Epilogue

"Vin!"

Alexandra Styles waved happily when the doors of the plane finally swung open, and she saw Vin Tanner emerging from the Darlin' Millie.

She received the telegram from England a day ago, telling her the Millie was expected to set down on American soil with scant details on how their trip to find the Aegis had ended. Not that it mattered, Alex was grateful enough to have Vin back in one piece, after getting a taste of how dangerous his adventures abroad could be. Unlike Mary Travis, Alex did not crave joining Vin on these expeditions, aware her presence would only give him one more thing to worry about in tense situations.

Besides, it just made their reunions so much sweeter.

During his trip away, Alex busied herself with the preparations she needed to make for her eventual move to Albuquerque. As intended, her interview with the Sisters of Mercy had gone exceedingly well, and the arrangement for her internship was set. Upon completion of her medical degree in New York, she would be relocating to town to take up the position at the hospital and be closer to Vin.

"Alex!"

Vin made no effort to hide his joy at seeing her as he exited the plane, now in its usual place in the private hangar at the West Mesa Airstrip in Albuquerque. Descending the steps leading from the door, he crossed the distance between them ahead of the remaining seven and practically swept her off her feet when they finally embraced. Pressing his lips to hers and feeling Alex's arms circling his neck was the best possible conclusion for what had been a strange journey with a horrific climax.

For a few seconds, nothing existed for them except each other. Not the amused glances of his friends as they disembarked the plane, the somewhat bracing wind rushing through the open hangar doors or even the knowledge their time together would be short. After so many months, it still astonished him her power over him and how only in her presence, a hidden corner of his heart seemed to come alive whenever he saw her.

"How are you, Darlin'?" Vin asked, pulling away from her when the footsteps and voices of the others emerging from the aircraft became audible penetrating the fog of their warm greeting. "Did you do everything you needed doing?"

"Yes. I got the internship, so when I get back from New York, I'll be starting at the Sisters of Mercy hospital."

"That's great," Vin grinned, thrilled at the idea of having her in the same town as him. While he was no teenager mooning after her when they were apart, he could not deny having her close by was wonderful. "When do you have to head back?

"In three days," she frowned, clearly disappointed by the reality of their present, despite the hope for the future. "But at least we'll have tonight and tomorrow together, right?"

"Right," Vin was similarly disappointed at that, but also knew they would put the time to good use. Besides, it was handy having a gal who didn't mind him taking off for extended periods because she had her own life to live. From what Alex had mentioned about it, she would have barely time to think during her internship, let alone be concerned about how much time she had to spend with him.

"How was your trip? Did you find the Aegis?"

Mention of the Aegis sobered his elated mood, and a cold shudder ran down his spine at the mention of the ancient artifact. "Yeah," he nodded, "we found it."

"Everyone, come out! It's safe!"

Vin was the first one out of the gully after Chris Larabee cried out and gave them the signal things were all clear. Lifting his head over the top, Vin sought out Chris first and saw the leader of the seven quickly sealing the Aegis inside the leather satchel once more. What he saw after that, like the rest of his friends emerging from their hiding place, wiped the unflappable expression off his face immediately.

Where there had been at least ten Nazi soldiers, scattered across the clearing, armed with a varied arsenal of weapons from the Fatherland, were figures captured for all time in stone. Caught by surprise, they stood in the clearing, like an out-of-place menagerie of rock, their poses conveying a variety of expressions ranging from surprise and confusion to eventual shock and horror. For the seven and their companions, it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt the power of the Aegis.

"God," Buck whispered at the realisation this garden of stone was only a short time ago filled with flesh and blood men.

"God had nothing to do with this lad," Riley whispered as he stood up after pulling himself over the top of the gully to witness the scene before them.

Julia, clutching Ezra's hand, walked gingerly towards the figures, pausing only when she glimpsed Marler. The SS officer wore an expression of grotesque fear. For a moment, she was reminded of the gargoyles that adorned so many of the old manors in England. The look of terror on his face, perhaps at the last moment realising what was happening to him, made her take a step closer to Ezra.

JD, on the other hand, felt no such anxiety when he approached the statue of Isabella Krauss.

If one did not know this was once a human being, the statue of the Nazi scientist might have been considered a work of art no different than any found in the important museums across Europe. Yet JD knew better. Wearing an inscrutable mask, none of his companions was able to read, a surge of satisfaction coursed through him as he stared into the face of the woman who threatened to take his eyes.

Did she realise at the last minute the prize she so sought after wasn't just some artifact, but the remnants of a creature whose power she was about to experience personally? He would have liked to have known her thoughts in those final moments and realised if Mary was right, if the victims of the Gorgons were aware of what was happening to them, then he had one card left to play.

"JD?" Buck looked at him in concern, feeling uneasy at the expression across the younger man's face because he was unable to read JD at that moment, which was unusual. "Are you okay?

JD was carrying a shotgun, liberated from Nathan who was busy tending to Josiah in the gully and did not utter a word when he raised the weapon and blasted the statue's head off.

The thunderous boom took everyone by surprise. Anyone who wasn't aware of where JD was, jumped. As fragments of rock and dust created a white cloud around him, when it cleared, they saw JD standing in front of the headless statue, set apart from all the others now. While most present were shocked by the vicious display from the usually unassuming young man, Vin who had been sitting next to JD when Krauss was seconds away from taking his sight, was unsurprised.

"Yeah, Buck," JD lowered the gun, "I feel fine now."

"Mary!"

Alex saw Chris helping Mary out of the plane, looking off-colour, with Nathan following closely holding a pair of crutches, she looked at Vin in question. As far as Alex knew, Mary had gone back to New York, probably in a huff because Chris denied her request to join the expedition. Now in hindsight, she supposed she ought to have known better. There was no way Mary would ever take no for an answer, but by barging her way onto the trip, appeared to have become injured in the process.

"She stowed away," Vin shrugged.

"Oh God give me strength," Alex rolled her eyes, wondering why she was surprised by the stubborn recklessness of her best friend and hurried to join them when Mary, Chris and Nathan reached the hangar floor. "What happened to you? Aside from your boneheaded play of stowing onboard?"

"No comment," Chris deadpanned.

"Hey!" Mary scowled at Alex. "Spare me the lecture. I've suffered enough already."

"What happened?" Alex directed her question at Nathan, who would be best to give her the answer she wanted, not so much about the cause but the result.

"She got stung by a poisoned arrow," Nathan explained.

"Naturally," Alex shook her head, somewhat pleased with how well she took that outlandish snippet of intelligence.

"Honestly Alex," Mary grumbled, even though she made no effort to remove the arm Chris had securely around her waist. "I'm fine, you don't have to treat me like I'm some sort of helpless female."

"Yeah, you're ready for a marathon alright."

Chris wasn't about to let her go, not after how close he came to losing her back on that island. They'd spent three days at Madeira, with the seven aside from Josiah who had injuries almost as bad, scouring the length of the archipelago trying to find a way to save her life when the local physicians were baffled by her condition.

For the three days that almost felt like years, Chris watched the fever burn through her, nearly reduced to praying to God didn't see fit to take away another woman he loved.

"Chris!"

Nathan's urgent cry made Chris completely forget what he saw when the Aegis did its worst on Isabella Krauss and her soldiers. Dropping the Aegis, now completely sheathed in its case, he hurried to the gully where Nathan and the others had gone to give the rest of the seven his warning to stay down and keep their eyes closed. When he reached the gully, his first thought was Josiah who was lying against the wall of the trench, his shirt stained with blood but it took a split second to see it wasn't Josiah that caused Nathan's panic. It was Mary.

She was lying across the ground, shaking like a leaf, her luminescent skin almost grey now. Oblivious to them, she continued to shiver, her body bouncing against the mud like animal twitching its last.

"I don't know," Nathan answered, forced to leave Josiah's side to deal with this new crisis. "One minute she was fine and then she started seizing like this. Christ, she's burning up."

How could she have deteriorated so fast? Chris could count how many minutes ago the woman was nagging in his ear, telling him repeatedly just because she needed his help with her injured leg, she wasn't a helpless female, before going on to explain all the things women could do now and she was thoroughly modern...

"Chris," JD's voice spoke up, interrupting that memory. The kid, like the rest of his comrades, had come to investigate after hearing Nathan's hollering. "If Mary was hit by one of the arrows used by the Gorgons, she might be poisoned by their blood."

"What?" Buck burst out. "Gorgons? As in real ones?"

Why was he surprised? Buck thought a second later. They had just escaped the Minotaur, why would the presence of a Gorgon be any more unbelievable?

"Yeah," JD answered the pilot. "There were two of them. Stheno and Euryale, you should have seen them..."

"JD!" Vin said sharply, able to see Chris was about to go off like a stick of dynamite.

"Sorry," JD apologised and turned to Chris, who was cradling Mary in his arms, appearing as helpless as they all felt at seeing the spirited woman in this state.

"Nathan, help her!" Chris demanded, unable to stand seeing her like this. She was no longer conscious of them, her eyes rolling so far back, all he could see were the whites.

"Chris, I don't even know what we're dealing with!" Nathan wanted desperately to help, but he had no idea how. Perhaps if he was a real doctor, he might have some idea what caused such symptoms, but he did not.

"There's gotta be something," Chris stared at him, unable to believe this pain in the ass could go out like this. She deserved better.

"Mithridatium!" JD burst out.

"What?" Nathan stared at him incredulously, perfectly aware of what JD was talking about. "Boy, are you crazy?"

Nathan knew what it was, of course. Anyone calling themselves a healer was aware of it. Mithridatium, a poison antidote created by Mithridate IV, almost two thousand years ago, had been concocted because of the king's deathly fear of poisoning. Legend had it, the antidote was capable of combating all forms of poison and had been used by physicians as late as the 19th century.

"What is it?" Chris demanded, willing to try anything. Mary's seizures were starting to wane, but she remained incoherent and pale. It was more than he could stand.

"It's insane," Nathan bit back. "We have no idea if it would work."

"Nathan, if she's poisoned by something ancient, then maybe what we need is an antidote just as old!" JD pleaded his case.

"Nathan," Ezra added his voice to the debate. "You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. At this moment, you have no idea of what is happening to her, and if young JD's suggestion can save her, why not?"

They were right, Nathan realised. They had nothing to lose.

"Alright," Nathan looked at Chris. "But if we're going to do this fool thing, we have to get back to the mainland right now. I have no idea how much time we have, and you don't make this stuff by going to the grocery store."

Alex's eyes were wide as saucers at Nathan's revelation.

"You're joking. Mithriadatum? It's practically an old wives tale!"

"I know," Nathan agreed, "but it worked."

JD's suggestion required them returning to the Madeira as quickly as possible. Fortunately, when they returned to the Magellan, they found the craft emptied. The U-boat remained, but the Germans on board made no attempt to stop them. Riley suspected there was barely enough crew onboard to run the craft, let alone attempt to pursue them. The ship could hold no more than twenty-five crew and the numbers Vin, Josiah, Buck and Riley left on the beach had amounted to half a dozen, to say nothing of the souls lost to the Aegis.

Returning to Madeira, Josiah was quickly attended to at the hospital. While the older man's injuries were grievous, Nathan who knew all about keeping soldiers alive on the battlefield long enough to get to a hospital, ensured he was stabilised enough to survive the trip to Madeira. Mary's condition left the esteemed doctors at Madeira hospital baffled, with no idea how to treat her. She was suffering some kind of virulent infection burning her inside out, but no drugs they possessed seemed capable of fighting it.

In the end, it was left to the seven to source out the ingredients needed, from every apothecary, herbalist and botanists across the island. When the parts were finally located, all fifty-six of them which included exotic fares such as acacia juice, gentian root, cassia and frankincense, it was JD, the closest thing they had to a chemist, who mixed up the concoction in a honey base, with Nathan's help.

"Absolutely," Mary insisted as they made their way to Chris's car outside in the parking lot. "I'm fine now. Besides, I've had it with sitting still for so long."

"No, kidding," Chris rolled his eyes. "I hadn't noticed. You haven't shut up since you got on the plane."

"Oh God," Buck Wilmington groaned after he, Josiah, JD and Ezra made their belated exit from the Millie. Buck and JD helped Josiah down the steps, while Ezra made sure the man didn't take a tumble forward as he descended the short flight to the floor of the hangar. "Are you two still at it? Mating alligators don't go as hard as it as you two!"

"That bad?" Alex glanced at Buck.

"Enough to test the patience of any number of saints," Ezra remarked, just as sick of hearing the two bicker as the rest of his comrades.

"Hilarious Buck," Mary made a face. "You are off my Christmas card list."

Buck merely grinned that inane grin that always made Chris want to wipe off with his fist.

"Come on Josiah," JD said, leading the man out of the building with Buck continuing to flank him. "We'll drive you back to your flop."

"And I'll be staying over for a few days," Nathan added. "You can't be left alone in your condition."

The big man was taking careful steps ahead, hating to be so weak but unable to deny his condition did demand assistance for a few days at least. "You better not snore."

Before Nathan could answer, JD piped up as they continued out. "And maybe we can get that pretty school teacher to come to visit you. I'm telling you, she likes you, Josiah!"

"I swear," Josiah growled as they disappeared from view. "I'll shoot you."

Laughing as they watched the trio leave, Alex turned back to Vin and the others. "So, what happened with Miss Pemberton? Was she really a spy like you thought?"

All eyes shifted to Ezra at the mention of Julia Pemberton, the spy who so obviously captured his heart, and knew part of the reason for Ezra's melancholy on the return trip home, a rarity in itself, was because he was missing her terribly.

"She was nothing like what I thought," Ezra replied thoughtfully. "Nothing at all."

"I guess this is it."

Three days and nights in Madeira had come and gone with them spending it in hospital rooms or scouring all manner of establishments, to locate the ingredients Nathan needed to save Mary's life. There had been no room to breathe, no time to think of what came next when everyone was fixed on that one purpose. As the group's chief procurer, Ezra had pooled all his resources to get what Nathan needed, because some of the fifty-six items require for the mithridatium was rather hard to come by. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Mithridates had managed to acquire them without the aid of the Air Postal service.

When it was all said and done though, Mary was on the mend and Julia revealed it was time for her and Riley to get back to England.

"I guess so Miss Pemberton," Ezra said, holding her hands in his, and wishing not to let go as he stared into those pools of emerald, wanting to be lost in them forever. They were standing at the local airport as she prepared to board an aircraft back to England, with Riley waiting a discreet distance away to allow them to say their goodbyes in privacy. "I must confess I find it most difficult to say farewell. I have become rather accustomed to your presence in my life."

Julia broke into a radiant smile. "You know," she leaned over and kissed him chastely on the lips. "For an American, you have the amazing ability to sound like a Jane Austen novel."

"Well, I am a man of good fortune," Ezra smiled, but it lacked its typical sardonic tone because he felt gloomy knowing she was going. The woman had been a staple of his thoughts for several months and while he had resigned himself to believing the reality would not be equal to the fantasy, meeting her in the flesh had proved otherwise.

"Surely not in need of a wife," Julia teased.

Ezra dropped his gaze to his expensive wingtips, "I would not say that."

She lifted his chin and smiled as their eyes touched. "I shall not be a stranger Ezra." She pressed his palm against the silk blouse she was wearing. "You are in my heart, Mr Standish, so I will never be far away."

"I have no idea how to contact you," Ezra stared at her. "And considering what you do for a living, I would like to know how you are faring, saving the world in your patriotic pursuits. Perhaps even put pen to paper to compose some suitable prose."

"You can send your letters to my family home. My father will see to it I get them." Julia answered touched by the affection she saw in his eyes and knew whatever this thing between them was, it was real, and it might even stand the test of their time apart.

"And I can expect any return correspondence?" Ezra asked, hopefully.

"What do you think?" She smiled and leaned in for a kiss.

As Ezra leaned forward to return her affection, he couldn't help but think his life had just gotten a great deal more interesting."

"And the Aegis?"

The artifact over which this entire affair had begun was conspicuously absent from their conversation as the group left the hangar, ready to head back to town for a few days of well-deserved rest.

"Don't look at me," Mary shrugged, having asked the question repeatedly when she woke up days later in Madeira, when the worst of her fever was over and received a vague answer from Chris and upon further inquiry, learned none of the seven was eager to talk about it either. She had no idea what had taken place on the island, only that somehow they had managed to elude the Nazis to make it to the mainland in one piece. "They won't tell me anything."

"There's nothing to tell. We delivered it where it needed to be." Vin shrugged, and Alex could tell immediately it was far from the truth.

In fact, as she observed Nathan, Ezra and Chris, she saw a shadow over their faces, telling her that it was best to avoid probing further. After the incident with the Erran and the Tablet of Destiny, Alex concluded some mysteries should remain secret. Even though she would soon be a medical doctor, Alex would never be able to say with certainty, the world they saw every day, was the only one in existence.

"To the British Government?" Mary inquired because she was still recovering from her fevered state when Julia Pemberton had departed Madeira. Had she and Mr Riley taken the Aegis with them?

"No," Chris said firmly, the memory of what he had seen burned so deeply into his consciousness, he had made up his mind the second Isabella Krauss uttered her last breath, what he was going to do with the Aegis. "It's somewhere no one is ever going to get their hands on it."

SOMEWHERE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC.

From the height it was dropped, the Aegis struck the choppy water of the North Atlantic so hard, it created a sizeable column of froth and bubbles before vanishing into the sea.

Secured with diving weights, the Aegis remained in its leather satchel, never seeing the light of day as it plunged through the sky, abandoned by the Folker F20 in mid-flight. Once it reached the ocean, it sank fast, moving through the depths past the indifferent shoals of fish and larger predators who determined very quickly, it was nothing perfect to eat.

It travelled beyond the light, disappearing into the darkness where not even the sunlight penetrated, past the galleons of old, the forests of seaweed and the vast mountains no man could climb. Eventually, it passed from all thought into the deep contours of the world. The end of its journey was witnessed by a lone member of the Grimpoteuthis family, someday to be renamed after a fictional airborne pachyderm, when it landed on the seabed.

The creature displayed mild curiosity at the new arrival, pausing long enough to probe the leather with its stunted tentacles, before determining it was an excellent place to store her eggs when it was time to breed.

But that was for later. When she was ready, the Aegis would be waiting.

THE END