The Brotherhood of Merlin

by Rory D Nelson

  When Merlin finishes with the first swing, he twirls the sword around like a pinwheel precariously fast. Two other speed-shooters un-holster their guns and began to fire on Merlin but the sword serves as the ultimate bullet-proof shield, staving off the gunfire. Two bullets ricocheted off the sword and lodged into the neck of a soldier, killing him instantly as his larynx is blown apart with the unlucky bullet.

  Merlin sheathes his sword so quickly it seemingly re-appears in his sheath of its own accord. With a lack of continuous gunfire, the soldiers are indecisive about their immediate course of action. He throws off the hat and jacket in one seamless move. “Offer still stands on the table for five seconds, or until any man makes a move on me. “

  Desperate to save his own life, one private speaks up. He throws his guns to Merlin and put up his hands. “I surrender.”

  Merlin nods. “And I accept Hammen. Get behind me.” The time it takes for Hammen to surrender is all the time needed for four other soldiers to embolden themselves. They rise up from their crouched position and attempt to fire, but Merlin is prepared for this. Two guards in front tried to fire on Merlin. But he lifts his speed-shooter preternaturally fast. He fires two shots into their skulls, knocking them back several feet.

  While he re-holsters both guns with his left hand, Merlin draws the gun from his right holster, fires successive rounds into the two men directly in front of them, knocks them back against the wall, and blows two gaping holes in their chest. They heave in shock with painful surprise, desperately trying to gasp their last breath. Choking on their blood, their bodies twitch spasmodically as life drains from them. Merlin holsters his gun.

  Seething rage overtakes Jason. Hoping to catch Merlin off-guard, he draws his speed-shooter to fire on Hammen, but he isn’t fast enough. With his left hand, Merlin pulls his speed shooter and shoots the gun from Jason’s hand, including two of his digits. Blood spurts from the wound and Jason cries out painfully.

  “Hammen is under my protection now. So is the girl.” He pauses. “And you, Sai, are in my sights.”

  “If you kill me, you will have the wrath of the Visi-Gaul army at your doorstep.”

  “And you are overreaching. Your days of raping the world are over. If the Visi-Gauls are prudent, they will distance themselves from the likes of you to avoid retribution. In fact, they already have. General Piedmont ousted you as despot. Do you not remember?”

  Jason shakes his head in denial. It is impossible. This man could not have gotten the drop on him like this.

  “You have come into our lands, uninvited, plundered, murdered, and raped our families while your army of nine thousand was righteously obliterated by ten men! Word will reach. Gilleon will offer a truce and your predecessors will wisely accept.”

  “I am Visi-Galia. And this is my country. You have denied me what is rightfully mine. You are nothing. I curse you!”

  “You are nothing more than a sanctimonious, arrogant, despot and pedophile. You have no humility. No nobility, no honor. You believe you were born as a god, destined for greatness. The world owes you because of who you are and who you were born to. You believe your country reflects of your greatness and your empire exists to serve you. But it is you who were born to nobility to serve the needs of the people. As the consummate narcissist, you are unable to sympathize with anyone but yourself. Perhaps you will learn the full error of your ways when you are thrashing in the afterlife.”

  Jason scoffs and sighs like a petulant child. He withdraws his speed shooter, but Merlin is ready. He hesitates briefly and allowed Jason to pull out the gun. And, as it is raised, he fires his own gun, obliterating two fingers on his right hand and sending Jason’s speed-shooter through the air. Jason howls in excruciating pain as blood spurts from the severed digits.

  “For a man who has never deferred to anyone, even his conscious, a man who knows nothing of humility or reverence or righteousness, I would very much like to have you humbled.” Merlin fires a strategic round straight to his right kneecap, blowing it out. His knee buckles dropping to one knee and he cries out in excruciating pain.

  He looks at Merlin defiantly. “You are not noble, you tripe vagabond. You are nothing. You are a pathetic slave. And, I curse you! I am the heir to Jesus Christ!”

  Merlin looks at Jason playfully. “Well, in that case, say ‘hello’ for me, would you?” Merlin fires his gun, sending a bullet through his skull and causing a cavernous hole to appear in his forehead. Jason falls back and hits the ground dead.

  “Hammen?”

  “Ai, my Lord.”

  “Hammen, I am not a King and not your Lord. I am Merlin and that is how you will address me. Understood? Retrieve the keys for me to this cage.” He gestures to the cage holding Sylvia.

  “Ai, Merlin.” Hammen walks over to Jason a little squeamishly and pulls a set of keys from him around his neck. He can’t help but to look at the corpse who once led so many. A look of horrific remains on Jason’s face as blood seeps from the large hole in his forehead. He tosses the chain to Merlin.

  Merlin goes to the cage and opens the lock. The girl is intact, though she shivers uncontrollably and has her hands over her ears to stifle the ear-deafening boom inside the corridors.

  She flinches as he reaches for her. Merlin points to her restraints. She permits him to unlock them. He unlocks them and picks her up. She continues to shiver with her hands over her ears. “The gunplay is over Sylvia.”

  She looks at him curiously. “How did you know my name?”

  “Your sister Adele told me all about you. She waits for you in ascension. You will meet her there someday, but not for a very long time.”

  Tears well up and flow from her eyes at the mention of her sister. She rubs at them and tries to put on a brave face, but the tears flow harder with each painful inhalation.

  Merlin admires her spirit and vivacity. Most girls would have succumbed to catatonia if they had been through her ordeal. Still, he senses her at the precipice of an emotional cliff. She is suppressing her emotions. Later would be a time for her to grieve and unleash the maelstrom.

  He produces a coin from his pocket and begins to twirl it through his fingers, slowly at first and gradually quicker until it appears to flow through this finger of their own accord. Sylvia watches, enraptured. She begins to relax her iron grip on his neck. Her mind begins to drift freely. Now she will be open to suggestions.

  “You have been through a lot child. Forget about all that has happened to you for the time being. I want you to sleep now, do you understand?”

  “Ai, so I do.”

  “Your eyes are getting very heavy and you are unable to keep them open.”

  “Ai.” She shuts her eyes and collapses into Merlin’s arms. He picks her up and walks out of the King’s tent. Shadow pokes his head out from the back of the tent, through a hole he dug through the hardpan. He wags his tail.

  Aided by obscurity for the first ten minutes and at Merlin’s order, Domithicus slashes his way through the encampment, killing any soldiers he encountered with his sword.

  After ten minutes expires, Domithicus takes out his speed shooters and begins to go to work. The soldiers who survived the initial barrage are just beginning to get their bearings; but they cannot see in detail. Domithicus uses this to his advantage. He needs only to see the slightest of shadows. His mind and his hands will do the rest.

  Off to his east approximately fifty meters, he barely detects some rustling from three Guards. They motion to one another, indicating an attempt to attack him. As he ventures closer, he can hear their murmured whispers.

  They gesture to each other and begin to line up their sites. He moves quickly, hunches down behind a wooden platform and rises up quickly, too quickly for them to react. He draws his guns with lightning quick ferocity and fires successive rounds. Three guards drop to the ground.

  Two cavernous holes appear in the middle of their chest, spurting prodigious blood flow from gaping wounds. The other soldier is hit through the neck a
nd drops in a heap of pooling blood. Darkness overtakes him.

  As Domithicus adjusts his belt, he feels something inside his gun belt and smiles to himself, shaking his head in amazement. It is his dog whistle. He blows it. Seconds later, Troubadour appears. In this fog, being more than fifteen feet away is being out of reach.

  Domithicus signals to him with his thumb up, turns his fist upside down, and moves it around in a stirring motion. He puts his index finger to his mouth. Troubadour knows what it means. Roust the other guards quietly.

  Troubadour runs through the encampment. The men are forced to react. They stir loudly. Domithicus now has their whereabouts. He runs up closer, sees them clearly and fires several rounds, dropping two men.

  Troubadour emits a sharp bark. The man turns around and shoots aimlessly, hitting nothing. Domithicus now has his location. He runs forward and fires once his silhouette comes into view. The man cries out and drops.

  Behind him, several shots ring out. He ducks for cover behind a tether wall. One shot penetrates the wall above his head. He moves forward, keeping himself in obscurity. Several shots ring out. He waits for them to finish. In their panic, sometimes they empty their revolvers. He waits and the shots abruptly stops.

  He quickly backtracks to his former position until he sees the guard. As he fires several rounds, he hits the guard through the neck and emits a gushing of crimson. The man wails out in agony. He ends his cries for good with a shot to the head, disintegrating half his face.

  Using the relative obscurity and the fog and Troubadour to roust the remaining guards, Domithicus slaughters another fifteen soldiers. He walks around the encampment, observing the aftermath of their handiwork.

  Several soldiers have massive arrows lodged into them. In some cases, they are impaled into the hardpan, trees and their horses. Merlin quietly slaughtered numerous men in his path to the King’s tent when everything was completely obscured. Throats were slashed and larynxes, veins, arteries and tonsils seemingly burst out of the cavernous holes that once held such internal organs in place. Gunfire devastated the men further, scattering brain matter, bile and blood splatter everywhere.

  Like most of his Brothers, he too feels the exhilarating thrill of the battle and a reluctant part of him revels in the moment. But seeing the devastation of their handiwork is in diametrical opposition to the moment of battle. He feels remorseful, disgusted and disturbed by the carnage of battle.

  He hears several successive shots off in the distance very near the King’s barricade. The shots are so close together they almost sounded as if it is one continuously loud shot. There is only one man in the world who can shoot that fast-Merlin. Domithicus waits several minutes and hears the unmistakable sound of a fortwagon making its way towards him. He walks out to meet it.

  The fog is almost completely dissipated, but recognition at great distances cannot be easily ascertained. The reflection from the sun off Merlin’s oval shaped glasses catches his eye. He smiles. Merlin’s commandeered fortwagon comes into view.

  As Merlin approaches, Domithicus notices he is not alone and he is not one of the Brethren. Merlin senses Domithicus’ unease. “This is Hammen. He prudently accepted my offer of life. He has an important job for us and he is privy to vital information. He is articulate and well-schooled as well. I expect he’ll make an excellent liaison.”

  “Ai. Gratitude. We are well met, Hammen.” He says as he shakes his hand heartily. A vouch from Merlin is all that he needs to be reassured.

  “Ai. And I say Thankee as well, my Lord.”

  “We have no titles here beyond Sir, Brother or Knight. You may call me by my first name, Domithicus or Dom for short.”

  “Ai. Domithicus.”

  “Where is Shadow?” asks Domithicus.

  “In back.” Domithicus looks in the back of the fortwagon and sees Shadow curled around a little girl, who is sleeping peacefully. It is the same girl he saw when he was in the King’s encampment. Shadow huddles around her in a protective manner.

  When the Brethren arrive, Domithicus notes that Justinian is absent. “Where is Justinian?” he asks. The Brethren look uncomfortable and bow their heads in respect. Jamison and Cotteroy take off their hats.

  “In ascension,” says Germanicus. “He fought courageously up to the very end. His sacrifice is well received.”

  “Ai,” say the Brethren in near unison.

  “We were well met in life. We will be well met in the afterlife when we meet,” says Merlin.

  “Ai,” responds the other Brethren. Embarrassed, Domithicus turns away from the Brethren and wipe away the tears forming in his eyes at the mention of Justinian’s death. Of all the Brethren, Domithicus was closest to Justinian. They formed a bond early at the rectory in Lycenea and their close-knit bond continued ever since. Domithicus sighs but pushes it from his mind. There will be time for mourning later.

  Merlin senses Domithicus discomfort and changes topics. “Hammen has informed me of some of the human prisoners. They have been sold to the Orachai. They have absconded with the prisoners and are making their way back to Visalia as we speak. I will take five men and we will retrieve the prisoners,” says Merlin matter of fact.

  Germanicus sighs and rubs his temple nervously, anticipating the hotbed of wasps this will stir up. He also knows their leader’s obstinate disposition. Merlin cannot be easily moved, perhaps not at all.

  “Merlin, Visalia is only three-day’s journey from here. They may already be there with their booty. Once they are in Visalia, they are off limits to us. We cannot retrieve them under violation of a treaty we have with the Orachai. We violate that treaty, we end a truce with the Orachai we’ve had for over two hundred years. Gilleon was nearly wiped out after the reign of King Arthur. Delicate negotiations and severe sanctions on our part were the only things that saved us from annihilation.”

  “I don’t need a history lesson, Germanicus. I know full well the history of Gilleon. The Orachai have violated the treaty by venturing into our territory. We have just reason for retrieving them.”

  “Please Brother, give prudence to this matter. Our position with the Orachai is tenuous at best. We could easily ignite a war. We are barely able to sustain peace as it is.”

  Merlin approaches Germanicus and stands just inches from him. Germanicus instinctively backs up a couple of feet and averts his gaze. “You weren’t there at the mines of Cathrall. Were you?”

  “No.”

  “You don’t know what they did to us. I swore an oath that when I became a Brethren, I would do everything in my power to prevent that same fate to others. At all costs. No matter the cost. The means never justifies the end because the end is never fixed. Protect the innocent at all costs. We control our own fate and we cannot lose humanity at any junction. Our King taught us that. I will bring five men and we will retrieve the prisoners, even if I must venture into the mines myself.

  Merlin turns to the others. “Syrus, Savelle, Cotteroy, and Domithicus. Are you with me, Brothers?”

  “Ai!” They respond emphatically, emphasizing Germanicus’ reticence.

  Domithicus grabs Germanicus by the scruff of his shirt, brings him to the fortwagon and forces him to look inside. “See her? There were many girls as young as that who will be sold into slavery, perhaps the mines, which is a death sentence. You could live with that, Brother?”

  Germanicus struggles to meet his gaze. As he does, he shakes his head. “Brother, we have the power to stop that. For God’s sake, let us finish this. Fuck the treaty and fuck the repercussions. What say?”

  “Merlin. Merlin?” implores Germanicus.

  Merlin turns around to face Germanicus. “Don’t go. Our primary mission is too important. I’ll go. You have my word as Brother. I’ll retrieve them. To hell with the repercussions. To hell with the Treaty. You have rescued the girl. Ensure her safe arrival in Lycenea. You owe her that.”

  Merlin walks to Germanicus and embraces him with his forearm. “We are well met Brother.”

&
nbsp; “Ai.”

  “Merlin, there’s something else that troubles me.”

  “Speak it.”

  “The Visi-Gauls knew of our vulnerability and were wise to capitalize on it. How did they know our armies were in the North? Did someone inform them? Was it an inadvertent slip? With the Visi-Gauls out of the running for the mines in Catharsis, Herod and a number of Council Members were well poised to profit from the mines. The obliteration of their army ensures that they now have no competitors. You ken?”

  “This fact did not escape my notice, Germanicus. As you know, the interloper is out of my reach and being cloaked by a powerful sorceress. No man is infallible. I suspect that he will one day slip and when he does, we will be able to identify him. Of that I am sure. I hope that when that day comes, the damage he has inflicted upon us is not irreversible. You are right. Our position is tenuous at best. May God be with us and may God be with you, Brother. I trust you will bring them back at all costs.”

  “A Brother’s word.”

  “Is more precious than gold,” finishes Merlin.

  “Ai, then until we reunite in Lycenea. Godspeed!” says Germanicus.

  “Also, to you.”

  Germanicus looks back. “There is one more thing, Brother.”

  “Ai?” asks Merlin.

  “How did you do it? And what reinforcements did you send?”

  “Domithicus will fill you in on it. Even then, you will have questions. I may not be able to answer all of them, but what I can tell you, I will. But there is no time for that now.”

  “Ai,” says Germanicus. He rides off with Syrus, Ithicus, Savelle and Domithicus. The other Brethren remain with Merlin.

  Chapter 39: One More to Rescue

  Merlin and the Brethren ride back to Lycenea with Sylvia. As she wakes, she cries out shrilly. Shadow attempts to assuage her with a lick of his massive tongue. Merlin attempts to comfort her as well and succeeds in putting her to sleep through trickery, but nothing can stop the nightmares from returning. He holds her as she cries herself to sleep from each nightmare, gently cooing to her in a hypnotic voice.