Free Black Legion: 03 - Warlords of Cunaxa by Michael G. Thomas Page B

bloody, shocking and violent, but necessary. Each of them dropped down to reduce their size, in case anybody else was watching. Then they checked back to see Xenophon leaving his weapon.
    “What are you doing?” shouted Artemas.
    Xenophon ignored her and ran towards them as fast as his legs would take him. It was then that she saw the glowing weapon near the stone and a rising wail coming from the same area. Glaucon grabbed her and pushed her down.
    “Get down!” he yelled.
    In answer to his shout, the weapon overloaded and exploded, its half expended magazine core sending the weapon’s charging capacitor to unsustainable levels. The explosion was modest but extremely hot and violent. Part of the entrance was smashed, and large parts of masonry collapsed down to partially block it.
    “Not bad,” said Glaucon, lifting himself back to his feet. He turned to Artemas and helped her up. She removed her helmet, shook her head and rubbed her eyes.
    “Uh, okay, what now then?”
    They all looked around at the area they were now in. There were many bodies dotted around the open space, and the columns and water features exhibited various degrees of damage from the battle. It looked like a cross between a garden of tranquillity and a suicide bombing. Glaucon stopped turning and looked in the direction the soldiers had originally arrived from. A trail of bodies led back to the elevator and the primary access point for the Royal Apartments.
    “The elevator?” suggested Glaucon.
    “What, the way they came in?” asked a less than impressed Roxana.
    Xenophon picked himself up and increased his speed towards the doors of the elevators, passing the two naked bodies of the mute assistants.
    “Yes, it’s the last thing they would expect!”
    He jumped inside and looked for a panel or some kind of control unit. By the time the others arrived, he was still looking but no closer to finding something. Glaucon joined him with a close search of the interior walls of the elevator.
    “Where is it?” he asked in frustration.
    Lady Artemas waited near the door.
    “I was trying to tell you. The elevator is controlled by those two,” she explained, pointing to the unfortunate victims of the first wave of soldiers.
    “The system is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, so guests will not notice the technology in the spire.”
    Roxana moved to the side of the elevator so that she could look down to the open shaft leading to the ground level. It gave the impression that the glass elevator was actually fitted to the exterior of the spire. Although she could see the outer parts of the spire, it was impossible for her to see the other five elevators. They were blocked from view by the shape of the central hexagonal shaft.
    “What? There must be an override or an emergency mode to get to the ground level?” Xenophon asked with a slight trembling in his voice.
    Artemas was busy watching something much lower down the structure of the spire. Xenophon followed the direction she was watching, but either her eyes were substantially more effective in low light or he was looking in the wrong place. Without warning, Artemas jumped back, almost knocking Xenophon to the ground.
    “Get out, now!” she shouted, continuing to move away.
    Glaucon and Roxana were out first, but Xenophon only made it to the doorway when the elevator started to move. The two of them reached in and pulled him hard, managing to drag him from the falling platform in the split-second that it took for it to accelerate away. He landed hard and didn’t stand back up. Roxana and Tamara looking down into the shaft where the elevator had been just seconds earlier.
    “What happened?” he asked.
    A terrible crashing sound of twisted metal and smashed glass answered his question. Glaucon helped him to his feet, and Tamara handed him back the carbine he’d dropped.
    “So they aren’t too bothered about taking any prisoners, then?”
    Glaucon’s expression confirmed his