Cultwick: The Wretched Dead

by J. Stone

  “Apparently taken by a mercenary,” he replied. “Ryn wasn’t forthcoming with the details. Can I count on you to do this, my friend?”

  Germ furrowed his brow before replying, “I believe so, sir. If a sample will save Madam Clover’s life, then that is what I will get.”

  “Excellent,” Rowland said. “I must get a few things ready before we travel. Please go and tell Ryn and your smuggler the plan.”

  “Very well, sir,” Germ replied and took his leave.

  Rowland returned to his lab, where he found his various chemicals and instruments, as he had left them. He collected the leftover batch of the genotoxin treatment in the form of a set of syringes, and placed them in a satchel. He also herded his lab animals into a small, wired cage, so that he could continue to observe their condition and use them to test his cure. He spent a good deal more time gathering supplies, before he found his way to the hangar where Olivia’s skyship was docked.

  He found that Germ had already brought Erynn to the hangar, where Hirim and Maynard were attempting to change her mind. She and Tern were packing their things onto the Halcyon, and Olivia was in the cockpit of the skyship preparing it for launch.

  “We need you here,” Hirim said.

  “Pearl needs me more,” Erynn replied.

  “You’re too important to just wander off like this,” he continued. “You’re too recognizable. They’ll pick you up as soon as you step foot in Cultwick.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “But I have to try. I won’t abandon Pearl.”

  “Sometimes, in war, sacrifices must be made, Ryn,” Maynard suggested.

  “I’ll face whatever consequences I have to, but I won’t sacrifice her,” Erynn replied. “She has nothing to do with this war; I got her involved, and I have to pull her back out.”

  “What if she’s already dead?” Maynard asked.

  “She’s not,” Erynn said.

  “Fine, but what if she is before you get to her?” he continued. “You will both have been lost for nothing. Stay here and help us win this war, and her loss can still have a positive outcome.”

  “I’ve made up my mind,” she informed them.

  After a few minutes, Hirim and Maynard gave up their efforts to keep Erynn there, and they left the hangar. Once she had finished loading the Halcyon, Erynn turned to Rowland.

  “I’m sure you think I’m making a mistake too,” she began, “but I appreciate you helping.”

  “I have to keep an eye on you somehow, my dear,” he explained. “While you find Pearl, we will locate a means to cure you. I, however, am not looking forward to being cramped in close quarters with you while you experience the combined effects of your fear of heights and the genotoxin.”

  “I’ll do my best to aim the vomit away from you, Max,” she replied.

  Chapter 11. Crowley and the Empress

  Councilor Crowley sat in the middle seat of the council chambers listening to the report from Silas Skinner. Silas had lead the team that the council had sent to Pendulum Falls to retrieve the Dreadnought Prime from the rebels, and he was the only member to successfully return. All other reports from the battle were considerably less favorable.

  They had sent legions of corpsmen to overthrow the coup in Pendulum Falls, but their efforts seemed to be considerably lacking. Survivors were a scarce resource, and of the ones they had, most were cowards that fled from battle. Crowley found himself quite impressed with Silas’ resolve in the battle and resilience against what had been described as an aberration of disease. He was eager to hear the corpsman’s story.

  Silas wasn’t a young man; the hint of gray was slowly but steadily creeping into his short dark beard and cleanly trimmed hair. He wore a modified version of the standard corpsman uniform that was reserved for the more elite sections of the military, and at his waist was a gleaming sword. During the battle in Pendulum Falls, Silas had injured his collar, and he wore his arm in a sling because of the wound.

  “Our unit pushed into Pendulum Falls on foot from the south,” Silas began. “The rebel forces didn’t present much of a challenge to us, but they did have several large turrets set up throughout the city. While my unit was entirely capable of slipping past, they did present a major problem to the main force attacking from the east. We had to pass by one of these turrets on our way to the factory, where the skyship was held, so we decided to clear the rebels from it and then set a charge to destroy it.”

  “What were the fighting capabilities of the rebels?” Councilor Rhinehart inquired.

  “Their armor and weapons were lacking, and the men seemed untrained,” he answered. “Their only advantage was the cannons, so getting in close was the wisest course of action. Not long after the turret was demolished, we were attacked by our fellow corpsmen.”

  “You were attacked by your own men?” Councilor Murphy asked.

  “That’s correct, Councilor,” he replied. “A small group managed to knock off Lieutenant Bishop’s helmet and slash open his throat with their teeth. We killed the corpsmen that attacked us, and after an inspection, we noted that the individuals looked infected. Bishop had been killed by the attack, so we had to leave him where he lay.

  “We continued on with our mission to the factory to retrieve the skyship. Just outside the factory, we encountered another pair of infected corpsmen. These managed to kill another member of my unit, Lieutenant Dooley. We were again forced to leave him behind and continue into the factory. We exchanged gunfire with some of the rebels inside the factory, but we eventually found our way to the hangar where the Dreadnought Prime was stationed.

  “Inside the hangar, Lieutenant Lawless opened the hangar ceiling for us, but he was killed by yet another infected soldier while doing so. A swarm of infected followed Lieutenant Priest and I onto the skyship, and as I descended below decks to start the engines, I saw Lieutenant Priest knocked from the top level to the hangar below.

  “Alone, I managed to start the engines and get the vessel into the air. I placed the ship on trajectory toward Cultwick and went further into the depths of the Dreadnought. There, I killed a swath of the infected that had followed me onboard, and at the bottom level, I found crates of explosives. Since we were still over Pendulum Falls, I pushed the crates off the ship, blasting the city.”

  “Good thinking,” Rhinehart said with a nod.

  “Believing I had cleared all the infected from the ship I made my way back to the cockpit and began giving myself medical attention,” he continued. “That was when someone else appeared on the ship. This one was a woman, wearing a gown like you might find in a hospital. She claimed her name was Fiona, and she was capable of incredible feats. Without touching it, she ripped a beam from the wall of the skyship and hurled it toward me. She pinned me to the wall of the cockpit, but with my advanced training, I was still able to eliminate the woman. I passed out from the pain after that, so I cannot say exactly what happened next.”

  “You are the only corpsman that successfully completed his mission that day, Sergeant” Crowley explained. “Given your age, experience and skill, you should be a general by now.”

  “I’m a soldier, Councilor,” Silas replied. “Now and forever.”

  Before the council could ask anymore of Silas Skinner, however, an attendant entered their chambers. He approached the Councilor from behind and gave him a rolled up message, tied with a red ribbon. The attendant left, while Crowley unfurled and read the message:

  Desmond,

  I understand the council intends to meet with the corpsman that retrieved my skyship from the rebels. Once you have questioned him about the battle, I would very much like to thank him in person for his service. Please accompany him to my chambers after you are finished with him.

  Your Empress,

  Mary Elizabeth Arkmast

  Rolling the message back and clenching it firmly in his palm, Crowley related to the others, “It seems Empress Arkmast would like to meet with you, Sergeant. Councilors, we will have to cut this short.”r />
  Crowley stood from his chair and walked around the table to join Silas. He gestured for the corpsman to follow him, and Silas complied. The two men walked to the nearest elevator, where the attendant took them up to the twenty-first level of the Sovereign Tower.

  They exited the lift and began their walk to the empress’ chambers. Before arriving, Crowley asked, “Have you ever met with Empress Arkmast, Sergeant?”

  “Yes, sir. She gave me a commendation for my efforts in the Ankalaran War,” Silas replied.

  “What was it you did to earn the commendation, sergeant?” Crowley inquired.

  “I led the team that was responsible for the death of their king, sir,” Silas explained. “It was my dagger that swept across his neck.”

  “I would think I would have heard about you,” the councilor said.

  “At the time, sir, it was a secret operation, led by the now councilor Rhinehart,” Silas replied. “It comes as no surprise to me that people are unaware of my involvement in the matter.”

  “Does that bother you, Sergeant?” Crowley asked.

  The corpsman paused for a moment and then answered, “I’m just doing my duty and serving the Cultwick Empire, Councilor.”

  They arrived at the door leading into the empress’ chamber, where an attendant bowed, as he pushed forward the door for them. Crowley and the corpsman entered a large, circular, lavish room with dark crimson silks draping down from the golden painted walls. In the center of the room was a stand that held a bowl of fruit. There were four doors leading out from the parlor in each cardinal direction with a window between each door, granting a view of the city far below.

  The empress entered the room from one of the adjoining chambers, wearing a long, flowing, blue gown that draped across the floor, as she walked. Adorning her head and atop her blonde, curly hair was the shining, metal of her crown. The empress was a woman that was once quite beautiful, but she had since grown older and attempted to hold onto her youth through extensive facial surgeries and experimental serums.

  “My dear Desmond,” she began. “Is this the man who fought through the hordes of rebels to retrieve my ruby of the skies?”

  “It is, your grace,” the councilor said, while he bowed.

  Silas followed suit, bowing to his empress, and saying, “Your grace.”

  Walking toward them, the empress continued, “I thank you for your efforts during the Battle of Pendulum Falls, corpsman. Without you, I fear the Dreadnought would have been lost to us.”

  “I just did my duty, your grace,” Silas replied.

  “Tell me,” she said. “What was the battle truly like? I have heard all manner of accounts, but none could be deemed as reliable as yours.”

  “Under normal circumstances, your grace, the battle would have been easily won,” the corpsman said. “The rebels posed no serious threat on their own. Even with the turrets they had constructed, we could have overpowered them in time. Things turned, however, when the infection began to spread through our members.”

  “Yes,” she replied. “I have heard the contagion dispersed quite rapidly through our men. Desmond, is there any news on that end?”

  “Our scientists are looking into the affliction and its carrier, Empress,” he replied.

  “Carrier?” she asked.

  “Fiona Newton,” he clarified. “She seems to be the source of this new carrier plague.”

  “Hmm,” she murmured. “And what did this infection do, Sergeant?”

  “For most, it caused them to turn against our own men,” Silas answered. “They seemed only to care for more blood and death. It was, however, as though they were being controlled.”

  “Why do you say that?” Councilor Crowley asked.

  “The infected,” he began. “I only ever saw them attack our men. Along the path to the factory, I saw the infected bypass the rebels to seek out my fellow corpsmen.”

  “How horrifying,” the empress commented. “A plague with intention. What do you make of this, Desmond?”

  “I’m not yet sure,” Crowley replied. “The circumstances are quite strange. An infection spreading through only one subset of people…” he mused. “And, as I understand it, the infected have moved away from Pendulum Falls now - heading for Cultwick. Perhaps the carrier, Fiona Newton in this case, is actually able to control the infected.”

  “In any case, as long as we have brave men like Sergeant Skinner, we have nothing to fear,” the empress explained.

  “Fear may be exactly what is needed, mother,” a young woman’s voice said.

  Entering from a separate chamber was a beautiful woman with pale white skin, directly in opposition with her black clothing and hair. Two strands fell to either side of her face, while the rest of her hair was tied up loosely in the back. Draped around her neck and lying flat against her chest was an onyx, circular design that looked not unlike a demonic figure with bright orange eyes. Her long, black dress was plain and simple, but over it, she wore a vivid, purple corset that was laced with clean, white strands. Barely peeking out from below the hem of the dress were black and purple striped stockings leading into a pair of shiny, black stiletto heels.

  She continued, “Not only do you fight a rebellion, but now a new plague is spreading to replace the old one. You’ve done much to lose the faith of the people already. How you handle this new one shall determine much.”

  “Lady Viola,” Crowley said with another bow, again causing Silas to mimic him.

  “You are much too dramatic, my daughter,” the empress replied. “The people are firmly within my grasp, and those few that stray will be dealt with in force.”

  “Perhaps you are right, mother,” Viola said with the hint of a smile curling at her lips. “But, as I understand it, taking back control of Pendulum Falls should have been an easy task. How can you hope to instill fear in the people if you can’t quell a simple rebellion?”

  The empress took a step toward her daughter and said, “You petulant--”

  Before she could finish, however, a foul screech came from above them, followed by the body it had emanated from. Jumping out of a vent at the top of the room, an infected body lunged toward Mary Elizabeth. Silas stepped between the empress and it, pulled his sword from his sheath with his uninjured arm, and plunged the steel into the depths of the walking cadaver’s head.

  Two more bodies poured from other vents, and Crowley ran to the door and called out, “Guards! Your empress is in danger!”

  Silas dealt with the infected inside the empress’ chamber, ushering the empress and her daughter behind him. Crowley, meanwhile, waited for the guards to come. Staggering down the corridor did come two of her guards, but they also appeared to have become infected. The councilor slammed the door shut and bolted the lock.

  “See what you have wrought, mother?” Viola asked.

  “Now is not the time for this!” the empress shouted.

  The councilor removed a blade from his belt and joined the corpsman in defending the empress. Looking up, however, Crowley saw more of the infected creatures staring down at them with malice in their eyes. Dozens began to pour into the room from the various vents lining the walls of the chamber, and the infected guardsmen knocked at the barred door.

  “Sergeant,” Crowley said.

  “Councilor?” Silas replied, stabbing one of the infected in the head with his sword.

  Crowley turned and faced him, saying, “Now is the time to prove your worth.”

  Chapter 12. Germ and the Pirates

  Before takeoff, Germ had assisted Olivia in changing the flags that the skyship flew. Instead of the merchant flag she typically hoisted, they changed the colors to the Cultwick Empire’s standards. It was a red background with a thin set of black and white stripes racing across the flag’s width.

  Olivia sat in the cockpit of the Halcyon, steering the ship, while Germ, Rowland, and Erynn were in the passenger backroom. Erynn had set up Tern in the primary cargo bay, where she had deactivated him to allow him to pat
ch a security update to his software. Rowland tinkered with his chemicals and the rats he had brought on board, while Erynn simply held to the railing alongside the wall of the skyship, flinching at each bump or sputter of the engines. After several trips inside the vessel, Germ had become accustomed to the turbulence they experienced, and he sat calmly with his notebook sprawled out on his lap.

  In one paw, he held a glass vial of ink and in the other the quill. He wrote of his experiences the night before, during the attack on Pendulum Falls. The night had left him so exhausted that he had fallen asleep in one of the nearby cots. When Rowland had awoken him the next morning, Germ went to both Erynn and Olivia to relate the professor’s intentions. Erynn would have gone regardless of their help, he expected, so it was good that Olivia agreed to smuggle them into the city. He hoped that it would improve her chances of not only finding Pearl, but of returning to tell the tale.

  Germ was nearly caught up to current events when Olivia called out, “Germ, get up here!”

  The rat placed his journal to the side and teetered forward in the rocky vessel. The turbulence had worsened, and he was forced to steady himself against the wall, as he moved.

  When he arrived in the cockpit, he said, “Ma’am?”

  The smuggler continued, “Things are about to get bad. There’s a pirate ship coming toward us, and it doesn’t look like I can outrun them.”

  Germ looked out the ship’s window to see the skyship Olivia was referring to. Compared to the Halcyon, the pirates’ vessel was a much larger skyship, but it dwarfed in comparison to the Dreadnought Prime. The skyship was primarily silver with large patches of rust where one sheet of metal met the next. Running along the railing of the ship were a series of what looked like harpoon guns, and some of the pirates had staffed them and taken aim at the ship.

  “Isn’t the Halcyon a smuggler ship, ma’am?” he inquired. “Shouldn’t you be able to outrun other ships?”

  “This thing is a transport vessel,” she explained. “It’s not meant to outrun anything. No one is supposed to know I’m doing anything wrong to begin with.”