one of the soldiers to fling a grenade into the chamber to kill them all.
And there were other dangers, getting closer. ‘Uh, I think we should move,’ said Nina, tugging his arm. Two of the statues were bearing down on them, the third angling towards Sophia.
Chase fired another shot at the nearest statue’s head. There was a ringing clang, a dent appearing between its frowning eyes as the bullet bounced off, but it was otherwise unaffected.
‘Eddie, can you not waste bullets trying to kill the inanimate objects?’ Sophia chided.
‘They look pretty fucking animate to me!’ He followed Nina as she ran round the outside of the room. The cherubim changed direction, tracking them, but did so without turning, the heads of the bulls now facing in the direction they were moving.
‘They’re like dodgems,’ Nina said, looking up at the ceiling. Chase regarded her as if she had gone mad. ‘The way they work, I mean. The floor and ceiling must have different polarities - the wings complete the circuit and make them move.’
‘How? And where are they getting the power?’
‘“Earth sky-fire” - that’s what that inscription meant. It’s earth energy, it must be! All those things made of copper above the statue? They’re antennas, energy collectors - just like the ones we saw in Russia.’ The Veteres had been able to harness the lines of energy running through the earth itself, using them to power crude - but effective - electric motors, in Antarctica working the recording devices, here both moving the statues and spinning their swords. The blades themselves were aglow with an eerie blue light, suggesting to Nina that they had the same nigh-unstoppable cutting edges as Excalibur. ‘Keep away from the swords!’
‘How
They were almost at the chamber’s rear doors, and the metal bowls. Chase looked at the entrance. The Covenant were still holding back on the other side of the tunnel, but he was sure they would be trying to find good sniping angles.
He saw Sophia crouch and lean round the corner to search for targets through the rifle’s scope - and the third cherubim’s blades getting dangerously close to her. ‘Soph! Watch out!’
Fear flashed across her face as she saw the threat and dived out of the chamber to land on the stone floor outside. The cherubim shuddered, then reversed direction, now heading for the nearest other person - Nina.
But Sophia was still in danger. Gunfire echoed up the passage, bullets chipping the floor as she rolled. She reached the opposite wall and threw herself back into the chamber - only for the retreating cherubim to change direction once more and head back towards her.
‘They’re homing in on us!’ Chase yelled. ‘How the fuck are they doing that?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Nina, seeing familiar symbols painted on the bowls, ‘but I know what to do with this!’ She reached into her pack for the clay cylinder she had taken from the map room in Antarctica and pointed at the inscription round its top. ‘It’s the same words - “the song of the prophet”! We need to play it.’
‘I don’t think it’s going to charm those things to sleep - and if you stand at that record player, you’ll be right in the Covenant’s line of fire!’
She quickly took in the positions of the cherubim, the speed at which they were moving . . . ‘Eddie, go back round to Sophia.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Just do it!’
He reluctantly turned and hurried back round the room. ‘What about you?’
‘I’m . . . gonna run right through the line of fire,’ she said, trying to psych herself up. ‘Nothing to worry about!’
‘
But she was already breaking into a fear-driven sprint across the chamber, passing in front of the closed metal doors. A volley of shots tore through the room as one of the Covenant troopers opened fire. Bullets smacked into the doors just behind her as she ran, fragments of metal spitting from the impacts. A piece hit one of the bowls, causing it to ring with a deep, sonorous note. Nina now knew exactly what the bowls were for, but put it to the back of her mind as she tried desperately to stay one step, half a step, ahead of the spray of gunfire . . .
It stopped. She was out of the shooter’s sight.
But the cherubim was still following her, screeching along on its giant ball-bearing ‘feet’. All she could think was that they were electrically charged, somehow in opposition to the human body. Like poles repel, keeping the similarly charged cherubim from demolishing each other with their spinning blades - and unlike poles attract. As long as a person was in the room, the statues would be drawn towards them. It wasn’t magic, or malevolence: just magnetism.
Individually, the heavy, sluggish cherubim weren’t hard to avoid. But between the three of them, and their swinging, whirling blades, it became all too easy to become hemmed in. Spend too long in one place - such as at the doors - and you would be dead.
Chase reached Sophia. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ he shouted to Nina.
‘Wait, wait . . .’ she called back. Her cherubim was still moving across the room . . .
It crossed in front of the entrance.
Nina ran back towards the doors. The colossus haltingly changed direction to follow her, animal faces leering. More gunfire came from the tunnel—
It hit the statue, bullets clanking against its legs and body.
She raced to the bowls and put the cylinder on the spindle, taking advantage of her new cover. As long as the cherubim kept moving in a straight line towards her, it would shield her from the Covenant’s fire.
But every second she stood there brought the whirling swords closer.
A shout from outside: Zamal issuing an order. With Chase and Sophia forced away from the chamber’s entrance, the Covenant soldiers could advance through the tunnel.
Chase backed round the perimeter, followed by Sophia. The purpose of the small step was now clear - it was just high enough to stop the cherubim from hitting the wall. ‘We’ve got to get back to the entrance.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Sophia replied.
‘If we can stop ’em from moving . . .’ He paused, staring at the top of the wings where they sparked against the ceiling - then aimed the Browning at one of them and fired. The bullet went straight through the copper sheets. More sparks flew, an electrical bolt sizzling angrily across the room, but the wing stayed in contact with the metal above.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Nina said they’re like dodgems - so we need to cut their power poles.’ One of the cherubim was close to the step, the other coming from the centre of the chamber. He watched the nearer one, judging the grinding swing of its arms, the distance between the tip of the blade and the wall . . .
The cylinder was in place, the needle positioned at the top of the groove. Nina hunted for a clue as to what to do next. Simply spinning the turntable by hand wouldn’t work: if the bowls served the purpose she thought, the ancient recording had to be played at precisely the right speed. She looked back; the cherubim was getting closer.
And behind it, she saw shadows playing across the wall of the passage. Covenant soldiers were crawling through the tunnel. ‘Crap, crap, crap!’ She tried to remember how she had released some residual spark of earth energy in the frozen city . . .
Metal gleamed through the dust and cobwebs. A contact—
She touched it.
With a reluctant creak, the turntable rotated, picking up speed. The copper cone amplified the clicks and hisses, the strange voice reciting the name of what was to follow . . .
Then the song began.
The haunting voice echoed through the chamber, holding a note in perfect pitch for several seconds . . . and one of the bowls began to hum as well, the same note ringing out with increasing volume, shaking off the covering of dust. It was responding to the singer’s voice,
Another sound reached her. A click.
Part of a lock. The sound of the bowl, vibrating at a very specific pitch and frequency, had caused something
