Sacrifice, page 18
part #18 of Rogue Angel Series
“Why not?” she asked.
Hector smiled and pointed at the group moving toward them. From behind her, she heard Agamemnon gasp.
She turned. “What is it?”
Agamemnon pointed. “Those are my men they’re herding in here. Joey and Michael. My trackers.”
29
Annja watched as Hector’s men herded Joey and Michael through the crowds. As they moved closer to the ledge, the chanting began again. Annja frowned. These people wanted blood.
And Hector seemed poised to give it to them.
She glanced at Agamemnon, who seemed almost genuine in his concern for the safety of his men.
Joey and Michael were herded onto the ledge. Joey looked at Agamemnon. “Sorry,” he said.
Agamemnon shook his head. “It was your family. I understand.”
“Enough!” Hector spread his arms and the entire cavern quieted down. Smiling, he looked at Annja. “Now, you see what it is that I hold in my possession. Your choices are simple—surrender or die.”
“If we surrender, we will die,” Vic said.
Hector laughed. “The will of our god cannot be denied. He demands sacrifice.”
“Who is your god?” Annja asked. “I don’t recall hearing of any tribes in these jungles that still worshiped a pagan deity.”
“There is nothing pagan about Jajuba.”
“Jajuba?” Annja asked.
“Yes.” Hector pointed at the cave painting on the opposite wall. “He is as old as the earth itself, born out of the fires of her belly into the waters of her world. He is the giver of life and the taker of souls. Without his protection, we would perish.”
“How so?”
Hector frowned. “Jajuba would descend upon us and destroy us all.”
Annja caught Vic’s eye. “You believe this?”
He shrugged. “I was suspended over the pit, but I didn’t see anything.”
Annja frowned. Running into a monster in this place wasn’t exactly what she’d been hoping for. But then again, facing down a hundred crazed zealots didn’t ring her bell, either.
“Does Jajuba live here?” she asked, deciding to play along for the moment.
“In the pit behind you,” Hector said.
Annja stared into the inky-black depths. Did something just move? She couldn’t tell for sure. She looked back at Hector. “I don’t believe you,” she said.
Hector grinned. “Very well.” He turned and shouted something to his followers. There was a screech from the back of the crowd, and a young woman decorated in elaborate braids and streaks of paint up and down her body pushed through the crowd.
Hector looked at Annja. “Now you will see.”
The woman jumped on to the ledge and bowed once to Hector. Then she faced the edge of the pit, closed her eyes and stepped right off the lip, vanishing almost instantly from sight.
Annja heard the splash and rushed to the side.
In another second, the woman’s upper body popped back up to the surface, but her face was drawn back in a grim visage of agony. She screamed and her wails echoed up out of the pit and filled the cavern.
Annja kept watching and saw a row of teeth appear next to her, chomping down on the woman, splashing bright red blood across the surface of the water. In another second, the carnage was over.
The woman was gone.
In the cavern, Hector’s followers began a new chant, but this one was lower, a steady humming that caused the room to almost vibrate. They all had wide smiles on their faces.
They were happy.
Annja shook her head. What sort of cult had she wandered into here? She knew about the Moros and the pygmies who lived in the jungles, but this? This was unlike anything she’d ever heard of.
Hector spread his arms again. “Enough.”
Again, his worshipers fell silent. Hector looked at Annja. “You believe now, don’t you?”
“You’ve got something down there, sure. I saw it.”
“You saw Jajuba.”
“Okay,” she said.
Hector grinned. “So, will you surrender?”
“No.”
“You are willing to see your men killed?”
Annja shrugged. “They’re not my men. In fact, they were sent to track me down and kill me. If you want to throw them into the pit, as well, be my guest. You’ll actually be doing me a favor.”
Hector’s eyes narrowed. “You are a strange woman. If these are not your men, then whose are they?”
“Mine,” Agamemnon’s voice broke out.
Hector looked past Annja. “Who are you?”
“I am Agamemnon. And in my world I am much the same as you are here, a great leader.”
Annja looked at him but he ignored her. “I am well aware of the role you played in my other camp and I admire your ability to blend in with us for so long and to remain undetected.”
Hector smiled. “So, at last we meet.”
“Indeed.”
“And you came here, how?”
“By the entrance to this amazing place through the trees. I found the entrance and followed the tunnels down here.”
Hector nodded. “I am impressed. You have shown ability I did not expect to see from any of these people.”
Agamemnon bowed. “I’m humbled by your flattery, but in awe of your world here.”
Hector gestured at Annja. “You are with this woman?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“I was hunting her down to kill her. She escaped from my camp and has caused death and destruction wherever she goes. It was my hope that she be dead by now. It was a task I had entrusted to men I thought capable, but who only succeeded in failing me.”
“Perhaps your quarry is more adept than you first believed,” Hector said.
Agamemnon nodded. “I have no doubt of that. However, my goal remains the same—to see her die.”
Annja frowned. “I’m touched.”
Hector appeared to be thinking something over. After a moment of introspection, he spoke. “One called Agamemnon, you have greatly impressed me and I have heard much about your work and your vision. It is something I feel could be beneficial to us all.”
“Oh, great,” Vic said.
Hector ignored him. “Would you betray your knowledge of this place to anyone, should they ask you?”
“Never,” Agamemnon said.
Hector nodded. “Then you are free to go.”
Agamemnon bowed. “You are most generous, mighty one.” He stood again and spread his arms. “Please accept these people as my own sacrifice for the mighty and all-powerful Jajuba. I am sure he will find them most delicious.”
Eduardo’s eyes widened. “Sir?”
Agamemnon turned to him. “You have failed me for the last time, Eduardo. I warned you what would happen if you did not succeed.”
“But it wasn’t my fault. They caught us. They took us by surprise. There was nothing I could do. Hector betrayed us.”
“Failures cannot simply be explained away,” Agamemnon said. “And neither can they be forgiven.”
Two warriors stepped forward, one on either side of Eduardo. Eduardo fought to break free, but Annja could see he was still in a weak state from the fall into the pit.
“No!” she shouted.
Annja stepped forward, but a number of warriors jumped onto the ledge. There were too many to reach Eduardo, and she and Vic could only watch as the warriors dragged him to the edge overlooking the black pit.
The warriors looked at Hector.
Hector spread his hands and the cavern erupted into a new chant. Annja’s ears hurt from the way the noise reverberated off the cavern walls. But she had to keep her eyes open or risk the warriors in front of her taking advantage of her state to disarm her.
Eduardo still tried to free himself. “I beg you not to do this! Please!”
The chanting grew. Annja could see drops of water leaping out of the pit. The chanting must have called the monster to the pit. Underneath this network of caves and tunnels, there had to be a reservoir or other type of giant watery realm where the monster could live.
“Agamemnon, please!” Eduardo cried.
But Agamemnon’s eyes were like stone. A flicker of a grin spread across his face.
He’s enjoying this, Annja thought. The sick bastard is actually enjoying seeing the fear on Eduardo’s face.
Hector dropped his hands.
The warriors pushed Eduardo into the pit.
He screamed as he hit the water. Annja could only listen as his cries for help were cut short and his last wail gurgled away as whatever lived in the pit devoured him. She could hear the snapping jaws and the tearing of flesh. It was horrible.
In another moment, the churning waters stilled.
Hector smiled and the chanting switched to the low murmur that had happened after the woman had sacrificed herself to Jajuba.
It almost sounds like a cat’s purr, Annja thought. Perhaps it soothes the beast so it doesn’t get out of control.
Hector looked at Agamemnon. “You are free to go. I will send a guide to show you the way back to the surface.”
“Thank you,” the terrorist said.
“Agamemnon.”
He turned. “Yes, mighty one?”
Hector eyed him. “Do not forget the mercy I have shown you here today.”
“I will not.”
“And do not ever reveal this place to anyone. Otherwise, we will come for you. And we will drag you back here for a fate worse than what the mighty Jajuba would inflict.”
Agamemnon seemed about to say something, but thought better of it. He bowed again and then turned to leave.
“Agamemnon!”
He looked back at Annja. “Yes?”
“We’re not done, you and me.”
“It looks to me like we are.”
“Not by a long shot.”
Agamemnon nodded. “We shall see. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have certain other things to attend to.”
“You mean that thing in Makati?” Vic asked.
Agamemnon frowned.
Vic nodded. “Yeah, I heard you talking. You should never assume just because a guy’s eyes are closed that he’s asleep.”
“I won’t do that ever again,” Agamemnon said. “In any event, it’s a moot point. You will die here soon enough and you’re much too far away to do anything to stop the inevitable.”
He turned and left the cavern. Vic turned back to Annja. “He’s right.”
Annja shrugged. “Maybe.”
Hector eyed her again. “Your last chance for survival is now gone. He might have spared you. He did not.”
“I’m not surprised,” she said.
“And now,” Hector said, “you will all die.”
Annja sighed. “Let me tell you something.”
“What?”
“We might all die,” she said, gripping the sword a little bit harder, “but we’re going to take an awful lot of your people with us.”
And with a scream that shook the walls of the cavern, Annja leaped into the air, already bringing her sword high overhead ready to strike down.
30
Annja’s first strike almost halved the warrior in front of her. Her blade cut through him as if he wasn’t even there, and before any of the others could react, Annja had already pivoted and stabbed the guards holding Joey and Michael hostage. As the warriors fell, Joey and Michael armed themselves with weapons from the dead men.
So did Vic.
Annja spun and knocked two warriors right into the pit. She didn’t have time to notice if they were being devoured by the creature that lived below, because she was already engaged with a warrior wielding a spear.
He faced her and stabbed right in. Annja parried the thrust and swiped down at his hands.
He backed away, but her blade caught the shaft of the spear and cut through it, splintering the wood and making the warrior drop the pointed part. He spun the half shaft now and swung it at her head.
Annja dropped and cut up on an angle, catching him just above his left hip. She stepped through, feeling her blade cut deep into his abdomen. Blood sprayed and he fell away.
Vic was holding his own against one of the warriors who had rushed him. Annja watched as he slashed and drove the point of his knife deep into the warrior’s throat. The man went down gurgling.
Joey and Michael seemed well versed in knife fighting, easily dispatching two more warriors.
But the ledge was getting crowded.
Annja kicked two more fallen warriors into the pit. Jajuba was going to eat well today, she thought.
But the amount of blood on the ledge was making her concerned. Already she’d slipped twice when deflecting blows. Any more of the blood would make her footing and that of her comrades even less secure.
Annja briefly wondered if Joey and Michael would try to kill her and Vic when they were done, but she disregarded that as silly. Agamemnon had abandoned them to the pit. There was no way they’d fight for his cause ever again.
No, if Annja was able to get out of this intact, they’d be a foursome making their way back to the surface.
If they could find it.
A female warrior jumped in front of Annja and promptly pummeled Annja’s hands. Annja felt as if her bones had broken and grunted. She had to hold on to the sword at all costs. If she lost it, she might not be able to fend off the attacks long enough to retrieve it.
She ducked down and drove the blade forward, feeling her hands pulse in pain. But holding on to the sword at least dulled the pain enough to continue fighting.
The woman leaped, brandishing her own set of twin kris blades. She hissed through yellowed teeth. Annja caught a whiff of her breath and blanched. It smelled as if she’d been eating raw flesh.
“I hope you haven’t been eating Jajuba’s leftovers,” she said.
The woman hissed again and stabbed at Annja’s heart.
Annja jumped out of the way, narrowly missing bumping into Joey, who had just dodged his own attack from the side. He grinned at Annja.
“Sorry,” he shouted.
Annja jumped out of the way to avoid the woman’s second strike. “No sweat,” she replied.
She pivoted and drove the sword up high, flipping it and cutting down. She caught the woman’s collarbone and the blade hit bone. Annja grunted and yanked the blade free and continued cutting through as the woman warrior screamed and then dropped.
Annja nudged her into the pit, as well, careful to avoid the now dying flames of the bonfires that had ringed it earlier.
She heard Vic grunt and turned to see him yanking a knife free of another warrior. The man dropped without a sound. Blood spattered Vic’s face, mixing with the camouflage face paint he already wore. He grinned at Annja.
“I really need a shower.”
“Me, too.”
His eyes danced. “Cool. It’s a date, then.”
Annja started to say something, but at that moment her instincts took over and she sidestepped, just missing being run through from behind by another spear-wielding warrior. She backhanded him, and then drove her sword into his gut. He seemed to almost shiver as the blade pierced his sternum and slid into his heart. More blood splashed the ledge and he dropped down, as well.
“We’re running out of room here,” Annja said.
Michael looked at her. “We can’t go down there, though. Too many people to worry about,” he said.
Annja surveyed the scene. The main cavern was still filled with Hector’s followers. She was relieved to see protective parents had taken all of the children away, but a great many warriors remained.
We’ll never make it if we jump down there. Joey and Michael were having a hard enough time keeping the throngs from overwhelming the easiest access point to the ledge.
But Hector’s position…
Annja glanced over at him. He seemed to be enjoying the fights happening in front of him. He held his hands clasped as if he was deep in thought.
Annja frowned. What’s he up to? She wondered.
“Annja!”
Annja ducked as the body of a warrior went flying overhead. He’d launched himself up and at Annja. Joey had called her name just in time. The warrior tumbled, tried to stand and then slipped back into the pit, screaming.
“We can’t stay here!” Annja shouted.
Vic dispatched another warrior and moved alongside Annja. “We have to get a better position. They’ll keep coming at us until we’re either dead or surrender.”
“In which case we’re dead, anyway,” she said.
“Right.” Vic looked around. “How did you come in here?”
Annja pointed up at the lip that ran around close to the ledge. “I snaked my way down here following that.”
Vic frowned. “There’s no way we can use that. They’ll cut our feet out from under us. We need something better.”
Annja pointed at Hector’s position. “What about there?”
Vic frowned. “I don’t like the lack of maneuverability but we could grab Hector. If we get to him, it just might take the fight out of his people.”
“Agreed,” she said.
Annja turned to Joey and Michael, who had just double-teamed another warrior. “We’re moving!” she told them.
Vic led the way across the ledge toward Hector. Annja watched as Vic kept himself low and balanced, avoiding the bigger puddles of blood easily and concentrating on getting close to Hector.
Hector seemed completely unfazed by the movement and continued to hold his ground, with a curious expression on his face.
Annja felt a twinge in her stomach.
Something wasn’t right.
“Vic.”
He turned. “What?”
“Is he suckering us in for something here?”
Vic frowned. “We can’t go back. Joey and Michael have already abandoned their position. They’re fighting with their backs to us as it is.”
Annja turned as Joey stabbed another warrior. “You guys okay?”
“Keep moving,” Michael said. “We can’t stop here.”
Annja turned back, deflecting the warrior who had jumped up to her left and tried to swing a club at her head. She parried the blow and struck down, slashing off his hands. He fell off the ledge with blood spraying from his wrists.
