dark legion

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  I want to reach in my backpack and get that loaf out. Cinnamon bread and some cool water would appease my stomach and quell the nausea. I don’t dare to even blink, though, for fear I might slip deeper into the mud, hair and all.

  Doc patted me on the back. “You’re perfectly healed,” he said. “You’re in top shape. Your blood sample was beautiful. I’ll have answers when you return.”

  I nodded and hugged him. “Remember to rest a bit,” I said. “You can’t work all day and most of the night.”

  “I can’t make promises but I will try,” he said.

  Nya gave me one of her smallest bows with a feathered arrow which surprised me and almost made me cry. She is very possessive of her weapons and even sleeps with them.

  She hugged me roughly and whispered in my ear, “There’s a hidden explosive mechanism in the arrow. It’s very small and it won’t bring down a building, but it will create a lot of confusion. Use it if you must.”

  I nodded and kissed her which she didn’t like at all. She grabbed Theo who was standing behind her and shoved him into me.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he took a step backwards. “You have to ask Zolkon for a manual of sorts about the receptor. I can’t touch it without some indication as to how it works.”

  I promised him that I would do my best. As much as he loves gadgets, he is especially fascinated with this one. The one that only I can handle.

  “Wait,” Wudak says. I awaken from my memories and freeze on the spot. He reaches with his hand inside the sludge and digs out a snake. It’s hard to tell what kind of snake it is as it’s covered in mud, but I let out a terrified cry anyway. Snakes are the one thing I can’t stand.

  Wudak examines it for a while. “Not venomous,” he concludes and throws it away. The snake lands in the mud several yards away from us.

  “Do you think there are more snakes around?”

  “Probably,” he says. “I always find a couple when I cross the mud.”

  That doesn’t sound good. Not good at all. I slow down, each step causes anxiety. I try to look through the mud, but it’s useless. It’s mud. I decide to concentrate on signs of movement but the mud slowly moves in ripples behind Wudak’s legs anyway.

  “Come on,” he says. “No stalling, we’re already behind schedule.”

  Behind schedule. That’s what Theo said as we were saying our goodbyes. “We’re behind schedule regarding you know what regarding you know whom, so any clues you can bring back will be helpful.”

  Doc nodded in agreement and I knew they were talking about Omicron 5. But what clues could I possibly get for them? I’m clueless when it comes to scientific matters.

  “Do you have to be injected with Omicron 5 on the same day every month?” I ask Wudak.

  “Yes,” he replies.

  “Have you ever had to wait longer?”

  “Once.”

  I can see that I will have to drag the answers out of him. “How long? Did you feel any different?”

  “Just one day. And it was horrible. Everything felt different. Watch out, it’s deeper here.”

  He guides me to the left so I don’t step in the hole like he did. I’m much shorter than him and the mud would have gotten up to my waist.

  I don’t cover my nose with my hand anymore. The smell doesn’t bother me as much and my mind is occupied.

  I dreaded the moment when I would have to say goodbye to Finn. He came to me with his big, radiant smile on his face. His bluish green eyes were softer than usual and full of encouragement.

  I couldn’t find words to make the moment easier. I just hugged him with all my might and held on to him for as long as I could.

  “It’s only a few days,” he said. “Then you’ll come back to us.”

  I smiled but I really felt like crying. Finn has this effect on me. He makes me realize how much better he is than me. Than any of us really. How much better I could be.

  He put both hands on my shoulders and kissed me on the forehead. He doesn’t know that I am going to break his heart one day. The thought hits me hard and I stumble in the sludge, barely being able to avoid falling. Wudak’s hand steadies me back on my feet.

  We’re halfway through and I can clearly see what lies ahead on the other side. A vast emptiness of grey and black. Boulders, rocks, dust, debris and desolation everywhere. Even the sky looks sick.

  As hard as it was to say goodbye to Finn, it was even harder with Damian. He awkwardly stayed at a safe distance and recounted his instructions of the last twenty-four hours. Don’t leave the receptor out of your sight, don’t trust anyone, don’t think Sliman are your friends. Then he gave me a quick hug and let me have my final moments with Pip.

  Pip’s strength surprised me. She didn’t cry, she didn’t even look sad.

  “I’m so happy to be with you again, Freya,” she said. “I love you.”

  I couldn’t help but wipe away a few tears as Wudak and I set off. It’s the first time since Plantation-8 that I am going to find myself without any of the Saviors around me.

  I turned my head back and looked at them one last time, with Damian towering over everyone. He and I said our goodbyes before the break of dawn when I had to pull myself away from his arms and return to my room. It was a very hard thing to do and he didn’t make it any easier.

  He held on to my hand as I got my boots on with the other. He pulled me back from the door right before I opened it and kissed me.

  “I’ll never leave if you don’t stop,” I complained in a whisper but the thought seemed to amuse him.

  “And that’s a bad thing?” he said.

  “Be serious. I need to sleep and I can’t sleep next to you. I don’t want anyone to find out like this.”

  “You mean Finn.”

  “I mean anyone. Especially Wudak. I’d never hear the end of it.”

  He let go of me but I am still in his arms. He’s been in my thoughts ever since. He knows that I chose him over Finn last night and I am not sure it was a choice I should have made, but I’m done with regret.

  “Here we are,” Wudak says. “Final steps.”

  He takes my hand to help me climb onto the elevated shore. There are a few dried out bushes here and there across the bank, but they disappear a few yards further. The only spots of shade are occasional huge boulders scattered around the desert floor.

  We’ve made it this far without any danger. We sit down to drink and eat a few morsels before we cover the last ten miles. Cinnamon bread has never smelled or tasted better.

  * * *

  The fortress looks like a mirage, something that shouldn’t be where it is. A stolen look into a different world. It has been designed to look like a medieval castle with towers and turrets. It’s built with stone and metal and it’s tall enough to give you a sense of vertigo.

  “This is a huge construction,” I say to Wudak. “I don’t understand, how is it possible that the aliens don’t know about it?”

  “Oh, they know about it, they are the ones who commissioned Zolkon to build it.”

  I come to a sudden halt and look at Wudak frightened.

  “No,” he says, “let me finish. The fortress was built a very long time ago when Zolkon was a young man. The project was abandoned soon after it was finished. Zolkon has built an energy field around the fortress so that the aliens can’t trace life inside it.”

  “Why did they want to build it in the first place?” I ask, still feeling thrown off by all this.

  “Nobody knows. You have to understand, the aliens see us as slaves, they use us, they tell us what is needed and that is that. They never explain their reasons to us.”

  I try to think what Finn would have told me if he were here. But it’s too late for speculation. We are standing in front of the gates and Wudak announces our arrival through a speaker on the wall.

  18

  The heavy steel gates open with a groan. We walk through a dark corridor and then come out to a courtyard paved with stone. The different buildings tha
t make up the fortress stand around the courtyard in a circle.

  Wudak leads me up a staircase. When we reach the top, we walk across some sort of balcony and then go through a wooden door. We enter a bright circular room with long windows. Wudak points to the largest window in the back of the room. Through its stained glass I see a gigantic beautiful garden down below, a garden like none I have seen before.

  There is a water fountain in the middle and the different paths around it lead to a wide variety of blossomed flowers most of which I couldn’t name. The plants get taller in the distance until they turn into trees.

  “I thought you said nothing can grow here,” I say.

  “So you were fooled. It’s not real. The plants are synthetic. One of Zolkon’s many tricks.”

  We step out of the room and walk around the balcony until we reach another door. This one leads to a hallway with four doors on each side and a bigger one in the back.

  “I imagine you are tired,” Wudak says. “I’ll let you change and rest in the room that has been prepared for you. I’ll come and get you when dinner is served.”

  He opens the first door to the right and ushers me in. The shock that I get when I enter the room can only be compared to the shock of discovering I could use the sensory receptor.

  This room is unlike anything I have seen before. There’s a huge bed with a silvery ceiling canopy, a sofa and two armchairs. There’s a coffee table with books on top. There’s a fireplace already burning. There’s a lush carpet on the floor.

  The two doors in the room lead to a bathroom and a huge closet. The bathroom is a marvel with a big marble tub and surrounding mirrors. On the counters I find some objects that look like torture instruments.

  Wudak is at a loss when I ask what I’m supposed to do with them. I notice that they have tags on them and I read them out loud, “Hair dryer, curling iron, eyelash curler.”

  “Ignore them for now. I will find out,” he says and leaves me in the middle of this mysterious wonderland.

  Clearly, this is not what I had envisioned when we set out on our journey early in the morning. This is not what I imagined I would find here when Wudak started talking about the wasteland upon which the fortress was built. I walk around aimlessly unable to calm myself down. I’ve been going from change to change for so long now. I never know what the new day will bring.

  I get out of the muddied pants and put on the only other pair I’ve brought along. When Wudak comes knocking on the door, I have just managed to doze off. His voice calling my name takes on the form of a headache. I slowly open my eyes and tell him to come in.

  He’s holding two huge plastic bags and hands them over to me as soon as I get up. “A present from Zolkon,” he says with clenched teeth. “He thought you’d like to try them on for dinner.”

  It’s obvious he doesn’t like whatever is in the bags but he leaves before I have a chance to ask the reason for that.

  I empty the contents of the bags on the bed and scratch my forehead. A present from Zolkon? Really? Did he go out shopping or something? I’ve never seen a dress and shoes like that except in photos and movies.

  The dress is white and long with straps around the shoulders. There are tiny shiny beads on the front and a white rose on the waist. The shoes match the dress perfectly, white with shiny beads. I also find a small box on the bed and open it cautiously. I find a necklace and a pair of earrings as well as a lipstick and eye shades. At the bottom of the box, there is a note.

  I hope you will enjoy these small trinkets from past times. Have a bubble bath, have fun getting dressed and come find us in the big room in the back of the hallway. That’s where we’ll dine.

  About the hair dryer…plug it in and let the warm air dry your hair.

  Zolkon

  I have a vague memory of a hair dryer. Maybe in a movie or a magazine. I want to call Wudak to ask him if this is a joke. How could it not be? Who plans and devises wars and rebellions in the middle of such luxury? I’m here to have the receptor readjusted, because our lives depend on it.

  I know all this. Yet, the fabric feels so soft and fragrant. I open the lipstick and apply a thin layer of red color on my lips. I go to the bathroom and find brushes and combs in the drawers. I turn on the hot water and prepare a bubble bath. I can pretend I am somebody else for a while.

  I remember Damian’s advice to never let go of the receptor so I go and take it from under the pillow and place it next to the bathtub. I let myself sink in the hot bubbly water and I feel my muscles relax in an instant.

  When I look in the mirror with my white dress and shoes on, my brown hair falling in curls on my shoulders and back, with the silver necklace around my neck, I have a hard time recognizing the person who stands there with a smile on her face. I never knew I could be pretty and it seems I am no longer a girl at all. I look like a woman from the magazines we’ve seen in Lost Town.

  I pause in front of the door and take a deep breath. Then I knock and Wudak’s voice invites me to go in. There are two Sliman besides Wudak in the big room that looks like a library. The walls are lined up with books all the way to the ceiling. Old, leather-bound books in all the colors of the rainbow. The table where the Sliman sit looks two hundred years old. There are lit candles and a vase of flowers on it.

  The Sliman get up when I walk in the room and bow their heads. I glance at Wudak to get some encouragement but his face is dark and unreadable.

  Zolkon introduces himself to me and takes my hand. He leads me to a chair next to his. He’s the first Sliman I have seen that looks old. Not old like a human would be, but there are some unmistakable telltale signs. His eyelids are droopy, his shoulders hunched and the tattoos on his face have shrunk to the point where the numbers cannot be read anymore.

  The third Sliman introduces himself as Ludik and then immediately asks for my permission to go.

  “Of course,” I say totally confused. I have no idea why he’d ask for my permission, or why he was here in the first place.

  “Finally,” starts Zolkon with his hoarse voice as he raises his glass of wine. “I can now say that I have met the magic girl.”

  I notice that he has several gold rings on his fingers. Alien gifts.

  “Do you think you can change the receptor so that it stays undetectable?”

  “I will do my best, my girl,” he says. “And my best is usually enough.” He laughs at his own words before gulping down his wine.

  “Freya has made tremendous progress with the receptor,” Wudak says and it’s nice to see he’s in my corner.

  “We better not make her angry then,” Zolkon says and his laugher follows once again.

  He turns to me. “Tell me, Freya, would you be willing to lead a dark legion of Sliman? Would you fight with us against the aliens and their tyranny?”

  “I would do anything that needs to be done to free Earth,” I say cautiously. “Anything that’s within my power.”

  “Don’t worry about that, it is well within your power,” he says with an enigmatic smile on his face. “Alright, let’s get started.”

  He takes the lid off the plate in front of him and reveals a roast with golden potatoes and apples. Biscuit would have given anything for the recipe, I think as I taste the succulent, tender meal.

  “You haven’t tried your wine yet,” Zolkon says.

  “I’ve never had wine before,” I say and that causes a new bout of laughter from Zolkon.

  “Never had wine? My dear girl, how do you deal with this world then? Go ahead, have a sip.”

  I look at Wudak. He nods but I can tell he’s still very unhappy about something. I give it a try. I take a sip.

  “Well?” Zolkon asks.

  “It’s bitter and sweet. Not bad at all,” I say as I take a second sip. “When are you going to adjust the receptor?” I say. I cannot forget this is the only reason I’m here.

  “First thing tomorrow morning. Wudak will let you know.” He hesitates for a while. “Can I see it?” he asks.
/>   “Why not? What’s the point of hiding it now if you’re going to hold it in the morning?”

  “No point. No point at all,” he reassures me.

  I have fastened the receptor around my calf so I have to reach under the table to get it. When I resurface, I think I catch a look of complicity between Zolkon and Wudak. Maybe I’m just imagining things. In any case, I have to be extra careful.

  I let Zolkon admire the receptor while I hold it in my hand.

  “Yes,” he says. “An OS-1456, just like I thought.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  “It’s one of the most advanced models. It can create energy out of almost nothing. A speck of dust. A dry leaf. A butterfly’s wing. It is a mega-projector, it turns wishes into energy commands.”

  It all goes above my head but I don’t want to sound stupid. “It’s the one good thing that came out from all their experiments,” I say.

  “Yes, yes. Good for us. For them, not so much.” He starts laughing again. Every time it gets more and more irritating.

  “Freya should rest,” Wudak says.

  “Of course, where are my manners? Sleep well, dear girl. I will see you in the morning.”

  There’s something very disturbing about Zolkon that I can’t quite put my finger on, something besides the obvious flaws in his personality and I am glad to get out of there.

  * * *

  My head feels heavy as if a rock presses against it. I try to turn but the pain is so intense that it locks me to the pillow. I force my eyelids to open and get an annoying buzz in my ears right before the nausea kicks in. I’ve never felt worse in my life.

  I search for the sensory receptor and find it under the pillow. When I touch it, I have a weird sensation, almost as if I am being watched. I sit up and spot Wudak sitting on the armchair across from my bed. I let out a cry of shock as it takes me a second to realize it’s him.

  “What are you doing in my room?” I say pulling the covers on me.

  His eyes are darker than ever when he locks them with mine.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “It was not my intention. It was not my plan. I didn’t have all the facts. But as it is, I have no choice.”