The Spear of Destiny

Chapter TWENTY



Dennis shoved Natalie and Katja towards the narrow pass in the rocks. Hutchinson had already gone through. Katja was struggling to run in her three inch heels and she took them off and kept them in her hand, refusing to let go of a pair of shoes that had cost her five hundred euros.

The cavern was filled with the sound of gunfire and the howls of men and the white skinned creatures that had so long ago been Roman legionaries.

As the women rushed for the gap Dennis turned to a scene of carnage. He saw one of Von Werner’s men firing from the hip when one of the creatures dropped down on him from the wall above. It slashed at the man’s throat with its long fingernails, then it grabbed the man’s head and twisted, breaking the neck. Slowly it turned to look at Dennis with its teeth bared dripping blood. Then it was sent crashing sideways by a burst of bullets and it roared in anguish and bounced off the wall and knelt shaking its head and growling. Dennis rushed to the dead mercenary and snatched up the fallen man’s Kalashnikov. He fired the AK-74M at the creature and was relieved to see that the bullets which struck it in the head appeared to kill it. With a last howl it slumped against the wall and stopped moving.

“Shoot them in the head!” he roared.

He saw one mercenary grappling with one of the monsters when the pair of them exploded. The mercenary’s grenades having somehow been pulled in the struggle. A rain of blood and flesh rained down.

Von Werner was trapped near the edge of the crevice. He was between the sarcophagus and Longinus who was still holding the spear. Petrov was working his way towards his boss. He was firing a Remington 870 assault shotgun he’d taken from one of the SAS men he’d murdered. Firing from the hip he was blasting the creatures. Now he was almost on top of Longinus and he blasted him in the side. Strangely no blood came from the wound and he saw the black pellet holes heal in front of his very eyes. Longinus turned towards Petrov and roared his defiance. Petrov blasted him three more times in the chest and Longinus staggered backwards towards the edge. Petrov pumped the shotgun once more and fired again. Longinus dropped the spear and stumbled backwards into open air and fell from sight. Petrov suddenly yelled in agony as one of the white skinned monsters slashed the back of his head and neck. He turned with the shotgun and fired but the creature had already bounded away. Another creature grabbed the shotgun and yanked it out of Petrov’s hands and threw it away. Petrov fumbled for his handgun and drew it and fired twice at the vile being. He hit it in the throat and it roared away clutching the wound. Then it snarled at the Russian marksman and leapt at him. It knocked the handgun out of his hand and he was able to move out of its way enough to draw out his large hunting knife. The creature leapt at him again and he drove the eight inch blade straight into the white torso. The sharp blade slid in to the hilt. The creature howled and spat it’s foul saliva into Petrov’s face. Then it ripped at his face with its wicked talons. Despite the pain and being almost blinded Petrov was able to pull the knife out and slash the monster’s throat. It fell away clutching the gaping wound.

“I can’t hold them off much longer,” he yelled at Von Werner, “Save yourself Sir.”

Another white skinned monster jumped at him and landed on his back knocking him to the floor. The one with the slashed throat, still horribly alive and unfazed by its injury, slashed at him and then another dived on him and Dennis watched as the three of them tore him to pieces.

Dennis shot one of them and then another in the head. They fell where they were and were still. The third bounded away before he could fire and Dennis aimed the Kalashnikov at Von Werner’s head. The German Count stood slowly to his full height and stared down the barrel at certain death. Then Dennis lowered the gun.

“You need to get out of here.”

Von Werner stared at him incredulously.

“You’re letting me go?”

“You need to help Katja. Your daughter should not die here today in this God forsaken place. Go!”

Von Werner nodded once at Dennis then bent down and snatched up the spear. He ran towards the narrow gap in the cavern where Natalie, Hutchinson and Katja had run. Dennis fired at another creature knocking it into the wall then set off after Von Werner. Tosh was firing single shots from a handgun while backing one step at a time towards the gap.

“You should have killed him when you had the chance. Always take the shot.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to take his body with us,” Dennis said, “And besides we’re not out of this yet and may need him.”

Dennis pressed himself into the narrow gap.

“Go!” Tosh ordered, “I’m right behind you.”

He followed Dennis into the neck of the gap. Tosh pulled the pins on three grenades and lobbed them back into the cavern. The resulting explosion was deafening in the narrow space as Dennis and Tosh rushed after Von Werner. They could hear the creatures rushing into the narrow gap behind them.

“Go on!” Tosh shouted. He stopped and turned back. The creatures were slowed by the narrowness of the passage and Tosh shot the first one as it appeared around the bend in the head. It crashed to the ground and the one behind stumbled over it. The SAS Captain emptied some rounds into this one as well. He loaded a new clip then heard a roar from above and one of the creatures dropped down on him slashing at his head. Tosh felt the excruciating pain and he shot the creature dead. He wiped the blood that was running into his eyes and groped after Dennis who was waiting for him as the narrow cut widened again.

“Come on,” Dennis yelled, grabbing the man and helping him, pushing him on after the others.

Natalie, Katja, Hutchinson, Dennis, Tosh, Von Werner and the remainder of the mercenaries burst through the iron barred doors, up the stairs and into the bright sunlight. They could hear the creatures bounding up the steps behind them. When the white skinned beings burst out into the light they threw their hands up in front of their eyes, snarling at the bright sunlight as they were blinded for a moment.

Back in the cavern Longinus climbed over the lip of the crevice. His eyes had gone red again and his skin white. He stood with his chest rising and falling heavily and then with an animal roar he bounded ape like towards the cut in the rocks.

Outside Deano and Smithy heard the shouts from the people and heard the animal roars and began running towards the danger.

“No!” Tosh roared at them, “Cut those pilots free! Get that f*cking plane in the air now!“

They rushed to obey his commands.

Running flat out Katja lost one of her shoes and she tried to stop to go back for it.

“No! Keep moving,” Dennis yelled at her, “We need to get on that plane.”

Dennis pushed them on and turned and dropped to one knee and killed another creature with the Kalashnikov. He heard a loud animal roar and looked back at the entrance to the subterranean levels and saw Longinus burst out into the afternoon sun. The creature stopped and roared as the bright sunshine hurt his red eyes. Then he shook his head, snorted, saw Dennis and roaring with rage set off at a fast run straight for the journalist.

Deano and Smithy cut the pilots loose and pushed them to the plane. Creatures were running straight for them and the two SAS men took them out with precise shots. Tosh was running as fast as Von Werner could allow. He had his hand on the German’s neck pushing him on towards the Hercules. Running hard with the two women Dennis was suddenly aware that something was about to flank him. He glanced right and saw it was Longinus. The creature so much bigger and stronger.

A Bell Huey helicopter banked from the moutains and swung in low. Tosh made it to Deano and snatched the younger man’s headset off his head and held it to his ear and mouth.

“Base. This is delta echo. Delta echo. Are you receiving?”

“Delta echo. This is base. Major Cochoran receiving you.”

“Base there is an inbound helicopter. Is it one of ours. We request immediate evac. Repeat immediate evac.”

“Delta echo we have you on screen. Inbound chopper is not one of ours. Repeat not one of ours. Helicopter is unfriendly. Treat as hostile.”

“F*ck!” Tosh let the headset go.

Dennis saw the Bell Huey coming in to land. It hovered just feet above the ground and Dennis saw the Gau 17a minigun mounted in the doorway. The north Korean Kim Li Choi at the gun.

“Everyone down,” Dennis yelled pushing Natalie and Katja behind a pallet of cargo before diving behind it himself. He put his arms around the pair of them as they covered their ears with their hands. The Gau sprayed the ground kicking up sand and stones. Where the pallets and crates were hit splinters erupted off them and showered the air. Dennis saw one of the creatures out of the corner of his eye. It stopped near them and was literally cut in half by the deadly fire. Choi stopped firing to allow the rotating barrels to cool. Dennis looked up as the firing stopped. The creature at his feet wasn’t Longinus and he searched for him knowing he couldn’t be far.

“Peter!” Natalie shouted.

Dennis turned. Katja was running for the Huey. One of the creatures that was running flat out parrallel to them suddenly changed direction and bounded after Katja. The minigun had cooled sufficiently but Choi now couldn’t fire without the risk of hitting the redhead. He drew a handgun and fired shots at the monster, hitting it in the shoulder, which only angered it and didn’t slow it. Dennis aimed down the sights of his AK-74M and shot the creature in the back of the head. It crashed to the desert floor and was still. The helicopter touched down briefly as Katja got to it and Choi grabbed her hand and pulled her in. She threw herself into a seat and put the lap belt around her waist. As the Huey lifted off again Choi gave Dennis a mocking salute. Katja smiled at him and then the helicopter was banking away and climbing, gaining height and speed.

‘F*ck! She’s hot’ Dennis said to himself.

“Pete! Natalie! Come on!” Hutchinson shouted. He was now on the loading ramp of the Hercules. The ramp was six inches off the ground and the plane was moving slowly and turning. Tosh bundled Von Werner into the back of the plane as Deano and Smithy gave covering fire. Dennis grabbed Natalie’s hand and together they sprinted for the Hercules. There were still a few of Von Werner’s men on the ground shooting at anything that moved. Suddenly Smithy was hit by a stray bullet and went down clutching his throat. Deano called out and ran to his aid as one of the creatures side swiped him knocking him down. As Deano tried to get back to his feet he was swamped by two more of the creatures and he went down under them. Dennis and Natalie jumped onto the ramp of the Hercules that was now gaining speed fast for take off.

Tosh put his hand on the button to close the back up when Hutchinson said.

“Captain. Your men.”

Tosh looked out and saw the creatures that had killed Deano bound away. Smithy was unmoving on the desert floor. The sand soaking up his blood.

“They’re gone,” Tosh said.

He smacked the button and the ramp began to close.



The pilots levelled the Hercules out at 1000ft. Natalie was tending to the deep scratches on Tosh’s head and back of his neck while the SAS Captain kept the handgun trained on the billionaire Count. Inside the Hercules was a pallet of munitions and a Mercedes Benz G class open top 4x4 on skis.

Von Werner still had the spear of destiny in his hands and had it clutched to his chest lovingly. The shaft had been snapped off and now only a few inches of wood jutted from the spear head.

The pilot turned around and shouted back into the hold.

“Sir the Israeli military have scrambled fighter jets. ETA five minutes. Our instructions are to follow them and land and surrender ourselves into custody.”

“Ignore this!” Von werner said, “Change our heading for Gaza.”

“No!” Tosh shouted, “Tell them that we are a british red cross mission and will proceed to Shaheed Mwaffaq air base in Jordan where we will land. We have british nationals on board and will seek the help of the Jordanian government,” Tosh turned back to Von Werner, “you no longer give the orders here Count.”

The pilot relayed the new message.

“The Israelis are refusing,” he shouted back, “They have re-issued their warning to us. We are to follow them to Tel Nof air force base. Our refusal to follow these instructions will result in military intervention. I think they mean to shoot us out of the sky.”

“Repeat my message to them,” Tosh shouted. He turned to everyone in the aircraft, “Does anyone have a cell phone?”

Hutchinson shook his head.

“His lot took them. Remember,” the American said nodding at Von Werner.

“I have mine.”

The German Count took his phone from his trouser pocket. Tosh opened the screen up.

“No service. That’s just bloody brilliant. Without comms I can’t get help from my unit.”

Tosh turned his attention back to Von Werner.

“And now my dear Count It’s time to hand that over,” he extended his hand for the spear.

Von Werner didn’t move so Tosh waved the pistol at him.

“Now!”

“Tosh look out!” Dennis yelled as Natalie screamed.

Tosh spun around at the sound of snarling. Longinus had risen up behind him. Tosh stared into the white face with red eyes. The long sharp teeth were bared. He attempted to bring the gun up but Longinus was too quick. The creature rushed forward and sank its jaws into the trapezius muscle at the side of the SAS Captain’s neck and ripped them free. Tosh slumped to the floor of the plane, his blood pumped out thickly and he tried to speak but only managed to cough up blood. Longinus spat the large lump of flesh out and then with his jaws dripping it focused on the spear again. He reached Von Werner in two steps and snatched the spear from him. Von Werner shrank away and as all watched Longinus’ face and eyes returned to human again.

“Longinus,” Hutchinson called in Latin. The Roman turned towards the American as Hutchinson said, “Let us help you.”

Longinus held the spear in his hands as the blue sparks danced over his fingers.

Dennis spoke in a low voice.

“Nat. get ready to open the ramp when I say.”

Von Werner placed his hand on the spear head. He smiled at Longinus.

“This truly is the work of God,” he said.

Longinus’ eyes travelled up to look at the German Count before him. Then his face contorted into rage and his eyes turned red again and his face white. He lashed out and backhanded Von Werner which sent the man flying.

“Now!” Dennis shouted.

Natalie went for the button that opened the ramp. The creature saw her move and blocked her. She shrank back. Von Werner wiping blood from his face suddenly threw himself forward and hit the button. The ramp began to open quickly and the wind rushed in. Dennis had picked up Tosh’s handgun and fired again and again hitting Longinus time and time again. The creature stumbled backwards and fell getting tangled in the netting of the ammo crate. The spear fell from its grasp and rolled towards the end of the ramp. Von Werner lunged after it and managed to wrap his fingers around it just as the netting ripped free. The pallet of weapons began sliding backwards towards the rear.

“Von Werner that crate!” Dennis yelled.

Von Werner managed to move out of its way as it slid past and fell out of the back of the Hercules. It’s parachutes opening the moment it cleared the plane. It ripped the netting as it went and now this hung outside the aircraft in shreds dragging Von Werner and Longinus with it. Dennis ran and dived for the rear of the plane when he saw Von Werner hanging on for dear life. He reached out his hand and then his eyes widened as he saw Longinus right himself and lunge at Von Werner. The creature roared and dived on Von Werner’s back clawing and slashing at him. Then it reached the spear and snatched it out of the German’s grasp.

“Hey a*shole!” Dennis shouted.

Longinus looked up and Dennis pulled the trigger on the handgun and shot the creature right between the eyes. The contorted face took on a peaceful look for a moment then Longinus fell backwards and out of the Hercules. The netting suddenly ripped and Von Werner was dragged outside the plane now and hung on desperately as the powerful wind twisted and turned and bumped him against the turbulence. His eyes were wide with fear. Dennis wrapped his foot around some of the netting and reached as far out as he could with his hands. Von Werner was still desperately holding on to the spear. Dennis strained his muscles as far as he could and Von werner’s outstretched hand was only inches away.

“Try to reach my hand!” Dennis yelled above the howling wind.

Von Werner tried to move up the netting but the power of the wind was too great and was pulling him back.

“Let go of the spear.”

Two Israeli fighter jets whooshed past. Dennis saw them out of the corner of his eye. Time was running out.

“Let go of the spear.”

“No. I cannot,” Von Werner shouted back, he felt his strength starting to fade against the buffeting, then he looked Dennis in the eyes, “Thank you for saving my daughter.”

Then his grip slipped and he was gone. Dennis watched his body as it spun faster and faster gaining speed uncontrollably as it fell. Dennis closed his eyes and punched the floor of the plane.

Hutchinson grabbed Dennis and pulled him back away from the edge.

“Pete. Those Israeli jets have a missile lock on us.”

Dennis jumped to his feet.

“Quick! Get in the Mercedes.”

Natalie, Hutchinson and Dennis climbed in the open topped 4x4. Then with a last look at Tosh who was slumped against the side of the plane in a pool of his own blood, dead, Dennis pulled the release and the Mercedes slid backwards out of the cargo hold as the parachutes deployed and they were pulled out into the open air. The car snatched as it swung down underneath its chutes and they were descending slowly now. The Hercules was leaving them behind and they ducked as missiles struck it and it exploded in mid air and the blast shattered the windscreen of the Mercedes. Burning debris rained down and Dennis looked up nervously to see if their parachutes were on fire. To his relief they weren’t.

The Mercedes bumped the earth and Dennis turned the ignition key to start the engine and drove from the skis onto the sand of the desert.

“Where do you think we are Pete?” Hutchinson asked.

“I’ll drive up to the top of that dune to get our bearings. There must be a road around here somewhere.”

He stopped the Mercedes at the top of a dune and the three of them scanned the surrounding desert. Behind them was the backdrop of the Hebron mountains. In the far distance they could see a road snaking through the yellow sand. Natalie saw something glinting in the sand.

“What is that?” she pointed in the distance.

“I think I know,” Dennis said. He turned the steering wheel on the Mercedes and drove down the side of the dune towards what was sparkling in the sun.

Halfway there they came across the body of Longinus still in his red toga. Dennis stopped the 4x4 by the side of the body. The face had returned to its human form and the eyes were open and normal. The bullet hole evident in the forehead.

“I’m sorry I had to do that,” Dennis said.

“It’s a real pity that we weren’t able to save him. Imagine if we could have done. To bring home someone who lived two thousand years ago during the time of the Caesar’s,” Natalie said.

“What a find that would have been,” Hutchinson added.

“He was just pure evil,” Dennis said, “Over the two millenia his body and soul were transformed into that creature we saw. I only hope he finds peace now.”

He took one more look and then put his foot down and drove the Mercedes on towards the glint in the sand. He pulled up near a road just a few metres from Von Werner and stepped slowly from the vehicle, Hutchinson following.

“Is he dead this time?” the American asked.

Dennis looked down at the broken body. Blood was dripping from every opening. The spear was still clutched in the dead hand. Dennis reached down and plucked the spear from the fingers.

“He is this time.”

Dennis passed the spear to Hutchinson. The sparks had gone now, the metal ordinary.

“We’d better get this to its home,” Hutchinson said, “If we go that way it will take us to Jordan. Don’t fancy Israel now do you?”

“No.”

They got back into the Mercedes. Dennis put his hand on the ignition key then paused. He looked down at the Count’s broken body.

“You know even after everything he has done I was going to save him.”

Dennis started the engine. Natalie leaned forward from the back seat and put her arms around his neck.

“You’re a good man Peter Dennis,” she said.

Hutchinson in the front passenger seat looked at his friend.

“You did save his daughter.”

“Yes,” Dennis said, selecting first gear and turning onto the tarmac road for Jordan, “And I’ve no doubt we’ll be seeing her again.”