by Terry Reid
“No, I’ll be fine.” He replied, dancing on his feet nervously. “You know what? It’s funny. I know you’ve probably eaten your own share of Pyrovites over the years but the thing I like about you Alchemists is that it’s a clean death, you usually swallow Pyrovites, humans and the rest of them in one.” He joked, but there was no humour there.
“Connor...”
But he cut her off, changing the subject to take his mind off the grisly business behind him. “What do you thinks going to happen at the senate?”
Terry gave him a surprised look but after a few moments obliged an answer. “I don’t know. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t worried about it. My father doesn’t care about whether they remove my exile or not, he’s only coming because I’m going to find this lord.”
Connor was confused. “I thought going to see the senate was his idea?”
“No, it was mine. It’s only a cover though. Every town from the border to Naris would have heard about my return by now thanks to dad destroying that place the other night. My dad will negotiate with them about scrapping my exile and we’ll go off to see if we can find this lord.”
“I’m impressed. How did you ever convince him?”
Terry shrugged. “It would take too long to explain but this,” she nodded toward the approaching Monoglyphs, “was part of the agreement to letting us do this. If dad had his way we would all still be back at the colony.”
“Well...thanks. We need to find out who this Phantom is.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
A breath of wind stirred up the loose sand, blowing a handful of dust over them and the stench of deaf. Connor covered his nose, suddenly remembering the dead. “I just hope we find Rilario.”
“Me too.”
They watched the approaching party for a few moments before Connor said, “Your father really doesn’t want to go, does he?”
Terry sighed. “He told me that he was sick of politics and he was fed up of the south telling us how to live our lives. He also told me if the senate refused to let me stay he would happily risk war with your nation.”
Connor’s eyes widened. “Really? It’s not likely to come to that is it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, it all depends if you’re latest prime minister is a kind man or not.”
“You’re guess is as good as mine, I don’t know who it is now.”
“We have been away a long time and my father has never met him. It could all go smoothly or it could be a powder cake.”
The two of them stared on toward the advancing party in silence for a few minutes. Then Terry said, “Besides, if it ever comes to it I intend to abdicate.”
Connor laughed with her. “I could be the court jester.”
Terry smirked. “Of course not, you could take on the highly respected role of councillor. You get to work long hours, never get to see your family and be expected to know several million Alchemists on individual terms.”
Connor smirked, forgetting the horror behind his back. “I don’t think my wife is keen on insects.”
The two of them laughed loudly, but they quickly quietened down when they remembered where they were thanks to the sea of grim faces that approached. This was not the time or place.
With the slightest gesture, King Fallo stopped his party and continued alone.
“How many?” he asked, his eyes transfixed on the bloodied bodies.
“Forty seven.” Terry replied, standing to one side to allow him to pass.
Fallo knelt next to the closest body. After a minute he rose and moved slowly around the cairn, occasionally stopping to inspect individuals.
When he returned his face was as hard as stone.
“Did you know them well?” she asked.
“Yes. This was Alio’s tribe. He is among the dead,” he looked to the pile, “as are his children and wives He stared off into the distance and she could see the anger burning behind his eyes.
“What makes this even more disturbing is that this was carried out by the hands of one of our own.”
Terry’s eyes widened. “What? I could have sworn some of them were stabbed with spears. The markings on their bodies match the weapons.”
He shook his head. “Someone has tried very hard to make it look like that. But if you look close enough you can see the tell tale marks of our blades. The points of attack also match how we would strike our prey.”
She looked down at the dead child that lay at her feet; his eyes staring vacantly into an empty sky. “I must be rustier than I thought...” she muttered, taking a second look.
“It will come back to you in time.” Her father said, holding out his hand. Taking it, he gently pulled her back to her feet.
“In the meantime, we should lay them to rest. With no tracks or other evidence to help us find who did this an investigation will have to wait until we return.” He decided, walking away. He whistled.
With a low grinding sound, two of the Monoglyphs made their approach. They would set to the task of burying the dead, a feat Terry did not envy.
******
The sun hung low in the western sky, silhouetting the distant rocky hills that the party would have to negotiate tomorrow. The primeval Alchemists had set-up a perimeter around the camp, while the Monoglyphs sat around the campfire – nothing more than a fleck of ember compared to their colossus scale. They spoke quietly through a series of clicks and rumbling sounds, quiet enough not to disturb their charge. They were off duty for now, but would be expected to swap with the primeval during the night to act as watch.
Closer to the fire, among the giants, the human-sized party members sat. None of them really needed the heat of the flames, but the fire was a good source of light.
Darius took a long pull from his water skin. He then tipped his head back, dosing his filthy, sweaty face with the cold fluid.
Fallo observed him. “Tell me child, how much water do you have left?”
Darius immediately stopped what he was doing, staring at the king with hunted eyes. His lips moved but he couldn’t seem to speak.
“You can speak you know.” The King said, inclining his chin.
“He’s scared of you.” said Terry, idly poking the fire with a stick. Her father raised an eyebrow. She smiled. “You frightened him earlier.”
“Really?” he said, indifferent to whether it was true or not. He turned his gaze back to the young water elemental. “What is your name?” he asked.
Darius looked on nervously. “Darius...” he muttered, quickly averting his gaze. He preoccupied himself with re-corking his water skin and returning it to the satchel he had been given at the start of the day before they left Cresswell Colony.
Fallo sat silently for a minute then said, “You’re a son of the Daro line?”
Darius’s eyes widened. “Yes...how did you know?”
A smile formed in the corner of Fallo’s mouth - a very human expression. “Darius is a very uncommon name in your culture. But there is one family which has used it for twenty generations.”
“Did you know my father?” He asked, sitting up keenly.
“No, we have never met. Nor do I know of him, but I have heard of the family name many times.”
“I’ve never heard of the name.” Connor admitted at a loss. “Is your family famous for some reason?”
Darius shook his head. “No, but we have done many things. My ancestors also served and survived in the last Great War.”
The party around the campfire fell silent, including the Monoglyphs. The mention of the Great War still held the peoples of the world in silent unity even generations after it had taken place. Known to history as the War of the South – it was the bloodiest chapter in the Southlands history.
It was the time the water and fire elementals fought over the two nations in the southern hemisphere. The war lasted nearly 25 years and in that time 50 million people died. In the end the war only ended because the fire and water nations simply could not carry on. There were
not enough soldiers to man the war machines, nor were there enough people left to organise or feed them. Both societies collapsed. It was rumoured at the time that only two million fire elementals survived. The situation for the water elementals was even graver. They only numbered thousands. The Alchemists and the remaining races were also eventually drawn into the conflict as the battle consumed most of the planet. It was from the Great War that the modern country – the Southlands was formed and its government forged and the two races of fire and water co-existed side by side.
After a prolonged silence Faye said, “I think I shall retire.”
Everyone bid her goodnight and she disappeared into her tent. Terry yawned, suddenly realising how tired she was. It was time to call it a night. With quiet words the party broke for the evening, everyone retiring with heavy thoughts and heavy heads.
The thought of war turned Terry’s stomach as she lay down for the night, the prospect weighing hard on her mind. She knew if war came it would never match the scale of The Great War, but she clung to the hope still, that it would never come...
Chapter 13
Southward Bound
Fallo sat upright, hissing. His sudden movement woke Terry, who had lying nearby. “What is it?” she asked, looking this way and that in the predawn gloom. The rest of the camp was silent and the two primeval Alchemists who were keeping watch continued to do so at ease. Whatever her father had noticed, no-one else had.
He continued to stare into the distance. “Can you not hear it?”
Terry harkened. Only silence. “Hear what?”
He looked at her, his eyes flashing angrily. “Then lie down and listen, feel the vibrations.”
Terry hesitated. “Dad if there was someone out there the guards would have...”
“They cannot hear as well as you or I and they never will. It is in your blood.” He interjected his tone impatient. “Now try.”
Reluctantly she lied back down, pressing her ear to the rock. “Listen.” So she did. For a few minutes she tried and there was nothing but silence punctuated by the occasional sound of someone turning or the primeval Alchemists shuffling about where they sat. Through her body she could feel no vibrations, only the solid ground beneath her. She was about to give up when she felt a murmur. Had she imagined it? No, there it was again and then again. With each murmur the vibrations grew louder and her ears pricked at the rumble of distant thunder. When she finally opened her eyes she drew a sharp breath – the air stabbing at her lungs. She must have forgotten to breathe for a few moments – but she could not recall doing so. “Thunder.” She said, looking at her father, her eyes wide with shock.
Her father smiled. “Good.”
Terry sat up, placing her hand against his chest. Closing her eyes she listened. She could feel his heart. Every beat was as loud as a drum and the vibrations doubly so. She could also feel his blood racing through his body and the electrical discharges coming off his hybrid organs of metal and tissue.
Terry suddenly opened her eyes, drawing another sharp breath. She removed her hand. Every nerve in her body tingled.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah...” She puffed, leaning back on her arms to catch her breath. She felt giddy.
Her father glanced off toward the dark horizon. “It will be another few hours before it is upon us. We should get some more rest.”
Terry glanced in the same direction. She yawned, allowing her mandibles to fold out for a second. She felt tired. Without further word she curled up into a ball and shut her eyes.
“Daughter?”
But she was already fast asleep.
******
Connor peered from under his hood. Rivers of raindrops ran from its edges ceaselessly as another flash of lightning lit up the landscape, before plunging it back into near darkness. Connor was soaked, despite the heavy duty raincoat he wore. He didn’t mind being wet but he hated having his clothes plastered to him.
The storm had forced them to travel on foot. Something Connor did not have any qualms about, the Monoglyphs were like giant, walking lightning rods.
“Are you alright?” Terry shouted over the howling wind. Even she was struggling to walk into the prevailing wind, despite her weight. Her clothes were as sodden as his were.
“I’m a bit soaked!” he laughed, his voice drowned out by a loud strike of thunder in the distance.
She nodded, smiling as drips of water flew from her face. “I know!”
“Keep up. It will break soon!” Lyle shouted as he pressed past them.
Darius gave them a dubious look as he caught up, hugging his thick jacket against the brazing wind. “He said that an hour ago!”
Terry laughed. “I think he only told you that to wind you up!”
“I’m not surprised!”
“It should not be much longer now, it’s nearly passed!”
Darius braved a glance upward into the black sky overhead; it was as dark as it had ever been. “Are you joking as well or are you being serious?”
“I’m being serious! I hate getting soaked as much as you do!”
“I wish your father had your sense of humour!”
Terry nodded. “Me too sometimes!” she shouted, as they were buffeted by another blast of freezing air. A flash of lightning forked across the sky.
Connor moved closer to Terry so that he did not need to shout so much. “Forgive me for saying but in a few hours we’ll be exactly where we were a few days before we were ambushed!” He grabbed his hood as another gust threatened to blow it from his head. “I’m not being nasty, I know you’re wounds were quite bad and you needed treatment but...we’ve just lost so much time. I know that’s terrible thing to say, I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay. I feel the same way. I don’t understand why they couldn’t have just rescued us and we could have all carried on together instead of being taken back to the colony.”
“Jo is probably beginning to wonder where I am!”
“I know. But there’s nothing we can really do about it!”
Connor’s expression turned grim. “It is times like these that I wish gate travel still took place.”
“I know it would have made getting to the lake and the capital and home again a lot easier.”
The capital of the Southlands, Marrich, like a handful of other cities across the globe, used to have temporal transport leaving for Earth a dozen times daily. It was a thriving industry for several generations. The travel choice of merchants, it originally served as a means for goods to be transported to Earth where they could be sold on for a high profit. Merchants could fetch a much higher price on a parallel world where everyday goods would only turn a few coins back home. A lot of the common everyday fruit, vegetables and flowers the humans enjoyed had originally came from Terry’s home world.
At its peak, tens of thousands worked on the temporal transport system – including smugglers. Sixty years earlier it had become so blighted with corruption that it became much more tightly regulated by governments across the world. Another reason for the move was the human races improving knowledge of technology. In centuries gone by one part of the world would go years, if not generations, without contact with other parts of the globe. Now the humans could speak to each other instantaneously because of the internet and other ways of communication. And as the society became more in touch, its food industries became much more regulated.
The temporal transport system was only created to trade with Earth on a discreet level, something modern times had made increasingly difficult. The fire elementals had tried to make first contact with the human race on three occasions back in the days when the technology was still used for exploration. None of the encounters had ended well. One which occurred in the Middle Ages led humanity to brand the aliens demons. More than thirty missionaries were killed and only three made it home alive.
After that the fire elementals changed tactics and only ever approached humans on more low key visits, opting to hide their true abilities and
origin in exchange for trade. The humans, it seemed, were far less fearful of people who looked and acted like them. In time more and more merchants began to trade with the apes, often tribes or those in the East where they knew if their true nature were to be discovered, they would more likely be revered from a healthy distance than killed. The merchants had tended to steer clear of the West, where men were much more suspicious. There had been encounters in recent decades where merchants had been killed in countries such as the United States, England and France. Secrecy, it had been decided, was in the best interest.
The final nail in the coffin to the industry came twenty years ago. A group of merchants had decided, rather foolishly, and without official permission from the Senate of the Southlands to go to the United States and sell rare fruits in Chicago. Unfortunately one night, three of the merchants got into a bar room brawl, revealing their true abilities. Among the two fire elementals had been an Alchemist. The army had quickly got involved and the three were never heard of again.
The first anyone back home knew about the awry mission was when a squad of armed US marines appeared in the temporal chamber in the centre of Marrich. The marines were taken prisoner and temporal transport was swiftly banned. The fire elementals had glimpsed the nature of the human race and the thing they feared more than being discovered was the threat of invasion.
Many temporal machines were destroyed after the ban. Only four were kept in operation by the Senate for government matters only. Though many, like Terry, knew that there were others still in operation; ones that had disappeared onto the black market. How many exactly still existed no one knew, but it was suspected that the number was quite low. The Senate did not fear their illegal use. Anyone who used them to get to Earth would be on their own if they got caught. The Senate thought this was enough of a deterrent.
The rain suddenly eased to a light drizzle as if someone somewhere had flipped a switch. A distant rumble to the west heralded a break in the clouds over the far horizon.
Darius looked to the sky. “I hope there aren’t any more storms on the way.”
