheap whore," as he spoke, he leaned forward and his face came into view. It was Jonathon. 

"You forgot about me as soon as I was in the ground. Couldn't wait to get rid of our son so you could jump into bed with the first man to cross your path. You must have been gutted when his neck got snapped before he could get to it!" 

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" 

"Really? What about lover boy? The way the light catches his eyes and how handsome he looks when he smiles... Remember that, whore?" 

Alma couldn't answer because it was true, she had noticed how Ranulf was good-looking, and she could only stand mute. Jonathon was right; she was a whore, a worthless bitch and a whore! She covered her face with her hands as Jonathon continued spitting insults at her, "Whore! Murderer! Worthless bitch!" 

A breeze sprang up from nowhere and whispering voices flew in on the wind, "No, this is not so." 

As before, Jonathon vanished. In addition, the trees around her started to change. In moments, where they had been dark and unfriendly, they now matched the warm greens and browns of the rest of the forest. 

Louder and louder the whispers turned to murmurs, "The trees say no. The Alder and the Larch and the Rowan say no. You did not murder your baby. You must believe... You are not a whore, you are not a murderer, and you are not a bitch. The Oak and the Elm and the Sycamore say no... you are not worthless, you are the Lady." 

Once again, Alma woke with a start and was covered in a cold sweat. It was still dark, but not the oppressive darkness of her dream, but a warm darkness. The fire had burned out earlier and she could hear gentle noises as nocturnal creatures went about their business. 

Ranulf muttered in his sleep and shifted, before turning over onto his side and falling back into deep sleep. Alma thought she would have trouble getting back to sleep after the nightmare she had suffered, but the warmth of the blanket and the gentle murmur of the wind in the leaves above lulled her back into sweet slumber. 

The sun was rising over the horizon when Alma woke. As before, she opened her eyes to the sight of a billycan of bubbling water over a small fire. But this time, Ranulf was not to be seen. She got up and stowed her blanket as she had seen Ranulf do and then called out to him. From behind her, she heard his call in answer, so she followed the sound of his voice, she came to the edge of a slow moving river that wended its lazy way through the forest and spied Ranulf's head in the water. His long hair was flowing behind him as he swam. 

Alma could see that he had left his clothes in a neat pile on the riverbank. Ranulf shook the water from his eyes and noticed Alma; he smiled and called out, "We must have come further than I thought yesterday. I wasn't expecting to meet the river until this afternoon," he waved, "Come in. The water is good." 

Alma was tempted as the crystal water did look inviting, but as she had no bathing costume, she just shook her head.

"Why not?" 

"No swimming cozzie." 

He grinned, "So? Neither do I," with that, he started cutting through the water with long even strokes, just enjoying the feeling of the cool water washing the dust from his body. 

Alma could see the interplay of his well-defined muscles as he swam and had difficulty taking her eyes off him, until she realised what he had just said. The notion that she was admiring a naked man made her blush red and then she felt a twinge in her belly. 

Ranulf sensed her discomfort and swam towards where she was standing. He looked up at her and said, "I'm sorry Lady, I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to embarrass you, I'm sorry." 

Still crimson, Alma responded with a shake of the head, "No, I'm not embarrassed. I just felt a bit of a twinge. I'm not certain that I am a hundred percent yet." 

Not altogether convinced, Ranulf answered, "I meant no disrespect Lady, I just though that a swim would be good. It helps to shake the cobwebs loose." 

On a whim, Alma decided that she would go for a swim and hastily sat down to take off her boots. Once Ranulf saw what she was doing, he turned his back and called out, "Let me know when you're in the water." 

Alma quickly stripped down to her panties and decided to leave them on. She dipped her toe in the water and agreed with Ranulf that it did feel good. Alma waded out into the deeper part of the river and then started to swim out nearer to Ranulf. As she approached, she said, "You can look now." 

He turned around and smiled at her. In reply she splashed him. Ranulf laughed deep and throaty, before he retaliated in kind and soon they were splashing each other with abandon and giggling like children. 

A short while later they started to float and enjoy the cool water washing against their skin. Ranulf looked across at Alma as she floated on her back with her eyes closed, he could see every curve and his eyes flashed as he took in the sight. Her breasts were out of the water and exposed to his view.

He was sure that Alma was unaware how she was exposing herself to him, so he quickly turned and swam further away. Her eyes opened and she called out, "Where are you going?" 

But there was no response, he merely swam back to the riverbank and climbed out to retrieve his clothes. She could see his finely developed body from behind as he quickly made his way into the trees and back to camp. Puzzled at his sudden departure, she looked down and the realisation hit her. Ever careful not to embarrass her or make her feel uncomfortable, he was embarrassed himself. 

Cursing herself for an idiot, she made for the riverbank and quickly climbed back into her clothing, ignoring the wet patches that appeared over the material. 

When Alma arrived back at the campsite, she found Ranulf busily stirring a cup of tea. She said gently, "Ranulf?" 

He refused to look at her but answered, "Yes lady?" 

Alma could see that he was still blushing and thought it gave him a childlike appearance, she said, "Ranulf, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you." 

Still unable to look her in the eye, he responded, "No Lady. No need for apologies. I am sorry."

He looked so forlorn that Alma couldn't help reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder. As she did so, she felt him tense slightly and she could feel the muscle go hard like rock. She found that she enjoyed the feeling, until a twinge of pain shot through her abdomen like a bolt of lightning. Alma cried out and fell to the ground in a heap as the waves of agony washed through her body. 

In an instant, Ranulf was kneeling next to her, his face a vision of concern, "Lady, what is it? What's wrong?" Struggling to get her breath as the pain ebbed away, Alma moaned and then tried to stand, but Ranulf restrained her gently and said, "Wait, let the pain pass." 

The couple made a tableau, Alma lying down and Ranulf kneeling next to her. Once she felt able, she allowed Ranulf to help her back to her feet and across to where she had been sleeping. He laid Alma back down and retrieved her blanket, which he used to cover her. Tenderly he said, "Rest. Lay down a while, we have no need to hurry." 

Alma reached up and squeezed his hand before relaxing. It was not long until Alma was asleep again whilst Ranulf sat back down with his back resting against his pack and stared at her. 

A strangely familiar house came into view as Alma stepped into the clearing and she was surprised at how modern it looked, not fitting in with the aesthetic of the forest at all. She moved to the front door and rapped on it with her knuckle. The old woman answered, "Come in, I've been expecting you." 

Alma followed her inside and was again surprised at how old-fashioned, almost medieval the interior was. The old woman studied Alma's face for a moment and then said, "The boys thought I should move with the times, but I like things as they were. I made the outside look new for their sake, but I must admit that it isn't as drafty as it used to be." 

Alma nodded and then said, "I'm searching for something, but I don't know what it is." The old woman didn't seem to hear and made her way towards the cauldron over the fire, "Camellia?" 

Suddenly angry, Alma shouted, "Didn't you hear me? I said I'm sear-" 

"I heard what was said young lady, old I may be but the ears are still working and I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head!" 

Suddenly contrite, Alma muttered an apology, which was waved away, "T'is of no moment. Fact is, its good to see that the fire were only banked and not put out altogether." 

Alma asked, "Are you Taika?" 

"Yes." 

"Is this real or is it a dream?" 

"Is what a dream?" 

"This, you, the forest, everything." 

Taika was slow to answer, "Well now. Depends on your point of view." 

Exasperated, Alma snapped, "Can't you just give a straight answer?" 

Taika once again threw off the mantle of a tired old woman. She stood straighter and seemed to grow by several inches, her eyes flashed angrily as she snapped back, "And weren't you told to keep a civil tongue in your head?" 

Alma once again felt the power that was emanating from the older woman who continued in a voice that seemed younger and more powerful with every passing moment, "This is a dream, but the Forest is not. It is more like an idea of a forest, as the trees would like it to be. But at the same time it is a dream. It is the dream of every tree in the world all in one place. As the trees of the forest are connected so are the trees of the world and all their dreams are one."

Alma was confused, "Trees dreaming? Thinking? What are you talking about?" 

Taika seemed to shrink back to the feeble old woman and replied, "The trees are old and have seen much. They have great power and noble spirit. The trees are the soul of the world and its most powerful guardians." 

She fixed a solemn eye on Alma, "Do not underestimate the power of the forest, it can be your greatest ally or your worst enemy." 

This gave Alma much food for thought, "So you're saying that the trees can help me find what I've lost?" 

The old woman crowed in triumph, "Exactly! Took your time, but you got there in the end. Let the trees help you to learn the difference between what is a dream and what is real," she gazed into space for a moment and said, "Time you woke up." 

Alma drifted into wakefulness, she was lying down under her blanket once again and as usual, Ranulf sat watching her. She asked, "How long was I asleep?" 

He shrugged, "Not long." 

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and then clambered to her feet, "How far is it now?" she asked. 

Ranulf seemed a little confused as he looked around and replied, "We're closer than I thought. I think they've been playing games with us." 

"Who?" 

He packed Alma's blanket and they shouldered their packs before Ranulf answered, "I'll let Taika explain it. She's better at that sort of thing than I am." 

Alma resigned herself to having to wait a while longer for answers, as Ranulf would say no more. So she hoisted her pack into a comfortable position and followed Ranulf, who had already begun to make his way along the track that weaved its way between the trees. 

After a short distance, Alma was surprised to step out into a clearing in the woods, she saw for the first time the familiar house with her eyes and not her mind. A shiver ran down her spine as she took in the view. 

Both Alma and Ranulf stood for a moment in silence until he said, "Come on. She's waiting for us." 

They walked across to the front door, which opened in front of them with a gentle creak and Taika smiled gently at Alma, "I see you got here then." 

She moved to one side to allow the arrivals to enter the house, "Come in, lunch be ready and then we have much to discuss." 

Ranulf smiled and made his way inside, but Alma could only stand and stare at the old woman with the kindly face and the strange manner of speech. Taika reached out and took Alma's smooth hand in her own, which was wrinkled and liver-spotted with age. Her eyes twinkled as she murmured, "Come in, child. The answers you seek aren't biding on my doorstep." 

With that, Alma allowed the old woman to gently lead her inside and close the door behind them. 

* * *

Eric Jenkins was nervous. His boss, Sir Nigel Winthrop was coming to his laboratory in the secure area to oversee the initial integration of the Hypogeum routine into DataVault. All of his team were bent down in front of their computers busily typing instructions to the mainframe computer or scanning screens of coding for errors. 

Only Jenkins had nothing to do, except wait for Sir Nigel to arrive. Nervously he looked at his watch again and ran a hand through his thinning pepper-and-salt coloured hair. This was the most important project he had ever worked on as well as the most dangerous. Naturally a law-abiding person, he was most uncomfortable with what Hypogeum was designed to do, but this had been overshadowed by two simple facts. 

He was a very timid man, also an interview with Hardacre at the outset of the project had impressed upon him the danger both he and his family were in, if he should fail in the task he had been set, or even spoke about it to anyone including his own programming team, outside the environs of the third floor of WinCom headquarters. 

An electronic beep startled him slightly and he saw the small LED light in the card reader by the steel security door flash from red to green. The door swung open silently and Sir Nigel entered the room. The door swished shut behind him and with no preamble, he asked tersely, "Jenkins, are you set?" 

Eric swallowed back his fear and answered, "Yes Sir, we were only waiting for you to get here, before integrating the routine and starting the initial testing phase." 

Sir Nigel glanced around the windowless room that was illuminated by harsh lighting, instead of daylight. The large plate windows that had previously allowed light into the room had been removed and the holes bricked up. Each of the programmers sat in cubicles that separated each workstation with thin plywood panels. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 04-05



He could hear the edgy whispered exchanges between the programmers as they compared notes or discussed the project via the headsets that each wore. However, he ignored the murmured conversations around him and turned his attention back to Jenkins, "Get a move on then." 

The anxious Eric led his boss to his own cubicle were he sat down at his terminal and placed his own headset on his head. The murmuring around the room died down as Jenkins spoke into his microphone, "Attention all stations. Attention all stations. Integration to begin on my mark. Attack teams stand by. Trojan team to wait. Defensive teams to wait." 

He turned his attention to his screen and began to type instructions to the mainframe computer. Once done, he covered the microphone with his hand and said, "Sir. The routine is integrated. With your permission I'll begin." 

The head of WinCom nodded his assent and stood watching the proceedings, he didn't understand the technicalities involved, but he was eager to see how DataVault and especially Hypogeum performed in this the final testing phase before the product went on the market. 

Jenkins once again faced his computer screen and spoke into his headset, "DataVault initiated on testing server one. Attack teams, begin intrusion attempt." 

Several of the people in their cubicles started busily tapping away at their own keyboards. Nothing much seemed to happen and Sir Nigel whispered impatiently to Jenkins, "What's happening?" 

Once again, Jenkins covered his microphone and answered, "Some of the boys are playing attacker and are attempting to interfere with the normal running of DataVault, and they're trying to hack the mainframe to gain information or inject malicious software into it." 

A puzzled expression crossed Sir Nigel's face, "What are you talking about? I know DataVault does its job, it's been tested extensively already!" 

"Yes Sir, but not with the Hypogeum installed. We need to make sure that the stealth coding doesn't interfere with the normal running of the program." 

"Oh, and does it?" 

"I'll know in a few minutes Sir." 

Sir Nigel shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he watched Eric Jenkins reading the lines of text that scrolled down his screen. When the programmer turned towards him and covered his microphone once more, "Phase one completed. DataVault has proved unbreakable." 

"How can you be so sure? It's only been a few minutes." 

"Sir, we have assembled a team of some of the best programmers in the country and each of them has a number of some of the most dangerous and destructive viruses and Trojans available. In addition, it would appear that DataVault is also able to continue protecting against a DOS attack." 

"What's a DOS?" 

"Denial of Service. It's when a group of hackers try to overload a server by bombarding it with requests for information, in an attempt to push the data flow beyond the capabilities of the connections. It's all to do with the bandwidth-" 

Angrily, Sir Nigel growled, "Spare me the techno-babble Jenkins! Does DataVault do what its supposed to or not?" 

Meekly, Eric answered, "Yes Sir." 

"Good! Move on to phase two."

Eric didn't answer, but merely turned back to face his screen and once again tapped a few commands to the mainframe via his keyboard, "Starting phase two. DataVault installing on to server two, New York office... Done... Trojan team begin intrusion, defensive team watch your boards," then he sat back to wait. 

Once again, Sir Nigel could only watch and bridle against the seeming lack of activity within the room, "Well?" 

Eric ignored him and spoke once more into his microphone, "Trojan team, report," he paused a moment and tilted his head as he listened into his earpiece before saying, "Sir, remote connection successful. We now have control of the New York server." 

Sir Nigel was nonplussed, "So? What now?" 

"What I mean Sir is that we can now take complete control of the computer systems in the New York office from this room. Shall I show you?" 

The old man nodded and watched as Eric's fingers flew over the keyboard, "If you look at my screen you should be able to see a nice view using the video conferencing facilities of the New York office." 

He paused and leaned slightly to one side so that his boss could look in at the computer screen and see for himself the boardroom table and the large plate window behind it, with the view of the Manhattan skyline beyond. Sir Nigel was a little confused and also somewhat peeved at the triviality that Jenkins was showing him, "So what? I've seen used this system myself. What's so special about it this time?" 

Eric allowed a slightly condescending tone to enter his voice as he adopted the air that experts everywhere took, when explaining something of their field to laymen, "It is different this time Sir Nigel, because we have bypassed the usual line of communication with New York and are controlling their video-link directly," he raised a hand to forestall his boss before the old man could speak further, "I mean, Sir that I have used this fairly simple example to show how we can affect any part of their operation, without their consent... Shall I proceed to phase three?" 

"Yes. Continue please." 

Jenkins spoke into his microphone, "Defensive team. Any activity on your boards?" 

Another short pause and he spoke over his shoulder, "Defensive team reports no visible activity, so we can be assured that if they can't see it, then no normal IT team will either."

Turning his attention back to his terminal, Jenkins said, "Assuming full control of server two... Beginning subjugation of processing tasks... Done. Defensive teams, begin counter measures." Yet again, Jenkins sat back in his chair and watched lines of code flow up his display. 

After a few minutes, he said, "Report." 

There was a satisfied grin on his face when he told Sir Nigel, "100% success, Sir. We took control of server two and set it to calculate Pi to the last possible digit, which is of course impossible, so the processor will continue ad infinitum, taking up all of server two's time and resources, until we tell it to stop." 

Sir Nigel replied, "And?" 

"And... The defensive team couldn't tell we had subverted their system until it was well underway, also they have been unable to regain control and are helpless to stop it," he smiled warmly, "Congratulations Sir. It works perfectly." 

Sir Nigel smiled back at Jenkins, but his smile was less friendly, more predatory and it made a Jenkins shrink a little in his seat. 

The old man said, "Good work Jenkins. I'll see that you and your team are suitably rewarded."

The way he said it, made Eric Jenkins uneasy, very uneasy indeed.



The Hypogeum Ch. 06-07



CHAPTER SIX

"The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand." - Frank Herbert 

The wooden table she remembered from her dream was piled high with food and Alma could feel her mouth water as her eyes roamed over it. Boiled ham, wooden bowls piled high with mashed potatoes, cabbage and carrots. She could see a joint of beef, carefully cut into thick slices, medium rare, just the way she liked it. There was a huge glass bowl full of trifle sat by a large square treacle pudding, with a pitcher of custard next to it. The table was set for five. 

The giant, who she remembered from her bedroom and what she assumed was the other workman who she could only hazily recall, already took two of the seats.

Ranulf was just making himself comfortable at the third place when Alma felt a hand gently take hold of her arm. Taika said, "Come child, you need to eat and I think my table be better than the simple fair young Ranulf provided." 

The old woman ushered her toward the table and sat her down at the chair that sat at the end, Alma was somewhat taken aback, as a guest she expected to take the last seat along one of the long sides and not what was normally considered the head of the table. Still, she made no protest as she sat down, accepted a plate from Aloysius, inwardly marvelling at how the plate she needed both hands to hold looked like a saucer in his mighty grip. 

"How are you feeling now, Lady?" he enquired in quiet tones. 

Alma looked him in the face, "I am feeling a bit better thank you... I never thanked you for what you did. When he..." 

The giant shook his head and smiled, "No need for thanks. I only did what any man would." 

"Any man might, but you did, and I thank you." 

"Lady, you are most welcome." 

The other two men watched the exchange in silence and Taika seemed not to even notice as she made her way to the last remaining seat, before sitting down with a groan. Once seated she said, "Dig in. Eat. I cooked your dinner for eating not admiring," and used her fork to stab a slice of beef and slip it on to her plate. 

The others followed suit and soon all had plates piled high with delicious food that they attacked with gusto. Alma was amazed at just how much food Aloysius could put away, eating two pieces of meat for where she and the others had one. He even finished off all of the bowls of vegetables after the others had finished so that there was barely a scrap left. 

Alma sighed contentedly and patted her full stomach, "Thank you Taika," she said, "that was delicious." 

The old woman nodded her thanks and replied, "T'is nothing child. In fact, t'is good to be cooking for many and not just for one." 

Taika pushed her chair back and pulled a small clay pipe and tobacco pouch from her skirt pocket, which she quickly filled with smoke weed and lit, although Alma did not see where the flame came from. The old woman leaned back expansively in her chair and said, "I cooked, so the someone else can clear up." 

All three of the men groaned, but didn't complain and merely stood up and started to clear the table. Alma made to help as well, but Taika stopped her and said, "No child, let the men folk do the cleaning, they do little enough of that as it is. We have need to talk while they work," she leaned in closer to Alma and whispered, "Keeps them busy and saves in the interruptions." 

Alma giggled and then burped, she covered her mouth with her hand, blushed and exclaimed, "Oh! Excuse me." 

Taika merely laughed, "T'is a compliment to a cook. Pay it no mind Alma." 

As the men cleaned the dishes at the sink on the other side of the room, Taika said, "Now child. I'm sure you have some questions for me." 

She waited expectantly as Alma gathered her thoughts, "Where are we?" "This be the Forest." 

"I know that, but where is it?" 

A thoughtful silence followed before Taika replied, "This be the Forest. It is in the thoughts and dreams of all the trees in the world. It's everywhere and yet nowhere, in all places and none." 

Irritated, Alma snapped, "That's not an answer!" 

Taika ignored the tone in Alma's voice and replied, "Nevertheless, t'is the truth of it. Where we are is not a thing I can tell you, I can only show you... Or at least, the Forest can, if you open your mind to it." 

"How do I do that?" 

Taika sucked the end of her pipe and then blew out a cloud of blue smoke, "That be a matter for later." 

Alma asked again, but as Taika refused to be drawn she asked another question, "Why were you watching me?" 

The old woman smiled, "Ah, that one I can answer. We've been waiting for you for a long time. When you showed up, we were assigned to protect you and keep you from harm." 

Alma was thunderstruck, "Keep me from harm? I lost my husband and child, I was nearly..." she was unable to say the word. A tear stung her eye as she continued, "I've been brought here without my consent! There's a word for that you know. It's called kidnapping!" 

Taika raised a placatory hand and said, "Was not our thought to kidnap anyone, we had you brought here as it were the only place you be safe from the Hypogeum."

The word brought Alma up short, "The what?" 

"The Hypogeum. As the Forest is the force of good then contrary-wise the Hypogeum represents evil." 

"What is it?" 

"A secret society controlled by an evil entity called Baphomet. He's a demon and he's the one behind your woes." 

Alma laughed humourlessly, "A demon? A real live demon killed my family? Rubbish! Jonathon was killed in a car crash and I lost my son in an accident." 

Taika removed the pipe from her mouth and waved it around as she responded, "If you believe their deaths to be fate and happenstance only, why does guilt live in your belly?" 

An arrow of pain shot through Alma's stomach and she cried out. 

Taika made no move to help, but merely continued, "Your family were fated to die and that's a truth, you couldn't avoid that loss as it was written in the stars a long time ago. It be a tragedy for you, but things could not be any other way, if you were to be that which you should be. I cried tears for your loss since before you were born, sad was I to learn the path your life must take, and sad I am still. But I also know that what must be, must be." 

The pain lessened and Alma found herself able to breath again, she winced slightly and rubbed her abdomen and then barked, "What must be, must be? You're still talking in riddles!"

Taika still took no offence at Alma's tone, she merely sighed and said, "I think it best if I let the Forest explain. The trees can paint you mind pictures better than I can paint with words." 

She rose and offered her hand to Alma, "Come with me child, I will let the trees enlighten you in their own way." 

Somewhat uncertainly, Alma allowed the old woman to lead her back out of the house to stand in the clearing. 

The sun was high, but light clouds had started to come in and the threat of rain was clear to see. Alma asked, "What now?" 

"Listen." 

"Listen to what?" 

"The Forest." 

Alma briefly considered the possibility that she was still asleep after her accident and that this was all a dream. Since coming back home her life had been a short series of inexplicable events, the attempted rape, the coldblooded murder, her arrival in this strange forest, the dreams... She was interrupted in her thoughts by the sound of a distant birdsong. Alma shivered as a breeze sprung from nowhere and laid a blanket of cool air over her. She also fancied that she could hear the babbling of the river a short way back along the track that she had followed here. The trees swayed in the wind and the leaves rustled as the air moved between them. And then she heard it. The whispering of the trees, the voices from her dark dreams that had come to her aid and chased the dark thoughts from her head, "Lady, hear our words. Let us show you what has been. The Oak and the Ash and the Elm desire to teach you needful things... Say yes, the Oak and the Ash and the Rowan beg thee, say yes and let us into your heart." 

The voices pulled on Alma's heartstrings and she felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes as she answered, "Yes. Show me." 

The wind picked up and the voices grew stronger and more insistent, "Follow us, Lady... Fly with the birds... Through time and space... Let us show you the way of things past." 

Alma could feel herself getting lighter and lighter as the voices whispered their hypnotic chant. She rose upwards and was soon above the tops of the trees, she looked down and saw her body still stood in the clearing below, "What's happening?"

The voices chorused, "We are taking you back from the is to the was. We are showing you memories lost and lies exposed." 

Alma let the voices carry her ever upwards, through the clouds and away from the forest. Faster and faster she flew, the landscape started to blur as the speed increased and still she flew faster and faster still. So rapidly did Alma move that all she could see was a flashing rainbow of colour in all directions. And then she stopped. She was floating high above a jungle expanse, nothing to see in all directions but rain forest. "Where are we?" she asked. 

"This is an area that will be called Huile." 

"What's that?" 

"It will be a volcano in the country yet to be, called Columbia." 

Alma frowned, "What do you mean the country yet to be?" 

"We are in your past history. We are showing you things that once were." 

"So why are we here?" 

"Wait... Patience... Watch." 

Puzzled, all Alma could do was wait. She did not wait long. A rumbling sound started from beneath the ground, it grew steadily louder and louder until Alma thought that her eardrums would burst. She placed her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight in a futile attempt to keep the roaring noise from her head. The ground beneath her split open and smoke and ash spewed out of it. The thick cloud rose steadily closer to where Alma was suspended in the air and the pungent smell of sulphur assaulted her nose. 

She started to panic as the cloud came ever closer, but the soothing voices whispered, "Fear not, Lady. The smoke will not harm you. This is but a memory and you are not really here." 

"This is another dream." 

"No, these are our memories." 

Unconvinced, Alma started kicking and thrashing, trying to escape the poisonous smoke as it surrounded her. She held her breath against the choking sulphur for as long as she could before the desperate urge to breath overcame her sense of personal survival. Alma breathed out and then filled her lungs, ready to cough as she inhaled the roasting hot poisons... And found that she was breathing fresh sweet air. Not without reproach, the voices said, "We told you Lady. You cannot be harmed by what you experience here." 

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. So, I'm looking at a volcano?" 

"Yes. The birth of a volcano, a very special volcano. Not because of what it is, but where it is... And when." 

"And that is...?" prompted Alma. 

"Directly over a ley node." 

"What's a ley node?" 

The trees answered, "Later. For now come with us." 

"As if I have a choice." 

Alma flew once again, travelling rapidly over the landscape, she was glad to get away from the awful sights and sounds of the birth of volcano, but was uncertain that what the trees were to show her next would be any improvement.

She stopped over a barren expanse of desert land and could see a few sparse bushes and shrubs dotted around the landscape, in what was a vast difference to the lush landscape of greenery she had arrived from. 

"Where are we now?" 

"That which shall become Mesopotamia." 

"What am I looking at? Another volcano?" 

The voices ignored her flippant tone, "No. An earthquake." 

Before Alma could respond, again she heard a rumbling from below the surface. And again it grew steadily louder. She watched as the sand dunes moved and crumbled. The ground shifted and clouds of sand sprang up. After just a few seconds, the sound stopped and only the new hollows and dips in the surface of the sand told of the massively destructive power that had just passed through this place. Alma didn't understand the importance of what she had just witnessed, and said so. The voices answered, "This is another of the ley nodes. Sadly, fate timed this earthquake and the Huile volcano at the same time in your history."

"So? And you still haven't told me what a ley node is."

"Patience... Let us take you to the last area of interest to us." 

Once again, Alma experienced the journey through time and space. Hovering over rolling expanse of grassland, she looked all around her. Directly below she could see a familiar stone construction that was instantly recognisable, especially to someone who lived in Wiltshire. It was Stonehenge, but not as she had ever seen it. For one thing there was no road next to it and for another, it was complete and looked as it was originally intended to be. The stone circle was surrounded by another circle of standing stones and she could see some large mounds in the immediate area. As she took in the panorama, she could also see several more mounds dotted around the countryside in all directions. There was a wide walkway that led from the stones and headed off to the northeast. 

Alma asked, "Why are you showing me this?" 

The voices said, "This has ever been a place of great power since before even the trees can remember. The Earth lives, we do not mean the plants that grow upon her or the animals that teem and wander across her face. The Earth herself lives, and just as we have sap flowing through our branches and you have warm red blood in your veins, so too does the Earth have a force that flows and ebbs and brings life to all parts of her. Some of your older religions know of these things, lovers of trees, followers of druidism, white witches, all know of these things and believe, even if most humans take not their words as seriously as they once did. Ley lines they are called. And the power of the Earth flows in them." 

Alma listened and then said, "Ley lines? I never believed in them." 

"Alma Baines... Lady, they do not care if they are believed in, they just are." 

"Okay. So what has this to do with me?" 

"There are places where the ley lines join together. Just as the Huile volcano and the deserts of Mesopotamia are over ley nodes, so is this. Truth be told, this is the largest single meeting place of ley lines on the face of the planet. Three major conjunctions take place here and you are directly above one of them now." 

Alma goggled. Stonehenge was one of the places of power? She knew, as did anyone who had been on the tour, that Stonehenge was a place of mystery since before records began. Although no one knew why it had been built. Some thought it was a calendar, others that it was a place of worship of the ancient gods. Alma knew, without knowing why, that she was about to learn the truth, "So what happens now?" 

"Wait... Patience... Watch." 

She sighed, as if she could do anything else. 

A few minutes passed and she saw a large group of people appear from behind a fold in the landscape, they were travelling in procession along the walkway, heading directly towards Stonehenge. As they came closer, Alma could see that they were dressed in rough spun cloth and one or two had an animal fur draped across their shoulders. Several of the women had painted faces, and at the front of the parade was an old man wearing a feathered headdress. Alma could hear them chanting in an unknown language. 

"What's happening?" she asked. 

"These are the builders of that which you call Stonehenge. They have come from another of their creations to this point to celebrate and pray to their gods."

"What other creation?" 

"Patience... Wait... Watch." 

Alma sighed heavily, "That's becoming boring, you know." 

If the voices understood her embittered tone of voice, they ignored it and simply repeated, "Patience... Wait... Watch." 

With no choice, other than to witness the scene unfolding before her, Alma's eyes fell back to the crowd of people who were now thronging in the stone circle. She watched the old man wearing feathers take up position at the altar stone. He raised his hands above his head to appeal for silence. Once the crowd had quietened down, he started a new chant. It started low and at normal volumes and steadily rose in strength, pitch and fervour. As his shout reached its crescendo, Alma could see the setting sun start to dip behind the horizon. When it finally disappeared, the old man fell silent for a moment, crossed his arms over his chest and then raised his hand back in the air. He shouted, "AIEEEEE!" 

Then the jostling crowds joined him. The shouts and whoops were joyous, wild and deafening. 

"This," the voices informed Alma, "is a celebration of the summer solstice. They are praying to the sun god to ensure that he comes back tomorrow for the start of their new year."

Alma was puzzled and responded, "I still don't see the significance of what I'm watching." 

"You will Lady. Look to the east." 

Alma looked eastwards and could see a strange pattern in the air, like the hazy rippling seen over a hot flame. 

"Lady, now look west." 

She did as instructed and could see the same undulating effect, "What are they?" she asked. 

"They are the shockwaves from the volcano and the earthquake. By unhappy chance, they are reaching this place at exactly the same time." 

"Oh please! What are the chances of that?" 

"Astronomical we admit. But it happened nonetheless." 

Alma watched the hazy shockwaves as they travelled closer. And was directly above Stonehenge when they met. Somewhat disappointed back a virtual lack of any visible disturbance, she noticed that the shockwaves seemed to merely bounce harmlessly off each other and travel in two new directions. "Okay, what did I just see then?" 

"The shockwave events met here and sent a surge of power into the ley node. Here is where it entered the course of the ley lines that connect the Henge to another place of power." 

"Where?" 

"We shall take you there now." 

Alma was surprised to travel only about five miles in a southerly direction. She was now over a roughly circular, flat-topped mound surrounded by an oval ditch. In the middle of the central area was what looked like a Neolithic village. She could see the hazy shockwave approach the village and then as it reached the very centre, it disappeared. 

"Where did it go?" she asked. 

"Into the ley node. And so it has exposed the Earth to her greatest threat." 

Alma shivered at the deadly earnest tones that the voices now adopted, "What do you mean?" 

"The shockwave has released its energy into the ley node deep beneath the surface. It has opened a doorway into another place. A place of darkness and evil. It has opened a door that should have remained ever closed." 

Alma understood what the trees were driving at, "You mean it opened the door to Hell." 

"In a manner of speaking. What you call Hell, we know as the Hypogeum. A place where nightmares are real and evil takes on a physical form instead of living as a spirit in the hearts of men." 

"So what you're saying is, that the volcano and the earthquake let Baphomet into this world." 

"Not quite. The power of the shockwave could not fully open the doorway. He can only assume his physical form under certain circumstances, which we will not discuss," the last was said with a finality that Alma recognised and respected. 

Then a thought occurred to her, "What happened to the other shockwave?" 

Alma received no answer to her question, instead she started floating north until she arrived at a circular wooden construction, which she knew to be the lesser-known edifice called Woodhenge. It was a collection of rough hewn wooden posts built for an unknown purpose by the same people who had constructed its more famous brother a few miles away. Once again she was witness to the hazy phenomenon travelling across the Neolithic landscape. If she expected to watch a rerun of the previous occurrence, she was to be mistaken. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 06-07



The voices told her, "This time you will not see what the shockwave does, you will experience it." 

Before she could react, Alma could feel herself changing, becoming less substantial. She waved her hand in front of her eyes and found that she could see right through it; down she fell towards a small copse of trees near the wooden pillars. She was changing... Alma was a tree. Thoughts ran slowly through her sap and she watched the world around her with little or no interest. She could remember watching the landscape move over last few hundred years as she grew. Life flowed through her, as did thoughts. Deep thoughts that she had no way of communicating even had she the inclination. With interest she felt a new sensation in the ground. Her roots picked up the movement of the forward edge of the shockwave. Her leaves rustled in the wind and she turned her attention toward the direction the movement was coming from. She could sense the arrival of the shockwave. It arrived at Woodhenge and it too disappeared into the ley node. Alma felt power erupt from the node and flow through the ground. It arrived at her roots and travelled along them, up her trunk and into each and every leaf on each and every branch. Alma was aware of sounds next to her for the first time in her existence and knew that something was not right. 

All of the trees in the immediate area were feeling the new sensations as power from the ley node burst upon them and with it arrived consciousness. A sense of self.

Sentience.

Warily, Alma spoke with her mind, "This is not right." 

Another voice agreed, "This is not how it should be." 

A third voice joined in, "What has happened?" 

Another voice from further away, "We are in the now... but I can think of the then." 

Yet another voice, "I too... What am I? I am me and yet... part of us. We are... We are!" 

Alma spoke again, "We must not just think of the then and the now, we must think of that which is to be. This has happened for a reason." 

A new voice even further away, "Yes. Reason. We must watch and wait and ponder." 

Alma found herself stood in the clearing once again. She felt stiff and stretched her aching muscles. Looking round she saw that all four of her current companions were sat or stood leaning against the side of Taika's house. The old woman walked across to Alma and said, "Now you know of that which was. Tomorrow I shall tell you of that which had to be," she reached out and took Alma's hand in the familiar manner that she had, "Sleep now and dream easy. Time for thinking about what you have learned is part of tomorrow." 

Without a word, Alma let the old woman lead her back into the house. 

CHAPTER SEVEN

"A fool may be known by six things: anger, without cause; speech, without profit; change, without progress; inquiry, without object; putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends." - Arabian Proverb

The pretty young lady offered her sunniest smile as she beckoned yet another potential customer to her stand. She moved forward in front of her display, it was a large platform with boards covered in blue cloth at the sides and back. Several computers were set up and running example versions of DataVault, the newest and currently the best software security system on the market. A 50" plasma screen, playing a series of advertising films on a loop dominated the back of the display stand. 

Tanji Fujimoto was the Head of Operations for the Tokyo Holdings (Holdings) Company, one of the most powerful financial institutions in Japan. Although he was not impervious to the physical charms of the delightful young lady who approached him with her hand outstretched, he considered himself professional enough to keep his mind on business and not on the understated hint of cleavage that she was showing beneath her starched-white, collared shirt and red blazer. Her eyes narrowed as she read his name and company badge that he wore on the lapel of his grey flannel suit, "Welcome Mr Fujimoto." 

He accepted her hand in his own for a brief moment before releasing it and answering in almost perfect English, "So, what are you going to sell me?" 

She laughed in response to his joke, just a little too much in Tanji's opinion. He let her begin her carefully rehearsed speech, extolling the virtues that DataVault from WinCom had to offer. Not only was it the most highly advanced anti virus and firewall system on the market, it was also the cheapest. Retailing at less than US$25,000.00, no company in the world that was serious about IT security could be without it. 

Tanji found his mind wandering as this delightful little creature extolled the qualities of DataVault. Her perfume was intoxicating and when she leaned over the desk to point out a few of the on-screen features, he couldn't help but notice the curve of her buttock and down her slender thigh. The sales girl finished her presentation and thrust a handful of glossy brochures into his hands along with a business card. 

Almost in a daze, Tanji stumbled away from the WinCom stand. He shook his head as if trying to wake up from a dream and looked back at the girl, who was now bearing down on her next mark. For some reason, he couldn't remember much of what she had told him about this DataVault thing, but he was certain that he would take a closer look at it. He read the card, but once again his mind wandered back to the saleswoman wondering whether the sheer silky sheen that covered her legs beneath the knee-length black skirt were tights or stockings. Tanji realised that he had been staring at her when he saw her glance back toward him offering another sunshine smile. Stockings, he decided and wandered away to look at the other exhibits. 

The young woman chatted lightly to her next potential customer and idly played with the silver ring on her right middle finger. It was a strange design and didn't quite sit with the business-like figure she was aiming for. The ring was old, very old and it had an engraving of a demon's face with wide grinning face. 

* * *

"And now for a roundup of the latest business news, here's Clive Pickering... So Clive, what's the story in the city?" 

"Well George, it looks like WinCom might have a success on their hands. It seems their latest product, DataVault is a big hit with the financial big guns."

"DataVault? What's that?"

"It's a software security system aimed at large corporations who have a need to protect their IT systems. And surprisingly, considering that WinCom don't have much history in the field of IT security, they seem to be right on the nose with this one. Word in the city is that their stock can expect to rise sharply as more businesses, especially the big banks, take an interest in what DataVault has to offer. DataVault has the makings of being a success story for British business. And in the current economic climate, that can only be a good thing."

"Thanks Clive, more business news later, but now with her latest release, its Charlene Knowles singing Shakin' with My Man." 

* * *

The technician from WinCom crawled from beneath the metal frame that housed one of the racks of processing units in the server room and then plugged his laptop into it. He spent a short time running his eyes over the diagnostic data before he tapped in a few commands. Once that was completed and the screen showed him a satisfactory result, he unplugged the laptop and walked from the room. 

The Northwest Bank technician who had been stood watching asked, "Is that it?" with some surprise. 

"Yep. DataVault is on stream and protecting your network."

The two men then left the room full of flashing lights as the servers carried on with their ceaseless calculations and control of customer information.

* * *

The exasperated salesman shook his head, "No Sir, I'm sorry but we don't sell DataVault. It's business software aimed at corporate networks and banking mainframes... No Sir, I don't think they'll be bringing out a home edition..."

* * *

Sir Nigel was sat in his leather office chair with his feet on the desk next to a crystal tumbler of his usual whisky and soda. He was smoking an expensive Havana cigar and reading the Financial Times. A particular phrase caught his eye: 

"DataVault has aroused such interest in the business world, that this could be WinCom's chance to step up to the plate against the heavy hitters of IT. Already, some quarters are touting WinCom as the new market leaders and are mentioning them in the same breath as IBM and Microsoft." 

Although he didn't much care for the American idiom and references to Baseball, he was enamoured of the idea of bringing the fight to the American giants. Already a huge company in many diverse fields, DataVault was WinCom's first serious attempt at the IT market. 

There was a beep from his intercom and his secretary's voice came through with a tinny metallic quality, "Sir Nigel Sir? There's a gentleman here to see you, although he hasn't got an appointment." 

"Who is it?" he barked. "He says his name is Adrian Walker, He here representing a Mr B.A. Fommet." 

There was a slight pause as the reference sunk in, Sir Nigel put his feet back on the floor, sat up straight and dropped his paper onto the desk, "Show him in please." 

The door opened and his secretary showed the stranger into the office before closing the door behind him. Sir Nigel came round his desk to shake hands, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure, Mr Walker." 

The proffered hand was gripped in a firm brisk shake and the other man took off his outer coat. Sir Nigel saw the label on the inside lining as the man threw it over his arm, it was Saville Row, as was the suit he wore if Nigel was any judge.

He wilted slightly under the intense gaze of the gentleman's emerald green eyes surmounted by thick white eyebrows. He was older than Sir Nigel by a few years, but the way he held himself showed that for all his advancing years, he still cut a formidable figure. 

"So... To what do I owe this pleasure?" 

The other man's rough northern tones fell harshly on Sir Nigel's ears as he answered, "I've been sent to continue your education now that you're a member of the Inner Fellowship." 

Sir Nigel waved Walker towards the Chesterfields and offered him a drink before he sat down to listen to what his guest had to say. And what he heard both thrilled him and at the same time chilled him to the core. 

* * *

Alma poured some hot water into a mug and crumbled some of Taika's Camellia leaves into it. She passed the aromatic drink to Taika who was once more ensconced in her chair at the table along with her three male companions. 

Once Alma had settled herself at the table as well with a drink of her own, Taika said, "I think that some introductions be in order," she indicated the giant who sat to her left, "This be Aloysius, gentle as a lamb, but a terror in a fight, which is where we'll all be before this business is settled." 

Aloysius blushed at Taika's words and nodded his head toward Alma. She nodded back, having seen how this gentle giant had quickly and ruthlessly despatched her attacker, no further explanation of his skills were required. 

Taika pointed to the next in line, "Ranulf you've already met. As fine a leader of men as you or I could ever meet and field commander of our troop." 

Ranulf glanced over at Alma with a gentle half-smile that she returned warmly. 

"And lastly we got the joker in our pack, young Loki." 

The last of the three men to be introduced gave Alma a cheeky salute with one finger to his forehead and grinned, "Charmed." 

Alma couldn't help but grin back at him. His smile was boyish and infectious, although he seemed just a little on the young side to be mixed up in such a business. As if reading her mind, Taika said, "Don't let his youthfulness fool you Lady. He's a devil with the gadgets and a terror when he's riled," she turned her attention to the men, "And this is Alma, the Lady, but you all already know what's needful, so I'll say no more."

Ranulf breathed deep and sat up straighter, as though bringing a meeting to order and asked, "Now that the introductions have been made, what do we do next?"

Taika took a sip of her drink and placed the mug carefully on the table before answering, "We need to find out what they're up to and do something about it."

Loki laughed out loud, "That's obvious." 

Taika pinned Loki to his chair with her diamond stare from below raised eyebrow and responded, "So, you're waiting for what? Go on, all of you." 

"Where do we start?" asked Ranulf. 

"You're the field commander." 

With a sigh, Ranulf stood up, "Come on boys, let's make a move." 

Groaning, the other two followed him from the house. Once outside, Ranulf addressed his companions, "I don't know where to start, so I think we should get kitted up and then head to the Lady's house and see what we see." 

Aloysius nodded and Loki shrugged. Then all three took out their travel stones and disappeared. 

Back in the cottage, Alma asked the old woman, "And what do I do?" 

"What you do is keep healing and learning." 

Alma's expression showed her puzzlement, "Healing? I thought I was healed." 

"No not yet, you ain't healed until you faced your demon." 

"You mean this Baphomet character?" 

Taika laughed gently to herself and then said, "No child, I mean the demon in your heart."

* * *

The three companions popped into existence in the back garden of Alma's house. Each was dressed in a fashion more suitable for their current environment. Ranulf wore jeans and a t-shirt with a light brown leather jacket, Aloysius in a similar fashion, but instead of a leather jacket, he wore a knee length greatcoat and Loki wore his habitual attire that made him look like a grungy skateboarder carrying a battered backpack. Each man also wore an unobtrusive earpiece that had a small wire suspended from it with a foam-covered microphone on the end.

Ranulf and Aloysius looked around to make sure the coast was clear and then took up positions either side of the back door. 

Meanwhile, Loki took a sliver of metal from his pocket and used it to unlock the door. Replacing the instrument for a small key card in his hand, he turned the handle and opened the door just wide enough to put his arm through the gap as he looked down the inside of the wall just next to the door frame. Carefully he located the narrow slot on the top of the explosive device he had placed there during his previous visit and watched as the light flashed twice and then turned off. 

Once he was sure the device was deactivated, Loki pulled it from the wall and replaced it in his pack, then he pushed the door open wide and strode inside, quickly followed by Aloysius, who had to duck in order to fit through the doorway and Ranulf. Both of the larger men waited in the kitchen until Loki had dealt with all of the explosives on the downstairs doors. They then watched him very carefully pick up all of the silver balls that were strewn on the hall floor and up the stairs. 

Once done, they then made their way into the living room whilst Loki was busy clearing the explosives from upstairs. Once Loki had finished his task he returned to the living room, dropped his pack carelessly on the armchair and asked Ranulf, "Now what? No one's been in here. Otherwise there'd be no here to be in."

Aloysius grinned and replied, "Now who's stating the obvious?" 

Ranulf ignored the exchange and said, "Now, we make sure we're seen." 

Loki immediately ran back upstairs and took a peek out of the window through the net curtains suspended in front of the master bedroom window. He spoke quietly into his microphone, "Next door washing his car in his drive... Some kids hanging about at the corner... Dark coloured Merc with smoked windows parked about three or four houses up." 

Aloysius looked at Ranulf and asked, "How 'seen' do you want us to be?" 

"Give it five minutes and then be very seen." 

"And if they come to call on us, how many need to survive?" 

"One or two, but let's keep it quiet, we don't want to upset the neighbours." 

Ranulf took a small metallic box from Loki's pack and made his way back into the garden. He pulled himself over the wall at the back and jogged to the end of the alley, with a fleeting look each way he walked slowly out and along the side of the end house in the row before stopping to stand next to a lamp post a short distance behind the target car. He had a few surreptitious glances up and down the street to make sure no one was watching him, before crouching down behind the car that was parked two behind the Mercedes. Slowly, he made his way forward, trying to keep out of the view of the Mercedes' wing mirror and moved to the rear of the car directly behind it. It was a 4x4 and Ranulf was pleased to see that it was sitting relatively high off the ground on its chunky off-road tyres. He slid beneath it and inched forwards until he had made his way to the boot of the target vehicle. Ranulf then placed the box he held against the underside of the car, using his thumb as a lever so that there was no clang when its magnetic plate connected to the metal surface. Once he was satisfied that it was secured, he reversed his journey back to his spot at the lamppost and then, after a moment or two checking up and down the road again, walked back to the alleyway to wait.

He whispered into his microphone, "Ready, time to begin the show." 

Four men sat in the car, half-heartedly watching the house. They were bored and couldn't really see the point as no one had gone near the place for days. Still, orders were orders and they did anything, it was follow orders. The driver leant on his arms against the steering wheel tapping his finger in time to a tune that was playing quietly on the stereo, two men sat in the back seat playing a game of cards. The passenger in the front seat was tapping a pen against his teeth as he worked on a particularly difficult clue in the crossword he was doing, he glanced up at the house and then did a double take as he noticed a slight movement of the curtain at the upstairs window. He leaned forward suddenly as his concentration left the crossword and was directed toward the house. There it was again! He said, "Someone's in there." 

At his words, the other three occupants of the car looked up and took a greater interest in the house under surveillance. They watched as the net curtain moved to one side and a young man's face appeared briefly, he was looking up and down the street but seemed not to have noticed their car. The driver made a quick call on his mobile, "Sir, there's someone in the woman's house, what do you want us to do?... No Sir, we only saw a young male, but that's not to say she isn't... Need any brought in for questioning?... Okay, no problem," he replaced the mobile in his pocket and turned to address the other occupants of the car, "Kill everyone in there, but do it quietly, after all we mustn't upset the neighbours. Tom, you and Bill go round the back. Burt, you go in through the front. I'll stay here and watch the street."

The two men in the back seat slid from the car and made their way towards the entrance to the alleyway, whilst the front passenger sauntered across the road to the front door. 

Ranulf had watched the two men approach and he had at first thought to tackle them in the alley, sadly he could also see a group of children approaching as they played some type of game of tag on bicycles, he shrank back and made his way to the Alma's back garden and quickly climbed the apple tree, hiding in the thick foliage of green leaves. Tom and Bill entered the garden through the gate, Bill murmured, "Back door's open, I'll go in first you wait here a second." 

They both pulled Uzi automatic machine pistols from inside their jackets, checked the safety was off and that the silencers fitted to both weapons were secure. Bill then made his way silently into the kitchen. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 06-07



At the same time, Burt was using a lock-picking device on the front door, he turned it with a tiny click and the door opened a small amount, he paused a moment to listen and then pushed the door open wider to make his way inside at the same time reaching inside his jacket. A huge pair of arms appeared from out of nowhere as Aloysius, who had been stood behind the front door, grabbed him and dragged him into the house. The door then slammed shut and there was a sound of a brief scuffle that ended in a loud crack and a groan. Ranulf dropped from the tree and fell onto Tom's shoulders quickly forcing him to the ground; he threw his hand over Tom's mouth to stifle any shouts and rammed his dagger straight into Tom's heart. The would-be killer stiffened and his eyes shot wide open, before his dead body relaxed and his expression of shock and pain, became a dull stare, his Uzi fell from his limp fingers and he was dead. 

Simultaneously, Loki threw three or four silver balls into the kitchen and then retreated back into the living room. Bill stared at the silver balls as they flew onto the floor and then bounce up, they started to spin and circle each other in three dimensions as they bounced around, getting faster and faster as they flew. They were silent when they hit the walls and surfaces but in just a second or two were already moving faster than Bill's eyes could follow. By the time he had recognised the danger it was too late. The three silver balls careered around the room smashing through work surfaces and the thin cupboard doors like they weren't even there, which is much the same effect they had on Bill's body when they came into contact with it. Bones cracked and massive welts appeared wherever the balls flew into him, only to bounce away, hit a substantial surface of the interior brick walls and fly off again at a strange angle. Before he had time to react, Bill had received several broken bones and blood was flowing freely from gashes and wounds where the balls had simply driven their way through his soft flesh. The last thing he felt was the balls now travelling at a blistering speed to drive a hole straight through his head from just below the left ear and come out where his right eye used to be. 

When Loki heard the thud of a body hitting the floor, he whistled in a low tone. The silver balls slowed down stopped in the air, then they floated across the kitchen and landed gently in his outstretched hand. He buffed them with his sleeve and placed them in his pocket. 

Ranulf gazed down at the dead body at his feet. Although an observer might have considered his actions were the natural product of experience in fighting, truth be told, he had never killed anyone before. He retreated behind the tree and was noisily sick. Ranulf finished retching, wiped his mouth and breathed deeply once or twice to regain some measure of composure, before he entered the kitchen door. 

The driver watched with shock as the massive arms had dragged his associate in through the front door. He couldn't raise any of them on their earpiece radios, so he knew all three of his associates were either dead or unconscious. Men he knew that were dangerous in the extreme, all ex soldiers who had seen action all over the world. Dammit! Tom was even a veteran of the Special Air Service. And they had been taken out in seconds. He knew that he was overmatched, especially now that he was on his own, so he gunned the engine and drove madly away from the house, desperate to survive where his partners had not.

Back in the house, Ranulf, Loki and Aloysius, took stock of the situation, Aloysius who had been watching out of the glass portion of the front door said, "The car's gone." 

Loki reached into his backpack and removed what looked like a pocket television, he flicked a switch on the side and extended the small antenna, a quick glimpse of the screen which showed a small black arrowhead travelling along a representation of the local roads, "GPS tracker's doing its job." 

Ranulf nodded and then said, "Good. Well he can wait for now," he pointed with his thumb at the dead mercenary sprawled on the stairs with his head at a strange angle, "We need to clean up this mess. Aloysius, you get rid of the bodies. Loki, you clean up the kitchen." 

Loki groaned and asked, "Why do I get the kitchen?" 

"You like using those Dancers that Taika made, so you get to clean up after them. Especially as the Lady may want to move back here when we've done what needs doing." 

It was true, whilst Loki had a love of all things electronic, especially electronics that involved bangs and booms, he was also much enamoured of the magical creations of the old woman who, even though would never admit it, was the leader of their tiny army. He made no further comment, but simply made his way back into the kitchen and filled the sink with soapy water whilst he searched in the cupboards for a cleaning cloth. 

Aloysius simply grabbed a hold of the body and disappeared, only to pop back a minute or so later and do the same with the other two dead mercenaries. Meanwhile, Ranulf had picked up the GPS tracker and watched the screen. He couldn't wait to see where the car ended its journey.



The Hypogeum Ch. 08-09



CHAPTER EIGHT

"Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous." - Plato

The two women settled back in their chairs, Taika leaned forward and took Alma's hand as it sat in front of her on the table. She said, "Now t'is time for you to learn of Baphomet. I'll be showing you something that the Forest could not," Taika forestalled an interruption with a raised hand and continued, "I know what you are about to witness, not because the trees showed me, but because I have seen for myself. I have no need to boast, deep is my connection with the Forest than you are or ever will be. I share their memories, just as you share the thoughts, strengths and memories of another, you have simply forgotten." 

The old woman stared into space for a while and Alma sat and waited in silence. Presently, Taika spoke again, "The trees are gentle creatures who have been thrust into a position where they have to witness some evil things... And make some terrible decisions. Not terrible in that they made poor choices, I mean that they were forced to make choices that no living thing should ever have to face!" 

She lapsed into silence once more. "What are you going to tell me, Taika?" asked Alma gently. 

"I will tell you nothing, you are going to see for yourself." 

"What?" 

"You are going to see how we got to this point from when Baphomet first became aware of this world," she saw the horrified look cross Alma's face and hurried on, "Be not fearful child, remember that nothing can harm you, t'is a waking dream, nothing more, but once lived, you will know why Baphomet fears you." 

Eyes wide with astonishment, Alma exclaimed, "A demon that's been around for thousands of years fears me?" 

"Yes child. He hates you, but he fears you more." 

Thoughts of Baphomet and what he had cost her tumbled through Alma's mind and when she thought of him fearing her, she could feel her resolve stiffen, "Show me," was all she said. Taika sat up straight and said, "Look into my eyes Alma Baines."

The young woman looked into Taika's eyes and could see green fire in them. It flickered and danced, swayed and shimmered... 

Alma couldn't feel her body, she imagined that she moved her hand in front of her face to look at it, but not only could she see nothing, she could also feel nothing, as though she were a ghost... No, not a ghost, but a spirit... A mind bereft of the bonds of physicality. She thought to be frightened, but felt nothing of any emotion. Neither happy or scared, hot or cold. She felt nothing, she could do... Nothing. Nothing except watch. 

On a large circular mound of earth with a flattened top was a bustling Neolithic hill fort, several people walked purposefully on their errands and a few children played a game involving the skull of a sheep, kicking it from child to child and laughing. A chill wind blew up from out nowhere and everyone in the village stopped what they were doing momentarily as their vision blurred, like they were trying to see through harsh tears. As quickly as the haziness and wind had sprung, it passed and everyone carried on with his or her normal lives. 

Far beneath the ground, directly below the village, deep in the earth that made the circular mound upon which the settlement perched, there was pain. The Earth felt a stab as the shockwave passed into the ley node. That strange place where physicality and spirituality met, where the power of the Earth's life force pulsed with ferocious strength. The force of the impact went unnoticed on the surface being more akin to spiritual power than physical, but the Earth felt it and the pain she felt was unimaginable to any mere mortal. Something shattered deep inside the node and a black mass grew. A face appeared in the midst of the mass, it had soulless eyes and a wide mouth full of vicious teeth. Tentacles appeared within the bubbling pustule and they began to push outwards from the centre of the bubble of pure evil that had invaded the world. They sank into the soil and rocks in the immediate vicinity and like roots began to feed upon the life that they found. Insects, burrowing worms, everything living that came into contact with the tentacles died, and with each death the evil grew stronger. He had tasted the life in this new place and he wanted more. 

He wanted all of it! 

Baphomet roared! 

High above in the settlement, an old man sat sharpening arrow heads for the young men who were going on the hunt tomorrow. He felt a shiver down his spine and suddenly felt quite apprehensive, but for no reason he could fathom. His weather-beaten face frowned as he shifted into a more comfortable position and tried to continue with his task. 

He had great difficulty getting to sleep that night and his wife grew angry as he woke her once too often with his tossing and turning. 

Baphomet was puzzled; he didn't understand how or why he had come to this place. It felt the same as his home, the Hypogeum and also different. The same in that it was dark and warm where he was, but different in that it was teeming with life, life that he and his brethren had virtually extinguished in the dimension of his birth. Also, he felt powerful; much more power ran through his being than had ever down in his own reality, where he was a very minor player in a very big game. He knew that instead of hiding in the night and hunting for weaker demons to feed his craven appetites, here he had the opportunity to rule. Powerful or not, he knew that more was needed, and the lowly insects and worms that had only a moment ago thrilled him as he felt their life force flow into him would not be enough. Still... He had time. Time to ponder and to plan. 

Weeks passed, months and then years. Baphomet probed outwards with his thoughts, just as he had on his own world when seeking out prey. This time though, his ability to reach out with his thoughts was stronger. He didn't know it, but the shockwave that had brought him here had at the same time linked his nature to the ley node that had ruptured. Slowly he let his consciousness travel along the mystical pathways of the Earth and searched out the nodes similar to the one with which he was now combined. The flow of energy that coursed through the veins of the planet were far too strong for him to subvert, he could only ride them. But wherever they took his thoughts, he could also hear the thoughts of those animals that were close by. Baphomet tried to break free of the node that both freed and imprisoned him, but could not. He was too weak, at least for now. 

Still, as his thoughts travelled, they grew and he learned the secrets that lived in the hearts of men. Secrets that he knew could aid him. The planet was too strong for him to subvert, but these puny humans, as they called themselves, were not. He discovered how the humans were linked to the Earth in a manner that was beyond their ability to understand, at least on the conscious level, but at the unconscious level things were different. Had they not built edifices at some of the most powerful places on the surface of the Earth? Stone circles that were a testament to man's place in nature.

It was his thought that perhaps these places of worship could be used to help him gain the strength to break free and conquer this place. Baphomet sent out his mind along the highways and byways of energy that criss-crossed Earth. Where he found a node of particular power, he searched the local populace for a suitable candidate. When he found one, a man or woman that was hungry for personal power or gain or who had a highly developed sense of piety, he would reach out tendrils of thought to make subtle changes. A thought here, another thought there. Where necessary a human who he considered might be a stumbling block was sent along another pathway. A path that could mean deciding not to go to the village meeting tonight, or a path that could lead to the individual deliberately taking too great a risk that led to their death. Regardless of the thoughts changed and the pathways chosen, his plan started to grow to fruition. 

All around the world at roughly the same time, stone edifices were built and used for worship. Baphomet could feel his strength grow with each prayer that travelled through the ley lines to the conjunction where he resided. Every node of power that he could find had a structure of wood or stone. Once Baphomet was of the opinion that he had found every such point in the planet's nervous system, he made his first attempt to break free. The demon gathered his will and directed his mind to breaking free from the ley node that held him fast. Slowly at first he started to strain against his bonds as he felt the energy flowing into him from all the nodes where Neolithic people prayed to the gods of the seasons, the sun and the moon. All were mistaken in their beliefs; all they were doing was helping a demon try to free himself from the ley node's seemingly unbreakable grip. As his might grew, so did his struggle. Baphomet strained and pulled against the tendrils of power, harder and ever more fiercely did he try to escape, but to no avail. The ley node buried deep under the ground was just too mighty.

Exhausted, Baphomet collapsed backwards against the node and as he did so, the energy he had been using to break free exploded from his person and travelled in the only directions open to it, along the channels of ley lines to the two other nearby clusters of Earth energy and directly upwards into the hill fort. The wooden construction of the buildings directly above Baphomet had no way of withstanding the furious energies he had released. The ground shook and rippled, fences fell and houses collapsed. Wooden struts shattered into thousands of shards that filled the air with deadly shrapnel, flying though the air in all directions. 

In a matter of moments not a single piece of unbroken timber could be seen. The earth beneath Stonehenge shook and the mighty standing stones toppled, the lintels that they supported fell to the ground and cracked and broke as they hit each other on the way down. Sandstone heel-stones that marked the entrance to the sacred circle shattered under the forces that assailed them and all the people who had been worshipping fled in terror as they tried to escape what they thought was the anger of the gods. 

Meanwhile, the energy that assailed Woodhenge a few miles to the north was if anything even more devastating. The wooden poles that had been sunk into the ground, shattered as the terrible forces sent shockwaves through them, one or two even flew into the air as though struck from beneath by a giant hammer. Loud was the wailing of the Neolithic people when they surveyed the damage wrought to their holy places by forces they had no means of understanding. 

And loud also, was the roar of Baphomet as he let loose with such rage as the world had never seen. 

He screamed! 

He roared! 

He thrashed against his bonds! 

Long and fearsome was the raging lament of the demon, still trapped in the Earth, but also still trapped outside the earth. It took the lifetimes of many men for Baphomet's rage to peak and then die down and when it did, he started to ponder why he had failed. The answer came to him; it was a matter of power, not enough power. He needed more power if he were to break free. But how? Where could he get such power as he needed? If the thoughts and prayers of all humankind on the planet channelled through the ley lines had not been enough, then where. Baphomet thought long about the problem even as he started sending his thoughts out into the world again, and what he discovered caused him to stop and take stock. 

What had seemed like a few moments to him had actually been many generations. The humans he noted had made improvements, they had discovered the working of more advanced metals, improved methods of farming. It would appear that he savage creatures could learn, could improve and could advance. He thought this was interesting and important, if they could evolve new things, why not new means of generating power, power he could use to break free and stride this world like the colossus he knew he was destined to be? Baphomet settled down to make his plans. 

Sorviodunum was a military station at the junction of five important roads. And beneath it, Baphomet waited. He sent out questing thoughts, searching for suitable candidates. He was looking for the greedy, the devious, the lustful, the quick, the clever, the dark and the powerful. And wherever he met a human mind that suited his dark purpose, he invaded it and offered up promises of whatever that person desired most in return for a little thing. Such a little thing. Just a prayer perhaps. 

Baphomet used his power to influence many different people all over the world, ensuring that they would come to positions of power and wealth and in return all he asked was a prayer. Cynric, a Saxon king, made his home there. On the whole, he was an adequate ruler in many ways as well as being a fearsome warrior. But he was proud and hungered for power, traits that were useful to Baphomet. He sent out his thoughts to invade the dreams of the king, offering promises of power in exchange for little things, a prayer perhaps and an altar stone. 

Slowly, over time Cynric's dreams began to occupy his waking thoughts. Why not? He said to himself, what harm could it do? Even if it is but a fancy, it can cause no harm. But if, on the other hand, the dream voice were to be real and true, the rewards would be magnificent. He had visions of himself leading a great army to victory after victory until he was the undisputed ruler of Saxon England. He began work on a new room for the fort; it was to be underground deep beneath the centre of the complex. Teams of peasants worked in shifts to dig down into the earth. A system of ropes and pulleys hauled baskets of rocks and earth up to the surface and the workers used a series of ladders in the side of the shaft to climb down to the bottom. Picks, axes and shovels bit their way ever deeper until their king, Cynric ordered them to stop digging down and start digging outwards. As the new room grew in size, further teams of masons and builders followed the labourers into the hole and began the process of turning its earthen walls into walls of stone and cement. 

Gradually the project took shape. A side tunnel was dug that led from the main room and this to was increased in size so that it too could be shored up with rough hewn rectangular stones. And still the work continued, as the tunnel was lengthened and started to incline gently back up towards the surface until the grafting diggers and labourers had created a long corridor that broke out into a field about half a mile from the vaulted room. Teams of builders followed them laying flagstone flooring and cementing stones together for the ceiling and walls. The ceiling of the main room was completed at the same time that the final touches were added to the floor, a circle was inscribed into the flagstones and an ornately carved centrepiece was added that showed an image of a grinning monster with a mass of tentacles were there should have been arms. 

Once the work was completed, all of the rocks and earth that had been excavated from the main shaft were poured back in and the hole was filled completely, sods of grass were laid back on top and tamped down until no trace could be seen of anything out of the ordinary. Then all the teams of labourers were led to the place where the stone corridor ended in the field and the final touches were added there as well, stone steps were put in place so that people using the corridor could walk down instead of having to climb and a trapdoor made of solid oak was set in place over it. A stone built farmhouse grew rapidly under Cynric's direct supervision as well as the associated outbuildings and barns. One of which was set directly over the trapdoor. 

When the final brick was cemented into place, all of the masons, builders and labourers who had toiled so hard for the king were crowded into the courtyard area of the farmhouse so that they could be addressed by Cynric, who was to thank them for their hard work and to pay them. Rumours were rife that they were each to be given a gold coin, so highly did the king rate their work. As the throng jostled and pushed in the crowded courtyard, Cynric sat on his horse and shouted, "My people who have toiled for me, you have the thanks of your king. And now you shall have your payment," he held up a gold coin for all to see and the crowd cheered their generous king as every eye in the crowd stared at the glittering prize in his hand. They failed to see the groups of soldiers armed with bows and swords surrounding them and there was a stunned silence when Cynric withdrew behind one of the squads and shouted, "Ready!" 

Bows were raised, and arrows aimed at the people in the courtyard. Cynric shouted, "Kill them all!" 

A volley of arrows flew into the crowd; each found its mark and those hit collapsed to the ground, dead. Another volley, and another and yet another, until almost every worker in the courtyard was dead. 

Then there was silence broken only by the muffled moans of the few who had been injured, but not killed. A squad of soldiers searched through the bodies, looking for any survivors who were quickly despatched with a blade. Another squad of soldiers began dragging the bodies away and loaded them onto wagons to be taken away and disposed of. Cynric had sat on his horse and watched the entire grisly massacre from start to finish without a word. He was listening to a voice in his head whispering promises of glory and power for this day's work... But there was still something yet to do. 

He climbed from his horse and motioned to a soldier nearby, "Come with me." 

Somewhat surprised to be called upon, the soldier followed his leader to the trapdoor, where he then opened it and followed the king down and along the corridor to the vaulted room with the strange decorations on the floor. Once they were stood together over the decorated tablet of the monster, Cynric asked, "What is your name?" 

"Rodric Sire," answered the young soldier. 

The king smiled and said, "You are about to be given a great honour, Rodric." 

Eagerly the soldier asked, "What is that, my king?" 

Cynric pulled a dagger from the sheath at his side, grabbed Rodric by the arm and slid the blade between his ribs. Rodric stood open eyed in shock as he felt the spurt of blood arc from the wound and splash the tablet at his feet. The king's smile was one of pure evil as he said, "You are to be the first sacrifice to my new lord, Baphomet." 

Rodric's knees gave way as he weakened and he fell forward across the tablet, his blood poured over it. 

Below him, Baphomet sensed the rich energy-giving fluid, sweet and so much stronger than the lower life forms that had provided his sustenance until now. He reached up eagerly and when he touched the tablet, he felt the energy flow into him from the blood, intoxicating and thrilling. Greedily, Baphomet drank and as he did so, he felt the power pulsing as it flowed into his being. He reached up further and for the first time felt the true air from this new world. Baphomet pushed through the stone tablet, feeling his form take on the properties of the stone and transform to flesh as he passed through it until he was stood in all his glory in the centre of the vault.

He looked down at the dead body sprawled at his feet and at the king, now cowering away in terror as he stared at the monster he had summoned. 

Baphomet laughed long and loud before saying, "Cynric, fear not. You shall not die this day while you are still of use to me." 

When Cynric made no motion to move, Baphomet continued, "Attend me Cynric. Pray to me with blood and flesh and I shall reward you. Serve me above all others and you shall be great amongst men. Fail me and you shall surely die." 




The Hypogeum Ch. 08-09



"Wh... Wh... What must I do?" 

"What must I do, Milord!" 

"What must I do... Milord?" 

"That is better. You must do, exactly as I tell you." 

Baphomet could feel the effects of the blood energy wearing off, he weakened and felt unable to continue holding on to his physical form. He shimmered and then vanished back through the stone tablet and into the ley node. 

Alma blinked and was back to herself again. 

Taika still sat opposite her and looked exhausted. A quick glance through the window let Alma know that it was getting late as she could see the sky darkening to a deep inky blue. "How long have I been sitting here?" 

Taika yawned, "Most of the day. Time for sleep now. Dreamless sleep tonight I think," 

She stood up and stretched her old spine, "We can continue your lessons in the morning." 

With that, both women retired to the sleeping area upstairs and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber. 

* * *

Once the kitchen had been cleaned to Ranulf's satisfaction, and Aloysius had disposed of the bodies, all three activated their travel stones and disappeared from the house. 

One by one the three men popped back into existence in the grounds of a small house set deep in the woods of the New Forest. Well away from the beaten track and surrounded on all four sides by the native Cicada trees, there was very little possibility of the house ever being discovered, in fact none of the men could remember seeing any living thing in this place apart from each other, a few muntjacs and the occasional wild pony, for which the region was famous.

The house itself, although small, was comfortable, airy and rather modern in look. It was built of red brick and the slated roof held a number of solar panels. The water was taken directly from an underground stream and filtered before it pumped into the large storage tank to be used for drinking and washing. No one knew of the existence of the house outside the three men and Taika. All the materials used to build it had been stolen from various businesses and shops around the country. None of the group was entirely comfortable with theft, except Loki, but all could see the necessity. If they were to be able to operate safely from here, then its existence needed to remain a secret. It had taken several weeks to appropriate all the materials even with the help of the travel stones and it had taken several more months to build the house. Ranulf, Aloysius and Loki made their way inside as Loki asked, "Whose turn is it to cook? I'm starving."

Aloysius hooked a thumb toward Ranulf, "His." 

Loki groaned, "Great! Sausage and beans again."

CHAPTER NINE

"To escape evil isn't the same thing as to overcome it." - Kerttu Wanne

Alma's eyes glazed over and once again she felt herself slipping away.

The Norman motte and bailey castle on the hill was impressive to say the least. With a commanding view of the surrounding countryside and high stone walls inside the huge trough that travelled the circumference of the castle, it seemed like an impregnable fortress. Around the outside of the trough were many houses and business premises that made up the town of Sarisburia. This was where William the Conqueror had convened the prelates, sheriffs and knights together to pay homage and also where, years earlier, King Edgar had organised the defence of the realm against invading Danes. 

But Baphomet cared little for these trivialities. He was busy working his evil, searching always for new minds that could be bent to his will. He had managed to establish a secret society of agents throughout the world and it was through one of these agents that he became aware of the prophecy. 

The chieftain of a small tribe in the southern portion of the Americas had been turned to Baphomet's cause and had joined him with abandon. The sacrifices were numerous and often and Baphomet revelled in the surge that arrived through the ley lines with each tortured death when a still beating heart was ripped from a supplicant's body. 

In the village amongst the trees of the rainforest lived an old man, he had no issue and made his living by supplying arrowheads for the hunters. One day, he had been busily working when he suddenly stopped and his hands fell limply to his sides, he had a faraway look in his eye and then began speaking. For three days and three nights, he spoke, repeating the same story over and over again. 

This strange occurrence came to the ears of the Chieftain and he came to see for himself the old man who had apparently been possessed by spirits. As the Chieftain looked on, the old man began again with his speech, "Evil walks amongst us and he is strong and powerful. Guard your hearts against lust and avarice and greed. He shall grow ever stronger and should he be freed from his constraints, then devastation shall fall upon us. No may stand before him, lest they be destroyed or turned to his evil cause. None except the few. The Magician, the Shield, the Warrior, the Trickster. These be our hope and these be our salvation. Mighty they shall be and pure of purpose. And still they shall not prevail, unless they come forth to battle with the Mother. The Mother shall face down the Evil and there shall be the mightiest battle. From their names shall they be known and in the place of the river of the wily shall they go forth to battle." 

The chieftain watched the old man repeat the phrase a few more times and then retired to his hut to commune with the Lord in his fire. As he reported, the face in the flames grew angry and ordered the old man killed so that the words he spoke were stopped. The chieftain carried out his orders, but it was too late. Many people had heard the old man's words... And remembered them. 

Baphomet was stunned at the news his disciple had brought him. He had no idea where the words had come from and was more than a little angry. What power dared to challenge him in his quest to be free? Who had brought it upon themselves to make him their enemy? 

Whilst the old man had been speaking his prophetic words, Baphomet had attempted to enter his mind, and found that he could not. Someone or something had raised barriers that he could not breech. The demon thought long and hard on the words that the old man had spoken. There was a river nearby that was named the Wylye, so it was obvious that the reference was aimed at Sarisburia, as the locals called it. He was at the same time heartened by the admission that the group could not beat him without the aid of someone called the Mother. Well he was ready and he would be ever watchful against the appearance of this creature, and he would make sure that she died and her life force would be joined to his to make him even more powerful. Even in the midst of his conviction that he, Baphomet was destined to rule over this world, he could not erase the sliver of doubt that had entered his mind.

He was distracted from his thoughts when he sensed movement in his stone vault above.

Several brown clad disciples had entered the room dragging a young girl with them; she was bound hand and foot and was wearing a gag. Wide eyed with fear, she was stretched out over the stone tablet by two of the men, whilst the others stood at various points around the circle. The last thing she saw was the flash of a knife in a disciple's upraised hand that suddenly plunged down into her heart. Baphomet felt the familiar rush as the life force entered his being and he roared in satisfaction. Feeding always put him in a better mood.

Meanwhile, far away in a small village hidden deep in the forests of a country called Suomi, a baby girl was born. Her mother named her Taika, she didn't know why, she just liked the name and it meant magic spell.

As she grew, Taika became aware that she was not like other little girls. She had no interest in playing with dolls or gossiping about boys. She preferred to spend her time in the forest, walking for miles through the densely packed Montane birch trees. She imagined that she could talk to them and they in turn could talk to her. One day, she was out as usual roaming far and wide, when she became sleepy and decided to rest in the shade of a large birch that she considered one of her best friends. And as she slept, she dreamt. 

She dreamt of the magical power that the trees could give her, she dreamt of the knowledge that could be given to her, should she only open her mind and let the Forest in. 

Taika woke up and gazed around her. The only sound was of birds whistling and calling as they flew from branch to branch and the soft breeze that made the boughs sway and caused the leaves to rustle. She closed her eyes and whispered, "Yes." For the first time in her life, Taika heard the voices of the Forest and she was deeply interested in what they had to say. 

Baphomet sent out tendrils of though in all directions as the years rolled by, every so often he found a mind that was of distinct interest to him, one that he knew could be used to spread the death and destruction he loved so much.

One such mind was that of a small boy called Temujin who lived near the city of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Baphomet followed this boy to adulthood, offering words of wisdom in his dreams and using his powers to assist Temujin winning battle after battle across the Russian Steppe and even as far as Europe. The demon helped Temujin raise an army the like of which had not been seen before and cause mayhem, destruction and death on a vast scale. As the conflagration raged, the boy became the man and gained the title that history remembered him by.

He became Ghengis Khan.

Later, Baphomet planted seeds in the minds of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his queen, Isabelle I of Castile. Seeds that would lead to the torture and death of thousands of people across the world, in what became known as the Spanish Inquisition.

A young man by the name of Napoleone di Buonoparte from the Mediterranean island of Corsica began his education in warfare at the Ecole Militaire in Paris. Initially only an average student, he soon displayed a will to succeed, a new found talent for warfare and a personal need for power that spurred him on to become one of the greatest military leaders of his age.

Baphomet was well pleased with himself, as it had only taken one or two minor changes of the boy's nature in order to cause strife across Europe and Africa. Each death in battle sang out and emitted energy along the ley lines that ended up at Sarum, where Baphomet eagerly drank of it. 

Gavrilo Princip steeled himself as he gripped the pistol in his hand ever more tightly. He was trying to calm his nerves with deep breathing as he waited for the motorcade to arrive. The voice in his head told him yet again of the glory that awaited him, Hero of Bosnia they would call him as he was paraded through the streets of Sarajevo. The car he was waiting for had taken a wrong turn and by happy chance that placed it almost directly in front of the young member of the group calling itself Young Bosnia.

He strode forward and fired.

The first bullet struck the male passenger in the neck, and the second hit his wife in the abdomen. Both were to die by his hand. Before he could make his escape, Gavrilo was wrestled to the ground by other members of the motorcade and arrested. He was horrified to discover that not only had the voice in his mind deserted him, but he would never be lauded as the Hero of Bosnia and could look forward to nothing except spending the rest of his short life in prison. Baphomet rejoiced deep in his dark retreat. He had set in motion a series of events that would change the face of the world forever and also send many millions to their deaths. The demon had initiated the First World War.

It was during what Baphomet considered his greatest success so far, that he discovered the key to his freedom.

In the year 1933, a young man sat in a Munich beer hall and was noticed by Baphomet, a failed painter from Austria, he had drives and needs that were just what Baphomet required. He also had such a charisma about him, that Baphomet knew this one was something special. This one could be the agent of death on a truly massive scale. Baphomet used his powers to assist Adolph Hitler in his rise to power. Agents of the Hypogeum as he had named his organisation were sent to Berlin where they instigated the burning of the Reichstag and so began one of the darkest chapters in the whole of human history.

The demon was awash with energy as the accumulated deaths on the battlefields of the Earth and in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany fed to him via the network of ley lines.

But that was set aside when something new appeared in his consciousness, he felt a shockwave roll across the ley node that imprisoned him here at Old Sarum, he felt the forces holding him in place waver for a moment before returning to full strength. This was a new power, something that he knew he could use to his advantage.

Baphomet followed the course of the shockwave back along the ley lines from where he felt it arrive and it led him to a place in the Americas called Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Reaching out to the minds of those nearby he discovered something called the Manhattan Project. Baphomet watched in awe. This power of the atoms could free him. Baphomet now knew what he needed to do. This place was too far from his prison to be useful, what he needed was the power of the atom to be released much closer to his ley node. 

Finally! There existed a weapon that could breach the walls of his prison. Old Sarum needed to be attacked with the power of the nuclear weapons and he could be free. But still he had a nagging doubt. In all his searching throughout the world, he had found no clue, no trace of the group of people fated to oppose him. And of special consideration was the fact that he still knew nothing of the Mother.

Just as the power of the atom ended the war, in Cardiff, a baby was born. He weighed in at 10lb 7 oz and the midwife was sure she had never seen a baby so big. His parents decided on the name of Aloysius, although neither could remember suggesting it, both agreed it was a fine, if unusual, name for their son.

As he grew, Aloysius found himself the butt of many jokes and comments. As he continued to grow, the jokes stopped, but the comments continued. A succession of young men, all eager to prove their fighting prowess, had shown Aloysius that he was destined to fight, however much distaste he might have for it. He also discovered that in addition to his size, he was 6'6" at the age of thirteen and topped seven feet by the time he was eighteen, he had a natural aptitude for fighting. His frequent fights brought him into almost constant contact with the police, and as it was usually the word of one brutal looking giant against those of much smaller men, it was normally Aloysius who ended up in the dock.

At his latest appearance in court, the judge gave him a choice; go to prison or join the army.

Aloysius chose Her Majesty's Armed Forces. Here was a world that not only didn't prejudge him by his criminal record, but actually embraced his natural fighting abilities. He had wanted to join the Parachute Regiment, but his massive frame was both too large and far too heavy for the normal military parachute, so he joined the Cheshire Regiment, as his sheer physical size precluded him from joining the Welsh Guards. 

"You just won't fit in," said the officer from the Welsh Guards who was looking over the latest recruits being put through their paces in basic training.

The Cheshire's on the other hand, knew they had a diamond. Especially when he showed his fighting spirit and natural skills in the boxing ring. Aloysius also discovered unarmed combat from other countries, being especially adept at the Wing Chun and Wu Shu forms of Kung Fu. Alice, as he was affectionately called within the Regiment, soon became known as the man you wanted at your back when things got tough. He saw active service all over the world and took part in more than his fair share of fighting, both armed and unarmed.

One day, his time in the army came to an end when he was forty years old. After twenty-two years, he was retired from colour service. No longer a soldier and at a total loss what to do with the rest of his life. He was sitting in the garden of a pub playing with his pint rather than drinking it. There was an oak tree nearby. His eyes glazed over and the voices spoke to him. Aloysius listened to what they had to say. After a brief pause, he nodded and disappeared. 

Baphomet watched the arms race through the fifties, sixties and seventies with great interest. The Cold War between the two superpowers was the nearest he came to watching the atomic war he so desperately wanted. Sadly for him, the Cuban Missile Crisis came to a tense, but peaceful end. The two leaders involved had been impervious to his blandishments; the American leader especially had seemed untouchable, as with the prophetic old man from centuries ago, Baphomet found his way into the man's mind blocked by some unknown power. His wrath at this outrage almost overwhelmed him, but somehow, he struggled to regain his composure and continued questing for the foreordained woman who was destined to meet with him in battle, and still he could find no trace.

In Scotland a child was born. His parents decided to veer from the family tradition of naming the first-born son Richard, after the father and instead opted for Ranulf. Unusual as it was for a Scot, they liked it and so he was named Ranulf McNab. Although he never sought leadership as a child, it always seemed to fall to him to organise teams and invent the games for the local children to play. All of them automatically deferred to him when a decision was required. 

As a young man he enlisted into the army, but found that it was too rigid and set in its ways for his liking. He drifted from one place to another with no real direction in his life. The only constant was his love of the countryside. Sometimes he would stop off at a farm to work the fields. Usually finding that he was elected as the mouthpiece when the workers felt a discussion was required with the current employer. Unlike most young men of the time, he wore his dark hair long and tied back in a pony tail, almost as though he was showing his defiance of the rules. 

Whilst he was walking back from the local village to the bunkroom where he currently slept at the potato farm, he paused near a grove of trees that grew at the junction where the farm road met the main thoroughfare. He could hear something that no one else would have been able to had they been with him. His eyes were wide in wonder as he nodded his agreement. 

Ranulf vanished. 

The years rolled forward, Baphomet had an army of willing volunteers at his disposal; all of them were men and women in positions of power. In the military, business, banking, as well as in the lower echelons of society, where a strong back and a willingness to ignore the laws of man was required. Well placed as all his people were and powerful as he was, still there was no sign of the Mother. And still his plans for world domination seemed no nearer than they had been when the power of the atom was revealed to him. It was 1982. Baphomet was reaching out with his mind along the lines of power that had become as much a part of him as his body and mind. He was reaching out toward a small group of islands just off the coast of the southern point of Argentina. A flotilla of ships was heading there on the orders of the British Prime Minister in response to an illegal occupation by Argentine military forces. More strife, more needless death and more destruction lay in the immediate future and Baphomet wanted to taste it.

A child was born in a hospital in Swindon. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 08-09



She was a little girl. 

The midwife helped her free from her mother's body and cut the umbilical cord. A ripple ran from the ground beneath the hospital, spiritual rather than physical, so it went unnoticed by everybody in the vicinity. Strangely, as the ripple spread out from its epicentre, it grew stronger rather than weaker until it was like a tidal wave of mystical force travelling along the ley lines. Wider and wider grew the circle, moving outwards ever outwards. Baphomet felt the ripple moving towards him, he was both mystified and alarmed at its appearance. Carefully he reached out with his mind along the ley lines that joined his node to where the wall of energy was travelling toward him. He felt the wall approaching like it was a solid mass and he found to his dismay that he couldn't penetrate it. He could tell where it had started, but that was all. 

When the energy wave hit Old Sarum, Baphomet roared, at first in anger then in agony. This new energy was forcing his consciousness away from the ley lines, he struggled and fought but it was to no avail. The energy burned him like fire burned paper; each pulse was like a white-hot hammer blow in his mind. Baphomet lost consciousness as he was torn from the network of ley energy and thrust back into the node. His prison once again an impregnable fortress. Just before he lapsed into a stupor, he heard a sound behind the fire and the pain of withdrawal from the network, it was the sound of a voice, a huge voice and it was singing. Singing a song of exultation.

Baphomet knew what the voice was.

It was the Earth; the planet was welcoming the Mother and rejecting him. 

When he awoke, the demon was horrified to discover that he could no longer send his mind out along the network of ley lines to directly interfere with the thoughts of the human animals. Although he could, with an effort of will when supplied with human life force through the stone tablet in the vault above, still manifest in his physical form. Cut off from his normal means of communicating with his army of followers, he pondered on what he should do. The next time his disciples came to him with another unwilling dinner guest, he had his plans ready. First he feasted and then he told those present of the new order of things. Those present were to be his red robes. Lieutenants in his army of darkness, they were to contact their subordinates and build their own network of informants, spies and soldiers. 

Once that was done, they were to start searching for the Mother. All he could tell them was the date of birt and the general area of Swindon where the ripples of energy that stripped him of much of his power came from. All present knew of the prophecy, so all had a starting point from where to begin. Baphomet also told them of his ultimate plan to stride the Earth as its ruler and what would be required. 

As one, his disciples fell into shock at Baphomet's pronouncement that he required tactical nuclear strikes against Old Sarum. But still they scurried off to carry out his bidding.

And wasted several years in fruitless effort

There were too many failsafes on the machines and the guards were on the whole incorruptible. Also, the Americans and the Russians stockpiled the only weapons able to release power in the magnitude that Baphomet required. And the weapons of both countries were out of their reach.

A child was born in the Wandsworth borough of London. His Norwegian father named him Loki. As he grew, he discovered a passion for amateur electronics and computers. Sitting alone in his bedroom, he used his home computer to search TelNet, one of the precursors to what would grow into the Internet, for information he could use to his advantage.

He also made something of a name for himself at school. His signature being a small bomb made from the filling of several plastic caps used in toy guns and hidden under a toilet seat that would explode when the seat was sat upon. He also found it impossible to find a game of cards after the age of seventeen as he had a remarkable ability to win. In Loki's opinion, it was only because he was so good at it that he had never been caught cheating. 

One evening he was sitting in his flat, he had been thrown out of the house on his sixteenth birthday and had lived by his wits ever since. Loki was looking at the streams of data going down his computer screen when the lines of code began to subtly change. Before his eyes the lines of programming language began to form words in clear English. He read them and then tapped in his response.

Loki vanished.

A middle-aged Adrian Walker came alone to the vault beneath Old Sarum carrying an unconscious young girl over his shoulder. He laid her down over the stone tablet and slit her throat. It was the measure of the man that he had kidnapped her earlier that evening from a local village purely for the chance of a private conversation with Baphomet.

Once summoned, the demon although irritated at being disturbed, was also impressed with the cold-blooded callousness that Walker displayed. So he listened to what Walker had to say. He spoke of the future, of the age of information. Information was power. The future lay in computers, as did the key to Baphomet's freedom. Once he had finished speaking he waited for his master's reaction. The demon nodded thoughtfully and a new scheme was set in motion.



The Hypogeum Ch. 10-11



CHAPTER TEN

"I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love." - Mohandas Gandhi

Loki appeared in a clearing in a Forest, his eyes were wide open in astonishment; both at the strange voices that had spoken to him and also that he had somehow been transported to this place. He looked around the clearing. There was an old thatched cottage set roughly in the centre of the clearing. By the front door there was a rocking chair occupied by an old woman in old-fashioned clothing smoking a pipe, apparently engrossed in what was happening in front of her. She was watching a young man receiving instruction in some sort of martial art by simply the biggest man Loki had ever seen. Uncertainly, Loki looked around again, before walking slowly towards the strange people at the cottage. 

As he came nearer, the old woman spotted him, removed the pipe from her mouth and said something to the men, who stopped what they were doing and turned to face the new arrival. The giant waved and said in an unexpectedly quiet voice, "Hello there," he was grinning, "Don't worry about it, the surprise will wear off soon." 

The smaller man also grinned as he agreed, "Yes, but if what Taika says is true, then we should be in for a few surprises as well." 

The old woman joined them and studied Loki with intense concentration, Loki started to feel a little uncomfortable under that steady, unreadable gaze. Here was a person that he never wanted to see across a card table. Presently she spoke, "Young! Very young you be for the work we have ahead." 

Loki was nettled by the comment, for all his admittedly few years living by his wits, he had heard this comment, or very similar far too often. "It ain't the age that's important, it's the mileage." 

The old woman took no offence at his tone and replied, "That sounds like a line from one of those picture plays." 

Ranulf interrupted, "She means the movies. Taika has a strange way of talking, but you'll get used to it."

Taika ignored him and continued, "Young I said and young I meant. Still they chose you and I'm sure they have their reasons. Come Loki, we have much to discuss." 

She linked her arm into his and led him back toward the cottage as the other two followed behind. As they walked, she told him everything she felt he needed to know, about Baphomet and all his interference throughout human history, the ley lines and why he was needed. Ranulf and Aloysius were introduced, and he was told of his place in the team. 

Loki struggled to take it all in. 

This was outrageous! 

He must have gone mad, yes that was it. He'd gone round the bend and wasn't really in this forest at all, he was actually heavily sedated in a rubber room somewhere. Taika could see his disbelief showing on his face, she gently disengaged from him and said, "I thought you wouldn't believe me, but I had to try. Never mind, I'll let more persuasive talkers tell you the truth of it." 

Somewhat nonplussed, Loki could only stand in silence, until a soft breeze blew in from nowhere, and he started to hear musical voices on top of it. Gently they spoke to him and explained their need. It was as though a locked door in his mind had been thrown open. 

It was true! 

It was all true. 

He didn't understand why he knew that the voices spoke only the truth to him, but he did know that it was so. They asked him a question once again, and once again he answered, "Yes." 

The breeze died down and Loki was left standing there in the clearing in the Forest next to a tumbledown cottage, in the presence of three people to whom he was now inextricably linked. Loki blinked and then looked at Ranulf, all he could say was, "Nineteen seventy four? 

You don't look a day over twenty five!" he then turned to face Aloysius, "Nineteen seventy nine? You should be an old man!" 

Finally he looked at Taika, "And you..."

The old woman merely smiled, "Time works differently here," was all she said. 

Once Loki had settled into the group, his training began. He spent every morning along with Ranulf learning unarmed combat from Aloysius. After one particularly hard session, Loki rubbed the bruises that covered his left arm and asked, "If you're the warrior, how come we have to learn all this stuff?"

The giant answered, "The Warrior I may be, but you still need to be able to look after yourself." 

Afternoons were given over to learning about small arms and military tactics and techniques. Loki and Ranulf were despatched into the woods to camouflage themselves and evade capture by Aloysius. They also spent a number of hours firing their weapons of choice at various targets that Aloysius had set up well away from the house. After what seemed like several weeks, but have quite easily been years, or minutes, Loki started to notice a difference in himself. 

Early in their training, the giant had not taken long to find both of them, but as they trained and their skills improved, he began to find it more difficult to root them out. Also, his shooting, and that of Ranulf had come on in leaps and bounds. Loki's evenings were his favourite though, for it was in the evening that he watched Taika demonstrate her skill at Imbuing. That was her name for it. She would take an item; in this particular instance it was a small silver ball. She held it firmly in her grip and then concentrated silently for a few minutes.

Loki could not see her actually doing anything, and said so when she finally opened her hand to show the apparently unchanged silver ball. 

She merely smiled, led him outside and handed him the ball. "Throw it," she said. 

Loki shrugged and threw it a few yards away, and was astonished to see it bounce, faster and fast towards the trees, he watched in disbelief as it flew about, bouncing at odd angles amongst the trees getting faster and faster with every ricochet off the trees. Taika whistled softly, the ball stopped bouncing and flew back towards her, to land gently in the palm of her hand. He had always loved gadgets, but this was something else! 

It was not long after this that Taika had an extended conversation with the Forest. When she returned, she told her companions of the need to build a base of operations in the real world, and so had begun the building of the house in the New Forest.

Once that had been completed, they insisted that Taika's cottage needed a makeover as well, even in the face of her protests that it was not necessary. 

Then came the time for Taika to tell them about the last member of their group. The one that up until this point they knew nothing about, "And truth be told," said Taika, "She knows nothing herself. For now that is the way it must be," the last was spoken with just a hint of sadness in her voice.

When the explanations were done, all three men knew that there was an ordinary housewife living in a small village a few miles from Salisbury with her husband. They were to watch over her and see that she came to no harm. But not yet. She had to suffer a loss and they had to let it happen, but at the same time, she was to be kept alive at all costs.

"Let me be quite clear, "Taika had told them, "If the choice is your life or hers, then you must... you must be willing to give your life up. Without the Lady, all will come to naught." 

That comment had been a sobering moment for the men. 

Aloysius had spent most of his adult life in one conflict or another and took it in his stride, but Ranulf and especially the young Loki struggled with the concept that they might be called upon to die before the fight was done. Still, all three were aware of the stakes and so, all three threw themselves into their given task. 

The three would-be heroes stood by the newly refurbished house in the Forest and waved to Taika, before activating their travel stones she had crafted for them and transporting to their house in the New Forest. Once there, they selected the equipment that each thought he might need. Loki tucked an Uzi machine pistol inside his coat and filled his backpack with listening devices that he had built himself, a Watcher (with remote) and several Dancers, you never know, he thought to himself as he packed. On his way out of his room that was half bedroom and half electronics workshop, he collected three earpieces that would be their means of communication on the ground should they be separated. 

Aloysius donned his favourite greatcoat, not only because he liked the style, but also because it was ideal for hiding a sawn-off shotgun down the sleeve, a short Jian sword down his back, a Walther PP9 semi-automatic pistol in a shoulder holster and an inside pocket full of Japanese Shuriken throwing stars. 

Ranulf took only a pair of binoculars and a nine-millimetre Browning pistol with silencer tucked into his leather jacket.

When all three were set, they activated their travel stones once more and appeared in a field a short distance outside the Wiltshire village of Morton Abbas. They quickly made sure that they had not been seen and then moved to the wooded corner of the field to begin their surveillance of Alma Baines, ordinary working woman, married to Jonathon and mother-to-be. 

The couple had met when both had been employed by the Salisbury based programming company called SaliSoft. They worked mainly on financial software for small businesses, met, fell in love and were married. 

Then Alma had fallen pregnant a few months later. Not long after that their company was bought by WinCom, one of the largest corporations in the country and headed by Sir Nigel Winthrop. The City had been most surprised by this latest acquisition. Not only was it outside the normal area of business that WinCom dealt with, but also that Sir Nigel decided to move his headquarters there. Only a select group of people were aware that he had been ordered to make the purchase and the move by Baphomet, who wanted the control of his new project near Old Sarum, where he could keep a close eye on its progress. 

It was at this time that a name came across the desk of the employee dealing with the addition of the SaliSoft workforce onto the WinCom payroll. One Alma Baines (neé Grayson) due to go on maternity leave in the near future, date of birth 27 March 1982, place of birth, Swindon. He paused a moment and then re-read the details. A thought struck him and he used his computer to access the World Wide Web. A quick search later found him reading a website that explained the meanings and origins of names. Alma meant 'Fostering Mother'. He quickly got on the phone to Sir Nigel and said, "Sir, you're not going to believe this. I think I may have found her. She was here all the time." 

The head of WinCom wasted no time, he called his head of security in to see him and outlined what he required, "I want the Baines couple watched. And I want them both investigated thoroughly." 

He offered no further details on why he wanted the information and Richard Hardacre knew better than to ask. 

A few days later, Sir Nigel sat in his office and finished reading through the initial design parameters required for a totally new piece of security software, which was to be called DataVault. He knew all about the project, including the portion that appeared in no written form anywhere, the routine codename Hypogeum. Another type written report was on his desk. He scanned through the report on Jonathon Baines with very little interest, however, he scrutinised Alma's file in detail: 

Name: Alma Baines (neé Grayson). 

Employee Number: 345091B. 

Date of Birth: 27th of March 1982. 

Place of Birth: Swindon General Hospital. 

Current Address: 42 Welby Drive, Morton Abbas, Wiltshire. 

Education: Schooled in Swindon where she excelled in mathematics 

and home economics. Attended the University of Bristol 

gaining a degree in computer science.

Employment: Joined SaliSoft straight from university where she 

formed part of the financial systems programming team.

Remarks: Married to Jonathon. Due on Maternity leave due to impending 

birth of first child. First name means 'Fostering Mother'. 

Both parents deceased in motoring accident on holiday in Spain 

in August 2001. 

Sir Nigel was forced to admit that she did look good for it and was almost beside himself, the opportunity for advancement within the Hypogeum was within his grasp. He could almost feel the red robe being draped over his shoulders already. The Mother had finally come to light, and it was he, Sir Nigel Winthrop of the brown robes that had found her. But he knew that he had to be careful if he wanted to stop anyone else from stealing his thunder. To that end, he decided to keep his discovery from the other members of his order for now, and have his Head of Security handle the problem. For one thing, if he could provide Baphomet with a fait accompli, DataVault ready to take over the control of most of the financial institutions in the world and the death of the fabled Mother, his reward would be beyond imagination. 

Unbeknown to him though, he was not the only person to read the report. One of Winthrop's covert operatives reported to another member of the Hypogeum in addition to himself. He reported directly to a man by the name of Adrian Walker, who in turn ensured that Baphomet was kept aware at every stage of Sir Nigel Winthrop's scheme. Ranulf and his team were at this time unaware of Sir Nigel and WinCom's involvement in their situation. All they knew was Alma Baines, the Mother was in danger and they had to keep her alive. 

Strangely, Taika had always referred to her by name or by the title 'Lady' and when asked why, had replied that it would be impolite to address a woman of Alma's young age as Mother, so she would be addressed as 'Lady'. Little did her three young men know that there was actually a legitimate reason to address her by either title. The first time that Ranulf saw her, he was smitten. Loki heard a sharp intake of breath and glanced at Ranulf who was staring fixedly into the small television screen. She seemed so small and delicate, even though she was in the later stages of her pregnancy. He watched her walk from her house to the village shop and back again via the camera on the Watcher that Loki was controlling from their spot in the woods. 

Meanwhile Aloysius was making his way to the other end of the village. It took all of his 22 years experience of camouflage and concealment to circumnavigate the village unseen. Although he had faith in the gadgets that Loki was so enamoured of, he preferred to see the ground with his own eyes. Once he had seen everything that he needed to, he made his slow way back to Ranulf and Loki. 

As he approached them, sitting in the shade of the trees, he could see Loki busily directing the Watcher using the two thumb-sticks on his controller whilst Ranulf reclined against the bole of a tree, staring into space with a faraway expression. 

"What's up with you?" he asked Ranulf. 

The leader of the team came back to the now and gazed up at his friend, "What did you say?" 

"I asked what was up with you. You were miles away." 

"Oh, just thinking." 

"Well maybe you'd better think about the job at hand, Ranulf. I saw you both from miles away and I got close enough to kill you before you even knew I was here." 

Loki looked up from the screen and in aggrieved tones, said, "Hey! I was watching the Lady." 

Aloysius threw himself down next to his companions and answered, "I know that. That's not the issue. Ranulf was supposed to be on guard," he fixed his leader with a baleful eye, "and you weren't." 

Ranulf could not answer; he knew that Aloysius was correct. He was supposed to be keeping a lookout whilst Loki played with his toys and he hadn't. Instead, he'd been daydreaming. Embarrassed, he stood up and looked out across the fields before saying, "You're right. I'm sorry. We all know how important this is," he turned back to face his friends and continued, "I promise I won't let you down." 

Somewhat mollified, Aloysius agreed to put the Ranulf's failure in the past and move on, "As long as it doesn't happen again Boss." 

Ranulf retrieved a flask from Loki's pack and poured himself some tea, he took a sip and then said, "Can I ask you both something? You don't need to answer, but I'd really like to know." 

Both men waited for Ranulf to go on, "What did the Forest ask you that made you agree to sign up for this?" 

Loki laughed and answered, "Easy! It asked me if I wanted to have the most fun I've ever had and have access to some of the best toys in the world." 

Aloysius grinned at Loki's display of child-like enthusiasm before he answered more sombrely, "The trees asked me if I wanted to make a difference again. Why do you ask?" 

Ranulf took another sip of tea before he answered, "They asked me if I wanted to find my true purpose," he pointed toward the controller that Loki held, "And I think I've found it. I've had my fare share of success with the opposite sex, but I've never felt about any woman, the way I feel about Alma Baines. Never met her and I've only ever seen her on that little screen..." 

Loki and Aloysius waited in silence, before Ranulf spoke again, "How can this be? How can seeing her on a television screen affect me like this? I don't know, but I do know that I would do anything to protect her. And I also know that if I'm called on to lay down my life, it suddenly seems a very small price to pay."

Aloysius stood up and placed his massive hand gently on Ranulf's shoulder without a word. His expression was one of gentle understanding. The three men remained at their temporary camp, taking turns to control the Watcher. The sky was dark and an owl hooted in amongst the trees when Aloysius, who was currently watching said, "Movement." 

Instantly alert, Ranulf asked, "What is it?" 

"There's a car driving slowly up the street. Doesn't fit." 

The two smaller men crowded round the small display and were forced to agree. They were watching a dark Mercedes with smoked windows driving toward the alleyway behind Alma and Jonathon's house. Loki took over the controller and used it to follow the car's course. It parked up in the alley and a man in dark clothing climbed out carrying a small device. 

"What's he got?" asked Ranulf. 

"Looks like a camera," answered Loki. 

They watched him silently enter the back garden and take up position in the shadows under a tree that was growing there. He waited for a better view and then took a couple of pictures of Alma through the window as she was preparing some food in the kitchen. She glanced up and looked out as though something had caught her eye, shrugged and then continued with her task. The spy froze whilst Alma was staring out into the garden and relaxed once she switched off the light and carried something into another room. Then he quietly made his way back to the car and away. 

Loki murmured, "It's started." 

Ranulf answered, "No. It started a long time ago. But now it's here, Aloysius was right. We need to make sure we're ready." 

The surveillance continued through the night and all of the next day. When once again there was movement at the house. The Mercedes was back and once again parked in the alley. The three men watched as a figure made his way to the side of the house and stooped to do something to the Peugeot 307 parked in the drive. Aloysius was all for getting over there and causing some mayhem and Loki was ready for a fight as well, but both were restrained by Ranulf who said, "No. We'll wait. We don't want to play our cards yet." 

His companions bristled at his decision to wait, until he held up a hand for silence, "We don't know what they're up to, we don't know who they are. We need more information before we go charging in," he pointed a finger at Aloysius, "You should know the importance of good intelligence before diving straight into a fight!" 




The Hypogeum Ch. 10-11



The giant sank back and placed an arm around the still protesting Loki, "He's right. We don't know enough yet." 

And so, they continued to wait and watch. The following morning, Ranulf had been watching the display, he saw Jonathon Baines rush out for work and a short time later watched as a police car pulled up at the Baines residence. He barked, "Something's wrong!" 

Again, all three were watching the screen and could see Alma invite the policemen into the house. A short while after that, they heard the wail of a Siren and could see an ambulance screech to a halt behind the police car. Ranulf was horrified a couple of minutes later as he could only sit and watch impotently as Alma was wheeled from the house on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. He could see that there was something large embedded in her side. He directed the Watcher to follow the ambulance as it raced away, but it was out of range of the Watcher in just a few minutes. 

Meanwhile, Aloysius was furiously kicking the trunk of the tree where they were settled and swearing. 

Loki just sat in silence. 

They had failed. 

They had missed their opportunity to act and had failed before they had even begun. A breeze blew up, rustling the leaves of the trees and they heard voices in the wind, "Be not downcast, the Lady lives. She is in pain and troubled deeply, but she lives. What you saw needed to happen. She is destined for great things. The Lady will walk in the light with gladness in her heart, but she needs to walk in the halls of despair before her journey can truly begin." 

Angrily Ranulf shouted, "Fuck! Why didn't you warn us? We could have done something!" 

The voices answered in melancholy tones, "Her sadness and loss can not be avoided. It is fated to be. " 

The breeze died down and the voices were gone. 

Ranulf was raging. The trees had not answered his question. Also, she may have been alive, but she was badly hurt and he could feel daggers of pain in his own heart. He barked out some orders, "Aloysius find out why the police called, although I suspect it's something to do with her husband and his car. Loki, find out where she's been taken." 

Both men nodded and then activated their travel stones in order to begin their investigations. Ranulf sat down to wait until their return. He pondered the poor choice of campsite. They had been too far from the house to do anything except wait and watch. They needed to be closer. They needed to be able to take action. But how? They couldn't just take up stations outside the house... Unless... Unless they had a good reason to be there. 

A short time later, Loki popped back into view and made his report, "She's gone to Salisbury General Hospital. I stole a cleaner's uniform and a mop and bucket so I could get around. She was taken into theatre," he paused briefly and his eyes were damp, "I overheard the A & E doctors talking. The operation she needs is quite a simple one apparently, so they don't seem overly worried about her getting through it..." 

"Well? What is it?" 

"I'm afraid, she lost her baby." 

Ranulf raised a hand to his mouth, "Oh my God!" 

It was at this point that Aloysius returned and completed his report. The Lady's husband was dead. Killed in a road traffic accident on the outskirts of Salisbury. That was why the police had turned up. Ranulf took in all the information and then outlined his thoughts, "Right! We need to keep an eye on her in the hospital. Loki, you know what to do there. Aloysius, you and I are going to check out the council work yard. We need to get some supplies and store that at our place until the Lady's ready to come home." 

Loki didn't wait any longer and returned to the Hospital. Aloysius asked, "What do we need?" 

"Some shovels, picks and a tent like workmen use when they're digging up the road." 

"Okay... Why?" 

"Because we're too far away to protect the Lady here, we need to be closer and remain unnoticed," he noticed Aloysius' quizzical expression and continued, "How much notice do you take of council workers digging a hole in the street?" 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Guilt is the source of sorrow, 'tis the fiend, Th' avenging fiend, that follows us behind, With whips and stings." - Nicholas Rowe

Alma came to and blinked. She looked around at her surroundings and it took her a long moment to remember where she was. Taika, who had been watching her declared, "Now you know as much as we do, child." 

Alma asked, "No I don't. Why am I so special? What is it about me? I still don't understand why Jonathon and my baby had to die," again she felt a stab of pain in her abdomen. 

The old woman noticed the wince of pain and the motion of Alma's hand to her stomach. She sighed, "You have the right of it. Perhaps I should have said that you know all that is needful for you to know right now. Still, the pain you're feeling is not yours, you should at least understand that by now." 

Alma thought about it. She thought about everything that the trees and this old woman had shown her. Baphomet and his schemes over the past few thousand years of human history. The men who had murdered her husband. The accident when she lost her baby. The trees. Taika. The three men who were out there now working on her behalf. The pain in her stomach grew even stronger when she thought of the men, and it was especially painful when she pictured the solemn Ranulf in her mind. 

Alma had an epiphany. 

Taika was entirely correct. She knew what the pain in her stomach was. 

It was guilt. 

Guilt over the death of her husband. Guilt at the loss of her unborn son. Guilt at the emotions she had felt when she had seen Ranulf swimming in the river. Guilt at her own lack of inhibition when she had joined him in the water. Guilt that even in the face of the loss she had suffered and the attack in her house, she could still think, she could still function. She could go on. 

And she thought about the demon Baphomet's schemes, his interference in her life and that of all the humans in the world over the past few thousand years. She thought about what he had done, what he had cost her. Alma never lost the grief in her heart, but another emotion joined it there. Fury! Yes, Alma could think, grieve and function. She could also fight! Baphomet had picked her for an enemy, not the other way around and she was determined to make him rue the day he had.

Taika had been watching Alma and then whispered quietly, "I see you're beginning to understand. The guilt in you should not be there. T'is not your burden, and t'was blinding you to the strength you have inside. The strength that will be the end of Baphomet and all his evil designs." 

Alma didn't speak, she just continued to think about everything she had learned and also wondered what else it was that Taika and the Forest had not told her.

The three men were back at their temporary camp just outside Morton Abbas. They had returned there to pick up the signal from the GPS on the car. Loki looked up from the screen of the GPS unit and informed Ranulf and Aloysius, "He's parked up in Mayfield Road in Salisbury." 

"What's there?" asked Ranulf, "Do they have a safe house?" 

Aloysius just looked mystified and Loki just shrugged, "Only one way to find out." 

He pulled out his travel stone and activated it and was surprised to see that he had not moved. Loki pressed the stone again with the same result, before looking in askance at his friends as he shook the stone next to his ear. 

"Where did you try to go?" asked Ranulf. 

"Salisbury." 

"Hmm. Try going to our house and back." 

Loki pressed the stone, disappeared and then returned a few seconds later, "Well the stone ain't broke." 

Aloysius voiced the question that all were thinking, "So, why couldn't Loki go to Salisbury?" 

Ranulf blew out heavily and answered, "Dunno, but I suspect Taika will. Best we head back and see her," he looked around at their camp and continued, "But first, we need to pack up this kit and get it back to our house. No point keeping a watch on the village anymore." 

Aloysius immediately started throwing their kit together in a pile ready for transportation back to the New Forest. Loki groaned as he joined in. The giant grinned at Loki's sour face, "You want to play with the toys, you put them away when you're finished." 

A short time later, all three men popped into existence at Taika's house in the glade and went inside. They found Taika busy preparing lunch with Alma trying to help, but getting in the way. They were welcomed and told to sit down for food before they got down to business. Taika noted, "Men are always easier to deal with when they have full bellies, child. That be a tip and you might want to make a note of it." 

Alma grinned, "I'll be sure to write it down."

The men were amazed at the change in Alma, the last they had seen her, she had been unhappy and in pain and they were gladdened, Ranulf especially, to find her in a lighter mood. Ranulf noted that the grin she gave Taika was lighter than any he had seen previously and the melancholy tinge was gone from her demeanour.

Food finished, they got down to business. Aloysius was the last to finish as usual clearing all of the remaining food from the table... and then he burped loudly, turning bright red with embarrassment. 

Everyone laughed at his discomfort and Taika said, "T'is the song sung when the food be good. A compliment it is and I thank you young Aloysius," then she pulled out her pipe, lit it and said in more serious tones, "All right, tell us what you know." 

All the detail that they had discovered was laid out, including the inability of the travel stones to take them to Salisbury. "Ah. That be an easy one," the old woman announced, "They've put the wards up." 

Alma asked, "The what?" 

"Wards, child. Mystical defences," she could see the confusion in Alma's face, "Look, you want to travel to Salisbury in your car and I want to keep you out, so I put a barrier across the road like a tree. But if your travelling by travel stone and I want to keep you out, I'll be using wards. They must have put them in place during the past few weeks, so they obviously know our usual means of getting about." 

Ranulf agreed, "Looks like we have to rely on more conventional means from now on. Anyway, we tracked the car to Mayfield road-" 

"Mayfield road?" blurted Alma, "But that's where the WinCom offices are. How are they mixed up in this?" 

"We don't know." Alma was thoughtful, "I'll bet it has something to do with DataVault." 

Her words failed to raise any expressions of understanding, so she filled them in on what she knew about the program. Loki listened and then said, "So we need to steal a copy and see if we can crack it." 

Alma laughed, "You make it sound like stealing a bag of sweets. Not that simple. Even if the end product was like a computer game on a CD, you still wouldn't really be able to do much with it. But DataVault is a program that is designed to protect against just the sort of hacking you suggested, Loki. For one thing, it arrives pre-installed on a processing unit that's slotted into a server farm." 

"A what?" asked Taika?

Alma waved her hands about, "Doesn't matter. Not important. What is important is that you can't just waltz off with a copy of the commercial program and expect to get anything out of it." 

"So what do you suggest we do?" asked Ranulf. 

Alma was silent for a moment, "What you need to do, is get a copy of the source code and before anyone asks, source code is the version of the program written in a computer language that is based on English. Much easier to find your way around than the compiled version on the server machine which, even if you get inside it, all you'd see is a collection of binary," she looked around at blank faces, "It's a load of ones and noughts." 

"So what you're saying," said Ranulf, "is we need the source code?" 

"Yes. And the only place we'll get that is at WinCom." 

Ranulf squared his shoulders and then said, "Right. We'll break into WinCom and get it for you." 

Alma shook her head, "Not as easy as that. How would you get it out? It'll be stored on the secure server and the only place you can see access that is from a terminal at the WinCom building in the secure area on the third floor." 

Ranulf was incredulous, "You want to come, don't you!" 

"You're damned right I do! They hurt me and I want to hurt them back!" 

The other three remained silent as Ranulf responded, "You can't. Simple as that," and folded his arms. 

Alma became just as implacable, "I have to. Who else have you got that could find their way around the programming? You? You'll just have to face it Ranulf, if we want any chance of finding out what they're up to, then I have to get onto the third floor." 

Ranulf stood up and stormed from the house, his face a mask of silent fury. The other two men went to follow him, but Taika spoke up, "Leave him be boys, he has much to think of and you two will just cloud his thinking." 

Ranulf strode away from the house, how could she be so stupid? For an intelligent woman, she was being a bit dense! He hadn't saved her and brought her here so she could just blithely wander back into the lion's mouth. The thought of putting Alma back in danger made his blood run cold. He was forced to admit, she did have a point. She was the only one who could read the programming. But she hadn't had any of the training that he and the other men had been through. She knew what she was talking about when it came to computers. She was so small and delicate, how could she cope if they came under fire?

The thoughts went round and round in his head, but eventually he was forced to admit, that she had been correct. She had to go with them. Much as he hated the idea of allowing her out of the safety of the Forest, she had to go to Salisbury. 

Ranulf arrived back at the house and found the others where he had left them, he couldn't look at Alma as he said, "The Lady's right. She has to come with us."

Alma came to stand in front of him and looked up into his eyes. She said, "You made the right choice. It has to be this way. It'll be fine, I promise," and hugged him. Ranulf felt her shivering warmth against him and opened his mouth once or twice before enveloping her in his arms. Somehow, when she told him it would be fine, he found that he believed her. They disengaged somewhat self-consciously and sat back at the table with the others. 

No one spoke and Taika merely sat back in her chair, sucking her pipe with a slight smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eye. 

"Right, that's sorted, what do we do?" said Loki. 

The group started to make their plans. That night, after the men had travelled back to their own house at the New Forest, Alma lay asleep under her furs across from where Taika gently snored. She found herself walking through the forest, when suddenly a wind picked up. Not the gentle breeze that heralded the trees communicating with her, this was a harsh wind that picked at her clothes with icy fingers. The sky darkened and she felt light spots of water hitting her exposed skin. She came around a tree and found herself face to face with Jonathon. He had been waiting for her. But this time it was different. The trees were gently whispering and Alma was not frightened.

She was not alone.

She was not helpless. 

She was furious! 

Before the wraith of her husband could speak, Alma shouted, "HOW DARE YOU!" 

He bit off the words he was about to say in the face of the tirade that was building, "You're not my husband! I know what you are. You're a liar! You're guilt. Guilt I shouldn't have. I never forgot Jonathon and I didn't murder our son!" 

The wraith seemed to shrink with every syllable that Alma spat in his face, growing fainter and fainter. "You caused me pain. Something that Johnny, my husband would never do."

The wraith of her guilt was virtually invisible and she could just make out its mouth opening and closing, Alma had to concentrate on the whispers at the edge of her consciousness, "Murderer... Whore... Worthless..." 

Standing straight and proud, she answered, "I am none of those things. I am free of you. Go away! Go away and never come back!" 

The wraith slowly vanished and left Alma alone. She could still hear the song of the wind through the leaves high above her, "You are strong... Know that we have never been more proud of you... The trees say yes, the Oak and the Ash and the Elm say yes... You are Alma Baines and you are the Lady... You are the Mother." 

A slight smile curled Alma's lips as she slept and she rolled over on to her front and sank into a deep and dreamless sleep. Taika also smiled in her sleep.

Ranulf woke very early the next morning, eager to get underway. He roused Aloysius and a complaining Loki so that they could make a good start on what they needed to do. 

After a quick breakfast, Ranulf used his travel stone to get to the London offices of Stowell, Breaker and Randolph, the firm of architects who had designed the interior of the WinCom offices when they had taken over the SaliSoft building, which included all of the extra security measures on the third floor. In the pre-dawn light, he looked up and down the street; the only movement was a homeless person rolling over in their sleep in a nearby doorway and a milk float making its slow way up the street away from him. An examination of the door showed that it was locked with a traditional lock and an electronic key card system. He made sure that the coast was clear and then used his stone to transport himself inside the building. Carefully making his way through each room, he searched for anything that might give him a clue to the location of what he was looking for. The ground floor was broken down into a reception area, a meeting room, a couple of offices and a small kitchen with tea and coffee facilities. The upper floor was open plan and had four large drafting tables, each one set in front of a large plate window. He could see that the windows were made of security glass. The inner corner of the room, well away from the outer wall was a security door. A quick examination showed that it was a metal affair with two locks, both Mersey style that used a non-standard shape of key. Thankfully it wasn't a combination as that might have posed a problem.

Ranulf slipped the small rectangle of polished steel from his pocket and inserted it into the first lock; he turned it with a small click and then inserted another length of steel into the second keyhole with the same effect. He turned the handle and pulled the door open, not for the first time silently thanking Taika for her magic skeleton keys. Behind the door, Ranulf was faced with row after row of wide drawers in metal racks that were bolted into place in the floor and ceiling. He quickly looked along the labels on the front of each drawer until he found the one marked 'Tu-Wo'. He pulled the drawer out and searched through the stack of blueprints until he found one that had the name WinCom printed in neat copperplate in the legend box. He withdrew the sheets he needed and carefully rolled them up. Then he closed the drawer, exited the secure room and relocked the door. 

After a quick look around the building to make sure he had left no sign of his intrusion, Ranulf activated his travel stone and returned to the New Forest. He popped into existence just as Aloysius came back and then a moment later, Loki reappeared as well. Each dropped two large backpacks on the ground at their feet. "Got it," said Ranulf.

Loki answered, "We got our shopping done as well." 

Ranulf grinned and said, "Okay, stow the gear and then we'll look over these plans." 

* * *

Sir Nigel Winthrop's chauffeur driven Daimler was waved into the car park by the guard stationed at the newly installed security gate. His car glided smoothly toward the main entrance and pulled up in his reserved parking space. After his driver had opened his door, Sir Nigel adjusted his camel hair coat and sniffed the carnation he wore in his buttonhole. Passing through the large glass automatic doors, he strode passed the uniformed guard at the security station in the foyer, ignoring the hasty salute from the security man. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 10-11



Once installed in his office, he looked out of the window and took in the view. An overcast sky full of thick grey clouds formed the backdrop of Salisbury Cathedral as it dominated the cityscape and Sir Nigel entertained the idea that once the business was completed and Baphomet's schemes had come to fruition, he might like the Cathedral for himself. It would make a fine house. He was interrupted by the beep of his intercom and his PA's voice, "Sir, Mr Adrian Walker to see you."

She had already been warned that Adrian Walker was to be given access to her boss at any time, and his visits superseded any other business that Sir Nigel might have. Somewhat irritated, Sir Nigel strode across the room and opened the door himself, "Come in Adrian," he said. 

The brash northerner was dressed in his usual fashion and accepted the invitation inside. Sir Nigel spoke to his PA, "Hold my calls," before closing the door. He turned to face Walker and asked, "To what do I owe this pleasure?" 

Adrian replied with a question of his own, "Not even going to offer me a drink?" 

Somewhat startled, Winthrop looked at his watch and said, "It's just gone nine o'clock in the morning." 

"So? It's rather fresh today and I need a drink. Besides, I've just been meeting with His Lordship and we have much to discuss." 

Sir Nigel's brow furrowed slightly, "Why does His Lordship speak to me through you? Shouldn't I receive instructions in person?" 

"Winthrop! Just because you now wear the red robes, don't think for one second that you are any more indispensable than when you wore the brown. I don't question Baphomet and neither should you." 

Sir Nigel accepted the rebuke without comment; he merely went to his drinks cabinet and poured out a healthy measure of Whisky into a tumbler and a bitter lemon for himself. 

"Not joining me Winthrop?" asked Adrian with false camaraderie.

"No. It's too early for me." 

Adrian made himself comfortable in one of the armchairs without being invited and waited in silence for Nigel to sit down as well. Inside, Sir Nigel was seething. How dare he! How dare this insufferable little man give orders to him? In his own headquarters, no less! However, Nigel was very careful to give no outward hint of his anger. He knew that Walker was a powerful man and also higher in the pecking order within the Hypogeum than he was. But not for long if Sir Nigel had anything to do with it. He joined his visitor and sat down, taking a careful sip of his drink, Winthrop asked, "So... What news?" 

Walker fixed him with his piercing gaze and said, "Tell me how the DataVault project is progressing."

"It's going swimmingly. We've had more orders than we can currently handle and I've even had to take on some contractors to help with some of the installations. We've even had interest from some of the Russian concerns." 

"That's not what I meant. I already know that DataVault is flying off the shelves. Talk to me about the important things." 

The insufferable little man! Nigel took another sip of his drink and answered urbanely, "Every installation has been tested and the links back to WinCom are all working correctly. No one, to our knowledge, has any idea that we're monitoring their systems from here, or that we can assume control of them whenever we want." 

Adrian Walker responded thoughtfully, "Good. Another thing, have your teams picked up any activity by the Baines woman?" 

"No, she went to ground and I haven't had a sniff." 

Walker swilled his drink and then said, "Except for the team you lost at her house, of course." 

Somewhat taken aback, Sir Nigel opened and closed his mouth without speaking. His superior grinned wolfishly, "Did you think to hide that little matter?" 

"Of... Of course not. I was merely surprised that you knew." 

"I know many things Nigel Winthrop." 

The omission of the honorific was not lost and Nigel struggled to regain his composure before he answered, "So? I lost a team. They were clumsy and deserved all they got. No harm done." 

"Were you not warned by Baphomet himself to keep away from that house?" 

Nigel could see that Adrian was enjoying his discomfort, "I thought-" 

"That's just it! You didn't think! Know this Winthrop, Baphomet is far from pleased with you. Not only did you lose a team, but you openly defied him in sending them there in the first place!" 

Walker waited a moment to allow the gravity of Winthrop's situation dawn. When he thought that Nigel had suffered enough, he continued, "Don't fret man. I managed to calm him down. He wanted to drink your blood you know, but I managed to sort the mess out. Still... Be warned, that he will brook no further disobedience. Your continued membership of the Inner Fellowship, and indeed your life depend on it. Am I quite clear?" 

Sir Nigel stammered, "Y... Yes, of course. You may let His Lordship know that this is the last time I'll let him down. It was after all, a minor error of judgement, and when you consider my other successes-" 

Once again, Walker interrupted him, "His Lordship doesn't care what you have done for him. He cares about you current performance. You are on very thin ice, Sir Nigel Winthrop and I hope, for your sake, that it doesn't crack beneath you." 

Adrian Walker had said what he came to say, so he knocked back his drink and stood up, "I must go now. Thank you for this little chat. It has been most... edifying." 

After Adrian had left, Sir Nigel sat back in his chair, he went white when he thought about how close he had come to a one-way trip to Old Sarum. He looked at his watch and noted that it was coming up to a quarter to ten. He murmured to himself, "I think I will have a drink," moved over to his drinks cabinet and filled a tumbler almost to the brim with whisky.



The Hypogeum Ch. 12-13



CHAPTER TWELVE

"FELON, n. A person of greater enterprise than discretion, who in embracing an opportunity has formed an unfortunate attachment." – Ambrose Bierce

Loki appeared in front of Taika's house and walked inside, "Good news," he announced, "The wards have been set up at Mayfield Road, but only there." 

Ranulf was pleased to hear that, he had been worried that the wards that WinCom had put in place would keep them out of Salisbury altogether, making the job of getting their gear to where it was needed a little more of a hassle than it really needed to be. The small group waited for Loki to tell them more. He said, "I've had a bit of a nose around there. The WinCom building has increased security. They've got more uniforms on the main entrance and at the entrance to the car park; it also looks like everyone needs to show ID to get in. It's lit up like a Christmas tree with security lights everywhere and they all have movement sensors." 

Aloysius nodded and then said, "I sense a 'but' at the end of that sentence." 

Loki grinned and it made him look like a little boy, "I spotted a gap. I saw a bird fly in toward the back of the building and it seems that there's a blind spot that the sensors don't cover. Oswald street runs parallel to Mayfield, and there's a builder's yard where we can get to that backs up against the rear wall of the WinCom plot. I've marked the position on the wall where we need to get over, and then walk in a dead straight line to the southeast corner of the building. Once we get there... Well, you already know the rest." 

With nothing to do, other than wait for darkness, Aloysius disappeared back to the New Forest where all of their equipment was stored so he could check and recheck everything again; meanwhile Loki asked Taika if there was any food on the go. Once she had provided him with a large bowl of stew, he sat down and dug in with gusto. 

Taika laughed as she watched the young man stuffing his face, "You be hungry," she observed, "It must be at least three hours since you last ate." 

Alma suddenly felt the enormity of adventure she was about to embark on. Alma Baines who had never even had a parking ticket was about to take part in a burglary. And based on she had already seen, it would be a very risky business indeed. Without a word, she got up and left the house, she needed to get outside and get some fresh air. 

Surprised at her sudden exit, Ranulf looked in askance at Taika, who nodded toward the door. Ranulf followed Alma outside and didn't see the twinkle in Taika's eye. 

Ranulf stood on the step and saw Alma wandering toward the trees, he called out and jogged over to where she had stopped and waited for him. As he got closer, he could see that Alma didn't look happy. "What is it?" he asked. 

Alma gave him an embarrassed smile and answered, "Just a bit nervous actually." 

Ranulf found that he wanted to reach out and place a reassuring arm on her shoulder, but could not. All he could do was say, "Me too. I've never been a burglar before either." 

The young woman looked into his eyes, she could see that Ranulf was troubled, "What is it?" she asked, echoing his question to her. 

He shifted uncomfortably and looked down at his feet before answering, "If you must know, I'm nervous too. No, that's not right. I'm scared out of my wits." 

"Why?" 

Ranulf hooked his thumbs into his pockets and scuffed his feet on the grass, "I'm scared that I'm really going to mess things up. Taika thinks I'm some great leader, but I don't see it myself and I'm so God damned scared that I'm gonna screw up." 

Alma reached out to touch his arm and felt it tremble beneath her fingers, "Everybody has doubts, look at me for God's sake." 

Ranulf pulled away from her, turned away and almost shouted, "Not everybody can get people killed! If I mess this up then people die and I don't know if I'm strong enough to handle that," he turned back to face Alma, "Aloysius, Loki and Taika depend on me to make the right choices. Well what if they're the wrong choices? I could get them killed," his voice sank to a whisper, "I could get you killed." 

Alma moved close to him, almost close enough to embrace and whispered back, "I have faith in you, Ranulf. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm scared witless as well... But I have faith in you." 

Without warning, she moved even closer, lifted her arms and wrapped them around him. They stared into each other's eyes and kissed savagely. Suddenly, Ranulf broke the kiss and pushed Alma away. 

"What is it?" she cried. 

"I... Can't. I'm sorry." 

"What? Why not?" 

Alma could see that his eyes were slightly damp as he answered, "Lady... Alma, one of the choices I might have to make is to die so that you can live. You have to live. I don't want to cause you any more pain. I just..." 

Enlightenment dawned in Alma's face, "You just don't want to get too close in case you have to die for me and leave me alone again?" tears welled up in her eyes as she continued, "I was alone. I lost my husband, my baby. But you saved me, you all saved me. I don't know what it is that makes me so special... But I'm not the only one. And if what's happened to me has taught me anything, it's to find happiness wherever I can and not to miss any opportunity."

"Yes, but what if-" 

"What if we don't make it? What if one, both or all of us die? Well what about, what if we live?" 

Without waiting another moment, Alma grabbed hold of Ranulf again and pulled him close and looked him straight in the eye, "I know you're the leader of this little outfit, but I've got an order for you." 

Nonplussed, he asked, "What is it?" 

"Stay alive! You bloody well stay alive!" 

Ranulf couldn't help but smile and drew Alma back into a proper embrace. 

Back in the house, Taika was stirring the pot over the fire as she prepared to pour Loki another bowl of stew. She took on a faraway expression and tilted her head as though listening. Then she smiled to herself again and ladled some stew into Loki's bowl. 

* * *

Later that night, a WinCom security guard closed and locked the gate to the car park before retreating back inside the building. As he was sitting back down at the security station in the main foyer, four dark figures, three of which carried bergens, appeared in the builder's yard that backed on to the rear area of WinCom's land. One detached himself from the group and started searching the wall that separated the two businesses, once he found the small mark in the brickwork that he was looking for, he motioned for the others to join him. 

He indicated the mark and said softly, "Climb the wall here and head straight for the south east corner. Be careful." 

Then he allowed the largest of the group to quietly hoist him up, so he could slide over the top of the wall. Aloysius then helped Ranulf and Alma over as well, before gripping the top edge of the wall and pulling himself up and over to join them on the other side. The group waited a moment to check that that their initial intrusion had gone unnoticed, before one after the other walking swiftly to the prearranged spot in the shadow of the office block. 

Ranulf reached into Loki's pack and pulled out a long length of nylon rope. He handed the end of it to Loki who tied it securely around his waist. Then all but Loki stood with their back to the wall and remained as still as possible. Loki stretched out his arms with fingers interlocked and palms out before beginning his climb. His previous reconnaissance had shown him that the exposed steel girders that formed the basis of the building afforded good hand and footholds all the way to the roof. 

Loki took a firm grip on the edge of the steel and began his assent. As he climbed, Ranulf fed out the rope from the coil over his arm, trying to stop it from swinging about and increasing the chance of discovery. Beside him, Ranulf could hear Alma breathing deeply as she tried to calm her nerves. He murmured softly, "Are you okay?" 

Alma nodded in reply. 

Eventually, Ranulf felt the rope start to move very quickly in his grip. Loki was now at the top and was pulling the rope so that he had enough length to tie it off around one of the air conditioning vents up there. Then there were two sharp tugs on the rope, so Ranulf touched Aloysius on the arm and gave him the thumbs up. Aloysius nodded and pulled two small metal items from Ranulf's pack. He attached them to the rope and used them to pull himself up the rope as he walked up the steel girder. The giant had no illusions about his ability to climb the building in the same way that Loki had done and had insisted that they get him some mechanical Prusiks that were based on an old climbing system of using string to keep a firm grip on a rope. 

Once he had joined Loki on the roof, he took a moment to shake the fatigue from his arms before he too gave the rope two sharp tugs. Ranulf tied the end of the rope he still held around himself and Alma, and gave it a quick tug. Then when he felt it start to go taut, he used his arms to stay in line with the girder and not bang into the windows. Alma merely shut her eyes and held on to Ranulf as though her life depended on it, which in this instance, it did. 

Soon, but not as soon as Alma would have liked, all four were on the roof. Loki quickly coiled the rope and murmured a question, "Ready?" 

Aloysius rubbed his upper arms briskly and replied, "Give me a minute. That was quite hard." 

Loki took the opportunity to remove his pack and retrieved a few small items from it. Then he tied himself off with the rope and waited for Aloysius to get ready. Once the giant felt able, he grabbed the rope, fed it through a figure-eight carabina on his belt and started to lower Loki back down the side of the building. 

Ranulf leaned out over the edge and motioned Aloysius to stop when he figured that Loki was in the correct position at a window on the fourth floor. They were relying on hand signals and murmured voices for two reasons; One, they knew that a whisper could carry quite a long way, whilst a murmur would not; Two, they did not know if the security had radios, and if they did then the frequency used was unknown, there was no point taking the risk that their own communications would alert the building's security staff to their presence before they had even got in. 

Aloysius stopped feeding the rope through his hands and locked it off so that Loki would be held firmly in position. Loki then stuck the small sucker pad he held to the window in front of him and used his glasscutter to inscribe a small circle in the pane. He pulled the circle out of the window and froze as it made a cracking sound. Breathing in and out deeply, Loki then reached through the hole and opened the window from the inside. Once that was done, he applied a small amount of superglue to the edge of the circle of glass and replaced it back in the window. He knew that it would not stand close scrutiny, but hopefully it would last long enough, so that WinCom wouldn't know they had ever been there. 

When he was certain the glue had hardened, Loki removed the sucker and climbed inside, then he held the rope as Ranulf climbed down, closely followed by Alma. The young man pretended not to notice the tight hug Alma received when she was safely inside. Aloysius then lowered himself down, there was a moment of panic when he nearly got stuck trying to fit his bulk through the window, but a few judicious heaves by Ranulf and a lot of squirming by Aloysius, got him inside with his companions. Ranulf then moved over to the door of the office they currently occupied and slowly opened it, he looked quickly up and down the corridor, before motioning to the others to join him and slipped quietly through. 

The four made their way to the stairwell, and with the same caution opened the door to make their way down. Once they were at the doorway to the third floor, Loki retrieved a camera, some blu-tack and a wire coat hanger that he handed silently to Ranulf, who accepted them with a nod. 

Alma, Loki and Aloysius waited where they were as Ranulf snuck into the corridor, making sure he stuck as close to the wall as possible. He was ensuring that he stayed out of the field of vision of a security camera that was trained on a steel door at the far end with a key card reader set in the wall next to it. Once he was in position directly below the camera, he reached up and held his own camera as close to it as he could, with the lens aimed toward the door. He took a picture and waited as a printed Polaroid ejected from the front. He waved the photograph in his hand to help the drying process and placed the camera on the floor laying the photo on top of it as he unbent the coat hanger. Bending it into a small loop at either end, Ranulf straightened it out as well as he could and then used the blu-tack to affix the photo to the smaller loop of wire. Then, taking a deep breath and hoping that no one was watching what was on their screen in the foyer, he quickly jammed the other loop over the lens. A moment of nervousness as he waited to see if any alarms went off. 

The silence remained, so he could only assume that no one had noticed and as far as the security station was concerned, there was nothing untoward happening at WinCom tonight. 

Ranulf then moved back to collect his friends and led them back to the door. While he had been working on the camera, Loki had fired up a laptop he carried. It was small, sleek and very powerful. It also had an expensive and highly illegal piece of software installed. Loki attached a ribbon cable to a port in the laptop that had what looked like a key card at the other end and then fed the card through the reader by the door. The laptop worked its technological magic and the program fooled the reader into thinking that a valid card had just been swept. A small light blinked green and the door opened with a slight click. 

Alma's nervousness was almost palpable now. For now she had to do her part and was desperate not to screw it up. All four slipped inside the door and closed it behind them. The men took up stations by the door as Alma made her way to one of the workstations. She sat down and powered up the terminal. The cursor blinked on the screen and then she was prompted for a user name and password. Tempted as she was to use her own, she decided against it and took a chance that she wasn't the only person who had trouble remembering passwords. She moved the keyboard forward and was delighted to find that she wasn't.

All the money WinCom had spent on security, all of the mystical wards they had put in place, all of them were defeated by human forgetfulness and human nature. She quickly scanned the small yellow post-it note that had a user name and password scribbled on it in blue biro into the machine... And she was in. Not only that, but she was able to access the secure directories on the server. Alma quickly scanned through the lists of files on her screen until she found the one she wanted, the one called hypogeum_pre-compile. She opened it up and started reading through the lines of code. Something caught her eye and she reread it. Her eyes went wide as she minimised the window and accessed the Internet. A quick check of GoogleMaps told her what she wanted to know. Alma closed the web browser and recalled the program back to full screen, and then she motioned the men over. 

"What is it?" asked Ranulf. 

Almost in shock at what she had discovered, Alma told them, "You won't believe this! DataVault has a hidden purpose in addition to security. What it can do is subvert the host system and force it to accept instruction from the WinCom server." 

"And?" asked Loki. 

"And then, they can use the hypogeum routine to use all of the affected computers to help them crack a code." 

"What code?" 

"The code that controls the launch sequence of nuclear warheads." 

Aloysius was puzzled, "How did you work that out so quickly?" 

Alma was almost too embarrassed to admit, "Actually, when you have a team of programmers working together, they always put remarks and comments in their coding so that anyone from the team can see what they're doing and where they are. Apart from a few instructions I had to work through, I just read their own remarks." 

It was Ranulf's turn to ask, "Do you know where the nukes they want are? And more importantly, where they want to aim them?" 

"I found what I think are grid references and I Googled them, one points to a place in Ireland called Kenmare and the other is on the Island of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides." 

"That doesn't make sense. What could they possibly want to destroy there?" 

Alma sat back in the chair, "They both have stone circles... What if Baphomet is trying to set off another shockwave? Like the one that brought him here."

Ranulf nodded, "Sounds believable. Can you doctor the code?" 

Alma shook her head, "This is a little beyond me. Quite apart from the fact that this is the written code. The compiled code that the server uses is already sat waiting to be activated. I can't do anything with this except read it." 

The leader of the team swore, "Dammit!" he glanced at Loki, "Can you do anything?" 

Loki looked around the room, "Well I could plant some charges in nooks and crannies, but all that would do is blow the hell out of these terminals, it wouldn't stop the server. I'd need some sort of EMP for that, and I'd need to be in the server room to do it." 

"Server farm's in the basement," Alma supplied. 

"EMP?" asked Aloysius. 

Alma cut in, "Electro Magnetic Phenomenon. Like a bomb, but it blows electronics and wipes disk drives clean. Basically, it'll turn a computer into a doorstop in less than a microsecond." 

Ranulf stood up straight, "Right! Now we know what we need to do. Let's get out here and come back with something that'll do the job." 

Alma quickly powered down the terminal and all four moved back to the door. Loki opened it and peaked outside. All appeared to be clear so they moved out into the corridor. Loki, Aloysius and Alma moved back to the stairwell as Ranulf quickly closed the door and then stood below the security camera. He reached up and trusted to luck that no one was watching the screen downstairs. When he removed the wire frame from the camera and was moving back to join his fellows, an alarm sounded. 

Ranulf ran to the stairwell and could hear the shouts and clattering of boots on the steps as a force of guards made their noisy way up from the ground floor. Aloysius shouted, "Get out of here!" and started down the steps to meet the threat, he turned his head toward Ranulf and screamed, "Now! Get her out of here!" 

That spurred Loki into action, "Come on Lady, gotta go!" 

He grabbed Alma's arm and dragged her back upstairs towards the office where they had secreted their rope. Ranulf was torn between helping Aloysius fight and getting the Lady to safety, but good sense soon overcame personal feelings and he quickly followed Loki and Alma. 

Aloysius pulled his Jian sword from its sheath under the back of his coat and met the first guard up the stairs with a sweeping blow that nearly took his head off. The man put a hand to his throat and gurgled as blood spurted from the wound, he sank to the floor and Aloysius stepped over him to meet the next threat. Another guard appeared, a man almost as big as Aloysius and who was also something of a martial artist by the defensive stance he adopted. The giant struck out with his sword, but the other man dodged to one side and aimed a blow at where Aloysius had just been standing. The two men squared up in the tight confines of the staircase. A kick was thrown out, Aloysius stepped to the side, grabbed the leg and brought his elbow down on the side of the guard's knee, there was a sickening crack and the guard fell to the floor screaming. The giant warrior was implacable in his advance, meeting every threat that appeared in front of him, killing or maiming every man who appeared, until shear weight of numbers overwhelmed even his prodigious strength. Seven men held him down as he struggled to get free until a fire extinguisher was brought down with extreme force on to the top of his head. Aloysius last thought before the black light filled his head was a hope that he had bought his friends enough time to escape. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 12-13



Loki grabbed the rope and threw it out of the window, all pretence of stealth now forgotten as he hastened to get Alma outside the wards so that she could be transported to safety. He climbed out of the window and slid down the rope to the ground. Once there, he pulled his pistol from his pocket and stood guard as the panicky Alma was helped out of the window by Ranulf. 

Ranulf once again paused to listen to the shouting and screaming of the fight he knew that Aloysius was bringing to the party, before he too, grabbed the rope and slid down to the ground. 

Once all three were down, they ran back the wall of the builder's merchant and scrambled over it. Loki threw a pained look toward the WinCom building and then activated his travel stone. Ranulf then took a firm hold of Alma, he could see that she was crying and all he knew was that he wanted to cry himself. With a glance of his own back to where his giant friend had made the ultimate sacrifice, he too, activated his travel stone and he and Alma followed Loki back to the Forest. 

When they appeared in front of Taika's house, Ranulf released Alma from his grip, looked up into the sky and screamed. Alma was in a daze. She could see a shocked Taika standing in her doorway listening to Loki excitedly detailing what had happened. She turned her attention back to Ranulf who had now fallen to his knees and knelt down next to him to offer what comfort she could. 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury." – Marcus Aurelius

Sir Nigel Winthrop was roused from his slumber by the insistent ringing of the telephone beside his bed and he answered it with a bleary, "Hm whassat?" 

What he heard brought him wide-awake, "Keep him there, I'll be down as soon as I can. And no police, do you hear me? No police!" 

A short time later, his Bentley was waved into the car park of the WinCom offices, he quickly exited before the driver had quite stopped and hurried through the main doors that were being guarded by several uniforms. Once inside he strode to the security desk and tersely asked the man stationed there, "Where is he?" 

"We have him secured in the security office Sir," replied the man. 

Sir Nigel walked briskly though the building until he got to the room he wanted, several more guards were there standing either side of an open door, each one armed with a snub nosed pistol. Quite illegal in this country, but considering what he was mixed up in, it was a minor thing. Ignoring the guards, he entered the office and came face to face with Aloysius. 

The giant was gagged, handcuffed, tied to a steel chair and unconscious. Two guards stood at either side of the room, each armed with a pump action shotgun that were not quite aimed at the sleeping giant. 

"Is this him?" asked Sir Nigel rather redundantly. 

"Yes Sir," answered one of the men, "He managed to kill five men and seriously injure another seven before we could get him down." 

"I see. Right, lose the bodies and get the injured away from here." 

As the guard got on his radio to get Sir Nigel's orders carried out, Winthrop pointed to the other guard, "You, did they get into the secure room?" 

"Not sure Sir, we couldn't find any signs of entry, but we searched the room anyway and found this on one of the desks," he held up a small post-it note. Sir Nigel didn't reply, but made a note to have whoever that paper identified killed as soon as possible. 

Before Winthrop could issue any orders, a guard from outside popped his head round the door and said, "Excuse me Sir, there's someone asking for entry to the compound. Says his name's Adrian Walker." 

Hell! Sir Nigel was annoyed and not a little alarmed, however he kept his voice calm as he said, "Let him in, I'll meet him at the Foyer," and exited the office. 

Once back at the Foyer, he could see a black transit van pulling up outside the main doors, and watched Walker climb out of the passenger seat, the side door of the van slid open and three more men, all armed with Uzis clambered out to follow Walker into the building. He marched over to Sir Nigel and said, "I understand you've got a bit of a problem." 

Seething, Winthrop responded, "Nothing I can't handle. In fact we've captured one of them and I was just about to start interrogating him." 

Adrian waved his hand in front of him, as he answered, "No need. I have people for that. Professionals. You just get him here and let me handle any interrogations that need to be done." 

Sir Nigel was livid, "I am quite capable of handling this. They didn't get any information that we can see and we even captured one of them." 

Walker's expression grew icy, "I said get him here and let me deal with it," when he saw that Sir Nigel made no move to acquiesce to his demands he went on, "Do I have to remind you of your place in the scheme of things again, Winthrop? Do I visit his Lordship and let him know of this new lapse? Or do you do as you're told and let the big boys sort out your problems. Then at least we know the job'll be done properly." 

This was intolerable to Sir Nigel, not only was the obnoxious little man rubbing his nose in his lowly place in the hierarchy of the red robes, but he was doing so in front of Sir Nigel's underlings. Still, he knew that he couldn't argue with Walker, who had Baphomet's ear, all he could do was bide his time. Walker was bound to slip up one of these days, and then it would his, Sir Nigel Winthrop's time to shine. He allowed his expression to lighten and then said, "Of course Adrian, I'll get him here now." 

Sir Nigel waved in the direction of the office where Aloysius was held captive, "Bring him here." 

Then all of them waited in silence until two uniformed men appeared, pushing the still unconscious Aloysius toward them on the office chair. The three men that had accompanied Walker took over and loaded the giant into the back of the van with a lot of effort and swearing. Once he had been unceremoniously dumped, they each climbed into the van after him and all kept their weapons trained on the recumbent giant. Without another word, Walker to climbed back into the van and it drove out of the car park and away. 

Sir Nigel watched it go and then, at a loss as to what he should do now told the guards to clean up all the mess, do whatever they needed to do and let no one know about what had happened. Then he too left the building to go home. 

A short while later, the van pulled up in the courtyard of the farmhouse controlled by the Hypogeum and Aloysius was bundled from the back of the vehicle and into the barn. He was now awake, but still very groggy and also amazed to be still alive. Although he had an inkling why they hadn't killed him and he knew that he was in for a hard time. 

Walker followed the men struggling with their giant load and then went down through the trapdoor, he needed to speak with Baphomet to let him know about this latest development and to take further orders. 

Once robed and carrying his dagger, Walker approached the stone tablet and drew the blade of the dagger across his arm. Then he stood back and waited for Baphomet to arrive. The demon asked, "Why are you here Walker?" 

"Milord, the fool Winthrop is a liability and has endangered our plans yet again." 

"Explain!" 

Walker outlined the events of the evening to the demon, who listened without comment. Once Walker had finished, Baphomet said, "You are correct, he's a fool and will be dealt with in the proper manner, however, he is still of use to me for the moment. I do not like this new development; the Lady must be growing stronger if they think to risk attacking us like this. Interrogate the captive, I want to know everything he knows and move the timetable forward. I want the DataVault program to begin tomorrow." 

Adrian Walker bowed and answered, "Yes Milord." 

"Now go! I desire solitude." 

Walker bowed again and left the demon alone. When he got back to the barn, he found Aloysius fully awake and ungagged, but still tied securely to the chair. One of his men was busy unrolling a leather pouch along the top of a bale of hay to reveal it was full of sharp instruments. He made a call to Sir Nigel on his mobile and outlined the bringing forward of the timetable. Once he finished the call, he stood facing Aloysius who stared defiantly back, "I will be asking you questions and you will give me answers." 

Aloysius spat and snarled back, "I won't tell you a thing!" 

Walker spoke softly, "You will... oh yes, you will," and nodded to his henchman, who advanced on Aloysius holding a short but wicked looking hooked blade.

* * *

Taika walked over to lay a reassuring hand on Ranulf's shoulder, "It wasn't your fault," she said. 

Ranulf stood up and turned away, "I left him behind. I left him to die!" 

The old woman snapped, "He made the choice, not you, and he seemed to understand something that you still don't! He bought you the time you needed to get Alma out of there." 

Ranulf took a deep breath and said, "I know. I made the right choice, but that doesn't mean I have to like it!" 

Then he stormed off into the trees. 

Alma made to follow him, but Taika restrained her, "Leave him be child, he has much to think about." 

"Yes, but-" 

"He needs a bit of space," she beckoned Alma, "Come child, come and have a mug of Camellia." 

Loki reared up, "How can you think about a brew at a time like this? Aloysius was my friend and he's gone! The Hypogeum have got a plan in place could bring about World War III and have a demon walking the Earth... And you think a nice cup of tea will make everything okay? We should be out there, doing... Something. I don't know what, but I do know that we shouldn't just be sitting around drinking bloody tea!" 

If Taika took offence at Loki's tones, it didn't show in her face, she simply murmured, "Sometimes Loki, a mug of Camellia is just what you need. It let's you take the time to calm yourself and look at things with a more composed eye. No point getting het up and rushing off at the half-ready. Do that, and Aloysius' sacrifice would truly be a waste. As it is, we have new information that is very useful. As well as another step towards finding a way into Baphomet's lair." 

Loki's shoulders sank; he knew that Taika's words were both wise and true. The old woman gathered Loki in her arms, "Besides," she said, "Camellia tastes nice and that can never hurt." 

Loki forced a smile and then accepted the offer of a nice hot mug. 

As the three sat around the fire, Alma asked, "What step Taika?" 

"Eh?" 

"You said that we were another step closer to finding the way to Baphomet's lair." 

"Well, we know he is deep underground at Old Sarum, but we don't know how to get into his vault. It is not as if we can just dig down with spades and shovels, now is it?" 

Loki and Alma recognised the question as rhetorical and so remained silent. Taika took a sip of her drink and went on, "I think I'll let Ranulf tell you. I am sure that he will have something to say, once he has had time to think." 

About an hour later as all three sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, both Loki and Taika noticed Alma look up towards the door, just before Ranulf opened it to step inside. He wore a resolute, if somewhat dark expression. Alma asked him a question silently with raised eyebrows; his expression softened as he looked back, but merely shook his head and asked, "Any tea in the pot for me?" 

Rather than wait for an answer, he grabbed a mug himself, filled it with hot water from the pot and crushed some Camellia leaves into it. Once he had taken a sip, he looked around at all three of his friends. He said, "Aloysius gave his life to allow us to escape from WinCom and I think he should be remembered for that, he was a brave man, a warrior and quite simply the best fighter I have ever met. He was also a gentle man, who had the ability to do the right thing and had an enormous sense of justice. I will miss him like the brother I never had." 

Loki remained seated and looked down at his feet, Taika merely waited for Ranulf to say more, but Alma rose to her feet and embraced Ranulf, "I never really got to know him like you did Ranulf, but I too will miss him. I wanted to thank him properly for what he did when..." she still couldn't bring herself to say out loud what Aloysius had saved her from on their very first meeting, "How do I say thank you for that? And now that he gave his life for us, how do we say thank you?" 

Ranulf returned Alma's gaze, but his was not an expression of grief, it was of grim determination, "We will thank him Lady, by taking the fight to Baphomet and breaking him down and sending back into the abyss that spawned him!" 

Loki's ears pricked up, "How?" 

"Simple, we go to his vault and we kill him!" 

Loki sagged, "But we don't know where the entrance to his vault is!" 

Ranulf smiled grimly, "No, but we know someone who does." 

Puzzled, Alma asked, "Who?" 

"Why, your boss of course, Sir Nigel Winthrop." 

Alma was astounded. It had been staring her in the face all this time, he must be involved, and considering the importance of the DataVault program, he must be quite an important player, "So," she asked, "What do we do?" 

"Simple. We grab Winthrop and force him to take us to the entrance to Baphomet's lair." 

"How," asked Loki, "will we force him? I don't think torture would work even if I had a mind to try it. A fair fight, or even a very unfair fight is one thing, but I won't take part in torture." 

Taika spoke up, "It won't come to that. I'm coming with you and I'm fairly certain I can get the information out of him." 

Ranulf disengaged from Alma's embrace and said, "Okay. We'll get what we need from the New Forest and then go and get him." 

It was about seven o'clock in the morning when the four friends grouped together outside the house in the New Forest, both men carried their usual backpacks, Alma had a small pistol in a shoulder holster under her jacket, she wasn't altogether certain she would be able to use it though, even after the intense drilling session that Ranulf had given her. Although he had pronounced her proficient in the safe handling of the weapon, she was not sure that she could point it at another human being and deliberately pull the trigger. Still, she wore it because Ranulf had refused to let her join them if she didn't. Taika carried nothing except her pouch of tobacco and her pipe in her skirt pocket. 

Ranulf took hold of Alma and activated his travel stone; Loki followed and last came Taika. They reappeared at the back door of Sir Nigel's country house. After a quick glance through the window, Loki used his key to open the door and all four crept inside, they could hear the sounds of silverware coming from the dining room so they stormed in and Ranulf shouted, "Don't move!" 

Sir Nigel dropped his fork in surprise and spattered his trousers with egg. His butler, who was in the process of pouring his coffee, jumped and only just managed to stop himself pouring hot coffee all over his employer. 

Sir Nigel stuttered, "Wh... Wh... What is the mean-" 

Loki strode across the room and gave him a backhanded blow across the face, "You murdered my friend!" he shouted and raised his hand to strike Sir Nigel again. 

Alma quickly grabbed his arm, "Don't Loki. Please. Let's just do what we need to do. Okay?" 

He looked rebelliously back at her, but Ranulf forestalled his response. "Loki! Do as the Lady says. We need him alive and in good working order."

Reluctantly, Loki let go of Sir Nigel and stepped away from him, although his expression spoke volumes. 

Taika said, "Enough of this. You there," she indicated the butler, "Sit down." 

The old man was scared and looked at his employer for guidance. Sir Nigel muttered, "Best to do as they say." 

The butler sat down and Taika went to stand by him, she laid her hand over his eyes and whispered, "Sleep." 

When she took her hand away, the old man's eyes closed and he slumped back in the dining chair, she said, "He'll sleep for a good few hours now," then she turned her attention to Sir Nigel.

As she approached, he shrank back and half-shouted, "Who are you? What do you want?" 

"We want to know the way to Baphomet's chamber," snarled Ranulf, "And you are going to lead us there." 

"Who? Bapho-who? I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. If it's the silver you want just take it and go. I won't offer you any trouble." 

Ranulf advanced on him, his face a mask of fury, "Don't play games Winthrop! We know who you are and we know what you are. For now, you are useful to us, but if you play games then I might forget and accidentally kill you. Am I clear?" 

Cringing with fear, Sir Nigel Winthrop was stripped of all of his usual urbane arrogance. He knew that he was in a very dangerous situation, and he also knew that he was more than a match for these thugs. His eye went from one to the other as though he was imprinting their faces on his memory. As he looked at Alma, his eyes went wide. He knew her; she was the one in the photographs, Alma Baines... The Mother! 

Taika observed, "Oh yes, he knows who we be alright," she took his chin in her finger and thumb and turned his head to face her, "And he knows that he must do as we say." 

Sir Nigel saw her eye glint as she spoke and felt a whisper of the power that she could command through her fingers on his face.

"Okay," he muttered, "I'll take you to him. But it won't do you any good. He'll kill you all." 

"That remains to be seen."

Winthrop laughed with an edge of shrill hysteria, "You don't understand. It's already begun. And soon Baphomet will walk the Earth with me at his right hand." 

Taika frowned and then stared into Sir Nigel's eyes, "Look at me," she commanded and he found himself unable to break the stare. He could feel her in his head, he could feel every thought behind every wall being broken down and he knew that he could hide nothing from her. The old woman staggered back and whispered, "He's already started the DataVault program. It's already begun." 

Ranulf exploded, "WHAT?" 

Taika swallowed, "Not only that. Aloysius is alive... Or at least he was last night." 

"Where is he?" asked Loki. 

"All I could see was that he's at a farmhouse near Old Sarum. That particular thought was blocked from my view." 

Alma surprised everyone, not least herself, when she pulled the pistol from her holster and held it against the side of Sir Nigel's head, she snarled, "Stand up. You are going to take us to this farm, right now!" 

Winthrop stiffened as he felt the cold steel against his head; he swallowed and then gave the tiniest of nods. Slowly and carefully, he stood up and then said, "We can go in my car." 

Ranulf gently put his hand over Alma's and pulled the gun away from Sir Nigel, "Remember, we want him alive Lady." 

Alma was shaking as she put her weapon back in its holster, here, finally was one of the people directly responsible for Jonathon's death and for the loss of her baby. Here was the famous and powerful Sir Nigel Winthrop, who she had just seen for what he was. A coward, a greedy, power hungry coward. She hated him; she hated him with such a passion she had never experienced before. Alma Baines wanted to kill him and she wanted to hunt down and kill the demon Baphomet, but she had still allowed Ranulf to pull the pistol away from Winthrop's head. And right now, she didn't know why. 

All five piled into the Bentley, Loki in the driver's seat with Taika sat next to him and Winthrop sandwiched between Alma and Ranulf, both of whom kept their pistols pointing at him. Loki gunned the engine and then followed Winthrop's directions to the farmhouse at Old Sarum. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 12-13



As they neared the property, Ranulf told Loki to park up as they would approach the house on foot and get as close as they could without raising any alarms. They decamped from the car and Ranulf took a firm grip of Winthrop's arm, "Shout a warning and die immediately afterwards. Do you understand?" 

Sir Nigel nodded tensely. 

Then all five people made their way into a filed and followed the hedgerow toward the farmhouse at a crouch. They were almost at the courtyard, when Ranulf raised his hand for them to stop. He waved Loki forward and pointed to his own eyes with two fingers. Loki nodded and commando crawled even closer to the house. He froze as the barn door flew open and an old man stormed out into the courtyard, Loki could hear shouting from inside. He could see that the old man looked extremely angry and his hands were shaking with rage as he tried to light a cigar. 

Realisation dawned on Loki as he recognised the voice that was screaming was not always of pain, but in defiance. He looked around the area and could see no other signs of life. It seemed to Loki that the Hypogeum felt secure enough here to not bother with guards. A choice that Loki wholeheartedly agreed with. 

Loki crawled back to rejoin the others and recounted what he had seen and heard, Ranulf especially was heartened to know that Aloysius was still alive. Both men cocked their pistols and then Ranulf told Taika and Alma to stay back and guard Winthrop before he and Loki made their way forward to engage the enemy. Loki reached the side of the house and knelt up, he glanced around the corner to see the old man still smoking his cigar as the screaming and shouting continued from the barn. 

Adrian Walker threw his cigar on the floor and stubbed it out with his foot, he was very angry with Aloysius. He knew that his men were experts at interrogation and torture, but so far had gained nothing from the brute except '18559431, Sergeant Aloysius Jones' and quite a number of threats. He knew that things were now in motion and the DataVault program would be kicking into action this very day. Even as he stood here, members of the brown robes would be forming up at Stonehenge in order to offer rites and prayers to Baphomet when he made his attempt to fully enter this world. He glanced back at the barn door, before going into the house to use the toilet. He was quite an old man and his bladder was starting to make it's own decisions about when he needed to go. 

As the front door of the house slammed shut behind him, Ranulf appeared from under the hedgerow and moved stealthily along the wall of the barn to the door, at the same time, Loki also made his way over. They stood with their backs to the wall on either side of the doorway. Ranulf silently mouthed a countdown from five and then both he and Loki burst through the door. There were three shots fired down silenced barrels and then three thumps as the torturers fell to the floor, dead. 

Ranulf examined Aloysius and was appalled at the state he was in. His face was covered in blood from a gaping wound over his left eye that was swollen shut and his jaw had been badly broken. Both hands were bleeding severely, especially from the fingers where he had his nails pulled off and sharp blades applied to the tender flesh beneath. Although in a very broken state and in agony, he was smiling at his friends, "Wondered when you'd get here," he mumbled through broken teeth and then fainted. 

Taika and Alma appeared in the doorway with Winthrop between them. They pushed him inside and then followed after. Sir Nigel moved to the side wall and sat down, eager to be other than the centre of the group's attention, he did his best to remain as quiet as he could in the hope that they forgot he was there. 

Taika rushed forward and laid her hands on Aloysius head, she closed her eyes and mumbled inaudibly to herself. As she did so, the others were astounded to see Aloysius' jaw move back into place with an audible crack, his bleeding slowed and then stopped altogether and his fingernails seemed to grow back in a matter of seconds. In less than a minute, all of Aloysius' injuries had disappeared as if they had never been there, although he was still covered in blood.

Loki was agog, "I never knew you could do that!" he cried. 

Taika replied, "T'was never needful, until now." 

Ranulf too was disgusted, "You mean all the injuries we got from this big ape when we were training could have been cured? I seem to recall suffering weeks of pain from a broken thumb. And you could have just put it right?" 

Taika grinned, "He never got you that way again though, did he? Pain can be the teacher's best friend sometimes." 

The conversation was interrupted by a noise coming from the house; Loki peeked out of the barn door and was astounded to see a large group of heavily armed men streaming out followed by the old man he had seen earlier. They took up positions at various places around the courtyard and waited. The old man stood in the doorway of the house and shouted, "You may as well come out. We've got big guns here, and lots of them!"



The Hypogeum Ch. 14-15



CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance." – Robert Collier

Loki pulled out a hunting knife and quickly cut Aloysius' bonds and then lightly slapped his friend's cheeks to bring him round. Aloysius' eyes opened and he growled, "Stop it." 

The young man smiled widely, "Good to have you back mate." 

Ranulf and Alma stood near the door and he risked a quick glance outside, "About twenty of them, plus the old man, I think. What have we got?" 

Taika looked at the bale of straw where the three torturers had laid their weapons, "we have whatever you brought with you and three guns here as well as a few knives." 

Aloysius struggled to his feet, kicked the ropes away and collected the Uzis from the bale. He passed one to Loki and kept two for himself. 

They heard the old man outside shout again, "We're waiting. Nowhere for you to run, there are wards up all around this property, so the only way out is through the front door with your hands in the air!" 

Ranulf called back defiantly, "You want us? Come in here and get us!" 

"Now, now! There's no need for all this misplaced heroism. You've lost. We don't need to come in; we just need to make sure that you can't get out. Your interference has been... An irritation and nothing more." 

"I don't know about that, we can get a lot more irritating than this. Aggravating in fact!" 

The old man laughed, "Laugh while you may. We still hold all the cards." 

Whilst Ranulf and Walker traded comments, Aloysius looked around the room and noticed a small window set high in the wall. He held the Uzis by their straps in his teeth and jumped up to grab hold of one of the thick rafters that ran the length of the building. Then he pulled himself up and clambered into a position that gave him a commanding view of the courtyard. He checked that his Uzi was set to full automatic and then at a nod from Ranulf, pulled the trigger and sprayed the courtyard with bullets. 

Men jumped back at the sudden attack and all took cover wherever they could find it. Walker ducked back into the doorway of the house and shouted at his soldiers, "Get them! Get in there and kill them!" 

Two men returned fire and then used basic fire and manoeuvre to move forward. As one ran forward, the other provided covering fire, which might have worked had they been using cover, as it was they were framed perfectly in Aloysius' sights and he took them both out with a couple of quick bursts. 

Meanwhile, at the doorway Alma held her pistol and squatted down next to the door as Ranulf quickly leaned out and fired off a couple of shots at where he had last seen another enemy taking cover, wounding him in the leg. All could hear the man's screams as he dropped his weapon and grabbed at the bleeding hole in his upper thigh. 

A volley of automatic fire answered their first blood and the team was forced to take cover. They could hear the crack-thump of rounds hitting the side of the barn, and Aloysius quickly dropped back to the ground as a bullet smashed through the window, narrowly missing his head and covering him in shards of broken glass. 

At the other end of the room, Loki found another door that led out to the side of the barn, he pulled a handful of silver balls from his pocket, took a deep breath, flung the door open and threw the balls out before slamming the door closed again. Two or three rounds burrowed into the wooden frame and he heard at least two people running toward him. The footsteps started to stumble and were soon followed by two fairly loud thumps. After that, all he could hear was the sound of the balls ricocheting around and the occasional soft plopping as they struck flesh. 

Taika had by this time retreated to the back wall and was kneeling down with her eyes closed apparently oblivious to everything that was going on around her. 

Nigel could see that no one was watching him, so he sidled closer to the trap door, waiting for his moment. He knew his chances of survival were slim whilst he remained here, regardless of whom won the fight, if he could only get to Baphomet. The demon would protect him, after all, wasn't he a red robe? Was he not the one entrusted with the creation of DataVault? He reached out and rested his hand on the handle of the trap door and waited for his moment.

The group in the barn heard the unmistakeable sound of a car engine starting and then a screech of tyres as a vehicle was driven wildly at the barn door. A long volley of automatic gunfire accompanied the car as it crashed into the door and sent splinters of wood in all directions. 

Ranulf and Alma threw themselves down to avoid the shrapnel. Sadly for the attackers though, the car failed to crash through the side of the barn and it just sat unable to move, blocking the main entrance. 

Ranulf rolled to his feet, dived onto the bonnet of the car and planted several rounds into the body of the man at the wheel. As he did so, the passenger of the car raised his short-barrelled rifle to shoot back. Before Ranulf could adjust his aim, he heard a loud bang right next to his ear and saw a small circle appear in the forehead of the man in the car. He rolled off the bonnet and back inside where he could see Alma stood rock still, her face a mask of horror as she still stood, arms outstretched holding her pistol. 

He pulled her to one side away from the rounds that were still flying in their direction and held her close, she was crying and sobbed, "I never killed anyone before." 

Much as he wanted to comfort her, Ranulf had no time and another face appeared in his field of vision, he raised his weapon and pulled the trigger, there was a click and nothing more.

The other man raised his rifle just as Aloysius stepped in front of him and fired a burst from the Uzi straight into his face, "How many times have I told you to count your shots?" he asked as the enemy fighter collapsed on to the floor. 

Ranulf squatted down next to Alma and reloaded his pistol. Aloysius rushed over to where Loki stood by the side door. He said, "Call the Dancers back."

Loki opened the door a crack and pushed his hand out as he whistled. Once the last Dancer had been retrieved, he moved to one side so that Aloysius could dive through the door. The giant landed on the ground next to two dead bodies that were riddled with holes, and quickly fired a round into the midsection of another man who was running towards him.

Then he was up and running, firing shots in all directions and every one of them hit a soft target. Soon the last enemy standing was Adrian Walker, who was aghast at the speed with which these few people had methodically worked their way through his entire guard force. 

The old man faced the giant who appeared in front of him with an expression of resignation and a pistol held limply in his hand. Aloysius took the weapon from his unresisting fingers and asked, "Anyone left for me to kill?" 

For all of his previous arrogance and self-assurance, Adrian could only stand in shock and awe of this man who he had just seen destroy his small army. The hot barrel of an Uzi was placed against his forehead and the question was repeated, Adrian shook his head. Only moving when the weapon was lowered and Aloysius motioned him out into the courtyard. 

"We've done it," called Aloysius. 

The others in the party exited the barn via the side door, all except Taika who still remained sat in silence at the back of the barn and Sir Nigel, who was cowering on the floor next to the trapdoor. 

Ranulf shouted, "Is he the last one?" to which Aloysius nodded confirmation. 

As Adrian saw Alma come into view, he suddenly changed from the broken man into a spitting demon, hatred came off him in waves, "You!" he screeched and ran at the young woman with hands out in front of him like claws, "You bitch! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" 

He stumbled and looked down at his chest where a hunting knife was embedded up to the hilt, Adrian fell to his knees and coughed, blood oozed from his mouth. He fell forward onto his hands and looked up at Alma, "This wasn't supposed to happen... He promised me..." 

Loki, who had thrown the knife answered, "He promises a lot of things. Now why don't you just die?" 

Adrian collapsed onto his front and his eyes stared unseeing into the middle distance. He coughed once more and then died. 

Ranulf watched Adrian die and then looked around, "Where's Winthrop?" he asked. 

Loki's eyes widened and he ran back to the barn door, he looked inside and could only see Taika still in a trance and an open trap door. 

"He's gone to Baphomet," he called back, "Do we follow him?" 

Ranulf swore and then said, "No, we need to be elsewhere for now," seeing the questioning looks from Alma, Loki and Aloysius, he continued, "We have some missiles to stop." 

* * *

Erika Olafsdottir looked at her display screen as she attempted to serve the next customer, where she worked as a teller in the Reykjavik office of the Kreupthang Edge bank, and was surprised to see her screen go suddenly blank, she quickly pressed a few buttons on her keyboard and then tried to ring the IT service desk. She couldn't get through. 

* * *

Phanindra Panishwa stopped trying to run his diagnostic program on the network server of IndCo plc and turned towards his supervisor with a worried expression, "I don't know what's happening. I can't get anywhere. It won't let me even list the files in my own personal directory." 

* * *

Aleksei Ivanovitch was screaming down the phone, "I've had the President of the company bursting my eardrums this morning! If you don't get to the bottom of this, you're fired! I don't care what it will or won't do, that's your department. Heads will roll for this, I'm telling you!" 

* * *

Sergeant George Wisbecki was startled by a red light flashing on his boards; he scanned the computer screen in front of him. His brow furrowed as he typed some commands into his keyboard, a few moments later irritation turned to shock and he grabbed his phone, "Sir, there's a problem. The system's warming up. Looks like we're readying launch sequence... I know Sir; I think there's an intrusion attempt in progress... Yes Sir..." he tapped some more commands into his terminal, "Counter measure initiated... Looks like the board is clearing... I don't know Sir, possibly a system failure, but we have backups, as you know Sir, wait a moment... No Sir, the launch sequence has reinitiated. We're being breeched Sir... Yes Sir!" 

He put the phone down and got back to his terminal. 

* * *

Aloysius, Loki, Ranulf and appeared back in the builder's yard behind the WinCom office, Alma having stayed with Taika in the barn, right into the amazed view of a young store man who had been counting paving stones. He watched in shock as the giant dropped a bergen on the floor and then started passing weapons and ammunition to the other two. Ranulf took a pump action shotgun and started thumbing rounds into the breech, as he looked across at the shocked store man and said, "Best you go home Son, its gonna get quite loud round here in a minute or two." 

The young man backed away and then turned and ran. 

Once everybody was armed and fully equipped the three men piled over the wall, unlike their last visit, there was no attempt at stealth. 

* * *

Sir Nigel Winthrop was scared out of his wits and struggling for breath, he had ran almost all the way along the corridor to the vault where Baphomet resided. He grabbed a dagger, hurried to the central stone and drew the dagger across his forearm. Baphomet transformed from the stone image into flesh and blood and asked his disciple, "Why have you come here? You are supposed to be overseeing the DataVault attack." 

Beside himself with fear, Sir Nogel fell onto his face at Baphomet's feet, "Milord, I have come to warn you. Walker has failed you and the Mother is here."

"What?" roared the demon. 

"Yes lord, all of the foretold ones gather at your gates and are on their way to attack you here." 

"Does the DataVault program continue as planned?" 

Feeling somewhat braver now, Sir Nigel looked up at his Lord and Master, "I had the programming team begin earlier this morning and your brown robes gather at Stonehenge to offer blood rites and worship in your honour. The WinCom offices are too heavily defended to be attacked, so I thought it best to warn you of the approach of our enemies." 

The demon stood in deep thought and then said, "It is good that you have come to me, Winthrop. Perhaps you are not as useless as the fool Walker thought you were." 

Sir Nigel cowered down and answered, "I live but to serve you Lord Baphomet." 

Baphomet reached down and offered a tentacle to the shaking Winthrop, "Then stand up and serve me, my loyal disciple." 

Sir Nigel warily accepted the cold tentacle of his god and stood up, "What is it you want of me Milord?" 

Suddenly, the demon's tentacles wrapped themselves around Sir Nigel's arm and lifted him off the ground so that he was face to face with him. More tentacles grabbed Winthrop's other arm and he was held suspended like a crucifix. Baphomet's hot, nauseating breath washed over Sir Nigel as the demon said, "If I am to fight the Mother on this day then I will need to keep my strength up. Winthrop, I will be requiring your life." 

The old man started kicking and screaming in fear as he felt long, sharp teeth press into the top of his head and under his chin, only stopping when Baphomet snapped his teeth together and bit off his face with a sickening crunch. 

* * *

All three companions approached the front side of the building, Ranulf and Loki from one side, Aloysius at the other. A uniformed guard turned the corner and came face to face with the giant. The look of surprise on his face was soon replaced with pain as a giant hand snaked out with surprising speed and hit him on the side of the neck, there was a cracking sound and the guard crumpled to the floor. 

Aloysius stepped over him and continued on his way. At the other end of the building, Loki leaned around the corner and aimed his high-powered rifle at the uniform stationed at the entrance to the car park. He checked that the silencer was fitted correctly and then fired a single shot. Ranulf watched the man collapse to the ground and then ran forward to join Aloysius coming from the other way, so that they arrived at the front door at the same time. Both blasted a few rounds at the glass doors, but were astonished to see that the doors withheld the force of their bullets. 

Loki ran forward and threw something, he shouted, "Take cover!" and crouched down covering his ears. 

Both Ranulf and Aloysius moved back from the doors, only having to wait a second or two as the explosive charge that Loki had thrown did its work. There was a loud boom and a small fireball that shattered the glass leaving a huge hole that all could easily use to enter the main foyer. Guards came from all corners of the room to repel the intruders and the ratatatat of automatic weapons was deafening. 

Ranulf could see that hey were outgunned, so he mimed an explosion by moving his hands apart with spread fingers. Loki nodded and threw another bomb into the foyer through the gaping hole where the doors used to be. Another explosion rocked the ground and Ranulf risked a quick glance in through the haze and smoke to see that most of the guards in the foyer were either dead or incapacitated. Then he motioned Aloysius forward so that the warrior could clear the remainder of the ground floor. 

Eric Jenkins oversaw his team beavering away at their terminals, all busy controlling the vast swathes of data that was being directed toward the Fort Greely Missile base in Alaska. The processing power of every server and supercomputer under their control was being used to gain entry to the missile launch control system. So far they had managed to crack some of the firewall safety programs and were currently trying to get through a wall of 256bit encryption.

As he looked at the clock on the wall, he wondered where Sir Nigel was, he would have thought that his boss would want to be here while this important operation was in progress, especially after the excited phone he had received in the early hours, ordering him to get everyone into the building and start the Hypogeum program a good month ahead of schedule. He was interrupted in his thoughts by a strange sound at the edge of his consciousness. 

That sounded like gunfire. 

There it was again. He looked around the room and could see that none of the other programmers had appeared to hear it. 

Aloysius fired his last shotgun round and threw the weapon to the floor, drawing a pistol and his favourite weapon, the Jian sword, he closed with the last remaining guard in the stairwell leading to the third floor, he and his two friends already having cleared all the other floors of enemies. His sword lashed out and the guard dodged to the side only to receive a crushing blow to the temple from the butt of Aloysius' pistol. 

Another couple of guards who were running down the stairs from the third floor met their ends in a similar way. 

Ranulf and Loki had taken the lift up to the fourth floor and were using the fire and manoeuvre techniques taught to them by Aloysius to good effect, wiping out every enemy that crossed their path. 

They met with Aloysius at the door to the third floor where Ranulf said, "Aloysius, you deal with the control room, me and Loki will take out the server."

Aloysius nodded and accepted some explosives from Loki before heading out to the security door, beyond which were the programmers who were controlling the end of the world. 

At the same time Ranulf and Loki were hurrying downstairs to the server farm that housed the computer that was currently attempting to hijack the missiles. 

* * *

General Jackson strode into the control room and barked, "Report!" 

Sergeant Wisbecki saluted and answered, "Sir, someone or something has been trying to take control of the missiles in silos three and five. We don't know where the attack is coming from Sir. The NSA is trying to tie it down, but at the moment they can't tell." 

"Don't they have any ideas where it's coming from?" 

"It appears to be coming from everywhere Sir. So far, we've been able to block its access, we have three people altering the launch codes manually every couple of minutes. But it's only a matter of time before the attacker takes control, we simply can't keep up." 

"Can you do anything else to stop it?" 

"No Sir." 

The General looked furious and said, "Get me the President on the phone, right now!" 

* * *

Eric Jenkins was thrown from his chair by the explosion that took the steel door completely off its hinges. All of the programmers who had been working away at their desks joined him to look goggle eyed at the giant who strode through the twisted wreckage of the door, he was brandishing a wicked looking sword and carrying several small bombs in the crook of his other arm. He shouted, "Everyone who wants to live, get the Hell out now!" 

No one needed to be told twice and everybody streamed from the room, pushing and shoving in their haste to get away from Aloysius. For his part, Aloysius ignored the WinCom employees jostling their way to safety and started placing charges at random around the room. As he placed each one down, he pressed a button on the side, which activated a timer that showed five minutes and then started counting down. 

Once he had placed the last charge, Aloysius strode back into the now deserted corridor and made his way down the stairs to the foyer. He could hear Sirens in the distance, getting closer all the time. 




The Hypogeum Ch. 14-15



Ranulf and Loki found the door to the server room was if anything even more secure than the security door on the third floor. Loki placed a charge just below the lock and set the timer for thirty seconds. Then he and Ranulf took cover halfway up the stairs. They waited until they heard a loud bang and saw a wisp of smoke appear from downstairs. 

Both men raced downstairs and ran round the corner to see that the thick steel door was now open and hanging slightly bent on its hinges with a large portion missing where the lock and handle had been. Ranulf dived through the door with his pistol at the ready, just in case there were any more enemies inside, he rolled to his feet and found the room deserted. Loki followed him through the doorway and dug a large metal box and a small control unit from his pack, he placed the box on the floor next to one of the racks of computers that made up the server farm and then said, "Time we were outside." 

Both men moved back to the stairwell and Loki flicked a switch on the control unit. There was a strange sound from the server room followed by silence. The steady hum of the computers was now silent. Loki reached into his pack once more and did something that Ranulf could not see; he threw the pack through the door and ran back upstairs to the foyer, shouting over his shoulder, "Leggit Ranulf, I just put the insurance policy in place." 

Ranulf stared uncomprehending for a moment and then his eyes went wide as the realisation hit him, "Oh shit!" 

Ranulf followed Loki as fast as he could.

All three men met up back in the foyer, the sound of Sirens was now deafening as the emergency services converged on the WinCom building. They ran outside and made for the wall to the rear of the building. Not even slowing down they vaulted the wall into the builder's yard and then activated their stones. 

None of them heard the muffled whump as a backpack full of explosives and Dancers exploded in the basement, adding inevitable finality to the job that the EMP device set by Loki had started. 

* * *

Erika Olafsdottir watched her display screen come back to life and she could see the normal start-up screen. The display flickered and then the computer requested her logon details. She put the handset back on the phone and logged in. Then she pressed the button on her desk to alert the next waiting customer that she was ready to serve them.

* * *

Phanindra Panishwa sat back in astonishment as he suddenly found himself back in control of his computer system. He shouted to his supervisor, "I'm back in. I've taken the DataVault box offline." 

* * *

Aleksei Ivanovitch was talking quietly and respectfully on the phone, "I know Sir, I've managed... That is, my team have managed to take back the computers. Yes Sir, we've cured the problem and taken the DataVault program out of the loop." 

The wailing Sirens suddenly cut short and the following silence was deafening. The general leaned away from the telephone and shouted, "What is it? What's going on?" 

Sergeant Wisbecki was dumbfounded as he frantically scrolled through the lines of text on his computer screen, "Sir, it's stopped. The attack seems to be over." 

"What did you do Sergeant?" 

"Nothing Sir, it wasn't me... It just stopped." 

General Ira Jackson took a deep breath and blew out hard before putting the phone back to his ear, "Sir, Mr President Sir, the attack has stopped... We don't know yet Sir, but the threat has passed... Yes Sir I will." 

He replaced the handset and then shouted, "Get me someone from the NSA here, right now!" 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"Control your own destiny or someone else will." – Jack Welch

Alma squatted on the floor next to where Taika still sat, unmoving and eyes closed. She was worried both about how the men were getting on back at the WinCom offices, but also because she didn't know who else might still be around, or on their way to the farm even now. Although the team had thoroughly swept the house and surrounding area before they had departed, she was still uneasy. She had a feeling that something was wrong, terribly wrong, but she didn't quite know what it was. 

Suddenly Taika's eyes flew open and she said, "They're coming." 

Alma was alarmed at Taika's sudden awakening but more so at her words, "Who's coming?" she asked. 

"Red robes." 

"What do we do?" 

Taika smiled grimly, "We wait." 

The young woman examined the pistol that she held, only ever having fired it once, she was not eager to have to fire it again. However, a steely resolve came over her, She thought to herself, if it's a fight they want... Where had that come from? She had never been a fighter in her life. In fact her first experience of violence had not happened until that night she had been attacked in her own home. Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered that night and all of the events that had led up to it, but this time, there was no physical pain, and although she still carried grief in her heart, she found her memories of Jonathon more comforting than saddening. Alma checked her pistol was fully loaded and then said resolutely, "I know what I have to do Taika. I'm ready." 

The old woman said nothing in response but stood up and stretched painfully, "I'm too old for lolling around on the floor... They are here." 

As if to punctuate Taika's words, Alma heard a car drive up to the farm and screech to a halt. There was a slamming of car doors and then shouting as four or five men looked at the devastation around the farm. Dead bodies lay everywhere broken and in pools of blood. 

Alma snuck closer to the door of the barn striving for a better view of the newcomers. She saw a Range Rover parked in the middle of the courtyard with four men, all armed with shotguns stood beside it and one other man still sitting in the driver's seat. Her arms shook slightly as she brought the pistol to bear and held it in both hands, bracing her feet against the recoil, as Ranulf had shown her. 

One of the men looked toward the barn door and his eyes met Alma's as she sighted along the barrel, he started to shout a warning and swung his shotgun up just as Alma squeezed the trigger. Her bullet took him in the centre of the chest and he fell to the ground with a grunt. 

Immediately, the other three men outside dived for cover and looked around from where the threat was coming. Alma started to move forward so that she could get a better view of the driver, she could see him looking wildly around until another shot rang out and the windscreen shattered by a round that ended its journey in his forehead. Her second shot had alerted the three, armed men to her position and they started to return fire. 

Alma ducked back and scrambled to the back wall where Taika stood. Alma was shaking violently now and stuttered, "There's three left and they're all armed. What do we do?" 

Taika replied unconcernedly, "We do nothing, child. You just showed me that there be fire in your heart and fighting spirit too. Another lesson learned well I think." 

Alma was almost screaming, "This isn't the time for your riddles Taika! What the fuck do we do?" 

Taika replied in reproving tones, "There is never any need for a lady to be using profanity, child. I said we do nothing and I meant it. However, I think it be time that these evil men were shown what I am capable of, when it be needful." 

A figure appeared in the doorway, he was pointing his shotgun at them and had wore a hate-filled expression as he started to bark an order. 

Taika raised her hand and whispered, "Fear." 

His expression changed and the colour drained from his face as it changed from hateful malevolence to fear, petrifying fear like that, which would wake a small child screaming from a nightmare. He dropped his weapon, which landed with a clatter at his feet. Taika walked slowly towards him with a hand out in front, and with each step forward she took, the man took one step back. "No!" he shouted, "Stay back! Stay away from me!" 

He stumbled and fell against the other two men who had just come forward to the doorway. 

Taika never stopped moving forward, she was implacable and whispered, "Choke." 

The two that were still armed also dropped their weapons as all three now put their hands to their throats as though being strangled. They couldn't breath as they desperately fought to pull the suffocating bands of force from around their necks. One by one, they fell to the ground, kicking and fighting against forces they could never defeat. The first man went blue in the face and his tongue stuck out, then the second and the third. Each of them was getting weaker by the second until all fell into unconsciousness. They went limp and died. 

Taika lowered her arm, sighed and said, "I could do justice to a mug of hot Camellia right now. This sort of game be taking it out of this old lady." 

Alma stood in open-mouthed horror at the display she had just witnessed. She had known that Taika must have some amazing powers, but she had never dreamed that the old woman could cold-bloodedly kill three men and then complain that she needed a drink. Taika fixed Alma with a stern gaze, "Don't be looking at me like that young lady. These were scum and they would have killed us both without a thought. Summoned here by Baphomet himself they were, red robes each and every one. Besides, you seem to have been quick to be ending lives this day." 

Alma squirmed, "That was different-" 

"How? You needed to live; they needed to kill you, but were not good enough. I just did the same thing," her tone softened, "Look child... Alma, they were a cancer and cancer needs to be cut out. It's all you can do. The trees would say that a sick branch needs to be pruned if it's to be stopped from killing the tree. Same thing, different words. You need to live and for that to be, then they," she prodded one of the bodies with her foot, "needed to die." 

Alma was still trying to assimilate Taika's words when the Ranulf, Aloysius and Loki appeared at the gate, that being the closest they could arrive due to the wards in place around the property. She saw them stride through the gateway and ran into Ranulf's arms, "Oh God! I was so scared." 

He held her close and stroked her hair as she nestled against him, whilst the other two conferred quietly with Taika. When Ranulf and Alma pulled apart, he looked across at the other three and said, "We've done the easy bit. Now things might get difficult."

Alma realised what he meant, they were about to broach Baphomet in his lair and she started to shiver, yet again to her amazement, she found that she wasn't shaking with fear but with excitement. 

Ranulf led the way along the narrow underground corridor followed by Loki, Taika, Alma and Aloysius bringing up the rear. As they grew closer to the vault they could hear the demon roaring his defiant challenge, although only Alma could hear the underlying tinge of fear in it. She still couldn't quite understand why he would be scared of her. 

Taika was very quiet as they made their way towards Baphomet; she was also very worried as she was still not sure that Alma had understood who she was. 

Loki was nervously playing with the Dancers in his pocket and was thinking uncharacteristically solemn thoughts about his own mortality. 

Aloysius was getting annoyed at banging his head all the time and was eager to bring the fight to Baphomet; he hoped that all he was doing and all he had done so far was making a difference. 

Ranulf was worried as well, he was still unsure of his ability to command this small band and was petrified that he would get them all killed. 

The roaring grew louder and louder still as the group reached the door to the robing room where they waited a moment to gather their nerve. The roaring demon went silent and then called out, "I know you're there little heroes. Come to me and meet your destiny. You cannot prevail. I have won. Soon I shall walk the Earth as its king but you will not be there to see it!" 

Taika moved forward to stand in the doorway of Baphomet's vault and shouted back, "You haven't won! You've lost! We've already stopped DataVault and now we're going to stop you!"

The demon screamed and howled, "NOOOOO!" 

He leapt towards the old woman and tried to grab her with his writhing tentacles, but she merely raised a hand and he stopped dead in the air as he hit an invisible barrier. His tentacles travelled all over the dome of transparent energy trying to find a way to reach Taika, but could not. Taika stepped forward allowing the others to come into the room. She said, "My wall is only impenetrable from that side." 

Loki whooped loudly and threw a handful of Dancers at Baphomet, they increased in speed and ricocheted all over the room at odd angle, unfortunately, instead of burying themselves into Baphomet's flesh, they merely bounced off him harmlessly. The demon laughed as he swatted them away, "Is that the best you have little Joker?" 

Dismayed, Loki whistled and slowed the Dancers to a stop, they were unable to penetrate the barrier, so fell to the floor. 

Then Loki pulled a machine pistol from his belt and he and Aloysius waited for the word from Ranulf. The leader readied his weapon and cried, "Now!" 

All three men dove through the barrier at the same time, Ranulf to the left, Aloysius to the right and Loki straight forward, as one they rolled to their feet and then all fired their guns on full automatic, spraying Baphomet with hot lead. Although the bullets caused him pain, they didn't seem to be penetrating his thick hide. He roared in pain and fury and launched himself at Loki, grabbed the young fighter's arms and started to pull them apart. 

Loki screamed in agony as he felt his shoulders begin to separate. 

Ranulf turned his rifle round to hold it by the barrel and ran forward, he swung with his makeshift club at Baphomet's tentacle group nearest him, the attack threw the demon off balance and he let go of one of Loki's arms, then, almost faster than the eye could follow, the tentacles struck out like a whip and knocked Ranulf flying into the far wall. 

Aloysius also moved forward to attack; he threw his gun down and drew his Jian sword. Baphomet sensed the new threat before he saw it and stepped back so that the Chinese sword met only air as it swung. Baphomet threw Loki at Aloysius and both went down in a heap, however, before the demon could advance more than a step, Aloysius rolled to his feet and adopted a defensive Wu Shu stance. 

Puzzled more than frightened, Baphomet swung with his tentacles to hit the giant man, but his own strike met only air as Aloysius dropped to the floor and spun round on his heel to perform a leg sweep that sent the demon crashing to the ground. He roared once more and lashed out with his foot at the advancing Warrior, striking Aloysius full in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and making him stumble backwards. 

Before Baphomet could gain his feet, Ranulf was once more lashing out with his makeshift club, there was a dull thud as it connected with Baphomet's skull and the demon was stunned momentarily. As Ranulf sought to press his attack, Baphomet rolled sideways and scrambled to his feet. 

Loki shouted, "Duck!" as he threw something at the demon. 

Everyone, including the two women behind the barrier huddled as close to the floor as they could just as the explosive hit Baphomet in the stomach and exploded. There was a thunderous noise as the bomb went off in such an enclosed space and thick cloud of acrid smoke surrounded the demon, who stood and laughed, "Is this the best you have? Is this what has been sent to defeat me?" 

Alma was appalled, these three men had thrown themselves into a battle that they could not possibly win... Because of her. They believed that she had some power that could defeat this monster. 

The fight raged in front of her and with each attack or counter another wound was raised on one of the men, the demon was roaring in pain when he received a blow, but her brave companions could not really damage him. Taika took the opportunity to whisper something during a lull in the battle and Alma watched a fireball grow in her hand, which was then launched at Baphomet. In seconds he was engulfed in flames. As the fire flickered and burned, the demon laughed again, "Foolish woman, I was born in the fires of the Hypogeum! Do you think your puny powers are a match for me?" 

Suddenly he lashed out at the three men who attacked him, Loki was struck in the groin with a foot and he fell to the ground in agony. Baphomet placed a huge foot on top of him, pinning him to the floor. Aloysius was knocked backwards as a mass of tentacles whipped him through the air to land in a crumpled heap, at the same time, a beam of black light shot from Baphomet's eye and the beam threw Ranulf against the far wall, pinning him about eight feet from the ground. Baphomet crowed, "See little Mother? See what power I have at my disposal? You think to challenge me? Here? Where I am stronger than you can ever be?" 

Aloysius, who had been temporarily forgotten, climbed back to his feet and shook his head to try and clear his thought, he could see Taika, still standing silently behind the shield protecting her and Alma, who was looking at the scene before her in open horror. He reached down for his sword and raised it for the attack. He ran straight toward the demon who had his attention fixed elsewhere and struck with the sword, it bit deep into Baphomet's side where it lodged, Baphomet screamed as thick, black ichor oozed from the wound and the dark beams pinning Ranulf to the wall faltered allowing him to land on the floor. 

Baphomet spun round and grabbed Aloysius, pinning his arms at his side as he pulled the giant warrior closer to his gaping maw. Aloysius could see the massive teeth getting closer to his face and struggled wildly to break free. Loki took the opportunity to pull his hunting knife from its sheath and stabbed it as hard as he could into Baphomet's ankle causing another roar to erupt. 

Ranulf also closed on the demon and grabbed at the tentacles holding Aloysius, as he pulled, the giant was able to free his arm, which was pulled back before his mighty fist was driven straight into the teeth that threatened him. There was a loud crack as one of Baphomet's fangs snapped and he dropped Aloysius as he staggered back, both surprised and hurt at this new attack. 

Ranulf was once more sent sprawling as he fell backwards from the demon and Aloysius grimaced and held his arm at an odd angle. The act of breaking Baphomet's tooth had also broken his hand. 

Loki was still on the floor, holding the ichor soaked knife and desperately trying to get his wind. 

Once again, Baphomet roared his defiance. 

Loki staggered to his feet and all three men once again adopted a threatening stance. 

Baphomet looked from face to determined face and then laughed out loud again, "See the little puppets, dying for the cowardly Mother who stands and watches. Why little heroes, do you fight for her, when she will not fight for you?" 

No one rose to the bait, the three men merely stood silent until Ranulf answered, "We fight for the Lady because we choose to." 

Loki added, "Yeah! Come and fucking get it, Fang face!" 

Baphomet breathed deeply and then stood up straight, his tentacles grew longer and thicker and all could see that he was growing. Soon he topped ten feet tall and the top of his head was brushing against the vaulted ceiling of the chamber. All the people facing him were wide eyed at the sight of his transformation. With lightning speed the huge tentacles lashed out again and snaked around all three men, lifting them off the ground like they were dolls, even the hugely strong Aloysius was powerless to prevent being held captive. Baphomet stared directly at Alma, "Come to me little Mother. Offer yourself as sacrifice."




The Hypogeum Ch. 14-15



Alma remained rooted to the spot, unable to take in what was happening. 

Baphomet shook Loki like a rag doll and his tentacles tightened round all three of his hostages, forcing air from lungs and making ribs creak. He bellowed, "Come to me feeble woman, come to me or they all die. Now!" 

Alma couldn't resist, she had to face the demon or he would kill her friends. She barely heard Ranulf croak out a strangled, "No... He'll kill us anyway... Taika get her... away." 

Ignoring him, Alma took a step forward and found herself outside the protection of Taika's barrier. She was shaking like a leaf as she took faltering steps closer to the demon that held her friends. Once she was within his reach, Baphomet released on tentacle from Ranulf and snaked it toward her, "Good, you don't understand the power at my command silly human female. You presume to call yourself the Mother, yet you come to me powerless as a mouse before a cobra. The power of the ley is mine to command!" 

In desperation, Ranulf sank his teeth into one of the tentacles that held him and ripped out a lump of flesh. Baphomet loosened his grip in surprise and Ranulf fell to the floor, he could feel the gorge rising in his throat as the taste of the vile substance made him feel sick. He spat it out and then leapt in between Alma and the demon. He grabbed her and pulled her back toward the safety of Taika's wall of energy. 

Baphomet howled at the indignity and threw both Loki and Aloysius against the walls, which they hit with a dull thud before falling to the floor, unconscious. The demon stormed forward and reached out with his tentacles to grab Alma, but Ranulf saw him and pushed her to the side, taking the full force of the blow, which crushed him against the barrier. Taika immediately let her defence down so that Ranulf wouldn't be crushed to death and threw a ball of ice toward Baphomet. Unlike the fireball, this attack did hurt him and he staggered backwards again, but did not fall. 

Ranulf came unsteadily to his feet and moved between the demon and Alma, through clenched teeth he snarled, "While I live, you will not touch her!" Another ice ball exploded against Baphomet's chest and he lurched backwards again. Taika readied another attack, but Baphomet struck first with a blast of dark light that engulfed the old woman and threw her back through the door to the robing room. Then he turned to face Ranulf and Alma.

Ranulf raised his fists, ready to continue the fight, but was surprised as Alma stepped in front of him and said, "If I come to you will you let the others live?" 

Ranulf was astounded, "Alma, no!" 

She ignored Ranulf and asked the question again. 

Baphomet regarded her, the tiny woman who was willing to sacrifice herself in order to save her friends, the silly naïve little human, "Yes," he said, "Offer yourself to me and they may live." 

She walked forward to stand directly in front of him and said, "Then here I am." 

Ranulf screamed in desperation and threw himself forward, but was thrown straight back by another blast of Baphomet's dark light. 

Alma stood silent, shaking with fear as she felt the tentacles wind around her tiny body. She could feel their slimy touch against her skin and also the power of the ley node that infused the demon's flesh. 

But something wasn't right. 

The grip tightened and Alma felt her feet leave the floor. 

This was not right... 

The power she could feel was not for Baphomet, he had stolen it. He had usurped it. 

Closer and closer came the gaping maw. 

The Earth was weeping because of the vile perversion of her energies by the evil monster. She could feel the hot breath on her face. The demon was a liar! He wouldn't let her friends live; he was going to kill them just as he was going to kill her. Alma felt the broken tooth graze the side of her face. He was a liar! It wasn't his power, it was hers! 

Baphomet brought his teeth together to bite Alma's face and a flash of white light where his teeth touched her skin made his head snap back as though he had been struck a mighty blow. He fell backwards and dropped Alma, who landed lightly on her feet. She looked at him and for the first time in her life understood who she was. He bellowed and threw himself at Alma, who held up a hand and once again a flash of white energy threw the demon backwards, with a smell of burning putrid flesh. 

Serenely Alma watched him fall, she said, "I am not the weak one. You are. You steal and you lie, because that is all you can do," he face was filled with wonder, "I can feel the power of the Earth and... I can use it." 

Fear filled Baphomet's face as he scrambled to his feet and started backing away from Alma, who took a single step forward, "Come to me Baphomet, come to me liar, thief, murderer. Face your destiny." 

The demon was desperate to escape now, with wild eyes he saw that the stones beneath Alma's feet were cracking and tiny shoots were growing at a rapid rate into small green plants. 

"I know who you are, I know what you are. And I know who I am as well. I am the Mother, I was born to use the power of the ley, the power that you tried to steal." 

Another flash of white energy struck the demon, forcing him back against the rear wall of the vault. 

Aloysius and Loki were slowly coming back to consciousness and then joined Ranulf as he watched Alma and Baphomet with wonder in his eyes. 

Taika staggered back through the doorway and held herself up with one hand gripping tightly on to the doorframe, she was smiling. 

Alma spoke again, "Your mistake little imp, was to think you could command the power of the ley, the life energy of the Earth, that is the difference between us, I do not command the Earth to give of herself, I ask humbly to direct that power where it is needed." 

Yet another energy ball struck the demon, who was howling and clawing desperately at the wall, trying to escape the implacable young woman who moved ever closer. 

"Sometimes, feeble demon, the branch must be cut away so that the tree may survive." 

Baphomet turned to face Alma and then screamed as a huge blast of white light surrounded him. Everyone watching could see his flesh start to smoke as he fought to free himself from the ball of energy that held him in place. Thick smoke billowed out as his flesh grew hotter and hotter and hotter until all that could be seen was a brilliant white ball of fire. The screaming grew louder and then started to fade until it finally disappeared altogether. The energy followed it and all were left standing in silence at the small figure at the other end of the room with flowers growing at her feet and a huge smoky image of a demon in the stonework. 

She turned to face them and smiled. 

Ranulf covered the ground between them in seconds and wrapped her in his arms, looking like he would never let her go. Alma in turn held him in exactly the same way. 

EPILOGUE

"Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words; Wait and hope." – Alexandre Dumas

Alma stopped buttering the bread and looked out of the window, where she saw Ranulf and Loki, once again being beaten black and blue by the giant Aloysius.

She smiled to herself, boys will be boys. Even though the threat had passed, they still kept on with their training regime. On a whim, she decided to step outside and take a little of the New Forest air. 

Once outside, she wandered away from the house and just stood next to the trees that surrounded the house on all sides. A breeze blew out of nowhere and she heard the familiar voices that had become her friends, "We greet you little Mother." 

The honorific Little Mother that had been an insult from the mouth of the demon had become a title that the Forest used with love. "And I greet you back my friends. How is Taika?" 

"She is well and sends her regards." 

Alma frowned slightly, "I am sure that you haven't come just to pass the time of day. What is it?" 

There was a definite pause before the voices spoke again, "Baphomet is gone and will never return, but he was not and is not the only threat to this Earth. We must remain vigilant and we may need your services again." 

The young woman was wide-eyed as she asked, "Now?" 

"No. You have time yet for enjoyment before we must once again look to continue the fight. After all, we know that time is what you need at the moment. You have our congratulations Alma McNab. Have you thought of a name?" 

She blushed and put her hands to her belly, "Thank you. Yes, we have thought about names. But we don't know whether it's a boy or girl." 

"Would you like to know?" 

"Yes." 

"You carry a girl child." 

"Then her name will be Nadia. I dunno why, before you ask, I just like the sound of it." 

"Names are important, they are the labels for who you truly are. Find out what your name means in order to truly know yourself. Your own name means 'Fostering Mother' and Ranulf means 'Shield', but we are sure that you could have worked that out yourself." 

Alma laughed and said, "I thought it might be something like that."

She paused a moment before speaking again, "May I ask you a question?" 

"Of course." 

"Where did the prophecy come from?" 

"We started it and implanted the seed of doubt in the minds of our enemies." 

Alma was suddenly angry, "You started it? You set things up so that Baphomet would come after me? So that he would kill Jonathon?" 

"Yes. But you must understand that it was needful. We have little power to fight enemies such as Baphomet; we have only persuasion and guidance from the wisdom of years. We did what was needful. After all, the only weapon strong enough to defeat Baphomet was one that he had helped to forge." 

The young woman burst into tears, "You're as bad as he was! You caused all this pain, just so I would fight your battle!" 

"Yes. It is to our eternal regret that we had to shape a time where your husband had to die." 

"And what about my baby?" 

"We mourn his loss, it was not foreseen that you would be with child when the time came. We know you have grief in your heart that will never quite leave and we share that grief with every breath of wind that blows and with every drop of rain that falls, both your husband and your son will be remembered and revered." 

Somewhat mollified, Alma wiped her tears away. "It still hurts." 

"We know. But we also know that the strength of the Fostering Mother flows in your veins and you will move on, like you already have." 

Another thought struck her, "You said names have power." 

"Yes." 

"Like I said, I don't know why we chose it, but what does Nadia mean?" 

The Forest was silent for a moment and then answered Alma's question. 

A short time later, she appeared at the back of the house she shared with Ranulf and placed a huge pile of ham sandwiches on the garden table. Ranulf presented her with a thank you kiss and then joined the other two men as they dove into the food. Alma stood and watched them with a small smile playing about her lips.

She was carrying Ranulf's daughter and her name was Hope.