Not any more he isn't! The warrior was back on his feet and fuming. He broke his vow to me! Narnar brought his fist down on the card table, smashing it in two, whereby all his fellow players threw in their cards, disappointed.

'Perhaps I could succeed where Shamash has failed you?' Maelgwn's suggestion brought the God's flight of anger to an abrupt end. 'What is the vow of which you speak?'

All the creatures burst into giggles, which they immediately suppressed as Narnar took offence.

Silence! Begone, he ordered, and it was so. Well, he grumbled, once they were alone. It is a matter of some delicacy. Narnar motioned Maelgwn closer so he could privately speak of his dilemma, keeping a watchful eye on Tory all the while. She folded her arms, rolling her eyes at their boyish behaviour.

After a short time, Maelgwn stepped away from Narnar. 'Well, I have a little experience with this,'

Maelgwn commented, trying not to look as affected by what he'd learnt as he obviously was.

That's females for you. Narnar's gaze was fixed on Tory, and she felt he was begging for a fight. They're merciless enchantresses, every one of them.

'Oh great.' She threw her hands in the air. That was exactly what Maelgwn didn't need to hear right now.

But she paced out her frustration, and took the matter no further.

'So if I was to return your ...' Maelgwn searched for a subtle word for it, 'property, are you in a position to hand over Dumuzi to me?'

Hands, legs, and the rest of his body parts. I will hand them over gladly for this item. His business done, Narnar returned to his throne. The card table righted itself and the cards fluttered up and into a neat pile, ready to play.

I hope Shamash rots in hell, just as I have. Narnar leaned forward and dealt the cards, whereby his Otherworldly playing partners returned to the game.

Maelgwn backed out graciously, and made his way past Tory towards the door.

'You're going to take his word that he knows where Dumuzi is?' She ran to catch up with Maelgwn.

'What choice do we have?'

'But I don't understand. What's this item he wants?'

'I'll tell you once we're out of here.'

As it turned out, Narnar's lost property was his penis and matching genitalia; his wife had cut it off before his banishment and kept it as a memento.

'First Gibal's brain, now Narnar's genitals.' Tory couldn't resist the urge to laugh. 'Have you ever thought of taking headhunting up professionally?'

'Tory, please, it's no laughing matter,' Maelgwn struggled to keep a straight face. 'Especially when Ningal is back through the wormhole on Tarazean.'

'To the Sirius system, then,' Tory announced, as their craft came screaming out of the cavern to skim across the moon's surface.

'And don't spare the horses,' Maelgwn added, activating his headset to request that Gibal plot them a course.

26.

UNITE.

The churning clouds of dust and wind that constantly plagued the Middle East made for poor visibility.

Candace had been instructed by the Lord Marduk to investigate this region and report on any activity taking place there. Due to the annihilation of all life in the Middle East some seventeen years before, most at Watarrka fully expected her mission to be a non-eventful one.

To their surprise, they discovered that on the barren desert floor was a huge structure - the excavation went for miles.

'What the hell is that?' Rhun gaped at the massive dig from inside the control deck of the Goddess.

'It's a landing pad,' Season advised. 'It has been hidden on Earth since the Nefilim's departure.'

'Then it's just as we suspected,' Noah commented.

'The premature detonation of that bomb was no accident.'

'I'm going to take a closer look.' Rhun vanished.

Brian, Candace, Robin and Boadicea went after him.

'What the hell.' Floyd decided to get involved in the heroics, not wanting to tarnish the brave image his new lady friend had of him.

Everyone else stayed put to man the Goddess and continue the air surveillance.

Rhun's party watched all the activity at the site from behind one of the huge mounds of earth that surrounded the dig.

'Jesus,' uttered Brian, 'looks like it only needs a bit of a polish, before it will be alright to go.'

'At least we know what's been keeping Doc amused all these years. I knew we should have been keeping an eye on him.' Rhun cursed under his breath.

'No, Rhun, this is good.' Candace whipped an ultra-thin viewing mechanism from her belt and placed it over her eyes. 'We want Shamash to come here and make himself at home.'

'We do?' This was news to Brian.

Candace nodded, though her viewing distracted her from explaining further. 'There's something going on down there.' She dispensed with her device, pulling a gun-like weapon from her thigh holster, the barrel pulsating with light once she'd activated it. 'It's Talynn.'

She looked to Boadicea.

Boadicea immediately pulled out her weapon.

'Cover us,' she instructed Robin, following Candace over the dirt mound.

'What's happening? Who's Talynn?' Brian implored Robin, who had pulled out his weapon and nestled himself into a comfortable firing position.

Robin took the viewer from his belt and attached it to his gun. Its magnified sights helped him keep a close eye on his comrades. 'Talynn was one of the Dragon's original circle. A woman called Alma.'

'I remember her,' Rhun cut in.

Brian and Floyd were a little slower off the mark.

They both had recollections of their lifetime in Gwynedd under the Dragon's rule, but only fragmentary.

'Sir Angus' wife,' Rhun prompted.

'Oh yeah.' Brian made the connection and nodded in accord. 'Blonde, blue eyed. Sweet little thing.'

'Whatever became of Angus?' Floyd wondered, having several recollections of the knight.

'He outlived you Tiernan, I mean Floyd,' Rhun shook his head. 'Boy, this is weird.'

'I know what you mean,' Robin agreed. 'I don't know by what name to call anyone.'

Rhun raised his binoculars to view the commotion.

'What are they doing, anyhow? It looks like they're hauling a body.'

'Ha - ha!'

Someone somersaulted over the earthen bank to stand before them, and all weapons turned his way.

'Greetings! You lot certainly took your time getting here.'

Rhun recognised this man as his son and father-in-law. Cadwell was the spitting image of Vortipor, High King of the Britons between Maelgwn's reign and Rhun's own. Which was not surprising, as Vortipor had been Cadwell's grandfather.

'What's wrong, little Dragon, has the past got your tongue? Do you not recognise your own son?' Cadwell teased with a laugh.

'Aye, all too well.' Rhun moved to shake his hand.

'This arsehole is your son?' Brian lowered his weapon. 'Well, I suppose that figures.'

Candace, Boadicea, Neraida, and Talynn dragged a fifth party over the earthen mound.

'Neraida. What are you doing here?' Brian recognised her at once.

'I live here,' she replied, as they lay their unconscious captive on the ground.

'And who might this be?' Brian referred to the body.

'He's my son.' Neraida bent down to check him over. 'I had to get him away from the Unken. I couldn't wait any longer.' She pulled out an ENZU-GUZ to disconnect him from the module's influence. These devices had been widely distributed to the underground tribes following its invention.

Brian crouched beside Neraida, recalling what Candace had said about his life as Alexander. 'I don't remember any of it,' he began, 'but if in some past life I caused you pain, I want to say that I'm very sorry.'

'It was a necessary phase of history, I see that now.'

Neraida shrugged.

'Hey, why don't you apologise to me,' Cadwell invited Brian. 'I'm the one you tied to a millstone and threw in the sea.'

'Yeah, but you probably deserved it,' Brian jeered.

He looked at the face of the unconscious man. 'It's Angus.' He nearly passed out from the shock.

Rhun, Floyd and Robin rushed over to check for themselves.

'So it is,' Robin confirmed with a light-hearted chuckle.

'I told you I'd find him.' Talynn winked back at Robin. 'Hell, it looks like I found everyone!' She saw so many familiar faces amidst this crowd, some of whom she had not seen in lifetimes.

Rhun backed away, seeing vivid images of his youth when all the original members of the Dragon's circle had last been gathered in one place. 'Masters of the Goddess, you are all here.'

'Yet the Dragon and our Sensei are still absent,'

Talynn noted.

'They have another task to perform,' Candace advised. 'But, Goddess permitting, they will join us soon.'

Mongolia was graced by an unusual amount of sunshine this winter. The only bad news was the freezing gale force wind that blew across the barren landscape. Autumn and summer brought fierce thunder, lightning, heavy falls of snow, and hurricanes.

In spring, storms rose out of the Gobi Desert and lasted for weeks at a time.

Doc had waited until late winter to make his trek into the Hentiy Mountains. His party flew into Ulaan Baatar, where they met up with an official escort who were to guide them on horseback to their destination.

Doc did not need directions, however. He knew the terrain like the back of his hand. If he'd been able to pull off this quest alone, he would have popped in and out of Mongolia and bypassed the Government altogether. Unfortunately, he suspected he would need labour, which was why he decided to make his trip official. This meant dealing with the escort that the Mongolian government arranged to accompany them into the mountains, but better that than being caught illegally digging up a communist state.

The official escort was not the threatening force Doc had expected. The ICA team outnumbered the seven middle to old-aged herdsmen by two to one.

These local men appeared surprisingly healthy and unaffected by the radiation sickness that plagued the rest of the world's population. These folk were so tanned and weather-worn from enduring the conditions of their harsh climate that their tough immune system was no doubt keeping them alive.

The same couldn't be said for Rhiannon, however.

She hadn't been well for months. Aged forty-one, she still hadn't experienced physical death and therefore suffered the ailments of a mortal. Doc's doctors had detected the cancer that was slowly eating her brain when Rhiannon first fell ill. But Doc's relationship with his wife hadn't been the same since the Death Valley earthquake disaster. Shamash's constant lectures on how Rhiannon would deceive Doc had succeeded in brainwashing him. Somehow Shamash managed to attribute every little misfortune to Rhiannon's scheming.

The evidence became so overwhelming in the end, that Doc believed her treachery was real. So, her illness brought a timely opportunity to dispose of the problem; she knew far too much about his operations.

Through involving her in his affairs, Doc had also to a degree earned Rhiannon's trust. When Doc advised her that she was suffering from nothing more than a passing virus, she believed him. The disease had rendered her psychic abilities useless and the pain-killing drugs his doctors were pumping her full of kept her controllable and semi-delirious.

Doc had not told anyone what his little expedition into Mongolia was all about; he knew Rhiannon would be curious and insist on coming along.

It was true to say that Rhiannon had no idea of the agonies this journey would expose her to. All she knew was that Doc was up to something, and despite how she felt she had to go with him.

The still morning air at Ulaan Baatar was absolutely chilling, and though the sun shone brightly above, Rhiannon felt nothing of its warming effects.

The herdsmen who awaited them with horses took one look at Rhiannon and started waving their arms about in protest.

'What is it?' she inquired of Doc, who spoke the language like a local.

'They say you are too frail to ride alone.' He appeared to be disappointed. 'I've equipment that I have to carry with me, as do my men. I'm afraid you'll have to stay behind. You need to rest.'