"You stupid fuck," Crinnan turned and glared at Sage, "You just revealed to the whole fucking Govian army that not only are you with the Demon but that you are also apparently a fucking Ancient."
"Ancient? Nobody ever said that,” Sage half-assed argued, "I should say that anyone can learn the ways of the NaNe."
"Spare me," Crinnan shook his head at the Elf, "Do not assume I am stupid simply because I am a soldier."
"Well I should say that you being a soldier did not have too much to do with it," Sage lightly chuckled, amused with his insults, "And forgive me for sounding daft myself, but what do you mean I revealed to the Govian Empire that I am an… Ancient as you say?"
"This," Crinnan knelt next to the corpse. He lifted a velcro flap on the Govian's armor and ripped off a small plastic square beneath it. He held the device up to Sage's face and then tossed it to the ground and stomped on it.
"That's a camera. It has a microphone on it. Not only did they hear you, but they saw you bouncing all over the damn place and lighting your hand on fire. And they saw me. Not ONLY that but also this fucker called in for help before you even started with your magic show. Now they have a pretty small radius to search, and there's no fucking doubt what we look like."
"Oh," Sage slightly raised his eyebrows at Crinnan's explanation, "Silly me! Well, I suppose one is not too old to learn something new. Next time I will just kill him."
"Yeah," Crinnan replied, "Shitty day for you to get up to speed." He dusted his hands off and shook his head for he was annoyed with the Elf.
"Well… no need for this to go to waste." He quickly unbuckled the front of the Govian's combat rig and pulled it off of his body. Standing, he pulled it on over his own tunic and adjusted the straps, so it fit him snugly.
As he secured the rig, a pack of cigarettes flopped out of an open pocket and landed on the ground in front of them. Crinnan's eyes grew wide, and he briefly smiled.
"Hey…" Crinnan quickly knelt to claim the pack, mildly excited at his find. He flipped open the top to find it was nearly full. He pulled a cigarette out and placed it between his lips. Sage glanced over and pinched the tip of Crinnan’s cigarette; smoke immediately drifted from it, and Crinnan took a drag.
"So, we have Govian's undoubtedly closing in on us," Sage hummed as he watched the boy, "Enemies coming in from all directions, potential death and despair descending upon our location and now it is suddenly... smoke break time?"
"It's always smoke break time," Crinnan shrugged. Sage was right though; they needed to get moving.
"I never enjoyed the flavor myself," Sage volunteered, "My father smoked them. I recall when I was a teenager, I used to sneak them from him. The habit did not stick as it did for my friends." Crinnan ignored Sage and took a long drag, enjoying the feeling of the smoke in his lungs. As he exhaled, he heard Eshan speak.
"Now you pollute my body?"
"Not your body," Crinnan took another drag, "Be quiet." Sage looked at Crinnan and squinted.
"Are we… talking to our friend again?" Sage asked, slightly turning his head with interest. Crinnan looked at Sage for a moment. Why did he so frequently ask questions he already knew the answer to?
"I should say you have developed quite a remarkable gift… however inconvenient it may seem."
"What do you know?" Crinnan rebutted, exhaling a plume of smoke, "You don't have some Govian whispering in your damn brain do you?"
"I do not," Sage admitted, "I have nobody in my head except myself… at times I should say that alone can be a bit much." Sage smiled at his words and looked back up at the sky.
"Let's get going," Crinnan pulled the useless rifle magazines out of the rig and tossed them aside. The Govian's rifle was undoubtedly locked only to him, and Crinnan had no use for it, "We need to get as far from here as we can." Sage nodded and led the way.
"So dear boy," Sage called back as the two made their way through the overgrown ruins, "Do tell, why is the Govian Empire pursuing you so vigorously?"
"Don't know," Crinnan ducked under a fallen tree and eased around the frame of an old car, "I was hoping you could tell me."
"I regret that I cannot. My only assumption is that they somehow specifically learned of your presence here. The people in your squad all have bounties on their heads, am I correct?"
"All Black Knights have bounties on their heads," Crinnan informed him, "But yeah, Centurions are worth more. If Govia captures one of us, the whole army feels it."
"Why is that?" Sage inquired.
"We are famous," Crinnan replied, "The whole army tells stories of us; our work inspires them."
"How interesting," Sage did not sound interested, "What sort of inspiring things have you accomplished?"
"I just fight. I don't care about being inspiring." Sage did not reply but instead stopped and looked up in the sky. He wore a look on his face that indicated he was listening for something.
"What?" Crinnan ran up and stood next to the Elf, "What is it?"
"I cannot tell if that is the sound of a vehicle or a bug."
"A HAPT… a fucking Govian Transport," Crinnan snapped his head toward the sky and tried to look past the trees, "By the brothers, they are already here!"
Sage held his finger to his lips and continued watching the sky. Crinnan looked up and saw nothing and then returned his eyes to Sage who simply stood staring upward like an idiot.
"Come on," Crinnan urged and grabbed Sage's arm, "Standing here will just get us killed."
"I think it is a bug," Sage insisted as he kept his gaze upward, "I should say either a small bug nearby or a large distant one…" Crinnan rolled his eyes and shook his head. Sage was irritating him.
"It's a fucking HAPT," he pulled Sage away, "We need to find some damn cover." Sage jerked his arm away from Crinnan's grasp and Crinnan suddenly heard a deep thrumming sound come from above. Quickly, he looked back up in time to see a Govian HAPT hovering above the trees.
"Now you are fucked," Eshan laughed.
"Shut up!" Crinnan grabbed Sage's arm again, "We need to find cover, now!"
Sage and Crinnan ran. Leaves and twigs rapidly crunched beneath their feet as they plowed through the foliage. The two remained side by side, and though Crinnan had no idea where they were going, he trusted Sage was leading them to some kind of safety.
"We must be careful…" Sage warned as the two ran, "We are in a… well, I should say we are in a densely populated area. We may encounter your original captors, or rather we may encounter their kin. Be mindful of the undead as well."
Crinnan looked at the grey crumbled buildings around him and rested his palm on the hilt of his sword. He did not know what he was watching for, but he felt that he would know a Toraan or an undead when he saw one.
The HAPT soared overhead; its engines released a deep whirring noise as it passed by. Crinnan and Sage quickly ducked into an alley and paused for a moment to catch their breath.
"It seems that they have passed us," Sage pointed in the direction that the HAPT flew. Crinnan peeked around the corner of the building that the two were hiding behind and turned his eyes toward the sky. He did not see the HAPT, and so for a moment, he took a knee and caught his breath.
"Is your friend saying anything?" Sage asked, looking curiously at him.
"Not right now," Crinnan panted.
"Perhaps he sleeps then," Sage surmised, "I should say it must be tiring cohabiting with such a stubborn being as yourself."
"Is there any danger to all this?" Crinnan asked, speaking of the being that was trapped in his mind, "What will this do to me?"
Sage shrugged his shoulders and turned to look down the alley. "Some go insane, some lose control of their bodies," He replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "Some go into a coma and do not awaken. Some end their lives… But the fate of a shaman is not always grim. I should say some shamans grow immensely. The wisdom that a being obtains when they die is like no other you have ever experienced. If you can somehow convince the ghosts within your
NaNe to share this wisdom with you…"
"Ghosts," Crinnan snorted, "In my NaNe… what does that even mean?"
Sage huffed and crossed his arms. "‘Tis quite an odd time for such a potentially complex explanation I should say, but to be brief… what you have inside is the last NaNe image of the being you killed. ‘Tis a sort of digital dump of the Govian's mind that the NaNe made at the time of his death. You now contain a digital file of every memory, thought, and emotion of the soldier you killed in your nanomachine network… And because it exists in your NaNe, he is able to continue being conscious."
"Ghost then," Crinnan groaned, "So can anyone who dies just jump into my body?"
"Everyone has the ability, yes," Sage told him, "But certain conditions must be met. For one, their NaNe must know your NaNe address. This information can be obtained by their NaNe in a number of ways… contact with blood and sexual intercourse being the most common. The second condition that must be met… you must either intercept them before they are processed into the Hells, or the person who died has to find a rift in the Hells and traverse the rift back into the physical world."
Crinnan shook his head and sighed, "How common is that?" He asked, "That there is a rift or whatever in the Hells?"
"I should say that it is not very common. Very rarely small rifts can open, providing an opportunity for someone to leave. But these rifts are closed by the Govian Empire as fast as they open. They have protocols in place that immediately intercept such things. Your NaNe most likely intercepted his before he was transferred to the Hells… or Heaven."
"So anytime someone's blood gets on me…" Crinnan replied, "I could end up housing their NaNe image?"
"Precisely," Sage smiled, "You should do your best not to make a mess."
Crinnan sighed and shook his head. The life he lived was messy. He had so many people's blood on him in his life, more than he could count. The idea of having an entire host of voices in his head made his stomach churn.
"Quiet," Sage held his hand out toward Crinnan, "Footsteps."
Crinnan stood silently and eased the Govian sword from its scabbard, careful not to make a sound. He faintly heard the sound of leaves crunching nearby and quickly examined the area for a place to hide. He spotted a door with a red X painted on it down the alley and gestured to Sage.
"This way," Crinnan whispered as he silently darted forward, "In here."
"Wait!" Sage harshly called back, taking a moment to examine the door himself, "Do not…" Before he could finish his sentence, Crinnan had pushed the door open and hurried inside.
Crinnan found himself standing in the foyer of a dimly lit building. The floor beneath him had crumbled to gravel, and an arch stood before him leading to a larger room where the flickering light was coming from. He heard the sound of something scraping, like the blade of a sword against a whetstone. He tightened the grip he had on his sword, spun it in hand, and stepped forward toward the arch.
"Spooky," Eshan commented, "Be careful. I sense... other people. You do not want to lose this body before I am able to see my son again."
"Quiet," Crinnan snapped back, "Don't distract me."
"Is that all you know how to say?" Eshan asked, "Quiet?"
"To you, yes," Crinnan spat, "Now quiet!"
The scraping sound stopped abruptly, and Crinnan heard an animalistic grunt come from the room ahead of him.
"Someone there?" A deep voice asked from the shadows, "Someone has come seeking pleasures?"
"A customer!" a higher pitched, crackly voice chimed in, "Someone has arrived for pleasures."
"Quiet, fool!" The deep voice commanded the higher. His voice returned to Crinnan, "Please, come browse our pleasures."
Crinnan remained silent. As he slowly stepped through the arch, he held his sword tightly in one hand and pulled out a pistol with the other. The room he entered was much better lit than the first and much more terrifying.
"A customer has arrived!" the high pitched voice squealed gleefully, "A customer has arrived to browse our pleasures!" The voice came from the shadows to Crinnan's right. Although he had heard only two voices, he felt the weight of dozens of eyes on him.
"A customer comes, sword in hand?" the deep voice asked, "What does a customer have to fear?" The voice came from Crinnan's left, again in the shadows.
Crinnan raised his sword and tried to see through the darkness. He was able to make out many vague forms but nothing discernible. There were definitely more bodies than there had been voices.
"What pleasures do you seek, oh nimble bodied sword bearer?" The deep voice called out as Crinnan appeared, "We have all shapes and sizes and a wide variety of flavored meats."
"What is this place?" Crinnan asked, ignoring the questions, "What are you doing here?"
"This is our home! What has a customer come for if not for pleasures?" the high pitched voice inquisitively asked. Its tone had become irritated and sounded paranoid. Crinnan pulled the hammer on his pistol back and raised it.
The door behind him suddenly and violently swung open, and he heard someone run inside. Quickly he turned around to see Sage charging toward him.
"Get out of here!" He shouted. As he approached Crinnan, his hands erupted in flame and illuminated the entire room. Finally, Crinnan was able to see the horrors that surrounded him and was immediately repulsed.
As he frantically scanned the area, he caught a glimpse of the hulkish brute to his left. The grey-skinned misshapen mass of flesh stood two heads taller than Crinnan and stared his way with eyes that were as black as night. His arms were thick like tree trunks, and in one of his massive hands, he held a sharp gnarly looking cleaver.
To his right, Crinnan saw the image of the owner of the higher voice. He was tall and thin and had long, dry white hair that grew down to his back. His lanky arms hung to his knees, and his mouth was full of jagged, pointed teeth. In his white hairy hands, he held a small severed arm, completely covered in bite marks.
Lining the wall between the two Toraan abominations were wooden cages. They were stacked on top of one another, four cages wide and three cages tall. Within each of them lay or sat an emaciated child. The ones who were awake fixed their eyes on Crinnan and Sage, but none of them dared to make a sound.
"What is this shit!" Crinnan furiously shouted. He gripped his weapons tight and without hesitation, he swung his revolver at the larger Toraan and fired.
With surprising speed, the Toraan threw his massive hand out in front of him calling upon some kind of Ancient NaNe power. The bullet from Crinnan's gun stopped suddenly only inches in front of his palm, and he with his cleaver slapped it out of the air.
"Two customers…" the brutish Toraan cheered as he lumbered to his feet, "An old one and… a much younger one."
"They'll make sweet meat!" The smaller Toraan gushed, "Sweet expensive meat!"
"That is enough, Raad," Sage pointed at the larger Toraan, "We were just leaving."
"Why, that voice sounds like old Sajinius," Raad extended his cleaver in Sage's direction, "Is it indeed you?"
"Indeed it is," Sage remarked, "And I should say me and my friend were just about…"
"We have a score to settle with you!" the smaller Toraan snapped as he stepped forward, "You killed Luce, stole our product. You fucking thief!"
"And I would kill the both of you," Sage replied, "But I am short on time, so if you do not mind terribly…"
Raad charged forward and swung his cleaver in Sage's direction. Sage quickly leaped out of the way and a long beam of flame extended from his hand. Quickly, he spun and planted the flame into the back of Raad's head.
Crinnan could smell Raad's flesh cook and nearly gagged, but had to control himself enough to dive out of the way of the other Toraan's swift charge. Crinnan fired his weapon at the Toraan and hit him in his back. The Toraan in turn screamed and jumped over Crinnan's head, swiping at him as he did so.
Sage pulled the beam of flame from Raad's skull and phased over to the second Toraan. T
he Toraan threw a punch at him, but Sage evaded his attack and thrust at him with his flame sword. The fire penetrated the Toraan's belly, and Crinnan watched as the monster cooked from within. Sage grit his teeth and ripped his flame sword through the Toraan's side, causing the top half of his body to fall back while the bottom half remained balanced on its knees.
Sage sighed and extinguished the flame. He stepped back and turning toward Crinnan. Crinnan, in response, stood silently still; a bit awestruck at the amazing abilities that Sage had displayed. Sage shook his head and after laying a hand on Crinnan's shoulder, turned to face the cages of children.
"Please tell me they are not friends of yours," Crinnan growled through clenched teeth, suddenly forgetting what Sage had just done, "How do you know them?"
"I have seen them before in the Weald," Sage examined the cages of children and sighed, "They are robbers, traffickers… they kidnap people and sell them into slavery.."
"People… being children. Why haven't you killed them before now?" Crinnan demanded, “when you knew they did such terrible things?"
"I thought they were dead already," Sage answered, "Apparently last time I did not kill them well enough."
"Yet you knew this was their headquarters!" Crinnan shouted and poked Sage in the chest with the barrel of his gun, "You warned me not to enter."
"I did," Sage admitted, "I did not know if any of them remained, I was watching out for you… Crinnan if you think for one minute that I have purchased anything from them then you are sorely mistaken." Crinnan glared at Sage for a moment and nodded his head.
"My sister was kidnapped long ago and never found. I... thought of her when I saw all this."
Sage nodded and turned toward the cages, "I should say that we simply cannot leave them behind now. I did not intend on saving a dozen children today but… well, I suppose they cannot be left behind in this state."
Sage stepped up to the cages and began breaking the sticks that made up the bars. As he made enough room for the first child, he reached in and pulled him out.
"These children probably have not seen the light of day for a very long time," Sage worked on the next cage, "Raad and Growe ran this… slave brothel of sorts. They used to be very powerful." Sage shook his head, "I should say that I have not encountered them for, well for many years. As I stated, I thought they were dead. Thankfully, their powers had significantly diminished."
The Black Knight Box Set Page 12