"I'm not going without you."
The dark river belched, the ten-ton Guivre circling somewhere below, readying its next attack.
"Ha! I see ye, de'il, I kent ye couldnae leave!"
"It's an animal, dad, let it be. It's brain's been poisoned, can't you smell the oil? It's everywhere, seeping in from some busted pipeline above our heads."
"Aye. It's originatin' frae one o' Johnny's auld wells."
"You knew?"
""Course. Bastard's been pollutin' the Great Glen for years. Been payin' off officials in Glasgow in order tae keep things quiet."
"And that's why you hit him?"
"Nah. I hit him "cause he struck Theresa, an' that's no' acceptable, no' tae me. Didnae ken the dragon wis close by at the time, though I shouldae suspected it, wi' a' the dynamitin' they were daen' that day. Anyway, Johnny got his, now this freak o' nature'll get hers."
"Why?"
"Call it revenge. Now go, afore it surfaces."
Alban hurried over. "I need help, I've no' found it yet!"
"Probably buried among the rubble," Angus spat back. "I need a' oor eyes tae find it."
"Take the lad, I'm no' movin'."
Alban grabbed my arm, dragging me back toward the southern wall as he mumbled incoherently. "It wis here, laddie, set within a crevice by this wall. Help me find it!"
"Find what? What're we looking for?"
"A casket… a silver casket, aboot the size o' a grapefruit. It wis set here, within this wall."
"What's so special about this casket?"
"It's no' the casket, lad, it's whit's inside… oor past an' future, a symbol that many have died for, a treasure that shall one day herald Scotland's freedom."
I was weak and in pain, and still quite frightened, yet the old fart was speaking to me in riddles. "A symbol? What symbol? What's down here that's so damn precious your secret society had to protect it with a monster?"
"It's the heart, laddie. The heart o' oor king, Robert the Bruce. It's the Braveheart!"
"The Braveheart?" I shook my head, then stopped, the pain causing me to suspect a concussion. "The Black Douglas tossed the Bruce's heart into battle long ago."
"Folklore," Angus called out. "The Black Douglas died in battle, but oor ain kinsman, Sir Adam, secreted the Braveheart back tae the Highlands. The Templar brought it doon here, so that any English who sought Scotland's Holiest o' Grails wid have tae face Satan's ain demons tae claim it."
MacDonald handed me his spare flashlight. "Search quickly, afore the Guivre returns tae feed upon yer faither!"
"She'll no' feed again, no' on my clan," Angus bellowed, moving to the edge of the river. Reaching into his pocket, he removed a shard of glass he'd found in Aldourie Castle. Steadying the light in his left hand, he sliced open his wrist, allowing the blood to drip into the water.
"I ken ye can smell that, dragon. Why no' come up for a wee taste, eh?"
Angus removed the two G-SHOK charges and fuses from his pocket, readying them in his free hand. "Come on up, Nessie. Come up an' taste this."
The bad air and dense smoke were getting to me, keeping me in fits of coughs. The fires had died out, the chamber dark, save for our lights, and I knew I had to leave soon.
Something burst forth from the river, jump-starting my pulse.
Angus wheeled around, shining his flashlight a hundred paces to the west. "Whit wis that?"
I left the wall, staggering back toward the river and the large object now floating slowly down stream. "It's okay," I called out, "it's just the life-support barrel from—
"— Angus!"
The river erupted behind my father, the wave washing him backwards as the monster's jaws snapped upon the air where he'd stood not a second earlier.
Through whiffs of smoke I saw Angus crawl toward his fallen light as the Guivre's entire eel-like form shot out of the water, its forward pectoral fins propelling its slime-covered girth along the rocky shoreline after my father.
From his back, Angus tossed his explosives just as the creature lashed out at him like a striking python. The twin concussion blasts missed the monster but reignited the ceiling, causing the creature to shirk away.
But only for the moment.
Angus tried to run, but the Guivre cut him off, encircling him with its enormous fifty-two-foot serpent's body. Yellow eyes, blinded from my own detonations, reflected orange flames as the demented creature inhaled the air, searching for her quarry.
Seconds counted and I had nothing, not a weapon, not a—
Whomp!
The heavy steel canister carrying the ADS generator smashed against the iron gate, drawing the monster's attention—
And mine.
Stuffing the flashlight into my back pocket, I dived into the bone- chilling water, allowing the current to sweep me toward the remains of the hanging iron gate and barrel. Kicking hard, I grabbed for the barrier, using its rusted metal bars as a ladder to pull myself out of the river.
I never saw the creature's head as it launched through the smoke and darkness, but I felt its impact as it glanced off the gate and bashed against rock.
The blow seemed to stun the beast, but it also knocked the barrel free, which was swept behind me into the darkness, followed by two-thousand-feet of umbilical cord.
Reaching down from my wobbly perch, I grabbed the line and began pulling it from the water like a madman, trying to locate its severed end before the barrel dragged the rest of the cord away.
My hands registered the decreased weight of the line, and I knew I was close.
"Son, look oot!"
I glanced up as the monster sprang blindly at me again — greeting its dagger-filled mouth with the sizzling end of the live wire, accompanied by several thousand volts of electricity.
Blue veins of current riddled the serpent's head, igniting its slimy oil-covered face. Injured and enraged, it reeled back and shook its head like a wet dog, unleashing gobs of putrid mucus.
The ancient gate groaned and I felt it give way beneath me. As it broke free from its rusted frame, I leaped to the rocky shoreline, the sparking end of the cord still clenched in my right hand.
"Zack!"
The umbilical suddenly went taut, its weight dragging me back toward the river.
I released the cord and looked up as the monster's tail swatted me through the thick air and into oblivion.
Chapter 35
I opened my eyes, enveloped in blackness. Intense pain riddled my body. Blood oozed from my head and broken nose, dripping into my mouth. I spat out the warm liquid and struggled to sit up.
From the blue flames that still licked at the oil-drenched ceiling, I saw that I was lying in rubble, close to the tunnel's exit. Through heavy smoke and my dizziness I could just make out a pair of lights by the river's edge, the beams oscillating, then disappearing behind an enormous shadow.
It was the creature, its immense tail lashing to and fro, continuously blocking my view.
And then I saw my father and Alban. The beast had them cornered, their backs to the river.
I felt for the flashlight in my back pocket, then saw it lying in the rubble, its beam reflecting upon something shiny.
The Braveheart?
Reaching into the pile of rubble, I felt for the silver casket, extracting instead the hilt of a massive steel sword.
I focused my light upon the length of its rust-streaked blade and read my destiny.
The blinded Guivre snapped its jaws and inhaled the air, strings of thick ooze glistening from its fangs.
Angus pulled his older comrade to his feet. Whispered, "Alban, it cannae see, an' the smoke's ower thick for it tae pinpoint us. I'll distract it while ye find Zachary. Then the two of ye—"