by Jon Kiln
The Duchess came to Myriam’s side and hugged her. “My dear, you are doing all that you can, and your delaying tactics will prove useful. They will be here soon, I know it.”
“Grandmother, I appreciate your optimism, but how can Qutaybah infiltrate an entire city of Akkedis? It would take a large army, and that would need the permission of the King of Vandemland. I doubt even he would allow a whole race to be attacked.”
“The King of Vandemland is a fool,” Duchess D’Anjue announced. “If he were to find out that you were prisoner here, he would probably invade your kingdom while you were away. All he cares about are his taxes, and I would imagine that Empress Gishja pays more than her fair share. The King of Vandemland would not wish to antagonize her for fear of losing income.”
Linz had said very little throughout the lock-in. He felt that the last blood collecting session had made him very weary. His body would not take many more sessions, but he did not wish to tell anyone as they had their own worries. He was sad for his people, as this would mean they would have lost two chiefs, very close together.
They had gained so much with Queen Myriam. Their own land, freedom to show themselves and feel safe. Yet, that could all be taken away if she were to die here. Feeling so useless that he could not save her, he felt shame at his weakness.
How could he return to his people and take his rightful place as a chief? He was never strong enough for that role. With his friend, Wyatt, by his side, he had felt capable, but since his death he felt lost and alone. The sad loss of his trainer and friend had been hard to accept, and now he felt that death might be a welcome end.
“You must have faith,” he heard Hendon say to him, as if he was reading his mind. “Linz, you must believe that we are going to get away from this place.”
“I would like to believe that I played a part in our rescue, but this will not be,” Linz replied, feeling utterly miserable. “I don’t even fear those ugly creatures anymore. Let the Rooggaru take me, I will injure it as it finishes me off.”
The adjoining door squeaked as it opened, and surprisingly, Perseus entered the room. Linz rose in greeting, but his weakened legs buckled under the strain and he almost collapsed to the floor. Hendon was soon at hand and helped his friend to sit back down.
“You do well to rest, for now, young Chief,” Perseus said, approaching him. “Soon your strength will return and you will have your revenge on the Akkedis.”
Linz doubted such words. “I will die in this place,” he said to Perseus.
“No, Chief Linz, you will not.” Perseus gave him soothing words. “You only need to be strong for a little while longer, trust me.”
“Linz is not himself,” Myriam explained to Perseus. “I think we are all weakening, and the thought of Ganry leaving us unprotected gives us nothing but sadness.”
“Perseus,” Hendon said, “you have returned quicker than I expected. Have you located the creature?”
“I have it here.” Perseus took a small wooden box from his pocket and passed it to Hendon.
Hendon carefully opened the box and peered inside. There was a small white worm curling up at the bottom of the box, trying to avoid the light. It was mostly white, but its back glinted with a hint of grey. It looked too small to do anything any harm.
“You’re never going to put that inside of Ganry?” Myriam gasped, looking at the slimy worm over Hendon’s shoulder.
“This will save him, Barnaby assures me. Besides,” Hendon continued, pessimistically, “what other choices do we have?”
He handed the box back to Perseus. Perseus took the box and looked at Hendon with misgivings.
“Have faith,” Hendon said, hoping that Perseus would not let him down. “Ganry must swallow it as it needs to get into his system. Promise me you will deliver it to him, and stress the urgency?”
Perseus nodded his head and left the room, leaving the party to watch after him and wonder how this would all end.
40
When Sampson returned from the city of the Suggizon, he came with a troop of thirty soldiers. These were fine men and women, well trained in the art of combat. Qutaybah’s confidence rose as he studied them. They were all fine Suggizon specimens and appeared strong and healthy.
“If this is an example of your nation, then you are ready to face the world head on and take your rightful place back in society,” Qutaybah said to Sampson.
“Thank you, we are indeed ready to take our rightful place back again. We are a good and gentle people, but we will act with the utmost violence against those who would mean us harm. We learned much from our previous encounter with the Akkedis. Though our leaders do not condone the annihilation of the lizards, they are prepared to help save your allies. I am instructed only to take control of the mines but to spare the Akkedis, banish them if necessary, or offer them work. We are not prepared to commit genocide and annihilate another race. We have come too close to that ourselves.”
Qutaybah bowed his head in respect. He could understand why the Suggizon felt this way, but Qutaybah did not agree. The Empress of the Akkedis had made a mistake in threatening those that were close to him, a mistake she would soon regret. Long enough had the Akkedis owned the gem mines and become a greedy people. It was time to share out their spoils and for them to find another land to live in. Despite Sampson’s desire, he would see that the Akkedis Empress would die, and that the Akkedis people were driven out.
He looked upon the thirty Suggizon that would be following his lead, and he felt good that his force was made up of different races. Yesterday, Jacayb had sent word that he had arrived at the agreed meeting point with one hundred Palaran soldiers, and another fifty Lakemen had joined him there.
The Akkedis would have more in numbers, but Qutaybah would have the element of surprise and well trained elite fighters. His spies had told him that the Akkedis soldiers were demoralized and unprepared to fight. Much discontent was in the Akkedis camp with many turning to drink and drugs and no order whatsoever. All of this was an advantage to Qutaybah and his force. Of course, the death of the Empress was of the utmost importance, but all he could do was pray that Perseus could succeed with the task set before him.
The next day saw Qutaybah leaving behind the small village and taking his army across the desert. For now, they would be safe, as the this part of Vandemland was uninhabitable. Soon they would come across areas where the nomadic tribes wandered. He was not concerned about them. He was friendly with most of their leaders, but they needed to stay away from the cities and any area that the King’s army patrolled.
Should the King discover Qutaybah’s plans, he would not be pleased. Yet once victory was achieved, the King would care little on who ruled the mines, so long as the taxes were paid as usual.
***
Parsival had found his way to the meeting point using the map that was provided by Jacayb. Once there, they laid low for a while, awaiting the arrival of the mercenaries. He did not have long to wait and soon Jacayb arrived with his men.
Jacayb led them to a set of caves, and here they would hide until the arrival of Qutaybah. There were food supplies aplenty, already stored within the chambers of this subterranean system. Plus an underground river that helped with the bathing of soldiers.
“Will we be traveling a long way once the rest of the army arrives?” Parsival was curious how far they had to go to get to this elusive lizard city.
“Some will travel within the tunnels, and some will go in the secret entrance, but all will arrive at the underground city ready for battle,” Jacayb explained. “We will keep the camels herded here for when we are done.”
The news of an underground city surprised Parsival, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He kept his thoughts to himself. He did not wish the men to be openly discussing the inevitable battle. They were presently enjoying the rest and relaxation after days of hard trekking. The fighting would be here all too soon, so it was good that they had other things to occupy their minds.
41
Perseus had freed Ganry from his shackles as he had done every day since they had been captured, but it helped less and less. The muscular warrior was truly exhausted from his daily torture of those insects that drained him.
Perseus looked forward to receiving the sign that his master was close and he could kill the Akkedis Empress, exacting his revenge on these lizards. Ghaffar would be one of the first to die. He would take great pleasure in this, for all the pain he had caused, not only for Ganry, but for the Queen and her family. Qutaybah had stressed to him that not only was he to kill the Lizard Empress, but he was also there to protect the Duchess and her family.
Perseus liked his master. He was fair and treated him with respect. He knew that though there was personal gain for Qutaybah in this, it was also for the benefit of the Suggizon nation, to help them progress in a world that had given them up for dead.
He put Ganry’s head on his lap and slowly fed him water.
“Come, my friend, it is nearly over and I need your strength once more,” Perseus said.
“You mean I’m nearly dead?” Ganry managed to grumble, in a deep hoarse voice. “Hah. If you think I’m helping you when I’m a ghost, you can think again, you snake slithering, sneaky…” his words were interrupted as his body was wracked with a deep chesty coughing. Blood spots appeared on the hand that he covered his mouth with.
“Save your strength.” Perseus ignored Ganry’s insults. “Hendon has sent you a life saving gift.” He opened up his hand to show Ganry a strange creature that scuttled about on his palm.
“And what do I do with that, eat it?” Ganry meant his words as a joke, but one look at Perseus’s face told him that was exactly what he had to do.
“Are you mad, Perseus? Do I not suffer enough with the creatures that odious little man puts into my body, you want me to take another? Please, just leave me to die.”
“I need you, Ganry, and your Queen needs you. Once we are free of this place then you are welcome to die as you wish. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take this creature. This is not going to be easy, but you must swallow it with this water.”
Ganry waved his had in one movement, indicating this was all nonsense. “What manner of magic is this meant to be then?” he asked, with no faith whatsoever in Hendon’s gift.
“Hendon assures me that this creature will kill the insects that Ghaffar tortures you with. You must trust me, and trust Hendon. Your Queen commands it of you.”
“My daughter was just as bossy as Myriam, do you know that?” Ganry was feverish and probably hallucinating. “These women, they tell us what to do our whole lives, as sisters and daughters, as mothers and as wives.”
“Put this on your tongue,” Perseus instructed the rambling warrior. “Now swallow a whole cup of water to wash it down,” he said, tipping the clay cup between Ganry’s lips. “Is it gone yet?”
“Is what gone?” Ganry questioned, unsure where he was as he sweated hot and shivered cold. These days he could not remember very much. He seemed to think his daughter was in danger but he could not remember why.
Perseus put Ganry back into his shackles so he hung from the cave wall. Putting himself back into his own chains, just in time, he heard the lock turning and in walked Ghaffar.
“Greetings,” he said in a jolly voice as he entered the room, with the female Sileta following him through the door. “How you must have missed me yesterday, but I had other important appointments. However, today I thought we would finish our little game. Sileta here will be placing every single one of her lovely pets inside of your body, Ganry, and then we shall say our goodbyes. It has been fun while it lasted, but now I must concentrate my mind on other matters.”
Ganry could hear talking in the distance, but he could make no sense of the words. His mind was whirring, someone was in danger, someone close to him, but he could not quite grasp who it was.
A shiver ran through his body as a strange woman stood in front of him. She looked odd, shimmering, her skin seemed to crawl. Somewhere in his mind, he realized that she was covered in insects, and soon those insects would be inside him, tormenting him until he could take it no more.
He tried to squirm his body away from her as she approached him. He felt, rather than saw, the insects as they burrowed into his skin, causing him to cry out in pain.
Over the days of torture, Ghaffar had instructed Sileta not to let the insects close to Ganry’s heart. Instead he wanted Ganry to suffer in agonizing pain as he slowly died. He enjoyed seeing him squirm and scream as the insects burrowed through his body. Long ago was the pretense of torturing him for information done away with. But today it was time to end the fun.
“Let us finish him, Sileta,” Ghaffar said with finality. “Let your creatures have the prize they so desire, while it still barely beats.”
Sileta murmured some words that Ganry could not comprehend. Gently she rubbed her hands along his torso. Ganry could feel little tremors where she touched him. Those tremors gave the kewers their entry point. In a frenzy they made their way to the victim’s heart.
It was not just the kewers that felt the tremors, unbeknown to Ghaffar and Sileta, the insects were already dying as quickly as they entered. The tremors had alerted the creature that Ganry had swallowed, and it was squirming around his blood stream, shooting out its acid silk and killing the kewers at a very fast rate.
Sileta faltered and pulled her hands away from Ganry. She screamed out, as if in terrible pain.
“Quickly, instruct them to go to the heart,” Ghaffar shouted at her, worried something was amiss.
“I cannot,” she cried out, falling onto the floor and curling up in a ball as if in agony. “My pets are dying, what is he doing to them?” she screamed, before passing out unconscious on the hard stone floor.
Ganry became aware of a woman falling down. He stared at a small man, or what resembled a man, but he was not sure if it was really human. His skin seemed to shift before his eyes, one moment it was smooth and then it appeared hard and scaly.
As each kewer was killed within him, his own strength returned. He felt a power coursing through him, invigorating him. Suddenly, he was conscious of his shackles, and he pulled on them, straining at them with his revitalized muscles. He had to escape these bonds, his daughter, nay, his Queen needed him.
At that moment, Perseus changed into a giant snake, falling free from his shackles and slithering straight towards Ghaffar. The little lizard man stood shaking, shock written on his features as he watched the events unfold before him.
All control was gone. The female, Sileta, looked dead. The human, Ganry, who only moments ago looked close to death, was now seemingly full of strength. But worse, what he thought was a human, Perseus, was in fact one of those dreaded Suggizon creatures, and it was heading towards him with malice in its eyes.
Ghaffar’s survival instincts took over, and he found his feet. He pushed the guard behind him out of his way and into the path of the advancing Suggizon. Perseus lunged at the escaping Ghaffar but the guard blocked his way.
Ghaffar was quickly out of the door and heading deep into the caves. He knew these tunnels better than any other and he soon made his escape. Should he run to the Empress and let her know that she was in danger? Perhaps, but for a short while he would do better to hide. Who knows what calamity might be in these corridors, now that sickening creature was loose? He doubted there was more than one of them. It may be advantageous to stay hidden and make his escape when the commotion stopped.
42
Myriam, in exchange for allowing Linz and Hendon to occupy the adjoining empty room, had promised Ghaffar she would provide double quantity of her blood. She wanted them close, but also their room was how Perseus came to them, from a tunnel under one of the beds. She felt it safer, with less chance of being discovered if they occupied the room. They had only recently finished taking her blood and she was exhausted. She hoped that Empress Gishja choked on it.
A loud noise comi
ng from the boy’s room startled her. She did not have the strength to go and investigate. Instead she waited patiently, knowing the commotion would come to her eventually. And, it did exactly that, but it was not from the room that events started to unfold.
The main door leading out to the corridor flew open. It was Arriba, looking disheveled and distressed.
“Queen Myriam, your man has escaped and he has freed me too. Ghaffar had me locked away because he suspected that I’d helped you.” Arriba came into the room and fell at Myriam’s feet. “Now, my lady, I want to help you get away from here and back to your own people. It is wrong what we have done.”
“Oh, Arriba, I’m so glad they haven’t harmed you, I was worried and…”
Linz suddenly burst through the adjoining door and into Myriam’s room, interrupting her reply to the Akkedis female. He looked excited and agitated, all at once.
“Myriam, look, it has begun…” he moved aside to allow the person behind him to enter her room.
“Ganry!” Myriam cried. She found the strength to stand and greet him. “Oh Ganry, I have so missed you. What is happening?”
Ganry stepped into the room and Perseus quickly followed him. He had changed back into his human form.
“My Queen, thanks to my friends, I have survived the torture of that odious little man and I am here to help. But we must act quickly,” Ganry replied.
He turned to Linz and Hendon. “You two, quickly, block all the doorways that lead to the passageways. Every piece of furniture needs to be used in making a barrier. Here, we will finally make our stand.”
