Chapter 48
AJ’s point of view
Howie pushed the door open for Brian and I as
we arrived at Brian’s house. Brian barely had a chance to get inside before
Leighanne threw herself at him, closely followed by Julie. I managed to squeeze
in around the reunited family to be greeted by my own overjoyed wife.
“Miss us?”
Howie shoved me with irritation: “Don’t joke!
This wasn’t funny!”
I had almost forgotten that they didn’t know
this was all set up. I sheepishly took it back and sat down, cradling my still
aching arm in its sling.
After our friends and family had calmed down,
they started bombarding us with questions.
“So you don’t remember anything about it?”
Sarah asked me, hugging me tightly.
“Oh, that leaked from the police to the press
quickly, didn’t it?” I commented.
“What did happen? I don’t trust the media?”
Nick stated.
Brian decided to explain: “We lied to the
police about it.”
All eyes turned towards him in surprise –
Brian, lying? The thought was amusing, and I smirked when no one was looking.
“We did see who attacked us, but you’d all
start saying I’m crazy again if we told them the truth!” Brian added.
“I’ll back you up, man!” I exclaimed
confidently.
After a quick whispered conversation in which
he asked his wife to take Julie upstairs, Brian took the role of explaining the
whole matter. He sat back heavily when he had finished. We both scanned the
room of doubtful eyes, expecting the frosty reception to the story.
“Erm……”
Nick’s response reflected all of their
thoughts.
“I have proof, you know!” I claimed surely.
Brian looked at me strangely: “Since when?”
I looked at him knowingly, smirking as I
replied, “I asked him to follow us.”
Before Brian had a chance to reply, I moved to
the window and opened it, calling out into the darkness of the winter night.
“Hey Scaleface, you can come in now!”
An urgent but ruffled voice replied clearly
with indignation: “Scaleface! I’ll ‘Scaleface’ you, Flathead! Now move your
spiky blue excuse for a head out of the way and let me in before my wings
freeze off!”
I chuckled as I moved aside and the trembling
creature flew in. He landed on my shoulder and started battering me with his
wings.
“You’ve got a cheek! I’m a Captain of an Elite
fighter wing, not some common infantry trooper!”
By the time he had clamed down, most of the
people in the room had dived for cover from this alien. I shut the window and
gave my assurance to my friends quickly.
“It’s OK, guys!” I stated, holding back
laughter. “This is Flyer, and he’s on our side, remember?”
Solin’s point of view
Pinpointing Flyer’s Aversion, I dived into the
human structure frantically. I landed in a spacious, homely room, lit by a warm
evening light, but that was not my main concern. Several humans, already
looking quite shocked, stepped away from me. Flyer, however, turned to me with
curiosity.
“Solin, you’re back!” He exclaimed. “Where
have you been? What did the Soul Creatures want?”
I took on physical form and proceeded to
collapse from exhaustion.
“AJ, help her!” Flyer snapped, unable to help
me upright himself.
The strange, blue-haired human threw my paw
over his shoulder and hauled me upright. Unsure how long I had before I fainted
from lack of energy, I ignored him and turned to Flyer.
“He killed him! Fotuf has been murdered!” I
coughed.
“Fotuf? By who?”
“Anubis! He ambushed Fotuf at Karnak. He
didn’t have a chance…”
“Why?” Flyer exclaimed.
“I… I don’t know… but there’s something
worse…”
“What, Solin?”
“Zakkar! He said he’d trapped him in
Oblivion!”
Flyer’s expression dropped like a brick, “We
haven’t found him yet…”
“Then he wasn’t trying to throw us off. Zakkar
is trapped … forever!”
Horus’ point of view
“Here to gloat over something Jackal?”
Anubis grunted, unconcerned with my
displeasure at his appearance.
“Oh just getting rid of a troublesome little
dragon,” he claimed with an air of superiority. “But that’s not why I’m here.”
“Then tell me what you want or find somewhere
better to defile!”
“I’ve found out about your little secret,
Guardian of Time!” Anubis spat.
I spun on him, shocked. How does he know that?
“And how you manipulated history for your own
personal gain! The Aquilarus Order has changed into the Cult of Horus and is
spreading slowly among the races. This is not mere coincidence. Rumours must
have sprung from somewhere; your little pet Ka Mesha is behind this, I’m sure
of it!”
“Your mind is tangled in a web of deceit,” I
snarled unconvincingly.
“You cannot lie to me Falcon!” Anubis claimed
angrily. “You will help me or I will destroy your carefully laid plans!”
“You have no way to undo my actions!” I
retorted sharply. “Now begone!”
“You are correct, I cannot undo them. But I
can reshape your vision of what will come to pass. I can tell the Soul Warrior
of your deceit, of how you used him as cruelly as I did. He is powerful – he
will come to destroy you!”
I held back my fear. We had both experienced
the Soul Warrior’s awesome power.
“What do you want?”
“Zakkar escaped my imprisonment and you led
him back here from the far future. I don’t know who freed him, but that no
longer matters. He is a threat, powerful to stop either of us if he wished. He
is a wild card, and I don’t want his influence in my game!”
“Spare me the details, blackmailer!”
He smirked, and continued regardless: “Zakkar
has every reason to come after me in the future, for revenge or for safety. You
are treading a fine line yourself: if he discovered you used him to create a
cult in your honour, he may try and … rectify certain inequalities you hid from
him…”
Anubis leaned in close to whisper at me: “I
need your help…… to destroy the Soul Warrior!”
***
