From The Dark

by Tobey Alexander

  Gabe was relentless, but still, Logan did not strike back. Moving with skill and dexterity Logan cast aside attack after attack keeping just enough distance between himself and his father to stay out of reach of the sharp steel blade.

  ‘Why won’t you fight?’

  Grief and anger fuelled Gabe, his heart raced in his chest, and it transfixed his attention on the brushed metal mask of his opponent. Driving the sword once again through the air Gabe cut short the attack and changed the sword’s direction mid-air. Catching Logan by surprise, he was in no position to deflect the blow and for the first time felt the massive impact as the blade collided with the right side of his mask.

  Pain erupted across his cheek and eye as his vision blurred and head span with the force of the blow. Stumbling backwards Logan grabbed for the mask and was surprised to feel the metal bent and buckled beneath his fingers.

  Although his father’s sword had not pierced the mask, the power of the blow had dented the metal and Logan felt a jagged edge pressing against his cheek and eye socket. Staggering backwards Logan was in no position to deflect another attack and felt the biting sting as Gabe’s sword sliced across the back of his left arm.

  Recoiling from the pain, Logan staggered away from Gabe trying to put distance between himself and his father but to no avail.

  ‘Wait.’ Logan pleaded and raised his hand towards Gabe.

  Against his better judgement, Gabe abandoned his attack and dropped himself into a ready stance a short distance from the cowering Veks.

  The metal mask was crumpled where his blow had landed and deep down he felt a sense of pride at the damage. A deep gash had appeared across the back of his opponent’s bicep where he had slid the razor-like blade across his arm.

  Poised to attack again Gabe watched as the Veks stood himself up. With his free hand, Gabe watched as he unclipped the mask from the back of his head. Grasping the front of the mask Logan removed it from his face.

  Filled with dread his movements were slow and it took Gabe a few seconds to see the bruised and bleeding face of his son.

  Something filled Gabe with disbelief as Logan removed the mask from his face and dropped it to the ground by his feet.

  Logan’s face was red and bruised where Gabe had battered his sword against the mask. The skin beneath Logan’s right eye was cut and bleeding while the flesh around his eye was red and swollen.

  ‘It can’t be!’ Gabe gasped.

  It made sense now why he recognised the sword, it had been Logan’s.

  Scared and confused Gabe stared at his son and tried to understand what it all meant. He had watched his own son, the boy he had loved since the moment he entered this world, murder his own bloodline. More than that, he had done it wearing the mask of his enemy.

  None of it made sense yet all Gabe could feel bubbling inside him was disappointment, anger and hate.

  For a moment neither of them moved or spoke.

  ***

  Claudia and Nahem made quick progress around the edge of the crater doing their best to avoid the gaseous cloud that billowed from the pool of lava below them. The heat was intense as they moved and both were drenched in a layer of sweat as they ran.

  Poised on Nahem’s shoulder Yebot guided them around the mountain to the far side where they could already make out the two masked Veks clambering down the face of the rock.

  ‘That’s insane.’ Claudia huffed as she observed the Veks scrambling down the vertical face of the crater.

  Far below the lava lake bubbled and both the Veks were less than a hundred metres above using the jagged rocks to descend towards the mouth of a cave in the crater's wall. One false move and they would plummet to a fiery death in the lava below.

  ‘We need to move.’ Nahem declared and quickened her pace.

  Skirting the edge of the crater the three of them made their way two thirds around before the first Veks reached the mouth of the cave and dropped onto a narrow ledge of volcanic rock.

  ‘There.’ Nahem declared and skidded to a halt.

  Reaching down she took hold of a large rock and took careful aim towards the descending Veks. Casting the stone out into the air it disappointed her to see it bounce off the rocks a good metre away from her intended target.

  The attack had not gone unnoticed as the masked Veks turned to look up towards her and continued their climb down towards their companion in the cave below.

  ‘Help me.’ Nahem barked and the two of them rained down all manner of rocks and stones across the crater.

  Most were wide of the mark, but after a handful of aimed throws, one struck keen against the back of the Veks head. Caught by surprise, the Veks lost grip with one hand and skidded down the face of the jagged rock.

  Sheer fortune only stopped a descent into the lava lake as the Veks found grip on a small rock protruding from the face of the cliff. Hanging the two women did were relentless in their barrage of rocks and yet again more found their mark.

  Pinned in position and fighting to maintain his grip another rock found its mark and dislodged the Veks from the wall.

  ‘Have that you bastard!’ Claudia bellowed, her voice echoing around the basin of the crater.

  By some miracle, the second Veks stopped the descent of his companion as they dropped past the mouth of the cave. Taking hold, they dropped to the floor and fought to keep hold of the falling Veks’ arm to stop them tumbling to their death.

  ‘Come on!’ Nahem shouted, and they resumed their run, closing down the last of the distance between them and the Veks.

  In no time at all, they found themselves stood on the stomach-churning edge looking down at the struggling Veks. The first had still not hoisted their companion up onto the safety of the ledge and as she looked down Claudia saw they were struggling.

  Peering down towards the nightmarish swirling lava lake Claudia did not like the thought of climbing down towards the cave. Although at a slight angle the rock might as well have been a sheer face and Claudia had no confidence in her ability to climb down it.

  As fear grew in the pit of her stomach, she looked down to see the Veks on the ledge lose grip on his companion. Almost seeming to happen in slow-motion Claudia saw the second Veks slip from their companion’s grasp and almost hover in the air for a moment. After what felt like a lifetime Claudia looked on in horror as the masked Veks tumbled through the air down towards the pool of rock and lava.

  To Claudia’s surprise, the Veks landed on a patch of solidified rock and was not swallowed by the lake of molten rock. The heat must have been unbearable as the Veks lay motionless on the solidified rock. The body remained there for only a moment before its weight caused the thin layer of solidified rock to crack. In a burst of flames, the molten rock swallowed the body, the molten rock dragging him down like fiery fingers until there was no sign of it having been there at all.

  Rooted to the spot with fear Claudia did not know what to do.

  36

  Into The Fire

  Claudia’s fingers screamed, and she felt the heat rising around her. She did all she could to blink the sweat away from her eyes as she descended the face of jagged rock towards the cave entrance. Looking up she saw Nahem a little way above her and was glad to see she also looked terrified by their surroundings.

  Claudia hugged her body to the rock and could feel the heat burning through the stone. Not daring to look down, the image of the sinking body still fresh in her mind, she made slow progress downwards.

  ‘Not far now.’ Nahem shouted over the sickening sound of bubbling lava below them. ‘Keep going you’re almost there.’

  Claudia knew it was supposed to motivate her, but she was desperate for Nahem to shut up. She felt around with her foot for a ledge or support and felt a wave of relief as her feet met the solid ground. Daring to look down Claudia was ecstatic to find she had reached the narrow ledge at the mouth of the cave. Securing her footing, she stepped down and moved along the edge to enter the mouth of the opening.

  ‘I ma
de it!’ She cried as Nahem scrambled the last part of her own climb.

  For a moment pride engulfed Claudia until a sound other than that of the boiling magma caught her attention. Snatching her attention back she peered into the depths of the narrow cave and half expected to find the featureless mask of the remaining Veks to be staring at her.

  Much to Claudia’s relief there was nothing but darkness ahead of her. Still, unnerved, she withdrew her sword from the sheath against her back and held it firm in her right hand.

  ‘Watch out.’ Nahem shouted as she hung just above Claudia’s head.

  Whereas Claudia had found the ledge by climbing down the side of the cave’s mouth, Nahem had ended up at the apex of the narrow opening. Giving her companion some space Claudia watched as Nahem dropped onto the ledge.

  ‘Where’s Gabe?’ Nahem asked as she wiped the back of her hand across her brow.

  The two of them peered out across the bubbling crater of the volcano, but the sulphuric cloud obscured their view. Unable to see or hear any sign of Gabe and the metal-masked Veks they turned their attention to the cave.

  ‘How will we know where to go now?’ Nahem asked as she scooped Yebot from the pocket of her combat trousers.

  ‘The dark will offer us cover, the same is said though of the other. She may be young, but she can smell, we are descending to the Magdon’s hell.’

  Although his words were filled with foreboding, it was hard to not smile as Yebot sang the words in his chipper tone.

  Claudia looked at Nahem and for the first time noticed a curious pattern stitched into the fabric of her three-quarter-length hooded top. The pattern snaked along her back, and as Claudia watched, Nahem took hold of something on the shoulder of her clothes and pulled.

  To Claudia’s surprise, the snaking stitching pulled free from the fabric and dropped to the floor. As Nahem lowered her hands, she was holding a small wooden handle in each hand from the end of which hung a thin but weighty length of meshed metal.

  ‘What is that?’

  ‘We call them Flagelli.’ Nahem said as she tested the weight of the meshed rope.

  ‘But what are they?’

  ‘They are made of steel fibre and can cut through flesh. Watch.’

  Nahem stepped past Claudia and spun the Flagelli in her right hand until the metre length of metal turned in the air. As the metal gained momentum, Nahem flicked her wrist and sent the mesh whipping through the air.

  It cracked against the wall of the cave sending a shower of sparks erupted at the point of impact. As the mesh dropped to the floor, it amazed Claudia to see a small piece of rock glowing on the floor, cut in half by the Flagelli in Nahem’s hand.

  ‘Whoa!’

  ‘We have passed them through my family for generations, my grandfather gave me them when I was a young girl and trained me in how to use them.’

  ‘I don’t think I’d want to try.’ Claudia said as she looked at the intricate intertwined strips of steel.

  ‘You know about it when you get it wrong.’ Nahem chuckled and rolled up her left sleeve.

  Sure enough, a deep scar ran along the length of Nahem’s forearm from wrist to elbow.

  ‘I was eighteen, and I almost lost my arm.’ Nahem explained. ‘I took almost a year before I could use my hand again.’

  Another sound carried down the cavern from the dark depths, and both fell silent.

  The sound was guttural, a piercing shriek that chilled Claudia to the core. She had heard the noise before and her mind was transported back to the shipwreck on the Skeleton Coast. The sound was not of this world, it was of a place between life and death and signified only one thing.

  ‘Nivags.’ Claudia’s voice trembled.

  ‘Are you ready?’ Nahem asked, her voice filled with purpose and resolve.

  ‘Not really.’ Claudia confessed.

  ‘Good, if you’d said yes I would have known you were lying.’

  Nahem made her way along the length of the narrow passageway. Followed by Claudia their progress was slow and steady. As they moved further away from the entrance to the cave, their eyes began to adjust to the darkness, they were soon surprised to realise there was more light within the tunnel than they had expected.

  Somewhere in the distance carried the sound of movement. The surrounding walls seemed to thrum with the motion of the molten rock deep beneath them. As they ventured further into the depths of the volcano, it felt very much as if the surrounding mountain was alive. The movement of millions of tonnes of molten rock sound like the beating heart of a slumbering beast.

  And then, in the distance, something else carried in the air.

  A voice, at first so faint the words could not be distinguished, one word carried in the air.

  ‘Magdon.’

  ***

  ‘How could you become that?’ Gabe pulled himself to ask as he stared in disbelief at Logan’s battered face. ‘After everything we have been through, as a family, you wear that thing?’

  Gabe looked at the battered and crumpled mask laid on the ground by Logan’s feet.

  ‘You wouldn’t understand.’ Logan sighed.

  ‘Understand what?’ Gabe bellowed. ‘You leave in search of revenge and what, you kill their leader and join them. Why?’

  ‘It was never like that.’ Logan defended. ‘Viktor was wrong, they know he was a man after power and would do anything to achieve it.’

  ‘They are all like that.’

  ‘You’re wrong!’

  ‘And you’re a fool.’

  ‘How dare you?’ Logan spat, his voice filled with venom. ‘If you’d not turned your back on me, then we wouldn’t be here!’

  ‘Revenge was never the right thing.’

  ‘You didn’t care about her enough to avenge here then, did you even love mum at all?’

  Gabe resisted every urge not to storm across and strike Logan across the face. Rooted to the spot he felt the anger bubbling inside him but held himself fast.

  ‘You know nothing.’ Gabe growled through gritted teeth. ‘I loved her as I love your sister, and you.’

  ‘Yet you’d fight me for him?’ Logan pointed back towards Archy’s lifeless corpse. ‘What made him more special than mum?’

  ‘He helped us come here, he wanted us to finish what he started, so we could go back to being a family.’

  ‘It was his fault that mum died.’ Logan bellowed. ‘He deserved to die.’

  ‘Viktor then Archy, who next? Surely you blame me as much, what will you do Logan? Spend the rest of your life shifting blame from one person to the next until there is nobody left to blame?’

  Gabe’s words stung, and for a moment Logan struggled to find an answer.

  ‘But what of the mask Logan? The vengeance I can understand, I understand the pain you felt and yes you are right I should have been there with you, but I made my choices.’

  ‘The wrong ones!’ Logan snarled. ‘Why are you even here, anyway? You left this life behind so why are you back in it?’

  ‘Because of you son, when I learnt of what you did with Viktor I hoped you would come back and that it was over.’

  ‘How did you know it wasn’t?’

  ‘Nahem.’ Logan’s eyes went wide at the mention of her name. ‘She came to us, with Archy. I wanted to bring you back with me when we found you in Poland, but I could see you had something you felt you needed to do.’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘And has that changed?’

  ‘Yes,’ Logan dropped his gaze.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because after Poland I was in need of help, after leaving you I crashed, and it was Vincenzo and the Veks who kept me from the police. They were there for me.’

  ‘I was there for you!’

  ‘Vincenzo is nothing like Viktor, the Veks don’t want to release the Magdon they want to protect her and help her realise the world has changed.’

  ‘It is a monster, a beast, a creature Logan. Recently you understood that and to think anything different
now is foolish.’

  ‘You are the fool dad.’ Logan said and adjusted the sword in his hand. ‘I have made my choice now please don’t make me do something I don’t want to.’

  ‘That choice is yours and yours alone Logan. You know why we are here, deep down you know it is the right thing to do.’

  ‘She is young, we can change her before she becomes a monster.’ Logan believed what he was saying, and Gabe could see that.

  ‘I can’t let you do that son.’

  The decision was made. Stood on the plateau beside the gaping crater of the rumbling volcano father and son stood facing one another. Both checked and adjusted the weapon in their hands and prepared themselves for the inevitable.

  ‘You have no son, you turned your back on me long before I made this choice.’

  Logan’s words burned Gabe’s heart.

  ‘I will always have a son, I may not believe what he believes, but I have never given up on you and never will.’ Tears rolled down Gabe’s cheeks as he pleaded with his son. ‘You don’t have to do this.’

  ‘If you won’t let me past then there is only one thing I can do to save her.’

  ‘Then that is what you must do Logan.’ Gabe sighed and raised the gladius up in front of him.

  Logan moved, closing the gap between himself and Gabe he made the first attack, and once again the sound of clashing steel filled the air.

  37

  Skewed Perspective

  Gabe and Logan fought with ferocity. Each time one gained an advantage over the other the tables were re-balanced in neither of their favours. Moving further away from the collection of small shacks the two of them remained close, never giving the other enough room to manage a full swing of their heavy weapons.

  Lunging forward Gabe slammed a clenched fist into the side of Logan’s head while slicing his sword up towards him. Logan reeled as stars danced across his vision at the heavy blow, but the steel blade missed his torso by inches.

  Gabe was relentless, but both knew he restrained his attacks. Although Logan had been precise in his intentions, he knew his father was not doing enough to gain an advantage in their duel. Sensing his father’s reluctance, Logan changed his tact and swept Gabe’s feet out from under him.