The Ryle of Zentule

by Michael Green

  “So, who is it?” Letty asked. “Who has been elected to lead?”

  “My Lady,” the gray mouse said, making a bow. He looked dashing in his newly acquired breast plate.

  “What do we call you?”

  “Fidelio,” he said.

  The mice seemed confused at this.

  “I’m taking a new name! I never want to hear the old one again. And you should all do the same: we live a new life now!” Fidelio called out.

  Letty pondered at the name. “Fidelio—I like it.”

  Chapter 9

  Cataclysm

  Ziesqe felt his innards clench as Lysander held the Argument to his eye. This wasn’t the plan.

  A blinding flash tore through the arena, but all Ziesqe heard was the sound of the boy screaming.

  “It’s too much for him—he’s too young!” Boqreq yelled, surging forward, only to be held back by the General.

  “Stay back!” Kal yelled, “None of us can touch him!”

  “I’m going back to the ravagers,” Veloiz said fearfully. The ychorons, and even a few brutox were also eager to retreat.

  “Xyth brought down history by arming the boy with the Argument—he’d better be up to the task of crushing him or a thousand scholars will name us the bearers of cataclysm!” Ziesqe yelled scornfully at the fearful.

  “Will your thousand scholars divine our names from what mangled flesh the Usurper will leave behind?” Boqreq cried.

  Veloiz fretted, and pulled a piece of the Counter-Argument from her purse.

  “Don’t!” Kal nearly slapped the overwhelmingly expensive orb from her hand. “It will attract his attention; we must not use the Counter unless absolutely necessary!”

  “Do as she says!” Ziesqe snapped at his fearful peers.

  At least Kal is as steadfast as I had hoped, Ziesqe thought.

  Lysander’s voice deepened in pitch, though the scream wouldn’t relent. A burst of silver light shot from his body. A moment later, the dozen brutox who had surrounded him were gone, as if they had never stood.

  Perhaps we should back away. Ziesqe motioned his party to retreat a few dozen paces from the edge of the arena.

  A circle of green appeared beneath Lysander’s feet and spread.

  “What is that? There on the floor, the green,” the General stammered.

  Boqreq flipped a lens over his eye. “It’s grass.”

  Grass?

  “The boy is giving way to the Usurper!” Kal yelled over Lysander’s constant scream, which finally subsided.

  “This was a fool’s plan—drawn in haste!” Boqreq cried, though none of the others even met his eye.

  Lysander was different. Nothing had changed, but Ziesqe was certain that it was no longer the boy. He stood straight and proud, his arms at his side and his chest puffed out. The boy looked up at the lord of Hyadoth and laughed.

  “Xyth, old boy! Is that you? My word, you have packed it on, haven’t you?”

  “That voice! The boy is gone!” Kal insisted. “It’s him!”

  Forget the voice and listen. He knows Xyth! Ziesqe ran a claw through his tentacles in astonishment.

  Xyth leaped from his ledge and slammed onto the earth of the arena. His red muscles flexing in anticipation.

  “Caspian.” Xyth said with certainty. “I watched you die once. I will have that pleasure again.”

  Why did you have to know him, Xyth? My plan would have worked, but if you crush the boy’s body, I’m back to failure.

  The circle of green relented as it approached Xyth.

  “So much ingested poison—look at you. Like a titan of the Maelstrom. Why aren’t you on to your change of life then?” Caspian looked around. “Where are we? Low-ryle sprawl in every direction, maturation tower so massive it must be making up for something. We aren’t in the City in the Sea. It’s usually built in better taste; at least it was the last time I destroyed it.”

  Xyth tensed.

  “Does that upset you? You, a clear failure? My occasional cataclysm stimulates your economy, not to mention all those ryle architects. I give them a chance to apply a unified vision onto the ruins.”

  Xyth’s muscled frame twitched as Caspian spoke.

  Why isn’t Xyth attacking? Ziesqe felt an uncomfortable realization branch through his analysis. He’s afraid. He’s actually afraid of the boy—well, it’s not him anymore. It wasn’t him in the first place.

  Caspian raised a hand to the sky and a crackling bolt of light pierced the clouds that spewed from Xyth’s tower, the Hyacap. A flash of blinding light bled down through the clouds and shot into Caspian’s outstretched hand.

  “Ah!” Caspian ran and leaped free of the arena in a single bound. “We are in Euboia!” He started laughing.

  “He took Argument from the storm!” Boqreq yelled.

  Xyth’s haggard face twisted in confusion and then fear. He raised a claw and commanded everything in earshot. “If you wish to live through the night, kill that human!”

  The local inhabitants weren’t keen on the order.

  Caspian ignored the threat. “You built your city here, of all places! You live under my sky to spite me! Don’t you have a name for my jungle, just there beyond your border?” He paused for a moment and Xyth leaped up to his level. “Yes! You call it the Nightmare! For this insult alone, I will level your works!”

  Xyth slashed out with a claw.

  The creatures around Ziesqe gasped at the speed of the strike.

  But Caspian had flipped out of the way. He stood up straight, flourished dramatically and bowed.

  “Tut-tut! You shall not touch me.”

  Xyth made a fist and twisted his forearm. Purple light crackled around his hand before a golden blade shot into the air. Black flames climbed its length.

  “It’s too late, old friend. I’m out now,” Caspian said.

  “You’ve barely any Argument in you.” Xyth sneered, lumbering forward. “One blow will make you helpless. A second will leave a stain.”

  Caspian leaped again onto the stands. He raised his hand to the sky, and spoke as if lecturing a child, “What do you think swirls in the sky above these blessed lands? How much Argument roils in the air above us? I will take it Xyth, but tell me, do you think it will be enough to kill everything here?”

  Xyth’s eyes bulged, and Caspian scoffed, before turning and racing with unnatural speed towards the Hyacap.

  “After him!” Xyth’s voice blared so loudly that Ziesqe and the others felt their ears ring.

  Only a few creatures turned to give chase. “Whoever brings me his head will bathe in pure etherium!”

  That got them moving.

  But Ziesqe was unsure of how to react. What’s Caspian planning? Can he destroy the whole city with so little Argument, or even with what stirs in the sky? Can I salvage these shambles?

  Ziesqe looked up at the storms through the clouds.

  Caspian is a known boaster, but his face was certain.

  “What do we do?” Veloiz screamed.

  “Silence!” Viqx, the red warrior raised a hand to slap Veloiz, but the General stepped between them.

  Xyth roared and leaped into the sky, his red form streaking and melting away into a mist.

  “He’s gone back into the clouds. I’m not sure he can stop Caspian,” Ziesqe muttered.

  “There is a theory that the lightning in the skies above Euboia is a storm of diffuse Argument,” Kal said, trying to put everything together in her mind.

  “That’s a legend, a stupid story meant to scare the spawn!” Viqx argued, slamming her trident on the ground.

  “Like the Nightmare?” Veloiz countered. “It’s a curse of the Argument.”

  “Yes, Caspian thinks so, and Xyth is behaving as if it is true. Caspian said he wants to level Xyth’s works! Does he mean to destroy all of Hyadoth?” Ziesqe asked, visibly frustrated.

  “Caspian was supposed to be chained and questioned! Not armed and released!” Boqreq cried.

  “Xyth knew him in
a past life; his pride was piqued. None could have foreseen this!” Veloiz insisted.

  “If this falls apart, it’s on you, Ziesqe!” Boqreq interrupted.

  Ziesqe grabbed him by the collars. “It has fallen apart! But blood is in the air, old man. Stand by your commitment or ascending will be your last concern.”

  Kal, who had ignored the disagreement, spoke. “He has utmost mastery of the forms; he can do almost anything the Dead God could. All that limits him is a source of Argument.”

  “And?” Viqx yelled, annoyed at the lack of action.

  “The Counter-Argument is powerful, perhaps a hundred times more so than the Argument. But our side is diffused. I cannot imagine how much Argument hides in the storms above. Caspian assumes much, and if he’s right, he could do things we cannot imagine,” Kal concluded.

  Viqx growled and raced after Caspian.

  “Wait!” Ziesqe called out. “We must return to the ravagers!”

  Viqx paused, the lithe tendons on her long red arms and legs twitched as she raised a furious brow to Ziesqe.

  “We take the ravagers through the city! There is no other way to keep up with him,” Ziesqe said, turning and motioning their large party to move at the double.

  A moment later, he saw Viqx and her locust brutox had followed.

  “Piloting ravagers through streets is a capital offense in any city!” Kal yelled as they ran.

  “There might not be any city left if we don’t reign him in!” Ziesqe argued. “It’s the only way our plan can still work!”

  “But how can we? We have no leverage. Worse yet, we may not even be able to find him!” the hefty general, Puktifa, huffed and puffed as he complained.

  “Don’t forget,” Ziesqe held up an obsidian rod. “I can lead us to him—”

  “To his necklace!” Kal corrected.

  “To his necklace,” Ziesqe repeated, “and if we’re in sight of him, and the worst should come, we can kill him all the same. Caspian or no, the bracelets can rip his body to pieces, and we’ll still be heroes.”

  “What if Caspian knows how to take the torques off?” Veloiz asked.

  Then we are done for. Someone in the arena will let the Maelstrom know what we did. If we don’t stop Caspian, it will mean the worst for us, and me most of all.

  They found their path to the ravager docks largely abandoned.

  The garrison left behind to guard the ravagers was bloodied from local raids, and grateful to see their masters return.

  “Mount up and cast off!” Ziesqe ordered. “General, would you care to lead your blue and cover us?”

  General Puktifa agreed with a slight incline of his head and Ziesqe grinned at the gesture. He’s still breathing too heavily to give an answer, so he bows. At least his vanity has provided us with options.

  The General rushed to the other ravager berths with his escort.

  “Tie everything down, including yourselves! We’re going over the city!” Ziesqe called out.

  There was barely enough time for Ziesqe to rush to the head and strap in next to the helmstox, a massive mantis, who steered the ravager by pulling on its antennae.

  The ravager mounted its berth and set foot onto the dock itself. Ziesqe looked over his shoulder and saw the slower ychorons and brutox flying overboard; he cringed at the loss. Veloiz was screaming as a chest of her fine, color-coordinated outfits shot open and tumbled over the side. The stream of clothing caught onto the armored hide of the ravager and flapped wildly as they rushed headlong into Hyadoth. The change in perspective made the city look even more tightly packed and poorly planned than it had on foot.

  The helmstox worked the antennae keenly, with delicate twitches and motions. The ravager responded with a precision that Ziesqe didn’t realize was possible from the leviathan. They maneuvered between tall rickety buildings, and winded through zig-zagging streets, clipping structures and bouncing wildly as the varied city elevation made the ravager struggle to keep its body level.

  Ziesqe grasped the rail and pulled himself up to look out over the rear. He saw his other two ravagers, and the General riding on his blue. The other ravagers were following closely behind, but they weren’t as expertly piloted, and had ripped through several structures, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Ziesqe shuddered at the thought of having to pay for so much destruction.

  He rolled his eyes at himself and started laughing.

  Veloiz struggled up to the helm, a cable lashed around her wrist, which she nearly climbed to get there. She looked disgustedly at him. “Laughing, are you? It is certainly not the time!” she yelled.

  “It’s never been more the time, my lady!” Ziesqe cried, astonished at what he was doing.

  She slapped him so hard that his tentacles whipped around. “You need to make some use of this debacle! Now, what are we going to do?”

  Ziesqe took a heavy breath and found the ebony rod. He pointed it out across the city and felt for vibrations, but the shaking of the ravager made it difficult. He pointed it towards the Hyacap and barely felt the rod buzz.

  “He’s on or near the tower!” Ziesqe called out.

  A searing column of light flashed in the sky, causing the ravagers to grind to a halt and everyone on board to wince and shield their eyes. The light glared blindingly for several painful moments, before finally flickering out.

  “What happened?” Veloiz shrieked.

  “There!” Kal yelled, pointing to a silver blast halfway up the tower.

  The ravagers lumbered into motion again as their pilot’s eyes readjusted.

  Ziesqe grabbed the binoculars from the helmstox and focused on the blast. He saw Caspian slicing his way through the tower. The silver blade shot clean through from one side to the other.

  He’s destroying the Hyacap.

  The tower creaked and shifted.

  “Hold!” Ziesqe yelled. “It will come down!”

  The ravager halted, and the others fell in on the sides.

  “But we don’t know which way it will fall!”

  Ziesqe’s claws dug into his harness as the tower creaked and groaned, shifting first this way, and then the other. Even the ravager swayed back and forth, as if anticipating which way to run. The creaking itself rung with a concussion that forced dust and debris to fall from buildings miles away.

  A second silver flash lit up the sky, and the tower crumbled onto itself.

  Ziesqe almost heaved a sigh of relief, but a moment later, the crumbling masonry and exploding steel supports unleashed a torrent of wreckage in every direction. A thick mix of fluid was bursting from the lower portion of the Hyacap. What remained of the tower buckled and creaked so loudly that the ravagers twitched at the noise.

  “The precursor stored inside will burst loose. Millions of gallons,” Boqreq muttered.

  Kal came forward. Her usually stoic appearance was long gone. “The precursor, Ziesqe! It’ll pour out into the city! It will come in a wave and mutilate everything!”

  The helmstox looked at Ziesqe, afraid and unsure.

  “Higher! We need to get above the wave,” he commanded.

  Ziesqe looked around and saw several tall towers belonging to petty ryle, not far behind, on the path they had cut through town.

  “Back! Back to those towers!” Ziesqe ordered, and the ravager swung wildly about.

  He saw the other ravagers following his lead. Lighter debris was crashing down all around. Panes of glass thirty feet tall spun through the air like massive translucent blades, slicing through weak structures.

  The ravager hit the first tower and Ziesqe was pushed back against his harness as they pulled straight up. The creature climbed faster than he expected. He looked down and saw the other ravagers trying to mount the same tower.

  Idiots!

  “No! It’s too much weight!” He screamed, but the blast from the crumbling tower was far too loud.

  He grabbed the helmstox and pointed to the next tower over. “Get us over there!”

  The mant
is looked at him with a surprising amount of incredulity.

  “Now!”

  The mantis was unsure how to convey that command to the ravager, but it directed the beast to the far side of the now shaking tower. Then, much to Ziesqe’s shock, his helmstox leaped over the side.

  Ziesqe pulled against his harness to see. The mantis was holding onto the ravager by its facial plates and pointing at the next tower.

  The ravager seemed to understand as it unhooked its front legs from the tower before making the leap.

  The mantis held on by an antenna as the ravager spanned the distance. Ziesqe felt weightless for a moment before the ravager grasped onto the next tower. Many of the ryle and ychorons behind him were screaming and weeping. Viqx, however, was laughing uproariously.

  “Bring me death!” She yelled, between fits of insane laughter.

  Ziesqe saw his other compatriots and noted that Boqreq looked like he was going to be—or just had been—sick all over the deck.

  Ziesqe looked out at the other tower and saw the wave of debris crash into it. A torrent of dark purple filth rushed underneath the dust cloud.

  “How much Argument will Caspian still have left? That act must have drained him!” Boqreq yelled.

  Ziesqe tried to count the ravagers. He realized that one was missing.

  “What will all that precursor do?” Veloiz asked, “Is there any way we can catch some of it?”

  “It’s raw,” Kal countered. “It’s the mutagen he poured over his tower to breed new strains. You don’t want to touch it.”

  “I’m not an idiot, girl! But it’s still valuable!” Veloiz insisted.

  “Not more than our lives!” Boqreq argued.

  Ziesqe raised a claw for silence.

  They waited for a few minutes as the debris settled, and the crashing roar finally deadened to a dull rumble.

  Calls from the other ravagers got Ziesqe’s attention. He directed their ravager to climb down and off the tower. The other ravagers did likewise, though one tower crumbled and collapsed in the process, leaving the ravager that was clinging on, tumbling to the ground.

  It pulled itself out from under the debris. Much of the crew was lost, though the pilot was still in control.