Cris executed a split 'S'. This caused Stone Razor to over shoot. Cris was now on his tail, and shouted into his coms, "Stone Razor, this is Bravo White six. You're about to become a caterpillar. Out."
With that, Cris fired three rounds, the first missed, the second hit Stone Razor's right wing, and the third struck the engine housing. Stone Razor began to belch orange flame and inky black smoke as he quickly lost altitude.
"Bravo White six, who the bolide are you?" Stone Razor asked over the coms.
"Stone Razor, you just tangled with a United States Air Force pilot—and lost. Eject now, or I will shoot you down."
"What is eject?"
"Punch out, abandon your aircraft."
"I don't know what you are accustomed to flying, but there is no abandoning these ships. One last question—what's a caterpillar?"
Cris realized that he was speaking to a doomed man, and he suddenly felt a sense of remorse. "It's a bug, where I come from, that crawls along the ground."
"Oh, I get it—very funny. Bravo White six, may our next meeting be in the hall of the brave in the palace of the ruler of all kings."
The next thing Cris saw was Stone Razor auger into the forest and explode like a volcano.
Cris slowed and orbited the area, sadly watching a fellow flier burn.
"It's harder when your opponent turns out to be a regular guy like that. Under any other circumstances, he and I might have had a drink together and become friends," Cris noted.
"I have very much had enough of war," Tattie proclaimed slowly.
"Me, too, honey. Me, too."
But this war was not over, and so, Cris turned his ship back toward Caval Du Mal's pod.
"I have twenty-one rounds remaining Tattie, I'm just going to blow this guy apart from up here, land, confirm he's dead, and then you and I are outta here."
They completed their wide turn and headed back toward the pod from the north again. Approaching the pod, they were both stunned at what they saw. Tattie zoomed in on the image.
Capek was laying face down just in front of the pod and four men were holding Tarnus, a fifth was holding a pistol on him. Sitting on the stairway, which led into the pod, was Caval Du Mal, holding what looked like an old-fashioned cell phone.
Cris hovered twenty meters away.
Caval Du Mal's voice came over their coms. "You two have turned out to be a better game than I had thought possible, but now your fatal flaw ends the game. Here you are but seconds from destroying my ambitions, my empire, and me. But you will allow simple sentimentality to ruin your plans, secure my safety, and result in the destruction of your plans, instead. No doubt, you had hoped to join your lives, raise a family, and perhaps become farmers. Ah, well, all that is lost for the sake of dear old Teaoh Tarnus," he chuckled. Then his voice lost all levity and became deadly serious. "Now here is what you're going to do. Set that Rapna down, get out of it—unarmed—and surrender to me. Do it now, or watch my men saw Teaoh Tarnus's head off…slowly."
Cris began to slowly settle the Rapna down.
"What are you doing?" Tattie demanded, the distress obvious in her voice. "This will not save Tarnus! He will kill us all if we surrender."
"Possibilities, darling, there are always a few possibilities."
Cris gently set the Rapna down and shut off the engines; they both removed their helmets. In front of them lay Capek, sprawled on the ground, face down, unmoving. Beyond Capek was Tarnus and his five guards. Tattie's eyes flowed with tears and, at the same time, her anger had reached a boiling point. She slammed her fist down on the console between the two seats.
Cris reached over and took both her hands. "Honey, this ain't over yet. I need you to calm down and just follow my lead, you understand?"
Tattie nodded. Then, she opened the hatch and she and Cris climbed out of the cockpit, then down the sides of the Rapna. As Cris walked toward the front of the ship, he reached into his pocket and removed the homing device Capek had given him before the attack on Kurat Vara. When he and Tattie met in front of the Rapna, they joined hands. They walked up to Capek's body, only six meters from Caval Du Mal. Cris knelt down and rolled Capek over in order to determine the extent of his wounds. There was a black, burnt, smoking seventeen-centimeter hole in the center of his chest.
Cris stood and looked angrily at Caval Du Mal. "Was this necessary?"
"Videkanica are stronger than we are, and I already had one brute to watch, I did not want two."
"You're a real cold-hearted bastard, ya know that?"
Caval Du Mal looked down and chuckled again. "I will no doubt go to my grave with your contempt burning in my ears, an event that is inarguably many decades away. You three, however, have seen your last sunrise. You die here, now."
"How? You're just going to shoot us? The master of inventive ways to kill a man, and that's best you can do?"
"I know—it is embarrassing, I freely admit it. But then, you won't be around to tell of my humiliation." He looked at the man with the pistol and nonchalantly said, "Kill them."
The man raised his pistol and aimed at Tarnus's head.
"Hold it!" Cris shouted. All eyes fell on him. He stood with his right arm over his head, and in his hand, he held a small silver disk. "You want to live, Mal? Then order your goon to put his gun down."
"Now, why would I do that, exactly?" Caval Du Mal asked drolly.
"This is a remote control detonator, Mal…the pressure release type. We call it a dead man switch. I've already pushed it down, so if my thumb comes off this button, the power supply of this Rapna will explode. I'm told the detonation will be sufficient to destroy everything within five hundred meters. I figure you're just about nine meters away.
"You're bluffing," Caval Du Mal almost spat the words. "You hold this Geldneth strumpet's life too dear."
"If that were true, would I have brought her with me on this trip?"
"I still say you're bluffing. What you have created is a no-win situation—if you win this gambit, and you do have a bomb, you all die killing me. If you lose, because you do not have a bomb, then I will kill you."
"There's the third alternative you seem to have ignored. You let us all go, we run away through the woods, a kilometer from here, the button will be out of range."
"No, I think not. There would be nothing to prevent you from releasing your button the instant you are a safe distance away. You obviously didn't think this through, Cris."
Cris had no argument for that line of thinking.
"Okay, Mal, how about we just test your theory? I'm going to count to ten, then release the button. Are you ready?"
"Oh, by all means—proceed."
"One, two, three—"
In Cris's mind he was trying to determine what his move would be when he reached ten.
"Seven, eight—"
Out of nowhere, a bitter-cold blast of wind raced out of the breach in the city wall and swept over everyone, and then, the very air around them began to darken, as if there were a solar eclipse and they were in the middle of the umbra. The event was so swiftly upon them that their little drama froze.
Everyone began to look back and forth at one another. Caval Du Mal rose to his feet. Then, there came a low, distant voice. "Ca—val—Du—Mal—" the voice trailed off. No one moved—no one spoke.
"Caval—Du—Mal!" The voice came again, louder, and this time, it sounded to be the voices of many people, a great many people.
The air became darker, they were not in a shadow, or in smoke, like the Sorgina generated. There was a heavy melancholy in this air, thick and oppressive. When the first blow fell, it struck with no further warning. The ground shook as if impacted by some great force. One of Caval Du Mal's bodyguards pointed toward the ruins of the city and shouted, "Look!"
The figure of a draped man, or woman, appeared at the breach in the wall, and seemed to be walking up and over the mound of rubble. The phantom appeared darker than the air and moved slowly, its tattered robes flowing in slow motion aroun
d it. When it reached the highest point of the mound of rubble, it stopped and raised its arms out from its side, tossed back its head and emitted a wail, like the pain of a thousand mothers in childbirth.
The man with the pistol fired a round at the spectral vision. The ball of plasma moved slowly and seemed to lose its brightness as it traveled. It passed right through the vision and, on the other side, vanished altogether.
The hands of the specter suddenly became claws, the head came down and looked right at the man with the pistol; the eyes of the apparition became burning red flames. In a flash, the shadow rushed at the man and, faster than the eye could see, the thing had wrenched the arm with the pistol out of the man's shoulder and dropped it on the ground. His ghostly attacker was gone before the man realized that his arm lay at his feet and his life's blood was draining from his body. The man fell, went into shock and, mercifully, passed out. He would never awaken.
"Pick up that weapon!" Caval Du Mal ordered. But none of his men moved.
○O○
Tarnus noticed that the grip his captors had on him had lessened. He straightened up and craned his neck, looking toward the breach. "Look!" he shouted, awe and wonder in his voice. "Approaching is a full phalanx of the demons!" Tarnus actually saw nothing, but he anticipated the result. Fear, like these mere mortals had never known, gripped them. Their spines turned to ice. As if to lend credence to Tarnus's lie, an inhuman sound issued from beyond the wall, so loud that everyone clasped their hands over their ears.
"Here they come!" Tarnus screamed. The remaining four men released Tarnus and ran screaming into the woods.
Tarnus tore through the vines that had been used to bind his wrists behind his back, then casually strolled toward the pistol, stepped over it, and toward Tattie, who bolted forward to greet him, they embraced. Cris could hear Tattie crying.
"Touching," Caval Du Mal said with sarcasm dripping from his voice. "But you are in the same situation as I am!”
"I doubt that Mal," Cris said. "You don't recognize this place, do you? This is Galdo Heirya, destroyed by the Sorgina clan, with whom you allied yourself. The dead here may just have a bone to pick with you."
Caval Du Mal turned and rushed up into his pod, but immediately came backing down the steps. Descending toward him from inside the pod was the hooded figure.
Once on the ground, Caval Du Mal turned and ran for the pistol. He tripped, slid along the ground and grabbed it. He turned and fired five rounds at the specter. The balls of energy passed through the phantom and detonated inside the pod, causing a flame that seemed to be quickly spreading within.
From out of the forest, countless numbers of similar ghosts appeared: men, women, some carrying infants, and children. They all began to advance slowly on the dictator. He sprang to his feet and fired indiscriminately into the translucent mob without effect.
Caval Du Mal turned and faced Cris, Tattie, and Tarnus. "Help me!" he demanded.
Cris tossed the silver disk at him. "Here, blow them up."
"You must help me, you are Portigalweg!"
"No, I'm a Republican."
"Please!" he screamed, panic in his voice.
Tattie took a step toward Capek's body. She looked down on him then back up at the terror-stricken man. "You want our help?"
Caval Du Mal only stared at her.
"Restore our friend to us."
Caval Du Mal turned the gun toward Tattie and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The phantoms moved faster toward him now. He backed up a few steps and tripped over a stone. He caught himself, turned, and ran toward the breach in the wall. At the top of the pile of rubble, he turned back to look. The ghost that had descended from his pod was now in the front of the mob. It stopped, raised its hands and face toward the heavens, and one at a time the other apparitions flew at a great speed and merged into this entity. In a few seconds, all had joined in the one, it grew larger and darker, and then extended its arms toward the little man. The apparition's eyes were burning again, and it resumed its movement toward Caval Du Mal.
Cris, Tattie, and Tarnus all felt the impulse to follow.
Caval Du Mal was over the pile of debris, beyond the wall, and in the street, still backing up, now he was pleading with the spirit. "What do you want? I have wealth, power, I can provide you anything! What do you want?"
The voices of thousands screamed at him. "Life!"
Caval Du Mal was backing toward a doorway in the remains of an ancient structure. The entity pressed in on him, now six meters away.
Cris, Tattie, and Tarnus stood atop the debris of the fallen wall and watched, mesmerized. They could see through the ghost and into the horrified eyes of Caval Du Mal. He had reached the doorway, and, in his fear and frustration, he threw the pistol at the apperation. Just as he did, something inside the building encased Caval Du Mal completely, from his head to his feet, something had descended over him, and he was no longer visible.
The Phantom lifted his arms toward the ruin and a great wind erupted from his palms and completely blew the remains of the building away. On the foundation, right where the doorway once existed, lay an enormous, leathery, slug-like creature, a slidrath. At its belly could be seen the form of two hands pressing outward. The slidrath then opened its mouth to breathe, and from inside, could be heard the screams of Caval Du Mal.
Then the spectral entity turned its head completely around to look at Cris, Tattie, and Tarnus. Its body then followed, and it began moving toward them, Cris took a step back.
"No," Tattie took his hand, "we have nothing to fear."
Cris stepped back to Tattie's side. "Really?"
The ghost slowly returned to its original size as it closed in on Tattie. "Tattie Bogle," it hissed at her in a thousand voices, "we hold your promise. Remember, remember."
The image evaporated, the darkness fled, and the bright sun shone warm upon them again. A gust of wind, warm and fresh, caressed them. Tattie's hair blossomed behind and around her. Cris took her in his arms and, looking deep into her eyes, he said quietly, "It's over, it's over." They hugged for a very long time. Cris felt her breathing, felt her warmth against his body. He was alive and being alive had never felt so good.
They turned and walked down the pile of rubble toward the Rapna, only to be stopped in their tracks by the sight of thousands of Portigalweg warriors streaming out of the woods with their weapons held high, screaming a terrifying war cry. Cris and Tarnus exchanged glances. No words were necessary. They were unarmed and caught out in the open. Both men knew they would die defending Tattie.
Tattie, however, was the first to pick up a stone from the rubble and assume a defensive posture. "It will cost them dearly before they take me!" she cried.
Cris and Tarnus both bent down to retrieve stones when Tattie shouted above the din, "Look!" The Portigalweg were not attacking them but were rushing toward Caval Du Mal's escape pod. Projectile weapons and balls of plasma energy were fired at it, as well as spears and arrows. The black smoke of the fire began to belch forth from inside the craft.
Tarnus raised his arms above his head and shouted, "Cease your warring, you proud soldiers of the Portigalweg!"
An officer heard his voice and, with a horn, called for the end of hostilities. The violence ceased at the horn's blast, and all eyes were turned upon Tarnus and the officer.
"Are you not Captain Tarnus of the Geldneth Guard?" the officer asked.
"I am he."
"Then this man must be Captain Salazar."
"Yeah, that's me," Cris responded.
"What has happened here? Where is Caval Du Mal?"
"He is dead," Tarnus said.
"Yes," Cris blurted out, still wondering if there might be some reprisal.
There was a moment's silence, then the officer spun about and shouted at his warriors, "The Mal is dead!" With these words a huge roar of unrestrained joy erupted from the Portigalweg soldiers.
"I guess," Cris said, "the defense minister was wrong."
Ta
ttie dropped her stone and grabbed Cris, her face all smiles.
Their jubilation was cut short by the sight of Capek's body. The three ran to it and Cris knelt over his motionless form.
"Tarnus, is the Meerlow in one piece?"
"Yes."
"Go get it. Bring it here, and hurry." Tarnus bolted off into the woods.
"What is it, Cris? Is there hope?" Tattie asked.
"Honey, I don't know a thing about videkanica, but I know something about computers."
The Meerlow landed five meters away. Several Portigalweg came forward and assisted Cris, Tattie, and Tarnus in placing Capek on board. Among them, the officer. Once Capek was on board, the officer turned to Cris and said, "Thank you, Solar, for illuminating our minds and setting us free."
The hatch closed and Cris took the controls, lifted off vertically, and shot like an arrow toward Emer Alda.
On their arrival, they found the city choked with all manner of spacecraft and landing craft from larger ships in orbit. The peoples of the other worlds and moons had received the news of the death of the dictator. It had been a bit premature; they all thought he died when his ship exploded in the great sea, then they all came to Emer Alda to celebrate and start reorganizing their worlds and people under a single form of government. Grand as all that was, Cris saw them all as an impediment to his progress.
The landing bay was congested, so Cris went directly to the third level and broke several conventions by landing the Meerlow in the street directly in front of the videkanica maintenance facility. He opened the hatch and he and Tarnus carried Capek into the building.
They placed Capek on a gurney and rolled him up to the reception desk.
"I want to see the best videkanica repairman or technician you've got, and I mean right now!" Cris shouted.
The man behind the desk leapt to his feet, very angry.
"Just who do you think you are, coming here in this fashion and—"
Tattie stopped him by slapping her hand down on his desk. "This, gimba, is Cris Salazar."
Across a Sea of Stars Page 39
