Rubaan smiled and nodded her way as he hurried to cut Eryc loose. A few other Black Knights rushed to Quint and Gerard. As Rubaan pulled the hood off of Eryc and helped him to his feet, the old captain's face suddenly made a concerned expression.
"By the goddess," Eryc whispered as he examined his saviors. "You are... Black Knight."
"The one and only," Rubaan placed a sword into Eryc's hand, "Are we going to regret this?"
Eryc silently looked back at Quint and Gerard. He examined the faces of his subordinates and then turned back toward Rubaan and solemnly shook his head, "No Sir. It seems we have nothing left and… nowhere else to go. We will stand by you if that's what it takes to protect our Lady. We are soldiers without an army… she is our last and only mission."
"This is not exactly what I signed up for…" Quint mumbled as Rubaan cut his bindings. Eryc turned quickly and held the point of his sword to Quint's throat.
"You can move forward with us," Eryc snarled as he glared at his apprentice, "Or you can remember this as your last mortal moment. Which do you choose Quint?"
"Shit Eryc!" Quint shouted as he stumbled backward, "Calm down. I did not mean anything by it. I was just whining. Of course, I am with you!"
Eryc nodded his head and lowered his blade. He patted the soldier on the shoulder, and Rubaan stepped forward and handed Quint a sword. "Do not endanger my sister," He warned, grabbing the back of Quint's neck, "I will not hesitate like your master just did."
"You need not worry little brother," Quint smiled surely and raised his head, "She is in good hands."
Gerard had some difficulty standing his massive body as he had lost a considerable amount of blood from the wounds he had sustained. On a battlefield, a Gaian was both agile and robust, the Humaan people had engineered them to be the best of the best. Unfortunately for them, their great weakness was their size for they made excellent targets. Eryc was quick to help his old battle brother to his feet and after he did the two looked at each other and nodded.
"Will you make it old friend?" Eryc asked as he grimly examined Gerard's wound. Gerard made a grunt of affirmation and with a bit of effort was able to find his balance as Rubaan handed a sword to him.
"I have been through worse," He shrugged, looking down at the bullet holes that littered his body, "I am healing, I am strong. Goddess willing, I will be fine." Eryc pursed his lips and gently gave his shoulder a pat just as Commander Crinnan stepped up.
"What may I call our hero?" Eryc asked as he turned to the Commander and extended his hand.
"I am Commander Crinnan Jamiso," he replied as he grabbed Eryc's hand, "And you?"
"I am Captain Eryconius Wilhymm," Eryc lowered his head and dropped to a knee, "We are at your disposal, Commander."
"I am glad to know you," Crinnan looked down at Eryc, "I thank you for protecting my daughter for all these years, but we need to get her out of here. I have contacted Commander Xian Phoenix of Black Knight Base 21, and he is ready to accept you all into his care. We need to get you to the roof of Dauid's tower so that you can be extracted safely."
Eryc was naturally hesitant to accept orders from someone who only hours before was his enemy, but at that point, he knew he had no other alternative. His fate ironically lay with Black Knight. He felt reasonably confident that Sarasin's father would not allow her to be put in a dangerous position and that boded well for him and his men. At the same time, he was mildly concerned that Sarasin's father was probably only working on favors considering who Sarasin was and had barely the time to set anything up at all. In the end, Eryc nodded and followed Commander Crinnan.
Sarasin walked silently as her father sandwiched the Govian heretics between himself and his own team of knights. She thought back to her childhood years and how she had always looked up to her father as something more than a man. Sarasin remembered that when she was little, she felt like her father was the answer to every question or problem she could ever encounter, unkillable and undefeatable. Father, to her, was god.
"Daddy, I…"
"Remember my love," Commander Crinnan quickly yet gently said as he led the group, "Now is not the time for talking."
As her lips sealed, she felt a wave of shame crash into her. What a stupid person she was to ever think she was anything more than just another in the ranks of mortal kind. Only a day prior Sarasin had been a highly influential political and military figure in the Govian Army able to send thousands to their death with a gesture so simple as lifting a finger. Now, she felt as if she were a child once again, a scared, defenseless child.
"When will the effects of the SUPs wear off?" Sarasin asked as she jogged up a few steps next to Quint, "I would very much like to be able to defend myself."
"These narrow walls do not leave any room for the anti-machines to escape," He replied, a bit woozy from the events of the day, "We uh... " he took a breath and shook clarity back into his head, "We should be clear once we leave this tunnel." She rubbed her hand across his shoulders and back.
"You will be okay Quint," She promised him, "We will find safety soon enough. You will be fine, thank you… for everything." Quint nodded and forced a smile.
The dozen or so bodies continued down the narrow dimly lit white concrete path and eventually found themselves in what could have been described as a "room" but was more like "just a wider path." Standing in the room were a few more Black Knights equipped in light armor. Sarasin looked at each of them and noticed that one of them appeared to look almost exactly like she did except for the fact that her hair was black, shorter and pulled back behind her head. When Sarasin saw her, she closed her eyes and began to weep again.
"Sweet girl, sweet girl in my lap you are curled
Sweet girl, sweet girl my blood and my world
I give you this song you've already my heart
Sweet girl, sweet girl I was yours from the start
Sweet girl, sweet girl dream sweet dream long
Sweet girl, sweet girl, sing your mother's song."
"Oh, my sweet girl!" Ladia Jamiso declared as she briskly walked forward, leaving a trail of tears in her wake. "Thank the Brothers that you are alive!" She approached the girl and gazed into her daughter's green eyes, placing a hand on each of her cheeks. "What has this world done to you!" She hugged Sarasin and buried her head into her neck.
"Why, oh why did you leave me this long?" Ladia asked. Sarasin could feel her mother's words vibrating on her neck, and she could not help but join in on the tears. Ladia took a step back and looked at her daughter up and down. She straightened her hair with her fingers and shook her head painfully.
Sarasin's eyes were cast toward the ground, and Ladia gently lifted her chin so that their gazes met. She felt relieved that her daughter had been alive the whole time, that her nights of worrying for her children were not in vain. She nodded her head, balled her fist, and cracked her daughter in the jaw.
Sarasin crumpled backward, holding her face where her mother had struck her. She looked up and saw not the beaming, tearful mother she had met only moments earlier but instead a fuming, snarling, angry She-Elf.
She looked very much like the face she saw every morning in the mirror.
"Do you know what you have done!" Ladia shouted as she took another step forward, "How many lives you have ended; ruined in your position. Do you know the travesties you have caused across the world?"
Sarasin opened her mouth to respond but could not find any words. Her mother again stepped closer and quickly snatched her hand out, grabbing a firm hold of Sarasin's thick long red hair. She dragged her daughter closer to her, and for a moment they stared each other eye to eye. Ladia huffed and pulled back on Sarasin's head so that she was looking at the dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
"If you were anyone else, I would kill you now!" Ladia shouted as she grabbed Sarasin's neck with her free hand, "I would slice your throat and watch you bleed out here on the floor. You have shamed your family, you have killed our people, your people… for wh
at! What have you gained, how is this world better!? How did your father and I fail you!?"
"Ladia, enough!" Lord Crinnan boomed. He hurried forward and pulled his frantic wife off their daughter. He looked at the two of them and shook his head.
"Now is not the time for this," He scolded them. He looked to his daughter. Her jaw had bruised, and she was in tears, but she seemed to be okay. He put his hand on her back and pulled her in.
"We missed you." He kissed the top of her head and embraced her. Sarasin placed her hands on her father's chest, and he squeezed her a little tighter. "You are home now. We will sort out your past when you are safe. Now just know you are loved and I will not let anybody harm you anymore." Behind them, Ladia shook her head and finally calmed herself. She approached her family and ran her hand through Sarasin's hair.
"I love you, and I missed you terribly," She slowly said as she glared at her daughter, "But I am not yet able to forgive you for the evil you have committed."
"I do not know how you ever could mother," she choked, "You are right. I have done terrible things." Hundreds of images shot through Sarasin's mind. She saw brief glimpses of flayings, hangings, beheadings, scorchings, stacking competitions… she saw the massacre from earlier and pulled away from her father, looking him in the eye.
"I deserve punishment," she sighed. "Death even, but not here. Not today, not at the hands of those who have betrayed me. If I am to die, then it should be at the hands of those whom I have wronged, if that is what awaits me at Base 21 then I am prepared for it. For now though, if the plan is to get me out of here, then please, get me out of here."
Her father looked at her solemnly and ran his hand through her hair. "My love, remember that there is nothing that you could do to make me love you less." He tenderly said. He took a deep breath and looked back at Eryc, the head of Sarasin's guard. "Are you familiar with Dauid's tower?"
"I am," Eryc replied, a bit perturbed by everything that was going on, "I am Govian after all."
"That you are," Commander Crinnan said, "Right now we are standing beneath Dauid's tower, the highest structure in all of Canrom City. Lord Xian's escort will soon arrive to pick you up from the roof of Dauid's tower and take you to Base 21. We… we will not be able to accompany you, not even to the roof of the tower. Despite our love for our daughter, we must remain here… in the shadows."
"I understand," Eryc replied, "We will keep her safe."
"Good," Commander Crinnan turned to the corridor opposite the one they had emerged from, "Down there you will find a ladder that will lead you to the basement of Dauid's Tower. From there you will need to scale the building to the roof and wait for the transport. They are sending one of their fastest craft so they should be there within the hour." Again, Eryc nodded, and Commander Crinnan snickered. "Never imagined I would be trusting one of my greatest accomplishments to a Govian."
"As I said," Eryc reassured his former enemy, "Sarasin is safe with us. You have my word." Commander Crinnan smiled at Eryc and extended his hand. Eryc looked at it silently for a moment and then with a deep breath, grabbed it.
"Thank you for protecting her for all these years," Crinnan nodded to the Elf before him, "Get to Base 21, I owe you… a drink at least." Eryc nodded, and Commander Crinnan turned to his daughter.
"Be safe my love." he softly said. Ladia stepped over and embraced her daughter tenderly, pulling her head so that their cheeks touched.
"I am not sorry," she whispered, "But I will always love you." She kissed Sarasin's forehead and stepped back. "Now go and sing your mother's song."
Chapter Three
Century I
23rd of Ramlia - 346AG
22:00 - Base 21
Captain Bran sat at his desk and silently flipped his communicator shut. He brushed his sizeable calloused hand through his dry white hair and grabbed the cigarette that lay in the ashtray before him. Bran thought for a moment about the conversation that he had just listened in on with ATC President Cade and Emerald. He thought to earlier, about the conversation he had with Alec who had gone completely AWOL and then finally to the strange calls Rubaan had made.
"Fuck," His deep voice rumbled as he exhaled a dense plume of smoke. His chair creaked under his weight as he lifted his massive body off of it and for a moment he stood and thought about what he had to do. In truth, he knew what needed to happen, but he thought about it nonetheless.
"What do you think Em'?" He asked the dark blue haired Elf who sat on the opposite side of his office. She was beautiful, almost mystical looking. Her eyes were darkly lined with makeup, and her hair was pulled back with a little hanging in her face. She was Ladia Jamiso's older sister and in Bran's opinion, about twice as hot. He stared at her with his one good eye and sighed. "Advise me."
"You know what needs to be done. Cade is… mysterious but trustworthy. He may have vanished, but he has never betrayed us. You really do not have much time to waste."
"Thanks…" He snorted as he picked his communicator back up off the desk. He punched in Lord Xian's number and hit the call button, ashing his cigarette in its tray as he did so.
"Captain Bran," A regal voice announced through the speaker on his communicator, "I expected a call sooner or later."
"I figured as much," Bran replied. "Listen we have ourselves one Hells of a situation going on here."
"Do tell," Lord Xian replied with rather a nonchalant tone, "Let us hear what you have to say."
"Apparently Commander Crinnan's son is alive in the Belhaas woods…" Bran reported, "You know, the Centurion whose funeral we just had. On a normal day that should be good news to hear but considering that vision or whatever it was that everyone had earlier I'm gonna have to say that we definitely aren't the only ones interested in him being alive."
"That would be a reasonable assumption." Lord Xian replied. "And?"
"And?" Bran thought to himself. "And I could write a damned novel about ‘and’ for you, you pompous sonofabitch." He restrained himself.
"And... I just spoke with President Cade of the Agra Triangle Corporation. He has located Crinnan," Bran continued, maintaining his professional composure. "My advisor Emerald also spoke with Rubaan Jamiso earlier… apparently, he has rendezvoused with Alec Flinn and the other members of Century Squad. They have taken it upon themselves to leave the city in search of Crinnan. Alec is acting on his own behalf on this matter and is straying from the mission I gave him… but that's not the issue."
Lord Xian yawned and hummed into the communicator, "What is the issue then, Captain Bran?" He asked with a patronizing tone. Bran took a drag of his cigar and once again, bit his tongue.
"The issue, Lord Xian, is that based on the information that Rubaan Jamiso gave me, one of your old buddies may have resurfaced in Belhaas and seems to be pursuing Crinnan." Bran replied, "A fellow by the name of Eon?"
Lord Xian was silent. Captain Bran heard him move abruptly on the other end of the line and it sounded like something got knocked over in the process.
"What do you mean, Eon?" Lord Xian spat, "I killed him a century ago."
"Yeah, that's what Emerald told me," Bran shrugged, "This is where it gets even more interesting. Apparently, Crinnan's brother ran into this "Eon" character. He sounded ridiculous; he was rambling some nonsense about how his body had been stolen and how his family was in danger. I don't know if that means anything to you but…"
"Captain Bran I need for you to gather Century Squad," Lord Xian suddenly ordered, cutting off his insubordinate, "I need them prepped and ready to go within the hour, we will all be leaving soon. I will personally reach out to Commander Jamiso regarding his sons." Lord Xian paused for a moment and mumbled something to somebody else in the room with him. "Is that understood?"
"Yes sir," Bran replied. He flipped his communicator shut and placed the device down on his desk. He looked to Emerald and snickered.
"Looks like we'll be making a little trip," he said somberly. He took another drag from his cigarette and mashed i
t into the ashtray.
"How did he sound?" Emerald asked, standing from her seat and walking over to Bran's desk. Bran stood and leaned against the wall behind his chair and shook his head.
"Like he had better things to do," He replied, "Well, that is until I mentioned Eon."
"That sounds typical," Emerald paused for a moment and then pulled out her communicator. "Shall I go ahead and summon the squad?"
"For fuck's sake Emerald," Bran sighed and rolled his eyes, "Don't ask how he sounded when you were listening to the conversation the whole time… and keep your damned ears out of my conversations. I'll tell you what I need you to know."
"I think I will be the judge of what I need to know," Emerald smiled and held the communicator up to her ear. "Mace," She said into the device, "Gather the squad, gear up and get to the ready room." She shut the communicator and leaned against Bran's desk. She looked up at the aging Gaian soldier and shook her head. She thought it was such a pity that Elvish males did not age as the Gaian ones did. Their skin hardened and their hair turned brilliant shades of white and grey. Their beards got fuller, and their voices sounded more… masculine.
While she was undoubtedly attracted to their features, she could only ever imagine sleeping with a Gaian. She sincerely doubted that one of them could ever fit comfortably inside of her, why the top of her head stood only to the bottom of Bran's sternum, and her shoulders were barely wider than his torso. She imagined she could never handle his girth…
"Emerald!" Bran shouted. She shook her head and looked at her Captain.
"Yes, sir?" She smiled, trying to push the thoughts of his muscular body out of her head.
"Stop daydreaming." He replied, "Go suit up; get yourself ready to go!"
"Do you want to help?" She found herself asking. Bran unflinchingly glared at her, and she snickered and nodded her head.
"I shall be back." She said as she walked out the door. When she was far enough away, Bran sighed and sat down in his chair.
The Black Knight Box Set Page 59
