Exhausted from the battle the previous night, conversation did not resume when the food and wine ran out. Instead most just laid their heads down on the table amidst the carnage of their feast and quickly fell asleep. The servants worked as quietly as they could to clean up the mess as the surviving officers of the 5th Parthica slumbered.
Chapter 41
Near Midday September 29th 636, Governor’s Palace, Damascus, Syria Province, Byzantium
Rude Awakenings
Athos finally had control of his dreams. What started out as another nightmare involving the mountain forest in Armenia where Kristophor, his brother, fell to the wolves, morphed into something much happier, life with Athea. As he slumbered Athos smiled at the images that flowed through his mind. With his thoughts, he guided the dream into the future he most desired.
Athea smiled down at Athos, “You want to try for another baby tonight?”
Athos glanced over at their son, slumbering soundly in his cradle and smiled. He then turned his head back and looked up at Athea. The couple were lying in bed. Athea sat atop him with her legs straddling his thighs. Athos pretended to ponder the question, “I’m not sure if I am in the mood tonight.” He struggled to keep a straight face as he said it and failed.
“Well in that case soldier, let me walk across the street to Baltazar’s. According to Liana he has appetite enough to keep both of us satisfied.”
Athea, nude, turned away from Athos, placed her legs onto the stone floor and took a step, “No you don’t!” Athos said as he wrapped his arms around her abdomen and pulled her back into bed. He began kissing her neck and shoulders and she made quite a good show of struggling to get away as he did so.
Athos licked the bottom of Athea’s left ear knowing the reaction he would get. At first, she giggled uncontrollably. The moment his tongue touched the bottom of her left ear lobe she began moaning softly. He continued to work his tongue back and forth across the bottom edge of her ear. She ceased her efforts to get away and closed her eyes for several moments savoring the sensation. Her cheeks where now flushed a deep crimson color. Smiling, she turned around in his grasp, put her hands-on Athos’ cheeks and kissed him passionately. During the long kiss Athos lowered himself onto his back slowly. Athea followed him down to maintain their contact. They kissed until they ran out of breath. Athea then climbed on top of him.
It took but a moment to establish their state of oneness and they began moving in rhythm. Swaying in concert the couple began to moan in pleasure. Athos heard a faint scream from outside, “Sounds like Baltazar and Liana have the same idea.” Athea looked into his eyes, grinned, and nodded. A drop of sweat fell from a lock of hair stuck to her moist forehead as she did so. The drop fell and hit Athos in the forehead with a faint plop.
Athos heard another scream, louder this time, “That sounded like it was inside the house.”
Athea’s features took on a pouty look and she said, “You can’t stop now lover, I’m almost there.”
A man screamed, it sounded like it was on the other side of the doorway from their bedroom. Athos awoke. From somewhere inside his skull a little gnome pounded on his forehead with a mallet. He took a deep breath trying to collect his senses and rubbed his bleary eyes. The man screamed again. As he surmised in his dream it was just outside of the doorway.
The noise caused Athea to stir, groan, and finally say, “Cease that thrice damned noise! I was just having the most amazing dream.”
Athos raised his head and looked down at Athea. Her face was still laying on the table as she struggled to open her eyes. Both of her cheeks were flush, as if she had just been engaging in some form of strenuous physical activity. Athos kissed her on the left ear, and then ran his tongue along the bottom of it. She giggled. It worked, she is indeed ticklish there. Was that truly a dream, or a vision of our future?
All thoughts of the dream faded and the man screamed for a third time, gurgled, and then slammed into the door to the banquet hall. The stout oaken door shuddered with the impact of the man, and something more. Athos struggled to his feet, walked unsteadily over to the door, and placed his ear upon it.
The sounds coming from the hallway made Athos’ blood run cold. He could hear the resonances of the damned echo off the walls. They were feeding. He looked back into the banquet hall and saw the noon day sunlight streaming in through the open windows. The open windows! He quickly found the bar to the banquet hall doors and dropped it into place, to keep the damned on the other side from bursting in.
Moving quickly, he walked lightly across the floor, trying to not make a noise, and reached the first open window. A faint warm breeze touched his cheeks as he gazed out upon Damascus. It was pure chaos. Women, Children, and far too few scattered soldiers fought desperately against the undead.
The ramifications of what he was seeing quickly gripped Athos’ chest like a vise as he thought to himself. Damascus is doomed. He reached out and grasped the wooden shutters to close them. Hoping upon hope that this action would go un-noticed. It didn’t. Just as he managed to pull the two shutters closed, something on the other side slammed into them. The wood shuddered with the blow, but held. The other officers of the 5th Parthica and his lady soldiers began to stir as Athos dropped the bar in place to secure the first set of shutters.
Athos rushed to the next open window in the line and reached out to grasp the handles on the shutters to pull them shut. As he did so, he could feel fingers wrap around his wrist and then solidify into a solid grip. Something has me! Fearing that he would momentarily feel teeth sinking into his exposed arm, he yanked it back as hard as he could.
Whatever was on the other end of that grip wasn’t very strong and his action caused them to stumble into view. It was a woman. Athos held up his right index finger to his lips and whispered, “Stay quiet, let me help you inside.” Athos said. She shook her head no and reached down onto the ground for something, it was a baby. Athos nodded at her in comprehension, and held out his hands.
The woman reached down and picked up the child. As she placed the baby in Athos’ outstretched hands, the infant woke up and began crying. He quickly shifted the infant into his left arm and reached out with his right arm to pull the woman into the banquet hall. She grasped onto his outstretched hand with hers, but it was too late. The woman screamed as something grabbed her from behind. Athos looked on in horror as the damned, another recently turned lady, fed on her legs.
The woman screamed in agony as Athos was forced to step back, kick the woman in the face to get her clear of the window, set the baby on the cold stone floor, and yank the shutters closed. He dropped the bar into place to hold them in the closed position. Athos then turned and looked around the banquet hall. Constan, Scarius, Damon, and Jirair had woken up and were working to shut the other windows to keep the damned out.
The sounds of the damned feeding on the populace of Damascus filled the room. Governor Maurice, last to wake up, asked, “What is that awful noise? I don’t understand. Why do my people scream?”
Having just dropped the bar into place to hold the shutters in front of him, Constan turned to face the Governor, “It’s the damned. They’ve somehow gotten inside the city and are feeding on our people, “Damascus is finished.”
The Governor’s face turned beet red and he responded, “Finished you say? Why are you standing here letting it happen? Get out there and stop it!”
Constan nodded at the order and responded wearily, “Aye sir.” He looked around the room quickly to assess what resources he had available to him. In addition to the surviving Kentarchia commanders, which included, Athos, Scarius, Damon, and Jirair, there were the ten surviving members of Athos’ unit, all female. All of the males were armed with Spatha’s, the females still had their gladiuses at their left hips. None had shields.
“All right you sluggards you heard the man, we’ve got to get our city back from the damned! The first thing we have to do is secure this palace. Kentarchia commanders form a line ten feet from th
e door. Ladies divide yeselves in half and form two lines between the door and the men. I want it anchored on the left and right side of the men’s line. When I give the signal pull the bar and open the doors. Any damned that come through stick ‘em in the heads with your gladiuses. Men any survivors that reach you will be yours to deal with. I’ll be the reserve in the event one of the men falls, or needs to be dispatched.”
After barking out the orders Constan took a deep breath as everyone stood around dazed, “That means now!” he yelled. The occupants of the room moved and placed themselves around the door in accordance with his orders. When everyone was in place Constan asked, “Ready?”
The men and women both nodded and then steeled themselves for what was to come next, the damned. Standing closest to the barred doors were Liana and Assala, “Pull the bar and open the door.” Constan ordered.
In concert the two women grabbed the ends of the bar and lifted it free of the iron slats that held it in place. Liana then pulled the bar toward her and silently lowered it to the stone floor behind her. Both women then grabbed a door handle, an iron circlet connected to a rod driven into the oak, and pulled the two doors open.
The sounds of people screaming and dying in the halls of the palace, faint with the doors closed, increased in volume tenfold, assailed their ears. Quickly followed by the stench which consisted of a mixture of rotting flesh, blood, excrement, and torn bodies bereft of their innards. As the hinges of the door creaked open the baby awoke and began crying. Nearby damned heard the sound and began running toward the opening eager to feed.
The first to breach the threshold of the door into the banquet hall was one of the recently turned servants. She wore a simple gray cotton shift that was bloody and torn in places. The gladius wielding ladies were surprised at the haste of her attack as she flew through the open doorway. The undead servant made it past the rows of ladies without a single one of them attempting to strike with their gladius. The men, veterans of the both the battle of Yarmuk and Damascus, and well trained, reacted quickly. As the former servant approached the line of men, she was met with the point of Scarius’ Spatha.
Driven by hunger, she ran right into the tip of the sword and embedded herself upon it. Scarius grimaced with the impact, as his blade slid into her chest. Jirair, using an overhead swing, brought his Spatha down on the lady damned’s head. The sounds of the blade crunching bone and brain in turn, brought more of the damned running in their direction.
The now permanently dead servant slid off of Scarius’ blade and the men braced themselves for what was to come. The next two of the damned, came charging down the hall in search of their living flesh. They were formerly of the palace guard. More than likely, the two men assigned to guard the door during the feast. Luckily, the guards hadn’t confiscated everyone’s weapons like they had done during the 5th Parthica’s first visit to the banquet hall.
Both of the former palace guards were resplendent in their plate armor. The noon-day sunlight streaming into the open windows of the hallway reflected off of the armor plating momentarily blinding the men. As their vision returned, the line of four men groaned in dismay at the sight of the armored and helmeted threat charging at them.
As the first guard cleared the threshold of the room, both Assala and Liana tried to stab it in the head. Liana’s blade point struck the side of the damned’s helmet and bounced off with a clang. Assala’s blade also struck the helmet, but with more of an overhead swing instead of a jab. Instead of bouncing off, the blade, slid down the side of the former guard’s helmet. As the blade slid below the helmet, the gladius found soft flesh between the edge of the helmet and chest armor. Assala’s blade bit deeply into putrid flesh and was yanked from her hand.
The next two ladies in line, seeing the futility of a head strike, tried to stab their gladiuses into the damned’s sides. Specifically, where the chest piece and back piece of the mail came together and were fastened with leather straps. There was a slight opening between the two pieces of armor. Both of them failed and the sounds of their gladiuses striking metal reverberated throughout the room and into the hallway.
The third row of ladies were luckier. One of them managed to slide her blade into the opening between the two pieces of armor and hold on. This caused the damned guard to jerk to a sudden stop, lose his balance, and fall to the floor landing on his bottom. Athos took advantage of the momentarily stunned creature and drove his Spatha point into the eye opening at the front of the helmet. The damned, now dead, simply fell back. The helmeted head struck the floor with a dull thud.
At that moment a second guard breeched the threshold of the banquet hall. Liana, learning from her first encounter, swung her gladius at neck level. The blade bit into the guard’s neck, but the gladius, being a piercing sword, failed to cleave through the neck. Liana lost her grip on her sword as the former guard continued charging toward Athos, who yanked his Spatha free of the first guard with his back turned toward the charging damned.
Jirair, seeing the danger to Athos, took a step forward and swung his Spatha at the approaching guard. At the same moment, Liana’s blade came free of the neck and clattered to the floor. With a well-aimed strike Jirair’s blade struck the slit in the damned’s neck that had been created by Liana’s now absent blade. The power of Jirair’s blow gave his Spatha enough force to sever the former guard’s head.
Still helmeted, the now severed head, toppled forward and struck the stone floor with a dull clang. Landing on the right side of the head, the damned’s skull spun in place three times after it struck the floor. As it came to rest the milky white eyes, mere inches from Athos’ left foot, met Athos’ gaze. Athos looked down upon the head with a look of revulsion upon his face. The damned, still feeling overwhelming hunger despite the absence of its stomach, snarled in frustration at the meal that was so close yet impossibly distant.
Disgusted, Athos stood up, cocked his right leg backward, and kicked the animated head as hard as he could. As his sandaled toes struck the face of the damned, it tried to sink its teeth into them. Unsuccessful at its effort to feed, the head went sailing into the open-door way and struck the next undead running to feed on the occupants of the banquet hall.
The helmeted head, struck this damned, another servant, in the chest. The former servant, intent on feeding, ignored the helmet as it fell. Unfortunately for him, his right foot struck the top of the helmet as it rocked back and forth on the floor. This caused the damned to lose his balance and fall forward. Completely off balance its chin struck the floor with a crunch as the bone shattered upon impact. Taking advantage of the creature’s stunned state, Assala stepped into the hallway, and plunged the point of her gladius into the back of the servant’s head.
The servant, now forever dead, stopped moving. With no more immediate threats, the group took the opportunity to recover their blades and resume their positions. They gathered in front of the door as they had done before. Five ladies on each side of the opening with the four men standing at the end of the two lines to intercept any survivors.
Governor Maurice’s face turned red and he bellowed, “My wife is likely dying out there and all you seasoned warriors can do is hold this room? Get your arses moving and rescue her!”
Constan turned red with embarrassment over the Governor’s chastisement, “Yes sir, it’s just that we can likely hold this room forever, but if we leave there is a risk that we will not be able to defend you.” Constan gestured toward the crying infant in the back of the room, “Or the infant now in our charge.”
“Do you think I want to be known as a man that sat here stuffing his face in the banquet hall, while his wife perished, his people died, and his city fell?” Maurice asked in a scathing tone of voice. He paused for a moment and then added with a sharp hiss of a whisper, “Do you?”
Constan, not answering the question directly, roared, “You heard the man! Form up! Athos and Damon grab those shields laying on the floor just outside the door at the guard station.”
/> Athos and Damon drew there Spathas and cautiously stepped into the hallway. Not seeing any immediate danger, they each picked up a shield while the other guarded. “You are now our front line. Scarius and Jirair, fall in behind them. Cover their flanks,” Constan ordered.
Turning to the ladies he ordered, “Tika, grab the baby and do what ye can to keep the little one quiet. The rest of you ladies, stay behind us and protect the Governor.” The ten women wordlessly nodded at the order and surround the Governor’s immense bulk. The Governor smiled at his unusual escort. Like the amazons of old they are, he thought to himself.
Constan drew his own Spatha and occupied a position between the men in the hallway and the women surrounding the Governor, “Start advancing up the hallway. I believe the stairs to the second floor are at the opposite end.” Constan said and then added. “Chances are the Governor’s wife is likely to be found in her suite of rooms on the second floor.”
“That is correct Tourmarches.” Governor Maurice confirmed.
Athos and Damon crept up the hallway. Blood was spattered on the once beautiful tapestries depicting the life of Jesus. The stone floor was slippery with the red liquid in many places. When they reached the intersection, they paused and carefully looked around the corner into the adjoining hallway. There was no sign of the damned. To their left was the door that entered the latrine. They could hear the faint sound of rushing water from behind the door.
As they crept forward, they spied a door that was ajar. It was on the right side of the hall. As Athos tiptoed forward, to examine the room. Before he could reach it, a damned shrieked and emerged from the shadows of the unlit room.
Athos brought up his shield and the damned, a maid by her appearance, smashed into it. The young girl, perhaps fourteen years old, snarled in frustration at being blocked from her meal. The long brown hair on the left side of her face was matted with sticky blood and clung to her cheek. Before Athos could bring his Spatha down upon her head as he held her at bay, her spindly arm shot out and grabbed his forearm.
Byzantium Infected Box Set Page 56
