Crown of Serpents (46 page)

“Oh my God!
Look!
”

The Crown of Serpents.

Rae and Jake spun around. And froze. Was it a hallucination?

Rising out of the flames and fog slithered a cluster of silver serpents. Flickering tongues darted from their open mouths. Their reddened eyes flashed like rubies. They hissed like boiling water.

Stanton blinked from across the cave. Her eyes must be deceiving her, she thought. Her head felt light. Cool air drifted upon her face. She blinked and looked again.

A muted Jake shook his head. Through the flames he saw Rae across the room. A look of horror filled her face as she stared wide-eyed, back against the wall.

The snakes had now wrapped themselves around the pole and were climbing higher. A human head started to take shape below the intertwining serpents. Flames rose higher in whites, blues, and purplish hues. Long, wet, gray hair intermixed with the hissing snakes. A shadowed face with silver glowing eyes emerged. Naked broad shoulders rose with wiry arms folded across a heaving hairless chest glimmering with a silver and wampum broach on a necklace. Dark wet pants clung to strong legs. A flash of light revealed the full figure.

Alex Nero.

One with the Crown.

Jake raised his assault rifle and centered his mark on Nero’s chest. Stanton gripped her pistol and took aim. Rae was already in position, her legs spread apart with one hand grasping her Glock, the other cradling in support.

Nero floated higher. He seemed unreal. The Crown of Serpents was now at the same height as the buck skull. The snakes took a hold of the skull and shattered it in a smattering of bones. All that was left were two, multi-pointed antlers now clearly meshed as part the crown.

Nero stepped out of the overflowing well and onto the smooth shale floor. He looked physically bigger, stronger, and much healthier. He stretched his arms out in a God-like pose and slowly turned in a circle, announcing himself to his small captive audience.

“
I AM ATOTARHO!
” he announced in a clear, strong voice. His raspy coarse tone was completely absent. Suddenly, three flashes of white light shot from the pit. “Kneel down to me my servants or meet instant death!”

The three remained still, unsure how to handle what was happening.

Nero took it as defiance. “
NOW!
” he bellowed.

Stanton flinched with fear. She pocketed her weapon, kneeled, and raised her arms in surrender. But Jake and Rae refused to give in. From opposite sides of the room they acted simultaneously and depressed the triggers of their respective weapons.

Clicks followed.

They tried again. Their weapons refused to fire. Jake checked his chamber. A round was there. He aimed at Nero’s head and pulled the trigger again. Misfire. Malfunction. Rae’s Glock acted the same.

Nero’s deep laughter echoed throughout the chamber. “Your modern weapons are useless against my power,” he shouted. Wasting no time in dealing with the insubordination, he first lashed out at Jake, his strongest threat. Closing his silver laced eyes, he summoned his crown’s newfound energy. He extended both arms and pointed all of his fingers toward his foe, then opened his eyes.

An invisible force tore through the fog. The jolt struck Jake like a concussive electrical shock. It knocked him backward, helmet flying off his head. He screamed in horrified torment, clutching the sides of his head while backpeddling and slamming himself into the cave wall. A frenzy of searing pain shook his body.

Nero roared with arrogant laughter. “Feel my power. I
am
the great wizard. I
am
reborn!”

Jake’s head felt like it would explode as electrical energy heated inside his brain. He dropped to his knees and moaned loudly, slipping into semi-consciousness. In a moment, he went silent and fell flat on his face. His M4 rifle came loose from his harness and skittered on the slate floor. Swirls of white mist enveloped his motionless, depleted body as he disappeared in the fog.

Nero spun around and searched for the other defiant one — Rae Hart, symbol of the white law enforcement that had oppressed him all of his life. She had made her way around the cave perimeter toward the entrance tunnel and was just bending down to escape when he caught her. Nero screamed a war whoop as his supernatural power sliced through the air once again. He struck Rae in her backside with another jolt of invisible electricity. She screamed in pure agony as she was jarred against the wall. She then slumped silently down in the mist, disappearing.

Nero then looked around the cave for Anne Stanton, expecting her to still be kneeling in submission. He crouched and turned like a panther, his moves nimble and quick, searching for the last of his prey. He could sense her presence moving away from him, but she was nowhere to be found within the chamber. He figured she must have made her escape back out of the tunnel. He relaxed.

“You have served me well, woman,” he muttered to himself, not willing to pursue her just yet. “I shall have my way with you later.” He chuckled in a deep insane tone as long thin snakes groped his cheeks.

The chamber floor had now filled entirely with soupy whirlpools of fog. A rumble developed from the pit. Nero spun around to look. His silver eyes narrowed.

BOOM!

A gusher of water and flames exploded from the well. The wooden pole shattered into pieces. A overpowering baritone drum-like sound echoed through the room. Pieces of limestone slipped from the walls. The blast propelled Nero backward into the stone table of Jecumseh, the female corpse. His eyes fell upon the false-face mask of his ancient opponent. The carved, painted smile of the mask then came alive and transformed into a sinister grin. The small painted head she held in her hand twisted his way as her silver White Deer Society broach glowed brightly.

“JECUMSEH!” Nero roared. He spun his head in a moment of fright, buck antlers swooshing in the air, serpents flailing wildly. He backed off.

Another huge blast from the well blew him to his knees. He got up confused and stumbled over to the next corpse table. Standing over the male corpse, his eyes were drawn to the same silver broach around the mummy’s neck. It burned bright. Skeletal hands moved, shaking the turtle rattle they held. Nero cringed in paranoia. He barked his other ancient nemesis’s name. “HIAWATHA! No. You cannot be alive. No!”

Another rumble pulsated from behind him, this one much bigger. Nero leaped away from Hiawatha’s corpse. Bent on leaving the chamber, he searched for the entrance tunnel but could not find it in the fog. He became disorientated. The snakes on his head writhed in animation. He then heard a sound behind him. A scrape. He spun around.

The remaining corpse sat up from its table, its silver broach burned hot.

Nero gasped. His chest burned. He clutched the broach hanging around his own neck and scorched his hand.

The corpse raised an arm, its bony fingers grasping an eagle feather. A deep voice spoke inside Nero’s head. It uttered the ancient language of his ancestors, but he knew the meaning of the words. “I am Deganawida,” the voice said. “You are not worthy to wear the Crown.” The feather released from the corpse’s clutch and floated away into the mist.

Nero turned in terror. He ran.

A flash of bright steel.

The Halligan.

Rae swung it like a bat, the single curved prong searching for flesh. She caught Nero high in the side with a rib-shattering crunch. Nero howled. Rae yanked tool from his body, tearing open a large gash that streamed with bright red blood and torn muscle. Nero fell to his knees.

Rae raised the Halligan over her head for the finishing blow. “Now you bow down to me!”

She swung again.

Nero dodged.

The tool clanged against the rock floor. Nero lashed out and knocked the legs out from under Rae. She fell backward and bounced the back of her head on the stone floor. Sharp pain shot through her skull. Stars twinkled in her eyes. She lost her grip on the tool. It clamored away.

Nero rose above her, hunched in severe pain. He stretched his shaking hands toward Rae’s head. He focused his eyes — raging with a silver glow. His head of serpents quivered, their fanged-mouths biting the air.

The last thing Rae remembered was the silhouette of the crown against the bright backdrop of silver-blue flames. The outline of writhing snakes and two antlers marked her slide into darkness.

Jake careened into Nero just as his invisible shaft of energy shot toward Rae. It missed, bounced, and redirected against the cave wall. A large chunk of rock fell from where the blast struck. Another enormous gaseous boom suddenly shook the chamber. The concussive blast pushed the bodies of Rae, Jake, and Nero clear across the room. The three Indian corpses, however, remained as they were, seemingly untouched by the explosion of gas.

Tumbling, Jake and Nero groaned with injury, but both gathered enough strength to stand up and face each other. Nero’s lips curled in rage. He showed white teeth as if to bite. The snakes on his head wiggled and hissed. He circled Jake and directed his silvery gaze into Jake’s eyes.

“Once I finish plucking out your dreams I will steal your soul and enslave it for all of eternity. Then I will—”

Jake smashed Nero with a jab to the mouth. “Shut your pie hole.”

Nero was taken aback at the quickness of Jake’s strike and his audacity of defiance. He spit out a bloody tooth.

Jake mocked him. “You’re not worthy to wear the Crown. Your orenda is weak. You’re no God. You bleed. Just like a man!”

Nero countered with a backhanded slap across the Jake’s face. The blow felt like someone hit him with a brick. Jake’s head twisted to the side as saliva sprayed from of his mouth. He stumbled backward, knees weak, surprised at Nero’s physical strength.

Jake shook off the blow then cautiously moved back to within arm’s length of Nero. They circled slowly, sizing each other up. Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out Rousseau’s knife.

“You fucking piece of jail trash,” Jake taunted. He lunged and sliced Nero across the bicep.

Nero wailed as blood squirted out of his arm. He balled his fist in rage and swung a roundhouse. Jake blocked the punch, slashed with the knife again and sliced Nero across his chest. Nero grunted but countered with a hard fist to Jake’s stomach, knocking the air out of him. Jake lost his grip on the knife. It scattered away lost in the fog. He staggered back, sucking wind, trying to breath.

CRUNCH!

A large rock smashed down upon Nero’s crown. It struck his skull directly between the antlers, flattening a handful of serpents. Nero wavered a moment, his eyes rolled in a daze. He then dropped to his knees.

Jake looked up. Anne Stanton stood across from him, grimacing. She clutched a large boulder between her hands. Nero swayed from the blow, moaning in agony. Stanton tossed the stone and grabbed a hold of each buck antler to keep him from falling. Snakes tore at her flesh. She grunted in pain from their bites.

Breathing heavily, Jake jumped over and grabbed the antlers too. Razor sharp fangs dug into his hands.

“Pull!” he shouted.

They lifted as one.

Nero screamed and reached up, locking his hands around Jake’s wrists to counter the tugging. The chamber pit rumbled again. The earth shook. Jake and Stanton regained their balance and pulled harder. Nero screamed. They gave one final tug.

The Crown of Serpents ripped free with a wet tear.

Jake released his grip and Stanton stumbled backward, holding the great treasure in front of her. The snakes immediately stopped moving before her eyes and froze into hardened silver. But on the bottom side of the crown hung long strands of gray hair and bloody meaty flesh.

Nero cried out. His hands searched the top of his head.

Jake looked at the pitiful man. He had been scalped clean. A bloody, hairless patch of skin and skull was all that remained where Nero had worn his short-lived crown. Nero screamed again, the silver fading from his terrified eyes. Jake could care less. He turned and searched for Rae.

She was already up on her feet, leaning against Jecumseh’s funerary table. She pressed a hand on the back of her head to keep her wound from bleeding any further. She gave him a thumbs-up. Jake exhaled slowly, in pained relief.

The well behind her suddenly pulsated with light as water burped from its depths, the bowels rumbling again. Flames shot high in the air. Another explosion brewed from below.

Nero suddenly jumped up and bull-rushed Jake, knocking him aside. He made an unexpected dash toward Rae. She remained calm as the bloody bald wretch of a human being barreled toward her.

Jake shouted, “No!”

Nonchalantly reaching down into the fog, Rae found what she needed. Nero was upon her. She sprung up, gripping the Halligan tool horizontally, and then cross checked Nero’s face with it.

Nero’s jawbone shattered. His legs gave out. Rae stepped aside to let him fall. He stumbled like a drunkard and tripped into the pit with a flaming splash.

Jake ran over. Stanton followed, the crown still clutched in her grip. They looked into the well as Nero slowly submerged headfirst. Jake reached down through the flaming water and grabbed his ankle. The pit groaned. He saw light pulsate from below. A large bubble of gas rose from its depths. It would explode at any second.

“Take cover!” Jake shouted. He released Nero and dove for cover behind a corpse table. The two women followed suit. Stanton released the crown for just a moment as she scurried behind Hiawatha’s table.

The chamber instantly went black. The trio went blind in pure darkness. A tremor shook the room. They waited for the blast.

Seconds ticked by but the explosion never came. Instead, they heard a strange flushing of enormous quantities of water down inside the pit. The room then became eerily silent. A light switched on. It came from Jake’s rifle lying in the corner of the chamber. Another light flicked on, this time from a dropped helmet near the entrance passage. A third light illuminated from a flashlight left on the floor. In the splash of light the trio noticed the layer of fog had disappeared completely.