Operation: Loch Ness

- 13 -

The lake itself was the source of the luminescence, either by some quality of the rock, or by a biological agent, Banks couldn’t tell. He only knew it was strangely beautiful and was held rapt by sight of the wide, cavernous area, the size of two football fields at least. The water was 10 feet or so below his feet. The rocky roof of the cavern hung 10 yards above them, reflecting some of the lake’s shimmer back on itself. Pale and ghostly thread-like stalactites dropped down over the water like some rough upended pincushion. Banks was so enamored of the scene he almost didn’t spot that Seton had moved along the ledge to their left to study a tall stone cross that had been erected on the edge above the water.

“This isn’t thousands of years old,” Banks said as he stepped over for a look. “Is this one Crowley’s doing do you think?”

Seton had a close look at the carvings that ran the full height.

“No, this is Pictish. And it’s not thousands, but probably at least one thousand years old, maybe a tad older. We’re not the first to be dazzled by the beauty of this place. As I said, many cultures revere caves and caverns, and to them, this must have appeared a truly magical place.”

“They weren’t the last ones here before us either,” Hynd said from behind and to their left. “Have a look at this.”

A secondary, small cave, not natural but hewn out of the rock by metal tools judging by the strike marks, sat, almost hidden in shadows, where the ledge met the main cavern wall. There was nothing in it but two slightly rusted iron cages, each of them the size that might contain a large dog. The floor, both in and outside the cages, was strewn with the bones and skulls of small animals. Banks was no expert, but it looked like they might be rabbits and sheep, and possibly a few dogs and cats.

“This, on the other hand, is most probably Crowley’s doing,” Seton said. “Remember I told you that the locals were reporting missing pets?”

“What the fuck was he doing keeping animals way down here in the dark?” Wiggins asked.

“I told you that before too,” the older man said. “Alchemical experimentation, with the required result being a chimera, of some kind, and the end result being immortality for Crowley himself.”

“I’m guessing that didn’t work out too fucking well for him? He’s been dead a while now, hasn’t he? I’m glad the fucker didn’t succeed. Cruel wanker.”

They had been speaking in whispers since arriving on the ledge, but Banks’ wasn’t sure it was necessary. When he went back to look over the lake, he could see that nothing disturbed the water, not even a ripple; it looked like a sheet of smoky green glass with only a thin film of liquid on top. The sides of the cavern ran smooth and sheer into the water around the edges, and there was no sign of any other ledge, or any cave entrances that he could see.

“It’s here, somewhere,” Seton said at his side, still whispering. “Can’t you smell it?”

“Aye. I smelled the stench most of the way down yon steps. That, and salt water. I’m guessing there might be something to yon theory about an underground channel to the sea?”

“I think it’s more than likely the passage in and out to the firth is here somewhere,” Seton replied. “But as I said, it hasn’t taken flight, maybe because you injured it in the fight at the castle. Whatever the case, it’s still here. And if we can smell it so clearly, it’s close and hiding, suddenly cautious. I doubt it has ever encountered a gun before.”

“Aye, about that,” Banks said. “Do you have any idea why our shots to the body had so little effect?”

“Fat, probably,” Seton replied. “Otters, and indeed most aquatic mammals, have a very thick fatty layer. It would be like firing into a big lump of solid lard trying to get to the actual meat, bone, and sinew on the other side of it.”

That made sense of what Banks had seen at the castle site. A direct shot to the head had been the only thing to give the beast pause. He turned to Wiggins.

“Here that, Wiggo? Headshots only.”

“Aye, Cap. Either that or a couple up the jacksie should get the job done.”

Banks looked around for Hynd.

The sergeant was at the far end of the ledge from the tall Pictish cross, looking down over the edge toward the lake surface.

“We’ve got more steps here, Cap,” he said. He had spoken softly but his voice echoed and carried clearly in the cavern. Banks looked up, wondering if they might dislodge some roosting bats, but there didn’t appear to be any life apart from the four men in the whole glimmering cavern. Banks went over to join Hynd and looked down into the lake.

A set of similarly worn stone steps ran down from his feet to the waters’ edge and continued beyond the loch’s surface, deep into the shimmering green depths. Seton spoke at his shoulder.

“A site for ritual, a baptism of some sort I shouldn’t wonder,” he said. “Another thing Christianity has in common with older, more esoteric ways.”

It took Wiggins to get to the heart of the matter at hand.

“Aye, this is all very nice I’m sure,” he said. “But where’s that fucking monster got to? I’m done with chasing it up and down this bloody loch. It killed my pal, and it’s payback time.”

Seton turned to Banks. The old man was looking tired and wan again. The green cast of the luminescence emphasized the shadows under his eyes and the hollows in his cheeks. But his voice was strong enough.

“Let me try. My voice is all I’ll need,” Seton said. “Let me stand at the cross and try the call again. You’ve all seen it work, you know that even wounded, it should respond, here in the place where it was trained. Let me bring it here.”

“And then we shoot the fucker’s head off?” Wiggins said.

Seton looked pained at the thought.

“I was hoping to try to calm it,” he said.

“Aye, that didn’t do Cally any good, did it? And even if I did let you try to keep it under control, and even if you managed it, then what do we do? We can’t exactly get a fucking huge cage down here to cart it off to Edinburgh Zoo, can we?” Banks replied.

“Surely with the Army’s resources at your disposal… ”

Banks stopped him with a laugh that echoed across the lake and whispered around them on its return trip.

“We’re on suspension, our superior officer is at this exact moment getting his arse kicked from one end of Edinburgh to the other, and the only resources we have are what we’ve got with us down here.”

Wiggins interrupted.

“So, does that mean we shoot the fucker’s head off? Because I want to shoot the fucker’s head off.”

Banks smiled thinly.

“Sounds like a plan to me, Wiggo.”

Seton stood by the tall Pictish cross, put a hand on the stone as if trying to leech energy from it, and began the chant. His voice was thin and wheezy at first, but the echoing reverberation in the chamber appeared to amplify each syllable, and also give energy back to the older man, for his voice grew stronger with each repetition.

“Ri linn cothrom na meidhe, Ri linn sgathadh na h-anal.

“Ri linn tabhar na breithe Biodh a shith air do theannal fein.

A series of ripples ran across the water’s surface, emanating from the far end from where they stood. Banks was looking directly at it when, over a hundred yards away, the beast’s head came up out of the water, and it let out a bark that rang like a gunshot around the cavern.