“What? Why?”
“I want to try something.”
As they spoke the column of nightmares tramped closer, pushing past or through the men fighting them. Spears and swords rose and fell and a few more of the things fell to the weapons. But the next in the line kept coming in a slow moving tide of unnatural flesh.
And as the people fighting them looked at the creatures, occasionally a trained fighter would back away, disgusted or horrified or simply unbelieving of what they were seeing. Nolan wasn't sure which was stronger, his desire to know what was so unsettling or the part of him that never wanted to be that repulsed.
Nolan dropped quickly from his perch and ran toward the wagons, hoping that Darus was with him. The things were coming closer and he had a momentary fear that someone would see them running and think they were trying to flee. He remembered his father telling him about two occasions where he’d had to discipline a soldier trying to flee from a fight. Neither of the men had lived through the experience. The idea of a spear in the back or a noose around his neck did not appeal at all.
Death did not come in the form of a spear or rope, but the things behind him were definitely getting closer.
The wagons were in motion. Not because they were supposed to be, but because the horses apparently did not like what was coming their way and they were trying to get up the sides of the well-worn road and drag their wagons with them. The men trying to calm the beasts were not having any luck. One wagon had fallen to its side already and the draft horses were straining and trying to haul their burden along despite the added traction. The men riding the wagon had fallen. One lay broken on the ground and the other was pinned under the weight of the capsized vessel.
Nolan didn’t take time to think it through. Instead he pulled his axe and climbed atop the wagon, hacking at the couplings until they broke. It didn’t take much effort as the wooden connections had already fractured. Darus followed his lead and took a long knife from his belt sheath and cut the leather straps at the same time. A moment later the horses were free and the wagon was no longer moving.
The man under the wagon was not moving. He was alive, but his eyes had rolled back and his skin was pale and sweating. It would take more than the two of them to free him. The wagon was too damned heavy.
Nolan shook off the worries for the downed driver and climbed over the wagon. The canvas cover had broken and the supplies inside were spilled halfway across the road, only adding to the chaos as other wagons and horses tramped over the supplies within.
He’d been hoping for one of the armory wagons, but was not that lucky. The spilled contents were from the larders.
Behind him a wagon succeeded in climbing the rise and lurched off the road. The man who’d been riding the wagon and directing the horses did not make it along for the ride and let out a yelp as he fell backward and flopped down the hillside back to where Nolan and Darus were waiting. He was battered and looked a bit surprised to find himself in the mud, but he got back up on his own. His round face was familiar, but there was no name associated with him in Nolan’s mind.
Nolan looked the man over. “Get a weapon ready!”
The man nodded and pulled at his sheathed axe. It was more a tool than a weapon, unlike like the one Nolan himself carried, but it would cut a monster as sure as it would chop wood.
Nolan looked at the debris, searching for any possible tools to help them and then looked up at the road ahead where the monsters were still coming.
No time.
The closest of the things was almost on them and he saw the head of the beast again and wished that he did not. It should not exist and yet it did. Had someone taken a dozen men sculpted of soft clay and decided to make something different from the originals what was coming at him might have been the result. Faces were distorted and pressed into new shapes, crushed against shoulders and torsos and bent by angry fingers into a new, rough form. He could see mouths and broken teeth, he could spy a nose mashed into a semi-flattened shape and smeared into an eye socket. The eye was still there, rolling madly and possibly seeing the world around it or merely staring blindly. Arms and fingers were broken and bent and pressed into that rough-hewn face. And it wasn't only the heads of the people used to make the shape. There were legs and torsos and there were broken swords and shields and armor twisted into that moving, impossible mess.
There was an Imperial Guard insignia crushed into the side of the monster’s face. Part of the thing. The crest of a shield was warped into that nightmare, a piece of the unholy whole.
The bloated nightmare pushed forward and ran into the wagon, not stopping, not slowing but continuing along the same pathway. The wagon did not budge; it was a very heavy obstacle to be sure, but the thing kept shoving forward, the heavy forearms of the monster slamming into the overturned affair and smashing into it again and again, pummeling the wood and iron that began to break and bend under the assault.
Darus had to drag Nolan back as the brute continued forward. A moment later and he’d have been crushed when the wagon fell toward him as the monster kept coming.
The beast was the last of them, apparently. It kept moving, trying to push along the same road, but behind it the soldiers had finished their bloody work and had hacked and stabbed the rest of the monstrosities into immobile carcasses.
Revulsion got the better of common sense. That was really the only way to put it. As the bloated, loathsome thing kept pushing up the road, not the least worried about Nolan as it moved along, his mind went dark and red.
Nolan let out a battle cry and swung his axe in a great arc, bringing it down on the mottled, vile back of the thing. The blade cut deep and the creature let out a sharp bleating noise and started turning back to examine Nolan with its repulsive piecemeal, rudimentary face. He hacked again and again and felt himself climbing onto the thing’s great back as he pulled the axe free and snarled at the impossible head.
There was nothing rational to his actions. Deep inside his skull, buried under the insane rage that consumed him, Nolan wondered at what he was doing and whether to not he would survive his foolish attack but it didn’t matter just then. He wanted this abomination gone, and more than anything else that was what drove him.
His axe rose and fell and rose and fell and he felt his throat go raw as he screamed again and again and kept hacking, dark blood splattering its way up his arms across his face and down his chest, painting his uniform in the color of the thing’s vile juices.
He was dimly aware of Darus next to him and others coming closer, but they did not matter just then.
It only mattered that the thing be dead, the better for him to pretend it had never existed.
And then the fight was done and he stood on the bloodied remains and panted, looking at his trembling hands and then slowly around him to see Darus and the man from the wagon and a half dozen others staring his way with wide eyes and unsettled expressions.
“Well then.” Nolan’s voice was coarse and raspy. He stepped back from his grisly work and shook his head, trying to clear away the last of the red rage that had consumed him.
Nolan’s legs gave out and so he fell back until he landed on his rump in the dirt.
“Well then,” he repeated. “That’s that.”
It was close to an hour before he recovered enough to move. He heard the people speaking around him, but was too exhausted to care. Considering what he’d just done, it seemed the rest of the troop was fine with letting him alone.
***
News of the Emperor’s death spread faster than tales of other events. Though the great eruption in the Corinta Ocean was certainly a topic worthy of discussion and the loss of the Guntha was a situation most would be speaking of for months to come, it was the death of Pathra Krous at the hands of an assassin that overtook conversations. The reason was simple enough: the changes wrought by his death would surely be more far reaching.
Still, even that news took time to cross the continent. First there were rumors
and those are often ignored. Then there were confirmations and from there the true wave of guesswork flowed wildly.
The Pilgrim did not care for speculation or hearsay. Both were the work of weaker minds.
When he heard of the Emperor’s death he sighed once and then rose from where he’d been resting for a very long time.
Pathra Krous had been a good man. He had been an important man. His death was what mattered, however. The Sooth had spoken to the Pilgrim of Pathra Krous’ dying and what it meant to the world around him.
It was the sign he had waited for.
It was worth rising for.
The Daxar Taalor were not the only gods that made demands.
The Pilgrim struggled from the murky waters where he had rested for so long and shook off the sediment that covered his flesh. The air was hot and sticky with humidity. His clothes clung to him like a second skin. He was aware of the fabric as he was aware of the heat: as a secondary consideration. The most important thing was the news that Pathra Krous was gone.
Everything else was secondary to that one portent, that one sign that his time had come at last.
The Pilgrim had slept for so many years and now he would fulfill his destiny.
Muscles that should have atrophied and withered long ago moved stiffly at first but as circulation returned to his muscles, so too did the ease of movement he had known before.
How long had he slept? He did not know. He did not care. It was enough to know that he was needed again.
He called out with his mind to the gods and frowned as he waited for their response.
Silence.
Only silence. Still, he walked. He had a great distance to cover and there were people he needed to gather to his side if he were to succeed in his holy mission.
***
The bodies were heavy, and they felt greasy to the touch. Nolan did not like handling them and he liked being in charge of guarding the remains even less. Still, someone had to do it and Sergeant Niles insisted that it was the sort of honor that would eventually lead to promotions.
Of course Niles was also known to say the same thing of digging the holes they pissed in whenever they made a camp for the night, so his word was hardly trustworthy.
The bodies were covered in salt and then wrapped in cloths in the hopes that they might make the trip to Tyrne intact. There was a firm belief that whatever the things were, the leaders of the army would want to examine them.
Nolan would have dealt better with that thought if the damned things would stop moving around. Everyone said it was the motion of the wagons they were piled into, but Nolan didn’t believe it for a second. They moved just as much when the column was at rest. They’d finally turned south and moved alongside the Freeholdt River. According to the maps that meant they were almost to their destination. He’d had doubts, too, until they finally saw the city in the distance.
Tyrne was immense. That was the only way to put it. Even from half a day away they’d seen the tallest buildings. Now they headed into the city proper and he did his best not to gape as they walked. He was not alone. Most of the soldiers he was with had never been to Tyrne and a goodly number had never been to any city of size except for Old Canhoon. Canhoon was large to be sure, and with a very heavy population, but it wasn’t so very tall. The outer buildings were not so enormous but the ones further in rose higher than he would have thought any buildings could be built.
It took most of a day to get to Tyrne and that was long enough for some of the awe to wear off. And as they got closer they were joined by other groups coming to the capital in a large stream of humanity. Many of the people coming seemed to be taking care of regular business – carts loaded with goods to sell or leaving the city and heading toward other destinations with supplies were common sights – but there were more who bore a desperate air to them, who seemed to be heading to the city in the hopes of escaping from the inevitable war that people they encountered were certain was coming to eradicate them all.
War. That was an unpleasant notion. Darus shook his head and spat as they walked together. “You think there’s anything to the notion of war?”
Nolan looked at the man and cocked his head to the side. “I expect yes. We just fought some sort of monsters and we’re heading for the capital. Not just us, either. There’s more soldiers behind us and more ahead. I saw a full regiment of cavalry making for the city up ahead.”
Darus spit again, squinting up the road as if he might see the horses and their riders. Nolan knew better. His friend had eyes meant only for seeing things close by. The further out he looked, the worse his sight.
“You sure?”
“I saw them.” Nolan was about to say something else but whatever it was fell away from his lips unspoken. Up ahead the road was clear enough to let him see what waited in that direction. The great wall of the city and the open gateway, and through the gate he could see the long road leading upward into the heart of Tyrne. He could see the path leading all the way to the palace.
“Can you see them now?”
“No.” His heart hammered in his chest. “No. I don’t know where they went.”
“Well I guess we’ll see for ourselves soon enough.”
Sergeant Niles came toward them from further up in the column, his lean form walking with the usual swagger. His eyes were dark splotches in the sunlight. “Nolan!”
“Aye, ho, Sergeant?” He didn’t much like Niles, but he could respect him well enough. There was a difference.
“Got a note from the Office of the Commander General says you’re to go to the palace immediately and bring your prizes with you.” He pointed to the wagons loaded with rotting flesh. “Get to it and take Darus, Tolpen and Vonders with you.”
Nolan nodded and started to head for the carts. It was Darus that asked the question that had already started ringing in Nolan’s head. “Why us?”
“March because he was asked for. The rest of you because the captain says you deserve recognition for killing those things.” The sergeant didn’t wait around any longer. Before Darus could ask another question the man was heading back the way he’d come.
“What do you make of that?” Darus’ voice was soft.
“I make nothing of it. We’ll learn what we need to know when we get there.” Nolan wasn’t sure he believed that himself. He just knew he needed to get to the palace. He wondered if Merros Dulver would be there. He knew the answer, of course, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about that knowledge.
***
Desh Krohan swept into the throne room with a smile on his face. Merros looked at the man as if he might have lost his mind. What in the name of all the gods was there to smile about?
Nachia Krous looked up from the throne with a similar look of puzzlement on her face.
“Oh, look at the two of you.” Desh shook his head. “It’s like watching two children trying to study their letters with their eyes closed. The sun is out, the clouds are fading to the south and the day is young. Nachia, you’re to be Empress of this land within a week and Merros you’ve been promoted to the head of Nachia’s armies. Try to actually enjoy that fact for a moment, will you?”
Merros cleared his throat, trying to find the right way to respond without having himself reduced to cinders by the man.
Nachia was more direct. “I don’t want to be the Empress. I want my cousin back.”
The wizard shook his head. “I know. Still, you can’t have Pathra back. He’s gone from us and wanders now wherever the spirit goes when the flesh is sundered.” He leaned closer in to the woman who was allegedly his ruler. Allegedly because Merros was almost certain that no one ever actually ruled over the man. “I know that look. Calm yourself. Tantrums won’t help you now. You’re ascending to the throne. There’s no choice in this.”
Merros sighed. That was the problem with the wizard. One of them at least. He tended to be very sure of his declarations. He also tended to be right. The general did not like that combination very much. Not that
he could do much about it.
“So let’s have a chat, shall we?” Desh walked to the table where paperwork sat for the Empress’ consideration and pushed the papers away from one edge, the better to rest his hip and buttock against the marble. “I think it’s time to get past the losses we’ve suffered and move on to running the Empire properly.”
Nachia opened her mouth, her lips peeling back in an angry scowl, and before she could respond Desh shook his head. “I don’t mean we forget the death of Pathra. He was one of my dearest friends. I mean we don’t let his death stop us from keeping his Empire safe. He wouldn’t appreciate his hard work being allowed to fall into ruin because our souls are heavy with his loss.”
That stopped her. She closed her mouth and slowly nodded. “What do you suggest, Desh?”
Merros felt himself release a breath he had been unaware he was holding. The simple fact was that angering the future head of the nation was a bad idea, even if you were working in her behalf. Desh Krohan was not his friend, exactly, but he was definitely a benefactor. He needed a few of those.
“Merros here has been bolstering the city’s defenses and that’s a wonderful notion, but we need to do more. There are soldiers coming here, forces gathering, because we need them, but they need to be supplied, they need to have places to sleep.”
“There are ample barracks, Desh. I’ve made sure of that.” Merros couldn’t keep a defensive edge from his voice.
“Oh, to be sure, Merros. I know that about you. If I didn’t think you were up to the job I would have never recommended you to Pathra as strongly as I did.”
Merros resisted the urge to snort at the comment. Nachia Krous did not. “Recommend, he says.”
“The papers were signed by your cousin, Nachia.”
“I know that. You know that. But I have no doubt as to who was holding the pen in place for him.” She was not angry as she spoke. If anything she seemed to be teasing the man. Merros had no idea what sort of relationship they had, really. He had seen both of them repeatedly but most of their interactions had been in front of an audience of people and now they were positively casual with each other.
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