Remember Me

by Kyle Robertson

  “Hawk gave her the agreement eye and nodded.

  “I am sorry. Klannis, but the Skill Diggers are spread too thin to assist you. We do not have enough for any support. I am sorry.”

  “Even your pet Xazen wolf isn’t available? “

  “Feldspar is on sniff duty. We’re all busy, I am sorry.”

  “So nothing then.”

  “I wish you did not have to come all this way through dog-pack and Scripter country just to hear a no. Maybe we can help you next time.”

  “I’m about to go up against The Rayless One with two medieval simpletons. There may not be a ‘next time’.

  “Godspeed, Klannis. There will be a next time, farewell.” He shook and closed the shack door.

  Chloe turned to the two and said. “Well, you got your wish, Krucks. It’s just going to be us going up against a maniacal destroyer. I hope your magic is powerful enough to distract him, so he can feel Araklimn’s blade.”

  “This course of events is more favorable for your allies. If they would have participated, they surely would have died.”

  “My highly-trained allies were about to sign their death warrant. With just us three going it alone makes me feel so much better,” Chloe said dripping with sarcasm. “Let’s go, it’s time to see the wizard.”

  llll

  “Adjust the shock lifters. We’re dragging too many Gripz,” Raziel told Borlund.

  Borlund lifted the chassis.

  “Iowa City is eight miles east. I’ll stop there and you do the hose-off.”

  “You’re not running the Gauntlet this time. When we get to South Bend, I’m taking it home.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that? When we get back, you have to make your platform work. That’s going to be your gauntlet-running.”

  “Are you kidding?! I've been dreaming of making this thing work for years. Getting my platform going is never work. When we get back, I’m going to have so much fun.”

  “You sound like me when I built these HDs.”

  Raziel smiled. “Creators think alike. These are your babies and my temporal launchpad is mine. I’ve worked too hard not to see it work.”

  “You don’t even know if this is the key to it operating,” Borlund said.

  “Rule number two in the scientific method,” Raziel said. “Find everything you can to not make your project work until it does. There are no failures. Just the knowledge of what doesn’t work. Just don’t repeat what doesn’t work.”

  Borlund was surprised Raziel calmed himself by flipping his point of view.

  “If this doesn’t work, remember. We’re on a timetable.”

  I have the main components working smoothly. I just didn’t have enough power to transport anything living for enough of an extended time block to matter.”

  “You’re gonna have to recalibrate everything. You don’t want to overestimate and send them to the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion.”

  Raziel just looked at Borlund.

  “You are a scientist. A typical robo-jock meathead wouldn’t ever know of that period.”

  “I am not a scientist. I was just good in school before the Drop. I studied Robotics, not Geology.”

  “Yes, but you do know The Cambrian Explosion is in the geological field. You can’t get that ‘Tough Guy’ Snaggerz crap past me. I bet you were on a Trjlin card team in college.”

  “So, big deal. Bargon was a level twenty Dredge Smasher. I used him to win bets for fights.”

  “Why should I be surprised?” Raziel rhetorically asked. “You took a harmless transiton activity and dragged to the dungeon. You’re a scientist, just a dark scientist.”

  Borlund still denied the scientist title.

  “A scientist can’t be menacing. I fought on the battlefield with all the other Snadderz. I wasn’t in the back mixing chemicals like a coward loser.”

  “If that’s your description of a scientist, you’re nat a dark one, just an uneducated one. I was never a chemist, but I am a scientist. I work with carbenium tubing and theoretical physics. You work with computer technology, carbon tungsten rods, and mechanical theory. You even know the volatility ratios of plasma. One day you’ll admit it.”

  Borlund just had this irrational disdain for what Raziel had accurately labeled him. they were just about to arrive at the Iowa City checkpoint. He slowed down, so Razie could power-wash the undercarriage.

  “Make sure there aren't any splinters. I don’t want to have to change a tire in Joliette.

  Raziel got out of the HD.

  “I’ll make sure we’re clear. Just think about what I said.”

  Borlund thought, those damned BoltLayers. Being right all the time.

  llll

  Chloe’s team entered the Forest Hills neighborhood.

  “Where is his fortress?” Sagen asked Chloe.

  “His mansion is on that hill over there.” She pointed at a large house on a hill surrounded by a gate.

  “Finally our quest is over! Araklimn, you must slay The Rayless One! You must storm his castle and attack forthwith!” Sagen had shown enthusiasm Chloe hadn't seen from him before.

  As they went to the tall security gate, Sagen incanted an unlock spell so they could enter. That was when Chloe stopped their advance. She bent down to grab the opened lock relocked it and gave it to Araklimn.

  “Open this lock.”

  Araklimn was confused. “What is this? Why would I release the lock in which Lord Sagen already has unlocked?”

  “Because Krucks opened it with ease,” she said. “You’re about to go against a powerful warlock. You must be able to do what Old Man Krucks did without any effort, unlock it.”

  Araklimn looked at Sagen.

  “Klannis is virtuous in her request. How can I battle a master warlock without harnessing any magic?”

  Sagen returned to his canned answer.

  “It is your destiny.”

  “How?” Chloe asked. “Who told you natural brute force could beat the supernatural?”

  Sagen was becoming very irritated with this questioning woman.

  “It was voiced by an elder. Enough with your mewlings. We have to complete this task.”

  “Hold-up, Araklimn.” Chloe stopped him. “This was never your quest, it was Krucks’s. You were never destined to defeat The Rayless One. You were meant to die in a few minutes, and then me soon after. Don’t go in there.”

  Sagen became very upset.

  “Balderdash, Trollop! This has been foretold from a thousand years in preparation for!”

  Chloe returned. “I’m in intelligence, and when things don’t make sense, I question them automatically. Remember when I asked you what Vetter asked you in interrogation when I knew you couldn’t lie. And you said you were quested to deliver Araklimn to The Rayless One? You didn’t lie, but your word choice was oddly suspect. You’ve been touting Araklimn had to defeat him, but deliver was never the word you used. I questioned you about the princess, and you confessed right there. You were never on Araklimn’s side. You were Kirkland’s servant. He was too incendiary to kill Araklimn back then, but it was your duty to help finish Araklimn’s murder through this journey.

  America was discovered in 1492. How did you know where it was to time-travel in the 1200s when you shouldn’t have known we existed?”

  With all of the dastardly planning, how could she have ever figured out this contrivance? A woman shouldn’t possess such intelligence of this caliber. He had to act quickly before Araklimn realized his subterfuge.

  “Oh, and The Rayless One isn’t home,” Chloe revealed. “He’s busy commanding the Gorgon Guards right now. I guess the apocalypse is a little tough to manage.”

  That was when Sagen became enraged and mystically blasted them both back 20 feet!

  Araklimn slid on the street causing small divots in the concrete while Chloe’s propulsion rolled her over his body in a disarrayed tangle.

  Araklimn struggled to say, “Your words were virtuous, Klannis. We are now in g
rave peril.”

  “You don’t know who Benedict Arnold or Andrey Vlasov are. They were traitors to their side. I had Krucks pegged a day ago. We aren’t in peril when you have a clan of loyal Skull Diggers in your pocket.”

  “You are using Satan’s tongue once more.” Araklimn was confused.

  “Just stay active for five minutes. Can you do that?”

  “Aye, what will you attempt?”

  She reached inside her cargo pocket for the shock weevils Borlund gave her.

  “Stay away from these things this time!” She side-flung them at Sagen.

  “You have been a hindrance since this journey began! You are not a Valkyrie! You are a manipulative enchantress hag!” Sagen yelled as he tried to blast her with hellfire.

  She rolled away quickly as the weevils climbed up his leg. She scrambled behind a tree.

  “You’re going to attack a girl because she sussed out your intent, Krucks?! That’s not very chivalrous of you!”

  “A witch deserves a swift slaying!” He went after Araklimn. He knocked him against an abandoned car. “Is not your precious Valkyrie sworn to save your gullible carcass, Araklimn?! Come to save your guard!”

  Just a little longer, Araklimn. Just hold on, She stayed shielded.

  “Just as I suspected, You cared not of his well-being, Klannis! He was but a mere bobble you would discard upon any adversity!” Sagen yelled. “It is time to pay for your pompous arrogance, boy!”

  Sagen picked him up and began to throw him across the abandoned cars! Araklimn looked like a ragdoll bouncing off of windshields and hoods!

  Chloe saw his agony and stepped out.

  “ENOUGH! If you want me, don’t damage Araklimn! He saved me once, and it’s payback time!”

  Sagen dropped Araklimn and mystically grabbed Chloe by the throat to lift her 3 feet in the air by her neck!

  “You have irritated my soul from the start of this fallacy. Your judgment is a slow journey to the river Styxx, Harlot!” He began to slowly choke her. She clawed at the cold fingers that weren’t there. She was dangerously close to leaving this existence when the weevils activated.

  The shock abruptly broke his concentration and he dropped Chloe.

  As Chloe hit the ground, she saw Sagen Jerking from the electrocution, but instead of losing consciousness, he began to struggle to pull off each weevil, crush and toss it away! She had to get Araklimn to safety.

  She ran to Araklimn’s bruised body and tried to get him to move.

  “Get up! That nut’s taking the shock, and he’s about to kill us!”

  Araklimn’s body had never met an oxidized abandoned vehicle before. The introduction was violently painful.

  “I cannot proceed, Klannis, leave me.”

  “After all this craziness?!” HELL NO! Get over to this tree! I’ll drag you if I have to!”

  “Your body is not adequate for my girth. Leave me I say!”

  Sagen was close to discarding all the weevils, so Chloe began to drag Araklimn to the tree for cover!

  “What are you doing?!” Araklimn asked in a panic. “I am a protector, and we are too slow to be shielded for cover together!”

  “Protector or not, my mission is not to get you killed! Now shut up and help!”

  Sagen finally pulled off, crushed, and tossed the last weevil from his body. He stood to see Chloe dragging Araklimn to the tree for cover. He smiled an evil grin and sent a large fireball between them and the tree blocking their path.

  “Your Valkyrie cannot aid you this time, Araklimn, or should I call her your scullery maid?!”

  Chloe looked at Sagen with vitriolic animosity. She heard a particular bird’s squawk—it was time. She kept Sagen’s attention focused in her direction.

  “You were sent here to assist in delivering Araklimn to his death by The Rayless One! Killing us would violate your order, and I’m sure Kirkland sent the scenario through a time capsule under his family’s crest to let him know what had to be accomplished by only his hands, not yours!”

  “Oh. Drivel! Your Satan’s tongue shall not rescue you this time. You were not in my request, and be that my quest is compromised within the process, I shall do what I must to finish it. I will slay you along with Araklimn. When The Rayless One returns, I will report I was forced to destroy you first and then Araklimn thereafter for his retaliation. You are not the only one who thinks, witch!”

  “You can think all you want, Krucks, but this is my city, and I have what you could never possess-- allies. Don’t raise your arm against me again, Wasps sting.”

  Sagen had enough of her brash idiocy and began to chant a Latin incantation. He raised his arm to direct the spell at her and surprisingly received a tungsten barbed arrow to his shoulder from a skarge crossbow! It was fired by Hawk! He brought his clan!

  Sagen’s blast was significantly altered with an arrow to the shoulder, and it blasted the abandoned car. It ricocheted into the security gate and dissipated to nothingness.

  Chloe looked to the ridge where she saw the Skull Diggers in all their clan glory standing majestically with their crossbows brandished for battle.

  “I knew I heard your squawk of the bird not indigenous to this city! Thanks for bringing your friends to the party, Hawk!”

  “When you said it was a Benedict Valosov operation, you invited all the Skull Diggers. We don’t tolerate any traitors in the intelligence division!” Hawk yelled back.

  Sagen was shocked seeing all those soldiers waiting to attack him. That was their main mistake. They never followed up on their initial attack, and he was able to incant an impenetrability cloak. Now he had the advantage and wouldn’t receive any tungsten arrows to his person.

  “You are all sad excuses for warriors!” Sagen yelled at them and blasted part of the group with a large fireball. “A warrior does not relent upon their initial attack! You gave me time to protect and retaliate! HAVE AT YOU, DOGS!”

  The Skull Diggers took cover and returned fire. All the arrows bounced off of his shield!

  “Is that all you have, you slubbering knaves?! You cannot hide from brimstone!”

  He began to chant and a sulfur smell permeated the air. That was when all of their cover burst into flame!

  “Roll! That old fool’s cookin’ the cars!” a Skull Digger yelled as another put-out a friend.

  “He’s nuts! Scatter pop!”

  The Skull Diggers spread-out and began to fire flaming arrows at Sagen. He brushed them off and kept the clan at bay. It was a stalemate until Sagen unleashed the Hornets of Disentigratin! They burst from the sky to rain terror on the Skull Diggers!

  Hawk began to swat them but saw his clan getting stung while Sagen meditated.

  “Hay Klannis! I think we need a little Canus Lupus help! Stand clear!”

  He whistled loudly as Sagen was attacking with the Hornets. Then came Hawk’s Canus Lupus help.

  Chloe grabbed Araklimn and ran to the tree. Araklimn recovered and the flame dissipated during the fight.

  “Stay here if you don’t want to get eaten! Feldspar eats anyone who isn’t a Skill Digger!”

  “Whatever are you musing?”

  She turned his head so he could see a large Xazen wolf target Sagen! It growled as it began to attack!

  Sagen was still in a trance executing the spell. His main mistake was the Hornets summon was created to destroy an individual foe with terminal finality. The Skull Diggers had a 200-person clan. The hornet's swarming factor became ineffective. He didn't use the proper spell for a clan. His terminal; mistake.

  Feldspar charged at a full run and opened her fanged mouth. The horror had a static dichotomy of cleanliness as she decapitated the unaware Sagen.

  As he fell to the ground headless, she let her pack of wild dogs feast on his carcass. The hornets disappeared.

  “Medic, bring the kit!” Hawk yelled. “We have about forty or so stung Skull Diggers!”

  Chloe spoke to Araklimn.

  “I’m sorry I tricked you for four da
ys, but as you have seen, something wasn’t right. This is The Rayless One’s abandoned mansion, You were never supposed to meet.”

  “How did you know Lord Sagen was against me?”

  “You keep forgetting I’m a spy. A spy’s main job isn’t constant infiltration. My specialty is reading people.”

  Araklimn had a curious look again.

  “I can see what people are planning to do through their actions.”

  “Then, you are an oracle.”

  “This isn’t soothsaying.” She explained. “I pick up on words and actions to know what they truly want to do.”

  “Hey, Klannis!” Hawk yelled to her. “Let Feldspar sniff this guy so she won’t eat him later on!”

  “I think it’s time you meet a Xazen wolf, let’ go.” She turned with Araklimn and walked to Hawk standing next to Feldspar.

  “How do you get yourself into these messes?” Hawk asked Chloe.

  “I’m a BoltLayer who likes adventure. You know I don’t like to clean the warehouse all day.” She gave him an arm-grasp.

  “Put out your hand palm down, Araklimn. Let her smell you,” she told Araklimn.

  Araklimn raised his hand to Feldspar’s snout and she began to sniff his hand. He felt strange putting his hand close to a beast the size of a grizzly bear without apprehension. Then she began licking his hand with her massive tongue.

  “That means she likes you and not in the doggy treat way,” Hawk said.

  “How many of your clan was hurt in the fray?” Chloe asked.

  “Mags got charred and the infected are being treated now. Margo told me the stings were just superficial. She called them war wounds. So, Krucks was an evil magician?”

  “Krucks was a wizard,” Chloe revealed. “Your clan was dealing with some real mystic shit this time.”

  “So magic is real then,” Hawk said. “Well, it can’t beat Xazen wolf fangs.”

  “Thanks, Hawk. We have to get back. I think Araklimn wants to go back to the past to settle a score.”

  “He’s about to time travel… Raziel?”

  Chloe smiled.

  “Raziel.”

  Hawk looked at Araklimn with his saliva-soaked hand.