Doom's Break

by Christopher Rowley

  "Thank you, Lord."

  Filek examined the admiral's hands. The infection had gone deep already.

  "I was buried under a pile of bodies. The Red Tops thought I was dead, you see, and they just threw my body on the pile."

  "I am afraid, Admiral, that I must take off both of your hands and the left arm to the elbow."

  Heuze groaned. "By the time you're done with me, Surgeon Biswas, I fear I'll have no limbs at all!"

  "That may be, Admiral, but you'll be alive."

  By this point, Thru's attention had been diverted to another visitor, this time brought in by hesitant guards, obviously uncomfortable with the newcomer.

  "Welcome, Utnapishtim," said Thru, taking the ancient's hand.

  "It has been a very long time since there was such a momentous day, Thru Gillo, and I have always expected that you would be involved in great events."

  Utnapishtim greeted the Emperor and then the others with a quick smile and a clasping of hands.

  "I have come to assist the good Surgeon Biswas. Melidofulo is also present, though he was delayed on the way here. He will join us shortly."

  "I am glad to have your assistance, ancient Master," said Filek, coming forward to clasp Utnapishtim's hand.

  Loud voices were heard outside, and soon there began a round of singing. "What is that?" exclaimed Thru.

  "That's the regimental song of the Third Regiment," said Sergeant Rukkh. "I'd know it anywhere."

  A guard put in his head to announce that some veterans of the Third had come to sing their congratulations to the Emperor. The voices outside grew louder yet. The singing was loose and ragged.

  "Mentu, will you go out and speak to them?" asked the Emperor.

  And so, Mentupah went out to impersonate his brother once more, though this time he felt little concern that he would be found out. From the sound of them, these men were well past the state where they could have told the difference between Mentu and his brother, Ge.

  The singers had composed a special verse of their song in Aeswiren's honor, and now they bellowed it forth across the hilltop.

  When they'd finished, Mentu bid them farewell, commended them for their singing, and came back into the tent. "They're well liquored up, I'm afraid."

  "They found some brandy in the enemy camp," said Janbur.

  To confirm this there was more noise as some of the veterans objected to being moved on too quickly by the guards. Shouts, cries, even a few blows were heard before the disturbance was over.

  "So it is with these fellows after a victory like this one," said the Emperor. "Hard fought, and every man screwed tight to the point where his nerve may fail. Afterward there is a need for boisterousness."

  Utnapishtim stood up suddenly and held up a hand.

  "What is it, Utnapishtim?" said Thru.

  "I felt something, a twinge of the darkness. As if magic were being done here."

  Thru laughed. "No one here is capable of that, Utnapishtim."

  The Assenzi did not smile, however. He reached for a talisman that he kept in a small bag in his pocket. The stone was glowing. Utnapishtim cast about the tent, studying everyone's face with his huge, serious eyes.

  "What can it be, Utnapishtim?"

  "I do not know, Thru Gillo, but something stirs."

  At that very moment, the admiral started screaming. Everyone turned to look and were rewarded by the sight of Heuze thrashing on the floor of the tent, while terrified shrieks came from his throat.

  "Help him, someone," Aeswiren commanded.

  Janbur dropped down beside the frantic body. Filek crouched on the other side. As they took hold of the admiral's arms, they were pulled this way and that by his bizarre strength. Even with only one leg and with his hands completely ruined, the man had the strength of five.

  Utnapishtim dropped down beside them and held his talisman high while he mumbled verses so quickly they were incomprehensible. Everyone in the room felt a strange pressure in their ears, and then there was a popping sound in the air as if a cork had been pulled from a bottle. A green light flickered all over the admiral.

  Heuze's screams stopped at once, and his body subsided to the ground.

  "Admiral?" Filek leaned over Heuze and took his pulse.

  "How is he?" asked Mentu, crouching down to look.

  "His pulse is high but slowing. He is covered with sweat."

  "This was sorcery," said Utnapishtim, getting to his feet and trembling a little.

  Klek, Aeswiren's loyal bodyguard, had drawn his sword. "We have seen such sorcery before. It is a favorite of our enemy's."

  "Indeed," said Aeswiren, who was now sitting up on his litter, damn the pain it caused. "Call the guard. I want the area searched."

  Before his order could be sent out, the tent flap opened and one of the guards slipped in. A huge man, whose helmet seemed too tight for him.

  Thru sprang to his feet, a shout in his throat.

  He was too late, however. The giant man brought a hand up from inside his robe and cast something toward them as if he were tossing dice against a wall.

  The huge hand opened, and sparkling dust flickered in the air.

  "Close your eyes," hissed Utnapishtim, but too late. The next moment, the brilliant dust seemed to catch fire and flare with a white brilliance that blinded anyone who saw it.

  Mentupah fell to his knees with a choking cry. Klek stumbled into the tent wall and fell down. Janbur had drawn his sword but could do no more than hold it out in front of himself, unable to see a thing.

  Only Thru had heard Utnapishtim in time. When he opened his eyes, the white fire had died and the giant man in a stolen guard's armor and helmet was inside the Emperor's tent. His sword was out and pressed to Aeswiren's throat.

  The glittering dust had covered everybody, and its magic took effect. Their clothes and skin became stiff. Within a few seconds, not one of them could move, as if trapped inside armor plate that had rusted fast.

  The giant tore off the confining helmet, and Thru recognized at once the evil leader who had danced for the pyluk on a mat of bloody mud.

  "Well, well!" chuckled the huge man, contemplating his catch. "Aeswiren the Third, as I live and breathe. Who can truly claim to know all the ways of twisted fortune, eh?"

  The sorcerer pulled the sword away from the Emperor's throat and drew up a camp chair and sat down. "All of your companions are frozen in place, Your Majesty. Your guards are dead—I killed them myself. Yes, I can see you are astonished at this turn of events. You thought you had won a great victory. You thought you had finally gotten the better of me.

  "Ha! Revenge is mine, saith the Lord, and am I not the Lord?"

  The eyes raked the tent, alighting on Admiral Heuze, still lying on the tent floor. Heuze had come back to his senses and was staring up at the Lord Leader with terror. "Well, Admiral, don't you have an answer for me?"

  But Heuze could not speak, could not move a muscle.

  "I suppose none of you are fit to answer me, so I will answer myself. Of course I am the Lord. I cannot be defeated. I cannot be killed. I will live forever, and I will rule the universe."

  Utnapishtim had also shut his eyes in time, and his hand rested on his talisman. The pale green light warred with the crystalline sparkle that covered his hand. Slowly, the crystal decayed. The green glow traveled farther, working its way up the Assenzi's arm to the shoulder and across his body.

  As soon as he could move a muscle, Utnapishtim reached out to touch Thru on the shoulder. The green glow sparked over Thru as well.

  "Yes"—the Old One was savoring the new turn of events—"this will indeed be a day sung of forever. I shall ensure that it is enshrined in the daily prayers of the billions that shall worship me. This will be known as the day when I took the head of Aeswiren, faithless man of Shasht. This will be the day when I crushed the rebellion and began the process of finally exterminating my enemies."

  The green glow from Utnapishtim reached Thru's feet and the top of his head si
multaneously. He stepped forward boldly, while Utnapishtim stepped back into shadow.

  The giant man heard Thru's footfall and whirled around. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the little monkey who likes to sing for his supper!"

  Thru had his sword drawn and was measuring the distance to the sorcerer in the chair. As he stepped carefully forward, he spoke: "You wore another's body then. We were prisoners in that cruel pyramid of yours. You came out on your balcony and tried to make us crawl. But we sang instead, and you went away."

  The Old One got to his feet and towered over Thru. "Nasty little monkey, aren't you? You're the one that got away. Went off to the mountains and made those rug things. Very nice work, impressive skill. I'm sorry to say that I burned them. Couldn't have things like that left around, might give men the wrong idea."

  Thru took another careful step. He was almost close enough. "Burn and destroy, that's all you can ever do, isn't it? You can't build anything beautiful. You can't make anything fine. You cannot create, you cannot give pleasure. All you can do is encourage the worst in the world. You cheat and lie and deceive and murder."

  "Ho! Listen to the monkey preach to me. Who do you think you are, monkey?"

  "I am a free mot of the Land, and I know who you are, Karnemin the traitor."

  "Karnemin is it? They taught you that, did they, the little demons? Well, I will snuff them out just as I snuff out you and all your kind. When I am done, you will all be exterminated!"

  Thru came forward again slowly, light on the balls of his feet.

  "All you have to offer the world is cruelty and oppression. You keep men beaten down like whipped dogs. They are your slaves, and they do not even know it. They are slaves in a system that strips them of dignity and shortens their lives. Only the few who are wealthy escape the worst effects, but they suffer other things, such as the blight on their souls that comes from administering your horrible system."

  "Fool! They are men. Know you not men by now? Men are weak. Oh, they have some native wit, some inner intelligence. But, left to themselves, they rarely rise above mud huts and peasant plows. It is only when I puff men up and give them strength that they can lift themselves from the mud. Without me, they would be nothing!"

  "That is what you tell yourself. That is your justification. Which you must have, because the alternative is something you cannot face. You steep your mind in such lies and repeat them endlessly to yourself. You have to, because the truth is that all you have done is for vanity."

  "Silence, you impudent animal! I will hear no more of this! You are nothing but a freak of nature. Frogs' eggs and rats' tails! You came from a soup cooked up in a laboratory by senile men who'd lost their way. It is my duty to expunge you!"

  "You can try," said Thru in a tight voice. "But I will kill you if I can."

  He tensed, about to spring.

  But the Old One leapt first, exploding from the chair while swinging his sword round in a glittering arc meant to end it there and then. Thru had learned his kyo from Master Sassadzu, though, and he ducked it. The sword sank into a tent pole instead and virtually sundered it.

  In the shadows, Utnapishtim's frail old hand rested on Nuza's shoulder. Her sight was already recovering from the flash, since she had looked down at that moment. The slight green glow displaced the crystalline sparkle.

  Thru moved along the wall of the tent. The space was too tight for him. The giant could kill him with a single blow.

  "When I have finished, there will be nothing left of any of you. Your squalid hamlets will be plowed under. Even those ruins in the North where the little demons dwell shall be pulled down. I will erase your memory."

  The evil sorcerer stalked Thru, his sword gleaming in the lamplight.

  Thru recalled Toshak's maxim: "Attack! Seize the initiative whenever you can." So he thrust, knocked aside the enemy's blade, and drove for his chest. The giant dodged, his own sword flickered, and Thru was forced to party. The huge man swung his free hand, and though Thru was withdrawing he still clipped him on the side of the head. Thru stumbled to the floor, but rolled instantly to his right. The giant sprang forward and drove down with his sword. Thru kept rolling, and the sword missed him, smashing the lid of a wooden chest instead.

  Thru got to his feet, and their swords clashed. The enemy tried to catch him again with his fist, but this time the mot ducked. The Old One hit another tent pole.

  "Damn monkey! I'll kill you for that!" he howled.

  He stalked forward once more with an insane leer on his face.

  Thru struck aside his sword and tried for the giant's throat. The speed of his strike brought it very close to success, and the Old One pulled back with a hiss.

  "Venomous little monkeys, a lesson to all of us. Nasty things should never have been allowed in the first place. I told them they were wrong to bring their abominations to life."

  The Old One's sword whistled over Thru's head.

  A moment later their blades rang against each other. Thru was forced back by the other's great strength. He tripped on a chair leg and fell sprawling on his back. The giant laughed and leaned forward for the kill.

  And gave a sudden squawk of dismay. His blow went wide, sinking through the rug into the ground beneath. The Old One turned and found Nuza there, holding up a blood-streaked dirk.

  "Another one!" he growled. Then he caught sight of Utnapishtim moving out of the shadows with a small sword held before him.

  "And you! The damnable Assenzi, no less, caught in the act of winding the springs on your tame monkeys!"

  "Your time is over, Karnemin," said Utnapishtim in a cold voice. "The shadow is waiting to close over you."

  "Never!" roared the giant. His sword whirled through the space where Nuza had stood a moment before. The Old One shifted on his feet and winced from the pain in his leg from Nuza's dirk.

  He struck at her again, and then at Thru, who had climbed back to his feet. Nuza feinted but stayed out of reach of the enemy's sword. Thru drove in again. The sorcerer struck out with his foot, but Thru skipped aside. The giant swung suddenly and caught Nuza with the back of his hand, sending her flying backward. She slammed down onto Aeswiren's litter and then to the floor. As the enemy stepped forward to finish her, Thru harried him from behind. He whirled aside to evade the stroke.

  "Enough of this!" roared the Old One. In a furious flurry, he drove Thru back across the tent, caught him with a punch to the chest, and drove forward to skewer him. The sword scraped past Thru's ribs and went through the wall of the tent. But Thru's own sword found its way into the giant's chest. The Old One pulled back and put a hand to his side.

  "It cannot be."

  Thru swung with every ounce of remaining strength—a two-handed grip on the sword as if it were a bat and he was hitting for the boundary.

  The swords struck with a flash of fire, and the Old One's sword broke in two. Thru drove in again on the backhand and buried his sword to the hilt in the monster's belly.

  With a great cry of disbelief, the giant toppled, bounced on the ground, and lay still.

  "It is done," breathed Thru. "Our enemy is dead."

  He collapsed beside Nuza. She looked up woozily, her lips swollen from the Old One's blow. Thru put his arms around her and held her tight.

  Utnapishtim studied the fallen giant, then turned to wield his healing talisman stone on the others. One by one they were freed of the sparkling paralysis.

  Heuze was the last, and when he awoke he cried out in wonder and in fear.

  "It is over, Admiral. The thing had you in thrall of its sorcery," said Utnapishtim.

  Simona sprang to Aeswiren's side. The Emperor was slower to escape the grip of the paralysis.

  "His vitality is low, weakened by the arrow," explained Utnapishtim.

  Filek took Aeswiren's pulse. "It is light and fluttery."

  "He must rest," said the Assenzi. "There is much to do, but Aeswiren the Third has done his part. At least for now. He must gather his strength for the struggle for t
he future. He has much great work ahead of him."

  Thru and Nuza had joined the group standing around the Emperor's litter. Klek, the bodyguard, removed Thru's sword and prodded the corpse of great Pulbeka the stone breaker.

  "Will you go with him, Utnapishtim?" asked Thru.

  "Yes, Thru Gillo, I will go to Shasht. Another turn in the road for old Utnapishtim."

  "It is a dry land, Utnapishtim. It needs the care of the Assenzi."

  "Shasht can be green once more. Aeswiren has seen the way. We will work together. It will not be done in a day, nor even in one man's lifetime. But give us three generations, and even ruined Shasht can be fruitful and lovely."

  "Then it will be a marvel, and the men who live there will become wise."

  Utnapishtim smiled at the optimism of the mots. "Well, by then, the men of Shasht will have at least begun to see the outline of wisdom, perhaps."

  Klek returned with three guards. The others had been killed by the Old One at the end of the disturbance caused by the drunks with an urge to sing.

  "Karnemin must have guided those drunks and used their presence to disguise his attack," said Utnapishtim.

  With a grunt, Aeswiren finally emerged from the crystal spell. His eyes opened. "What happened?" he managed to say.

  Just then, the guards and Klek took up the arms and legs of the dead giant. As they lifted it, they were abruptly hurled backward. With an astonishing jackknife motion, the great body sprang back to life and landed on its feet. It snapped erect with a strange hiss. The eyes glittered with life, and yet the thing was dead.

  Klek came in first, his stabbing blade in hand. The thing caught his wrist, turned it, and hammered him with a huge fist. Klek was out cold before he hit the ground. His sword remained with the reanimated corpse.

  The sword swept around and beheaded the nearest guard.

  Thru had no weapon, but he snatched the water gourd from the table beside Aeswiren's litter and hurled it into the zombie's face. It burst, the water flew everywhere, and it distracted the thing. Thru struck it with foot and fist in a blindingly swift flurry of kyo blows.

  The dead thing took no notice. It struck down Janbur as he came forward with his sword. It slashed again and again, carving its way toward Aeswiren.