Vontaura

by James C. Dunn

‘We need help.’ Callista pulled Gílana up and onto the couch, laying her down. ‘She can’t have her baby here.’

  Anna jumped up as a thought struck her. ‘I know who can help.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Gordian.’

  ‘What? You think he will?’

  ‘I know he will.’

  Callista sat down and held Gílana close. ‘You won’t get out of this building, child. It’s impossible.’

  ‘No, no it’s not. I can do it. The tunnel in the vault’s blocked, but I can do this.’

  Callista held her gaze for what felt like minutes.

  ‘Go, Anna.’

  The far emergency exit of the tallest residential tower in Central City was empty when Anna stepped into it. No light at all. She stumbled down several steps, the sound of it echoing through to the bottom, one-hundred levels and more below. In one hand she held the coilbolt, deactivated. The noise and light were not worth the risk. Besides, she had sneaked out this way many times in the past, back when she would rendezvous with Jon. Minutes were all it took to slip down, her breathing steady and her mind focused.

  No Crilshans in sight. Something was wrong. Maybe it was another trap. Maybe Sudana was watching again. She didn’t care. Without fear or thought she left the safety of the emergency exit and emerged right at the heart of the city. The light above was pale and cold, the air itself frosty. She charged across to another building, keeping behind a low wall before crossing the empty road. All was quiet. Out of breath, tired and hungry, Anna ran all the way until she was so shattered she could hardly move. Stopping in the shadow of a building, she held her head in her hands. If she could find Gordian, they could escape. But how?

  ‘Acha!’

  She spun.

  ‘Tithnat ubaaa!’

  Men moved round the corner. Lots of them. All wore goggles. One pointed at Anna and yelled.

  She ran.

  The Crilshans took chase.

  They were young. Not soldiers. But they were coming. She felt her pulse climb. Almost there. Not far from the edge of the city. If she could only find him, Gordian would help. The old wine cellars, he had said. Southern edge of the city. Almost there.

  A patrol van screeched onto the road behind her.

  No!

  She continued running, coilbolt in hand. She turned the corner, stumbled. A body waited for her behind a parked vehicle. She collided with it and fell back. The Crilshan pushed her onto her back and cried out, ‘Here!’

  But at once everything stopped. His cry withered into silence. A deep rumbling far beneath the ground shook them where they stood. A cavernous roar filled her ears. Shapes moved above, out among the red mists. Anna’s wrist shook. Painful jolts shot the length of her arm.

  Screams ruptured her ears. Hell on Titan. The men around her collapsed to the ground. None could escape. And then the silence receded. The thunder beneath their feet continued.

  ‘What’s up there?’ one spoke.

  ‘Buyan itcha krono!’

  ‘What can you see?’

  ‘Check your scanner.’

  ‘Something is up there.’

  ‘No,’ Anna said, falling to her knees. She felt it. It was here. ‘Impossible.’

  SIXTY-FOUR

  SHRILL, PIERCING CRIES rang out, with rolling drums and screams of terror sounding through the cities. Anna’s head felt as though it was splitting. Staring up through the silvery light it were as though she could see through the very mists of Titan. And there, up above, it loomed. The black-rock moon.

  Erebus had come.

  A fist collided with her face. She fell. Her skull hit the ground, felt as though it had broken upon the road beneath her. Screams rang out. Her dark-eyed assailants raised her up, her vision spinning. Four of them surrounded her. Already dazed and momentarily dismayed, she hadn’t the strength to fight back. The fire within now waned and any hope of help for her sister was gone.

  They dragged her down a dark passage away from the street. A burning drum cast smoke around them. She choked, whimpered, attempted to cry out. She couldn’t. Another blow struck her face and a glistening knife was pushed into her neck.

  ‘Stop!’ A figure emerged from the shadows, armed and furious. Gordian appeared. ‘None of you will touch her!’

  ‘Stay back, khulul! You already have your pet!’

  ‘Back down!’ Gordian cried. ‘Or I’ll rip your tongue from your jaw!’

  Two of the Crilshans turned on Gordian, and the other two began to drag her away into the dark entrance of the lower building.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘No! Something’s coming, something’s here!’

  Thrown into the shadows, Anna fell to her knees, waiting for the split second of pain. But instead two gunshots sounded, one on either side. Two shapes fell to the ground as a hand touched her shoulder.

  ‘Get up, Anna.’

  She turned slowly. ‘Is it you?’ she said, as the stranger pulled her back out into the courtyard. ‘Are you . . . the Accentaurian?’

  ‘Am I who?’ Avéne Ketrass looked down at her, and dropped the rifle she had used to shoot the Crilshans down.

  ‘Never mind,’ she said. ‘My . . . My sister.’

  ‘What is it?’ Gordian said, moving over, having dealt with the other two.

  ‘It’s Gílana – she’s in labour.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘She’s having the baby!’

  ‘I can help,’ Ketrass said.

  Gordian nodded. ‘Anna, take Avéne. Both of you go back.’

  ‘What about you?’

  He looked up, then down to the shaking ground. ‘We need to get away from here. I’ll find a craft. Now go.’ He turned to run.

  ‘Wait!’ Ketrass took hold of him and leaned in to kiss him.

  Gordian pushed her away. ‘Go,’ he said.

  Ketrass turned and took Anna’s hand. ‘Which way?’

  ‘This way. Come on,’ she said, and they broke out running.

  SIXTY-FIVE

  GORDIAN TORE THROUGH the shaking streets. Never stopping. Never wavering. Never considering anything but this one purpose. A craft. All they needed was a craft. Then they could leave – get away and never come back. The ground continued to tremor. Titan itself trembled.

  A dozen soldiers charged for the armoured vehicle nearby. He took out a blaster and fired four swift charges in their direction, forcing them back behind the guard post wall. While they were distracted he dashed for the AV, scrambled in, and took off down the street.

  Seconds later, as something strong and forceful collided with him, he realised they had taken chase. Blaster fire struck the back of the vehicle. It was armoured. He didn’t care. Two AVs appeared, one on either side. The faces of his fellow race cursed and gestured.

  He spun left. They followed. The closest AV rammed his rear side. Gordian compensated for the shift, and drove through a gun placement, changing direction two, three, four times. He knew this city like the back of his hand. He’d spent enough time mapping them on his first visit.

  The heap of metal came in for another go. It scorched the road beside him, forcing him to veer left at a junction. He carried on straight, then swerved right, narrowly missing a Crilshan sentinel. Another AV cut across from the left. He swerved away, almost losing control. The other turned sharply, flipping onto its side and colliding with a nearby building.

  Gordian breathed deeply, remembering his purpose. A craft. That’s all he wanted. He gazed at his display, watched the second vehicle gain pace behind him. One false move and it was all over.

  He thought quickly, breathed deeply, opened his window, and positioned his blaster as the AV emerged alongside. He carried on looking straight ahead, and fired until his hand ached. The edge of the city was dead ahead. Blaster fire pelted his side, the screen, the inside of his vehicle. He gazed ahead. The gate was closing. A horizontal post dropped in front. Gordian pressed his hands into the steering grip, accelerated, and skimmed the metal column. The chasing AV collided with the
post.

  It took minutes to race into the next city, now without the hindrance of a tail, through that, and into the docking city. The enormous gate was open completely. Swarms of Crilshan soldiers piled through, some heading straight for the larger crafts, hoping to escape, others mounted the defence turrets, and the greater force sprinted towards the grouping of Titanese hovercrafts. In seconds the fleet was in the air, circling the dome, while dozens poured into the other eleven cities.

  The army Mistress Sudana had assembled was mobilized, preparing for battle and for death. Titanese joined the Crilshan ranks. Many hundreds running into position everywhere he looked.

  Gordian did not wait. He needed one of those crafts. But as he stared up at the inner arc of the docking dome, he brought himself to a standstill. Men around him cried out. Pointed up. Recoiled. Meteors struck the dome above from outside. They were under attack. But by what? He looked around him, then back up. A crack shot through the arched cover. The sound of air escaping was like a storm in space – disturbingly still yet mighty.

  ‘Only in hell itself,’ he uttered. ‘Only, hell itself is here.’

  The dock’s dome collapsing above him, Gordian prepared to shoot back up the road. He attempted to reverse, but realised he was blocked in. Bodies charged about. Weapons fired. Hovercraft soared up high.

  He spotted an unmanned hovercraft, opened his door. But from above, through the great fracture in the collapsing shield, a burning black meteor breached the defence. Several more followed. They struck the turrets and buildings and triggered greater chaos. Explosions contoured through the landing platforms.

  He looked again, but the hovercraft was lifting into the air without him. Collapsing back into his seat he closed his door, breathed in and out in deep gasps, restraining his thumping pulse. He was trapped. Through the screen he could see no room to manoeuvre. No other option, he sent the AV into reverse.

  A bump on the back face. The vehicle shunted passersby over the armoured rear. But Gordian did not stop. Not until he got through that gate.

  The cracking of the dome above them was like the bellow of thunder. It flashed straight to his core. The barrage of comets striking the dock’s outer dome was relentless. Hundreds poured down like vile hail. He wasn’t going to make it.

  ‘Ya haaada,’ men cried. ‘The city, it crumbles!’

  Through his vehicle’s comm link came the voice of General Vagrida. ‘Wage war, my fearless horde! Do not run! Wage war, we Crilshan win!’ Vagrida’s craft was in the air, racing past. But a meteor struck its rear, dragging it back down. ‘Fight!’

  The link died.

  Gordian continued reversing. The smell of burning like flaming flesh poured in. Men shouted and screamed nearby. Comets and meteors and fire penetrated the line. The army was fighting, and fighting hard. But against an invisible enemy there was no hope.

  The gate was close. Men charged back through, away from the crumbling city. He knocked several down on his way. He had to get back. The gate was closing, the air vacuum wrenching everything back through and away from the breach. A great tank pulled alongside, ready to block his way. He pressed down hard, knocking into the tank, crunching into the gap. The vehicle scraped through as the gate closed.

  Gordian turned the AV around, watching as the city on the other side crumbled. Multiple gates slammed down.

  On the other side of the divide, a comet collided with the stranded tank. Great and black and oozing smoke and grease, it shuddered from the inside out. Gordian froze still in his seat suddenly as a large spine, pure black and twisted, pierced through the comet’s torrid shell. A second horn screamed through, and a great, black-boned beast emerged.

  SIXTY-SIX

  ANNA DRAGGED KETRASS up one-thousand exhausting steps, up to the top of the emergency exit, and through into the corridor leading to her home. ‘This way,’ she said. ‘Quick!’

  No Crilshan guards had stopped them. They were all on their way to deal with this new threat from above. But it was no threat, Anna knew. It was their end. It was the darkness and silence she had been warned of.

  ‘Anna, is that you?’ Callista stood in the doorway, a heavy rifle hanging in her frail grip.

  ‘We’re here. Ketrass is here.’

  ‘Hurry.’

  Gílana screamed in pain.

  Ketrass pushed her way through and darted over to the crying girl. ‘When did the contractions start?’ she asked. ‘Tell me, quick!’

  ‘Not long. Anna came for you right away.’ Callista looked to Anna. ‘Where’s Gordian?’

  ‘Gone for a transport.’

  ‘Can we move her?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ketrass said. ‘She may be too close. Gílana, look at me!’

  Gílana looked up, sweat pouring down her face.

  ‘Avéne will help you.’ Callista held her hand.

  Anna stood back, no idea what to do. They had to leave. Where was Gordian?

  Ketrass’ scruffy black hair hung across her face as she threw cushions and blankets upon the floor. Gílana sat on them with Callista behind her, up against the sofa.

  ‘Are you comfortable, Gílana?’

  ‘Do I look comfortable?!’

  ‘It’ll be all right, sis.’

  ‘It hurts, Anna. It hurts so much!’

  ‘I know, I know. You’ll be okay, I swear.’

  A rumbling shook the room. The chaos outside suddenly seemed that much closer.

  ‘We’ll be all right. Gordian will find us a way out.’

  Another rumble rattled through.

  ‘Was that—?’

  ‘Thunder?’

  Callista wheezed. ‘It can’t.’

  Anna approached the barred window and watched with horror as hundreds of dark shapes like rocks collided with the outer surface above them. So many, she couldn’t count. She froze, unable to speak.

  ‘What is it?’ Callista said from behind Gílana.

  ‘It’s . . . It’s a meteor storm.’

  ‘They aren’t meteors.’ Anna spun. Gordian stood in the open doorway, blaster in hand. He fell to his knees.

  Ketrass ran to help him up. ‘What is it?’

  He panted, ‘I couldn’t . . . reach the dock.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because . . . it’s gone!’

  ‘There’s no craft?’

  ‘There may be another way,’ he said. ‘I have a ground vehicle outside the building.’

  Ketrass stood. ‘We can’t. We can’t move her now.’

  ‘I can.’ Gílana attempted to get up, but collapsed onto her back. ‘I can—’

  ‘No,’ said Ketrass. ‘You’re almost ready. The baby’s almost ready to come. We can’t risk you moving so much.’

  Callista mopped her brow and struggled to her feet. ‘You’re both in distress. It’s what’s triggered the labour.’

  ‘I can carry her,’ Gordian said.

  ‘No!’ Ketrass told him.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Anna asked, recognising fear as though the Crilshan was drenched in it.

  Gordian looked to her.

  ‘What is it, Gordian?’

  ‘They’ve . . . They’ve followed us.’

  ‘Who?’ Callista said.

  ‘We know who,’ Anna said. ‘It’s Erebus. I can feel it.’

  ‘Impossible. How?’

  She held out her arm. The black band pulsed and throbbed, blackness spreading through her hand where blood should have run.

  ‘Anna, no.’

  ‘What?’ Ketrass said. ‘What is it?’

  ‘The end of this world,’ Callista said. ‘I’m too weak. I cannot think. We need to leave.’

  Gílana cried aloud in pain. ‘Let’s go then!’

  ‘We need to leave before this baby comes.’

  Another crash from outside. Gunfire and screams and sirens below. They all gazed out as a deep roar filled the room. The farthest dome collapsed in, smoke and blood-red fog spread over the clear barrier above.

  ‘They’re com
ing,’ Gordian said, his ever present calm washing away.

  ‘Coming for what?’ Ketrass asked.

  Gordian approached the window and looked down into the street below. ‘Something’s coming this way.’

  Callista ignored him and tended to Gílana. Ketrass looked towards them, then back to the crying girl. Anna stayed beside Gordian and looked out.

  ‘What can you see out there?’

  ‘A group of men. Something – no, Crilshans. They’re running. Running this way. Running from something. Quick,’ he said, turning to her and pushing he away from the window, ‘what else do you have besides that coilbolt?’

  ‘What did you see?’

  ‘Answer me!’

  ‘Rifles. Two of them. And whatever else you can find on those soldiers.’ The two Crilshans lay still in the open kitchen nearby. One was dead, the other still unconscious. Gordian approached the soldier and took off his belt, filled with additional ammunition. The solider opened his eyes and jumped up at once.

  ‘Get up now!’ Gordian dragged him up and seized the rifle from nearby, holstering his blaster. ‘Titan is under attack. You have minutes to live. Don’t spend them here. Vura!’

  The Crilshan stood and staggered from the room.

  ‘What is it?’ Anna asked him. ‘What could you see out there? Tell me!’

  ‘I don’t know what it is,’ he said. ‘I don’t know. But it’s not human.’

  Anna forced her way past him and gazed out to the escalating battle. The surrogate sun above faded. Lights in the apartment flickered on and off. In the piazza below, blasters and coilbolts flashed continually. Bodies lay everywhere. Then she saw them.

  Beasts.

  Black beasts below.

  Charging.

  Killing.

  Blood.

  Fury.

  ‘Please, no. Please, NO! It can’t be happening. We left them. We left them!’

  ‘Anna,’ Gordian said. ‘Listen to me. They’re coming here. They’re coming for one of us.’

  ‘It’s me. They’re coming for me!’

  Gordian took her face in his cold, shaking hands. ‘Stay here with your sister.’ And he charged from the room.

  Ketrass was on her feet. Gílana was dripping in sweat, as was Callista. ‘The contractions have slowed,’ Ketrass said. ‘You may have a minute or so and then they’ll start again, Gílana. Can you hear me?’