by Steve Lang
Mac and Dante were awake early, and as Mac looked out the dome he saw the robed figure of Ramos sitting in the field outside their craft in the early morning sunlight. The hood of his robe covered his face, so all Mac could see were two violet eyes glowing from the shadows and Ramos’s dark maw extending from within.
“Dante, I think your brother is having issues.” Mac said. Dante got to his feet with a yawn and cocked his head to the side.
Mac lowered the ramp and they walked outside to join him, Kim and Stephanie joining a few moments later after they woke up. Ramos sat cross-legged watching the border to the Bog Lands.
“I almost thought we were finally rid of you!” Dante said.
“That’s a ridiculous thought. I’ll never quit harassing you. I will surely haunt your dreams if and when I die.” Ramos said.
“Your eyes are glowing purple. Impressive.” Dante said.
“A side effect of my transformation inside the Cave of Shadows. I kind of like it. Besides, purple is the color of royalty.” Ramos said, and nodded.
A woodchuck lay dead on the ground a few feet away. It had been there so long all that remained were some tattered pieces of skin and bones.
“Watch this.” Ramos said, and waved his right hand toward the skeletal rodent. Violet light emanated from his palm like a party streamer, and the bones formed together as if guided by a thousand tiny hands. The woodchuck suddenly sprang to life, smiling and chittering at them.
“Great trick, but now you’ve got delusions of grandeur, your royalness.” Dante said and laughed.
“How did you manage to get the Robe of Dragaz away from Inga? She’s guarded that robe for at least three hundred years and none who sought it have ever returned.” Gregor said.
“I answered her riddle.”
“What was it?” Dante asked.
“Go into the cave and ask her yourself.” Ramos said to his brother.
“Fine, be a smart ass.” Dante said.
“You’re just in time Ramos. We’re opening the star gate this morning. I’ll finally get to see my kids again.” Mac said.
“I can’t wait to see my daughter.” Stephanie said.
“What are you waiting for? We don’t have much time left.” Ramos said.
“Rasp is recruiting help from the Minotaur king, Yxx, as we speak.” Dante said.
“Ramos, Stephanie told us what they’re planning over there in Moktar.” Mac said.
“There are at least thirty thousand enemy soldiers and warlocks, maybe more with the libmoks. Looks like they’ll be heading our way in another day or two. With the entire wolven nation, we are only about twenty thousand strong.” Dante said.
Mac walked back inside to retrieve the TSA-2056. When he emerged from the spacecraft he placed it on the ground about fifty feet from the ship.
“Looks like you’re not wasting any time.” Kim said.
“This should have been done days ago, Lieutenant. We can use superior firepower against overwhelming odds and save lives in the process.” Mac replied.
Dante looked at the Colonel, who was in human form, and for the first time, Double Head’s words echoed inside his mind. What did Mac mean by superior firepower? Double Head had mentioned a mushroom of fire... or something... hadn’t he? Dante thought. These people were their friends, but how much did the wolven really know about Mac and his crew’s intentions? After all, they were strangers in this world and perhaps their agenda was not altruistic. Dante pulled his father aside as Mac continued to set up the star gate for activation.
“Father, I must speak to you alone.” Dante whispered. Gregor nodded and the two walked away from the party.
With baited breath, the humans waited to see what would happen next as Mac pressed a small black button on the remote control.
“I’m concerned that what Double Head said about the humans might be true. Can we really believe what they say over what one of our own people says?” Dante asked.
“My son, you need to understand something about Double Head. He has always been suspicious of change and that goes back to our childhood. I have known him a long time, and I know when his instincts are more superstition than intuition.” Gregor said, shaking his head. But Dante was afraid, perhaps for the first time in his life. As he watched the portal slowly opening, he wondered if his life would be the same after this. The words superior firepower echoed in his mind like the chime of a doomsday clock.
“Let’s see how this next hand plays out. We are not defenseless against any foe, Dante, and if I’m wrong, if this union does turn out to be a disaster, we will fight the humans for the survival of our species. The wolven have always prevailed.” Gregor said.
“I’ll trust to your leadership.” Dante said and turned to watch their unfolding destiny.
Rings of gold light appeared above the metal box, one turning clockwise, the other counter clockwise, and the space within the rings began to grow dark. A second later, they were staring into the timelessness of space as the star gate found its way back to Earth. Comets whooshed by, and planets unknown to Earth scientists appeared in the space-time window until the known solar system came into view. As the people on Eritria stared dumbfounded at the portal, it suddenly stopped at the destination: the underground facility Mac and his team had departed from at the beginning of their journey. The hangar was a welcome sight to the Earth people who had traveled forty light years to encounter a lifetime of adventure in a matter of days.
“This is it.” Mac said, and took his first uncertain step through the star gate to earth.
For a moment his mind conjured images of his body sucked through the doorway into an alternate dimension, or being hurled into the vacuum of space to drift eternally as a Mac-cicle, but none of that happened, and he was standing on solid ground instead, looking back at his team light years away and just a step behind at the same time.
“Nothing to it.” Mac said. He smiled back at them through the tractor trailer-sized hole between solar systems.
“Colonel MacDonald? Is that you?” A man’s voice said. It came from one of the offices about twenty feet from him in an unlit part of the building.
“Yes, who’s there?” Mac asked.
A figure emerged from the dark, wearing a black special operations uniform and wearing a colt .45 sidearm. The man was limping as he walked toward the Colonel, and in the dim lighting of the hangar, Mac could tell that it was Major Tom Harper, the secretary to General Martin. As his features became visible, Mac could clearly see that there had been some kind of skirmish, because before they left Earth for the Zeta star system, Harper had the smooth, young features of a college boy, and now there was a huge red scar spanning from eye to chin on his right side.
“Major, what happened to you?” Mac asked.
“Our above ground base was overrun by eco terrorists, sir, in a battle that dragged on for three weeks, but we won and shut them down. This scar on my face here was a lucky strike from some guy with a switch blade knife.”
“Is the General OK? Where are my kids?” Mac asked. His heart was burning.
“Your children are fine, and so is Captain Brandt’s daughter. They’re currently watching cartoons in another lower level of the compound.”
“How long have they been here? And cartoons?!” Mac asked. “That’s junk food for their brains, Major.”
“About eight month’s sir. And it’s all we have right now. Television service has been knocked out for most of the country for about four weeks and all of our encrypted channels are top secret information. Obviously we can’t show that to the kids. We’ve been trying to protect them from the worst of this, but our five year timeline is shrinking down to about half of that estimate.”
“Thank God you got them out. Where did you find them?”
“They were with your sister in downtown Farmington. All I needed to do was track the chip on her cell phone which brought us within three feet of her. It was close, but we got them out of Missouri before a neutron bomb at the Callaway nuclear power
station took out most of that state.”
“What about my sister, Lorraine?” Mac asked.
“We had to rescue your kids during a firefight in Farmington when political activists clashed with local government. I was in the helicopter that lifted them out and took a bullet in the ankle, which is what gave me this attractive limp. Your sister was caught in a cross-fire between police and the rebels when we were airlifting her. I’m real sorry, sir. She died before any of us could do a thing.”
“Oh my god. We were gone too long.” Mac said.
“Where’s General Martin?” Mac asked.
“I texted his phone. He’ll be here in about forty five minutes, or less, knowing the way his driver is. Let me take you to your kids.”
“One second.” Mac said. He ran back over to the star gate and saw his team peering through.
“Stephanie, come on through and get your daughter.”
“Skylar’s there with you?” Stephanie asked.
“The kids are on another level watching cartoons.” Mac replied.
“Cartoons?”
“Long story, let’s just get them and get back through the star gate before it closes unexpectedly.” Mac said.
Captain Brandt walked across the doorway as Mac tossed the remote to Kim. “Here, Kim take the remote. If this gate closes for any reason, keep trying to get it back open; this remote will do me no good forty light years from the device.”
“Got it.” Kim said. Mac and Stephanie followed the Major to an elevator leading down. “I sure hope this thing stays open.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the universe, Mac and Stephanie got into a large freight elevator with Major Harper.As it descended into the lower levels Mac began to feel elation for the first time in years. He knew it was the anticipation of being reunited with the kids. The doors opened to a room decorated with plush leather chairs, extravagant artwork, and a giant seventy-two inch television. Inside sat Serena and Bobby watching an old cartoon. Mac saw the title flash across the screen for a split second—Thundarr the Barbarian. He remembered the cartoon from when he was a kid, and it was old back then. It was the story of a man living in a post-apocalyptic world where the trauma from a planet passing between the earth and moon split the moon into two pieces and drastically changed the climate of earth. An involuntary shiver passed through Mac as he compared the plot to his own life. The doors slid open and there they were, and for a moment he felt like they would vanish.
“Daddy!” Serena yelled. She ran over and jumped into Mac like a tiny freight train.
“Dad!” Bobby said. “You came back for us.” Bobby walked over and hugged his father around Serena.
“You two have both grown since I left.” Mac said. Tears soaked his eyes as he held Serena and Bobby.
Stephanie reunited with her daughter Skylar; holding her tightly in her arms and crying with joy.
“Aunt Lorraine was killed.” Bobby said. He wiped his wet eyes. It had been months since he felt emotion, but now that his father was back he could not contain the tears any longer. Mac put Serena down and he could see the sorrow in his son’s eyes.
“I just found out about it, and although that’s really bad, I’m thankful you guys are safe. Hey, it’s going to be OK, because we’ve made some great friends on Eritria, and I’m taking you there now.
“OK, can we leave right now? It’s not good here anymore. aAll they let us do is watch is cartoons. I know the world is falling apart above our heads and the soldiers are lying about it, keeping things from us. People have been dying, Dad, a lot of them.” Bobby said.
His little boy had grown a year older while he was gone, and Mac could not help but think once more that his thirteen-year-old son seemed older and wiser than his years.
“Let’s get out of here. Stephanie, are you ready?”
“Yes sir, the sooner the better.” She said.
The elevator doors opened and General Martin stepped through. He had a patch over his right eye and he was wearing a black special operations uniform. Mac thought he looked like a super hero straight out of the action comics.
“Mac! You’ve returned. My God, I thought we’d never see you again. You came just in time too, my friend. The world’s breaking into more pieces out there! It’s all we can do to maintain this underground bunker. Someone leaked our location and we had a helluva time defending it against some real radical nut jobs.”
“So I heard. What happened to your eye?” Mac asked.
“Some guy threw a wrench at my head and it smashed my eyeball beyond repair.” General Martin said. He was shaking his head. “Shot the son of a bitch through his heart though, so we’re even. How about you, any rough going?” General Martin was looking closely at Mac’s leather attire with a squinting eye, but said nothing.
“We lost Jorgenson and Sparling along the way, but the rest of us are no worse for wear.”
“Damn, I sure hate to hear that, Mac. Losing people under your command is never an easy thing, but everyone knew the risks before y’all headed out there. To tell you the truth, my hope for the mission was pretty small. I mean, you were covering a vast area of space, and going to a planet we’ve never seen before. You’re lucky to be alive.” The General said. Mac nodded and creased his brow.
“It’s good to be alive, but yeah, this was one hell of a detail, General. You ready to get out of here, sir?” Mac asked.
“Hell yes, but first, we’ve got to escort the upper echelon from DSEC and their families, which shouldn’t take too long.”
“I should warn you that the people we met on the other side of this star gate are on the brink of war. It might get kind of ugly over there. Are you sure you want to bring the rich bitches over just yet?” Mac asked.
“Colonel, I don’t like those sumbitches any more than you do, but they funded this little escape plan, and they wanna go now. But if a few of them get picked off by friendly fire or otherwise, well, who’s to say it wasn’t their destiny? And, as for their war, we have three thousand spec ops snipers, twenty thousand infantry, and enough explosive ordnance to blow everyone in Maine back to the time of Jesus.” The General said.
“Alright, well, let’s get the DSEC board of directors over to their new home on Eritria then.” Mac said. General Martin extended his hand for a tight shake and smiled.
“Damned good to see you again, Mac.”
“You too, Dick.”
Stephanie and her daughter went to the elevator with Mac. Serena and Bobby followed behind with General Martin. When they rose to the hangar level, a division of soldiers was waiting for them in black uniforms.
“You weren’t kidding!” Mac said.
The star gate had nearly doubled in size since Mac went down to get his kids. Before their descent, the portal was the height of a one-story building, and a car could have driven through it, but now it reached half way up the two-story hangar wall and was the width of two cars.
“The star gate is growing larger. That might be a bad thing.” Stephanie said.
“Let’s get as many people and vehicles as we can through before this portal does something unpredictable.” General Martin said.
Mac and Captain Brandt walked across first with the General and their children in tow. Martin’s men began to filter through the portal; some of them driving nuclear cell powered tanks and armored vehicles.
“Colonel, every one of our vehicles is powered by a nuclear cell that will last another five hundred years. Once we’re cut off from earth that’s pretty much it for modern technology.” General Martin said.
“We have the TSA-2056 and could reopen it any time though, right?” Mac asked.
“Our best scientists have predicted that within days from now a massive tsunami is going to rise up and wash away most of the eastern seaboard, and that’s just the start of it. The earthquakes out in the earth’s oceans have begun to grow larger. Last month we lost the entire country of England to one of those killer waves.” General Martin said.
“Oh m
y, we did get back just in time.” Stephanie said.
“You’re not kidding. I was wondering if we’d ever make it out of there alive.”
The three approached Ramos, Dante, Gregor and Kim, and as they did, the one good eye General Martin had widened noticeably. Mac saw it and smirked.
“General Martin, these are our friends and allies, Gregor, Ramos, and Dante. They have helped us a great deal since our arrival. Guys, this is General Richard Martin.”
“Welcome to Eritria, General. I wish your arrival were under better circumstances, but we’re on the brink of war with our enemies, the centaur.” Gregor said.
“Thank you for your kind words, and not to worry, sir. My men are highly trained combat soldiers, and we’re here to help in any way we can. And please, call me Dick.”
“As you wish, Dick. These two are my sons. They will help you in any way they can as well.” Gregor said.
General Martin scanned the trio. When his eyes passed over Ramos he felt something unsettling in the man’s gaze. Ramos had purple eyes, and it seemed like fire danced within them, like a gateway to the realm of the supernatural. Bobby and Serena approached the group with wide eyes.
“You’re werewolves?!” Bobby asked. “So cool!”
“Are you a monster?” Serena asked. Mac was embarrassed by their questions.
“Serena! They are wolven” Mac said.
“It’s OK, Mac. I am a wolven warrior and my name is Dante. Who may you be, miss?” Dante said and knelt down to look at her.
“I’m Serena and this is my brother Bobby.” Serena said.
“I’m pleased to meet both of you.” Dante said.
“We can set your men up in Wasatch village once the war is over. There’s plenty of space to build houses for your people alongside ours. Right nowwe expect to encounter the centaur legions by tomorrow or the next day.” Dante said.
“I understand, and we’ll be ready. Thank you for the offer, but something tells me the others will require their own space.” General Martin said. The wolven nodded approval.
“I’m going to leave and head for Davendale, the Minotaur homeland, to recruit their king. Rasp was supposed to have alerted them to the centaur plot, but I have no idea if he made it. Besides, our time grows short and we need to call upon our allies now.” Dante said.
“I’m going to alert the other four chiefs of the wolven nation.” Ramos said. He reached into a bag attached at his hip and withdrew a whistle. When he blew on it, nothing happened. The group stood watching him for a moment, confused. Then, out of the sky flew a large multicolored bird resembling an eagle. The bird landed standing head and shoulders above any of them and lowered her head for Ramos to climb aboard.
“Good afternoon, Ramos. Where should we go today?” The bird asked.
“No time to play today Saki, we have work to do.” He got on, and gave her a kiss on the back of her neck.
“You flirt!” She laughed.
“I’ll be back in the morning with help.” Ramos said, and they were off into the sky and out of sight.
“That guy is full of surprises.” Mac said.
“He saved her family from an invasion of army ants one day and then she fell madly in love with him. That bird ignores the rest of the world, but whenever he blows that whistle: Oh Ramos, what can I do for you?” Dante said in a high-pitched female voice. “I suppose she comes in handy though.”
“We have children here now, plus our DSEC backers and their families will be coming along. Is there a place they can stay while we fend off the centaur attackers?” Mac asked.
“I remember the way back to the village. I can take them.” Kim said.
“There are no roads through for the large wheeled machines. They’ll have to walk.” Dante said.
“That’s OK, sir. We can do it.” Bobby said. He had been quietly listening to the conversation.
“You are definitely your father’s son. OK, Kim you lead them back.” Dante said. Just then, a bus drove through the star gate, which was much larger now, filled with wide-eyed scared looking Caucasians from Earth.
“That’s them now.” Mac hooked a thumb.
“I’ll make sure they have enough camping supplies and tents to last the journey. About how far is it to your village, Dante?”
“You can make it in two days, so only one night and a day of food would be required.” Dante said.
General Martin nodded and walked over to the bus as Kim and the children followed behind him. Mac knelt down as Bobby and Serena passed by. They paused to look up at their father and listen to his instructions.
“Hey, you guys listen to Kim and be safe. I’ll be there to get you in a few days and we can build our new home here on Eritria. I love you two.” Mac said.
“Daddy, are you going to get hurt?” Serena asked.
“No sweetie, I’m going to be fine. We just have to help our new friends keep the bad guys out and then I’ll come get you.”
“Dad, you be safe out here, too. Don’t try any crazy stuff, OK?” Bobby said. Mac saw the fear in his children’s eyes and it hurt him to see them afraid.
“You guys have been through so much in the last year. But I promise we’ll all be together after this, no matter what.” Mac had difficulty holding back his tears, and his heart was breaking for the trauma his babies had to endure while he was gone. He hoped they could rebuild and forget about all the bad things when it was over. They moved into him and he gave them the biggest hug he ever had, kissing their heads.
“Mac, we’re ready to head out.” Kim said.
“Mac, the busload is ready for their excursion. Are you ready to let your kids go?” General Martin said.
“General, I’m officially retiring any involvement in military affairs after we finish here. I need to spend some time with my family.” Mac said. He gave them one more hug and watched them walk away with Stephanie’s daughter, and Kim by their side with her plasma rifle slung over her shoulder. He trusted the lieutenant and knew that she would get the children to safety.
Bobby turned around once more and waved to his father as Mac looked on with loving eyes and an aching heart.
Bivouac tents were set up all along the forest line as the afternoon wore on. The open plains would be the battlefield for this war, the same place Broad Axe and his army had launched their attack three hundred years before.
“Father, it’s time for me to leave and seek out Yxx and gain the support of the Minotaur.” Dante said.
“Tell him I said hello. We have some catching up to do.” Gregor said.
Gregor remained with Mac while his sons were out alerting the tribes, and reflected on the last war when, at the darkest hour, they turned the tide and eradicated Asura’s father, Broad Axe.
Ramos was soaring high above the forests on his way to Double Head’s village. He would be the hardest to convince if his pride was still hurting from the last encounter with Mac and Gregor.
“Where are we going, good lookin’?” Saki asked.
“We have to talk to Double Head of the Gore Paw and then we will speak with Terran of the Frost Blight, Nickodemus of the Dark claw and Belial of the Arcane Fist tribe.”
“So, we’re doing a tour of this continent then.” Saki said.
“Are you up for it?” Ramos asked.
“Heck, let’s go! We always have the most fun when we go on an adventure together.” She said. Ramos smiled and hugged her neck. Had he been a cackle bird, the two of them would have mated long ago. Instead, their love was simpler, platonic, and deeply friendly.
They spent the rest of that day and night flying from one village to another. Double Head did forgive the transgression in the bar with a warning that he still thought the humans were going to be trouble. Ramos and Double Head sat at the campfire that night and smoked the elder pipe, enjoying the mellow high. The pipe weed went to Ramos’s head since he was not used to it, and for the rest of the journey he was quite stoned. The other village chiefs remarked that Ramos was more lighth
earted than he had ever been, and because of his uncharacteristic kindness and pleasantries, they accepted the requests for aid in the coming war without question. All tribes in the wolven nation mobilized shortly after the individual meetings, and their brave warriors made their way to the plains for open battle against Asura’s undead, the libmoks, and Yawl and his centaur army. Dante ran on swift feet to Davendale through the Raag Mountains to speak with their king Yxx. Along the way, he found an abandoned campsite and the remains of Rasp nailed to a tree, crucified by libmok quills. The little mole man would have only had another three hours to walk before he made it through the narrow pass. Dante hung his head and said a word for his friend, and then he ran on into the night toward Davendale. When he arrived, the forty-foot tall wood gate was closed and a sentry had been posted at the top. Dante was greeted by a gruff shout and a crossbow bolt sunk into the ground in front of his feet.
“Hold on a minute, who’s there?” The sentry said. Dante could see a rack of horns and a set of dark eyes high above him, but not much else.
“It’s Dante, of Wasatch Village. I need to speak with Yxx.”
“Yxx is asleep, come back tomorrow.” The sentry said.
The Minotaur were stubborn and easy to aggravate. Dante supposed it was their ancient DNA from long ago when they were bulls, but the last thing he needed now was to get stonewalled.
“We will be at war for the entire continent tomorrow.” Dante said. “Eritria needs his help, now.”
“War, huh? I like the sound of that.” The sentry said. “I’ll let you in, Dante, but you have to wake the king. This should be interesting.” The sentry disappeared and Dante could hear him laughing from above.
“This should be interesting.” Dante mocked in a high-pitched voice. He shook his head in disgust, but deep down he knew it was dangerous to awaken a bull, even for the best news.
Yxx was snoring as the sentry who introduced himself as Og stood by to try and protect Dante in case the king woke up in a bad mood.
“How much protection I can offer is uncertain. Yxx is powerful, but maybe I can keep you out of the way. Do not attack him though, because even though our two nations are allied, that could put a real dent in things.” Og said. He stood as tall as Dante at over seven feet, but his shoulders were broader and his biceps were rippled with tough, dense muscles that looked like rocks stacked on top of each other.
Dante knocked on the door and Yxx stirred. He knocked again and the king’s eyes fluttered open. He lay silent for a moment.
“What do you want wolven? I’m sleeping.” Yxx said.
“My apologies, King Yxx, but we have a crisis and need your help. Asura is moving tomorrow in an attempt to control the continent of Eritria, and if left unchecked he will sweep across the land and kill everyone in the free lands.”
Yxx turned over with his back to Dante. “He’ll never get through the Raag pass. My archers will pick his forces off.”
“Sir, he is going to try and use weapons from another planet that come from the sky, like meteors, if he can get his hands on them. These weapons are unlike any we have seen. They have the power to blow entire islands to dust, so say the humans from planet Earth.” Dante said.
To this Yxx sat up, threw his legs over the side of the bed and stared at Dante for a tense moment. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again, snorting. Dante and Og were sure that the king was going to charge, and then Yxx said:
“Sure, why not.”
In two hours, a more relieved and relaxed Dante was marching back to the plains with the entire Minotaur army at his side, still in disbelief that it had been that easy. As they marched, Dante walked up to the king and Yxx looked over at him.
“You thought I was going to charge didn’t you?” Yxx asked.
“It never crossed my mind.” Dante said.
“I fought with your father Gregor a long time ago when we were just braves, and I would fight with him to the end of Eritria if he needed my help. I just love to see uncertainty in the eyes of others sometimes. Call me sadistic, but if you can’t have a sense of humor there is no use in being a leader.”
Dante chuckled as Yxx patted him on the back.
“You’re going to be OK, I think.” Yxx said.
The two walked on through the night side by side, leading the soldiers toward the battlefield, each man preparing mentally for mortal combat with the centaur army. As Dante let his mind play over their conversation, he realized that his father and Yxx had to be at least over three hundred years old.
CHAPTER 13
