Stronger than Bone

by Sidney Wood

  The next day, a newly promoted and very confused Captain stood in front of the Colonel’s desk at attention. “Have a seat Captain.”

  Corvis did as he was instructed and sat down. “Sir, with respect, there are other officers with more experience and more seniority for this job.”

  “Captain, what did I say last night? I don’t have time to coddle you. I made you my XO because you have what it takes. You are a fine officer and a natural leader. You have extensive experience as a Platoon Leader, and I simply don’t have time to make you a company commander for the sake of checking a box before making you my XO. I’m looking at the long game here. You and Captain Martin are two pivotal players that I need in key positions. The fact is, I don’t plan on being in this role for very long, so I need someone ready to take this battalion when I move on. There it is Corvis, you have a very short time to learn my job because it is my very serious intention to give it to you when I go. Are you up for the challenge?” he asked.

  Corvis swelled with pride and turned beet red. “Yes sir! Absolutely!”

  “Good,” Lynn said standing and extending his hand. He smiled genuinely at Corvis and gave his hand a firm shake. “Let’s get out there and turn this unit into a force to be reckoned with.”

  “Yes sir!” said Corvis again.

  Lynn turned and lifted the pile of log books and records Major Tisdale had left. He held them out to the new XO. “Here you go. You may as well get acquainted. You’ll be spending a lot of time with these I’m afraid.”

  Looking less enthusiastic all of the sudden, Corvis took the pile and smirked. “Yes sir,” he said and took the books to his office.

  A few minutes after Captain Brente left the office there was a loud knock on his door.

  “Enter!” he called out without getting up.

  “Good morning Sir,” greeted Captain Martin with a smile.

  “Good morning Chase,” said the Colonel pointing at the chair Corvis had just been sitting in.

  Captain Martin sat down and waited on his boss to let him know why he had been called to his office.

  Lynn leaned back in his chair. “Are you familiar with the concept of a Battle Captain?” he asked Chase.

  “Not really sir. Is it similar to what a Battle Commander does?” offered Chase.

  Lynn took a sip of coffee. “Not really, but there is some cross over. A Battle Captain analyzes possible missions and weighs them against available resources, and basically runs my staff in the absence of the XO. A good Battle Commander has probably done some time as a Battle Captain at some point in his career.”

  “That doesn’t sound too intimidating,” said Chase.

  “It shouldn’t be,” said Lynn. “I know you can handle it. That’s why I am giving you the job. It also involves another promotion and gives you some experience in upper echelon leadership before we move on to the next step of our plan.”

  “Which is?” prompted Chase with a smile.

  “Which is for me to know for now,” said Lynn smiling back. “I’ll tell you this, Major Martin, I will need people I trust in key leadership roles. When I move up, I want you ready to assume a higher station. Thus, Battle Captain.”

  “Major Martin,” said Chase. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Good,” said Lynn. “Report to my XO after lunch. He’ll have some tasks for you to go over. Until then, find your replacement. Oh, and find a replacement for Captain Brente too.”

  “Captain Brente? Haha, I bet Major Tizzy is pissed!”

  “He’s on his way to the capital for a new assignment, but yes, he’s pissed,” answered Lynn with a grin.

  Chapter Fifty

  (Present Day: 237 Cycles into the Light)

  It was twilight and Guy was getting close to the Royal Guard installation he left nearly two months ago. Here he was, coming back with a broken dog, a damaged soul, and only a quarter of the treasure he had made off with. “Not too shabby actually,” he mused sarcastically.

  He was walking on the hard packed road leading to the camp when he heard voices carried on the wind. They came from behind him. He quickly stepped into the bushes and settled a good twenty feet off the road. As he waited, the dog rested in his lap, its breathing was fast and shallow. Truth be told, Guy was worried the little pup wouldn’t make it much longer. He hadn’t been able to get her to eat much, and now she wasn’t drinking either.

  The voices drew near, and he listened closely. He watched through the leaf covered branches, but he couldn’t make out who it was. From the voices, he guessed it was a man and a girl, or perhaps a young boy. They were riding a pony.

  Just as they were passing his hiding place, the voices stopped and then so did the pony. The man hopped down and began looking around at the ground. His eyes travelled into the woods and he appeared to look straight at Guy’s hiding spot. “Slap your sister,” thought Guy.

  “What is it,” said the girl.

  As soon as the words left Charity’s lips, Cuddles perked up and began squirming and whining uncontrollably. She struggled to get out of Guy’s arms and onto the ground.

  “Oh crap!” Guy said as he tried to hold on to the squirming dog and back away at the same time. “Knock it off Cuddles!” he hissed at the puppy as he turned and hobbled through the forest.

  “I thought I saw something,” Mateo said. “I could be wrong…It’s hard to tell in this light.” He looked into the woods again and then back at Charity. “Corazon, I think we had better look for a place to camp for the night, but not here. Let’s go a little farther up the road.”

  Charity sat up as tall as she could, straining to see into the woods. “Cuddles! Guy!” she yelled into the forest.

  “Nina! It’s dangerous to be so loud,” Mateo hissed. Then more calmly, he whispered, “Please, lower your voice.”

  Charity pursed her lips, leaning forward and staring into the woods. She tried in vain to see through the shadows as the light faded. She wanted to shout louder, but she knew Mateo was right. She would just bring them trouble.

  Mateo’s expression softened and he sighed, shaking his head sadly. He turned away and looked more closely at the ground. Charity noticed that he kept looking back into the woods.

  “What is it?” Charity asked him again. “Do you see something?”

  Mateo looked at her and whispered, “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I am certain the one legged man left the road right here and went into the woods. I think he’s very close.”

  Charity’s eyes widened and she started to climb down from the pony.

  Mateo held a hand up and said, “Wait, it may not be safe.”

  Just then, the bushes parted and a one legged man carrying an injured puppy stepped out of the shadows onto the road.

  “Charity, is that you?”

  Chapter Fifty-One

  (18 years ago: 219 Cycles into the Light)

  Joszette hid in her wardrobe with one of the maids as the rebel soldiers ransacked the house and grounds. It was a nightmare.

  She could hear the screams of the servants who had been found or chased down. She smelled smoke and knew that whether by rebel blade or by fire, they would be driven out of their hiding place soon.

  The door to her chambers burst open and rebels spilled in. She could see a sliver of the room through a vertical crack where the two wardrobe doors met. The men turned over tables and chairs and stuffed their pockets with her jewelry. She didn’t care so much for those as she did for the sculptures they tipped over and smashed next.

  Her view of the destruction was blocked when a rebel stepped I front of the wardrobe. “Of course they’ll look in here!” She cursed at herself for picking such a terrible hiding spot. She squeezed her maid’s hand and they both held their breath.

  The doors opened and ugly men with rough hands and sour breath drug both ladies out, kicking and screaming. The next hours were unbearable. She was dragged out of the house along with the others, and subjected to humiliation and torture until she lost consciou
sness.

  Joszette woke with a start in a cylindrical cell. Cold earth and stone surrounded her. It was underground and dark except for a covered opening high above her head. She was confused and frightened.

  “Why is this happening? How did I get here?” she wondered as she pressed herself up and away from the cold stone floor.

  “Hello?” she called out timidly. She felt weak and her limbs trembled as she rose. She heard a metal clanking sound as she drew her legs beneath her to stand.

  “What is that?”

  “Oh no!”

  Her ankle was shackled to a chain leading to a steel ring in the floor.

  “Hello?” she called out louder. “Hello? Why are you doing this to me?”

  “Hello?"

  Hours later the darkness fled and a blinding light shone down on her.

  “Help me!” she cried as she hid her eyes from the painful light.

  A deep chuckle and the sound of something hitting the stones next to her was all she heard before the darkness returned and she was able to open her eyes.

  Joszette cried and wiped tears and snot from her face with the sleeves of her dress. A piece of stale bread lay on the floor next to her. She was ravenous.

  Joszette took the bread and began to eat. Tears came again on a tide of unwanted emotion. Hopelessness, fear, worry, and sadness hit her in waves as she alternately sat, stood, or lay alone in the dark. Time lost all meaning. There was only darkness and filth with sparse moments of blinding light and a tiny bit of food and sometimes water.

  Once, she awoke to a terrible pain in her back. She was held down and someone was poking her repeatedly with needles. It was bearable pain, but unwanted and terrifying. “What are they doing to me?

  From time to time the poking would stop, and the torturer would dip the needle into something black. She felt a moment of respite and then the pain would begin again.

  She woke up another time to chanting and the soft glow of candles. She almost wept at the calming light and soothing voices, but when she raised her head to look around she saw something horrifying. There was a mutilated corpse, and blood sprayed everywhere. Her mind broke.

  She began to laugh hysterically until she was beaten unconscious by one of the chanting men.

  She became a nameless captive in a dark hole. Repetitive questions occupied her thoughts, “Who am I? How did I get here? Who is doing this to me? Why?”

  She had no answers.

  Much later, she lay on the stone floor, sores on her body from malnourishment and no hygiene. She made no noise except to whisper, “Kill me,” when the light came.

  She stopped eating and drinking. She no longer moved to the end of her chain to defecate or pee. She simply lay on the stone floor and tried to die.

  “Who am I? How did I get here? Who is doing this to me? Why? Kill me, please.”

  When she was found, months later, in the forest near her late husband’s estate, she remembered nothing of the captivity. There was just a kind old man who nursed her wounds and patiently cared for her as she slowly regained her identity. Only flickers and nightmares remained of the terrible suffering she endured, and Joszette dismissed them away as fantasy. The old man was not convinced that all was well, and he was proved right when she began to suffer from bouts of terrible anger.

  Eventually, she allowed him to perform a strange ritual over her involving blood and ancient words. The ritual worked, and the fits of anger and loss of self control stopped.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  (Present Day: 237 Cycles into the Light)

  Shane and a medium sized man with a long red pony tail rode side by side as they arrived at the Dukes estate. Wearing his customary black clothes and green cloak, Shane was easily spotted from a distance, but the other man was unknown.

  Klaus watched the two men approaching from the hay loft. “Who is that other man?” he wondered. He stood back from the opening in the shadows and was not visible to the men below as they rode nearer. The man with red hair wore more leather than cloth, and he had the weathered and hard appearance of a warrior. “Is this one of the rebel soldiers? Is he one of their leaders?” Klaus asked no one in a whisper.

  “He is indeed,” said a deep voice behind him.

  Spinning and assuming a fighter’s crouch, Klaus tried to face the man that snuck up on him. No one was there.

  Klaus was not a fighter, but he was no coward either. He would not back down from a fight whether he thought he could win or not. He had only been in one real fight in his life, and he had lost badly, but losing had not made him afraid to fight. It had affirmed his belief that he could stand his ground and not be a coward.

  “Who’s there?” called Klaus sharply into the dark hay loft. When no one answered, he stood up straight and waited for another sign that someone was near. “Did I imagine that?”

  Klaus turned back to the window, he stepped forward into the light.

  Shane and the other rider were very close now. Shane saw Klaus in the loft and waved him down.

  Klaus hurried down to tend to their horses. As he approached the ladder to climb down, he suddenly felt cold, and a spike of fear pushed him to move faster. When he reached the bottom he chided himself for being childish.

  As the man passed him, Death nearly touched him. The temptation was there, but he resisted. He knew his desire would not be denied for long. Once he had what he came for, he would take who he pleased. A crooked smile snaked its way across his face as he thought of taking the Duke’s woman in his arms and crushing the life out of her. His breath quickened as he thought of tasting her salty blood until her heart fluttered and stopped.

  Death jumped down from the loft and ran behind the stables. He ducked into the shadow filled woods where he would stay until nightfall. Once the darkness fell he would find Shane and have his answers.

  Lady Evelynn stood in front of her chamber window and put her hand to her mouth in fear. She saw the creature dash out of the stables and into the woods. “It is still here!” When she first witnessed it in her husband’s chambers, she felt that it was evil. Death and darkness oozed from it like a wet cloud of cold smoke. She had not been surprised at all to hear that its origins lay with the rebels and their blood magic.

  “Vanessa,” she called. “I need you to do something for me.” Turning to her servant and friend, she whispered, “Go to my brother and tell him that it is happening. The alliance is set, and an attack will come within weeks, not months.”

  She took Vanessa’s hands and pressed a purse into them. “Take this and don’t come back,” she implored. “And Vanessa, don’t travel alone either. Take one of the stable hands, perhaps Klaus?” she said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

  Vanessa ignored the Lady’s admission that her relationship was not really a secret and shook her head no. There were tears in her eyes. She did not want to leave without Lady Evelynn. “What will happen to her if I am not here to care for her and to watch out for her?” she thought.

  Lady Evelynn squeezed her hands and said, “Vanessa dear, I am not asking, now go.” She walked to the door and opened it.

  Vanessa held the purse close to her bosom and obediently walked out of the room. As she walked to her own room, she began to realize the urgency of her task and quickened her pace. Within the hour she was walking to the stables dragging a chest of her belongings.

  “Where are you off to Love?” asked Klaus when he saw her. “Why so sad?” he asked as he lifted her tear stained face and kissed her cheeks.

  “Klaus,” she whispered. “We must go to her brother at once. She said we must go and not come back.” As she spoke she looked about to make sure they were not overheard.

  “Leaving here has never sounded so good, my Love,” he said and he immediately began saddling two horses. “I can be ready in minutes. All of my things are out here, and I don’t have much.”

  “Vanessa,” he said. “This is a dangerous time for us to be traveling. Are you frightened?”

  “Not
when I’m with you my Love,” she said and she stopped him for a moment and kissed him.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  (Present Day: 237 Cycles into the Light)

  Curly pulled the second punch. The smaller man was already reeling and would have gone completely through the wall if the hit had come at full force. Instead, only his head went through the wall, and upside down, so that he was looking up at the ceiling of the next room.

  “Don’t move,” growled Curly as he straightened his back and rubbed his hip. The familiar ache since Guy had stabbed him was worse than ever today, and his attitude reflected that. The man whose head just knocked a hole in the wall knew that now.

  Other than the slow rise and fall of his chest, the man in the wall didn’t move. He had no idea what Curly might do next, and he was terrified thinking of the possibilities. He ran his tongue over his teeth as he lay there, arched backward through the wall. “One, two, three,” he counted in his head. “Three teeth? Only three left?”

  Curly looked at his stinging knuckles and saw something yellow and hard, like a dry kernel of corn, poking out of the skin. He plucked it out and tossed it down on the floor, where others like it were scattered. “Damn it. Umm, it looks like I have a few of your teeth over here.”

  Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Curly looked around the room and sighed. “Okay look, what’s done is done,” and he jerked the man out of the wall by the waist. He stood him up, patted him on the shoulder, and let go. The man immediately fainted and collapsed to the floor. Curly ignored him and continued, “Our tracker is gone, but hell…we’re after a man with a peg leg in the forest. How hard can he be to find? Somebody wake up this weakling or tie him to his horse. It’s time to go.”

  He walked out of the house and mounted his horse. He didn’t even wait to see if the men were following. Curly tapped his heels into his horse’s haunches and turned him east toward the tree line. The others would follow or not. At this point he just didn’t care what they did. “Worthless…every single one of them,” he thought.