Against the Eldest Flame

by Dave Robinson

  Wordlessly, the four gorillas slung their rifles and hoisted Gus to their shoulders, leaving him dangling between them from the frame. Others moved behind Doc, the rustling telling him that they were untying Vic and Gilly. He stood stoically; waiting as everyone except Schmidt left the chamber.

  Once they were alone, the pillar grew and darkened, almost as if it was trying to make the chamber seem cosy, or perhaps intimate. I am the Eldest Flame, are you ready to become My vehicle?

  “Your vehicle?” Doc answered. “What do you mean, your vehicle?”

  I mean the body that will take me from this chamber. The Flame gestured towards Schmidt, surrounding the revenant with a wreath of fire. This one has been tainted by its death; I need a live body. I need to be able to transfer My Essence.

  “So you think I’ll simply let you take over my body?” Doc kept his voice calm as he worked to try and free himself from his bonds. Whatever this thing was, it had already revealed that it had one weakness: it was bound to this place.

  Do you really believe you have a choice? The cold voice insinuated into his head. You are overconfident.

  Doc kept his face still and his mind carefully blank, drawing on ancient disciplines he had learned from records kept by the Archonate AI buried beneath the Moon. It had been programmed with all the knowledge of the now lost race that built it; including mental disciplines that were now forgotten by all except Doc.

  The Eldest Flame began contracting slowly, drawing itself away from Schmidt and growing brighter as it did. Focusing his attention on a point just behind the Flame, Doc twisted his arms, using his exquisite muscular control to shift the bones inside his arms and hands, gritting his teeth as the pain washed over him. Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead and ran down his arms as he tried to slide them from his bonds.

  Meanwhile, a tongue of flame stretched towards Doc, becoming thinner and dimmer as it did so. Comparing the marks on the walls to the brightness of the flames, he wondered if the creature had once been more powerful. If he calculated correctly, his post was about as far as the Eldest Flame could currently reach. Seeing no reason to hide what he was doing any longer, Doc threw himself forward and down, ripping his arms free from his bonds. Ignoring the cuts on his wrists, Doc rolled out of the way, forcing the bones back into position with an audible click.

  Grimacing at the pain, Doc pushed himself up as the Flame lashed across his wrist. Ignoring the burn, he pushed off, and sprinted for the entrance. Dull thuds from behind reminded him of Schmidt’s presence. A bracelet of flame encircled his wrist, burning its way into his skin. As he ran, he resisted looking back. His wrist ached, but Doc ignored the the pain, focusing on running. The opening was only a few yards away.

  You may leave the chamber, but you cannot escape Me. The words rose from his wrist, climbing up his arm to his brain. Doc ignored the pulsing pain, throwing himself through the archway and out into the light.

  #

  Vic glared as she paced. Three steps, turn, repeat. The cell was small with a pile of hay in one corner and an empty bucket in the other. At least her bucket was empty. The smell coming from some of the other cells told her that it was the only one. A barred window about three feet off the floor let just enough light in that she wouldn’t trip. It was old, worn smooth with generations of prisoners, the stones fused together with the weight of ages.

  Everything about the cell felt wrong. Vic had been in more cells than she wanted to remember over the last few years, and none of them were like this one. The ceiling was too low and the cell door too wide. The window was a perfect example. It wasn’t in the right place for a human; oddly, it didn’t seem to be the right height for a gorilla either.

  She wasn’t sure how she had got here, the last thing she remembered from before she woke was passing out in front of a pillar of fire and the overwhelming wave of rejection she had felt. Now that she was awake, Vic wasn’t sure whether she was more annoyed by the rejection or glad she seemed to have escaped its control. If that was Schmidt’s “master” she wanted nothing to do with it. Oh well, she was away from it now; with that thought firmly in mind Vic took another look at her surroundings.

  Gilly lay in the cell beside hers, but for the moment he was just looking at the floor. His cell was no bigger than hers, but there was more straw on the floor. He looked up and gave Vic a sad smile.

  A cough caught her attention. Gus was in the cell across the way, but where she was “free” to pace, he was chained to the wall with what looked like half a ton of iron. His right eye was swollen shut, and welts covered his body. At least he’d stopped bleeding.

  “Awake now?” She asked, digging her nails into her palm. “They really did a number on you.”

  “For now,” he croaked, trying a crooked grin that showed a missing tooth. “Hell of a way to come home.”

  “About that, what do you mean, home?”

  “This is where I was born.” He looked around, grimacing as he turned his neck. “The city, not this cell.”

  Vic laughed. “I didn’t think you were born in here. It’s not much of a nursery.”

  Gus’s chuckle turned into a coughing fit that ended with him spitting blood. “That will teach me to tell a human the truth.” Moments later he was wheezing again, though without coughing blood, much to Vic’s relief.

  “Speaking of the truth; why didn’t you share it earlier?” She asked, doing her best not to glare as she paced. “You must have known a lot more than you said back in New York. You must have recognized the feathers; Hell, for all I know you might have recognized the gorilla.”

  He sighed, refusing to meet her eyes. “I did. He was a distant cousin.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you tell me or Doc?” Vic snapped. “Here we are in the middle of some Goddamn Gorilla City that you knew all about, and dealing with some fiery monster and you didn’t say anything!”

  “I couldn’t.” The words came in a low rumble she could barely make out. “I wanted to, but I couldn’t.”

  He finally raised his head and met her gaze. “And it’s Pongo City.”

  “Whatever.” Vic stopped pacing and locked her eyes on his. “It would have been nice to know that before we were captured. It would have been even nicer to know before we left the States.”

  She punched her palm, smacking her fist loudly into her other hand. “Gus, we trusted you. I trusted you.

  “Why didn’t you just tell us?” Her words trailed away. “That’s all I want to know…”

  “I really couldn’t.” Gus sighed. “I wanted to, but the Eldest Flame had a block on my mind. That thing made us; we’re not natural gorillas. It gave us our minds, and those minds have limits. We literally cannot speak about Pongo City when we’re outside it. Our vocal cords don’t work when we try, we can’t even put it into coherent thought to write down.

  “As long as that thing has its tendrils in our heads we’re bound one way or another no matter what we do.”

  “You’re all slaves?” Vic shivered despite the heat in the cells.

  “More like serfs.” Gus rattled his chains a little. “We’re not puppets; we can break away. It’s just that it’s almost impossible to change the foundations of our minds from the inside. Think of it like a very strong instinct.

  “I would have told you if I could.”

  Vic didn’t respond, she just started pacing again. Three paces back and forth, not enough to build any sort of rhythm but enough to take her mind off the whole Gus situation. Doc was gone, either imprisoned somewhere else or free. Gilly was still recovering from his injuries in the crash, and Gus had been severely beaten. She was it.

  Her mind cleared, Vic turned back to Gus. He wasn’t the enemy; his bruises made that clear.

  “So, do you know what they’re going to do with us?” She asked, trying to keep a quaver out of her voice. “I don’t think this is the waiting room for a spa.” Vic paced faster, then stopped because it didn’t feel right to be pacing with Gus buried un
der more than her weight in chains.

  “We are going to die,” Gus said in a sardonic tone. “Educationally.”

  “Educationally?” That wasn’t a word she expected to describe their deaths. “What do you mean, educationally?”

  “They will show the folly of standing up to the Eldest Flame, providing an object lesson to any subjects who might consider opposing its rule.”

  Vic swallowed. “So, public execution?” That wasn’t how she wanted to go, dying on display like a butterfly on a pin. Her death was supposed to be fast, right in the middle of the action. She dug her nails into her palms, cutting into the burn scar on the right one.

  “More like throwing Christians to the lions,” Gus soothed, his tone of voice at odds with his battered body.

  The tension slipped from Vic’s shoulders and a smile crept across her face. “Lions?” Lions she could deal with; at least she wouldn’t be helpless.

  “Probably not, but the principle would be the same.”

  Vic forced a smile. “Any idea when they plan to hold the festivities?”

  “I would think soon.” Gus turned his head and spat blood into the straw bedding he was unable to use. “It depends how long I was out.”

  “Not long.” Vic frowned. “Maybe an hour or so since they dragged us out of the cave. Speaking of the cave, what was that thing?”

  “Like I said, that thing is the only reason my people exist.” Gus’s words were blunt. Vic swallowed, then glanced towards Gilly, who was now sitting up, his eyes fixed on Gus.

  With a cough and a gesture, Gilly motioned for Gus to go on. Vic was relieved he was showing more interest. This whole experience had been harder on him than anyone, and it didn’t sound like it was going to be getting any better.

  Despite his situation, Gus sounded every inch the lecturer as he warmed up to his subject. “The Eldest Flame may be the oldest being on the planet. As far as I can tell, it’s been here for millions of years. According to our legends, such as they were from those times before we had true language, where we are now was the bottom of a mountain lake.”

  He coughed, then continued, no sign of strain in his voice. “About a century ago, that lake vanished in a single night. In its place was this city, a city with inhabitants no one had ever seen.” Gus paused and glared at the water bucket that was out of his reach. “Namely, those creatures that captured us earlier, though this was before most people had learned of dinosaurs. If my recollection is accurate, that was just before the word was invented.

  “They were agents of the Flame, and it sent them far and wide. For whatever reason, it found them less than satisfactory, so it searched for replacements. They found Vel, an ancestor of mine. He was the first new host for the Flame, and the first of my people to be truly aware. Unlike its previous hosts, Vel could leave the mountain with the Flame, and so my people supplanted the dinosaurs.”

  “That’s enough,” Vic said. Gus’s voice was too hoarse, he might ruin his throat if he continued. “I think we should all try to sleep. If we’re going to get out of this, we’re going to need all our strength.”

  Following her own advice, Vic crawled over to the pile of hay in the corner. It was scratchy, but at least it was softer than the stone.

  Sleep was a long time coming.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Doc on the Run

  Doc burst through the archway at a full run, trying to get out of sight before Schmidt caught up with him. He was sure he could outrun the Nazi revenant, but he knew the undead creature could outlast him. At least the Flame had dismissed the gorillas, there was no way he could have made it past the two of them in time.

  His arm burned in time with his pulse as he took a look around, not daring to stop and draw breath. Doc was at the top of a narrow path leading up the inner wall of the caldera, just below the cloud line. Below him, Doc saw the city laid out on both sides of a central avenue leading towards the tower where ZL-38 lay at her mooring. The city came right up to the side of the cliff, with buildings and alleys built right into the walls of the caldera. Doc weighed his options; he could try to make for the Zeppelin, but could he reach it before Schmidt? He didn’t think so.

  He didn’t have time to second-guess his options; making up his mind, Doc ran to the edge and jumped off.

  Twisting in mid-air, he turned to face the rock wall, then reached out for handholds. Gray rock hurtled past his face as he clawed at outcrops letting each painful impact slow his fall. Grunting, he closed his right hand on one, then forced his rebellious left around another. It felt like it was going to rip his arms out of their sockets, but he hung on. His chest hit the rock and he scrabbled with his feet for a foothold.

  Moments later, he was safely hanging on the side of the caldera, a good twenty feet down the wall. Heavy footsteps thundered down the path, but Doc ignored them, devoting his attention to getting down the wall. It was steep, and the rough stone dug into his fingertips. The pain was minor, the trick was hanging on with blood-slick fingers.

  As he descended, Doc kept glancing over his shoulder, trying to get a good look at the ground, but all he could catch were glimpses. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he had not eaten since his capture. There wasn’t much he could do about it climbing down the inner wall of a caldera. Even Doc’s strength had its limits, and as he neared the bottom his world contracted to the wall in front of him and the blood pounding in his ears.

  Finally, he reached the bottom. He fell to his knees and took several deep breaths, only to feel a gun muzzle pressed against the back of his head.

  Doc spread his fingers on the rock wall in front of him, its cracks thrown into high relief by the sensation of cold metal against his skull..

  “Who are you?” A voice said, as the speaker pushed the muzzle harder into the back of Doc’s head. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t pull the trigger.”

  “Blowback. You’re pressing the gun too tightly against my head,” Doc said in a calm voice. “You’re likely to burn your hand; especially if it’s a revolver.”

  “Excuse me?” His questioner’s voice rose.

  “You asked for one reason not to pull the trigger.” Doc smiled, even though his questioner couldn’t see his face. “I thought it best to start with one that would immediately benefit you.”

  The person moved back, very slightly. “That’s the kind of thing he would say.” The tone was flat, but Doc thought the voice might be female. It was hard to be sure, since it probably belonged to a gorilla and he didn’t know any other than Gus. “Now, give me another reason.”

  “Because I don’t think either one of us is fond of the Eldest Flame, or those Nazis who seem to be running things for it.”

  “I don’t think anyone would be if they knew what it wanted. Having that in common doesn’t exactly make us lifelong friends.” The speaker paused. “Still, you look like you could be helpful - so let’s see what you can offer.”

  Doc lowered his hands, keeping them well away from his body. “Mind if I turn around?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Doc turned to find himself facing a small band of half a dozen gorillas. He was in a narrow gap between two buildings, standing on a floor of white moss. Now that he could see the architecture up close, the first thing he noticed was how out of place the gorillas looked. Even as one part of his mind filed the details away for future reference, the rest paid attention to his new captors. The apparent leader was a young female, her weapon aimed at the ground between his feet. The others were more spread out, two facing him while the others kept watch.

  “Who are you?”

  “My name’s Vandal, but most people call me Doc.”

  “Doc.” She rolled the word around on her tongue, trying a few different variations. “I am Kehla, First Hand of Vel.” She looked him over without speaking. After a few moments she raised her eyes to meet his. “I don’t know what you need, but if you can help us, we’ll do what we can for you.”

  “All right Kehla, what can I do f
or you?” Doc looked around at his new companions. Kehla was one of the first women he’d seen among the gorillas, and while she looked physically much as he had expected, her garments seemed a little surprising. In her khaki shorts, blouse, and hat, she looked like she’d just stepped away from yet another British expedition to find the source of the Nile. The gun she held so casually in one hand, almost dangling, was the biggest revolver he’d ever seen. From the bandolier across her chest, it looked to be chambered for 12-gauge. The others were dressed equally casually, in everything from caftans to kilts. It was distracting, but these were the first he’d seen not in uniform.

  “You can help me free my brother.”

  “How can I do that?” Doc glanced at her for a moment, contrasting her heavily equipped self to his ripped shirt. He still had a couple of things in his belt and boot heels, but most of his equipment was long gone.

  “He’s been sentenced to death in the arena tomorrow; you can help us get in to free him.”

  “Why me?”

  “Your size; let’s get moving, I’ll explain more as we go.” Kehla pointed, and the group crowded in close. “The is is the best we can do to keep you from being spotted for the moment. Keep your head down.”

  Doc nodded, then bent trying to keep his head from showing above those of his much shorter companions.

  “They keep all the prisoners in cells under the arena, but we can’t get past the guards,” Kehla said. “There’s another access, but I don’t know if we can get in. I’m not sure if I’m thin enough to get through the gap and I’m the smallest.”

  She gave Doc a measuring look. “You’d probably fit, though.”

  They kept moving, and Doc kept thinking. “It seems odd that there’d be an access in the arena that no one could fit through,” he offered, thinking aloud. “What’s it for?”

  “It seems to be a window for guards to let the cleaners in so they can get to the arena itself; there’s a larger door nearby but it’s locked from the inside. It keeps the cleaners away from the prisoners.”