“Agreed,” he said and motioned the pirates to drop anchor. “What do we do?”
Gorias faced Nykia and then Allard. “You have had many dealings on Pergamus before?”
Both nodded, word still difficult with the manifestation of the island far from where it should be located.
“Who is it? Is it a person who hands you the dragonfire or do you hear a voice?”
After a few moments of silence Nykia said, “Noguria, Savage Chad and the former Captain I slew usually did the dealings.”
Gorias closed his eyes and rubbed them both. “Gods. This is gettin’ better all the time.” Eyes on them again, he said, “You gotta understand that this thing showed up, savvy? It wants something. I wonder what.”
Allard mused, “The dragonfire didn’t make it to Transalpina.”
Gorias shouted, “So?!”
Eyes fluttering, Allard recovered from his shout and stated, “They wanted the dragonfire in Qesot. It exploded on the beach.”
Hand up to his face for a moment, Gorias demanded, “I get what everyone else exchanged. What did you give at Pergamus to get the dragonfire?”
Nykia said, “We always had to bring in a person, man or woman, and they’d never return.”
“Who took them in, Savage Chad or Noguria?”
Nykia shook her head. “It was a different crewman each time. That was the decree.”
“Do you recall which ones?”
Nykia turned and scanned the crew surrounding them. “Many were on the other ship that sank, oh, you!” She pointed at a pirate with drooping mustache and his left eye sealed by a cataract. “Evigan! You took the sacrifice in the last time, right?”
The pirate shrugged as he stepped closer to Gorias and Nykia. “Yeah, I did.”
Alena asked, “What happened to the captive? Were there people there? Was there a sacrifice?”
Evigan opened his mouth by Gorias cut him off. “Don’t listen to him.” His swords slid out and he moved toward Evigan. The others stepped away as Gorias grumbled, “He’s a liar. Let me test a theory.”
Gorias spun his swords and stabbed down, skewering both of Evigan’s feet through to the deck.
A wave of gasps escaped from all onlookers, but when Gorias pulled his swords and showed the black liquid on them from Evigan’s feet, everyone else drew their blades.
His right blade aimed at Evigan’s face, Gorias said to the crew, “You have all been suckered, used by Pergamus and made to do his bidding. His price was more than just a soul you won’t see again, but another set of eyes into the outside world.”
Evigan blinked, glanced down at his boots, then opened his mouth. However, the simple accent of an Albion sailor didn’t fall from his mouth. A baritone voice echoed out, telling Gorias, “Come as see me, La Gaul. It’ll be wonderful to see you…Again.” Evigan then wilted like a hacked off weed, crumpling to the deck, his body liquefying to black tar.
Alena was the first to look from the body up to Gorias. “What will you do?”
“There’s no escape. I don’t think we can get away from the island. I might as well go see Pergamus.”
Nykia shook her head. “You’ve seen him before?”
“Those fuckers lie,” Gorias shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Allard said, “You take your fate in stride, La Gaul.”
“Fate goes as it must. I’d rather face it than hide and piss myself.”
*****
Gorias climbed down the rope ladder and set his boots on what they called Pergamus. He hopped a little, testing the rock beneath him.
Allard wondered, “Expecting it to shift?”
“Not really. I think it wants us here, but the idea of a mobile island goes against my natural instincts.” Gorias took a few steps along the edge of the rocky beach and then walked further inland. He stopped. “The color is different.”
Alena stayed near him. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
Gorias didn’t turn to acknowledge her, still observing the distant formations. “Yeah, well, not exactly here, but here, nonetheless.”
Nykia dropped off the rope ladder and shouted, “Some of the men refuse to come off the ship.”
Gorias muttered, “It’s their funeral.”
Alena gaped at Nykia then to the pirates still aboard. Many had descended the ladder to join them, but others backed away even from the edge at her look.
Gorias shrugged. “They’re afraid. Can’t blame them.”
Nykia joined Gorias and Alena. “Are you afraid?”
“Sure. A man ain’t human if he has no fear. I’m probably going to my death on this rock, but I’m ready for that.” He tore his look from the landscape and eyed them both. “Sorry, but I think that means you’re both gonna die, too.”
Alena’s manner grew stern and her chest expanded, courage screwing tight, but Nykia smiled. “You can’t die, Gorias. I’ll be fine with you.”
“You’re talkin’ stupid, Princess.” He turned and started to walk toward the stone outcroppings in the distance.
Once everyone had climbed from the ship, Gorias eyed Nykia and then her new Captain, Allard. “Something wanted us off that damned ship.”
Allard replied, “That never happens. We’ve been here, well, not exactly here, many times and…”
Gorias straightened up, rubbed his back. “I doubt the island ever came to you before, huh?”
“Nope,” Allard answered, looking all around at the broad paths and distant choppy mounts on the rocky surface. “But this is the place, no doubt about it.”
“Ask yourself, chief,” Gorias said with anger in his voice, “why would it come to you? Ya always made deals with it, the entity of the island, Pergamus, right? I’ll ask ya again, do ya think it’s pissed that your last loads got shitcanned? Ever think it ain’t givin’ dragonfire in glass orbs out for goodness and picnics on the palace grounds?”
Allard’s look hardened. “I suppose we didn’t give a shit, Gorias La Gaul. It’s easy being a hero and all that, but remember, we are dubbed pirates, reavers or whatever the fuck. We deal both sides of the fence and don’t have a loyalty.”
Gorias let his hands dangle near the pommels of his swords. That act alone made the captain’s ire fade some. “I suppose that’s the way of piracy. I couldn’t expect morals outta such folks. I ain’t got much time for morals my own damned self, but I do have common sense. Ya’all ever consider what the endgame was for dealing with something that lives in a mountain and gives out dragonfire?”
The Cytaur pointed toward the largest spires in the distance as Allard replied, “We made a pretty profit up until we ran into you.”
Gorias smirked. “Sorry to fuck up your deal.” He then turned to where the Cytaur aimed. He saw something in the air, wings working hard, and hoped it was a large bird. “Cap, how does Pergamus contact you? How do ya know what to do and what to bring?”
Allard saw the image too and blinked. “After each transaction one of the crew, usually Justin over there with the stripe shaved down his head, well, Pergamus speaks through him.”
They all watched as a figure the size of a large crow flapped into clearer view. The sunlight glittered off the hawkish thing, making it appear orange like the rock formations.
Gorias drew his swords as the bird approached.
Alena drew her sword as well, hissing at Gorias, “What is it?”
“I just wanna make sure it goes for Justin.”
Oblivious, Justin stepped forward as if he’d been called to dinner. The bird fell, its joints grinding, sounding like stone on stone. Its right leg stabbed down, talons springing out, pursuing Justin as he started to backpedal, understanding his danger at last. Too late, he turned, but the creature stabbed the long leg through his neck, pulled up off the ground and let his legs run a few times, then turned him around to face the others. Talons protruding from Justin’s jaws, his mouth moved and a voice echoed from within a bottomless well.
“Come unto my mountain again, traveler
s, and we shall talk.”
A couple pirates ran back for their vessel, but Allard shouted for them to stop. Before they could reach the planks of the pirate ship the ground gave way just around the edge of the island. The two pirates plunged into the sea, their screams hushed in salt water.
Gorias said, “I guess we gotta go see Pergamus.”
Justin’s eyes focused on Gorias and then he smiled just before the stone bird released him. Justin fell dead to the rocky surface and the bird flew away.
Allard looked at Justin. “Well, that’s different.”
Gorias said, “His mouthpiece is dead. Makes ya wonder if he ever needs one again, huh?”
Nykia looked to Allard. “We are all kinds of fucked, aren’t we?” She then faced Gorias. “But with you there is always hope.”
“I ain’t unkillable, sweetheart, just fortunate. We’ll see how it goes. As long as yer alive, there’s a chance.” He again started to walk toward the mountains.
Nykia caught up to him as Allard and the others joined them. “But this island approached us. It wants us for something. Why let us walk in if it could’ve overrun us?”
“You bet your life on that?” Gorias grunted once. “Pretty flimsy.”
Nykia frowned, head shaking violently. “It wants something.”
Gorias nodded. “Yes, he does.”
Allard wondered, “He? You said the island was not an it but a he?”
Alena asked the obvious. “Who is he? Pergamus?”
“Yeah,” Gorias replied, never breaking stride.
Nykia sounded demanding as she put forth, “Who is Pergamus?”
“Just another fallen angel, wanting to be God, playing at it in his own way. That’s pretty much what all the angels did who fell during the war in Heaven, although not in the same regard. Many were shocked in their new existence, fallen from grace and the heavenly abode, all that, and curled up into balls of fright, became evil spirits, the lot. Some cause bad dreams, others hide in cisterns and make the rainwater bad, it happens. Many were aware, though, and while their resentment toward their Creator for creating man is what made them fall, they discovered a similar ambition when confronted with humanity.”
They stopped at the edge of the stone beach area, overlooking a small valley of glistening shale stones. The sunlight made the loose rock glisten like a sea of diamonds.
Allard rubbed his chin, eyes up at Gorias. “So what did Pergamus do after he fell?”
“Same thing that mankind did,” Gorias explained as he started to walk down in the valley. “He did just what pissed him off about God. He tried to start his own race, to create a populace to worship him. Many of the others of the fallen did so, as well, and soon discovered their destiny.”
Alena wondered, “That humans would worship them?”
“Yes, but also that something else was watching them. You see, the angels, now demons, weren’t meant to be on the earth. They have another destination. The abyss.”
At his words the dozen pirates, Alena and Nykia stopped, but Gorias kept walking in the glimmering gravel. At last, Nykia spoke up. “The abyss?”
Gorias stopped, turned, his face sour at the expanse between them. “Yeah, ‘course. Ya mean ya don’t believe in the war in Heaven story ‘bout angels and demons fighting over Heaven? Well, ya better think on it really well because one of the losers who thinks he’s a little god is on this island. All your gold and reasoning can’t pay him off or pray him off.”
Alena walked to Gorias. “You said they were being watched and didn’t count on something.”
“Yeah. The abyss, the eternal pit of Hell itself is their destiny, but many fell to earth and found a way to hide out.”
Allard chuckled. “All that is folly, but I’ll bite. Hide from who? God? Which god? Are you a believer in one supreme one? Isn’t he all powerful, all knowing?”
“There is only one, really, all the rest are punters.” Gorias turned and started to walk again. “Sure. He made a place of free will, though, and the humans would have their choice to worship him or not. Some angels didn’t like the abundance of choice afforded humanity and embraced the darkness. Well, that is the scheme of the universe in a nutshell. Congrats, I just solved it all for ya.”
Allard spat, “Preposterous.”
Gorias still trudged the shale, eyes forward. “And yet, it happened.”
Nykia threw up her hands. “So tell us, why didn’t God just pull them from the earth? Why all the terror and letting them do bad things to his new children?”
“God’s an odd duck, but I won’t presuppose his reasoning. He’s God after all, and we are maggots to him. He let free will go and let his angels have charge of it. So, if a demon just appeared himself for worship by the masses, an angel would show up and ofttimes dispatch him to the abyss, where there is no escape. They want to be on earth, not there.”
Alena nodded as she kept close to Gorias. “I imagine.”
Allard faced the looming mountains of rock and asked, “Suppose I buy all of this argument of fancy tales. Are the tales of the fallen angels breeding with women true? Are the Nephilum children of the Cherubim?”
“Pretty much,” was all the answer Gorias gave. “But not all decided to try and breed a race of giants with comely ladies of the creator. Some got screwy.”
All but Gorias now looked to the Cytaur.
Gorias said, “Yeah, s’true, God didn’t mean for something like him to be bred, that’s one reason for the end of the world coming. The world is full of evil mistakes and things God never intended. I think he is gonna scrub us all and start over.”
Allard shook his head. “Then why the gap? Why not just kill and restart?”
“That’s a good question and I don’t have an answer. However, you are missing my point here about alternate breeding. In all the kid’s tales, what is Pergamus?”
Nykia said hastily, “The homeland of the dragons?”
Allard guessed, “Pergamus is the father of the dragons? Are you saying he mounted up lizards and created beings to spew dragonfire?”
Gorias stopped and took a few breaths. “Pretty much.”
Alena cracked her knuckles and scanned the spires of the rocky mountain-scape. “And you slew many of them and made sure the last are gone.”
“Yeah.”
Alena bit her bottom lip. “Pergamus must love you.”
“Dearly.”
Allard put his hands over his face and rubbed with fury. “This is silly. Why doesn’t he just make more?”
Gorias started walking again. “He can’t. His power has lessened. The sin birthed by the darkness on this earth is taking its toll. Things are breaking down, dying. Once, men could live 900 years, but that’s shortening up the further away from the cradle of creation one gets. We are in the sticks out here. 150 or 200 is great here. Back in Shynar, 900 is the norm.”
Allard asked, “You are saying the more sin grows, the more we and everything else lessens or dies?”
“Yer on the right track. I’ve lived a long time and traveled far. I know. Accept it if ya like. The power of the demons isn’t getting stronger, but weakening. The angels will ferret them out, which is why a weaker Pergamus hides in a mobile island.”
Nykia grinned. “If he manifests, comes forward into the material plane, the angels will get him.”
“Yup.”
Alena frowned. “Then why the subterfuge with the balls of dragonfire? What is this all about?”
“Not all demons or fallen host are as mean or petty as Pergamus to want mischief. Others, like Rhiannon in Albion, really felt rotten for what they did and did try the god or goddess route. They are all guys, just some more than others. That’s a long story too. Anyhow, Rhiannon is a remorseful fallen one, but there’s no redemption and Rhiannon knows it. She, um, he, realizes the abyss is his destiny and time is tight.”
Allard chuckled. “All that oil, pouring down the well of Rhiannon, for what?”
“Maybe it soothes its heart or injur
ies?” Gorias threw up his hands. “Who can say? But I’m unsure of what Pergamus has in store and why this is happening. If we have come this far, he wants to talk and tell us something.”
Allard laughed loud. “He’ll want to kill you!”
Gorias stopped again, turned and grinned. He wiped sweat from his forehead and told him, “I’m counting on it.”
*****
The valley leveled out fast and the loose rocks dispersed back into a rocky plain. The rising surface took on a steeper grade, full of lines like a dry riverbed. These grooves served as a natural set of steps for the walkers as they moved nearer to the towering rock spires of the island.
Allard whispered to Nykia, “He knows where he’s going. We didn’t have to tell him where the others were led to.”
Nykia replied, “He amazes me so. I know I sound like a punk bitch about him, but could he have anything else to prove himself to me? Good night, look at him and tell me there’s no God?”
Allard did watch Gorias stomping on the stones ahead of them like he had a grudge on them and sighed. “You do sound like a girl again, Princess.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“If he is even half right on that angels and demons story, we’re doomed, I’d say. Gorias is a helluva fighter, but can he take a demon, even a weak one?”
“He’ll think of something.”
Allard nodded. “He sure carries himself like he’s not afraid. He’d be a great card player.”
“Probably.”
“He’s had the Amazon, you know.”
Nykia’s head snapped to face him. “What?”
“The tall gal walking behind him? Gorias has screwed her. I can tell these things.”
“That’s just stilly. She’s half a man.”
Allard shrugged. “She looks at him the same way you do. She wants to embrace him every so often but doesn’t. Her hand goes out and stops, drops. It’s true. She wants him and tries to hide it.” Allard looked over at her. “You do too, but it’s brutally obvious.”
“I’ve not hidden my feelings for Gorias.”
“But look at one who struggles to do just that.”
Nykia waved him off. “Don’t be stupid. You’re messing with my head.”
Overkill Page 22
