Annja fought hard to keep from panicking. Facing a raging mob of forty cult worshippers wasn’t the best prescription for healthy living. And while she had little doubt that she could kill a lot of them with her sword, eventually, she knew the law of numbers would work against her and she’d be taken down.

Godwin wasn’t armed, either, at least not that Annja knew of. Unless he’d slipped something into his belt back at the torture chamber that she hadn’t seen, he’d be reduced to fighting with his hands. That wouldn’t work for long, either.

Their best bet would be to hold their ground and feign surprise just like the rest of the hooded fools who stood close by. Already, a murmur had rushed through the crowd as hooded members turned and looked at each other asking the same question, “Who?”

Derek spread his arms again. “Brothers, please. Hold your tongues for the moment. I assure you, we will unmask the traitor very soon.”

All attention turned back to Derek. His smile seemed to warm them, although Annja found it inherently creepy. His white teeth shone amid the dim light. On the walls, torches flickered and cast dancing shadows on the walls.

Derek at last turned to Hansen. “Dufresne is dead. He was found in his laboratory with his neck broken. There’d been quite a struggle.”

Hansen’s eyes went wide. “And the prisoner?”

“Apparently, he is free.”

Hansen looked at the crowd. Annja felt his eyes rove over her but they didn’t stop. Hansen looked back at Derek. “We need to find him. Immediately.”

Derek held up a hand to stop him. “In time. He can’t get far. Exit from the mountain is secured and he won’t know how to activate the door without help.”

Hansen frowned. “Help?”

Derek smiled. “Isn’t it obvious? Someone is helping him. Presumably because they have their own agenda.”

“But who?”

Derek looked out at the crowd and turned to them. “Hear me, brothers. Hear my words and understand what I say.” He paused and then spoke again. “I have worked hard to bring you all to this point. To the moment when we can at last realize our goal of uniting behind our god.”

He held up a finger. “But the road is not a safe one to travel. At times, we have been faced with struggles. Interlopers have clouded the road, making it difficult to see where we should go. And in the confusion, we have made our share of mistakes.”

He smiled. “No one likes to admit they’ve made mistakes, but is it not through failure that we learn the most? Is it not by challenge that we test our spirits and resolve?”

Hansen shifted. “We should be looking for the escaped prisoner.”

Derek stopped him. “No. We need to finish this first. Then and only then will we look for him.”

Hansen fell silent as Derek continued his speech. “Many times I have had to ask myself if what I am doing is in the best interests of our organization. We are devoted to the domination of the world under the ancient god Onur. Yet, perhaps our dreams are not those dreams of other people. Maybe we have been mistaken is assuming that all of us are of one mind.”

Annja felt her heart beating a steady rhythm under her robe. Next to her, Godwin hadn’t moved an inch. But she could sense that he was coiled and ready to fight in the blink of an eye.

Derek turned and looked at Hansen. “You helped him escape, didn’t you?”

Hansen managed to laugh at that. “Are you joking? Why in the world would I help him escape?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

Hansen looked at Derek and then out at the robed masses. He shook his head. “This is ridiculous. I’ve been your most ardent supporter.”

“Have you?”

“Of course! Didn’t I work with you at the burial mound of the Araktak? Didn’t I arrange all the deaths at the mining company so we could step into power? Didn’t I pay off the judges and the lawyers and get this mountain into our custody?”

Derek nodded. “Indeed. You did do all of those things. But never have you done any of it without first thinking of yourself.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it?” Derek turned and from under his robes he took out a sheaf of papers. “Behold the bank statements of our illustrious second-in-command.” He riffled through them. “There are deposits here in the millions. And you have five personal accounts that we were able to track down. You probably have many more.”

Hansen was livid. “Where did you get that?”

Derek grinned. “I’ve told many people lately that there is nothing that money cannot buy. Information is perhaps the cheapest of them all. Perhaps you’d like to tell the Brotherhood why it is that you have upward of fifty million dollars in your personal fortune?”

“That’s not true—”

“It’s all right here,” Derek said. “Would you dispute these official bank statements?”

““You could have cooked those up on a computer for all we know,” Hansen said. “It proves nothing.”

Derek shook his head. “It proves that you don’t hold the values of the Brotherhood very seriously.”

“More insanity,” Hansen said.

Derek barely nodded and two guards suddenly rushed forward to pin Hansen’s arms behind him. “Is it really insanity? I don’t think so,” Derek said as he moved closer to Hansen. “You’ve been skimming profits from our various transactions.”

“Not true!” Hansen searched the crowd for sympathy but Annja felt nothing from them. “He’s lying to you! Don’t fall for his lies!”

Derek sighed. “Such a pity when power starts to corrupt. You know the rules we have in place. No one member of the Brotherhood is above reproach. And none of us is supposed to hold a personal fortune when the greater good of our organization demands the sacrifice of us all so we might enable our destiny of unleashing Onur upon the world that has imprisoned him for so long.”

Hansen struggled but his captors held him fast. Annja could see their grim faces and knew that Hansen would have a tough time breaking free.

Derek shook his head as if weighed down by an awful decision. “Fifty million dollars is a lot of money. When the rest of us are living like paupers so that we might help the cause, Hansen here has three homes around the world. And he also has children.”

A collective gasp went up from the group. Annja glanced at Godwin, but his face remained hard as stone. She looked back at the dais, and Derek took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s true. Hansen has spilled his seed even though our rules explicitly state that abstinence is mandatory until the coming of our god.”

He looked out at the crowd. “Are you willing to endanger our mortal souls for the sake of a quick bout of sex? Are you?”

Shouts of “No!” rose from everywhere. Derek nodded and seemed satisfied by the response. “Well, our would-be leader here certainly is willing to do so. And it’s not just his soul in peril, but the souls of all of us who have sworn an oath.”

He looked at Hansen, anger flashing in his eyes. “Obviously, our words mean little to you. The oath you swore with the blood of your left hand, the pledge you made to everyone here, it was all for nothing. You didn’t care.”

Hansen looked down at the ground. “It was an error in judgment. I make no excuses for it.”

“An error in judgment? Is that what you call it?”

Hansen looked up at him. “You are not beyond reproach yourself.”

Derek waved his hands. “I won’t dignify that with a response. Your pathetic attempts to redirect the crowd are nothing but an insult to our intelligence. The fact of the matter is you have broken repeated laws, and for that you must be judged.”

Silence fell over the room and Annja could feel the energy change. Derek looked out across the masses. “Brothers, you know the laws that we are bound by. Each of us holds the right to make a decision about another man’s life. Brother Hansen has transgressed the laws. He has broken his word to us all. His vows are for nothing. And he has helped a prisoner escape.

“Any one of those infractions on its own could carry the ultimate penalty, but taken in concert, the judgment must be made immediately.” Derek held his left hand out and closed it into a tight fist. “I call for death.”

Around Annja, the other robed figures shot their left hands out, and repeated calls for death sounded around them. Annja noticed that Godwin’s left hand shot out, as well. He nudged Annja and she followed suit, although it felt horrible knowing her fist would help condemn a man.

Derek looked out across the sea of closed left fists and nodded. “So speaks the Brotherhood.” He looked back at Hansen. “You have been judged by your brothers. You have been found guilty of breaking the laws that you swore to uphold. For these transgressions, you have been sentenced to death.”

“I refuse to recognize the judgment of this court,” Hansen said. “And I swear my eternal vengeance upon all of you.”

Derek shook his head and then gestured to the men holding Hansen. “Prepare him.”

The guards hauled Hansen over to the edge of the hole in the middle of the dais. Derek nodded and another attendant pulled on an unseen chain. Annja heard a groan and then a steady creaking.

Something was opening on the dais. Unseen to Annja and Godwin, the hole had a cover over it. The attendant pulling the chain now opened it.

Flames shot up from inside the hole. Annja could just make out the highest bits of fire lapping at the edges of the opening.

Hansen started to struggle, desperate to fight off the men who held him fast. But as much as he tried, he couldn’t break free of their grasps.

“You can’t do this!” he shouted.

Derek looked at him as if he was nothing but a pesky fly. “I didn’t do this. You did. And now you must pay for your crimes against the Brotherhood.”

The guards holding Wishman and Nyaktuk pulled them away from the hole. The guards holding Hansen moved him closer.

Derek looked at Hansen and then frowned. “The traitor still wears our garments. Disrobe him.”

“No!” Hansen struggled and kicked at the guards as they stripped the coarse woolen garment off him and handed it to Derek.

Derek hefted the robe. “You have forfeited your right to wear one of these and call yourself one of us.”

Annja could feel the tension rising in the room. Godwin had shifted ever so slightly. Was this it? Would they attack now?

Derek paced the dais. “The flames of Onur demand that all traitors be given over to them for absolute judgment.” He looked at Hansen. “Do you have any final words for the Brotherhood?”

Hansen spit in Derek’s face. “I will never grovel to the likes of you. Or them. You are all bound to die here in this mountain. Mark my words, I will see to your destruction.”

Derek wiped his face and nodded. “So be it.”

He walked to the edge of the fire pit and raised his hands overhead. “Great god Onur, in your name we beseech thee. We have aspired for many long years to bring about your resurrection and unleash you from the prison that holds you to this day. And here in our midst we have found one who would not see that done. He is one who has been judged by his peers and found guilty of high treason. We ask that you judge him as he deserves to be judged, that you show him the suffering that awaits all who would keep you imprisoned in the netherworld.”

The flames licking the edge of the fire pit grew suddenly higher as if they sensed the inevitable. Hansen had stopped struggling and seemed resigned to his fate. His eyes were dark stones absent of regret or hesitation.

He looked at Derek. “If I am to be killed for my crimes, then at least offer me the dignity of doing it myself.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “And why would I grant you that right when none have ever been granted it before?”

“Because we are brothers.”

Derek shook his head. “No longer.” He turned to the guards holding Hansen. “Throw the condemned into the flames of Onur.”

Hansen smiled at Derek. “I will see you in Hell.”

“Not for a very long time,” Derek said. He stepped aside and nodded to the guards. They started pushing Hansen to the edge.

In the next instant, Annja had the impression that Hansen was toppling into the fire pit at the exact same moment that Godwin leaped forward and up onto the dais.

“Now, Annja!” he shouted.