Spell, Crook and Handle Pt. 02

"It's just a dream," I screamed as I stood my ground.

The water crashed towards me but it hit some sort of invisible barrier. The thing faltered and evaporated in a cloud of dark smoke. I looked around for Hassan and found him huddled near the tree line. I walked over and told him over and over again that it was just a dream. I left him as the dream began to fragment. I woke up to the sound of the screams from Hassan's tent.

I leapt to my feet and the entire camp awoke and converged. A shaken Hassan emerged from his tent with help from Fahkir. He was ashen and unsteady as he muttered about a nightmare. He clung to the firelight as a drowning man clings to debris in the ocean. He finally seemed to collect himself and looked over at me. There was that moment of contact and he looked like he saw a ghost.

"It was terrible," Hassan told the others. "I was fishing. It was so peaceful. Then it was so cold. The lake, it came out of the lake! Then he was there, standing between me and that, that thing! You saved me!"

The last was directed at me. I shrugged and watched as he began to calm down. Suddenly he stood fully erect and looked out over at the shadow clad ruins. He began to rant again but this time he blamed the valley and called it cursed. He said that we needed to leave at first light.

"We need to leave! Fuck finding this cursed stone! If we stay, we will all perish! God has forsaken this place."

"If we leave we will be killed Hassan," Aaron said softly.

"Better a clean death to what lies ahead of us here," Hassan shouted back. "This place is evil!"

"I agree with Aaron," Khalil our communications guy added his thoughts to the mix. "We are sure to die if we leave. Here we might survive and return in good favor."

"I don't know." Mubarak said looking around at his friends. "Surely this place is damned but to fail the Royals. That will not be a quick death."

"Maybe they will let you blow yourself up," Nasir chided the explosives expert.

"Maybe they will show mercy once they see the infidel's video," Mubarak shot back.

"I say we call for a vote," I offered ignoring the whole 'infidel' thing. "If the majority votes for it then we leave at dawn."

"Yes, we should vote," Fakhir said. "Will you abide by the decision Hassan?"

"I will."

I wept. It was the diggers who cast the decisive votes. We were going to stay. Hassan became silent and returned to dress for his turn at guard duty. There was no way he was going to sleep again this night. I returned to my tent and lay back down. It was going to be a long day and I hadn't fed in days. I had to rely on food and water for my sustenance. I closed my eyes and there she was waiting for me.

"Hello handsome," she said opening her arms to me.

I flew into her embrace and sobbed. I told her all about the shadow and the nightmare I had witnessed. She held me until I had calmed down.

"Something had stopped that wall of water," I said and she actually laughed.

"Yeah, you did silly boy," she said. "You wanted to protect your friend and you did. Call it dream logic for lack of a better explanation."

"It's this place, this horrible place," I said shivering despite her proximity.

"Yes it is. There are places where old things still have power, things older than man and maybe even older than God."

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"The first of the two battles in heaven," she said softly.

The succubus touched my forehead with hers and the images, the memories came pouring in. The scream from my lips was silent but none the less traumatic. There were beings of light that were so glorious it made my heart ache. They hung about a place as fantastic and ethereal as any dream world. They were so numerous they outnumbered the stars in heaven. The human mind is not prepared for perfection and it burned me. But that perfection wasn't to last as the dark things boiled up from dimensions unknown to the Watchers. They had shattered the first line of defense in moments and were laying siege to heaven itself.

She broke the contact for fear of my sanity. She told me that the tide was turned by the Morning Star and his tactical skills. The things were slain and sealed away for all time. But even in heaven there are no perfect prisons. These ruins we were camped in were built long before the rise of man. They were erected to honor these terrible beings. Below in the timeless caverns lies the Heart of Ashurbanipal. It is one of two keys that were kept apart to maintain that prison. If the stones are reunited in the proper place the seal will be breached and it all ends in madness, fire and death.

We held each other now. She told me to flee and hide. Forsake the stone or else it would destroy not only me but everyone and everything I loved. I told her who had funded this mission and she lowered her head. A moment later she lifted her head and she was smiling. It was an evil smile but one that had hope. She held me close to her bosom and told me her plan.

"It's easy all you have to do is find the Heart, deliver it to your employer and then turn around and steal the Fire. Once you have the Fire drop it in the deepest part of the ocean. Let the crushing depths be its protector for a time."

"Nothing is forever," I said and she nodded.

I woke the next morning with a fire burning where ashes had been last night. We would find this damned stone and leave here with all of our lives. I sat up and I could see sunlight through the wall of the tent. As I got dressed I heard voices, laughter and shouting. I unzipped the door to my tent and slipped out and there they all were. All of the men were circled around a figure sitting on the ground. The soldiers had their weapons drawn on the diminutive woman.

"Good morning sleepy head," she said in Russian.

"Um, who the hell are you," I replied and everyone looked at me. "She is speaking Russian."

"What did she say," Hassan snarled.

"Good morning," I said.

I walked up to the woman and looked her over carefully. She was a tiny thing barely five foot tall and weighed maybe a buck twenty soaking wet. She was wearing what appeared to be a leather aviator's cap with the goggles and beneath that a glorious mane of strawberry blonde hair. She had on a faded blue button up shirt, tattered jeans and leather boots. She was cute the way elves are cute, she had bright blue eyes, apple cheeks and a tiny mouth with full lips. She had freckles everywhere but especially across the bridge of her nose. On the ground next to her was an old fashioned leather back pack like mountaineers used turn of the last century. The one this that stood out was the short string of black pearls around her throat. Those appeared quite real and very valuable.

"Who are you people," she asked completely unafraid of all the weapons pointed at her.

"Sweetie, I think you should answer our questions first," I said pointing to the guns.

"Oh," she said as if seeing them for the first time. "I see your point. What do you want to know?"

"Who are you?"

"I am alone. My mother is gone, a long time ago."

"What is your name," I asked being more specific now.

"I am Romanov," she said. "My mother kept repeating that when I was little over and over again."

"Do you live nearby Romanov?"

"Yes," she said and smiled.

"Can you show us where," I asked and she pondered my question for a full minute before answering.

"I guess so. I've never had visitors before." She said and reached for her backpack.

"Let me look through that so they don't hurt you by accident, okay?"

She nodded and I grabbed the backpack. I opened it and carefully dumped the contents onto the ground so everyone could see. It was junk. But the thing that caught my attention was the items themselves and how old some of them were. There were fuses, lightbulbs and gauges from a vintage aircraft. I only knew because a classmate's dad restored WWII aircraft as a hobby. I had seen firsthand the piles of parts in his hanger. There were also older pieces that appeared to be scraps of silk, satin and lace. Had these belonged to her mother? Then there were the patches from both military and civilian sources. The military were mostly infantry with a mix of others we couldn't identify. The civilian patches were mostly mountaineering clubs that were dated early last century. It looked like this place was sparsely travelled at the best of times.

"What else should I ask her," I said to my companions as I returned her possessions to the backpack.

"She will take us to where she lives," Fahkir asked.

"Yes she will," I said as I began checking the outer pockets of the backpack.

There were more trinkets that were at least 80 years old. Most were worthless but there was a compass, a combat knife as well as binoculars. I handed her the backpack while we both got to our feet. I motioned for her to lead the way. She shouldered the backpack and began walking. But instead of leading away from the ruins and out towards the pass she headed into the valley. This put everyone on edge as she guided us arrow straight to the main dome. What the holy hell? This young woman walked up to a fallen pillar near the dome and disappeared from sight. She never reappeared on the other side.

"This way," her voice echoed to us.

We all rushed to the back side of the pillar and there hidden from view was a staircase leading underground. I lead the way down as the thrill of actually finding the stone infected us all. We could forget digging and enter the complex itself and retrieve our prize. I caught up with Romanov on the spiral staircase that led into the depths. She had a flashlight in her hand and lit the way for us. The soldiers produced their own illumination to light the way. I noticed something very disturbing and I wasn't the only one. This staircase was new. It was dug out long after the rest of the construction. But who had done it? I looked over my shoulder at Hassan and he was looking at the stairs as well.

"Who dug this," he asked and I shrugged. "It is very crude compared to the rest."

"I noticed too," I said as the stairs hit a level area, a room.

"I live here," Romanov said proudly. She turned off her flashlight and the others followed suit.

"By Allah," the men muttered.

The chamber was lit by some sort of glowing mushrooms. There were thousands of clusters of them and they stretched out as far as we could see. The girl continued on and pointed out structures, statues and shrines. She was rambling in Russian and it was hard to keep up with her. We were obviously in the old portion of ruins now. The statues alone were proof of that. We exited the antechamber and I headed for the nearest of the statues. What had only been hinted at in the carvings above was displayed in its full horror here. The statue towered over me and was so frighteningly life like that I flinched when Hassan walked up behind me.

"What is it," he asked his face reflecting the same revulsion I felt.

"I don't know," I said but I suspected something terrible. "Maybe it is one of their gods."

"We can only hope," he said. "There are tales of the serpent folk that once ruled the desert before men rose to power. This could be what inspired those tales."

"Maybe someone came here or to another place built by these people and saw a statue like this one. It makes sense to me."

I looked at the statue and its horrid blend of serpent, aquatic and humanity. It made me think of the Egyptian god Set and an echo across the ages. Was this the inspiration of the god of deserts and darkness? There were universal tales of dragons and flying serpents that permeated human history. This had to be the nightmare behind the legends. I felt a tug on my arm and Romanov was pointing towards the center of the dome. We tore our gazes from the abomination and followed her once more.

The dome was littered with those statues. Just like the terracotta army in China each of them were different and unique. Romanov led us to the very center of the dome and there was something new and if possible more terrible than anything else we had yet seen. The statue was twice as tall as the others and could only be the father of nightmares. There was a collective gasp from the soldiers and prayers from the diggers.

"This is Yig," the girl said smiling. "He is the god king."

"How do you know that," I asked.

"It says right here," she said pointing to the inscription that I would have believed indecipherable.

"You can read this," I asked and she nodded proudly. "How?"

"Rosetta Stone," she said. "It told me how to read."

"Where is this Rosetta Stone? Can you take me there?"

"I suppose," she said. "But what do I get in return?"

"Shrewd little shit," I said and she giggled. "I have a multi-tool I could let go of."

"What is a multi-tool?"

I reached into one of the pockets in my camouflage pants and held it up for her to see. Her eyes locked on it and widened in awe. She smiled and nodded as I handed it to her. We all began to follow her and she stopped and shook her head. I told them what was going on and they agreed to search the dome and wait there. Romanov led me to the far side of dome, opposite where we had entered. There was another antechamber with a side passage that curved forward. Here was yet another engineering marvel. It was tricky enough to fashion a straight passage but this one was a gentle curve that followed the exterior of the dome perfectly. We had travelled a hundred feet or so when I felt it, moisture. A minute later I heard the sound of falling water.

"You hear it yes?" She asked. "It is the pool."

I didn't even have time to ask when the corridor ended on another large chamber. There in the center of the room was a pool. Just beyond the pool was a statue of Yig and from its open mouth a steady stream of water. But it was the short squat hexagonal stone in the pool that caught my attention. Romanov began shedding her clothes as we headed for the pool. She was naked by the time she stepped up onto the elevated edge of the pool and dove in. I piled my clothes and backpack in a pile next to the wall. I followed her into the water and it was like an electric shock. My hunger as well as any fatigue were instantly gone.

"What the hell," I asked and she pointed at the six sided stone.

"Magic stone," she said as she swam over to me. "Drink and be restored demon spawn."

"What are you..." I began to ask when her hand wrapped around me.

"Hush and enjoy but must be quiet," she ordered. "I do not like the dark skins. They pointed guns at me."

I cupped my hands together and trapped some of the water. I brought it to my mouth and drank slowly. The energy that filled me was close to that of when I fed. I bit my lower lip to keep from moaning as her hand began to move. She looked down and then at me with a look of surprise.

"Yes, that's all me," I said and she smiled.

"Truth now, you came for the Heart didn't you?"

"Yes," I said softly. "A powerful king wants it."

"A king owns it now," she said her hand squeezing and stroking me now.

"You are talking about Yig," I said and she nodded. "But Yig is just a statue."

"That Yig," she said pointing at the statue spewing out water. "That is a statue. But he sleeps in the dome."

The words fell like a doom. I looked at her and she smiled. I began to stand up and head for the dome when her lips wrapped around the head of my cock. I looked down and watched as she deep-throated me with ease. I don't mean like a slow steady thing this was like some erotic sword swallower.

"Oh damn," I growled. "I need to warn them."

Her eyes spoke volumes and I knew it was already too late. The sound of automatic gunfire echoed along with some sort of demonic cacophony. The bursts continued but all too quickly it ended and a deathly silence returned. The pleasure I felt carried a deep regret along with it. Romanov kept thrusting her head forward and even took ahold of my hands and placed them on either side of her head. My fingers slid into her long strawberry blonde hair and made twin fists. She stopped moving and the gauntlet was thrown down. If I fucked her throat it was all on me. If I left that too was all on me. Survival mode kicked in and I began thrusting in and out of her throat. Romanov licked and sucked for all she was worth. Her tongue did things I didn't know were humanly possible. It snaked around the shaft and squeezed like a freaking anaconda.

It didn't take her long to push me over the edge and fire my first load down her throat. She swallowed every drop and kept working my cock until a second load quickly followed the first. I was panting and shaking when she finally stood up. She kissed my cheek lovingly and returned to the pool. As she swam I wondered about her heritage. Was it possible her mother was human but her father was something else? I looked up at the statue of the god king and shivered.

"Tell me when you've recovered," she said in that commanding tone. "I want that fine cock of yours inside of me."

"You set me up," I screamed. "You fucking bitch! You separated us so they could be killed!"

"It's what I do," she said and I could see a pain so deep it had fractured her soul.

"I fucking hate you," I hollered and something inside of her snapped.

"Do you think I like this? Do you think I chose this life? I have no goddamn choice!" She stopped suddenly and the pain was replaced by something darker and malevolent. "Oh you'll figure it out you clever boy you. I have faith in you. Now quit being so fucking dramatic, focus on the task at hand."

I clenched my hands into fists but again survival mode kicked in and I bit down hard on the anger and put it off until I could use it to its full capacity. So I nodded and slid beneath the water. I let the energy fill me up as she had emptied me so completely. The hunger and the anger intertwined in me and waited. It was a cold forged relationship that might just see me out of here alive. There was something inherently wrong with this gal and I needed to find out all I could. So for now I would play nice.

I swam up behind her, cupped her surprisingly large breasts and asked how she knew I was a demon. Apparently she could sniff out demons, literally. There was something in the blood that she could detect. I knew all about heightened senses so all I had to do was figure out what scent to look for. I wondered if those things were posing as statues could be some kind of serpentine demons. It was just a theory but if I was right we had blindly walked into a trap. Was I related through blood to those things? Not my blood but the succubus' blood. I was lost in thought as the weight of my situation became crystal clear. I had to pass through that dome to get to the surface. Would they stop me once I had the Heart? Or would they welcome my taking it so that it could be reunited with its twin?

"You are thinking too much," she said pressing her ass against my groin. "I am not going to hurt you, neither will they. You are among family here. You feel guilty for their deaths. I understand I used to feel that way but it gets easier after a while. Here is what is going to happen. I am going to get out, bend over the wall of the pool and you are going to fuck me senseless."

She swam away from me to a point directly opposite her god king and exited the pool there. Romanov turned to face the statue and bent over grabbing the edge of the pool. She even did a little butt wiggle for me. Oh hell, I am already damned. I swam over, got out and knelt down and ate her out. I was curious how she would taste. Her pussy reminded me a lot of that of the succubus. It tasted better than most of the women I had been with. Since the soldiers and diggers were gone she cried out and it echoed off the walls. I fingered her pussy and she squealed as my cock hardened by the second. She was staring at my dick through her legs. She licked her lips in anticipation. I tested the waters and tongued her asshole and watched her eyes widen in surprise.