[Begin 8/13/99]
They continue walking down the tunnel, and the sounds of fighting die away in the distance. None of the gang pursues them.
After about ten minutes, they start to smell something foul, much like the awful stench they had experienced back at the camp that had been attacked. Their flashlights reveal a black man, dead, slumped against the wall of the tunnel. He looks to have been beaten to death several days ago, and rats have chewed up one side of his face. There are a few rats fussing with him now, but Zenaniel kills or chases them away.
Reziphel searches the man's clothing, and finds a few full crack vials. The angels notice that, oddly enough, the air right around the body is very cold. Some experimentation shows that there is a sphere of cold air centered around the man's chest, which follows the body if it is moved. After peering around for a bit, all except Shilom see the celestial form of a human hovering around the body. It fades in and out, and its outlines are fuzzy. They try to talk to it, but it just looks at them and doesn't answer. Finally, Reziphel goes celestial himself to see if he can learn anything.
The ghost is weak and somewhat confused. It speaks slowly, using small words. Many times its answer is simply "Don't know." But it does remember that its name was Mac, and until recently it was a member of Doc's gang. It knows Father: "Father angry. Drugs bad." Reziphel is unable to find out why the drugs are bad, but does find out that Father is "far away", somewhere down the tunnel, and that Mac's spirit cannot leave its body to help them find him. When asked if it has ever killed anyone, it replies "Yes", and seems quite proud, but adds that it was months ago. When Reziphel asks if there is anything he can do for it, Mac replies "Tell Doc drugs bad. Father angry." Reziphel says, "You had a choice you never gave your victims, now take those choices with you and may God have more mercy on your soul than you deserve." As Reziphel later recalled, "then the wheel of fire was as a mill blade, cutting the strings holding that wretched being to its corporeal anchor, sending it straight to Hell."
They continue along the tunnel, and after another half hour, it turns to brick, and looks less well-kept. It's also narrower, with room for only two abreast, and everyone except for Angela has to stoop. In another few minutes they come upon a low broken place in the right-hand wall.
The hole leads to a natural-looking crawlspace that immediately curves left out of sight. Appoggee/rat goes through first, and after a short while the tunnel opens out into a large-ish room. It sees a fire and the silhouettes of two men sitting around it. Appoggee comes back to report, indicating by gestures that they should go quietly. It goes back through, and Zenaniel follows. It's a tight squeeze, and Zenaniel makes more noise than he intended. One of the men at the fire jumps up and runs out of the room, prompting the other man to call out, asking who's there. Appoggee/rat notices that the man who ran was skinny, naked, and had a lot of long, matted hair.
As Zenaniel and the others crawl into the chamber one by one, the man tells them that he doesn't need anything, and that he wants to be left alone. When Angela and Janet emerge, however, he stops, obviously confused. "You're not from Father's gang. Who are you?" After they explain that Father did not send them, but that they are looking for him, he relaxes somewhat and introductions are made.
Jamall is a very unhappy man. He looks to be about fifty, but closer inspection shows him to be in his mid thirties, prematurely aged by the hardships of life underground. He cradles his bottle of booze as he tells them that he and the old man are the only ones left in this community, which once was home to about thirty. Gesturing to the makeshift tents and sleeping bags, he explains that everyone else is either dead or has run away. He apologizes for the old man's behavior; he's used to Jamall, but strangers frighten him. Jamall has never known his name, but speculates that he must have been underground a long time. "There are strange things down here, and he's probably seen them all."
When asked what happened to the others, he says that Father and his gang came through a couple weeks ago, selling crack to whoever would buy and threatening those who wouldn't. Everyone was afraid of them, and most especially of Father's "pet", a huge ferocious-looking man with long hair and wild eyes. The few that resisted the initial sell were beaten with boards and pipes, and the rest paid with whatever they had. Empty crack vials on the ground around the fire show that it must have been a big sale.
Then Father saw Cher, Jamall's girlfriend, and the only thing he thought was worth anything in his life. "Father took a liking to her, and then the rest of the gang joined in." After they were gone, Jamall wanted to get Cher to the surface to get help, but she insisted she was alright. He found her dead the next morning of an overdose.
Several of the group try to convince him to go above for treatment and help, but he says that he will stay here, as there is nothing and nobody left for him. Father couldn't do anything to hurt him now, although he wouldn't mind seeing him dead. He warns Janet not to get close to Father, and he is particularly concerned about Angela, speaking kindly to her but telling her she shouldn't be here. Angela smiles and tells him he's a nice man, and tries to reassure him that she can take care of herself, but Jamall still looks worried.
Although he's never been to Father's place, Jamall does point out a tunnel entrance across the room, saying that Father's people came from there. He tells them to go straight and not take any turns for a while, and that if they hear anything, it's probably the old man. He accepts the bottle of Colt 45 they leave with him as payment for the information.
The angels start down this tunnel. It's narrow and damp, and sometimes there isn't enough space to walk upright. The going is slow and single-file, and they turn out their lights to save batteries. They pass several side passages. Down one of these they hear someone, probably the old man, scurrying away. Appoggee/rat thinks about trying to follow, but stops when it realizes it will probably get lost.
While walking in the dark, with his hands outstretched, Rez trips over a rock. The tunnel makes a sharp turn here and, much to his embarrassment, he falls against the outer wall. His left hand hits and then goes through the wall, dislodging rocks and making a lot of noise in this little space. The rat scurries for cover and flashlights come on. Rez has uncovered a walled-up space that has been sealed for some time. The air is stale and still. Appoggee/rat climbs over the rocks to see what's there. It's dark, but there is the impression of space. And there is the smell of...wood? It comes back and indicates that someone should shine a flashlight into the space. Someone does, and it sees a large cave, perhaps 25' tall in a few places. The ground slopes down from here, and there are rocks and trees, standing trees, as if it had once been a forest. It can hear the sound of water in the distance. Appoggee/rat goes back again and draws AS-> on the ground, but no amount of rat charades can make the angels understand until they climb into the chamber.
|
|
| Dave Choat |
The angels spend some time examining the boulders, shining a flashlight through the one with the hole to see if it points somewhere. Rez looks at the pool. It's not very deep, and there is the continuous sound of trickling water. The stone sides are delicately carved, like lace. Shells and other stones lie on the bottom. Rez reaches into the water for a shell, and the pool begins to glow. A faint disturbance is heard. The shell is actually a piece of carved stone. He puts it on top of the boulder with the pool-shaped depression, but there is no reaction, so he replaces the shell in the pool. In a few minutes, the light fades.
Although several of the group feel that the cavern is not essential to the mission, it is decided that they will investigate a little further. This time Reziphel steps into the pool. When he does, they all feel a pull, which the older angels recognize as a Seneschal's call for help. Reassured that they are dealing with a Heavenly tether, they look for the Seneschal. Try as they might, they cannot perceive him. Rez puts his head underwater and more disturbance is felt, but nothing more happens.
After some debate, Appoggee volunteers to ascend the tether and see what's at the other end. It gathers some of its forces into a celestial form, and follows its noses to a great sea cave. Foam-flecked waves break over a narrow sandy beach that runs around the edge of the cave. A great bay stretches out of the cave mouth, encircled in the distance by an even greater savannah. Sunlight sparkles on the water and the walls dance with ripples of greenish light. Scattered on the sand are huge nautilus shells, almost all of them cracked or broken.
Although it has not been here before, Appoggee realizes this must be Oannes' cathedral, long since abandoned. The nautilus shells mark the endpoints of the dead Archangel's tethers; the one it recently used has a series of hairline cracks and is chipped and stained.
While the Kyriotate is still distractedly looking around, it hears someone say "I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone else was here." Turning several eyes in the speaker's direction, it sees a winged bear and snake coming towards it. The angels introduce themselves as Chilmad, Seraph of War, and Quincy, Cherub of Flowers. Appoggee vaguely recalls that Oannes' cathedral is now occasionally used as a private meeting place for those who would find it inconvenient to be seen together in public, for whatever reason. Servitors of War and Flowers would seem to fit that bill.
Appoggee explains what led it here, adding that it was unable to find the tether's Seneschal in order to lend aid. The other angels are quite surprised to hear that such a tether still exists, and speculate that the tether's Seneschal may have become bound up with the tether at some time after Oannes' death. Appoggee tells them it has decided to go to David, to see if somehow the tether can be transferred to him, as his Word seems most appropriate. It adds that there may be others here soon, and the Cherub and Seraph decide it might be best to hold their conversation at another time.
Appoggee heads for David's catacombs, adroitly dodging War's Servitors as they practice in the Groves. It states its business to the Cherub on duty, and is led through winding stone passages to a Seraph sitting behind a stone desk. Menachiel listens to the Kyriotate's story, and states that he is ready to investigate the tether now. He accompanies the Kyriotate back to Oannes' cathedral, and both head back to Earth.
Although Appoggee/rat is moving much more slowly than usual, it has been reassuring the rest of the group that all is well. Thus no one is alarmed when Appoggee and Menachiel emerge from the tether. Menachiel cloaks himself in the vessel of an Asian man, who is unable to communicate with the others until he sings a quick Song of Tongues. There are introductions all around, and Menachiel proclaims himself equal to the task of investigating the area alone. Zenaniel takes down the stones he had again piled up in the cavern's entrance, and they take their leave. Much later, they learn more of the tether from a report by David's Servitors.