The Grey Lady 3 (The Final Chapter)

"He's free" were the first words I heard as I picked up the telephone and as I recognized the Holy man's voice my blood ran cold, "and he's coming after you, you've foiled his attempts of immortality twice and now he's determined to stop you once and for all, you'd better get here quick".

I told Sam and Alan of the phone call and Sam agreed to come along but Alan couldn't join us straight away and said he would come as soon as possible. During the refit of the Grey Lady I employed a sort of odd job man called Ralph and to my surprise when I told him of the Grey Lady's previous adventures he asked if he could join us, I could not see any reason why not and with my old Land Rover lashed to the fore deck and Ralph's motor bike stowed below we departed the tiny harbor town of Conwy yet again on another voyage into the unknown.

Arriving at Casablanca I immediately set off to see the Holy man at the monastry but was told that he had left two days before and was trying to keep track of where the evil one was going to try and regenerate himself, the last the monks had heard was that he was in Al-Jaza'ir and making his way to Tarabulus where he would rendezvous with us. The monks told me how a band of the Devil's followers had broken into the vaults below the monastry and released the evil one and that not only were we to face the Devil himself but also this time we would also have to do battle with his so called disciples.

Once back at the Grey Lady we decided that because Ralph was unknown it would be better if he made his way to Tarabulus on his motor bike whilst Sam and myself took the Grey Lady through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean Sea to our rendezvous with the Holy man.

As we passed through the Straits we picked up a small vessel on our radar which seemed to be shadowing us and as we altered course the boat copied our movements so it was obvious we were being followed.

As we docked in Tarabulus I was pleased to see the Holy man waiting for us and as he came aboard a hail of gun fire ripped into the Grey Lady sending us scuttling for cover as Sam started the boat and tried heading out to open sea only to have our way barred by the boat that had been shadowing us. Acting purely on instinct Sam turned the Grey Lady back to port where we would have to make a stand, the only weapons on board where the same as before, being a small hand gun a couple of harpoons and the very pistol. We armed ourselves and as we neared the dock Ralph appeared tearing down the wharf and scattering our attackers on his way and as they broke cover we managed to pick off four of them before the others fled.

With the dockside attackers taken care of we decided that we must try to sort out the boat that had been following us and as Ralph jumped on board to join us he produced a couple of hand grenades that where put to good use as we neared our pursuers and sent the boat and it's crew to the bottom of the Mediterranean. When I asked Ralph about his extra armament he told me not to ask too many questions of him and I was happy to leave it at that for the time being. The Holy man told us that he thought the Devil was heading for the old temple of El Sibu at the southern end of Lake Nasser in Egypt as this was the centre of his original empire.

We dropped Ralph off on the dockside at Tarabulus and arranged to meet up again at El Iskandariya on the northern coast of Egypt. As we sailed along the North Africa coast we picked up two more small craft following us but due to the previous encounter they kept their distance but where an obvious threat to our mission.

I received a message from Alan saying he could now join us and we arranged to meet up in El Iksandariya along with Ralph and try to formulate some kind of plan and it was decided that we would continue to send Ralph out on his own whilst the Holy man and myself would travel in the Land Rover leaving Sam and Alan to sail down the Suez canal and we would all meet up again at El Quseir on the Red Sea, this would have the effect of confusing our followers and making them split up into smaller bands to follow all of us. Ralph was to follow the coast line and keep the Grey Lady in sight and the Holy man and myself would drive down through the Valley of the Kings and follow the Nile. Ralph again surprised us by handing out extra weapons so we were now capable of holding our own in a showdown. As daylight faded we separated and went our different ways and before too long we had a vehicle tailing us as we headed out of El Iskandariya.

Sam and Alan aboard the Grey Lady were also being followed by the two smaller craft we picked up on the radar and as we found out later they had a pitched battle during their voyage through the Suez Canal in which Ralph sank one from the banks of the canal and Sam and Alan dispatched the other but not until the Grey Lady had sustained some serious damage and when I next saw her she was barely afloat and nowhere near sea worthy.

Once clear of El Iskandariya the vehicle following us came up hard behind us and tried to ram us off the road into a ravine, the Holy man immediately picked up a hand gun and started firing at our pursuers but undaunted they kept coming back and ramming the Land Rover and returning the Holy man's fire, this continued for a couple of miles until we were stopped by two cars blocking the road, as quickly as I could I turned the Land Rover around and started a game of chicken with our assailants.

With headlights and guns blazing we approached each other and with nothing to lose we kept the Land Rover on a collision course with no thought of avoiding our attackers and with just inches to spare our assailants bottled out and as they turned the Land Rover caught them a glancing blow sending them into the ravine in a ball of flames. With in seconds the two vehicles that had formed the road block were behind us and closing fast so with no time to lose I told the Holy man to empty one of the jerry cans of fuel out of the back of the Land Rover and as soon as he had emptied it he lit it with a single shot and as we watched the road lit up sending a few more of the Devil's followers to their maker.

During the night we received an urgent message from Sam telling us to meet them at Za'farana without delay and as we reached the tiny port I could hardly believe the Grey Lady was afloat after its battle in the Suez canal. The state of the Grey Lady paled into insignificance with the news that we were too late to stop the Devil's regeneration, during the battle in the Suez canal Alan had captured one of the Devil's disciples who had told him that the evil one was now at large and wanting revenge.

It was only myself and the Holy man that the Devil wanted so we told Sam, Alan and Ralph that they could return home in relative safety if they wanted and we would do what we could to curtail the Devil’s return, all three decided to see this last adventure through to the bitter end and so we set about making good the Grey Lady as best we could. The Holy man said the only chance we had was to sail to Brother Island in the Red Sea and make a stand in the old monastry there.

Loading the now very battered Land Rover onto the Grey Lady we prepared to set sail when Ralph decided he would stay behind. The Holy man told me that during the Devil's original reign of terror more than two thousand years ago Brother Island was virtually out of bounds to the evil one because he could never get the inhabitants to accept him and his evil regime and so he wiped out the islanders and raised the ancient monastry to the ground in his anger. So it may just give us an edge against him in the momentous battle to come.

As we set sail we were met by a small flotilla of our own followers drawn from the holy orders of the Abbey's and Monastry's of North Africa who had come to know of our quest from the monks in Casablanca. As we headed out into the Red Sea I got my first sight of the Evil One stood on the banks of the sea and as I watched he sent a tidal wave racing towards us. Instead of trying to outrun the wave Sam turned the Grey Lady head on into it and as it hit us the Grey Lady took on a lot of water and as the wave past we were very low in the water and listing badly, three of our flotilla had sunk and the rest were now scattered across the sea.

Alan started the pumps whilst the Holy man and myself tried to plug any holes we found the best we could when another gigantic wave hit the boat broadside on nearly rolling the Grey Lady over, as the boat slowly righted itself I saw Ralph once again tearing along the banks on his motor bike with all guns blazing and as he neared the evil one I saw the Devil unleash a mighty fire ball which hit him sending him instantly into oblivion, this distraction was enough for us to get far enough away from the Devil and into deeper water and relative safety for the time being but with Brother Island more than 150 miles away it was still a treacherous journey ahead of us.

With the pumps at full stretch the Grey Lady slowly lifted in the water and as the small flotilla reformed we began to steadily make for Brother Island. As daylight faded we came under attack from two patrol type boats and with the Grey Lady being the main target we sustained a lot of damage during the night but when dawn came we were still afloat and on the horizon we could see Brother Island. BROTHER ISLAND With the advent of daylight several of our flotilla broke away and engaged the patrol boats as the Grey Lady ploughed on to the island.

Arriving at Brother Island we could find nowhere to dock and so we had to beach the Grey Lady and in the process we managed to hold her hull below the water line making her now totally unsailable. Offloading the Land Rover we used it to ferry what armaments and supplies we had up to the ancient ruins of the monastry and with the help of our few followers we set about trying to make some sort of defenses against attack from the Devil's disciples.

Before too long about a dozen boats appeared heading for the island with the evil one stood on the prow of the lead craft. As the boats hit the beach all hell broke loose as the evil one's army rushed our defences and despite fighting literally for their lives and the good of all mankind the monks were slaughtered mercilessly until eventually only myself, Alan, Sam and the Holy man remained cornered in the ancient ruins.

When the fighting ended and the guns fell silent the Devil appeared and as he came towards us he told us how he wanted us to suffer as he had done for more than two thousand years and unleashed a powerful force which held us in its grip unable to move or defend ourselves. We were beaten relentlessly and then dragged and manhandled back to the Grey Lady where we were shackled to the boat to await the tide to flow in and take us.

As we lay on the deck of the Grey Lady beaten and exhausted I heard the unmistakable sound of the Land Rover careering through the undergrowth of the woodland and as it burst onto the beach I was amazed to see Ralph at the wheel. He tore up the sands scattering and killing the Devil's disciples until only he and the Devil remained. The evil one sent a great fire ball at the Land Rover blasting it to smithereens and as the plume of smoke and debris settled Ralph came walking out of the carnage and as he and the Devil faced each other from opposite ends of the beach a great battle of supernatural forces commenced.

With every lightning bolt and fire ball that hit Ralph we thought it would be the end but he returned every volley with his own supernatural fire power until after what seemed an eternity the Devil lay exhausted and powerless on the sands. The Ancient Ruins On Brother Island Releasing us from our shackles Ralph then told us to take the evil one to a rock high up on Brother Island and when we reached our destination Ralph incarcerated the Devil in the rock itself for all eternity.

Returning to the Grey Lady we managed to make temporary repairs and eventually once more sailed victorious into the tiny harbor of Conwy. As we disembarked from the Grey Lady I asked Ralph who or what he really was and he simply replied "I am" and with that I watched as he walked off along the quayside and disappeared into the streets of Conwy.