Hell Rising: Book Summary

The novel begins on board the Chromwell in the North Sea. The Dragoons have a new leader, named Aubrey Quayle. He is approached by one of his men and is told that it’s time and he heads to the main deck.

There he meets Morrigan and oversees the impending execution of a man named Richardson.  He is accused of theft and attempted mutiny.  The condemned argues but it doesn’t do any good. Quayle has him strung up and hung out over the sea, where he decapitates the man and then has it dropped into the ocean.

Morrigan and he go into his cabin and she tells him about the artifacts that the dead man had stolen.  She shows him a perfectly formed sphere. It is the Orichalcum, the firestone of Irish legend. They have something to do with Atlantis.

Kane, Grant, Cotta and Brigid are in the Antarctic. They are searching for a redoubt that is supposed to be a bioengineering facility, and that it wasn’t officially part of the network, or part of the concept.

They eventually find it and enter.  One of the first things they spot is a huge Nazi swastika hanging on the wall.  The facility was, back in the 1960’s, cutting edge of technology, but now it’s just primitive. As they look around they are shot at and they track the man down and stop him.  His name is Otto Skorzeny. 

He wants to know if they have come for him. He makes comments on their Aryan appearance and calls grant a derogatory name.  The former Magistrate loses his temper and goes to knock the Nazi on his rear.  But instead the Nazi appears to have superhuman speed and strength and avoids the attacks.  They are able to drive him away. 

Brigid informs them that the man was a high-ranking Nazi, the creator of an elite commando force.  Supposedly he passed away in the mid 1970’s.

She informs them while she digs through the files and she comes up with data on the Installation.  It was built in 1944 from an outpost.  More information is brought up about operation Paper Clip.  They decide that it’s worth the risks to explore the redoubt. 

As they explore they find a mess hall as well as private quarters. They also come across the medical facility and a number of coffins that look like primitive cryonic tubes.  Inside the medical facilities they find the rotted remains of the heads of the scientists that had been there, in order to be preserved. But it failed.

The deeper they go, the more they are certain that the barons will not be able to use the facility to regenerate.  They also find a huge hoard of treasure that was stolen during the Second World War and consider sending back a second team to recover it.

They come to a pit, and get the impression that it’s more an arena than just a depression in the building. There is a horrible smell coming from it.  Just then the Nazi Skorzeny appears and he is holding what looks like a control box.  He opens a door and from it emerges a Yeti.  The Nazi explains that it was cloned from the remains that the Germans got from a monastery.  It is totally under his control.  He manipulates the control box and forces the creature to attack.  The fight is one of the most brutal that Kane or Grant has even been in. 

During the fight it gets its hands on Cotta and tears his arm off. Brigid is horrified but fires at him and manages to hit the control box, stopping the yeti in its tracks. Skorzeny takes off and Brigid follows him.  They go into the redoubts power plant.  Here they fight and she is hit in the head, knocked for a loop. But during the fight the Nazi has his hair caught in the gears of the machine and is killed.

Grant does what he can to stabilize her while Kane heads for the discarded medical kit. He is shocked to see that the Yeti is still alive, after all the wounds that it sustained.  He is even more shocked to hear it speak to him. He apologizes for what he did, not having been able to control himself. The Yeti dies.

Once they have Brigid stabilized they make a stretcher and head out of the redoubt to the gateway in the outer Quonset.

During the jump back Kane finds himself in the grip of another jump dream.  He dreams that he is Ka’in, and that they are together meeting an ambassador for the Formori. It is an interesting historical dream for him.  But it changes pace and she meets up with Fand.  She beseeches him to come back to Ireland and help them.  She warns of an impending holocaust that will occur if Quayle and Morrigan succeed in their plans. 

When the jump ends Dafore takes them down to the medical facility.  She has to induce a coma in Brigid because of her extensive injuries. She then tends to Kane and Grant, treating their wounds.  Grant heads out and goes to his quarters but is stopped by Lakesh.  The old man finally gets a brief description of what happened in Antarctic.

Finally Grant is able to get back to his room and he sees Domi sitting on the floor, naked as usual, skinning some rabbits she had killed. He tells her what happened and that he’s sick of the sight of blood.  She leaves, in a huff and is quite angry.

Quayle is with Morrigan on the Chromwell.  They are talking about the Atlantis outpost and the history of the area and what has happened after Strongbow Disappeared. He tells her straight of his feelings to her but she turns him down.  This rejection causes him to snap and he drives her hard. He grabs her by the neck and rips her clothing off and rapes her.

Kane is in pure agony from his wounds.  Even the pills that he got from Dafore don’t help him.  He is visited by Fand once again and she presses the urgency of him returning to England. She leaves him alone.

Dafore shows up to check on him, and they talk about Brigid and getting retrieving Cotta’s corpse. She tells him during the discussion that she feels that she is nothing more than a glorified medic, so Kane calls her Doctor, melting the ice between them. He heads to Brigid’s room and goes to her computer, types in the word Atlantis and starts reading.

Later Kane meets with Grant, Lakesh and Domi in order to discuss what he found in the files. They discuss a great deal of information on Atlantis and other ancient civilizations and the connection to Fand.  They vote no regarding the journey to the UK, as it is far too dangerous and none of them are in the condition to head over. But Kane says his instincts push that they go and he’s going to go with, or without them.

Reluctantly Grant agrees to go and both head down to the armory where they pick up replacement sin-eaters as well as grens and agree to meet at the gateway at exactly twelve midnight to make the jump.

Before leaving Kane stops one more time to visit Brigid and before he leaves, kisses her and asks her to come back to him.

Grant hears Domi’s knocks and lets her in. She demands to know why he won’t give into her advances, and even goes as far as threatening to go to whoever wants to be with her. He insists that it isn’t her, that it’s him.  She leaves, very angry.  She wanted to be part of their mission but is needed to go retrieve Cotta’s corpse from the Antarctic.

Kane and Grant arrive in England, back in the wildroot compound. The compound is deserted. They discover evidence of a hell of a fight and manage to locate a motorcycle to transport them to New London. On the road they are attacked by Celts.

They fight their way past the attacking Celts and soon come upon another battle. The Celts are taking down a group of Dragoons.  Once again they are attacked and have the motorcycle blown out from under them. The Celts are going to kill them when Fand arrives and calls them off.

They also meet with Phin Mac Cumhal Mal Trenmore, the chieftain that they met a year before.  Fand explains that the last of the Dragoons in New London are gone and that they had just finished taking the city.  She leads them into the battle-ravaged city, straight to the former Dragoon command center. It turns out that the Cromwell left three days previous.

Dead litter the streets, but the Celts plan to help the survivors rebuild their shattered city and nation, hand in hand.

Once they enter the compound they hear the sound of gunfire. The head deep into the keep and come to Strongbow’s former trophy room.  Several of the Celtic artifacts are still stored there.  Just past they find the last Dragoons.  They fight and kill all but two, taking the other two captive.

With the battle finished, Fand disappears.  Kane goes after her and finds her where Strongbow held Enlil’s corpse.  She tells him that she knows what Enlil did and that she is now totally sane. Together they go to Strongbow’s office and get information on Quayle, the man who took over the Dragoons when Strongbow disappeared.  Here they learn about his base of command, the Northstar 40.

Morrigan is brought up and its revealed that her father was a Dragoon, who had raped her mother.  It is also mentioned how she is working with Quayle despite her hatred for the British, in order to gain the Fire Stones.  She is willing to see all of England wiped off the face of the globe, and is willing to risk destroying Ireland and even all of Europe in the process.

In the mid afternoon Kane and Grant have taken quarters. They discuss who took Enlil’s corpse and why.  Fand comes to them and gives them both a herbal drink and treats their wounds.  When she is done they head off to separate beds. 

Kane has a dream that he is Ka’in and meets Fand.  He is making love to her.  When he wakes, he is actually having sex with her.  In a rage he pulls her off and accuses her of using her psychic abilities on him. She denies it, and leaves him.

They leave the city on a ship called the Hornblowers wraith and travel to the Northstar 40.  Things go as they planned and the captured soldiers meet with Quayle. But instead the man orders them to stand down and give up their weapons.  The prisoner announces that it’s a trap and he is killed. They start a battle.  Grant damages one of the rig’s ballast tanks and plans to take out a second one.

The battle is brutal, both sides suffering heavy losses.  During the fight, Kane finds Morrigan. He gives her his coat to protect her.  At this point the Dragoons have lost the last battle.

The Cromwell disembarks from the oilrig.  Kane is forced to jump into the freezing water after it.  Fand is already on board the ship, having unsuccessfully tried to stop it.  Quayle fights Kane until he draws his Sin-Eater.  Quayle finds Fand and is ready to kill her, and this forces Kane to drop his weapon. Both are then taken prisoner and are locked up.

Twelve hours later they arrive at the isle of Lyonesse.  There are no beaches anywhere, nothing except an ancient staircase leading into Kraken like figure.  Quayle forces them to go down and they do so.  They see a huge area where hideous hybrids were created, as well as the remains of those hybrids that didn’t survive.  Quayle attacks Fand and she snaps.  A vicious fight ensues where both Quayle and Kane sustain even more wounds.  In the end Kane activates a device that Quayle is standing on, triggering both a metamorphosis and a chain reaction.  Kane and Fand run out of the ancient building and board the Wraith and head for home.

Back at Cerberus Kane is with Brigid when she finally wakes from her coma.

A total of three days passed in this novel

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