Box of Runes An Epic Fantasy Collection

by J. Thorn

  Shane fell to his knees. His eyes stared forward, unable to focus on anything. His mouth moved up and down as blood trickled down his chin. No matter how hard he tried, Shane could not speak. The Serpent King stood and walked over to him, lifting his sword in one hand.

  “You were so quick to put this blade on my neck, you ungrateful piece of shit. Sitting at my right hand just wasn’t enough for you.” He bent down inches from Shane’s face before speaking again. “You wanted my final words? Well, they’ll be the last ones you will ever hear. I dispose of your soul and send you into the hands of the Dark One. He will show you no mercy for all of eternity.”

  The Serpent King brought the sword high above his chest and drove it through the top of Shane’s skull. His head split down the middle, spilling blood and gray matter onto his shoulders. The Serpent King pushed the sword further into his torso until the tip of it stopped on the hard earth. He pulled the sword out of Shane’s body and let it collapse to the floor, before throwing the sword into a corner of the tent. He pushed his tunic to the side and pissed on the body of the lord major, Shane of Gisanti.

  ***

  The coalition forces waited for their commands. Men spent the night drinking and playing cards, anticipating the spoils of war that would be theirs for the taking. Lord Major Machek moved his tattered regiments of Jaguar Knights inside the walls of the capital, ensuring a final siege of the remnants of the Empire. The greedy and more primitive tribes of the coalition jockeyed for position along the walls of the city, attempting to stake their claim to portions of the capital once the gate opened and the wall fell. Most had never seen the city, but dreamt of excavating its human treasures.

  Men spoke of the battle and told boastful stories of combat victories. Soldiers shoved moldy bread and watery soup into their mouths, looking for salvation in the sustenance. The wealthier men wrote letters to wives, sent back across the great plains to sprawling cities like Risenachen. The correspondence fell from abandoned satchels, fluttering through the cities turned to empty wastes by the affliction.

  Chapter 75

  Desi followed Machek up the tight, spiraling stone staircase leading to the turret on the north side of the main gate. Dying torches saluted the men with final flickers. The top of the stairs opened to a platform, providing a wide view across the edges of the great plain towards the eastern horizon. Purple and orange bands of light crept out of the darkness ahead of the Sun God’s rebirth. Machek wanted to see the results of the previous day’s battle and to determine when the infidels might attack next.

  “I need a spyglass,” said Machek. An officer pushed past Desi and handed it to the lord major. Machek raised the spyglass to his eye and scanned north to south.

  “Well?” asked Desi. He did not want an answer, but felt obligated to ask.

  “I can see thousands of dead, piled in heaps throughout the land. The Serpent King has positioned regiments within striking distance of the wall and moved loaded catapults towards the capital.”

  “How do you know the Serpent King still commands the forces?”

  “I feel him.” Machek handed the spyglass to Desi and motioned for him to look with his own eyes. Desi let out a muffled moan and flipped it back to the officer standing behind them.

  “Lord Major Machek, the Jaguar Knights?”

  “Prepare for siege warfare. We need our strongest two regiments at the main gate. Place the others on the wall’s perimeter. Send a call throughout the capital for any able-bodied men who are willing to fight. Have all women, children, and elders stay as far beneath the surface as possible. If the Serpent King assembles more bombs and launches them over the wall, death will rain down on the Empire.”

  Desi saluted the lord major and walked down the stairs to start the communication chain. Machek remained, staring out across the great plains. He thought of his days hunting in the Northern Woods, far removed from the end of the Fifth Sun.

  ***

  “Commanders of the coalition, our time is now. I have thinned my ranks and cut out the treasonous cancer. I suggest you do the same in yours.”

  Men observed Shane’s absence and made the connection to the Serpent King’s vague reference.

  “The Sun God pushes through the final dregs of the darkness. Soon, we will unleash an assault on the capital like nothing the One World can remember. My catapults will launch the final bombs. This will cut wide swaths of destruction through the wall and inside the city. We should be able to get the catapults close enough to the wall to get the bombs over it. If the tyrants still refuse to open the gate, or if our bombs do not destroy it, we will send waves of humanity crashing down upon it. Many of your men will die, but many more will stand in the chest of the Empire and rip its heart out. Once we breach the gate, the city is yours for the taking. Rape, pillage, loot, and burn until nothing remains inside those walls but blackened stone.”

  The lord majors murmured words of excitement and tried to contain their emotions in front of the Serpent King.

  “Go and ready your troops. The first bombs launch at daybreak.” The Serpent King left his tent and ordered the servants to pack it up. He mounted his horse and rode to the top of a slight hill overlooking the final descent towards the capital. From this vantage point, he would watch the siege unfold, waiting for the gate to open.

  Foot soldiers moved the catapults into position. Other regiments marched towards the wall with blatant bloodlust in their eyes. They chanted and sang, mocking the Jaguar Knights. They screamed insults and taunts, explaining what they planned for the women of the capital. As the Sun God rose over the eastern horizon, casting off the last vestiges of the night, the coalition forces moved into their positions.

  ***

  The Serpent King sat upon his horse. Five ready catapults stood in line as dozens of regiments fanned out across the plain. A light energy floated through his soul. After all these suns, trials, and tests, he would be free. He raised his sword high into the blinding rays, and cheers erupted from the troops. The Serpent King pointed it towards the city, signaling the beginning of the end.

  The sounds of the catapults filled the air, followed by loud thumps as the projectiles hit their targets. Some hit the wall, some hit the gate, and some crossed the wall. The Serpent King ordered them fired at the same time to maximize damage and confusion. Bright lights exploded where the bombs fell, the sound of detonation echoing off the walls and rolling across the great plains like thunder. Battle-hardened soldiers cowered and covered their heads.

  The Serpent King saw three bombs penetrate the wall to the south of the main gate. Ragged holes filled with smoked appeared where brick had stood moments before. Dozens of maniacal warriors poured through the blasted apertures into the swords of the defending Jaguar Knights. One missile fell short of its target and landed near the main gate, throwing dirt and debris high into the air. Although it did not penetrate, the force of the blast buckled the gate. Soldiers maneuvered the battering ram into position. Four explosions rang out from inside the city. Debris, stone, and bodies soared high into the air and rained upon the ground outside the wall. The Serpent King smiled and replaced his spyglass. Fire, death, and confusion reigned on the eastern wall of the city and would make it easier for his forces to breach it.

  ***

  Machek’s ears rang and his head thumped with pain. The concussion of the blasts had knocked him to the ground, but he considered himself lucky. The sentries who stood next to him in the turret had disappeared, knocked off their feet and over the wall to the ground below. The stone beneath Machek’s feet rumbled and flames swelled along the wall. He stood up and saw warriors of the coalition moving through holes created by the bombs. Hundreds of soldiers positioned their battering rams in front of the gate. Machek jumped down two steps at a time until he reached the bottom. He ran through the door and right into Desi. The lord major bled from a wound in his forehead and black soot covered his armor.

  “What are those things, Machek?”

  “Death from a
bove, tools of the Dark One. Follow me. We must get down to the gate and help to reinforce the wall where it has been punctured.”

  “Machek, they are in the city. The Jaguar Knights slay them as they enter, but it won’t be long before they overwhelm our forces.”

  “I know, Desi, but we cannot worry about that now. We must do what we can, and right now that means shoring up the gate and securing the breaks in the walls.”

  Desi followed Machek down and around a corridor that ended at the foot of the gate. A dozen bodies laid face down in the dirt. The initial blasts had thrown the sentries to their deaths. Machek recognized the lifeless body of the warrior who has handed him the spyglass a few moments before.

  Men positioned felled trees as support beams behind the main gate, scrambling over and around each other. The force buckled the doors inward, but did not compromise them. Most men left their weapons in the dust, concentrating on the more important task of strengthening the gate. A hundred paces to the south, Machek and Desi saw vicious hand-to-hand combat taking place. Guttural calls echoed off the palisades while men drove weapons through flesh. Hordes of the infidels appeared through the hole in the wall, and most bled from the swordsmanship and steel of the Jaguar Knights. However, the assaulting savages did not relent. Waves of humanity poured through the hole, and it would not be long before the sheer size of the surge overwhelmed the defending Jaguar Knights.

  Desi and Machek ran through the plaza towards the north end of the wall. Although the bricks did their duty, the same scene unfolded. Men swarmed through the opening, dying on the blades of the Jaguar Knights, but the warriors of the Empire continued to lose ground.

  ***

  The Serpent King trotted towards the gate. He watched as men of various tribes and regiments slammed themselves against the swords of the Jaguar Knights. The savagery and pent up aggression that had grown in these people after generations of slavery and subservience amazed him. The Serpent King had lit the match and watched them explode. The multiple holes on the southern side of the wall provided a better opportunity to get into the city. In fact, the Serpent King considered abandoning any further push on the gate. If his forces could establish control of those openings, they would provide ample opportunity to infiltrate the rest of the capital. He watched as several battering rams pounded the main gates. Marksmen from the top of the wall launched a volley of arrows upon the swarming hordes. As one arrow would take down a warrior of the coalition, another would grab the rope on the ram and take his place. The Serpent King laughed, thinking that the marksmen would run out of arrows before his forces ran out of targets.

  He tried to find Lord Major Machek in the fray. His instinct and powers of perception told him that the lord major would stay with his men on the front line. He would die for his city, his Empire, his honor. The Serpent King decided not to wait on the battering rams. The holes to the south provided him all the access he needed. He saw redemption on the horizon; his soul ached to be set free.

  ***

  “Machek, let’s give up the breach and retreat into the city. We will force them to maneuver and die on winding streets we know too well.”

  At first, the suggestion disgusted Machek, but he considered it. The infidels would break through. The question was when, not if. He might be able to spare more lives and live to fight another day if they took defensive positions within the city, daring the enemy to step foot in the lair.

  “Very true, my friend. Give the command to retreat within the city. Make sure soldiers return to their neighborhoods, streets they would know blindfolded. If the infidels want to penetrate our city, they will need to enter our domain.”

  The command rippled throughout the ranks. Men ran deep into the winding avenues and alleys of the ancient city, and soldiers abandoned their posts as battering rams shattered the main gate. Wooden shards littered the ground. Groaning and protesting the entire way, the old hinges swung inward like the yawning gates of hell.

  ***

  The Serpent King waited for the gate to burst open before leaving his position at the breach on the southern part of the wall. Although he was prepared to step through the ragged opening created by the bombs, he would rather stride through the main gate into the capital. The initial surge of coalition forces rose and crushed the remaining sentries, overwhelming the Jaguar Knights and tearing them to pieces.

  Mounted on his horse, the Serpent King rode to the gate, and warriors of the coalition moved out of his way. When the Serpent King entered the city, he felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders. Chaos and anarchy swallowed the metropolis, but he felt free, liberated.

  ***

  Machek stood halfway between the smashed gate and the breach to the north of it. Desi stood by his side, both men dejected and crushed by what their eyes had seen. The regiments of the surviving Jaguar Knights tried to reassemble, frail ghosts of their original formations. Three knights ran together for the interior of the city while packs of the infidels chased them down like dogs. Machek winced as he looked at hundreds of Jaguar Knight helmets strewn across the plaza.

  “It is finished. I no longer have a force to command,” he said to Desi.

  “We need to leave this place to preserve the future of the Empire,” Desi replied.

  “I need to fight through the confusion to defend Sianta. Go to your home and comfort your family. They need to know they are not alone.”

  Machek saw the pain in his friend’s face. He looked away and into the past, to a time when they played as boys in the thriving streets of the Empire.

  “You have always been special, Machek. I have respected and admired you through many suns. I hope our souls meet again beyond the Region of the Dead.”

  “I will wait there for you, Desi.”

  The two old friends embraced and chased tears from their eyes. A band of coalition warriors noticed their rank and moved in for the attack.

  “We must go now. Our heads are more valuable to the infidels than others. Until the after.”

  “Yes, my lord, until the after.” Desi broke into a sprint down a twisted avenue and turned the corner. Machek waited another moment before sprinting in the opposite direction. The gates of hell broke loose, and its minions devoured the last remnants of the Empire.

  ***

  The Serpent King rode his mount through the neighborhoods closest to the main gate. He watched in horrific admiration as the men of the One World tore each other to pieces. Warriors of the coalition entered buildings and dragged people out. They lined the children and elders against a wall and sliced their abdomens open, spilling entrails to the ground. The infidels placed bets on how far the victims could run before they succumbed to death. The Serpent King watched as his coalition forces yanked infants from the arms of their mothers. Warriors grabbed them by the ankles and smashed their heads off the paved avenues. Some regiments of the coalition brought hunting dogs, releasing the rabid beasts into the city and following them as they ripped open the throats of the citizens of the capital.

  Jaguar Knights and men in hiding received the worst treatment. Soldiers removed wooden spikes from the defensive positions of the capital, lubricated the tips with lamp oil, and impaled the men through the anus until the spike reached their chests, then staked the rounded end into the ground. Grotesque, dying statues looked down on the city. The women of the Empire did not fare any better as crazed soldiers dragged them into the streets, tearing and ripping at their clothing until many ran bloody through the capital. Groups of four or five men mounted one woman and thrust into all of her openings, with punches to her face and abdomen. Women of the capital bled out in the dirty gutters of the city. Other soldiers started bonfires and, with a makeshift spit, took the defiled young girls and roasted them over the fire. Some Jaguar Knights, consumed by shock, ran through the streets with both hands severed from their bodies.

  The Serpent King rode down the avenues, past the murder, rape, and looting that took place everywhere. In order to save his soul from its bondage
, he needed the head of the Redeemer. The Serpent King scanned the streets for any sign of his prey, the lord major of the Jaguar Knights.

  ***

  Machek darted between buildings. He sickened himself with his acts, but he had no choice. Machek could not die with honor on the battlefield with Sianta unprotected and the Serpent King on the rampage. He prayed to the lords of the underworld, asking for their forgiveness. Machek removed his armor and helmet. He tore his undergarments and rubbed ash into the creases. He tangled his hair and covered his face. To most citizens of the Empire and infidels of the One World, he appeared to be a homeless beggar. He concealed his short sword and dagger. Abandoning his weapons would not be a wise decision.

  Looks of death and despair covered the faces of his fellow citizens. Every so often, Machek recognized a face, but kept moving deeper into the city towards the shelter where Falton and Sianta hid. Citizens emptied the streets as the infidels took their booty. Machek saw fires burning high behind him, sweeping their way through the city of wooden doors and thatched roofs.

  ***

  Powers of perception granted by the Dark One dissipated like smoke in the breeze. However, the Serpent King felt enough of the lingering aura to locate Machek. He tied his steed to a hitching post and followed on foot. Old habits guided the Serpent King’s hands as his mind told him he would never return to untie his horse. He watched Machek dart from building to building, becoming less cautious the further he moved from the scenes of rape and murder near the central plaza. After several hundred paces down a clustered boulevard, Machek abandoned his disguise. The Serpent King hid behind a corner and watched Machek knock on the door of a thatched dwelling. He heard yelling until the door sprang open. A young woman embraced the lord major and pulled him inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

  ***

  “You have come for us!” said Sianta.

  Falton paced back and forth in the one-room dwelling while four frightened citizens sat cross-legged on the floor.