“He says he can fucking hear you,” Nora stood to her feet and cocked her head as she listened, “He… knows it was not your fault… he does not hate you he says. Well, he says he does for killing him, but he does not for losing him.”
“Shut up Eshan.” Crinnan snickered, “Nora, can you fight… this Eon?”
“Not a damn chance in the deepest Hell," She shook her head and glanced toward the window that Crinnan was looking at, “Eon is far beyond anything that I could ever dream of handling. Sage may have been able to, but he was the only Ancient in this area who could have, even Xydos... Sage's older brother was too weak.”
“Fucking Sage,” Crinnan groaned. If he were the only person capable of fighting Eon then why had he given up his life so quickly? Even if Crinnan had died or been captured, Sage could have at least saved the others, “The damn idiot Elf.”
“Most times I would agree with you,” Nora replied with a shrug, “But as cheesy as it may sound, he truly cared about you. That is why… well, Crinnan if we survive this together, I know everything. I can read your entire story now. I know what happened to you… in Hell, and I know why it happened, and I know why Sage got involved.”
“Great," Crinnan replied, “If we don't get slaughtered then sure, we can talk afterward.” At that, he shouldered his rifle, ducked down and hurried forward to join Alec at the window.
“We are probably going to die," Crinnan plainly told his friend. He in truth did not see any way out of their situation, even if there was a way for them to kill Eon themselves, they had a whole army of Marauders outside. Crinnan thought of the Thirst-stricken Vampre and the sword-armed beasts as well. Centurions or not, how could they stand against it all? “The Ancient can't do anything. Eon is probably going to kill us all."
“Well, I can’t think of anyone I would rather die beside,” Alec smiled and slapped his childhood friend on the back. Seeing him again gave him a rush, it made him feel undefeatable. Alec felt like there was no way they wouldn’t survive. Crinnan on the other hand though that Alec was unrealistically sunny about it.
“I don't want to die with anybody,” he mumbled in response, “Sorry, but I'd much rather live... I guess we wait now?”
"Now we wait." Alec reached out and fist-bumped his friend, and the two peaked out the window in front of them.
“Don’t make us come in there after you!” One of the Marauders shouted after a moment. Crinnan could see them through the dirty brittle glass window. Marauders filled the yard outside and stretched all the way back beyond the trees. They had already begun dismantling Dauid's HAPT. As he looked over at Alec's grandfather, he saw that the old man was visibly angered as he watched, “We’re gettin’ hungry!”
“By the Brothers, they’re so annoying," a flustered and angry Matalo shouted from the second story. Crinnan looked behind him and saw Matalo standing on the mezzanine. He lifted his grenade launcher and aimed it toward an open window, "Get ready boys and girls!" He shouted as a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"Eat this you dick munchers!” at that, Matalo launched a grenade through the open window. Crinnan watched as it landed on top of a group of the marauders outside and exploded. Half a dozen bodies were thrown by the blast and the entrails of the unlucky one that the grenade had hit rained down on the rest of them.
“Pissboy bitches!” He belted a laugh and fired again, “Ain’t one of you worth half a pig’s dick!” His barrage continued, and the Marauders scattered in all directions. Flox and Cade quickly joined Matalo and began firing their rifles down at the mass of bodies below. They were able to pick off as many as they wanted due to their sheer numbers, every bullet they fired found a target. In Flox's case, his bullets sometimes found multiple targets.
Downstairs, Dierlok was able to take out three Marauders that had charged toward the door. He fired his weapon out the window he hid behind, making easy work of the untrained nomads.
“We do not need tactics with these guys!” Dierlok shouted, with a laugh, “They are completely damn useless, just moving targets! ” He fired two more shots from his carbine and then pulled out another magazine.
“Hey, kid!" Dierlok shouted over at Freyja who was just idly standing in the middle of the room as if nothing important was happening, “Come here! Take these!" Dierlok tossed the boy three full magazines, “Give me one when I tell you. Be my second set of eyes, okay?” Freyja nodded and knelt next to Dierlok.
The boy bit his lower lip eagerly as he watched the bodies outside become littered with bullets. The blood was fascinating to him; he observed how it splashed when the Marauders got shot, how they howled and writhed in pain on the ground. His body tingled at the sight of it all, and he wanted to help. Freyja wanted to feel the euphoria of killing for in truth, killing the reaper was the first time he had felt anything in years.
“There sure are a fuck ton of them!” Matalo's voice boomed from his position. He launched another grenade and turned his head toward Flox, “We got enough ammo?”
“No,” Flox softly replied, “Please be quiet Matalo, I am concentrating.”
“Ah, shit!" Matalo ignored Flox and tossed his grenade launcher aside. He pulled his pistol, aimed and opened fire. A few of his shots hit their mark, but he quickly spent his magazine and growled, “Reloading! Flox, take out those guys running toward the door.” Flox adjusted his weapon, took aim and fired two consecutive shots.
“I am out," Flox sighed. Commander Crinnan had not supplied them with enough ammunition for the kind of defense they were being forced to mount. Flox did not blame him though, for to be able to defend against an army, they would have needed an entire armory, “Cade, one more running toward the door. He's fast; kill him.”
“I already got him, thanks,” Cade replied, firing his rifle. The bullet struck the ground next to the Marauder, and Cade groaned, “Missed,” He fired, and again could not hit his target. “Goddess, he’s slippery.”
“You are not good at this, give it to me," Flox commanded as he reached out. Cade tossed the sniper his Ancient rifle, and Flox quickly zeroed in on and put a bullet through the Marauder’s left eye.
“Thank you,” Flox held the rifle back out to Cade, but the President held up his hands and shook his head as he drew his sidearm.
“Go ahead. You seem better with it than I am. That rifle is self-sufficient, it uses NaNe to create ammunition from material around you. I will cover you.” He looked out his window and cursed as he saw a troop of Maas'Eon charging toward the tower, “Those things… Guys, be careful downstairs! The sword arm naked monster things are here!”
Four Maas’Eon emerged from the woods running at full speed, and then another two followed behind them. Their feet barely made a sound as they ran, but they hissed and growled as they neared the tower. They held their blade-arms ready to strike as they charged toward Crinnan and his party.
“Kill those things now!” Cade shouted at Flox, “Fucking hurry.”
Flox fired a shot into one of the Maas’Eon’s heads, and it fell down dead. He aimed and hit another in the chest. The Maas’Eon stumbled backward for a few seconds but quickly found its balance and continued running, wailing as it did so.
“It seems that they do not die right," Flox observed, “Only headshots kill them.”
“Well shoot them in the head then!” Matalo shouted as he loaded another magazine into his pistol, “That’s your damn job!”
“By the Brothers, what the fuck are those!” Dierlok fearfully shouted as he began to rapidly squeeze the trigger of his carbine, “They will not go down!”
“Head, dammit!” Matalo belted from upstairs, “Shoot them in the head Dierlok!”
Dierlok quickly adjusted his aim and took one down. Sweat dripped down his face, and he scowled with fury as he moves his weapon toward the next one. The Centurion was not fast enough. A Maas’Eon dove through the window head first, howling a terrible battle cry and quickly planted its blades into Dierlok’s chest. Dierlok dropped his rifle as he and t
he beast crashed to the ground behind him.
He couldn't breathe, he could barely scream. Blood gushed out of his mouth and the wounds in his chest, but he wouldn't give up. He snatched his knife from its sheath and planted it into the neck of the Maas'Eon, stabbing wildly as it tore into him.
The blood of the monster spilled out all over him and mixed with his own, and it collapsed on top of Dierlok’s shredded chest. He tried to breathe, but there was nothing left of his lungs. Instead, the Centurion heaved the beast off of him, grabbed his rifle and pushed himself off the ground.
Freyja watched in utter amazement as the soldier limped forward and opened fire on another of the Maas'Eon. Dierlok's chest had been torn completely open, and Freyja could see his splintered ribs. Dierlok staggered in place, and as he spent his magazine, he tossed his gun down and drew his sword as he faced off against the next monster
The Maas'Eon snarled, and with all his strength, Dierlok lunged for its neck. The creature moved to the side, and as the nearly dead Centurion stumbled past, it swung its blade arm down, cutting clean through the back of Dierlok's head.
Dierlok crashed to the ground. What remained of his brains leaked out what was left of his head and a puddle of blood quickly pooled beneath him. Freyja looked up at the Maas'Eon, and it seemed to smile at him as it raised its blades and stepped toward the boy.
"Fuck you, weird-ass! " Crinnan suddenly appeared from behind the creature, sword in hand. He drove the point of his blade through the back of its skull and pushed it aside. Quickly, he took hold of Freyja and dragged him away from the window.
"Stop getting into trouble!" Crinnan screamed as he launched the kid away from danger, "Be smart, shithead!" Crinnan frowned at him and hurried to take Dierlok's old position.
Alec glanced over at the mess of meat that was once Vaan Dierlok and shook his head grimly. That was the second Centurion who had died under his care, and it filled him with a rage he had never felt before. He wished the day were over; he wanted to go home.
“More!” Crinnan shouted as he fired on a Maas'Eon who was trying to come through the window. He hit it in the head just as another one dove in from behind it. Its arm blade sliced Crinnan across the back, and he groaned and spun, immediately pulling his trigger. None of the bullets made contact with the Maas’Eon’s head, and the weapon ran out of ammo. He threw the gun at the beast and painfully drew his sword.
“Alec!” Crinnan shouted as he parried an onslaught of berserked attacks, “Help!” Alec gave up his position and charged toward the two, quickly blasting the Maas’Eon's head into nothing with his shotgun. He pumped the gun again and realized he too was out of ammunition.
“Shit!” He tossed the gun down and drew his axe. As he saw that the situation had temporarily eased up, he gritted his teeth and checked his team's position.
"Fall back!" He roared, "to the stairs!"
Everyone ran toward the rally point, and those with firearms did a quick weapons check. “Anyone have any more ammo?” Alec asked as he looked around.
“I have these,” Freyja handed over the magazines Dierlok had given him, “They go to his gun.” He pointed down at the corpse of Dierlok and Crinnan handed the rifle he had retrieved to Alec.
“Alright, Elia, climb the stairs and pick them off. Crinnan and I will hold down the fort right here. If they get too close, we go up. Ancient girl… are you of any use?”
“Give me a sword,” Nora replied, “I do not have any of my old NaNe abilities, but I can fight with a sword.” Elia quickly hurried over and picked up Dierlok’s dropped sword. She ran back and handed it to Nora. Crinnan pulled one of his pistols out with his left hand and held his sword with his right.
“They're back!” Alec suddenly shouted. He slapped Crinnan on the shoulder and pointed to his old position. From the lack of gunfire, the Marauders had pushed and advanced to the windows. Crinnan fired his pistol at the ones coming through on the left, Elia covered the ones on the right. For a moment, it stopped them. But while the number of bullets they had was limited, it seemed that the Marauders were infinite.
“Racon tower," Cade screamed into his communicator, “Land on the roof of Racon Tower we need immediate extraction!" He flipped his communicator shut and ran to the stairs.
“We have evac coming!” He shouted down at the others, “We need to get to the roof!”
“You heard him, everyone, evac is inbound!” Alec shouted, “Everyone get upstairs now; we are heading to the roof!”
As the group turned to run, the doors to the tower burst open, and Marauders began pouring inside. Those who still had ammo opened fire on the horde as they scrambled up the stairs.
The Marauders moved quickly toward them. Nobody had time to think, they barely had time to run. As Crinnan, Alec, Elia, and Garb hurried, they realized that the others were not with them. Garb searched frantically for Freyja and saw that the boy stood petrified at the foot of the stairs. Quickly, he pulled Elia’s sword from its scabbard at her side and charged toward the boy.
“Run, Freyja!” He shouted as he neared the child. He was desperate to ensure that no harm came to him. Just as soon as he had scaled the steps and was at Freyja’s side, the Marauders were on top of them.
“Back!” Garb shouted as he swung the sword haphazardly at Eon’s army, “Back I say!” Freyja seemed to snap out of his trance by the sudden appearance of Garb and saw Nora and Dauid waving him over from a door across the room.
The boy took off in a full sprint, and Garb formed a relieved smile on his face. Just as Nora and Dauid grabbed Freyja and pulled him inside the room they were hiding in; the Marauders began thrusting their weapons into Garb’s body.
“Live, my boy!” Garb screamed as the blades cut in and out of his body, “Live and find your joy!” He screamed a shrill cry of pain and tried to swing his sword, but the agony was too much for him to bear. The blade fell from his fingers, and he dropped to his knees just as an axe split his skull in two. Garb fell over onto the floor, finally dead after a millennium. Dauid and Nora closed the door to the room they were in, and the Black Knights fired on the endless sea of Marauders.
“Grandpa no!” Alec screamed as he began to run back toward the stairs. Crinnan grabbed his arm and pulled him back, firing his pistol as he did so.
“Come on!” he yelled, forcing his friend to move, “He will be fine, he is with Nora!” A panic-stricken Alec looked back and forth from the door that his grandfather disappeared behind, to the stairs that led to the higher floors. With a cry of defeat, he reluctantly joined the others and pressed onward.
“They’re moving so fucking fast!” Matalo shouted as he fired his sidearm behind him, striking a Marauder square in the chest, “Fuck it! Take cover everyone!” At that, he pulled an impact grenade from his rig and armed it. After shooting down a couple of Marauders that dared get too close, he tossed the grenade, and it exploded on the stairs, sending black mold covered debris in all directions. The stairs collapsed, and at the very least, the Marauder’s progress was slowed.
“Get your fucking asses moving!” Matalo spat, furious with the situation he was in, “We need to get on top of this Ancient piece of shit so we can get the Hells out of here.”
Matalo ran ahead, Cade and Flox followed close behind. Alec stared back the way they came, knowing that his grandfather was still downstairs. He wanted to go back, but he knew that there was no way for him to get to the ground level. Even if he could, Matalo had destroyed the way up. Elia shook her head and gently pushed on Alec’s chest.
“You have to trust that he will be okay," She softly encouraged, “He is with the Ancient girl. If anyone can protect him, she can.”
Alec sighed, and Crinnan grabbed his arm, “So fucking move, man!" he pulled Alec in the direction that Matalo and the others had run. Alec knew they were right; there was nothing he could do to help. He finally gave in and hurried away with his friends.
Chapter Fourteen
Sarasin XIII
23rd of Ramlia
- 346AG
20:00 - Base 21
The baby was wrapped in a blanket that Emerald had found and slept peacefully in his mother's arms. Sarasin had been weakened by the delivery, and her sore body felt like it had become one with the bed that it rested on. The only noise that Eliss made was the sound of his steady breathing, which sent waves of comfort and peace through his mother.
The room had been cleared, and everyone had left Sarasin and Eliss with some time to bond. She stared down at his closed eyes, his flaky face and soft red hair and could only smile. It had been the first time she had felt a moment of true peace since before she met Korros so many years prior. She looked at her son and decided that it had all not been in vain however painful and scarring it had been.
The boy's life, the real child who rested in her arms, was worth a hundred lifetimes of pain and suffering to her. At that moment Sarasin knew that every night she had spent weeping alone, that every blade she had dragged across her skin, that every soul she had banished to the Hells led up to Eliss' return to her. She realized that in spite of her seemingly unending pain, she had been on the right path all along. She kissed the child on his soft forehead, and a tear fell from her eye to his cheek.
"Never again," she promised her son, "Never will I let anyone hurt you."
The door to her room gently opened, and two faces peaked inside. Sarasin smiled at the cautious looks that her father and brother were wearing and waved them in. They straightened up and slowly stepped inside, Rubaan turned and softly closed the door behind him.
"He is real," her father whispered as he approached his daughter and grandson. He knelt down and carefully examined the baby. He ran his fingers over Eliss' soft red hair and couldn't help but gently laugh. He smiled and let out a low, delighted sigh, but his face turned serious as he looked to Sarasin.
"What is going on?" he asked in a tone that suggested he was afraid. "When I last saw you, you weren't..."
The Black Knight Box Set Page 71