The Gift of Volkeye

by Marque Strickland

  “You’re hurt!” he said, scooping his friend in his arms.

  “No, no, no…it’s not my blood,” Khyetarah explained as Maugrimm walked to the windowsill, trampling upon the broken glass, which had been blown out.

  “They’re gone, mate. If you’d only gotten here a minute sooner…”

  “Blast! Again, da’ ruddy cowards escape wit’ all der’ limbs intact!”

  Khyetarah licked the blood from his lips and burped with satisfaction.

  “Not all their limbs…the little one is now missing two of his fingers!”

  20

  Bahzee wasn’t budging.

  “Bahzee, you cannot be here! If you don’t let me work, Teshunua is going to die! GET. OUT.”

  Zynathian hated to be so firm when she was in such a fragile state, but it was better to hurt her feelings than lose a member of the family. He watched his children (including Bahzee, who was still sobbing bitterly) leave as they went about with their orders: guarding the castle and supervising the Mechs about the repairs.

  As the shield closed behind them, Zynathian was startled by a sound that gave the impression that the entire castle was coming down. He knew then that Bahzee had put her fist through one of the walls. He sighed.

  The gears within the castle’s innards had started rotating again. This time, however, the roaring vibration of newly functional rockets accompanied their movements. Zynathian could feel the complex moving, and realized that his Mechs had succeeded…

  …But to what end? Phyllamon had come and gone! The castle was in ruins with body parts scattered about. And one of the people Zynathian loved most in the world lay before him, limbless and practically burned to death.

  Damn it! Zynathian thought, throwing back his head in anger. He paced about, contemplating the procedure for Teshunua and soon found himself staring through his reflection in the window.

  He needs so much work…where to begin? he wondered.

  That’s just it...BEGIN! the inner voice answered.

  Zynathian turned to face the task before him. He walked to the counter and grabbed a tiny piece of red cloth, then tied his hair in a ponytail. Next, he washed his hands and threw handfuls of cold water on his face. As he put on a pair of rubber gloves, Zynathian knelt over him, squinting with concentration when he met Teshunua’s dazed, near-lifeless eyes. He cracked his knuckles and exhaled.

  Okay, kid…let’s do this.

  XXI

  Jix’s Mission

  1

  Hours succeeding the castle’s invasion, Jix settled for rest on a minuscule island, a ways offshore. It was early the next morning when he woke. Jix was grouchy about being startled out of his sleep twice during the night by small waves, rising over the mostly underwater mountain, whose tip stood a mere three yards above the surface of the ocean. On each occasion, Jix had been sent for an unexpected swim. As a result, he spent much of the night shivering and fighting the cold, only able to sleep once he wrapped his wings around himself.

  Jix coughed and arched his back, stretching his hind legs. He walked to the edge of the island and found a small school of bass, swimming about the edge. He pawed the largest of them, pinning it to the side of the island and bit its head off. Jix swallowed in ecstasy and soon devoured the rest of the fish, not even leaving the bones behind. He needed all the energy he could get, as he had a big day ahead of him.

  With his breakfast finished, he set off into the sky.

  2

  Later, as he approached the shores, Jix decided that he would take a pass over Rhameeryla, telling himself that he wanted to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. However, the truth was simply that he missed his home.

  As he headed southeast, soaring past the beginnings of the forest, who should he meet but many of his old neighbours! Hearing a familiar whistle echo from the trees below, he had swung back around. Jix now rested in front of an enormous fat man, named Smully, who had once resided right beneath the hill of Teshunua’s home.

  Smully knelt over and jovially stroked Jix’s fur.

  “Hey there, buddy! What’s going on? You and Tesh just got back, eh? …I’m glad to see you, because we’re in a serious fix!”

  Jix looked around to find a sea of hovers disguised in leaves and branches. Young Mystiphar, who’d lived three houses away from Smully, sat with his legs dangling from the open door of his parent’s hover car. He choked on his peanut butter sandwich when he saw Jix.

  “Jix, my man, what’s happenin’?” he asked, spraying the area with soggy breadcrumbs.

  Mystiphar’s parents excitedly leaned their heads out of the windows, shocked to see their friend’s pet. Jix raised his paw, waving at them all.

  “Oh my goodness! Jix, is Teshunua here? …Do you know about the others?” the mother asked, worriedly.

  Jix noticed that the other vehicles were now stirring with life and suddenly he understood. Zynathian thought all from Rhameeryla had been located, having no idea that they’d been split up.

  Jix leapt up, accidentally swatting Smully in the head with his wing. However, he was in too much of a hurry to apologize.

  We must go! Jix yowled, flying in circles above them. Though no one outside of the family understood his manner of speaking, they got the gist.

  “I think he wants us to follow him,” Smully said.

  “Of course, he’ll be able to lead us to the others!” said an excited voice from inside (what appeared to be) a floating maple tree.

  At this, engines revved, shaking the leaves, branches, and dirt from their aircrafts, and within minutes two-dozen ships were emerging from the top of the forest, hurrying behind Jix.

  3

  It had been over two weeks since they’d witnessed the deaths of numerous friends and been forced from their homes. This particular group was not fairing as well, temperamentally, as those dwelling in the treetops of the Mashyuvian forest. Far east of the town, Mheep, in a flat, cold, and barren region, many had begun to panic, because they had been expecting to hear from Zynathian before now. Though weeks could sometimes pass between his visits, he’d never been out of contact for longer than several days. If not through Jix, Zynathian would always find some way to check on them, and the fact that he hadn’t looked in on them gave the Rhameerylan people a new sense of foreboding.

  Also, they were now running low on rations and were tired of eating the freeze-dried food aboard the hover tank. Quite a few of them had money that they’d set aside for emergencies, so they could have gone to the Mune Ju market for food. However, fearing that Phyllamon marked them for death, they thought better of such an excursion. Now, further fearing for their lives and moody from the terrible weather and lack of sunlight, most them were barely speaking to one another. When they did talk, it was either in slander or defense of Zynathian.

  “Goddammit, I will never forgive him! …I mean, come on, he had no plans for us at all in a situation like this! None! He just expects us to run for our lives, which we are lucky to still have, by the way!” one of them said, kicking a pebble into a bushel of weeds.

  “And what in the hell did he inject those thingies in us for, if he ain’t even gonna come and look? The selfish bastard probably don’t even know that we’ve lost our homes and are in hiding!”

  “Oh, shut up, all of you! He’ll be here…I’m sure he has a very good reason to be as late as he is! Look what happened two weeks ago to our homes…does that strike you as normal? I’ll bet every possession I own that Zynathian has had a run-in with Phyllamon, too,” Rosa Lee said, furiously. “Furthermore, you dipshit fools wouldn’t even have homes if it weren’t for him! Most of you were street beggars if I remember correctly, so don’t you dare disrespect Zynathian around me!” She finished her rant, apologizing to Nicolas for swearing in front of him.

  “You tell ‘em, Rosa!” Rufus said as he floated past in his chair.

  “Sorry, sorry…I’m just so tired of being aboard that damn tank,” Daum said, pointing to the ship, once belonging to Phyllamon. �
�I’m about two seconds from taking my belongings, a few rations, and just trying my luck out there in the world.”

  “Be patient,” Rufus said calmly but with a hint of irritation.

  “Look, I’ve been pa-”

  Just as Daum prepared to rebuttal, a wide smile beat away the scowl on his face. Daum could have spotted Jix anywhere, even as high up as he was at the moment! He collapsed with his hands in the air as if he was praying.

  “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Daum keened. The others looked at him as if he were mad but then followed his pointing finger, looking to the clouds, and they too were excited.

  “We’re saved!” a voice said.

  Jix was the first to land, and the others followed shortly behind him. He took a seat at Nicolas’ side, resting, as he’d been flying for several hours. When the others exited their vehicles, they began leaping into each other’s arms. The reunion was quite a happy event.

  “Rosa Lee, I’ve missed you!”

  “Smully, what’s up, mate? Wait’ll ya’ hear about the hell we’ve been through!”

  “Sonji!”

  “Mystiphar!”

  “Daum!”

  “Bo!”

  “Rufus, how’s it hanging, pal…you didn’t need to blow nobody’s ass off, did ya’?”

  “I tell you what, I had that Phyllamon bastard at my mercy, I did…that slippery son-of-a-bitch just barely got away with all his parts intact!” Rufus explained to his friend Adrian, scowling.

  Though the initial shock of the reunion had been joyous, it now took on a somber note, as the villagers noticed that many were missing from their number. The next half hour was filled with tales of the events of the last two weeks, ending with a vivid recount of the battle at Rhameeryla and the lives it had cost.

  “I can’t believe it,” one woman sobbed, speaking of Rue. “I asked her to come with us, but she said there wasn’t enough room…but we could have squeezed her in!” She put her hands to her mouth and sat down.

  There was a solemn mood for a while, while they all hugged each other, offering condolences. With the hours slipping away from him, Jix finally decided that it was time for them to get moving. He leapt from Nick’s side and landed on the hood of a hover car, gazing at the group. Nicolas was the one to break the silence.

  “What’s that you got attached to your collar, Jix?” he said, running forward. He untied the wax-coated note, and then attempted to pull off the other thing when—

  “Ouch! I’m sorry, okay? Jeeeeeeez!” Nick said, rubbing the back of his hand.

  Jix had swatted him firmly with his left paw, saying: Don’t touch, boy!

  “Isn’t that Teshunua’s?” Nick asked in a confused manner, wondering why Jix would need such a thing—it wasn’t as if he could use it!

  Jix seemed to read Nicolas’s mind, and hissed, following it with a several low-pitched growls.

  Don’t take me for a mere house pet, child! Jix huffed.

  Nicolas unrolled the note. “It’s from Zynathian, Mom!”

  Rosa took the note and read it aloud. Upon finishing, nervous whispers circulated throughout the group. Finally, some spoke up.

  “I ain’t too keen on bitter cold weather, but if that’s where we’ll be safe, I suppose I can adjust.”

  “Oh no, my heaviest clothing is back in Rhameeryla, undoubtedly burned to ashes!”

  “It’s okay, hon, I have some extra stuff that you can borrow.”

  After a few minutes of everyone expressing their concerns, Rosa Lee stood up and addressed them all. “Everyone, I know that a place called the Igloo is hardly what any of us would consider ideal to live in, and I can only imagine how cold it is there…” She shivered with anxiety. “…but Zynathian has never led us astray before. We must trust him.”

  With that Rosa Lee grabbed Nick’s hand and began leading him back to the tank. “I suggest we start moving right away, as it’s apparently a very long journey,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Bye, Jix,” Nicolas turned around, waving.

  Jix raised a paw in the air at him in return. He was happy they were all about to get moving as it was now only two hours till sundown, and he could already feel the temperature dropping. It was going to be a cold night here, and he could only imagine how dangerous the weather would be where they were heading.

  Jix watched everyone bustle about, heading back to their crafts. Within minutes an enormous mass of ships circled about the tank and rose into the air. Jix watched them until they disappeared above the clouds.

  Satisfied, he now had to embark upon the second task—a most dangerous one. With a powerful leap, he set off again, heading northwest.

  4

  An elderly man slammed his fist upon the heater in his cottage as it went out, followed by all the electricity. He’d used his very last pebble of Arhyz in the power generator of his home two days ago, and who knew when he would get more…Phyllamon hadn’t paid him his wages in over a month! He didn’t dare ask any of his neighbours for some, as most of them were in the same position as he: underpaid (or worse…never paid) miners for the Xyecah family. His only chance to have any bit of warmth on what he knew was going to be a dangerously cold night, was to go see Vlajdimir Ghurzblood, head of the local authorities and friend to Phyllamon.

  He bundled up and left the house, battling the vicious wind along a cobblestone road. After walking for a bit, the road veered a hard right, coming around the edge of a miniature forest of tall maple trees. He heard riots of protesting. Woone, his name, discovered that the entire town of Rhylix was standing outside of the Ghurzblood mansion, waving their fists in anger. He was happy that he wasn’t alone.

  Vlajdimir soon appeared at his balcony with Zephranie peeking out from behind the curtains. He was in a robe and house slippers with a scarf wrapped firmly about his neck. Shaving cream was still on his face and his hair contained a soft mountain of suds that kept blowing away with each gust of wind. Obviously, they had caught him at bath time.

  He was fuming. “All right, what’s all this racket?”

  “We have no power in our home, and I would like to cook dinner for my daughter and me, and maybe…just maybe, not freeze to death tonight!”

  “Same here…we ain’t got no power neither!”

  “Me either!”

  “Well what have you all been doing with your earnings? …Pissing it away, no doubt!” Vlajd said smugly.

  “We haven’t anything to piss away, you ass! I haven’t received my wages from Phyllamon in over a month, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this matter!” Woone huffed.

  “We need Arhyz, and we need it now!”

  “So why are you all telling me?”

  The stupidity of Vlajdimir’s question caused everyone’s mouths to drop open.

  “Because we know you’re friendly with him, you buffoon…or shall we say, in his pocket?” a voice from the crowd, scolded along with many others.

  Vlajdimir was taken aback that so many people knew his business. Dumbfounded for a moment, he twiddled his thumbs.

  “Shall I talk to them dear? If I give my word, I think they’ll disperse,” Zephranie said from inside, with dry sarcasm. The incident of her slaying one hundred men had long since become legend, and she knew that the people were nervous about her. Vlajdimir, determined to stick up for his self, rebuked her.

  “Shut the hell up, and stay indoors, woman!” he yelled over his shoulder, turning back to the angry mob before him.

  “I would advise all of you to hold your tongues. I am but a moment away from alerting the SCUM, and removing you from my sight! Remember who you’re talking to!”

  Everyone calmed at his remarks, anxious over what his unstable crew of minions would do.

  “Give us something, and we’ll disperse! You have a huge safe filled with Arhyz! More money than God, you’ve got! We all know, Vlajdimir, don’t think it’s a secret!” shrilled a squeaky voice.

  It was true. Though he was nowhere near as rich as Phyllamon, he
still had enough money for two lifetimes.

  “You haven’t the slightest clue what you’re talking about,” he lied. “My earnings are most humble. And I don’t know what you’ve heard about Phyllamon, but he is nothing more than a friend.”

  “You’re not a distant cousin to his wife then? He doesn’t stuff your pockets with Arhyz each month to be at his beck and call? Liar!” the man huffed, unable to believe that Vlajdimir had the nerve to stand there and pretend he was poor when his luxurious home, ten times the size of any in town, blatantly betrayed his words.

  “Excuse you, but my wages come strictly from running such an efficient law enforcement committee!”

  “Law enforcement committee? Vlajdimir, shame on you! Those poor things are so abused they haven’t the capacity to determine right from wrong! So how can they enforce the law if all manners of their cognition are subject to what you believe! You are wicked as they come!” a woman yelled.

  “Wicked, am I? Well, perhaps you would prefer being under the direct command of Phyllamon, himself, since I seem to be so unfit for the job…it’s not as if you all heed my orders anyway.” He paused, observing their puzzled faces, wondering what he was getting at. “Yes, that settles it. I will relinquish you all from my pitiful command and give you over to Phyllamon, who is more adept at these matters than I.”

  There were squirms and uneasy expressions about the crowd. “What’s to become of us?” a voice asked.

  “Those of you who are able bodied shall be recruited for Phyllamon’s army.” Vlajdimir grinned.

  “What!” Woone hissed. “I’ll just as soon be a soldier for that son-of-a-bitch than I can grow a cat’s tail!”

  “You won’t need to worry about that, my friend, you’re too old. You’ll most likely be one of those who is…discarded.”

  Vlajdimir adjusted his scarf and waved, turning to go indoors. However, he was stopped as the protesters became violent. He’d just missed having his head split open by a brick that went crashing through one of the glass panes on the door to his balcony. Vlajd was furious.