by J. X. Evans
“Hah, yes…by a lot of standard deviations if you ask me…and you just reminded me that I have not been able to study with all this stuff that have been going on. Hah, hah.” And the fake laughs seemed forced in Mark’s ears.
Mark was pleasantly surprised by her answer and a smile reached his eyes and he tried to stretch his freshly loosened lips, sore from all the years of confinement. He made to suck on his death stick but the flame was out and he let it lean on an ornamental ashtray. “What happens when, let’s say you are running an experiment and you find yourself with an extremely improbable outcome. What do you do then?”
“Hah, are you testing me mister? I should be the one with the questions.”
“Come on now girl. I wouldn’t know if you made these answers up or not either way. School my ass.”
“Idiot… I don’t know, check the formula, your parameters, maybe redesign your study…”
“What if I told you that you never even had all the data that you needed to begin with?”
“What are you talking about?”
“All I am saying is that you should give me the benefit of the doubt, you know me. I would not do these things that people say I did, and I know that you know it. There are some things that are going on right now, things that I cannot talk to you about from the phone, but I am almost certain that things will be made clear soon enough, for better or worse. Give me a couple of days and then we could meet up and I will explain. Can you give me that? Blind trust until I have a chance to explain?”
“For worse? What does that mean?”
Mark realized that he should not have said that, but it was too late now, “Please Christiana, I am asking. It is pretty much the only thing that I can do right now. Do you trust me?”
A couple of seconds passed, “I do…not blindly mind you, but I do.” She sounded resigned.
“Good, that makes me happy.” Mark felt a weight lifting off of his chest. A weight he could only feel by its absence.
“I am glad… what will you do until this mess blows over?” She seemed happier to him as well. Not happy mind you, but…happier.
It seemed as if she really meant it, the change seemed sudden to Mark but he was too glad to be astonished. “I believe that things will clear out in a couple of days.” Provided that the Order could get its shit together and fix this small misunderstanding.
“Ok hotshot…be mysterious if that’s what you enjoy. It is bad manners, but I am glad that you called. I agreed to give you some days but…maybe you should turn yourself in, if you are innocent then it will be better this way. You can maybe explain the situation to them.”
That would not work, he had things to do and if the Order was not in disarray then he would not even need to think about it… a couple of days. He decided and hoped that the best way to go about it was to disregard the last comment, “What were you doing now? Before I so rudely bothered you that is.”
“I am watching some ‘journalistic’ TV show…you are their object of interest, big surprise there, your face is everywhere. They say that you are a terrorist and they are discussing your religious standing. It actually has been rapidly turning into an anti-Muslimism rant.”
“No shit, hah, hah, hah, nice. I have told you repeatedly, not to watch TV! This era is over.” a moment passed and he asked, “What channel?”
“SarTV… So, where are you? What are you going to do?”
“I am somewhere safe, so don’t worry. I am going to make a couple of sandwiches and watch that stupid program…probably. It seems like it has promise for laughter. I don’t think I will be able to sleep either way.”
“Oh my god Mark…it’s like 02:00.”
“So?”
“Nothing…I am tired. I think I am going to hit the sheets.”
A pleasurable image flashed through Mark’s mind. “Yes, you do that…rest. I promise I will explain everything, but later. It means a lot to me that you trust and believe in me. I… appreciate that.”
“Hmm…goodnight Mark. Be careful.”
“Sweet dreams.”
Christiana hang up and Mark put the phone down and re-ignited the half burned through death stick. He placed it in his mouth, inhaled and made an ‘o’ with his lips, then puffed a series of smoke rings from his mouth. He felt better, relieved and calmer, maybe that was what had been bothering him all along. It was not the way that he had meant to end the conversation but well… if he came back from tomorrow’s (well…today’s practically) expedition then he would end the next one differently, the phone would not be between them either. Sleep had eluded him completely, for now at least, so he closed the window, grabbed the heavy ashtray and moved his one man party to the kitchen side of the big house. He stood staring at the cracked ruby on his chain and the faint red glow that emanated from within and took a long sigh.
26. ANOTHER CALL
Zora was sitting on a chair in the comfy guestroom the Adamis family had provided for her. She would not have had any objections with sharing with another or even sleeping on a blanket on the ground somewhere else, but well… it was what it was, and it was certainly more comfy and private than the other options. She had passed the last hour or so with pencil in hand, a couple of pieces of paper arranged in front of her and she was scribing and drawing plans and ideas for tomorrow’s assault, thinking of useful variations to add or maybe predict a couple of possible mishaps. After all, she believed that the more you plan for something, the better your chances to succeed… who would have thought right?
The plan seemed to her more on the meh side of things to tell the truth, but with the amount of information and resources that they currently had in their hands, she could not think of something much better or tactical; not without a couple of days of careful surveillance at least. In central they had a variety of really useful tools to choose from for such an occasion. Advanced drones attached with cameras and other mini-tools, perfect for air reconnaissance. Some car-like or spiderlike that you could sent into houses, in air vents and such, one designed for more speed while the other for less approachable terrain. And some were shaped to mimic snakes and you could send in caves or in some instances underwater. Here… it was not an option, and even if it was, the vampires might have been able to hear the wheels or the motor turning…if there was silence and they happened to be somewhere near it when it moved. Time was of the essence though, and day by day more thralls would be made, and if they waited more maybe a new vampire or two...
She got up from the desk to stretch her legs. She was finally in her own clothes once more and she felt much more comfortable and she was just about to take them off and lie in bed for some hours of shut eye. As she was about to lower her pants, her phone rang. She pulled them up, zipped them and tied the belt, then walked to the small stool that she had placed the phone upon, near the power outlet. She saw the calling number and frowned. ‘That is…unexpected.’ She answered the call.
“Sir?”
“Private Zora. Glad to hear that you are alright.” A stern male voice answered her.
“Yes, sir.”
“Report then.” And Zora told him her story, the facts first and her observations and assumptions later. She finished with an apology for not being able to bring her initial task to completion.
“Do not worry about the minotaur, it is a shame for sure but there was little to be done in a situation like the one you described. We have bigger problems now.”
Little to be done…that could always be translated that she had not done everything she could have, “Yes sir.”
“I will choose to ignore your comments and theories about treachery and conspiracy since it appears to be nothing other than that, theories. It is best not to aid the expansion of such beliefs, it is a time for unity. We already have a target, and a big one at that. Let’s keep ourselves focused.”
“Yes sir. I am sorry sir.”
“Good…now, as far as it concerns the attack at the location of the vampires… the official standing is not to
engage until we have complete knowledge of the state of our Knights, each region’s resources and a viable strategy is devised. But well… I would want to take a swing at them myself under these conditions, it’s understandable. We are all soldiers after all. We lost friends and relatives. It is not in our nature to sit on our hands while we know where the enemy resides. The local Knights have not lost any manpower, they have weapons and ammunition and little but vital information about the enemy… maybe a surprise attack would be better than waiting under these circumstances. Besides, Greece is an excellent vantage point for warfare, it practically connects three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. And it is not as if we would send our troops there in the first place, little assistance would reach them in the near future but in the same time the vampires would have gotten stronger as well… I will choose to leave it to the adjudicature of the local commanding officer.”
“Them, sir?” Zora frowned harder.
“Yes private, them. You know what the most intriguing and important part of your report was, right?”
“What, sir?”
“The citrine suit. A remarkable piece of ingenuity. I don’t know how or where those fiends got their claws around noctis gems. But what I do know is, that it puts us at a disadvantage. This armor though could prove to be a deciding factor in the upcoming war. It could greatly lower the mortality of our Knights.”
“What are you saying, sir?” She had a hunch though, more than a hunch actually.
“I am saying that we should not allow the inventor to kill himself during a surprise attack.”
“I do not think that it is within my power to stop him sir. I tried to talk him out of it, laid all the facts out for him to see. I do not think that anything less than a kidnapping would do.”
“Maybe you are right and… I doubt that a direct order would stop him from going along with his companions. And if you say that your diplomatic abilities are lacking for the task of making the man see logic, then there is only one thing we can do. You should grab the coats, or at least one. An intact one, and bring it back with you. This, along with the detailed plans that he will send us tonight will undeniably let us understand and use his design to make and equip our troops with.”
“I do not know about that sir, wouldn’t it be better if you would either forbid them the operation, send help, or order Knight Pericles Adamis to stand clear of action and report to central immediately?” ‘Questioning an order eh? Well that’s a start about standing up for yourself Zora’
The voice remained as stern and unwary as ever, “They already have their orders and they seem determined to disobey them. I do not believe that they have forgotten them, so a reminder would be useless. Less than useless actually, it would be time consuming, just like this conversation we are having right now. My time is precious, private. But since you asked; the Knights in northern Europe and Russia, eastern Asia, Latin America and the northern part of Canada, as well as most of Africa sustained serious damage and casualties, dispatches have already been sent there and more are to follow as soon as possible to help retake the destabilized areas. We cannot spare any able bodied Knight for your operation. Three on three are good chances for us right now.”
“Four on three would be better chances then. We could leave an armor in a safe place and someone could retrieve it later.”… ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’
“You have your orders soldier, don’t disobey the chain of command. Do I make myself clear?” No rage in his voice, just cold command.
Something a bit less than two seconds passed before she answered, “Yes sir.”
“Good.”
“A moment, sir.” She managed to grab the man before he ended the call.
“Yes?”
“How are you?”
“Not good private, no one should be. But I was on the mission that you know of when it happened, and even if I was at base then I still would not have seen any action. They did not attack the major bases. Which is smart of them and unfortunate for us, since they would have been annihilated.”
Of course they wouldn’t attack a major base… a lot of Knights. The way that the Order operated was with multiple peripheral outposts that took care of minor to medium level instances and a grand central base with lots of buildings and lots of Knights that took care of most things, from bureaucracy and management of all the peripheral outposts to dispatching urgent help wherever was needed of course. There were close to a hundred Knights at central in Serbia alone, and it was a fairly small central.
“I see.” What she meant to say is that she was glad, but for some reason these particular words stuck in her throat; Not a new experience for her.
“Glad for the update. Now, bring me that coat.” And with that, he hang up the phone.
Zora put the half-charged phone in her pocket and leaned back on the chair so that it was only standing on its back legs and let out a sigh. She was certainly unable to make anyone change their mind and even her father thought that an early move on the vampires might be a good idea, he had practically said so. But they were counting on her being there for their plan to work, four Knights would have a hell of a lot better chance than three, she did not want to just leave. Three vampires at least, and two of them with noctis gems. When a Knight came across a vampire they relied mostly on their magic. It was the safe way to victory. But with the gems in play it would have to be a physical confrontation and in that, the vampires would generally have a slight advantage. The duster was an issue for sure though, a big deal that could certainly worth more than the execution of a half-assed plan and the lives of three of her fellows…if it came to that of course. And it was a straight order from a superior ranking Knight to her, personally…and if nothing else, her father was that Knight. She had no choice.
She wrote a quick note on a piece of paper and got up from the little desk, got dressed and gathered her stuff, trying to be as quiet as possible. She opened her door and walked outside towards the dining room where Thanos’ discarded citrine inlayed armor-duster was laid over a wooden chair.
There was someone in the kitchen, a small light was on and there was the sound of conversation coming from within, ‘Television probably’. And there was also the suggestive smell of hot buttered toast was swaying in the air in front of the half closed kitchen door and the hallway, trying to battle out the heavily disagreeable smell of cigarette smoke. She passed by, nimble as a burglar cat and grabbed the duster with a taste of bitter shame in her mouth.
She opened a window so as not to make much noise, she got out of the house and closed it behind her as best as she could. The dog barked at her a couple of times and started running after her. Peculiar, since she thought he seemed friendly enough towards her not much earlier, but she was out of the property before the big mutt had a chance to make good on his noisy promises.
She moved towards the small fridge-car feeling dirty, and low, like a common thief. Her trip had started with herself feeling as if she was being left out of the action, which she was. As if her grandmother and father were just trying their best to keep her back, safe in a boring crystal ball of bureaucracy, which they probably were. There was a fight coming, a good one, and she had been looking forward to it. One could say that it was a dream come true, a toddler of a dream that is, about ten months old. She knew that her new task was important though and there was a war lurking right around the corner. No, actually the war had already started and she would have to abandon a fight in order to help win it.
27. THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY
Rob woke up fifteen minutes before his clock went off. He did not always possess such an ability and he did not remember when exactly he had picked it up; maybe it was one of these things that came to you slowly, a little bit at a time and one day (or night) before you even realized it, it was on you. He never had any real problem with falling asleep, but for some time now he could drop to sleep in a heartbeat and wake up rested whenever he needed to; and when he was up he was up for good, a
really useful skill that one. Who has time for sitting in bed, shifting around and doing almost anything other than sleeping? He always wondered why? Knights seemed to be something like humans 2.0 in a lot of things and almost every bodily function, healthier, stronger, faster, more polished, no glitches or crashes, but they needed almost as much sleep as regular people, and even if they could go the extra mile and not sleep for a bit longer without significant drawbacks, it eventually caught up to them. Scientists have not yet figured out why we sleep exactly, not for regulars and not for Knights… ‘Damn you science, work faster. I am past the midpoint of my time in this world. Some answers just need answering… Maybe I should have tried to work on some of them myself after all, but well… slim chances and time does not go back. I like hunting monsters anyway.’
Sleep did come easier with time and experience, but Rob did not think that there was anyone hard-skinned enough not to feel even a little bit worried before a serious operation, no matter his years, abilities or experience; maybe because no matter how much the same, it was always a little bit different, and different can be deadly in these circumstances… what experience does, is make the differences a little bit less each time, and make you better equipped about foreseeing and dealing with them.
Rob got out of bed and turned the alarm-clock on the Nokia off before it had a chance to ring. ‘A full day and then some without recharging and still going strong.’
Mark was peculiarly already out of ‘bed’ and Perry was sleeping on the sofa-bed, a borrowed laptop on the floor next to him, the fingers of a hand were still touching the keyboard. Rob grabbed his shoulder and shook him lightly, “Perry, wake up. It’s almost time”
Perry changed side, “Almost time is not the time. Let mhmhm…”
Rob got out of the room and left the door open. He knocked on the door of Zora’s bedroom a couple of times, and half shouted that it was almost time. No answer came, and he figured that the girl would probably be up too, if she was anything like her grandma then she would have been awake and ready already…their asshole seemed to be similarly filled with the figurative broomsticks; but he did not like to judge people lightly or based on their blood relations or a brief acquaintance. After that he visited the bathroom and then he was off to the kitchen for a cup of hot life-giving-juice and a good battle-readying breakfast. Mark was already in the kitchen, his legs up the table, his smartphone playing You-tube videos, a plate filled with breadcrumbs on the table next to the socks and a full nights worth of cigarette bums in a heavy ashtray in front of him. Mark paused the video of the screaming You-tuber and wished a half-hearted good morning to Rob, his eyes bloodshot red.
