by P. G. Thomas
Hakk nodded, “Father is here, son as well. One is anger, one is calm but wrong this is.”
Even though the winds died down, in all four directions, they could see and hear the storm. Being in the eye of the hurricane, above them, the sky was dead quiet. Walking up the small hill, which had hidden them from those on the other side, flexing his armor, shoulder spikes projected. Slapping the gauntlets, more spikes appeared, and when he punched skyward, the hidden shield deployed. Rolling his shoulder, the humble sheath fell into his hand, and after pulling the massive sword from it, he jammed the scabbard into the road. When he pointed the sword behind him, lightning ripped into a wet tree. However, it was not born in a storm; instead, it was lightning compelled by magic, which the sword had received on the mountaintop. The blast, being so intense, the entire tree exploded in fire. The black-clad all turned, seeing the silhouette of the massive armored man on the small hill, holding a gigantic sword with blue lights dancing along its length.
Looking at the enormous enemy camp, Eric saw a river of light filling the dark night, created by protected campfires that stretched back for miles. So easy it could be. Night filled terror screams. Rivers are close. Father’s rage is here. The cattle wait. Those that cannot defeat me, now look at me. They will laugh. I will also laugh. I will laugh last. The right words, too long it takes. Options to them explain.
Eric’s voice boomed louder than the thunder, “You declared war on a peaceful nation! You attacked without provocation, making people run in fear from a hoax plague and slaughtered innocents! I declare you evil, being not worthy of life! However, I will afford you the chance to change your ways: to stop this war and go back to where you came from, as you will not pass beyond this point.”
When several black-clad soldiers began to rush, Eric pushed the sword a few inches into the road, sending lightning underground to meet the charging fools, stunning them, and knocking them off their feet.
Shaking his head, he shouted to them, “The storm that blew north now circles you. You stand in the calm of it, but when it ends, so do your choices! Leave now, and you’ll live!”
While more tried to rush, he knocked them back with the buried lightning.
“I can do this all night, as you’ll soon find out! You have but minutes, so find the one in charge and bring him forward!”
Sensing the hail of arrows in the dark, Eric raised his sword, and hundreds of small bolts of lightning forked out, shattering the arrows in flight. A few soldiers tried to conceal themselves in the darkness, trying to outflank him, but lightning found them, chasing them back. After several minutes, the line of men separated. Chains attached to hideous beasts, twelve feet longer or more, pulled several soldiers forward. Two massive scaled heads snarled at Eric, showing large canine teeth, and as wings unfolded, the handlers no longer able to hold the beasts back, they took flight. Two bolts of lightning erupted from the sword, and slamming into the creatures, they covered the nearest soldiers in strange animal parts and liquids.
Finally, a prominent officer stepped forward, “Why does this one still stand?”
Bringing forth a bolt of lightning, Eric declined to silence the lone figure. Instead, he pulled it into the armor, letting it dance across the plates. “Because they cannot defeat me! If you’re in charge, your time is short! Within minutes, the storm that rages in the south will be here! If you haven’t decided to leave in peace by then, you seal your own fate! We offer you a chance, one that you never gave to those that you slaughtered, fair warning! I’ll not lower myself to your pathetic levels and attack without forewarning!”
The officer grew angry, “He is one man, why do you wait?”
Eric’s voice was a mixture of intensity and anger. “Do you know of the Royal House fort in the pass? The one with fifty thousand soldiers? The one designed to hide the massive army trying to cross the river! I destroyed it and them! I am sure that some lived to tell the story, but this night, if you’re lucky, you’ll take back the story of how one man with one sword, slaughtered one hundred thousand!”
The voice of Eric became hollow, emotionless, “Three choices you have. Leave. Surrender. Death. Choose quick.” As the winds began to pick up speed, rain began falling, and the calm eye of the storm traveled north. The officer screamed ‘Attack,’ and over a hundred bolts of lightning discharged from Tranquil Fury, toppling bodies like they were dominoes. Eric screamed out, “Father’s rage, warned them we did. Too stupid to listen. The choir waits. Sing they shall.” Down the length of the enemy camp, huge bolts of lightning erupted from the angry skies into the confused soldiers, and he marched forward.
After Aaro and Hakk had climbed to the top of the hill, they watched as Eric unleashed the prophecy. Advancing to large open spaces, where the black-clad were attempting to regroup, he would wait. Once they began to attack him, his reaction was swift and brutal, but the laughter this night was absent.
Aaro shook the cold rain from his short beard, “More than fair he was, he made then many offers. Leave they could have.”
“Heard them I did, attack they said,” replied Hakk, “Generous Eric was. Their request he granted. What now?”
“We wait, making sure none leave the party? See if any help brother needs?” suggested Aaro.
“Help? See if brother help he needs. What with?” Hakk was pointing to the carnage that walked south.
Aaro shrugged his shoulders, “Celebration afterwards?”
Wiping the rain from his eyes, Hakk agreed, “Wait we will.”
Eric continued down the road, defending himself against the attacking soldiers on the left, right, and center. As alarms and horns continued to sound throughout the camp, more soldiers rushed forward. When it looked like he was outnumbered, he raised his sword, and lightning forked from it, ripping into the soldiers. Each time he made more room, he would halt his advance until the black-clad rushed him, and then he would begin his stroll of death. Aaro and Hakk walked down the road, looking for any that still moved, and taking pity on them, put them out of their misery. The battle, or slaughter, lasted an hour before the first sunrise when Eric finally stopped. As he looked around, none moved, except Aaro and Hakk. It was still raining, washing the blood into small streams, which formed larger flows, seeking creeks, which found rivers. This night, rivers flowed red, filled with prophecy.
Turning their amulets into mounts, they rode towards the south port town where they found the gates locked, and their entry denied. Several repeated attempts by Aaro failed to gain them access, and when Eric’s patience failed, he dismounted, removing the gates from their hinges with a single kick. Waiting until they excavated the guards from under the gates, they crossed into the town, inquiring about the army that marched out. The guards dusted themselves off, advising that the Royal House had offices down at the waterfront.
At the docks, Eric spotted a building guarded by black-clad soldiers. Leaving the death-hungry sword in its sheath, he walked up to them acting like he needed directions, but disarming them quickly, he pushed them into the building. Hakk and Aaro, unsure of what was happening, promptly assumed the vacant guard stations, ensuring none would interrupt.
Several minutes later, Eric pushed twelve bruised and beaten soldiers from the office, making them walk towards the docks, where over a hundred large ships waited. Moored out in the bay, another thousand vessels sat rocking back and forth in the gentle sea. When they arrived at the first docked ship, he pushed them onto it. “You will sail back to where you came from, advising those who think they’re in charge, that this war is over. We’ll consider talks of your surrender or peace, but talk to us first before you fight.” As the soldiers climbed on board, they protested that they were unable to sail the ship. Eric looked at all of the other ships, “It’s a shame Logan isn’t here. It would be so simple for him.” Raising the sword, he pointed it at a distant ship, causing it to explode when the lightning ripped through it.
“Long it will take, one by one,” stated Aaro.
“The
re are sailors on those ships, and they need to be warned that they should leave them.” Eric looked down to Aaro and Hakk, “I don’t think I told you how sorry I was about what happened to Gor,” and then he pointed the long sword at another ship, sinking it.
“He protected the Earth Mother,” replied Aaro, “Great was his love for her. One smile from Earth Mother, smile all day Gor would.”
“I wish I was closer, but Tranquil Fury was upset.” He pointed the sword at another ship, causing lumber to rain down into the bay.
Hakk watched the third ship sink, “Earth Mother, hurt bad she is. Heal will she?”
“Lauren is stubborn, proud, smart, intelligent, and more, but when it comes to death, she has never made her peace with it. Not since her older sister died in an accident, as the hurt caused her a great amount of pain and suffering.” Bringing the sword up to his shoulder, a bolt of lightning discharged out behind him. Turning around, they saw a soldier holding a dagger, blackened by the lightning strike, tumble into the sea. Eric looked at the soldiers, “I’m trying to find you sailors so you can leave. Don’t do anything that stupid again.” Pointing the sword to several ships farther out in the bay, a huge bolt of electricity several feet wide leapt from the sword, blasting into six ships, and when the smoke cleared, sailors clinging to large chunks of wreckage replaced the previous image.
Eric shook his head, “Stupid sailors, they had better start to leave those ships soon.” He looked back to Hakk and Aaro, “If Lauren were here and saw somebody drowning, she would jump in, trying to save them. Well, other than these black-clad water rats, and she can’t swim that well. If she saw somebody trapped in a burning building, she would rush in to help. However, when somebody she cares about, one that she loves, when they die, part of her dies also, but it’s worse now.” He pointed the sword, destroying six more ships, and they began to hear the sailors diving into the sea. “Lauren can care so much, that she can actually harm herself. She has already killed over two hundred thousand black-clad soldiers, and even though she’ll tell you that it doesn’t affect her, it does. To lose Alron and now Gor, she is conflicted. She wants to stop this insanity, but those that she cares for die, and they die to protect her. If Alron hadn’t been required to protect her, would Alron still be alive? And Gor, if he didn’t care about her, he would be here instead of being on the mountain. That’s what is ripping her heart apart.” Eric’s anger flared. Raising the sword high, a massive bolt of lightning went straight up, arched, forked, and slammed into twenty ships with an explosive force, causing hundreds of sailors to jump into the sea. “I’m lucky. I have a demon or somebody else in me. He hungers for battle but now seeks purpose. I have few choices in what I do. Lauren, if she does nothing, people die. If she does something, people still die. Action and inaction, they both breed death. She knows that it doesn’t matter what direction she goes, death either waits or follows her.”
Scanning the ocean, Eric saw thousands of sailors swimming to the docks. He turned to the soldiers on the ship behind him, “Don’t leave this ship. Return with my message.” Walking to where the dock and land met, he advised Aaro and Hakk, “You might want to cover your ears and move back.” Raising the sword skyward in front of him, grasping it with both hands, he spread his feet apart. A bolt of lightning erupted from the sword, looking like an electrical volcano had given birth to it. Arcing high in the sky, it began to divide into a thousand smaller bolts. The force being so great, it pushed him to his knees, and when he stood up, the anger from the sword rained down, erupting into the moored ships, making them no more.
The harbor, once filled with bad intent, was now providing a safe haven for a fleet of driftwood. When the lightning had ripped through the skies, the thunder created by the concussive force of it slamming into the ships shattered windows in the buildings that surrounded the port. Grabbing the scabbard, Eric slid the massive sword back into its dark home, as the last bolts of lightning slammed into the docks, denying the opportunity for any more Royal House ships to moor.
He shouted to the black-clad soldiers on the ship, “Take my message back, we want this to end. Pick your crew when these water rats climb out. Where I come from, waving a white flag is a sign to open talks. Do that and we’ll talk.” Eric started to walk back to the town with Aaro and Hakk following.
The three walked up to an inn, and when the innkeeper arrived, he noticed Eric’s blood-encrusted armor; some still being so fresh that it dripped onto his floor. The town watch had followed him were standing in the doorway. Having watched the strange armored man bring forth the lightning on command, they had seen him sink the ships that brought death, but they refused to question him. When the innkeeper asked what he should do, their response was simple, ‘serve him what he wants.’
Eric called to the town watch, who pushed the smallest member forward. When he timidly approached him, the giant that controlled lightning spoke. “The black-clad aren’t your friends. They talk of trade, but they only deal in death. Go to their office, and there you’ll find bags of gold. I did some damage to your town, and for that, I apologize but use that gold to make the repairs. The water rats that now cling to what’s left of your dock, you should imprison. Also, the army that left here several days ago, they lay dead two days to the north. Hire a burial crew to dispose of them before their rotting corpses do start a plague. Keep their weapons, and form a militia because war comes to the west. Send a delegation to Alron or Newtown, and seek out the Earth Mothers there, and they’ll explain. Now leave me because I’m tired, thirsty, and hungry. When I’ve slept, I’ll leave your town. Do as I say and I’ll not return.”
Late morning the next day, when Eric walked down the stairs to the dining hall, Hakk and Aaro waited for him, and the town watch was still standing guard outside. Heading outside, they placed the gold amulets on the ground, and after materializing their mounts, headed to the north pass town.
*******
When Lauren returned to Alron that day, after Tranquil Fury had confronted her, she had done what she never wanted to do, causing a dark depression to overtake her. She had verbally chased away any that sought to enter her room, trying to come to terms with the image of Gor lying dead at her feet. When Panry had entered, he did manage to comfort her, but he realized her grieving was different this time. Even though she cried less, her sorrow seemed deeper. He hoped she would be back to her old self, faster than when Alron had died, as the threats were intensifying.
When she woke this morning, Ryan went to her. Next to Logan, he understood her best, but she had no interest in talking, and instead, she asked him to hold her, making her feel secure, and it was late afternoon when Ryan finally convinced her that she needed to eat. It was an honest mistake. An Earth Guard rushed down the stairs, demanding food, and the cook was unaware it was for the Earth Mother who grieved. Pulling a pot of soup out of the cold cellar, he quickly heated it, giving it to the Earth Guard. After placing the soup on the nightstand, Ryan had left the room.
From his bedroom, Ryan heard a low, hard scream: ‘NO!’ Hearing the bowl of soup explode on the back of her bedroom door, he heard her begin to cry again. Too late, Ryan realized that Gor had made the soup, and he sat on the edge of his bed for over an hour, listening to her crying, being unable to find a remedy for her broken heart.
*******
Logan, Bor, and Fen had ridden for two days on the fast horses, and once they were outside of the north pass settlement, they changed their mounts into gold amulets so that they could get their legs steady, adjusting to normal speed. Walking into the north pass settlement, they saw the huge log wall that blocked the mountain pass, and climbing the stairs to the top, they were pleased to see the pass was deserted. The air was cold, crisp in the north, and high in the mountains, a fresh snowpack on the peaks and slopes was visible. It was late in the day, and with the last sun setting, they went looking for an inn to spend the night.
For Logan, Bor, and Fen, the previous day had ended in quiet, but it failed to greet
them on the new morning. Alarms, warning bells, and horns all shattered the silence, sending the quiet chasing after the fleeing night. The three jumped out of their beds, opened the window, seeing people running with weapons in hand. Dressing, they raced down to the street, following the crowds, which transformed into a quagmire of chaos at the wall. Too many people were screaming orders, drowning out each other. Even though a mounted group tried to make their way to the gate, the congested crowd made it impossible for them to reach it. Skirting around the large group, they made their way to the wall, and finding the stairs clear, climbed to the top. Looking to the east, the pass curved through the mountains, and in the distance, they could see a large well-disciplined force of black-clad soldiers, advancing to the west, with siege weapons mixed in amongst them. Logan looked on the west side of the wall, seeing only confusion and chaos multiplying, causing fights to break out in the crowd. Shaking his head in disbelief, he looked east to the advancing black-clad army.
“Well, let’s see what’s up my sleeve today.” Then Logan began caressing the blue feather tattoo. “Sister, we need to slow them down. Eric’s two days away.” Rubbing the tattoo faster, slowly he felt the winds begin to change.
When Logan started that day, ten miles separated the wall from the black-clad army, but over the last hour, the distance had decreased by three, and now he could count a dozen siege weapons, which he had only seen in textbooks or on television. In that same hour, all, including the black-clad army, had noticed the change in the air temperature.
Gusts from the south, thick with moisture, moved north. Arctic breezes tired of the bitter cold moved south. If it had been later in the year, the south wind would have easily risen over its cold northern cousin, releasing its moisture as snow. Lacking the heat and energy, the two fronts met like dynamite in a strip mine: explosive being the only word to describe it. The quiet blue sky with the soft clouds disappeared, being replaced with angry black clouds. The dry static of the north winds mingled with the wet gusts of the southern clouds, and when lightning flashed across the skies, thunder erupted overhead. The warm south moisture ran into the northern cold, freezing, it fell from the skies: not as drops, but as sheets. Thick ice quickly coated everything: the valley, the siege weapons, the black-clad soldiers, the north pass town, and all that watched.
