by B G Mitchell
“These ruins, what are they like?” asked Bloodhammer as he thoughtfully stroked his beard.
“I am not too sure,” replied Almay. “No one has been in to check and lived, but all that camp around there hear the screams of the damned, apparently back in the mist of time before the gods freed us, it was used for dark rituals.”
“Sounds like the place to me,” said Bloodhammer as he turned to Gary, who let out a sigh and replied.
“That the issue with gods and goddesses, it is always go into this dark and forbidding chamber, never go and visit this nice inn.”
Bloodhammer looked at Gary quickly before asking, “Why on Earth would a god you send you to an inn?”
“I don't know,” replied Gary. “He might be planning his next holiday and needs someone to review it.”
Bloodhammer let out a short laugh as Almay cleared her throat. “Well, let us have a look at what you have brought to trade, and I will let you know when the guide is ready.”
Narderba was doing better. The city seemed to have returned to some sort of normal, thought Lucinda to herself. There was now a dwarvern district, but they made good works and had helped the rebuilding process immensely. They even helped finish the temple to the Goddess Mikiria.
She sensed something in the streets she had not felt before: hope. As she looked over the city from her balcony, she already saw another convoy loaded with trade goods entering the now bustling market area. She heard a knock on the door and said in a gruff tone, “Enter.”
She then heard Nataylia’s voice. “Sorry, it is just me. Am I disturbing something?”
Feeling he heart bound up, she turned around. “No, of course not, just looking over the new city.” She slowly walked towards Lucinda and noticed she was dressed in a simple blue skirt with a slit along the side. She then looked straight into Nataylia’s green eyes, who stopped for a moment before continuing, “I came in to let you know that there will be a ceremony of praise at the temple tomorrow if you want to drop by?”
“Maybe,” replied Lucinda who smiled.
“But first there is something I want to discuss. You have been there since the beginning. You have been there for me.” Lucinda could tell Nataylia was blushing slightly. She then put her hand under Nataylia’s chin and gently moved in. She looked at the features and her smooth, dark skin. She pressed her lips gently across Lucinda’s lips for what felt like an eternity of ecstasy. She then reluctantly pulled away and looked at Nataylia for a reaction. She looked straight in Lucinda’s soul and moved in close, and reached out her hands around Lucinda head and locked her lips to Lucinda. The kiss was electrifying, and she reluctantly pulled back for a breather and smiled at Nataylia. “You are beautiful, and I have not thanked you enough for helping me run this city. The very least you’d deserve is to be my right hand.”
Nataylia nodded as Lucinda gently stroked her face. She replied, “I wondered when you were going to make your move.” She paused for a second before continuing, “And I am glad you did.” Lucinda gently grabbed Nataylia’s hand and led her to the balcony. There they stood hand in hand as they watched the city traffic on the street below silently.
Gary looked over the haunted site. He had noticed the guide’s fear had increased when they reached it. As far as he could make out, it was a group of stones on top of each other like a badly built wall. He then noticed that the stones formed a semicircle, and inside the circle was a group of large standing stones, and at the very centre of the circle was a stone built doorway that looked like it lead to a cave.
“Right,” said Bloodhammer. “I say we camp before we go in.”
He heard Lathenia comment and the say, “Good plan.” He turned and saw she was setting up the tent with Sylvania. He hopped that the sorceress’s magic would be useful wherever they were going. He strongly suspected it might be his world, given the fact that the bomb had come from there. He turned to Althenia who was wearing a breast plate and helmet with the house symbol on it, and was carrying one of the firearms the dwarves had developed.
She seemed lost, looking at the door but turned and smiled at him. She then proceeded to start setting up camp. He then turned to his guide, who looked like a soldier that had been in a few battles and had a few scars. He was accompanied by two other soldiers, both of whom seemed to have yet to grow into their battle helmets.
He said to Gary in a rather gruff voice, “We will camp out here five days, and then go back.”
Gary nodded. The old guard had not talked much during the journey, and the Garians had rather kept to themselves. He got the feeling they did not like this place or the mission at all.
They went back to their side of the camp which Gary noticed was as far as possible from the entrance. Without another word, Gary got his tent set up and spent the evening checking his equipment.
Supper was cooked by Bloodhammer who, despite his dwarvern lineage and love of steel, turned out to be a good cook. The mood itself was rather heavy, and there wasn't much talking at all. Although he did notice Sylvania’s head resting on Lathenia’s lap as she gently stroked Sylvania's hair. He also noticed Althenia was sitting rather close to him. The Garians were by their own campfire in their corner of the camp. He tried to see if he could overhear the Garian conversation, but there was no luck.
“Right,” said Bloodhammer. “Supper time.” Gary got up and grabbed his desert rabbit stew and sat down again.
He heard Althenia say, “So, Gary, what do you expect to find?” This startled him out of his thoughts.
He smiled at Althenia and replied, “I suspect my world, although I am not too sure which part.”
“what is your world like?”
“Well, we are all humans, and there a lot of us. I mean millions. We don't use magic, but build amazing things, huge towers of glass and steel, and massive bridges, as well as railways and roads.”
Althenia looked confused for a moment then asked, “What are railways?”
Gary almost laughed. How best to describe railways to someone who had never seen one before? But he contained, “Like the mining carts that dwarves use, only they run on rails. We have carts like that, but bigger and enclosed in steel. We use them to transport passengers and goods.”
“Do you miss it?” asked Althenia in a concerned tone.
Gary shook his head before saying, “Nope, you can keep the railroad and the tall glass buildings.”
Althenia shot him another smile, and he found his heart skipped a beat when he saw that. She then moved up closer to him. “Are you leaving anyone behind in your world then?”
“No,” he replied.
She put her hand on his leg and simply said, “Good.”
Gary looked around and noticed that Bloodhammer had gone back to his tent, and Lucinda and Sylvania had also made themselves scarce. He turned and looked into Altehnia’s green eyes. She gently grabbed the back of his head and moved in gently, touching her lips to his. She gently broke the kiss. “Well, I hope now there is someone in this world worth coming back to.”
The next morning after they had extracted themselves from the tents and had a good breakfast, Gary found himself staring at the entrance to the cave.
He heard Bloodhammer say, “I wonder what was so important the goddess is sending us down there?”
Gary looked at the cave before replying, “My people have a saying: there is only one way to find out.”
Bloodhammer sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
He stepped down into the cave, swiftly followed by Bloodhammer , Althenia, Lathenia, and Sylviania, who also had a smaller rifle with her, and Lathenia had gone to do some shooting practice earlier. Gary just hoped they actually got some shooting done. He heard Lathenia mutter something, and suddenly a glowing ball appeared in front of Gary, lighting his way as he walked.
He noticed that the walls were rather flat as well as the floor with the odd dust pile or stone. It seemed to have been cut into the rock rather than naturally formed. He stopp
ed suddenly and held his hand up. In front of them was a pile of bones, at least a couple of human-like creatures had died here. He picked up a rock and threw it, and before he had a chance to react, a bright beam appeared out of the ceiling, hitting the rock hard, shattering it.
Lasers, he thought to himself. He looked at the ceiling and noticed a strange discoloration that looked like a circle. He put his gun to his shoulder and let off a couple of shots and was rewarded with sparks.
“Odd,” said Lathenia. “I would have thought I could pick up any magic traps, but I sensed nothing.”
“It is not magic,” replied Gary. “Keep your eyes open. No doubt there are other traps.”
They continued down the cave hallway, encountering very little resistance until they came up to a heavy metal door. The only way Gary could tell it was a door was the thin line between the metal doors. Gary looked to the left. There was a control panel that seemed to require some sort of human hand print.
“Any ideas?” said Gary to the team.
Bloodhammer shouted, “Move back.” He then went up to the door and got his axe which he swung hard at the centre parting and was rewarded with a loud bang as the axe lodged in between the door. He then started pulling his axe to one side, unleashing a loud groaning noise from uncooperative and non-function machinery. Gary got up to the axe handle and started pushing from the other side, and after a few tough moments, a metal on metal shriek was heard, and the doors gave way, sending Gary tumbling on top of Bloodhammer.
He quickly got up, and helped Bloodhammer up as well. He then went back to the door and looked through the gap. He couldn't see much but more corridor with no light. He checked the ceiling and that looked okay. He pushed the doors apart a little more and heard the satisfying crunch of technology breaking somewhere, which allowed them to slide the doors apart a bit more, allowing him to squeeze through the newly formed gap, quickly followed by the rest of the team.
They then walked down a dull corridor only lit by Lathenia’s floating light. The wall themselves were hard concrete and definitely had been man made. They continued to walk down the hallway in silence. Then suddenly Lathenia put her hand up. Bloodhammer prepared his rifle, quickly followed by Gary and Sylvania, as they looked down the hallway.
Gary knew that Elven hearing was a lot better than his own, but did not have to wait long to hear the sound of running boots. Lathenia sent the light ball down the hallway, and it illuminated one figure with glowing red eye. As the light got closer to them, he could make out their features and it turned out to be a skeleton wearing old and tattered military uniforms. He heard the loud bang as Bloodhammer’s gun as it went off, the sound reverberating throughout the hallway. Gary aimed at the chest and fired at the second skeleton and pulled the trigger. Despite hitting them in the chests, the skeletons still ran towards them, one of which pulled its own gun out. He suddenly saw a shimmering light engulf them as the skeleton fired. The bullet bounced off the magic shield that had been generated by Lathenia, as Althenia shot a fireball towards the firing skeleton, engulfing it in exploding flames and sending bones and shrapnel down the hallway.
He put the gun over his shoulder and went to investigate the wreckage, followed by Bloodhammer. He picked up the rifle that the skeleton was holding. He recognized it instantly. It was an AK-47. He looked at the tatters of the skeleton and picked up one of the patches on it. He saw part of a red hammer and sickle and said to Bloodhammer, “This used to be a soviet soldier.”
“A what?” replied Bloodhammer
“A soldier from my world. An old empire long since disbanded.”
“So, you were right. There might be a way to get to your world from here,” said Althenia.
“True, but it must lead to a country called Russia, or one of the old soviet republics,” replied Gary.
“Well,” said Bloodhammer. “No point in hanging around. Let’s go.”
With that, they continued down the hallway. At first the incline was slight but increased ever so slightly. They were able to continue walking. They then reached another metal door before Bloodhammer had a chance to swing his axe. Gary put his hand up and pushed a button. The door opened and revealed a small box room inside
“That’s it?” said Bloodhammer.
“It is an elevator,” replied Gary with a laugh in his voice. He got in, followed by the rest of the team. Once they were in, Gary hit the button, and the lift started to slowly move down. He hoped that the soviets built their military lifts like their AK-47s.
The lift jittered every now and then but continued down for a good five minutes. Then suddenly it stopped. Gary grabbed his rifle as Lathenia put her magical shield up. The doors slowly opened, increasing Gary’s blood pressure, but as soon as they were open, a barrage of bullets hit the magical shield. Althenia sent a magical fireball into the firing line, causing one skeleton to crumble into dust. Gary fired a few shots that seemed to have no effect, followed by Bloodhammer. Sylviania fired a shot, hitting one right between its glowing red eyes, causing the skeleton to crumble down, taking the hint as Althenia let loose another fireball. He aimed at the head of another skeleton, causing that to go down.
Once they cleared the fire line, they found themselves facing another long, concrete corridor but here there was the odd hammer and sickle painted on the walls. They walked down and Gary stopped at the first door, got to the side, and Bloodhammer got to the other as well as Althenia.
“Right, Bloodhammer, kick the door down.”
“Why me?” asked Bloodhammer as Sylvania took position behind Lathenia, and Althenia took position behind Gary. “Because you’re shorter and stronger. When they fire, they will be aiming for a normal human chest.”
“Stronger is correct, but you humans are too tall anyway,” replied Bloodhammer as he turned and kicked the door in with his strong dwarven boot. He then pointed his gun menacingly, only to find an empty room. He was followed by the rest as they walked past empty and decaying beds, the odd one stilling having a skeleton resting in it.
They left the barracks and continued down the hallway, passing the odd door or room that had fallen in on itself. Odd, thought Gary to himself, this place had no strategic application, why go to the expense of building a base here?
They checked the odd room, but besides offices or barracks they found nothing. Eventually they came across a room off to the side with a heavy metal door. Once again, it took Bloodhammer wrestling with his axe to open the door up. Inside they found a rack with dusty AK-47s as well as many other small arms. Gary grabbed a couple of hand grenades. He then handed a couple of AKs to Bloodhammer and Sylviania and some pistols as well as the all the ammo he could carry.
He then pulled up one the AKs. “Well, this is a staple of the soviet empire. It is simple like normal guns but fires a lot faster.” He then loaded on the clips. “That is how you load it. Each clip you can load bullets in the top, just click it in and the rifle is good to go.” He then showed them a switch on the side. “Here we can change the fire rate, but I don’t recommend setting it full auto, as the kickback is very strong. I recommend single shot only, and as we have seen with Sylvania, hitting them in the head kills them. Any questions?” said Gary in a neutral tone.
After Sylvania and Bloodhammer loaded up their weapons, they left the armoury and continued down the hallway where they met another even heavier looking metal door. Fortunately right next to the door was a simple button which Gary pressed. Inside was a large, round room that went deeper than the door. There was a metal scaffolding they could stand on that went around the room, but what was most interesting was in the middle of the room was a glowing beam of light connected to a strange metal base. The light shimmered and every now and then filled the room with an eerier blue glow.
A voice interrupted the silence and spoke in harsh and broken tones, “Welcome, simple human, the one that unleashed the sun missiles on our hated foes. We were hoping for more excitement.”
Gary turned, and the source of the vo
ice was obvious. Standing to their right was a group of ten skeletons in soviet uniforms, and in the middle was one with an ornate uniform and a cap that made him look like a high-ranking officer.
Lathenia instinctively raised their shield, but the officer with a simple flick of the wrist spluttered it out, and then said, “You think your god given magic has any power here? They were our servants or slaves until they discovered you.” The skeleton pointed an accusing finger at Gary before continuing, “They found your pitiful, little planet and turned your worship into power. Then they had power over us.” The skeleton’s voice rose to the point it was now shouting. “SO WE WILL TAKE BACK WHAT WAS RIGHTFULLY OURS BY DESTROYING THE SIMPLE HUMANS AND ALL OTHER SENTIENT SCUM THAT WORSHIP THE SO-CALLED GODS.”
With that, the door behind them slammed shut, and the skeletons turned their guns and started shooting at them. Bloodhammer was hit in the leg by one of the bullets as they crouched in the doorway. Sylviania peeked out from the side and let out the odd shot as Gary grabbed one of his grenades and threw it towards the firing skeletons. A blue light bounced it back to the door frame. Gary panicked and grabbed it again and threw it towards the centre blue light as fast as he could. It hit the blue light with a loud bang, sending shrapnel towards them, but Lathenia’s shield flickered on, blocking the shrapnel.
Taking the hint, Gary threw another grenade down towards the portal. The second one hit, causing the shield to flicker off for longer and enabled Althenia to send a fireball towards the skeleton firing squad, sending a couple flying. Gary pulled out another grenade and threw it towards the portal again. It exploded and flickered off again, then back on in time with the Lathenia’s shield. He threw a fourth grenade and hit the bottom of the now flickering light, causing the light to blink out and darkening the entire area.