The doors were covered in gilt and stood tall and imposing in front of the women. The dark maple monstrosity in front of them made Amaretto shiver as she inspected them. Carvings of all kinds were displayed in the wood, most of them were strange symbols that Amaretto didn't understand. As she stared at the door she had a thought that seemed a little gruesome. She turned to her aunt.
“So what we are looking for is behind that door correct?”
Katherine turned from looking at the door to look at Johanna. Johanna made a mute nod. Katherine turned back to her god-daughter and shook her head in the affirmative as well. “That would seem to be the case.”
Amaretto frowned and then said, “What if there is a squad of goons on the other side of the door?”
Katherine raised an eyebrow. “A squad of goons?”
Amaretto nodded her head emphatically. “Yes, what if there was another set of those IronMen that we have been dealing with this whole time? What if they are waiting just inside the doors.”
Alice pointed her gun at the door. “You have your ring and I have my guns. I think we would be able to handle them.”
Amaretto shook her head. “No, that's not what I mean. What if there are more than what we can handle? What if we try to shoot our way in and there are just simply too many of them and they overwhelm us? What do we do then?”
Alice furrowed her eyebrows and then said, “Are you trying to think of a doomsday plan for all of us love? I mean, it sounds more like you are trying to prevent us from going thorough the door. If the Stone of Communication is on the other side of this door, we should be busting it down in order to make sure that we get what it is that we want.”
Amaretto shrugged. “I'm just saying, I don't really want to die at this moment in time.”
Alice was about to say something when Johanna placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “She is on strange soil, helping us do a strange deed, in strange times. It is no wonder that she would be concerned for herself and her aunt.”
Katherine smirked and started rooting around in her purse. “I might have something that will give us the upper hand, just let me...” She continued to root around her purse until finally she said, “I have it!” She looked at the others around her with a maniacal grin. “Just open the door and I will have at them. No need to worry, this is fool-proof.” Katherine still had her hand in her purse.
Amaretto pointed to the purse. “What are you hiding?”
“I'm not hiding anything,” her aunt said a little hurt. “I just think that the element of surprise will work better. This way, if they are truly watching us, which I doubt that they are, then I want what I have left to be a surprise.:
Amaretto rolled her eyes. “If that's what you think it is, then I won't stop you at all. Go ahead and just do it then.”
Katherine took a deep breath and then nodded her head. “All right then, open the doors.”
Alice took both of her pistols and aimed them at the door. Amaretto held up her ring just a little below her chest. Her breath was a little ragged from having to take out so many of the IronMen, but she was sure that her aunt would protect her. As if for a secondary precaution, she quickly thought in the back of her head, “Tempus!”
At first, it seemed as if he was reluctant with her and was not about to answer, but with some mental probing and poking, he eventually responded.
“What do you need then?” Tempus' voice was not cheery, but it was not overly welcome either.
“Are we going to survive this then?”
Tempus snorted. “What kind of question is that?”
Amaretto grumbled in the back of her head. “I need to know if I am going to survive this whole ordeal.”
Tempus paused for a minute before he answered. “I will say that there is no need to worry as you are not trying to kill yourself. As to how the natives shall react to you, you should be fine.”
“Did you just say that because I am no suicidal that...”
“Really, the IronMen are not all that bad, they just have no heart. If you find the Stone of Communication, then you have the first coordinate and we can move onto the next world.”
“So there is still stuff to do after all of this?”
“I told you that we need three,” began Tempus in a huff.
Amaretto cut him off. “I think Johanna is going to open the door, I will get back to you when I get the chance.” She nodded to Johanna who motioned Katherine into place, Katherine, with her hand still in her purse, moved forward to the door and then looked back at Alice. Alice once again positioned herself behind the door and then aimed her guns onto either side of Katherine.
With a mighty shove, Johanna swung the doors open and all four women charged into the room, Amaretto behind the other three with her hand extended so that she could use the ring if needed. Katherine charged into the room, letting a battle cry ululate through the room with a ferocity of an Amazon. She charged forwards into the face of a woman who was standing there with a look of surprise, and pulled her hand out from within the purse. Grasped firmly in her hands was a long silver chain, at the end of which a large medallion was hanging. It appeared to be made out of silver and when Amaretto got a better look at it, she thought it looked oddly like a seagull in the middle of a box.
Katherine shook the medallion at the strange woman and then screamed at the top of her lungs in her most ferocious and commanding voice that she could muster, “'Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness,will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.' Acts 13: 9-11.”
Amaretto was shocked. She had never heard anyone quote the bible before, but this was a little bit of a guilty pleasure for her as well. The woman who her aunt was standing in front of looked a little offended, as as she did nothing, Katherine shook the strange medallion again and began speaking at the top of her lungs again.
“I command you, unclean spirit, whoever you are, along with all your minions now attacking this servant, by the mysteries of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension, by the descent of the Holy Spirit, for judgment, that you tell me by some sign your name, and the day and hour of your departure. I command you, moreover, to obey me to the letter, I who am a minister despite my unworthiness; nor shall you be emboldened to harm in any way this creature or the bystanders, or any of their possessions!”
The woman gave Katherine a strange look and as she did so, Amaretto quickly looked around the room. There seemed to be a large poster bed across the room that was covered in gauze, and several sitting chairs, a small table and a large roaring fire. Other than that, there appeared to be nothing else in this room, which Amaretto thought looked more like a rather large bedroom with parlor than an evil torture chamber. She had almost wished for the evil villain's chamber for a minute there.
The woman looked like she was about to say something when Katherine shook her charm once more and said, “Silence Deamon!” The woman seemed taken aback and put a hand on her chest and Amaretto looked once again at the symbol that her aunt had in her hand. She squinted her eyes in thought for a moment and then it suddenly popped into her head.
“Wait a minute, that's,” Amaretto started when her Katherine cut her off with a large bellow.
“The power of Mazda compel thee!”
Amaretto felt like she wanted to smack herself in the forehead.
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