by Joel Stewart
“What does that mean?” Cliff prodded. His face remained calm, but his voice was tough. He fought to not let his insides that were turning upside down betray him.
“I’m not sure you would believe me if I told you.” Lena responded calmly.
Cliff thought for a second and decided to go another route. “What is in your caves that you guard so well, and why do you need it to awaken us?”
“Dragons are in the cave below us, would you like to see them?” Lena responded.
Davis laughed incredulously. “You expect us to believe that? You would love to get us in those caves wouldn’t you!”
“Yes.” Was Lena’s simple reply.
Davis looked agitated. “I decided to scope out your caves and was attacked shortly after by some highly advanced android. Does that android work for you? The one killing all these people around town?”
“No.” Lena replied nonchalantly.
Davis cocked back the hammer on his six shooter. “I am getting sick and tired of these one-word answers. Where did that android come from?”
Jesse, Alex, and Cliff all looked tense once the hammer was cocked—they were not sure if he would actually shoot or not. Lena seemed undisturbed. “That woman doesn’t work for me, she is me.”
“I have had enough of this . . .” Davis was cut off at the sound of his ATV bursting into flames. As they all looked toward the door in shock, another rocket slammed into the side of the house, blowing away the wall by the kitchen. Davis was knocked off his feet and into the front door of the house. The others dove for cover. Cliff ended up on top of Alex in a protective fashion while Jesse found himself half under the small coffee table. Gunfire could be heard around the perimeter of the property. When Davis came to his senses Lena was gone. Jesse crawled along the floor over to Davis while Cliff rolled off of Alex and helped her move toward the front door as well. “Everyone OK?” Davis asked as he winced. The explosion had knocked the breath out of him and left ringing in his ears. From the sound of the gunshots there was a full-on battle taking place outside.
“Yeah.” Whispered Jesse. Alex and Cliff nodded.
“Good, we have to get out of here.” Davis said relieved. He opened the door slightly and peeked out. “Not my ATV too . . .” he muttered. “OK, I want you three to pile into Alex’s car and get out of here as fast as you can. I am going to move on foot ahead of you and make sure the way is clear. Once you are out I will jump in Jesse’s car and use that to escape.” The others looked at him quizzically. “What? I need to make sure you don’t get hit by another rocket. Besides, I wouldn’t fit in Alex’s car anyway.”
Understanding nods were seen around him. “We will rendezvous at the castle.” Without waiting for a response from the others, Davis whipped open the door and bolted for the nearest flower bush. There were several craters on the hilltop besides the ATV and the wall of the house—this gave evidence of at least eight rocket propelled grenade explosions. The craters were too small to be anything heavier. Davis could see weapons fire being exchanged between guards in white uniforms and others that looked like Denorian military. The guards in white looked exceptionally well trained and were making short work of the attackers. From his vantage point he could see three fallen guards and at least eight dead aggressors. At this point I think I need to treat the white uniforms as allies, he thought. The Chengarian agents this morning were dressed as Denorian military.
He darted from bush to bush down the hill. He heard Alex’s car turning on and skidding out of its parking place. He panicked. There were at least six aggressors on the exterior gate and Alex would be attempting to plow through those gates any second. He only had six shots in his pistol and had to make every shot count and do it quickly. With trained precision he fired off two rounds that dropped two of the six. To his horror, four more came through the gate in response. He didn’t have enough bullets! Two of the four newcomers also had shoulder-mounted rockets. They are going to get torn apart by those launchers.
Sporadic weapons fire was peppering his position now and he was struggling to get a clear shot. He knew at any moment a rocket was going to hit where he was and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The thick bush he was hiding behind could hide him from small arms fire unless he was very unlucky, but a rocket was another matter. He peaked through a small hole in the bush to see what was happening—he could see the man with the rocket about to fire. The launcher was pointed at him . . . directly at him . . . Davis had a crazy thought. Thirty yards with a pistol . . . I can do this . . . Davis took aim. The seconds felt like minutes as he modulated his breathing. A bullet hit the dirt less than a foot from him, but he did not take notice. He was one with the weapon.
The trigger snapped back, and the hammer dropped. The bullet was flung from the barrel toward the predator that was standing ready to take his life. It traveled true and, just as the rocket was beginning to launch from its shoulder mount, it detonated. The explosion took out the man holding the weapon and the four closest to him. The other three were thrown to the ground.
It was now or never. He bolted out from behind the thick bush as Alex’s car came careening down the hill. The three men remaining struggled to get to their feet, the second shoulder-mounted rocket was taking aim at the car. Four more men came through the gate, all armed with automatic weapons, but it was too late. Davis jumped from a rock overlooking the gate. In the air he was still one with his weapon. Trained. Focused. Bang. One fell. Bang. Another. Bang. The man with the rocket went down. The four newcomers had started to aim their weapons at Alex’s car but were forced to turn toward Davis, confused as to where he had come from.
Davis brought his full weight to bear on the man in the rear of the pack, slamming his feet into the man’s chest and face. He pulled a knife from his belt and threw it at the man to his left while throwing his now empty pistol as if it was a knife at the man on his right. The knife hit its target in the chest while the gun slammed into its target right between the eyes. The last man trained his weapon on Davis, but he was too slow. Using his massive strength, Davis grabbed the first man he initially collided with and threw him as one would a heavy bag. The bullets fired by the last remaining enemy combatant collided with his own comrade who careened through the air and slammed into him, knocking him over. Davis grabbed an automatic rifle that had been dropped and quickly made sure none of the men on the ground would give them grief later.
Davis ran alongside Alex’s car and into the street where Jesse had his car parked. His optimistic feelings faded as Alex slammed on her breaks and came to a stop. The roads were blocked off by two troop transports and no less than twenty men armed with automatic weapons. On top of each troop transport there was a heavy machine gun mounted and ready to fire. Davis desperately searched for options but did not see any. No amount of training would be able to get him out of this. But wait, why weren’t they firing? They looked almost . . . afraid? Although they were dressed in Denorian military uniforms, Davis heard several of them yelling back and forth in a Chengarian accent.
“Get in Jesse’s car and go, I will cover you.” Came a voice from behind.
Davis whirled around to see that silver-haired woman standing behind them. “You owe me a truck.” He muttered. “And how exactly do you expect to cover us? We are outnumbered and outgunned.”
“This is not a battle that will be decided by numbers.” The woman replied. “And they are the ones out of their league.” The woman raised one hand toward each truck. Light beams burst from her palms and struck the two troop transports with the impact force of a train. The two vehicles crumpled and flew back several hundred feet until each one lodged solidly into the side of a building. Half of the remaining men started running while the other half started shooting. Davis, Alex, Cliff, and Jesse all watched in amazement as the bullets ricocheted off some kind of invisible shield. The shield that was blocking the bullets burst and rushed forward like a tsunami of air that blew out the windows in the surrounding buildings and knocked any
man standing into the air. Those caught in the shockwave were carried along with it until they hit a vehicle or building with bone shattering force.
Davis was confused, but he knew this was their chance. “Go!” He yelled to Alex. Even through the chaos he could see the tears streaming down her face. She was a mess. He ran for Jesse’s car, slammed down the hood and jumped in the driver’s seat. He could see Cliff running around the front of Alex’s vehicle with Alex shifting over to the passenger seat inside. She must be having some sort of breakdown, Davis thought, shaking his head. I should never have let her come. He peeled out onto the road and through the position that moments before had a troop transport and a dozen men stationed.
What is this woman?! He thought. “At least she seems to be on our side.” He muttered. Briefly looking in his rear-view mirror Davis could have sworn he saw the woman flying above Alex’s car, but when he did a double take back at the mirror she was gone. He did notice Alex clinging to Cliff’s arm as he drove, though tears were obviously flowing down her cheeks. He smirked. He did want her to see him in a different light, this is definitely a chance for that, he thought.
Their drive to the castle was uneventful. Davis called in the incident to a friend of his in Denorian’s counterespionage task force while he drove. By the time they reached the castle the whole place was in a tizzy. Military vehicles were rolling out of the castle gates and new troops were going in and out with a purpose in their step. It was obvious to Davis the capital’s defense force was being mobilized for the first time in over twenty years. They were forced to park in the overflow lots due to the increased military personnel that were continuously streaming in.
Davis got out of his car and approached the other. Cliff was already out and attempting to help Alex to her feet. He saw the bullet hole in the passenger window and the tell-tale hole to match in the headrest of the seat. No wonder she was such a mess, a bullet must have missed her head by mere inches. There were several other holes in the car as well, it looked as if some foot soldier saw their car from a ways off and unleashed an un-aimed volley of bullets toward the vehicle with an automatic weapon. “Is everyone OK?” Davis queried.
“Yeah,” Cliff responded. It was obvious by his tone he was not in the mood for talking. Alex did not seem any chattier than Cliff. Jesse was silently collecting his information gathering cubes from his vehicle. It took him another minute to get the portable hard drive, which was pulling information off of Lena’s network the whole time the car was parked by the gate.
“You guys are in shock.” Davis responded. “It’s natural after going through something of this magnitude. When we get to the castle I want you three to go directly to Alex’s room. He handed Cliff the assault rifle he had taken off the soldier at the gate. “Sweep the room before you let Alex go in. We will all need to be debriefed on this, but you guys are in no condition to talk. I’ll go ahead and tell my part of the story and see if I can get them to push yours off till tomorrow.”
“We would appreciate that,” Cliff said somberly. “Honestly, I don’t even know what to say at this point. This is going to take some time to process.”
“You and me both, brother.” Davis responded with a warm smile. Whenever Davis gave a big smile it always seemed disproportionately large when compared with his face.
As they approached the gate Cliff thought the guard would have an issue with his assault rifle, but he didn’t give it a second look. He stood sharp in his uniform and waited for Davis to approach, all attention on him. “There are orders for you in the command center.” The guard told Davis. “Has to do with your little security team here.” He motioned toward them with his hand as he addressed them.
“Understood.” Davis replied. The guard opened the personnel gate and let them through without another word. They walked through and Davis split off for the command center located on the complete opposite side of the castle than the current residential areas. For the others, the walk was slow and stupefied. They meandered to the eighth tower where Alex had her room, took the elevator to her floor, and stumbled into room. Alex flopped herself down on the bed while Cliff and Jesse plopped down on the adjacent small couch. As soon as he hit the cushion Cliff jumped back up and purposefully tried to sweep the room for threats. Davis had given him a verbal description on how to do this the day before, but his brain was having issues with recall at the moment. After what he hoped was a sufficient inspection he returned to sit and stare at the wall with his bewildered friends.
“Well, might as well try to figure out what the hell is going on.” Jesse muttered after an indeterminant amount of time had passed. He had been carrying a bag with him on their sober trek from the cars, and he opened it to pull out three small cubes and his portable computer. He attached a wire to each cube and hooked them up. With just a few keystrokes data started flowing down the screen. “Jackpot!” He said unenthusiastically. Cliff and Alex looked at him with piqued interest but when it became apparent he wasn’t going to say anything else they relaxed again and stared into nothingness. Hours seemed like minutes as they stared and contemplated, Jesse’s taping on the keyboard became almost melodic. The silence was eventually interrupted by a knock on the door.
“It’s me guys, open up.” Davis boomed through the door. Cliff got up wearily and walked over to let him in. Without saying a word, he returned to his spot on the couch. Davis closed and locked the door behind him and took a seat on a padded chair that stood opposite the bed and the couch. He looked them over before speaking.
“OK, news.” He rumbled. The negative energy in the room seemed to suck the life out of him as well. “Alex, I have a note from your dad, he had to leave this morning while we were out.” He started tossing Alex a letter. “Jorgen has been hit several times by strafing air raids. War has been declared against Chengar.” There was no response from the others to the news. “I was able to talk to General Reminir directly and inform him of recent events, we have been authorized to hit the armory and outfit ourselves with whatever we are qualified to use. As the leader of this security detail I will be making the decisions on what you can and can’t take. All of you will be carrying some sort of defensive weaponry though, even Jesse and Alex—we can’t risk what happened today happening again.”
“Did Reminir have any idea where that woman came from?” Cliff asked, the mention of weapons perked him up a bit.
“No.” Davis responded. “When I got to that part . . . everyone just stared at me like I was crazy. Given my reputation they took what I was saying seriously, but they had a real hard time believing it. Most of them probably still don’t.”
“Well, can’t blame them, if I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t believe you either.” Cliff responded with a half smirk on his face.
Davis looked over at Jesse who was still clacking away on the keyboard. “You get any useful information off those things?”
“Not sure yet.” Jesse replied. Frustration could be heard in his voice. “Nothing about the awakening. There is some stuff about the security for the grounds and cave system, but I can’t find anything detailing what is in the cave system or the layout of it. Still sorting through the main drive. Most interesting thing I have found is a document made by Denoria’s Sanctum compiling reports from various Sanctum operatives in Chengar. Things like ‘Lucifer’s Legacy has returned’ and ‘The dark days are upon us once again’.” He looked at the others while shaking his head. “We almost got killed for a bunch of ominous phrases. I don’t think I am going to find anything else. The rest of this seems useless.”
Alex got up and walked out onto her balcony. The sun was setting, and she stared at it as if the magnificent view from her tower could encompass the fear and panic and stop her hands from trembling. Just a few days ago her biggest worry was passing exams. Now . . . now she did not know what to think. A woman that could wipe out a small army like they were toys. Chengarian operatives trying to track them down. A small military conflict in the heart of the capital! And war? All the bi
g wars were in history books, she had always thought civilization had moved past wars. How many thousands . . . hundreds of thousands . . . would die in the next year? And over what? What could Chengar even want from Denoria?
This had all the makings of a world war at this point. Brendora, Scera, Toran, and the Farasi Islands had already been brought under Chengar’s control. Mendoria and Farsia would certainly take sides with Denoria to stop Chengar’s spread. What was left that would not be involved in this war? Ardia? The Ice Nomads? Herendor? One crazy country, one collection of tribes, and one vigorously neutral country were all that would not be consumed. Alex’s train of thought was interrupted when Cliff touched her on the shoulder.
“How are you holding up?” he asked tenderly. Alex looked back at him with a smile. His heart melted. While she was contemplating a reply, he slid his hand all the way around her shoulder and wrapped his other arm across her chest to the same shoulder. He enveloped her in a big bear hug. She reciprocated the hug and squeezed him tight for a moment. A brief, glorious moment. “It’s going to be OK, you know. We are going to get through this.”
“I know,” she replied. She let go of him and concentrated on the sunset. “It is so hard to wrap my head around it all. I feel like I could think it over all day in my head and get nowhere.” She liked feeling Cliff’s embrace. It was comforting and, for some reason, it even stopped the trembling in her hands.
“We will get to the bottom of it.” Cliff said as he reluctantly released his arms and joined her in looking at the sunset. “Davis and I are going to head down to the armory and outfit ourselves. Want to come?” He felt so lightheaded from their brief hug. If this was his reward he would brave the darkest nights and fight the strongest foes!
“No,” Alex said somberly. “I trust you and Davis can find something I won’t accidentally kill myself with.”
Cliff chuckled. “I’m sure we can figure something out. We will take care of the weapons; you and Jesse figure out what we should have for dinner and order delivery.”
