Chapter XXIII
The Battle for Constantinople
Arzealous stood by the portal his sharp voice raised above the din, “Steady, brace yourselves.”
The portal shimmered into focus and out leapt the Rageon wielding a mighty sword and behind him came the Wraith, all heavily armed with axe, mace and sword. They were head to foot covered in armour, gleaming helms and mail shirts dazzled in the torch light.
“Fire,” shouted Arzealous.
Arrows flew towards their foe. Four Wraith fell dead whilst another was skewered on the end of a spear, but all were replaced instantly by others; the opening the portal had made was worse than any breach in the city walls.
The Romans rushed forward and fought with a fanatic intensity that their foe had not expected, nor had encountered before. They were after all fighting for the survival of an empire that dated back to antiquity. They slashed and cleaved limbs and heads from bodies but the Wraith line refused to break. The Rageon was a giant, his helm shone and at its centre was an emerald jewel, his armour was as black as night, his eyes burning coals, he towered over everyone, and cut three Stratiotai down with a single stroke of his sword.
The Viglator and elite guard gathered to protect the Emperor, as the Rageon moved to intercept, carving a path toward its prey. Callinicus and Arzealous realising that the situation was becoming desperate, leapt to his aid. As the sword of the Rageon came down, Arzealous parried the blow, and smashed him in the face with a shield, rocking him back a moment. The blow merely enraged him all the more, and, using his arm like a mace, he smashed Arzealous into a pillar. He recovered quickly, rolled to the ground and jumped to his feet, fortunately his armour imbued with powerful Angelos script, protected him enough, so that his body, though bruised, was not broken.
Callinicus stood firm refusing to let the Rageon pass, even though it towered over him, it had recognised the staff of light and that had given it pause. Callinicus stood firm, his staff pulsing with energy, and seizing his opportunity he thrust his sword forward, but each blow was blocked, the clash of steel sending sparks flying in all directions.
The Rageon swung his sword and a blow that would have normally cleaved a man in two, was deflected from its course. With the Emperor now in danger, the fighting became more savage, more extreme. This was close quarter fighting at its most bestial: when swords were lost, the fighting continued with hands gouging, teeth biting, heads butting. Many had to fight their personal battle for survival. Even the priests and monks, to protect the Patriarch had hold of Candle stands, which became maces, the smashed remains of clay plates became knives, and even crosses were used to bludgeon the enemy. The obvious penance would be done later.
The Rageon struck once again, as two of the elite guard got too close. This was a being on a mission.
“Stay back,” shouted Callinicus as the Emperor was prevented by his guard to intercede against the demon.
The Rageon towering over Callinicus raged at the Emperor, his voice echoing round the walls, “You cannot hope to win, you will lose your city, Constantinople will fall and the day will be ours, you are nothing more than an Emperor of a small ragged house.”
The Emperor gestured for his guard to separate, “If I am to die, then I shall do so not cowering behind my men. And Byzantium is not a walled city but an idea that will live long after its walls have decayed to dust.”
The Rageon laughed mockingly, “There will be no one left to share the idea you are referring to.”
The Emperor came forward and charged passed Callinicus to get to the Rageon. His blows slashed at the creature, each landing with purpose, but to no avail the creature was too fast, it parried, blocked, and struck. Callinicus also attacked, as did Arzealous, the three of them surrounding the Rageon: and yet still such a being would not be thwarted. One of the Elite guard managed to get behind the giant to thrust his sword into its side. The Rageon cried out in rage and swung his sword round hacking the man's head off. As he did so, from the open Portal came Germanicus and Merit followed by Adamous carrying the casket. Callinicus realising that this was their moment threw Adamous his staff, he caught it and attached it to the casket, and then taking the Sacred Seal that had now materialised, set it atop the chest, it immediately sprung to life. Merit used her amulet to good effect, as a shield of light surged and pulsed preventing any enemy from reaching them. Adamous then adjusted the Seal and energy leapt forward, striking the emerald on the helm of the Rageon. There was a blaze of light as the creature convulsed, shook violently and imploded, in an explosive ball of flame, the Portal shuddered dramatically and instantly closed. Any Wraith that were left, were now dispatched in quick order.
The Church was once more filled with contemplative silence, only broken by the heavy breathing of the Stratiotai.
The Emperor first looked at Adamous and then at Germanicus and smiled, “Welcome back, I take it, what you have there is what all this fuss is about.” Adamous nodded and passed the Codex to Arzealous, the Emperor resting on his sword continued. “Everyone, what you have witnessed here today must remain a state secret, if news of this ever got out, and the culprits are found that told of this, they will suffer the severest penalty possible; you must all understand, that if the people at large learn of what occurred here today, it would spread panic and fear among them, and that could rot the empire from inside. We have defeated the demons within; let us now defeat the demons without.”
There was a loud cheer as the Stratiotai braced themselves for their next challenge.
Arzealous took Adamous by the arm and ushered him away, “So what happened and who's your new friend.”
“This is Tekmor of the Djinn though she’s going by the name of Merit. The Dragon has sent the Moira here, I think they are close behind us so we must take care. When we opened a portal to get back here, the Sacred Seal must have automatically registered that one was open this side, and with only a short time displacement which it would have adjusted for, we entered, and here we are.”
“We need you to use the Codex to strengthen the Chakra of the Roman Fire devices, they're easily recognisable: siphons with long snouts and a metal case for a fluid that can propel forward fire and flame once ignited, the substance works though it is a little unstable and the structures that contain them are not as reliable as they could be. Once you've done that, get to the ramparts and aid the Stratiotai, I will go with Callinicus to the Ships,” said Arzealous.
Adamous nodded, and slipped away with Germanicus and Merit into the Patriarchs private chambers.
Arzealous grabbed Callinicus and with the remaining Stratiotai, left for the harbour, while the Emperor and his elite Vigla guard, left for the walls.
“Once again good luck,” cried the Emperor as they parted.
In the Patriarchs chamber, Germanicus was kneeling over the Codex bringing it back to life. A hologram flickered into view, a picture appeared of one of the Roman fire devices, as he tapped the symbols on the caskets side, the image solidified, it was as though the device was in the room, he began to manipulate the symbols until all that was in focus was the container. He first reconstituted the liquid by pressing the symbols surrounding the Codex for War; they could see the aura surrounding the case holding the fiery fluid change, to a more substantive and yet stable balance. As he altered the one, all the others automatically shifted to keep in balance with it. The concoction used to make Roman Fire had now been transformed, so that the elements that made it up would forever produce the results that the Romans had often desperately looked for, but had not quite achieved. He then did the same to the metal structure of the device, so as to make it safer to hold such a fluid.
Once this was done Adamous now left the Codex, “Germanicus, you had better help Callinicus, and Arzealous. Merit we need you to guard the Codex. You’re the only one powerful enough to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.”
“Right and what if the City falls?”
“The Codex must not fall into enemy hands,
understood?”
Merit nodded grimly, “Understood.”
Germanicus departed to help Callinicus. Adamous left the chamber and hurriedly exited the Church. It was not long before he started up the steps to defend the walls, he could hear a clamour above. Over his head flew all types of missiles from catapults, ballista and large pots that erupted into flame when they crashed down. The City was burning. Adamous ran along the walls, as arrow shot came and went. He could see mighty siege towers getting larger as they got closer, ladders were being flung down. Saracens that climbed over the walls were being forced back. And the Stratiotai had still not used the Roman Fire devices. Adamous leapt forward on one of them, and swinging it round began to pump down on the bellows. It sprang into life, spurting fire and death over a siege tower that had got too close. The other Stratiotai gave a cheer, and seeing that such works could be trusted began using the ones that had not been destroyed, the Saracens revised their attack concentrating on areas where the Roman Fire devices no longer existed. Small pots were thrown down on their foes, causing mayhem below. Men lit up like torches and ran screaming from the scene.
Any that made it through unscathed, met Roman steel. But still the fighting was relentless. The City was clinging to life with the sword of Damocles overhead, a quite literal knifes edge, but which way it would fall was anyones guess. After years of siege warfare it was now do or die for all functionaries. The heat of battle became more frenzied throughout the day, then word went up late in the day, the battle at sea had been won, the enemy fleet destroyed. The Roman Fire devices had fittingly turned the tide of war.
The battle going on at the walls continued unabated. To Adamous’s horror, he saw a Saracen flag rise above one of the towers, he leapt forward cutting down any in his path, if they were allowed a foothold there, then they would open the gate beneath, and the city would fall. Some Stratiotai joined him in the race to topple the Saracens from the walls. When he reached the tower he could see how frantically it had been fought over, limbs lay on the ground, bodies with smashed helms, and lopped off heads were strewn along the wall. Adamous kicked, slashed and beat a path to the Saracen that was holding back the Stratiotai. He was a giant of man and just as the two were about to clash, another Saracen leapt forward aiming to cut Adamous down. He blocked the blow and cleaved the Saracen in two. As he did so the giant sprung forward as the blow was about to land, and without turning to face him, Adamous leapt back and caught the hilt of his sword as it came crashing down.
The Saracen looked shocked, “Angelos.”
Adamous's burning gaze was piercing, “Yazid of the Djinn.”
Other Saracens closed in on the advancing Stratiotai, to protect their Emir who had chosen to lead the charge, and all engaged in desperate hand to hand fighting. Their Swords flashed so mightily, that had men looked upon the scene from afar, they could have been forgiven for thinking that they saw a thunderous storm. Adamous finally knocked the sword from Yazid’s hand, and forced him back against the parapet.
“You have done well Angelos,” said Yazid, “but you have not carried the day yet.”
“That’s about to be remedied,” replied Adamous. “Your fleet is lost, we have the Codex safely guarded by one of your people, Merit no less.”
“Merit, one of my people?” said Yazid urgently.
“You know her as Tekmor.”
“Tekmor, that is not possible, Tekmor was captured by my Saracens, and her body destroyed in an escape attempt.”
“Then it was presumed destroyed, because we freed her.”
Yazid laughed in disbelief, “This is irony of the highest order. Tekmor was taken captive because she was plotting to steal the Staff of Darkness from the Merovingian, so that she might give it, we believed, to the Dragon.”
“What?” cried Adamous in disbelief.
“So you gave Tekmor guardianship of the Codex, far be it for me to judge the Angelos, but you may have won the battle but you’ve just gone and lost the Codex for War: Her allegiance was brought into question. Why else would the Dragon seek her out, unless she had turned, and was in league with him? It was for that reason we bound her, and sent her from here, if you cut her bonds, and drew back the veil that contained her power, then you freed her from the restraint that held her. As I said, this is irony of the highest order,” laughed Yazid once more. “The thing about Tekmor is she is so powerful, you can never tell whose side she’s actually on, as she doesn’t need any side at all. I would have thought you would have known that.”
Adamous paused and stepped back, shocked by such a revelation, “But she could have taken it earlier, when we were in Perperikon. And we saw her fight the Moira.”
“Tell me, did you actually see her fight the Moira.”
“Well no, she fought a creature that the Moira had sent to kill her.”
Yazid nodded gravely, “Maybe they did send that creature to kill her, or maybe it was all part of their deception, from what our intelligence has gathered the Codex was separated into several parts, how much of it has she got.”
“Three parts of it, if what you’re saying is true, she now has the staff of light and the Sacred Seal, as well as the main body of the Codex.”
“Then the Dragon probably has all of it. Word reached me this morning that Charon turned on the Merovingian, and with the aid of the Rageon and Wraith, took the Staff of Darkness. It appears their treachery runs deep.”
“So the Dragon now has the Staff of Darkness?” repeated Adamous.
“If they are working on his behalf then yes, and since Tekmor has the Codex then I would guess that he has more than that. This needs to be reported to the Djinn High Dominus at once,” said Yazid gravely. “Anyway since you have unwittingly given Tekmor the Codex, my fight here is over, may the fates be with you Angelos, you are going to need them, and more.”
With that Yazid jumped from the wall and disappeared in the melee beneath. With a great effort the Stratiotai flung back the remaining Saracens from the tower. Adamous with Yazid gone, frantically ran from the wall and jumped onto the roof of a nearby church, he then without breaking stride rushed along the top and jumped onto the flat roof of a side building, and from there leapt to the ground. At an inhuman speed he dashed down the road toward the Church. If Tekmor was really working for the Dragon then that could have dire consequences. As he ran up the path, coming from the harbour were, Germanicus, Arzealous and Callinicus. He wildly waved them forward, and continued along the main thoroughfare. Seeing that something was amiss, the three instinctively rushed forward.
When they reached the Church of the Holy Wisdom they beheld an eerie silence.
“What’s happened?” asked Arzealous.
“It’s Tekmor: Yazid says she maybe in league with Azazel.”
As one they drew their swords and with great care entered the church. There was a thick smell of incense in the air. The Monks directed by the Patriarch, who was seated on his high chair, were still clearing up the refuse from the earlier battle.
“Why do you come here so armed, the fighting has surely ended, and I understand with the sea now free of the enemy, the siege has finally been broken,” said the Patriarch with a smile of relief.
“Everyone, you need to vacate, we believe Merit may be a powerful Witch.”
“What do you mean?” gasped the Patriarch.
“You would have heard of her as the Witch of Endor: that could be Merits true identity.”
There was a stunned silence, the Patriarch calmly rose from his seat and gestured for his brethren to leave. Some of the Monks fled in fear, whilst others helped the Patriarch and departed their Holiest of Shrines with dignity.
Arzealous ushered Adamous forward, as they crept past empty benches, Callinicus and Germanicus moved to the far side and slowly stole from pillar to pillar. Without making a noise they approached the Patriarchs Chamber. Standing outside, there could not be heard a sound. Germanicus kicked the door open, and they all rushed in. The room was empty, the Codex gone,
and on the wall were left the words ‘Nothings what it seems.’ And there at the centre of the chamber on the floor was a dagger; it had belonged to one of the Wold guards of the Moira. They must have sneaked past the Patriarch and his priests by materialising right in the room.
Picking up the blade from the floor, Germanicus walked up to the table and with cry of rage knocked a candle holder against the wall.
“This is bad, this is very bad,” said Adamous. “They now have the Codexes for Pestilence, and if Tekmor is with them, and by all accounts it looks like the Wold were here also, then they have War as well, and we barely have Death in our possession.”
“And none are comparable to the power of War,” said Arzealous.
“We need to find the Greater Codex,” said Germanicus.
“We've been over that, it does not exist,” said Arzealous. “And if ever it did exist, it would have been destroyed eons ago.”
The Emperor with his elite guard rushed in and stopped short at the calm in the room, “The Patriarch told us you had a problem.”
With some relief he and his guards sheathed their swords.
“Everything appears okay sir, but it looks like a Candle put up a fight though,” said General Petron pointing to where it lay in pieces on the floor.
The Stratiotai laughed, the Emperor patted Callinicus and Arzealous on the back, “My friends the day is ours, the Saracens have been defeated and have taken flight: the new weapon worked a miracle. So why so glum?”
They looked at each other and back at the Emperor.
“We’re just a little tired your highness, it’s been a long day,” replied Arzealous.
“It certainly has been that, well gentlemen we have a lot to celebrate, and an even greater amount to mourn, so let us begin, we shall mourn the dead tomorrow, tonight we celebrate the freedom of Byzantium. By the way that’s good advice ‘Nothings what it seems’. Well it seems we’ve won the day at least. I will leave you to guard that device that everyone was after, make sure you keep it safe.”
The Emperor then departed with the Imperial guard. His step was lighter than it had been for many a day, as though a great weight had been lifted from him.
Callinicus leant back against the wall, “Maybe things are not altogether lost.”
“What’s that?” said Germanicus.
“Before, you said you could trace the Chakra of Raphael, because of how powerful he is. What of Tekmor?”
“Would it be possible to find her next location?” asked Germanicus.
“I wonder: there will still be trace elements of her Chakra here, but surely not enough to find her location.”
“We need to try,” said Germanicus. “The Seal around Callinicus’s neck, the way it manipulates the will of others is by getting a measure of their Chakra, and by making the bearer's energy match theirs, they are then open to any form of suggestion. You met Tekmor in the Church, if we could isolate the reading of her Chakra, then perhaps we can find out where she’s gone.”
“What are we waiting for, let’s do it,” said Adamous.
Callinicus took the pendant from around his neck and the other Sacred Seal that had been entrusted to him, and handed them both to Uziel. Who in turn took a pin from the table and began to tap new instructions into the Seal. He mused that Tekmor’s Chakra was easy to separate: she was after all the only Elemental Callinicus had been in close proximity to.
They placed the Seal against the door, and a Portal appeared, Germanicus punched in the phase variance of Tekmor’s Chakra and almost immediately the portal fixed on a location, the problem was it was out of range of their Seal. Germanicus then altered the Seal retrieved from Leif Erikson to boost the range of the other. With satisfaction a picture came into view.
They could make out a large room or cavern, it was poorly lit, though there were a lot of bodies milling about, they looked more like moving shadows, the picture was hazy not really fixed. It appeared they were about to enter a Dark Universe and yet the Seal even in its altered state surely did not have the range for that.
“I’ve discovered the time she went to, this may not be the exact location, though it’s possibly close,” said Germanicus.
“If it gives us a point of reference then that’s good enough,” replied Arzealous. “We need to get that Codex back.”
“What of Rafael?” asked Adamous.
“Knowing Rafael, he’ll find us before we find him.”
The image came more into focus and the four stepped across and were gone. As they passed through the doorway, the bodies of Arzealous, Germanicus, Callinicus and Adamous slumped to the floor. The Sacred Seal that had held the Portal open faded and disappeared. The war would continue but in another time and another place.
***
They stood in a dark chamber, close to each other, the stench was awful, and in the dark they could hear moans and weeping. Their eyes could make out the gleam of their Chakra’s in the gloom, so at least they knew they were all there, yet they felt weak, as if they had no strength. The chamber was a tight uncomfortable fit, and there was a taste of fear in the air.
“Where the hell is this place,” gasped Uziel gagging as he spoke.
“This place is not hell my friend, it’s worse than that: this is Auschwitz.”
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