Legions & Legacies

by Lee Watts

  "Allow me to introduce someone you're going to become intimately acquainted with," Chiranjiv mocked scornfully. "This is Overlord-"

  "Koraden," Rew choked out in completing the sentence.

  Koraden smiled as he stepped closer to the pendulum-like man.

  "I see your title is well-earned, Seer," Koraden sneered. "Good, I am eager for us to… talk."

  "I have nothing to say to you."

  Immediately, Koraden brought the butt of his hand crashing down on Rew's nose sending blood splattering.

  "YOU WILL SPEAK AS I COMMAND, ELDERITE! YOU WILL SUBMIT TO MY DEMANDS!"

  Blood gushed from both nostrils and pain surged through Demetrius as his broken nose quickly began swelling. Spitting out the blood flowing into his mouth, Demetrius squinted hard to squeeze water from his eyes.

  "Now, you will either answer the questions, or we'll begin the real suffering," Koraden warned. "Save yourself the agony, Elderite; there is no one to help you."

  The swinging man gave half a smile then quoted the Holy Codex.

  "…The Elder is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

  Rage boiled in Koraden.

  "Then it's unfortunate for you that I am not a man," he spat with contempt. "Leave us," he instructed Chiranjiv. "I want some time alone with this wretch." Turning back to Demetrius, Koraden sneered, "You will talk, Seer, and I shall enjoy watching you writhe in agony until you beg to tell me what I want to know."

  During the next nine hours, with depraved tortures, Koraden made good on his threat. When at last he exited the room, he had two of the things he wanted, assurance the age was soon coming to an end and a lead on the infiltrator.

  "What of The Vault?" Chiranjiv asked as Koraden washed the blood from his face and hands.

  "He sees it but doesn't know the name of the place. It doesn't matter. The Vault is of no concern to us anymore."

  "Shall I prepare him as a sacrifice for the prince's arrival?" Chiranjiv asked.

  "No, a seer could be most useful, even when the portal is opened. Keep him alive and alone in that cell. I don't want him around the other prisoners."

  "Yes, Overlord."

  "I'll put an extra set of guards in the lower levels tonight, in case the infiltrator returns."

  "No need," Koraden dismissed with a smile.

  "Did he say who it is?"

  "Not exactly, but he did say the answer would... come to me."

  Discarding her borrowed cloak that was soiled from the garbage chute, Shania quietly made her way to the door. The night was half spent, and most of the Citadel was soundly asleep. Stealthily, she made her way down the halls, carefully avoiding the security cameras and random guards making rounds. With great patience, she made slow progress to the secondary entrance of the lower levels that she discovered during the day.

  Seer Demetrius Rew was crumpled on the floor. He was bloodied, bruised and quietly praying through sobs.

  "My flesh is weak, Elder. I have betrayed the sight you have given me to the dark ones. I ask you to take it from me; don't let me serve them."

  In that dark place, the word of the Elder came to him. It wasn't an audible voice, but a call within him.

  Behold, I send a Guardian to thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Fear not and trust. Ye will soon overcome the stumbling blocks the enemy places in thy path.

  Demetrius thanked the Elder and continued to commune silently, taking solace from his God's words. Within the hour there was a thump against the cell door before it slowly creaked open. In stepped a woman with glowing eyes, holding a pair of flaming swords.

  "Fear not, Seer, I am-"

  "Shania," Rew finished. "Yes, He said you would come. Praise the Elder, for His Word is true."

  Humbled at how this mortal was glorifying the Elder despite his condition, Shania smiled. Sheathing her swords, she went to help the battered man from the floor. He placed an arm across her shoulders. Doing all he could to not cry out from the pain, Demetrius moved slowly. Shania knew there was no way he could move faster, but the limitation seriously jeopardized their chances of escaping undetected. She hefted the man onto her shoulders hurrying toward the room with the garbage chute. The halls were oddly vacant, which heightened Shania suspicions. With no option but to press forward, she cautiously entered the room. To her relief it was unoccupied. The chute was too narrow for Shania to carry Demetrius. Through tremendous effort, the injured man made his way through the cramped refuse tunnel, eventually making it to the other side. Shania exited a moment later and aided him in their walk through the village back toward Pipaluk's tiny shack. As they approached, Shania saw candlelight emanating from the humble shelter and knew Pipaluk must have stayed up all night worried about her.

  "Dawn is approaching. We'll stay here until tomorrow night then I'll get you out of the village."

  Panting from the extreme effort it took to even walk, Demetrius nodded as they made the last few steps to the house. Easing the door open, Shania helped the battered man inside the shelter.

  "Pipa-" Shania began, but as she entered, she saw Pipaluk was not alone. Koraden and two other Dridmor were waiting for her. Easing out from the shadows of nearby alleys came more than two-dozen Ramillie troops. There was no chance of escape. Stepping from behind Koraden, Pipaluk hung her head in shame.

  "I'm sorry, Shania," she gasped with falling tears, unable to even look at the woman she had betrayed. "I had to tell them; they would take me to the dark place if I didn't."

  "Oh, Little One," Shania sighed in devastation and pity. She couldn't blame the frightened girl; she was only a child who had known nothing but neglect and cruelty most of her life. As the Ramillie took Demetrius away and relieved Shania of her weapons, the Guardian's eyes moistened. Her tears were not for her own fate, but for failing to get Pipaluk and the others away.

  Koraden swaggered forward, giving a toothy smile.

  "That's right. The girl's saved herself, which is more than you can say. Shania is it? I didn't think it was going to be a woman," as he was handed her battlestaff he added, "much less a Guardian." Tightly clutching her weapon, he swung it forcefully, smacking the metallic staff hard across her face.

  "Soon the prince will arrive with the legions, and then this entire realm will be destroyed. When that's finished, we'll assault your precious Paradise again. You've lost! Do you hear me? I'm about to bring about the end of not only this age, but all ages."

  Turning back from the strike, Shania gazed at the gloating Dridmor overlord.

  "Then you bring about your own end," she reminded him. "In that ‘great and final battle' your prince and all who fell will, at last, be cast out into the Vortex for eternity. You're the one who has lost, Koraden, and you know it."

  Koraden screamed in rage at the woman, knowing she was right and then backhanded her again with her own battlestaff.

  "BRING THEM," he demanded then stormed out of the shack.

  With firm grips, Ramillie guards forced Shania out of the little shelter. Hating herself, Pipaluk rushed to follow with tears streaming down her face.

  "I'm sorry," Pipaluk sobbed as Shania was taken away. "I'm so sorry."

  "I forgive you, Little One."

  The words only added to Pipaluk's grief. In a way, she'd hoped Shania would have reviled and hated her. The guards slammed the woman into a hovercar then walked around to take their seats.

  "How… how can you forgive me after what I've done?" Pipaluk sobbed to Shania though the window. "I don't understand."

  "Because of the love of the Elder," Shania answered then quoted, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as the Elder for Elkanah's sake hath forgiven you."

  As the hovercar sped away, Pipaluk collapsed to the dusty path, weeping bitterly, and pondering about a love that passes all understanding.

  CHAPTER 24

  "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began." – Romans 16:25

  Sosimo Degare Fauntleroy LaRouche the Fourth sat in his office aboard the starship Fortune staring at a floating star map projection. He had worked most of his adult life to collect all the layers of the ancient galactic map. Today, he did the same thing he had done for the past several weeks, examine the holographic chart and try to make sense of it. There was a beep at his door, he answered it and in walked the ship's fair-skinned first mate, Shen Mei with a plate of food.

  "I thought you could use a bite."

  "Thanks, Mei."

  Grabbing a utensil, he skewered one of the pieces of meat and stared at it for a moment.

  "What's this stuff called again?"

  "Gehaktbal," she answered. "At least that's what they called it at the port we picked it up. The place before that called it belenni cig. One time we got a crate labeled breen; another placed called it meatballs. It's crazy captain. How is it that nearly every advanced civilization in the galaxy has developed their own version of these meatballs?"

  Turning the food on his fork over as he studied it, Sosimo puzzled on that before answering.

  "It's one of those universal mysteries I guess, which, if you ever figured it out would drive you mad, and I certainly wouldn't want that."

  "Any luck with the map?"

  "I can't say I'm any farther away from an answer than when I started, but neither am I contrariwise either."

  Mei shook her head in confusion.

  "…What?"

  "I got nothing," Sosimo admitted flatly. "This thing's a complete mystery. No wonder nobody's been able to solve it for a thousand years. I've looked at this blasted thing all day for weeks, and have come up with squat. The stars are all in the wrong places, half the planets are mislabeled, there's a tiny blank part at the bottom, but I don't know if that means anything. To top it all off, the letters on the map don't form coherent words. I've looked at it backward, upside down, and with ultraviolet light. I've looked at it every which way you can, and can't make heads or tails of it."

  "There's one way you haven't looked at it," Mei hinted.

  "Oh, how's that?"

  "Through the ‘eye of the deceiver.' Isn't that what the legend says about the key to reading the map?"

  "Yea," he confirmed in resignation. "I figured it meant you had to be a real trickster to figure it out. Well, I'm about as deceiving as they come, and I can't figure it out."

  "Maybe we just need a better deceiver."

  "Mei, not to brag, but the only person better than me at that is old Xerxes himself," Sosimo boasted with a chuckle, referring to the Ramillie god of deception.

  Slowly his smile faded as Mei saw the wheels in her captain's head begin to turn.

  "What is it?" she cautiously asked.

  "Maybe that's it, Mei. Maybe we have to look at it through the eye of Xerxes."

  "You mean, think the way he would?"

  "No, more literal. The Ramillie of the first empire used jewels in the eyes of their idols. What if you have to look through one of the eyes of a Xerxes statue to make sense of the map?"

  Catching on, Mei nodded.

  "Depending on how the jewel is cut," Mei postulated aloud, "the different angles would draw from various places on the map and be displayed on the other side of the jewel as one coherent picture. It's like how a prism splits light into many parts, but in reverse."

  "That's it," Sosimo exclaimed. "I knew I'd figure it out!"

  "Great. We can pick up a prism to do that at any port," she announced.

  "No, Mei. Remember, you mentioned it yourself, the angles of the cuts determine where the image is taken from. If we have the wrong cut, then we get the wrong picture. No, we'll have to get one of the jeweled prisms from an idol of Xerxes."

  "Modern Ramillie don't use jewels in their idols anymore," Mei reminded him.

  "Right, so we'll have to find one from the days of their first empire."

  Excitedly, he crossed behind his desk, typing some commands into his computer terminal.

  "Here," he exclaimed, quickly finding what he sought.

  "What is it, Captain?"

  "It's an archeological dig of a first empire site in the Oleann system," Sosimo beamed as he began reading off the screen. "And here's the magic words, 'Findings include a temple with fourteen Ramillie idols made of precious stones and metals, including…'." he smiled broadly as he read the last words, " 'Xerxes the Deceiver.'" With a glow in his eyes, he turned to the daughter of the man he had started the treasure hunt with nearly twenty years prior.

  "Mei, set course for the Oleann system."

  "Aye."

  Dropping out of lightspeed, the Fortune entered orbit of the third planet from the Oleann star and launched a shuttle to the location of the world's expansive archeological museum. Mei accompanied her captain to the site and was surprised to see him skillfully pick someone's pocket to pay the entry fee to the museum.

  With a coy smile, he turned to Mei.

  "You're not the only one who can do that you know. Let's go."

  The expansive museum housed artifacts from hundreds of sites from all over a three sub-quadrant region.

  Unfolding one of the massive, collapsible maps of the mega-structure, Sosimo began looking for something marked Xerxes.

  "This could take forever," he groused.

  "Why don't we just ask directions from somebody who works here?" Mei asked.

  "I don't need to ask directions; I've got a map." Sosimo insisted with the age-old stubbornness of all men. "All we have to do is figure out where we are and where we need to go. It's all written right here," he said pointing to the map, which nearly extended to the floor.

  "Captain," Mei pointed out calmly, "the map's in the Oleann language."

  The smirk melted from Sosimo's lips and turned to a grimace as he was caught by her observation.

  "I hadn't thought of that," he mumbled lowly.

  "Wait here," Mei instructed, crossing to a museum worker. She returned shortly with a worker.

  "This is Kyle," she introduced pointing to the overly eager-to-please tour guide. "He speaks Standard, and I told him we're interested in Ramillie artifacts from the first empire."

  "Yes, yes," Kyle chittered. "My standard wery good. I show you Ramly art-facts."

  Sosimo rolled his eyes to Mei who shrugged. With his artificial hand, Sosimo gestured for Kyle to lead the way.

  Two hours later, having heard more than he ever wanted to know about early Ramillie irrigation techniques and devices used in the Oleann system, the pirate was growing anxious. At last, they came to a series of galleries.

  "What is this area?" Mei asked.

  "These are tha Malor galleries. Here is Malor A gallery; it haf pain-tings." Sosimo couldn't care less about the paintings or the next three galleries either, but when they came to the Malor E gallery it was lined on either side with enormous idols.

  "Ah," Sosimo cooed while brightening up. "Are these ancient Ramillie gods?"

  "Yes, yes," Kyle answered. "All these find here on Oleann III. Most fouluable."

  "Indeed, they are," Sosimo agreed. "Tell me, my dear man, which one of these is Xerxes?"

  "Xerxes, yes, yes, over here. This Xerxes the Deceiver," he said gesturing to a twenty-meter, bronze statue.

  "One of his eyes is gone," LaRouche noted.

  "Oh, sadly yes. Big conspiracy with that."

  "Conspiracy?" Mei questioned.

  "Yes, man who found site, he accused of stealing art-facts."

  "He stole artifacts from his own site?" Sosimo asked.

  "Yes, then he disappear," Kyle answered.

  "Poof, just like that?" Sosimo questioned doubtfully.

  "No. No, poof-poof in thin air. He get on ship, but never seen again. Some say Xerxes

  have vengeance on him for stealing his good eye."

  "Good eye?" Mei questioned.

  "Yes, other
one shattered by time found. It have many kr-aks now, but we keep in place for display."

  Mei and LaRouche looked at each other, both realizing the fractures would cause the image to be significantly distorted and therefore was useless.

  "This man who stole artifacts then disappeared," Sosimo questioned, "what was his name?"

  "Wait, I know... It Qu…Quace. Yes, yes, that it, Dr. Quace of Entauri Cluster."

  Sosimo thanked Kyle for the tour and, to Mei's surprise, actually tipped him then walked off as she followed.

  "That was uncharacteristically generous of you, Captain," Mei commented as they started back out of the museum.

  "No big deal, it wasn't my money anyway," Sosimo quipped as they headed to the exit. Mei quickly checked for her own credits and was relieved to find them still there.

  After Sosimo and Mei were well down the hall, another man approached Kyle. This man, with one real eye and one artificial one, was curious as to what the pair were asking about the statue. The answer was both puzzling and intriguing, and so he continued his clandestine stalking.

  "Quace… Quace," Sosimo mumbled as they continued through the museum. "I know I've heard that name somewhere before." Snapping his fingers, he came to a sudden stop. "Rone," he recalled.

  "Rone, Captain?" asked his high cheek-boned first mate.

  "It's somebody I met in a casino years ago. He had a bit of a gambling problem, but I found out he was connected to an archeologist who had supposedly found a piece of the map, one Dr. Quace. I offered to get Rone off the planet before some thugs came to collect on his debt, and get him a nice piece of cash if he could deliver the map."

  "Wait a minute, I remember this," Mei recalled. "Isn't that the raid we did on that colony ship way back - the one where Crimson lost his eye?"

  "That's the one. If you'll remember, we got the map ring, but I bet that prism was in the old man's cabin all along."

  "How are we going find it? You heard what Kyle told us, that ship went missing. Crimson chased it into an energy distortion, remember?"

  "Mei, you're forgetting something. King Alexander Lyons of the Realm came back from a planet where he was marooned on with a group of Entauri colonists who crashed the same time Quace disappeared. There's no way that just happens to be a coincidence. I say we call in the favor the Realm owes us and get the location of that planet."