Escana

by J. R. Karlsson

  A roar from above caused them to flinch in despair, they had heard it once before and now they knew their fate was sealed, the lizard had returned to feast on those who were left.

  Jimmy watched the faces before him as they came to terms with what they were hearing, it was a mixture of resignation and fear. His heart pounded in his chest and signalled exactly what he felt about their imminent death. He was no hero that had grown accustomed to peril, every time his life had been threatened his reaction was the same.

  If he really was going to die this time, he was going to at least try to do so on his feet rather than cowering in a corner with the elderly men.

  Gripping the pommel of his sword tightly and with a wave of inadequacy washing through him, he started walking away from the safety of the room and toward the noise. All eyes were on him and he heard the slow shuffling of feet falling in line behind him as he led them onward to their death in silence.

  There was a clarity now that he was committed, there was no possible turning back now that he was leading this group of people. Everything intensified, he could hear the sounds bouncing off the corridor walls and could see things with a crispness that he had somehow lacked before.

  He had expected the walk down the corridor to be the longest steps of his young life, instead he found his feet guiding him autonomously and time slipping away at an inexorable pace. The noises were coming from just inside the main palisade, though they had died down ominously as they left the building. He entered the darkness of the night and made his way across the sand to greet the monster with steel.

  115

  Ella

  'You seem troubled. It has been some time since you last saw me.'

  Was it so plainly written on her face that this woman could tell in an instant? The last few times they had met had been nothing but small talk of little relevance to anything. She was beginning to wonder whether Eli's mistress was the Emperor's advisor or simply a very bored woman in desperate need of company.

  'How could you tell?' she finally asked, not wanting to seem rude by refusing to answer her host.

  'I sense your withdrawal, as if you've closed yourself away from everyone and everything. It isn't a healthy mindset dear, it can only lead to suffering. You have a troubled soul and nobody with which to confide in, I offer you my unconditional support.'

  She watched as the woman topped off her tea with a sympathetic glance before continuing.

  'It can be very difficult up here in isolation from the rest of our people, we are not seen as equals and often must suffer the belittlement, unintentional or otherwise, of the intellectual elites. If you are not a strong individual you will be seen as a tool, to use and to control.'

  Control. It was as if the word unlocked the barriers inside Ella's mind that she had purposefully placed to shield herself from the worst of El-Vador over these last few days. He had been controlling, manipulative and savage, the antithesis of what he masqueraded as initially. There was nobody to turn to and no law of the land that he appeared to be breaking, she could not march up to the Emperor and demand he do something about the most powerful force in his Empire simply because it inconvenienced her.

  'He... he's not the person I thought he was.'

  Alissandra nodded, listening carefully as the words were coaxed out.

  'He came across as a paragon of virtue, someone who sacrificed his time and power for the good of an ideal and for the betterment of humanity. Then he was wounded out in Sah'kel and everything has changed, it's like a different person has taken his place. Or the mask has come off and the real one lying underneath finally reveals its intentions.'

  The older woman sipped her tea thoughtfully, not commenting for some time on what she had just heard.

  'You say he was wounded in the desert, did he mention to you what by?'

  The question seemed odd, what had his encounter out there to do with his character now? Then again, the timing of the events converged so perhaps there was a reason for asking.

  'You think that the wound could have changed him somehow?'

  Alissandra was non-committal. 'It's possible that certain wounds could alter a person in ways, though I don't see how he'd come about such a thing in the deep desert. Did he tell you what caused the wound? What did it look like to your eyes?'

  She hesitantly detailed the festering blackness inside one of the gashes, of how it wouldn't heal conventionally and remained open irrespective of her efforts at sewing it shut. All the while she watched Alissandra grow paler with each passing moment of description.

  'Are you okay?' she finally asked. 'Have I spoken of it too graphically?'

  She waved her off. 'No, honestly it's fine. I've never had a good stomach for such things, you were just right in detailing it in such a way.'

  'You know something about what could have caused this then?'

  'Yes, sadly it's not something that I can speak of to you, the information is privy to few and shared by none.' She seemed apologetic about that, as if she wanted to tell Ella but was being forced not to. 'It is safe to say that this wound you speak of could not have caused such a shift in the dynamic of El-Vador's personality. No my dear, I'm afraid you're just learning what many already knew about that inhuman creature. He is not like us in many ways, however much he attempts to blend in under his various guises.'

  Ella's heart sank, she knew that Alissandra was speaking from experience and felt like such a fool for thinking so highly of the creature Jimmy had been so terrified of. Idly she wondered where he was now, if the rebellion in Urial had been successful or if they'd all been put to death. She was tempted to ask Alissandra but thought better of it at the last moment, she had enough to deal with already without adding the emotional repercussions of discovering her friend was dead.

  'I know you don't want to talk about him child, I can see in your eyes what many others have witnessed long before any of us were born. He is an aberration, a tool for the Emperor to use that tends to cut both ways. I would not engage him so lightly as you have done for fear of him destroying all that I am, I too learnt that the hard way and thus I tried to warn you by having Eli contact you on my behalf.'

  So the entire friendship had been to protect her from this thing, she felt grateful for the attempt but ultimately she doubted that even the Emperor with all the forces of the land at his disposal could prevent El-Vador from doing as he wished.

  'Thank you for trying,' Ella choked, then found she was crying.

  Alissandra's arms delicately wrapped round her, in spite of this there was no safety in them. She was doomed to be controlled by this near-omnipotent force for the rest of her life, to be used and abused on such a grand scale that it made her previous life with Solomon seem trivial.

  She opened her eyes and realised she was speaking, it was the sound of her own voice coming unbidden that alerted her to the words.

  'He tied me down and fucked me into unconsciousness then when I woke he would repeat it until I could not walk. He told me not to leave the room in his absence, that he would know and punish me upon his return. I had to come here though, I had to tell you. I don't know what he's going to do to me and I'm scared.'

  Alissandra petted her gently, almost cautiously. As if she was a delicate bird that may startle and fly away should she attempt to smother it with affection.

  'I will do everything in my power to prevent you from coming to harm, I shall go to the Emperor himself and petition that he do something about this beast once and for all. In the meantime you will stay with me so that you need never see him again, his actions dictate that he will have planted his seed in you. I vow to try my hardest to eradicate the child, though we know little of your physiology.'

  She felt like retching but instead her body grew still in realisation of what the other woman's words portended. She was pregnant with this monster's child.

  116

  Gadtor

  A number of survivors had gathered to help him, only after Gadtor had convinced him to accept
their aid. He knew that hobbled as they were they had no chance in lifting the dead weight of the body, it seemed that Thom knew that too but stubbornness prevented him from admitting it.

  There was plenty of kindling from the destroyed tents to construct a pyre with and the flames sprung up quickly in the desert heat, engulfing the body of the former smith and cooking the flesh in short order. Some of the men gagged at the smell, others seemed too accustomed to it for Gadtor's liking. He fought down the roiling in his own stomach and watched as the body of Thom's closest friend was reduced to ash.

  The man had insisted to Gadtor that it was merely a body now and that there was no sense in burying it given that the desert would dispose of it soon enough anyway. He had swung Thom around based on the effect it would have on the morale of the army to leave their latest General to rot before their forward march. It had been a long and bitter argument but Thom had agreed eventually if with great reluctance. Now that the pyre was ablaze he seemed determined to watch every flicker, as if waiting for something to happen.

  Perhaps the burning body of his only friend had hit him harder than he let on, he seemed the type to keep everything buried and Gadtor could empathise with that all too well. He stayed stock still until the flames had died down, waiting patiently for Thom to make the first move.

  They remained staring at the ashes for some time, oblivious to the men milling around them trying to aid the wounded and clear the destruction that had been wrought from the passage of the lizard force.

  Gadtor didn't pretend to understand the orders, did the Imperial liaison not realise that a number of the lizard force had passed through the canyons and out of the main desert? Was he powerless to report back to his Emperor and request new orders? The creatures had technically crossed the border into the Empire now and the capitulation of those resisting them was a death-knell for the war effort. How could the Emperor be so short-sighted in demanding the remnants press forward into certain death? Gadtor wondered grimly what would finish them first, the lizards or that from which they seemed to be fleeing.

  Thom's posture straightened up, a keen light entering his eyes as if he finally knew how to carry out this impossible task.

  'So it ends, we have but one more duty ahead of us. If this accursed block were not attached to me I would stride out now and meet my destiny with any that choose to follow.' He looked around the camp, as if noticing the devastation for the first time. 'Where's the boy? The runner boy.'

  'Inglewood?' Gadtor supplied.

  'Yes, him. I need a message relayed to those fit enough to continue the fight.'

  They didn't need to look long, the boy was snapping tent poles and handing the make-shift splints to those who needed them.

  'Inglewood,' Thom said, the authority in his tone sending the boy into furious attention.

  'Yes General!' he cried.

  'Go through what's left of the camp, have every able-bodied man come back here. Our final assault is at hand.'

  With a sharp salute the boy was off at an enthusiastic sprint. Gadtor felt if he had only had a dozen Inglewoods in the Black Quail he would have taken Urial with ease.

  'I only hope that enough of the rest are as stupid as he is,' Thom said. 'They're not going to like what happens next.'

  It took some time before those who could stand were assembled before Thom. Due to the direct course of the lizard's flight the outlying parts of the camp not situated inside the canyon had remained unscathed. Though that boded well for the numbers they were largely men of a rank no greater than Inglewood, the more decorated the man the further inside the canyon he pitched his tent. The rampage had struck at the very heart of their most experienced members, the resulting damage caused to their paltry command structure could not have been greater had the lizards planned it. The few that Thom had detailed their orders to previously showed that.

  Gadtor watched as Thom surveyed the scene, he was genuinely interested in hearing what the new General would say to his troops. How exactly do you break news to an army that they're all going to die? From the haunted looks in their eyes Gadtor suspected that some of them had already been told.

  Thom stood on an elevated piece of wreckage, a fine bit of symbolism albeit one that the practical man didn't deliberately attempt. The extra height gave him a clear view over the hundreds left in attendance after the day's disaster.

  'I'm not much for speeches,' he began, his voice carrying clearly in the dry air. 'You've seen what we're up against, most of you have already watched them rip your colleagues and friends limb from limb. Today they fucked us over again without even meaning to.' A murmur of confusion from the crowd then. 'That's right, you heard me. The creatures weren't attacking us at all, they were fleeing from whatever was out there in the desert.'

  Silence.

  'There's something out there that's killing off these lizards and doing our job for us. We have no idea what it is and we don't know its intentions, as of tomorrow we are going to try and find out.'

  This brought a few open protests, Thom addressed them.

  'If you don't want to do that you can fuck off down the canyon and pray that the lizards don't come back.' A number of men detached from the group and started to make their way for the canyon hesitantly, as if waiting for Thom to react. 'You can go, we won't hunt you down, the monsters might when they get hungry but we won't. What I'm asking of you is nothing short of suicide on behalf of the Empire and I know many of you aren't here by choice. You can leave and take your chances with those beasts, if you can make it out of there alive you've earned your freedom.'

  Gadtor could tell that he wasn't really trying to dissuade the men from leaving the camp, simply whittling down those in the force that would crack under the pressure of what they were about to do.

  'Those of you who choose to stay will be marching out with us tomorrow morning so come prepared. We shall be travelling as one rather than in smaller forces like before, should we encounter whatever is out there I want it met with our full strength if necessary.'

  A rumbling sound came from behind them, the lizards were returning and at some speed.

  'To arms!' roared Thom, nearly deafening Gadtor in the process. 'Meet them head on!'

  They were at the very front this time, somehow he knew there was going to be no surviving this even if they hadn't been joined together in a fashion that crippled their mobility.

  Another rumbling came from the opposite side of the canyon, a second lizard assault on their rear. Gadtor found it very hard to believe that this was coincidence.

  Death awaited them like an old enemy paying an unwanted visit, this time Gadtor knew there was no retreating to the canyon walls, they stood tall and gripped their weapons at the forefront of a massacre and awaited their fate.

  117

  Hern

  He took a step back in retreat as Yalem eyed him up, there had to be a way to avoid this particular confrontation while the man was awake. The quiet man had been chosen as Dyson's bodyguard for a reason and Hern wasn't too keen on finding out why.

  As if noticing his hesitant steps, Yalem eased his hand into his belt and pulled out a wicked looking throwing dagger. Check and mate, no escape. If he tried to dash the way he came he'd have steel in his back. It was a slim chance at best to avoid the throw and even if he did the guards he had heard would hunt him down in short order. He had to fight the man one on one as if they were in some silent arena mock-up rather than a duel to the death.

  He let out a sigh and acknowledged the movement with a nod of his head, Yalem returned the nod with a knowing smile and started to advance. Hern could already tell from the way the man held his blade that he was an expert. They had taught Hern close combat in his earlier years but only to be used as a last resort. It was seen as a brutish and uncivilised way of dispatching targets and more of a defensive skill that few claimed mastery over. He somewhat doubted that the man approaching him had been taught the same lessons, now was not the time to concern himself with speculation o
n his target's capabilities, only factual observation would aid him now.

  He shut his wandering mind off, focusing his senses and thoughts entirely on Yalem as he advanced in turn with both his blades at the ready.

  Yalem's grip on the blade as he came closer was unconventional but practised, it would generate a lot of power but also require a great deal of stamina to keep up an assault. This hinted that the initial attack may be an attempt to overpower Hern's defences, if he avoided the blade long enough it could turn into a war of attrition. It wasn't an ideal situation as a single mistake would be lethal but ultimately less fatal than trying to outfight the man.

  The first swipe of Yalem's sword was a testing strike and one that Hern easily avoided in spite of their close quarters. He could feel the hot air being cut open along the groove of the blade and knew that there was a suitable degree of power behind the slash.

  His riposte was swatted away by Yalem's blade rather than evaded. The man was silently trying to intimidate him with the forcefulness of each action, the blow had left the steel ringing and had nearly dislodged the blade from Hern's hand. He didn't panic, that emotional side of him had been discarded as soon as he had raised his sword.

  Yalem came forward again, as unsubtle as before with broad strokes that cleaved the space in which Hern once stood. He ducked and weaved away from the menacing weapon without attempting to block or force a counter. The longer he could goad Yalem into doing this the sooner the man would tire and an error would reveal itself, one he intended to exploit mercilessly.

  His opponent seemed to sense this, his attacks becoming increasingly sporadic but more accurate and finally forcing Hern to block with one of his blades.

  Yalem pushed the blade down and Hern made no effort to stop him, any strength he devoted toward opposing such a big man would be wasted. Instead he struck out with his second blade and forced Yalem into a retreat.