Sherlock Holmes: The Shadow From Beyond (21 page)

“Ah, but for how long Watson? For how long?” Out of habit Holmes checked his pocket watch, which still did not function, before continuing. “Anyways, to conclude my tale, I was above the ceremony on the overhang of the ledge when the hypnotizing atmosphere overwhelmed me. My energy and consciousness seemed to slip away, and I fainted, the only correct term for it. I collapsed and tumbled down over the side of the ledge, down a slope of loose stones and right into the midst of the ceremony itself. The fall left me only slightly bruised, but brought back some of my senses, I was foggy in mind yet awake.

No sooner had I landed within that evil group that the cultists had me up and in a firm grip. I stood in front of Count Lebda himself, who after a moment of scrutiny spoke.

“Who are you?!” He demanded of me in a light yet strong voice. The delivery was spoken with a lisp and was deeply accented; it came out like the hissing of a snake. “Anssssswer me!”

Lebda’s wide eyes were aglow in the torchlight; it lent a menacing demeanor to his foreign cast. His facial features were sharp and angular, with a long beaked nose and arched brow, elements of Middle Eastern influence were evident. His dark beard was tapered to a sharp point and his moustache was trimmed thin. His shimmering robe covered his smallish form from head to toe and I noticed he was at least a full foot shorter than I. He became agitated at the fact that I did not immediately answer and repeated the question in a more forceful tone “I demand to know who you are and how you have come to thisss place? Ssssspeak quickly or forfeit your life!” “I am Sherlock Holmes,” I replied sternly and attempted to straighten my posture. “And I have come here via very difficult and adventurous paths to stop you Count Lebda or whatever your real name is! To stop your heinous attempt to unleash the ultimate act of terrorism on the countries of Western Europe and beyond, and to thwart your plans to exact revenge on that Western society for past crimes that they are guilty of committing centuries ago. Various crimes that the West has waged against the Islamic and Muslim people that date from the Crusades of hundreds of years past up until today.” I continued my accusations with increased volume hoping to force a reply, “To keep you from unleashing on humanity, powers from the beyond, that even your knowledge of the occult will have no ability to control. These actions of yours will surely only lead to the deaths of all your followers as well as those of thousands if not millions of innocent individuals and families that have no connection whatsoever to the injustice imposed upon your culture in the past!

“Lebda looked at me straight in the eyes for a few moments, both surprise and rage played about his contorted visage. Then, after finally composing himself, he let out a light maniacal laugh.” “Ha! Ha! Ha! “Sherlock Holmes?” he asked. “The great sleuth from London proper? The one and only famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes who has saved the innocent from the gallows, the rich from scandal and royalty from political turmoil?

“Your tales have reached the foreign press service as well; even I am familiar with your exploits Mr. Holmes. I must admit that I am truly honored to find that your interests in my endeavors have led you so far from your cozy offices on Baker Street, if I am not mistaken? Ahhh! That must mean the pathetic fool beaten down by my followers is none other than Doctor John Watson, you trusty side-kick of many years and personal biographer. Well so much for him, and at that, you as well Mr. Holmes.” Lebda finished the last statement with a ghastly sneer that spoke volumes.

“It was at this mention of your name Watson that I became greatly agitated, and struggled violently to get out of the cultists hold so I could strangle Lebda with my own bear hands.” Holmes recounted. “But no matter my efforts they held me fast with a tightening vice-like grip that I could not break. Lebda seemed pleased with my rising anger, and cackled again.”

“Ha! Ha! Ha! What a pity, all your wasted efforts that is. For you are helpless to stop me. In fact I was so sure of my success in the matter that I hardly expected anyone to ever recognize my plans and surely did not expect any form of opposition against them from the likes of one so high brow as yourself. Silly of me to be without doubt, an error I will not make in the future. Anyway I am sorry to inform you Mr. Sherlock Holmes but your adventure ends here, deep within the bowels of the Earth, at the hands of those very beings who will extract centuries of revenge for my people’s suffering.

“Your assessment of my plans are remarkably correct, your skills of deduction not just rumor or exaggeration. I am even surprised by your acknowledgement to the crimes your society has committed in the past. At least you are fair.

“The past cruelty of the Western world has not been forgotten by our glorious Muslim nation. Cruelties that continue even today through the invasion, occupation and the rape and murder of our lands and people, all for greedy Western interests. The Crusaders alone slaughtered millions of my fellow brothers and sisters for their religious beliefs.

‘God wills it!’ the Templar’s would chant as they butchered innocent babies! Did your God truly will that? All the Crusaders really wanted was their own absolution and the spoils of war; the wealth, land and the power that came with those ill-gotten gains were their true motivation. They were promised a kingdom of heaven by that rat Pope Urban II, who preached that ‘All prior sins shall be forgiven for any who take up arms against the infidels!’ Ha!

“Absolution of sin by killing, is that not the greatest hypocrisy? So many Westerners then committed crimes in the name of the lord for their own personal salvation and their own twisted religious convictions. ‘Blessed and omnipotent is the soldier of God.’ they said. Over ten thousand died in Jerusalem alone in 1099, almost every Muslim man, woman and child within its walls slaughtered! The name I carry now is Lebda, but it is not my real family name Mr. Holmes, I’m sure you figured that out at least, and I am no true Count, yet extreme wealth allows me to carry any title I desire, unquestioned, and certain titles possess powers of their own in political and social circles.

“My original birth name is al-Masri. Perhaps you are more familiar with that title, it was a famous and powerful Muslim family name in Jerusalem, one that carried respect and reverence until the lineage was cut down by those Templar butchers! They ravaged the city as I mentioned, putting all to the sword, including almost all my ancestors. Only one of our al-Masri bloodline survived that slaughter, a young girl of eight years who hid under the bodies of her murdered family until darkness allowed her to crawl out from under the corpse pile and escape the city. Imagine the terror of shivering with fear for hours on end as the blood of your own parents flowed about you, forever staining your clothes and soul!

“Some Bedouins eventually found her wandering in the desert, half-starved and near death. Those kind people took care of her, brought her back to health and tended to her needs as they travelled northwards with their caravan in attempt to escape from the turmoil of the region. In time one of the families in the caravan adopted the poor orphan girl as one of their own and took her in. She grew up in Turkey with the family name Lebda and eventually had a family of her own, thus allowing the original blood line to continue.

“I am the last sired by that bloodline, the true heir to the al-Masri lineage! I have kept the Lebda name out of respect and have sworn to avenge the deaths of all my slaughtered relatives as well as all of those since murdered under the banner of religious hypocrisy and Western greed!

“Even in today’s so called civilized age the mistreatment of our people continues, our once proud nation reduced to a shell of itself.

“The so-called Young Turk revolution just last year in my home country, in which our dear Sultan Abdul Hamid II was removed from power, was one of the last straws. Inspired and brought about by the tyrants of the West in further attempt to de-stabilize the region and bring more suffering to that proud Muslim nation.

“My cousin, who was like a brother to me, was one of those responsible for organizing the counter-coup earlier this year. His attempts to reinstate the sultan were well embraced by his fellow loyalists and the movement grew rapidly. The streets were filled with revolution, chants of ‘We want Sharia!’ echoed through the streets, the voice of the people loud and strong. They wanted a return to rule by religion, a return to faith and the removal of secularism. Unfortunately the movement was eventually suppressed by opposing forces, its beliefs crushed, its followers scattered. Most fled but my cousin was caught, brutally tortured and put to death by the noose in a public square as an example to those who may harbor similar intent. I was told that he was left there for over a week, with children throwing rocks at his corpse and crows feeding off his flesh! Disgrace!

“If I was not so far away at the time, preoccupied with my own master plan, I could have helped him. I may have been able to turn the tide with my otherworldly powers and in that respect I failed him. But assure you me, that I will succeed in avenging him and all those who died for the cause!” Lebda’s voice raised a few octaves and spittle flew from his mouth. “Enough I say! The time for vengeance is upon us! After many, many years of searching the world over for all the missing pieces, waiting patiently for the skies to be just right, for the stars to align in the proper patterns, for all elements of my plan to finally come to be, I wait no longer!

Lebda took a moment to compose himself before continuing. “Yes Mr. Holmes you are correct in your hypothesis. I will unleash from the darkest netherworld the servants of the Old Ones, the horrors from behind the stars, the most unfathomable powers of mass destruction, the shadow from beyond that will blot out all the light of this world! It will leave behind a burnt and blackened wasteland smoking in its wake and the scales of justice will finally be balanced after all these years! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Lebda’s laugh was like the cackle of a hyena as it echoed within the cavern.

“You are mad to think you can control these powers Lebda!” I retorted “The very reason these entities have been banished to other realms, beyond the stars or within prisons of time and space, are for the very fact they are uncontrollable! If these all powerful Elder Gods could not manage them do you think you, a mere human can? Impossible! Pure chaos without logic! None can bind them to subjugation; none on this planet hold that ability. Your plan will end as I have said, with the deaths of all your followers as well as yourself, not to mention the millions of innocents, perhaps the entire world including the proud Muslim nation you seek to avenge!”

“Ha! None are innocent Mr. Holmes,” Lebda ranted on. “All Westerners enjoy the fruits of their father’s criminal efforts, and those of their fathers before that. All live in the calm taken from the chaos. None attempt to right the wrongs of their ancestry, thus all will pay! And any Muslim that falls in the cleansing will be seen as a martyr to the cause of greater good, their place in heaven is secured. Allahu Akhbar!”

His cry was answered in unison by the fanatical cultists in the chamber. Allahu Akhbar! All shouted with abandon in reply.

“I have great confidence in my abilities concerning these occult practices, Mr. Holmes and will easily gain some measure of control over these forces as I have successfully done so in the past. We are also prepared to pay any price for retribution. If we all die through these actions, then it is the ultimate jihad sacrifice! All our faithful brothers who die for the cause will be rewarded in the afterlife, they will enjoy paradise above while the mortal world burns below!

“We do not fear death at all Mr. Holmes. In fact we embrace it as the final and greatest event of our short time on this planet. It is in the afterlife that we truly live. Now if you will excuse me, I have a revenge to exact.” He then nodded to the cultists that held me fast, who began to turn me about. “I will not kill you myself, but will leave you to the same fate as the rest of your western brothers, one in which your mental, spiritual and physical being shall be blasted into the eternal void to face unending torture! Good bye Mr. Holmes. And I do mean forever.” He spread that evil grin once more and the twinkle of madness glittered within his eyes, he then turned away, back to his prostrate followers.

In a last attempt to reach him I reference his cultural background in hopes he would see his own hypocritical ways. “I noticed in your mansion in Metz, the portraits of the great Muslim thinkers and leaders that adorned your walls, you must hold them in some kind of reverence with respect to their beliefs no? Your greatest Muslim military leader was Salladin, and he was revered by his people for his ability to show restraint, leniency and mercy. Could you not find example in his beliefs? Some level of logic and humanity?”

Lebda spun back to face me. He was obviously stunned at that statement. “You have been inside my mansion?” his eyes widened. “And survived to see another day? Hmmm, of this I am very impressed Mr. Holmes, few have escaped the jaws of my hounds to reach my doorstep. While inside did you also manage to explore the lower levels of the house, the cellar? If so I am sure you witnessed things that have since removed any doubt in your mind as to my abilities to harness these dark arts. A stunning specimen that demon, is he not?” That evil grin appeared once more. “And yes, it is through his actions that Professor Harper was silenced from revealing any ties to me in the future. Perhaps your hunt began there?

“In reference to your remarks about Salladin, they are all true, and all elements of his weakness and eventual failure. I am not merciful Mr. Holmes, and therefore I will not fail.”

“But are you not an infidel yourself? Through your practice of these pagan ceremonies and arcane rituals you follow another religion other than Islam?” I countered in some attempt to sway the madman. “Some read in the Qur’an that any who practice other faiths are sinners and deserve no better than death in return for their blasphemy, how do you justify all this paganism then?”