Ts’ang Chieh pondered this for a while.
He was not concerned about the Watchers. Foolish humans meddling in things beyond their comprehension. But he knew that Aspasia’s Shadow would now also know the location of the key — something that heretofore had escaped him.
Action had to be taken.
Ts’ang Chieh briefly contemplated waking Artad, but decided he could handle this matter. He left the guardian chamber and went to another room inside the huge mountain lair. In the room was a deep sleep tube and inside of it a human body — a spectacular specimen, over six and a half feet tall with thick black hair. The red eyes, though, were nothuman, but Airlia, a defect that Artad had been working on but not quite fixed. They were vacant, showing no sign of intelligence. The body was that of a prototype warrior that Artad had been tinkering with on the voyage to the Sol System.
Ts’ang Chieh sat down at the command console and brought up Artad’s personality. He had been prepared for something like this by Artad himself, so he was able to run through the procedure quickly. Part, but not all, of Artad’s personality and knowledge base was transmitted by the computer to the body in the tube.
As the body stirred in the tube and became aware, Ts’ang Chieh turned to another console and tapped out a message.
The mountains were called the Twin Sisters by the people in the area around the two peaks because at a certain angle they resembled each other almost perfectly in form. They could be seen from far away, because they rose almost six thousand meters into the air, the highest peaks on the continent. They were over sixty kilometers apart and dominated the land all around. One of the peaks had a smaller peak attached to it by an eleven-kilometer ridge. However it was the other peak toward which Ts’ang Chieh has sent his message.
In a cavern hollowed out deep inside the peak, three creatures were alerted by their guardian computer that the key to the Master Guardian had been unsheathed. Unlike Ts’ang Chieh and Aspasia’s Shadow they took no immediate action and instead waited for further instruction. They were, after all, the Ones Who Wait. Technically that meant they were waiting for Artad to return and take his rightful place ascommander of this outpost, but in the meanwhile they were to do his bidding.
They were Airlia-Human clones. Outwardly they were mostly human, the most noticeable alien influence being their catlike red eyes, just like the creature Ts’ang Chieh was bringing to life in Qian-Ling. The leader of the three was female and named Lexina. Flanking her were Elek and Coridan.
They read the message from Ts’ang Chieh. There was no need for them to send an acknowledgment that they would comply — they had no choice. They had been programmed to obey.
Merlin stood on top of the tor with the sword in his hands, turning it to and fro, letting the sun reflect off the metal of the blade. He had no clue as to the sequence of events he had just initiated. Indeed, he had not thought his actions through any further than removing the sword from the cavern.
But he did know two things — the right man with this sword could accomplish wonderful things. He was not to be that man. But, according to what he had read, that man would come soon.
Gwalcmai cursed as he put his feet onto the cold floor plating. “What now?” he demanded of Donnchadh, who was already in the copilot’s seat, checking the computer.
“Someone has unsheathed the key to the Master Guardian,” Donnchadh said.
“Someone took it from Avalon?”
“No,” Donnchadh said, reading the intercepted message traffic between the guardian computers. “It’s still at Avalon.”
“Damn Watchers,” Gwalcmai muttered as he reached for his garments and weapons.
Donnchadh ran her fingers over the hexagonals and frowned. “Someone in Qian-Ling has contacted the Ones Who Wait.”
“And?” Gwalcmai asked as he strapped his sword belt on.
“The message says: The dragon comes.”
Gwalcmai paused. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I have a bad feeling we’re going to find out very soon,” Donnchadh said as she got up from the chair and headed for her own gear.
He was Artad’s Shadow, but not as complete a Shadow of his master as Aspasia’s Shadow was of his. From the Ones Who Wait, Ts’ang Chieh had some information about the land called England, where the Watchers were headquartered. Using what he knew, he had fashioned a persona for the creature that kept within the template of Artad, yet was adapted for the land to which he would be traveling.
“Arthur,” Ts’ang Chieh said.
The creature turned to look at him with bloodred cat eyes. “Yes?”
Ts’ang Chieh held up two pieces of glittering blue. “You must use these.”
Arthur remained still as Ts’ang Chieh placed the Airlia version of contact lenses over his eyes. When he was done, Arthur’s eyes appeared human, although they were a remarkably deep blue.
“Come with me,” Ts’ang Chieh said.
Arthur followed him without a word. They went past the room where the guardian computer rested and entered a massive open space. Large metal struts swept overhead, supporting the rock ceiling. The floor was filled with numerous containers of various sizes. Ts’ang Chieh led Arthur up to one of them and he tapped on the small panel on the front. With a hiss, the end began to slowly fold down.
Nestled inside the container was a glittering, metal dragon. Ten meters long, by five wide, it had short, stubby wings and a long, arced neck leading up to a facsimile of a serpent’s face, including a jawful of black teeth. Dark red unblinking eyes completed the fearful visage.
“This is Chi Yu,” Ts’ang Chieh said.
Arthur turned to Ts’ang Chieh in confusion.
“This is how you will get to England,” Ts’ang Chieh continued. “In the belly of the beast, so to speak.” He smiled, remembering. “It is what ShiHuangdi used to defeat his enemies a long time ago. You will use it to defeat our enemies now.”
Aspasia’s Shadow had gathered his fifty best Guides to provide him an escort for his journey to England and to form the core of a fighting force if it came to that. He had made the journey to England a long time ago and knew the difficulties involved in covering such a distance given the primitive state of technology and transportation capabilities of Earth. He’d considered taking the bouncer he had secreted in Mount Sinai but decided against it. It was for emergency use only and this was not yet an emergency.
As dawn came to the desert, the small caravan started out from the base of Mount Sinai, heading to the north and west, toward Alexandria, where they would find passage on a ship across the Mediterranean.
As Donnchadh stepped out of the stone doorway into the midst of the complex known as Stonehenge, she immediately knew she was in trouble. It was night, but the area was lit by the flame of hundreds of torches and several surrounding bonfires. The stones were surrounded by a circle of people garbed in robes, chanting, which came to a stuttering halt as the apparition of Donnchadh and Gwalcmai coming out of the rock itself became noticed.