Zein: The Prophecy Read online

  Gemma shut the door and pulled Kabel to her and kissed him. He pulled back and the look he gave deep into her eyes sent Gemma’s hormones off the scale. Her love of alternative music and nightclubs left her craving excitement and new experiences. Gemma was never backwards about coming forward but this was on a different scale.

  ‘There is something you should know; in my religion there is only one girl for each man. Do you understand?’

  Gemma felt butterflies in her stomach and without really knowing what he meant nodded her head, the alcohol dulling her senses. He pulled her to him and kissed her.

  Gemma’s nerves disappeared and pure naked lust took over. As they kissed fiercely she slipped out of her clothes. She unbuttoned his shirt and then took his belt and trousers off.

  The passion was intense and she felt his excitement. They collapsed on the bed with his muscular body resting gently on top of her. When he entered her she could have sworn she saw a blue haze pulsating around them, enveloping their bodies as they were locked in the intensity of their love making. Their passion reached a crescendo and Gemma felt her body surging with pleasure as she embraced Kabel. Spent they lay in each other’s arms without any words passing between them. Their bodies had done the talking.

  Later, Gemma slipped off to sleep wrapped in Kabel’s arms. Kabel lay there wide awake with many conflicting thoughts coursing through him. He looked at the girl in his arms. He saw the tattoo on the top of her arm. A hawk; how unusual.

  Was he putting her in danger? Should he have become so close so quickly? No answers came and eventually he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Old Friends

  Malkin gradually woke up. He opened his eyes slowly as the fogginess in his head cleared. He was in one of the ante chambers in the Village Council building. He was chained to the wall. The chains were fixed to large iron spikes that had been hammered into the wall. He flexed his massive forearms but the heavy iron chains held him firm. He saw that Lord Southgate was similarly chained, with the addition of special manacles that glowed red to prevent the use of any magics. Blood caked his face. They were alone. No one else. No Delilah. No Kabel’s mother and father. He had let down Kabel. He pulled at the chains in frustration.

  ‘Keep calm. There was nothing you could have done,’ said Lord Southgate.

  ‘I promised Kabel I would look after his family.’

  ‘Malkin, their numbers were too great; we did everything we could.’

  The hand to hand fighting had been intense with Malkin and Lord Southgate at the centre. Lord Southgate, protected by his magics, battled hard despite his advanced age. Eventually age did catch him up and he had gone down with a blow to his head. Malkin continued to fight until a seckle caught him on the temple.

  ‘Did Kabel escape?’ Lord Southgate asked. He knew his wife, the Lady Southgate, had managed to get away with some of her personal guard.

  ‘I think he did, judging by the explosion we heard. That must have been your booby trap,’ said Malkin, chuckling.

  There was a click and the door opened. Zylar walked in. Tall. Intimidating. Behind him came General Jika Chad, who was holding a struggling hooded man.

  ‘Hello, Egan, nice to see you again,’ said Malkin, voice dripping with sarcasm.

  ‘Well, well, my faithful servant. Lost any Lords recently?’ said Zylar, gloating. Malkin swore and pulled at the chains. Zylar laughed and beckoned Chad forward.

  ‘I believe you know General Chad.’ Malkin did know Jika Chad, who used to report to him before siding with Egan all those years ago. It was his treachery which led to the rout in the Eastern Quadrant. Not before Malkin had inflicted some damage on his second-in-command.

  ‘Nice scar you have there, Jika. Shame I didn’t cut a little lower.’ General Chad just sneered back. Malkin ignored him.

  ‘Remove the hood,’ Zylar commanded. General Chad removed the black bag from the prisoner’s head. It was Hilah Wheatstone.

  ‘Where did young Blackstone teleport to?’

  Malkin shrugged. Egan could not read Malkin’s thoughts as the latter had been trained to close his mind to such an attack. His second in command raised his seckle to Hilah’s throat. Hilah looked hard at Malkin and barely perceptibly shook his head warningly. Zylar saw the movement and gestured to General Chad. He drew his seckle across Hilah’s exposed throat and he was dead before he hit the floor.

  Malkin and Lord Southgate looked with undisguised hatred at Zylar. Zylar ignored the looks and gestured once more to General Chad. He briefly went out of the room and brought another hooded figure into the room. General Chad removed the hood.

  Delilah. No.

  Malkin tried not to show his emotion but it was a losing battle. Delilah saw her father with his throat open lying in a pool of his own blood. She screamed. General Chad hit her and then placed his hand over her mouth. Egan frowned as if the noise was an inconvenience.

  ‘Now I will ask you one more time, where did Blackstone go?’

  Malkin looked at the sobbing Delilah sadly and shook his head.

  ‘Look, old man, this girl’s fate will not be as easy as this old man’s.’ He kicked the dead man’s leg. ‘I will pass her across to my Ilsid and you know how they just love to make women scream.’ He paused, delighted to see the colour drain from Malkin’s face. Malkin had seen the appalling mutilations the Ilsid had done to women and children in the outlying homesteads away from the protection of the villages.

  ‘Good, I have your attention. Now, old man, where in the quadrants did you send young Blackstone?’ He saw the flicker of relief in Malkin’s face. He isn’t in the quadrants, Zylar thought. ‘So he has not gone to the other quadrants and since no one is able to teleport from the quadrants to the Core that leaves the Underworld,’ he correctly surmised. The additional security protection that protected the main extraction of the zinithium from the Core meant that no one could teleport into the fifth settlement without express sanction from Lord Fathom or knowledge of the secretly kept coordinates.

  Zylar turned to General Chad. ‘Go back to Livescale Falls and check for any Underworld disturbances. Send a couple of your best fighters to locate Blackstone.’ ‘What about the girl?’

  Zylar looked at the tearful girl. ‘If you bring back Blackstone you can have her to do with as you want.’ General Chad’s wolfish smile indicated his delight.

  Malkin and Lord Southgate expressed their disgust at the agreement but it fell on deaf ears. With a final glance at his captives Zylar walked out and the door shut firmly behind the retreating figures.

  Chapter 10

  The Quest

  Wake up. The Changeling’s voice echoed in Kabel’s mind. Kabel was instantly awake. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was. Then it all came flooding back to him – Underworld, party and the girl. He felt the warmth of Gemma’s naked body next to him, still curled around him.

  What is it? asked Kabel. He untangled his body from Gemma and pulled on his clothes.

  Do you not feel it? said the Changeling. Kabel paused and then felt the essence of distortion of energy when a portal journey is made. They had found him.

  He picked up his overcoat and pulled the seckles from the pockets.

  Downstairs, Tyson was awoken by the roar of a lion of all things and he sat up, his head buzzing with the fog of alcohol and still dressed in his clothes from the night before. The empty tequila bottle fell onto the carpet making a dull thud when it hit the carpeted floor. He glanced around the room which was strewn with after party rubbish and then rested his head in his hands hoping to dull the throbbing headache which was threatening to break out of the front of his forehead.

  ‘What’s that?’ said Amelia, half-dressed and blurry eyed, stumbling from the cinema room. She pulled a top over her tousled hair to cover her naked torso.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Tyson answered, his head still throbbing, sneaking a glimpse of Amelia’s perfectly formed breasts before she covered herself up. He smirked, she may
be a pain in the backside but boy she had a great body. Any other un-gentlemanly thoughts he may have had were forgotten when something slammed into the front door, shaking it to its core.

  Next minute Kabel was flying down the stairs, at speed holding what looked like knives and his arms were encased in a shimmering blue glow.

  ‘What the…!’ Tyson exclaimed. He then stared in disbelief as his hands began to emit the same blue glare as Kabel.

  ‘What the hell is happening?’ Amelia said, staring at his hands.

  The door burst open. Two men clad in sculptured black armour burst in just as Kabel reached the bottom of the stairs. Tyson could just make out that they had masks over the top half of their face and were holding weapons similar to Kabel’s. One of the men was wrestling a lion; the Changeling was protecting the house.

  Kabel ignored the humans and blocked the sweeping blow of the nearest Ilsid warrior with his left seckle, at the same time he turned his body fully around and brought the seckle down on the back of the exposed neck. The soldier went down and then his body shimmered and disappeared. During this move the other warrior had whipped his arm around and brought his weapon down on Kabel’s shoulder.

  ‘Kabel!’ a girl’s voice shouted a warning. It was Gemma. She had woken up and then on hearing the noise and realising Kabel was not beside her she had thrown on a dressing gown and was now standing at the top of the stairs watching the fight unfold.

  The blow simply glanced off Kabel, deflected by the blue force shield which had spread to cover all his body. Before the attacker could aim another strike, Zebulon pounced onto the Ilsid warrior’s back and his paw tore the head off the warrior.

  ‘Oh my God, I am going to be sick.’ Tyson caught Amelia as she became dizzy.

  The lifeless body shimmered and then disappeared, leaving a panic stricken group grasping for reality.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Gemma said, shaken, her stoic nature preventing any panic. Kabel looked up and motioned her to come down.

  ‘What’s up?’ It was Bailey, appearing at the top of the stairs alongside his sister, no idea what had happened. He was looking at Kabel, who had quickly put the two seckles under his top.

  ‘Any bacon butties available?’ he asked, scratching his back, one eye open, still oblivious to what had just happened.

  It took them a little time to calm Amelia down. Harry went home along with Bailey’s girl, both worse for drink and hung-over and none the wiser.

  This left Kabel, Bailey and Tyson along with a still shaking Amelia and an intrigued Gemma in the lounge. The Changeling had changed back to a black cat and was cleaning its paws intently.

  Tyson could not fail to notice that Kabel had been upstairs when the attack had started and Gemma only had a dressing gown on to hide her modesty. He shook his head, resentment building.

  ‘Is someone going to tell me what just happened?’ asked Gemma forcefully.

  Tyson didn’t say anything, still dwelling on Kabel and Gemma. Kabel took over and told his story, leaving very little out. As the details emerged, both girls’ eyes widened with awe and disbelief.

  ‘So Bailey was right when he said you are an alien?’ Gemma looked at Kabel. ‘I have just slept with an alien. My mum is going to kill me.’ She shook her head.

  ‘Cool and you called me easy,’ Amelia said with an amused smile, now recovered from her initial dizziness. Gemma scowled at her.

  ‘And what is that creature?’ Amelia said, pointing to the Changeling.

  ‘That creature doesn’t take kindly to that tone of voice.’ The Changeling had looked up from its cleaning and spoke directly to both girls and then resumed his preening. The girls were speechless. Kabel told them the story about how he met the Changeling. The group looked at Zebulon with growing interest. Kabel became increasingly worried that time was passing,

  ‘Look, they traced me here so we need to go soon.’

  ‘Where to?’ asked Gemma.

  ‘Not sure but let me check in the rucksack.’ He reached into the bag and pulled out another sphere.

  ‘Where did those bodies go?’ asked Amelia.

  ‘They must have a recoverable tracking device which is triggered in the event of death or if they personally trigger a retrieval. Doesn’t give us much time as it records the coordinates they came from.’

  ‘Let’s see if this has some answers.’

  The sphere flashed blue and levitated slightly above his hand, then a hologram beamed out. They all watched the hologram, engrossed. A figure was projected into the room. Kabel was again looking at his father, which he quickly pointed out.

  ‘Greetings son, if this has been activated, you escaped. Thank Tucan.’ The hologram of his father raised its hands to the ceiling, and then continued, ‘I have a quest for you. You need to teleport to the Core and seek Lord Fathom’s protection and help. To do this you need to access my emergency transportation portal.’ There were confused looks between the others.

  Kabel’s father had anticipated his son’s reaction, ‘I had to hide the portal in a public place as I was not sure whether I was being followed or not. The portal can only be activated by you, son.’ His father paused, looking directly at him. He had been speaking earnestly but now he looked almost wistful, ‘Son, when I took my trips to understand humans and the Underworld more, I noticed there is one game which they enjoy more than any other. It is called football. I found that I loved watching it and I frequently went to see a team called Manchester United play.’

  ‘That’s my team,’ said Amelia. They all hushed her.

  ‘They play at a place called Old Trafford. The portal is in the North Stand and is on the third floor, disguised as a water fountain. Now, it works normally but it is designed so that when you activate it then it becomes an emergency transportation portal and you have two Earth minutes to use it. Just clasp your hands on the fountain, the rest is programmed in. If you are travelling with anyone else make sure they are in contact with you or the fountain or they will be left behind.’ Bailey watched fascinated, though hungry. The hologram continued.

  ‘You have to find this portal and seek out Lord Fathom. He will be able to help you with your next actions. Good luck, son. This sphere will disintegrate as soon as this message ends.’

  The group looked stunned as the sphere spun briefly and then collapsed in on itself until there was nothing left.

  ‘So your father travelled across a zillion light years to end up watching Manchester United. Told you there are no local United fans,’ said Bailey, jokingly. He was a Manchester City fan and therefore United were the football equivalent of the enemy.

  ‘This is not funny, Bailey,’ Gemma scolded him.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ she said looking at Kabel.

  ‘I have no choice but to find this Old Trafford and the portal. Do you know where it is?’

  They all laughed except Tyson, who remained strangely quiet. ‘All Mancunians know where Old Trafford is,’ said Gemma.

  ‘You can’t just walk into Old Trafford, we will all need tickets,’ said Amelia sceptically, her head hurting from the drink the night before. I am never going to drink again she swore to herself.

  ‘Well, we were going later today for the Manchester Derby,’ Bailey volunteered. He saw Kabel’s questioning look and expanded on his statement. ‘The Derby is when Manchester City, my team, plays Manchester United, their team.’ He waved his hand around the room pointing to the rest. Kabel still looked nonplussed. Bailey sighed.

  ‘It’s like your Western Quadrant playing the Northern Quadrant in a competition at the Federation Fair. You did say there were those types of games before the war?’ Bailey asked.

  ‘Yes that it is right.’

  Amelia remembered something. ‘Kabel, you were surrounded by a blue glow, why?’

  ‘It is a protective shield which is part of my magics and it appears when I am threatened or emotional. It also can boost my energy for a short time.’ Gemma blushed as she vaguely remembered the blu
e glow during their love making last night. Everyone missed the blush, accept Tyson.

  ‘So why were your hands glowing as well?’ said Amelia, turning and looking at Tyson.

  Tyson had kept silent, still unnerved at what he had felt when the light had covered his hands and forearms. He was also nursing an increasing dislike for the newcomer. The rest of the group stared at him.

  ‘Hey, dude, you didn’t tell me you glowed,’ was Bailey’s helpful contribution.

  ‘He is a Blackstone,’ Kabel answered. ‘He is my half-brother.’

  There was silence. The ticking of the lounge clock could be heard above the silence.

  ‘I-1-I am what?’ said Tyson, shaken.

  ‘When my father came to visit Earth it was your mother he met and they had a son. That son is you.’

  Tyson looked at Kabel in disbelief. ‘How can that be? My father left my mum when I was a baby. He was a waste of space who didn’t even know I was born.’ As he talked there was a general realisation that all the stories his mother had told him all seemed to be so perfect, so plausible.

  He’s your half-brother? Tucan help us. He can’t be the Prophecy? the Changeling said to Kabel.

  ‘What did you say?’ Tyson turned to the Changeling.

  ‘Say what?’ Bailey asked.

  Kabel replied to the Changeling, I think he has the magics.

  ‘What are the “magics”?’ said Tyson, confused.

  ‘Mate, what are you going on about?’ Bailey pressed.

  ‘You can’t hear them?’

  ‘Hear what?’ Bailey shook his head. The others looked at Tyson puzzled.

  Jeez, I think he is going mad, Bailey said to himself.

  ‘I am not going mad, Bailey,’ Tyson replied as he heard Bailey loud and clear.