Lycenea

by Rory D Nelson

  “How fareth the boy?” He asks.

  “It was a devastating blow, his femur broken,” replies Merlin.

  “Broken or fractured?”

  “Broken, clean through. You are free to confirm.”

  Germanicus shakes his head. “No need. You are an apothecary, your diagnosis beyond dispute. I ken that he will be out of commission for some time.’’

  “He is a fast healer and he will make a full recovery, the mud diminishing his healing time from months to weeks, perhaps only a few.’’

  Germanicus shakes his head. “Not welcome news. As the rules dictate, he can forfeit only one round, but –’’

  Merlin cuts him off. “But he cannot forfeit the other. I ken. I drafted the stipulations.” Merlin says moodily.

  Germanicus looks at Merlin gravely. “Then you ken that we will have to remove him. By the rules of engagement, he is to be removed.”

  “By a technicality, by the fact that Maximus has initiated some sort of subterfuge to eliminate a fellow recruit.”

  “It was a clean hit, Merlin. Dante left himself vulnerable. A grave mistake that has cost him his place as a recruit. If he had been in battle, such a mistake could have cost him the life of a Brother. You ken?”

  “It was an act of subterfuge on the part of Maximus.”

  “What proof have you?”

  “He hollowed out a tooth to call Phates surreptitiously.”

  “You questioned him of this?”

  “No.”

  “You cannot bring charges with no formal inquiry. I would ken that what he did was a smart way to communicate with Phates, unbeknownst to others. He should be praised for his ingenuity not brought up on charges. Unless you intend to charge or question him?”

  “I do not. Perhaps Dante will recover by the last bout. I will tend to him. I have been known to aid in expedient recovery.”

  Germanicus looks at Merlin dubiously. “You would be tripe with me? I am no apothecary as you, Merlin. But even I know that nothing short of sorcery will see Dante fully recovered to be present for the last bout.”

  “I would utilize gifts as God has intended.”

  “For such as he never intended!” Hisses Germanicus. He looks hard at Merlin, his countenance changing from indignation to supplication. “Think hard on such capricious business. To speak of him as if he is a sort of prophet or chosen one borders on arrogance, as if you are fine tuned into the will of God. We have our rules to live by. Our chivalric Code. It has always served us well. Do you ken?”

  Merlin nods his head. Perhaps he is wrong about the boy. King Menelaeus is like a father to him. If he were to plead his case before the King, perhaps an arrangement could be made to protect the boy at all costs.

  He turns to Germanicus. “I ken that you speak hard truth, my Brother.”

  “None needed. You are deeply attached to the boy. As am I. I will make the proper arrangements.’’

  Merlin nods. “I will do my best to assuage gifted recruit. It will be a hard business.” He turns to go.

  Chapter 37: The Exchange

  “Well, I know it,” confirms Aramis, confidently. “The large birch trees will provide ample cover for sniper attacks.’’ He looks at Prometheus, contemplatively. “I have heard news of your renown with a crossbow. Any exaggerations to tall tales, Sai?”

  He shakes his head vehemently. “No, Captain, no exaggeration. I could put an arrow through his heart at five hundred yards. Set watch and warrant it done.”

  “I will have to, for my sake and yours. If I am to be executed for failure, I will see you hung alongside me. You ken?”

  “Ai, Captain.” He leaves.

  Felinius unties Felipides’ restraints, which had been tied to one of the long, wooden columns in the barn. He brings him up and then roughly places iron shackles around his legs.

  “You believe these necessary, Sai?”

  Felinius looks at him, deprecatingly, as if he is a stupid child asking a silly question. “I will set chains loosely to permit you comfort and you will be able to walk normally. You decide to run and you will stumble and I will end this haughty business with a bullet to your pea brain. Do you ken?”

  Felipides tries desperately to swallow but is unable. He nods. “Ai.” He croaks.

  “Register another complaint, boy and I will make sure shackles bite viciously into your skin.”

  Felipides nods. “Ai. Will do whatever you ask so long as I make proper return to home.”

  “Set watch and warrant, boy. I will have you reunited with father soon enough,” says Felinius with a mischievous smirk.

  Felipides breathes a sigh of relief. Felinius walks over to Jaden. “Haughty business almost to reach climax,” says Felinius.

  “Ai. It’s not the commencement of business that concerns me but uncertain aftermath.”

  Felinius nods. “Ai. I ken. You and I will both have a bounty on our heads that will attract every bounty hunter from the Ukraine Peninsula to the Gandes Mountains. But we always knew it would be this way. The sum that Herod is paying us in blood money should be ample to purchase our own armory and those to man it.

  Jaden nods and smiles. “Ai. I ken that it will have to.”

  Prometheus pulls out his pocket watch and observes the time. His heart begins to beat precipitously faster, anticipating the deadly assault. He has no doubts about his ability to take them down; and yet, he knows that nothing is completely out of the realm of possibility. He can just barely make out the horse making its way up the meandering meadow path to the forest.

  He pulls out his hyper-oculars and confirms that it is Felipides. At first, he is a little confused because he cannot see Felinius. As the horse gets closer, he takes a harder look and sees Felinius directly behind Felipides. It was difficult to notice at first from such a distance and the fact that Felipides towers over Felinius. As to be expected, Felinius is taking no chances.

  The ride up to their rendezvous point seems to drag on relentlessly. Felinius stops well before the Birch Trees in the meadow, almost as if he is expecting an ambush. Aramis motions to him.

  Felinius and Felipides exit the horse awkwardly as they are tied up together in some custom-tailored smock, clearly making a shot on Felinius all but impossible. Felipides walks awkwardly with Felinius behind him. Together they reach Aramis and his three soldiers he is permitted for the exchange.

  He nods at Felipides. “How do you fareth, young Prince?” asks Aramis.

  “As to be expected in this hard business. The worse for wear but intact as you see.”

  “You carry the signed alliance?” asks Felinius in a muffled voice behind Felipides.

  Aramis nodded. “Ai.”

  “Produce it before me now, Captain.”

  “As you wish.” He motions to one of his subordinates, who retrieves the signed document. He places it in front of Felinius, who seems to give it nothing more than a cursory glance.

  “Where are the men in Herod’s employ?’’ asks Felinius.

  “Present, as per ye request,” answers Aramis. He motions to the same subordinate, who brings forth Talonius and Jasper, who appear bruised, beaten, forlorn and as helpless as a newborn runt but more or less intact.

  “We have fulfilled our end of the bargain, so we have. Now, release prince.”

  Felinius pokes his head out from around Felipides and gives Aramis a sardonic glean, which does little to set his mind at ease.

  Jaden waits patiently, properly obscured behind a patch of Mulberry bushes. He looks through his hyper-oculars and observes the action. He can’t make out finite details, but he can readily observe gestures. Felipides is wrapped inside the body tourniquet with Felinius. His vision is acute and he sees the gesture, even from this distance, of Felinius unzipping Felipides from the suit.

  Felinius walks up with Felipides to make the exchange. Time to get to work. Jaden takes out his speed shooter and takes careful aim. At this short of a distance, it’s more of a chip shot. Still, there is no room for error. S
o, he braces himself, holds his breath and fires. The fuse lights and it rushes to the trip rod, holding the bows and incendiary arrows in place.

  “Who shot that?” demands Aramis.

  “I don’t know,” lies Felinius. “Perhaps it’s some sort of sabotage on your part.”

  “If you try any type of sabotage, I promise to have your head,” threatens Aramis.

  “Make the exchange now or feast on Prince's brains. Do you ken?”

  “Ai.”

  Prometheus hears the loud gunfire but remains steadfast and compliant in plan. The other snipers look around for a few seconds the moment the shot rings out. He signals them to remain calm. Felinius and Felipides approach to make the exchange. Jaden retrieves his crossbow, pulls back the arrow and aims.

  Prometheus hears a whistling sound. That is odd. In the next moment, there is a loud swooshing sound and then intense heat. His feet feel scalded as if they are on fire. He turns around to confirm the unbelievable truth. The flames began to lick up his clothes, devouring his turncoat, camisole, and pantaloons as if it were paper mache in a hearth. He cries out in excruciating pain and tries to run away from the flames, but to no avail.

  He begins to smell the sickening smell of scorched flesh and realizes in horror it is his own. In a final attempt to escape the flames, he jumps out of the tree like a flailing doll from a window, goes ass over end and mercifully breaks his neck on the way down.

  “What is this treachery you have perpetrated?” cries Aramis.

  “I knew your King would renege on the agreement. Reap the whirlwind of your betrayal!” yells Felinius. His voice can barely be heard above the roaring flames as they devour the birch trees. The men in the trees cry out in an excruciating wail as flames devour their skin and tatter their clothing to shreds and then billow away in the wind.

  As the trees burn through the leaves, their treacherous arsenal becomes readily apparent- speed shooters, revolvers, rifles and several metal arrows.

  Felinius pulls his speed-shooter with lightning quick ruthlessness and fires several consecutive shots. The first shot finds an apt target in Aramis’ eye, exiting out of the back of his brain and drenching the men behind him in an ocular fluid, brain matter, and gore. A couple men reflexively fire off their shooters.

  One of the haphazard shots hits Felipides in the leg, emitting a high-pitched wail. He drops to one knee, while Felinius crouches down behind him, using him as a shield.

  Several men reluctantly take cover, unsure of their actions but fearful for their own lives and incurring the wrath of King Aramon. Felinius uses their own indecision to take deliberate shots at them. They fall to the ground, clutching their stomachs, necks, and faces, while blood flow erupts from severed arteries, drenching the ground in crimson, against the backdrop of the roaring fire in the trees.

  Jaden hops off from his perch and extracts his scatter rifle and begins to pick off the other men, dropping them where they stand, blowing through devastated arteries, nearly decapitating and eviscerating men and silencing their cries of anguish.

  When the last man is dead, Felinius peers around Felipides and smiles. Felipides bleeds from several wounds. He cries out in excruciating pain. “Please help me!” He yells. “I promise there will be mercy extended you with my safe return.”

  “Oh, do you now?” asks Felinius playfully.

  He turns Felipides around to face him. Felipides flinches, afraid of receiving another blow. Felinius punches him in the face and Felipides cries out. “Please! I beg of you!”

  Felinius smiles sardonically and places the gun against his chest. “How many little girls begged you to stop your assaults?”

  “Please! Mercy!” He cries as tears stream down his face.

  “How many?” demands Felinius.

  Felipides averts his eyes to avoid the indignant approach in Felinius’ eyes. “It is my right. I am a prince.” He cries.

  Felinius grasp him around the neck. “Feel the unwelcome penetration, the unwanted intrusion.” He kisses him on the forehead and fires several rounds into his chest. They rip holes through his heart, killing him. Felinius lets him go and he drops.

  Two other men peer around another mulberry tree and take shots. Felinius runs and fires off several consecutive rounds, sending flying bullets near the trees they are hiding behind. One man pokes his head out. As he does, it explodes from a bullet from Jaden’s scatter rifle.

  His body slumps to the ground as blood flows in crimson spurts from his neck, with half his face skewed, at an impossible angle.

  The other man panics and makes a run for it. Felinius fires off two consecutive rounds from his twelve shooters, knocking the man to the ground as blood spurts from two gaping bullet holes. He chokes on blood as life drains from him. Felinius stands over him and fires another round in his head.

  Jaden and Felinius go to Jasper and confirm his death. Blood still pours from a gaping bullet hole in his midsection, giving a clear view of his mangled intestines inside, which threaten to spill out where he stood.

  The last one of the diplomats left is Talonius. Felinius walks over to him and is soon followed by Jaden.

  “Help me!” cries Talonius.

  “You are beyond saving,” says Felinius somberly.

  Talonius takes a few more breaths and then darkness overtakes him.

  The thunderous roar of the fire begins to die out as it loses its fuel. Several sparks make it to the shag grass, but the grass is unusually fire retardant and the sparks dissipate just as quickly as they fall.

  Felinius scrutinizes the field. He begins to hear more in the grass and his acute ears catch movement. He looks and observes a hat peeking out around the corner. He laughs to himself. A seasoned killer like him would never fall for that subterfuge. He removes his scatter rifle and aims it on the other side of the birch tree, sending several bullets into the tree, some precariously close to their assailant.

  The assailant panics and runs for a safer cover. As he does, Felinius fires off several bullets from his rifle, hitting in the back, neck, and leg. The first shots enter his leg, pulverizing his ligaments and sending him to the ground. The second bullet rips through his larynx and severs an artery. The last one goes through his back. He chokes, sputters and twitches spasmodically for several seconds and then he is still.

  Jaden reaches the meadow a few minutes later. Felinius lingers over Felipides’ body and ponders something. He extracts a writing tablet and begins to write something, laughing derisively.

  Jaden dismounts his horse and looks at Felinius curiously. “I ken that he will not be reading that. He will not be reading much of anything anymore.”

  Felinius smiles. “A note for doting father.”

  He shakes his head in disapproval. “Ai. You are a tripe one indeed. You would fan the flames of hatred even more, would you? The king had ample reason to kill us, even with his poor son alive.”

  “How fast is your mare, Jaden? I do hope she can keep up with my Portuguesa.”

  “Bounty? Why she is the swiftest in all of Visi-Gaulia. A bounty of the coin I paid to obtain her, so I did. She will get us out of here faster than anything, save for maybe a Mckenna. I wouldn’t suggest we stick around these parts narry too long to obtain one. You ken?”

  Felinius laughs, breaking the tension. “Ai. We are well met, Sai. You have surprised, so you have.”

  Felinius approaches his horse and mounts it in one seamless move.

  “Not that I don’t appreciate a good surprise, but may I ask what direction we are to traverse in? I ken to the North would be prudent,” advises Jaden.

  Felinius shakes his head. “No. to the Southwest.”

  “Straight into Orachai lands? Are you mad?”

  Felinius smirks wolfishly. “Perhaps, Sai, but not in this case.

  They gallop off into the Southwest, straight into Orachai lands.

  Chapter 38: Uncertain Fate

  Merlin walks into the infirmary to tell Dante the bad news. The hefty dose of pain
killer medicine he had given the boy had not yet kicked in and he is sweating profusely from his brow, racked with throbbing agony that shoots up his leg in mind-numbing contractions. Cammilia sits at his side with her head in his lap. He holds onto her fiercely, as if she could diminish the pain that racked his body.

  “How fareth, young Sai?”

  “The pain is fierce, Merlin. When will the medicine begin to work?”

  “In due time, Dante.”

  “I earned my immunity. Maximus was trig. He tricked me up, so he did. Did you not see, Merlin?”

  “Nothing escapes my notice, young Sai. But what I know in my heart and what I can prove before the council is not one and the same. Do you not ken?”

  “Ai, Merlin.”

  Merlin nods solemnly but says nothing. The silence is maddening to Dante. He knows in his heart that the news cannot be good.

  “Merlin?” Dante asks reluctantly. “What is to become of me?”

  “You will be given safe refuge; your guardian and you never to depart company, except in death,” says Merlin evasively.

  Dante calls him on it. “But what is to become of me here, Merlin?”

  (2)

  The revelry that Maximus basks in that day is short-lived, especially since he has no one to share it with. He has been shunned for his despicable act. Though he has won immunity, he has ostracized himself from the rest of the group. Each attempt on his part to interact with other recruits is met with a perfunctory nod and then the recruit excuses himself from Maximus’ disdainful presence.

  Maximus had hoped that with his act of subterfuge, the nightmares would diminish. But they continue, unabated. He tosses and turns all night, unable to relieve himself from the nightmares. He sees himself as an adult, ostracized from the very home he was born in, his nemesis usurping him as the heir to the throne, and he is powerless to stop it.

  Maximus does not understand why the nightmares have not abated, since he gave himself to this cause-to eliminate Dante, to remove him as a recruit. He has defeated him, caused him to be removed from the program; and yet his nightmares persist. He has lost the respect of his fellow recruits. He is utterly alone and for what? He can’t fathom why.