by J. Thorn
The two men turned to survey the southern front. The missiles on the northern front had killed many Jaguar Knights and created the perfect diversion, drawing Machek’s attention and allowing the Serpent King to send the bulk of the surge to the south. Soldiers of the coalition pushed the Jaguar Knights back, many glued to the wall of the capital. The sentries inside would not open the gate until they received the command from Machek, and though some Jaguar Knights continued to fight, many dropped their weapons.
Expecting the rules of warfare in the One World to apply, they surrendered. The Jaguar Knights assumed the infidels would release them to their families after the battle. When the coalition soldiers slaughtered the first dozen men upon surrender, they realized there would be no quarter. Those who could see the heinous murders of the surrendered refused to lay down their weapons and pledged to fight to the death.
Shane watched the Serpent King move towards the front. His frame sunk and his legs did not move with the same swiftness they once did. Shane knew that if the Serpent King fell, he would step in to command the coalition. He licked his lips like a tiger straddling his kill.
***
Desi waved his arms in a desperate attempt to clear the smoke. Out of duty, friendship, and loyalty, he did not want to lose sight of Machek on the battlefield. The explosions had rocked the northern end of the front and killed many soldiers. However, the coalition forces did not push their way through in the aftermath.
He cried out for Machek, his ears ringing with the echo of the bombs in his head. Dying soldiers moaned and cried, clutching phantom limbs and gaping wounds. A foul breeze pushed some of the smoke and painful cries out of the way, and Desi saw Machek standing in the middle of the battlefield. The fight had scattered bodies all around him, and he did not move.
“Machek! Machek, it’s me.”
Machek turned in response to his friend’s call. Black soot and blood covered the lord major and his eyes glazed with an empty, faded light.
“He took one, and I finished the other.”
“What are you talking about?”
Machek pointed his sword towards two female bodies on the ground. Desi clutched his chest and looked hard.
“The Angels of Darkness. I had to finish it.”
“The servants of the Serpent King?”
“Yes.” Machek had a difficult time getting the words to form into coherent thoughts.
“What happened, Machek?”
The two stood locked in conversation as the bombs smoldered and the southern front continued to rage.
“I saw a blinding amber light appear over that crater. I heard his voice but could not hear words. He was angry, and I think the Angels had disobeyed his command. The one took the other’s life. She cut her throat out of mercy. I recognized them for what they were and knew I had to finish it. The other lay dying in front of me, and I pierced her blackened heart with my blade.”
Desi looked down in horror.
The two remnants of beautiful flesh below started to shimmer, the skin bubbling and shifting as if something beneath were trying to escape. Rips and tears grew as their hair turned from light gray to dark gray, to pure white. It fell in clumps from their heads, and the Earth Goddess reclaimed the women’s bodily fluids, leaving shriveled corpses on the ground. The skin and bones crumbled and folded inward. The Angels of Darkness turned to piles of dust, whipped and thrown about by the winds.
Machek broke from the scene and turned to face Desi. “The Serpent King sent these wretched females and the bombs to distract us. Look. No regiments or forces of any size came through the blast to push the line back.”
“Yes, Machek. I think he created these diversions to penetrate the line in another place.”
Machek scanned with his spyglass as far as he could see. Men on both sides had tired to the point of exhaustion. They stood paces apart with weapons at their sides. He stopped scanning when his eyes reached the southernmost point of the front line, at the southeast corner of the capital’s wall. There, intense fighting raged. He saw lord majors on horseback and recognized their banners.
“We need to get down there as fast as we can. If they break through the line and into the main gate, all will be lost.”
Desi followed Machek as the men rode parallel to the front line, from the northernmost point to the coalition surge on the southern tip. Thousands of dead men covered the Earth Goddess like the scattering of leaves by winter’s early arrival. Medics and women walked amongst them, hoping to find a survivor. Vultures circled high above the battlefield, waiting for the smoke and danger to dissipate before swooping down and feasting on the bloated bodies.
As they approached the front, Machek’s heartbeat quickened. He navigated an opening between the wall of the capital and the backs of his Jaguar Knights engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The sharpshooters stationed on top of the wall had thinned the advancing hordes of infidels, but not enough to slow their momentum. He looked out over the battle and saw two lord majors on horseback. If the Serpent King or Shane got within reach of his sword, he would remove their heads for them without discussion.
The Jaguar Knights shouted and rallied when they saw their lord major arrive. They pushed back the infidels as both Machek and Desi slashed down at the enemy from their horses. However, they could no longer maneuver the steeds amongst the dead, so both dismounted and joined the fight. Machek recognized the bloodlust and fanaticism in men’s eyes as he met his fellow citizens of the One World with sword and shield. Machek slashed through the point of the coalition surge and pushed them back.
***
Shane rallied the men and drove towards the wall. Men of the coalition screamed when they saw the two lord majors of the Empire dismount and join the battle. War glory and booty belonged to the warrior who claimed the head of Lord Major Machek. Shane noticed that the Serpent King gripped his saddle and did not steer his horse. His face had turned white, and his hair stuck to the sides of it.
“My lord, the poison—”
“I know,” said the Serpent King, interrupting Shane. “I must get to a shaman before the poison shuts down my body. If I cannot, then get me through the gate. That is all that matters.”
In his mind, Shane calculated the advancing effects of the poison.
The Serpent King rode away from the battle and turned to face the main gate north of the fighting. He slumped forward and backward in the saddle, a slave to the motions of the horse beneath him.
Shane saw Machek in the battle. He needed to stand by the Serpent King, but he had Lord Major Machek in his sights. He hissed and spat while turning from the front line, riding out of the combat and stopping next to the Serpent King. The last reserve of Shane’s loyalty dimmed like the rays of the Sun God.
The battle raged most of the day. Shadows wavered on the fields of death. Sinister black rectangles crept out further from the capital as the light of the Sun God fell behind the towers and turrets of the wall. Even though the lord majors of the coalition hoped to continue fighting through the night, fatigue set in. The coalition forces pulled back from the conflict and established camps within site of the main gate. With the first rays of the Sun God, the coalition would rise again and take the city. Shane escorted the Serpent King back to his caravan. He touched the Serpent King’s arm, reeling from the cold and clammy sensation of the dying entity.
***
Desi and Machek leaned into each other, trying to ignore the soreness and fatigue in their muscles. The aromas of warm porridge and burning flesh floated through the camps. Water gathered from brackish puddles filled canteens and flasks. The men smoked stale leaf and blew smoke over the dead.
“My lord, what is your command?” Desi asked.
Machek took sloppy swigs from his flask and welcomed the burning sensation down his throat and into his chest. “I think it is time. We cannot survive another day of attacks with the sheer numbers the Serpent King has thrown at us. We lost many, many good men today and gained nothing but another daybreak. Send
word that when the Lady of the Light rises to her throne, all Jaguar Knights and friends of the Empire must retreat inside the walls of the capital. It is all we can do, and might be our last hope.”
Desi shifted on his feet and looked at the sparks dotting the edge of the great plain. The sickening smell reached his nose as he realized the infidels burned corpses to fuel their campfires. “If the savages breach the wall, all of our culture and civilization will be lost.”
“As will our people.”
“Once we retreat inside, there is no turning back. The infidels will surround the capital. They will break down the wall or wait until we die of starvation.”
“Yes, I understand that, old friend. If we try to face the infidels on the battlefield tomorrow, it will bring more death.”
A messenger arrived and interrupted their conversation, passing a piece of crumpled parchment to Machek. He looked at it and handed the message to Desi. “We lost seventy percent of our warriors today.”
Desi handed it back to Machek and shook his head in disbelief. “Lord Major Machek, it is your call. Make it and give the Empire a chance to survive.”
Machek asked the messenger for another piece of parchment and quill. He drew up the official command and sent it to the other lord majors situated along the base of the wall. In addition, he gave the signal to the gate operator. As soon as the Lady of the Light took her throne, the gate would open.
“Prepare the regiments. The command has been issued.”
Desi obeyed his commander and rode down the line relaying the message from Lord Major Machek.
***
Shane watched as the Serpent King’s servants positioned him on the cot. Acidic fluid filled his lungs, and fever gripped his body. The Serpent King babbled words of nonsense and tales of eras past. Shane watched as the poison manifested itself within the Serpent King’s body, his skin glowing a sickly green as the poison stole body heat from his core. He motioned for Shane to come closer. Shane bent down and turned his ear.
“Pull back until the Sun God rises again.”
“Sir? When they open the gate, we will attack.”
The Serpent King spat on the ground and grunted with dissatisfaction. “No! You must allow me to heal and lead the warriors into the city. I will be the edge of the spear. Do not launch the attack, young bull.”
Shane stood up and contemplated the command, the Serpent King’s body crumbling before his eyes. He ordered the servants and shaman out of the tent and hovered over the Serpent King’s cot.
Chapter 74
The people of the Empire clustered in defensive groups. Many had abandoned their homes to seek refuge inside the walls of the capital, and like frightened mice, they sniffed and climbed on each other, one eye always on the main gate.
With the Lady of the Light rising, the first sounds of the pulleys shot through the air. Faces peered into the dark streets towards the gate. The retired warriors of the Jaguar Knights pulled the ropes to open it, and Lord Major Machek and one of his commanding officers retreated into the capital. Torchlight from the regiments behind them glowed, making their profiles visible. Mist created by the coming night rolled under their feet.
In groups of five to ten men, the rest of the surviving regiments staggered through the gate and into the main plaza of the city. Cheers, adoring crowds, and eager wives faded into the Jaguar Knights’ historic domination over the One World. The smell of death hung like dying branches over the plaza once filled with charcoal pits and roasted delicacies. The smooth flagstones held fast as wounded soldiers left footprints of blood. The men found a parcel of the plaza and erected their tents, burning whatever refuse they could find to warm their weary bones throughout the night.
Citizens watched from their hiding places, hoping to get a glimpse of a father, brother, or husband. Stray dogs meandered into the ranks, hoping for a morsel of rotten meat to cover their bony ribs.
A few thousand soldiers moved inside the city in an hour’s time. When the last of the men and their lord majors came through, Machek gave the command to close the gate. The loud clunk and subsequent crack of the pulleys rang off the empty streets as the sides of the gate drew closer to each other, quarantining the remnants of the Empire and sealing their fate.
***
“Desi, come smoke with me.” Machek sat under the guard tower on the southern side of the main gate. He pulled a leather satchel from his belongings while brushing his minor wounds with a salve from the medics. Desi walked towards his old friend and sat next to him.
“When do you think they will come?” Desi asked.
“It does not matter. If the Serpent King is still in control of the horde, I think he will wait it out. He might even send another emissary and ask us to open the gate for him.”
Desi grimaced at the thought.
“But if his vile left-hand man commands the forces, we might feel their swords on ours tonight.” Machek finished packing the herb into his pipe, lit it, and took a drag. He took his time exhaling the blue smoke before passing the pipe to Desi.
“Machek, do you regret anything?”
Machek wrinkled his nose and shook his head as if warding off a bitter odor. He looked at the ground, to the sky, and everywhere else except into Desi’s eyes. “I don’t have time for regret. Besides, what is it good for? One cannot swim against the current of time.”
Desi nodded, allowing the sweet leaf to lighten his body and mind. “You lost everything. Don’t you think life is easier detached, never bonding to things of impermanence?” Desi grabbed for his sword and secured it on his hip. His hands straightened the ribbons on his shoulder.
“I must get to our remaining ranks and decide how to disperse the patched regiments across the city. The rest of that pipe belongs to you. Enjoy it.”
Desi waved the pipe at Machek, giving him one last opportunity to smoke. Machek shook his head and disappeared into the ranks of the men in the plaza.
***
Shane leaned over the Serpent King. He knew the Plains of Miklin had prepared for his arrival. The Serpent King’s chest rose and lurched at irregular intervals. The color drained out of his skin, and sweat plastered his hair to his head. In the hours since they had arrived in the tent, Shane paced back and forth. He could not sit still or stand in one place for any length of time. Shane’s right hand massaged the hilt of his sword, feeling the inlaid gems and the tackiness of the dried blood.
The Serpent King opened his eyes, terror filled and stricken with the dementia of fever. They locked on Shane’s and released their stress for a moment. A crooked smile formed on the Serpent King’s face, allowing dribbles of poison to ooze down his chin.
“My lord, you are not well,” said Shane.
“Have you attacked the gate?”
“Yes, sir, we have. We breached the walls and our men now enjoy the fruits of the Empire.”
“You ignored my command.”
Shane chuckled and waved his hand in the air, dismissing the observation. “It is done, sir. Let your mortal remains travel beyond the Region of the Dead while your soul joins the Dark One’s crusade.”
“I will recover, Shane of Gisanti. Do not be so hasty to get my body into the ground.”
Shane turned his head and grimaced. He nodded towards the shaman seated in a corner, chanting the Spells of Transference. “The poison spread. Your moment of departure draws near. I sent all the servants away so you can pass with dignity. The shaman prepares your spirit for the journey.”
“Shane, I am not dying. My body needs time to process the vile substance from that arrow.”
Shane’s eyebrows furrowed and blood ran to his cheeks. “You cling to life just like any other mortal, but it is futile. Your end is near.”
He drew his sword from its scabbard, stepping back from the cot and running the blade through a cloth to clean the blood from it. Shane felt he owed the Serpent King at least that much.
“In the name of the One World, and in the best interest of the coalition,
I now take command of the forces. You have been like a father to me, and I owe you much. My sword will end your suffering and make your passing swift.”
The shaman saw the shine of Shane’s blade and scurried from the tent. Shane raised his sword above the Serpent King’s head, eager to slide the blade across his bare neck.
“Wait! Allow me to speak my final words to you. Come closer. My voice fails with my body.”
Shane moved the sword to one side. He bent down close to the Serpent King. The fetid smell of poison blew into Shane’s face from the Serpent King’s breath. “Yes, my lord. Speak your words that shall echo in these lands for generations,” he said. With his ear aimed at the Serpent King’s mouth, Shane could not see the wicked grin spreading.
“You have always been a rash, greedy fool. For most of our mission, that served me. But now, I consider our covenant terminated.”
“I will make certain of that, my lord.”
“So you think, young bull. So you think.” The Serpent King opened his mouth wide. His jaws unlocked, and the skin split on each side of his mouth. His black tongue curled while his hands grabbed each of Shane’s ears. A bulbous snakehead, covered in yellow mucus, emerged from the torn mouth of the Serpent King. Its eyes burned feral red and its pitch-forked tongue lashed out at the air between the two men. Black scales covered the snake as more of it emerged from within the Serpent King. Shane’s eyes opened and his own fear stole his scream. He dropped the sword and pissed his pants. The snake hissed at Shane. With blinding speed, its head shot into Shane’s mouth. The body of the snake moved out of the Serpent King’s mouth and into Shane’s. Tears filled his eyes while his body lurched, protesting against the reptilian intruder.
Gurgling and the ripping of flesh emanated from Shane’s torso. The Serpent King released his ears and fell back onto the cot. Shane’s body stood in place as if riveted to the ground. He shook and his eyes glassed over, his mouth lurching open, jawbones crunching as the snake left the body. It passed back between the two men, its tail disappearing into the Serpent King’s mouth. Color returned to the Serpent King’s body. His perspiration stopped and he sat up on the cot.
