The Bones of Makaidos

by Bryan Davis

  She laid her palms on her chest, covering the sunburst on her uniform. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, she extended her arms, her palms up. “Here is my heart, Billy. It’s yours if you want it. But you have to buy it. And since it’s the most valuable possession I have, it will be very expensive.”

  He glanced between her palms and her pleading eyes. “How much will it cost me?”

  With a quivering smile, she wept through her words. “Everything. It will cost you your life, your devotion, your commitment to love me for the rest of your life till death do us part.” Sniffing back a sob, she added, “But don’t answer now. I don’t want words. Show me. Show me that you’ll pay the price for my heart, and I’ll show you that it’s worth every drop of sweat and blood you spend.”

  Billy cupped his hand over her palms, making a covering for her “heart.” Firming his jaw, he pushed every ounce of energy he had into his voice, giving it strength, yet a sense of calmness, like a lighthouse in the midst of a storm. “Watch me, Bonnie. We have battles ahead. We have enemies to conquer. And we have women and children to protect from some of the greatest evils imaginable. But I will not neglect this mission. I will show you how much you mean to me, how precious your heart is to mine. And when you see how much I’m willing to pay, then you can decide if it’s enough to buy what is priceless.”

  A new voice broke in. “Billy!”

  Her face now striped by tears, Bonnie turned. “That sounded like Ashley.”

  Billy stood up and looked around. “Ashley! Over here!”

  Ashley ran toward them on the southeast road, breathless. “Oh, thank God I found you.”

  When she arrived, Billy grasped her forearms. Her face was red and glistening with sweat. “What is it?”

  “It’s Walter.” She held a hand against her chest and swallowed. “He was captured by Flint’s army. Elam and Sapphira tried to help, but they had a Naphil and a dragon. They barely escaped and came back here for reinforcements.”

  “An ambush?”

  Still trying to catch her breath, Ashley nodded. “They killed Cliffside. That’s why our net trap didn’t work. Then they waited for someone to check on him.”

  “That’s terrible!” Bonnie said. “The cowards!”

  Ashley gasped. “Bonnie!”

  Bonnie pulled her into an embrace. “I’m so glad to see you again.”

  Ashley began sobbing. “Me too, Bonnie … but it’s so terrible. … Did Billy tell you?”

  Bonnie pulled away. “Tell me what?”

  “Walter.” Her weeping nearly overwhelmed her words. “Walter is my fiancé now.”

  “Your fiancé!” Bonnie pulled her close again. “Oh, Ashley, we’ll find him. We’ll get him back.”

  While they held their embrace, Billy pelted Ashley with questions. “Which dragon was it? Did Elam and Sapphira see which way they went? Did either of them get hurt?”

  “They’re fine.” Ashley pushed back from Bonnie, sniffing. “While Elam battled the Naphil, Sapphira rode Ember, trying to follow the dragon when he flew away with Walter, but she couldn’t keep up. I don’t know which dragon it was. Maybe you should ask Elam. He’s with your father and my mother. They’re planning a rescue.”

  Billy grabbed Excalibur’s hilt. Redness blinded his vision. He imagined Walter and Elam battling those creeps while he, Billy, relaxed in the village. The thought made his blood boil. “Are they at the garden field or the launching field?”

  “The birthing garden. I guess Sapphira and Elam cut straight through from the hospital, so you didn’t see them.”

  “Let’s go!” Billy jumped into a quick jog, drawing his sword as he hurried. Of course, holding it now wouldn’t do any good. It just felt better to have something to strangle.

  Bonnie caught up, half walking, half flying at his side. “Would they take Walter back to their … camp, I guess? I don’t know where they came from.”

  “It’s a marsh area, and yes, they would probably go there. They know the territory better than we do, and after four years, they might have all sorts of traps set up.”

  When they arrived at the field, they slowed to a walk. Most of the snow had melted, leaving wet grass, thin and sparse, in the midst of a quagmire. Although Billy’s shoes slid at times, slowing him further, Bonnie hovered over the mud and kept him from falling.

  Ahead, Elam, Valiant, and Sir Barlow huddled with Dikaios, Ember, and a group of dragons. Billy recognized Clefspeare, Thigocia, and Legossi. Two others blended into the darkness behind them. Sapphira stood a few paces to the side, her arms spread and her body ablaze to add more light to the moon’s glow.

  As Billy drew nearer, the conversation reached his ears.

  “They have us in a bind,” Elam said. “If we attempt a rescue, they will have the advantage. The marsh is dangerous enough in the daytime; more so at night. So we can’t just march in, and any sign of a dragon or airplane will alert them to our presence.”

  Valiant gave him a solemn nod. “It seems as if they knew our plans. How else would they know to attack the magneto station?”

  “An informer,” Billy said as he drew into their huddle. “I think we can assume Semiramis has been lurking.”

  Elam looked at him. Billy offered a nod of surrender. The warrior chief had the right to say, “I told you so,” but he didn’t. He was too noble for pettiness.

  “I am torn,” Valiant said. “My heart burns to rescue Walter, but my brain is shouting that this is exactly what Flint wants. He knows that battles fought in his territory will give him an advantage, and he wishes to deplete our forces. We would bring back a single warrior at the cost of twenty. Flint will gladly make that trade.”

  Sir Barlow drew his sword and traced a line along the ground. “True, my good fellow, but there is a line we cannot cross. At what cost do we forsake a rescue and allow Walter to suffer alone? Our morals? Our dignity? Our character? We are willing to die to do what is right, and retreating from our purpose now is the very line we should not step past.”

  “Remember what happened to Shiloh,” Billy said. “They won’t hesitate to torture Walter.”

  Ashley joined them. With her arms wrapped around herself in spite of the warmth, she listened quietly, her unkempt hair draped over one eye.

  A deep growl rumbled in Clefspeare’s throat. “You are correct, son, but he is not a kidnapped hostage. He is a prisoner of war. At the risk of sounding callous, he knew this possibility existed. He is not a boy playing at war with a sharpened stick, and he is prepared to face whatever befalls him.”

  Billy tightened his grip on his sword, and a growl spiced his own voice. “I agree with Sir Barlow. We pledged to spill our blood for each other. What kind of soldiers are we?”

  “Wise soldiers,” Ashley said. “Reasonable soldiers.”

  Everyone looked at her. In spite of the tear tracks, her face seemed peaceful, serene. “Walter and I already talked about this. He’s ready to die if he has to, and he wouldn’t want anyone else dying to save him. If you try to rescue him, and you lose soldiers in the process, you’ll put more people at risk, including women and children. Walter would rather die than let that happen.”

  Bonnie pushed Ashley’s hair out of her eyes. “Would you object to a precision rescue attempt?”

  A new tear followed a well-marked track. “A precision attempt?”

  “One person, or maybe two. They couldn’t walk in safely, but they could fly in.”

  “Goliath would sense one of us from far away,” Clefspeare said. “He would meet us in the air before we had any chance to locate Walter, much less rescue him. I could match him in a head-to-head battle, but the element of surprise would be lost.”

  Bonnie gave her wings a quick snap. “I could fly in. He might not recognize me as a danger to him.”

  “Alone?” Billy shook his head hard. “No way.”

  “Why not?” She touched her sword. “I can fight, and I can fly away if I get outmatched.”

  Billy looked at her narrowed e
yes. How could he protect her without offending her? “But you don’t know the marsh, where Flint might keep a prisoner, or—”

  “Or where the muskrats roam,” Dikaios said.

  Billy pointed at him. “Exactly. Elam says they have these huge rodents that are more like bears than our muskrats, and they nearly had him for dinner.”

  “It’s true,” Elam said. “I faced several. If I hadn’t been lifted out by a dragon, they would have killed me.”

  “So,” Billy continued, “at least you would need an escort.”

  Elam pointed at him. “But you don’t know the marsh either. It’s been closed off ever since you’ve been here.”

  “He doesn’t,” Dikaios said, “but I know it quite well. I have already participated in two escapes from there.”

  Elam stroked the horse’s neck. “Are you saying you would be her escort?”

  “I would be honored. And her flying ability would allow her to escape if capture or injury seems imminent. And remember, we have two allies somewhere in the marsh, Yereq and Roxil. Perhaps we will be aided in our rescue from within.”

  Billy chafed. He couldn’t let Bonnie ride into the marsh without an armed escort, and he couldn’t risk insulting her by suggesting that she wasn’t capable of handling the rescue. And if he just let her go, she might think he didn’t care about her safety. There was no easy answer. He had to buy time. “Give me a minute to think.”

  Everyone looked at him. They couldn’t wait long. Walter was in trouble, so every second of delay might make rescue even more difficult. But how could he sort out the pros and cons under such pressure? Haste was always a poor general, but delay, based upon fear of doing the wrong thing, was even worse.

  He looked at his father’s fiery eyes. He seemed to think that rescue was foolhardy; better to risk losing one life than many. Mom would likely agree with Barlow; better to show how much we value a single life and trust that a rescue attempt would work. Seeing her in his mind’s eye, now packing a pistol more often than not, he almost grinned. Even with her tender heart, she had become a warrior.

  As he concentrated on the image, he focused on his mother’s holster. Of course! She still had it, and she had mentioned keeping it with her to protect the hospital in case of attack.

  Billy pushed a hand into his pocket and looked at Elam. “We have a weapon Flint won’t expect—my mother’s gun. She brought one clip, and it has only eight rounds. It’s not much good for a war, but it would be perfect for a precision rescue effort, and after fending off the Caitiff back on Earth, I probably know how to use it better than anyone else here.”

  “You’re probably right.” Elam shifted his gaze upward, as if trying to remember something. “I had a revolver back when I worked in the shipyard, but I rarely used it.”

  Billy turned and gave Bonnie a courtly bow. “Fair lady, I do not mean in any way to minimize your capabilities, but, taking notice of your fair gender, I consider it my duty as a knight to offer my services as a pistol-packing flaming torch and as a bodyguard of your person.”

  Smiling, she bowed her head. “I accept your noble offer.”

  “I will let Marilyn know of our need for her weapon,” Dikaios said. With a quick turn, he bolted toward the village.

  Billy looked at Clefspeare. At the sound of “Marilyn,” his brow rose for a moment but quickly settled. Their reunion had been delayed by preparations, a battle, and tending to the wounded. Would she now come to the garden field to see her husband? Or was the thought of him as a dragon again too much for her to bear? Maybe the delay had been intentional.

  Sapphira let her energy dim to a white aura. With the moon casting its light over her body, she seemed to be a small moon herself. “If our rescue party is captured or killed, our only clue will be that they didn’t return.”

  “If Flint expects a second rescue after a failed attempt,” Barlow said, “he might assume that we have depleted our guard at the village. It would be a prime opportunity for an attack.”

  “Then we’ll double our security here.” Elam looked at the village. “If we have enough guards remaining.”

  Ashley raised her hand. “I can implant my tooth transmitter in one of them and stay in touch the entire time. We have plenty of helpers in the hospital and only minor burn cases, so I can go to the radio station and stay in contact with our rescue party.”

  “As long as you have a dragon guard,” Elam said. “You’ll need a danger detector. We don’t want to lose you, too.”

  Ashley raised her eyebrows at Thigocia. “Mother?”

  “Of course I will go with you,” Thigocia said. “Anything to help my future son-in-law.”

  After a few minutes of discussion, including how they could bolster the guard, Dikaios returned with Marilyn’s holster clenched in his teeth. He laid it in Billy’s hand. “Marilyn sends her love, and she wishes to convey her appeals for a safe journey. She cannot come right now. Apparently several people have become ill, and she is helping Dr. Conner with …” He shook his mane and blew through his flapping lips. “I suppose the best words would be, ‘cleaning up messy expulsions.’”

  “This is very strange,” Valiant said. “We have had no such sickness here before. I have heard of it among the marsh people, but these expulsions are new to us.”

  Billy turned to Ashley. “Biological warfare?”

  As she nodded slowly, her voice turned somber. “Delivered by the shadow people. Maybe Flint implanted something in them.”

  “Could that be what was growing in the garden?” Elam asked. “Did that weed carry an infection?”

  Bonnie shook her head. “A man was inside, not a virulent bug.”

  “A carrier,” Ashley offered. “Maybe they raised up a man to bring the bug into the world.”

  “So …” Billy raised a hand to his chin. “Maybe the shadow people weren’t sent to slaughter us. They were sent to be slaughtered so they could deliver the infection and be disposed of.”

  “Semiramis again?” Elam asked.

  “Who else?” Billy smacked his palm. “With her spying on us, they’re always a step ahead. They knew about the magneto and the net trap, and now they’ll probably be content to wait for the infection to take hold. They’ll strike when we’re at our weakest.”

  Ashley took on her rapid-fire voice of command. “Valiant, ask Dr. Conner if he saved any of the shadow people remains. We need to culture it. I already showed him how to use my microscope, so if the infecting agent is big enough, he might be able to spot it. We need to isolate the bug and see what we can do to counteract it. If it’s fast-spreading, we can’t delay for a second. We have to isolate everyone who came into direct contact with the shadow people, including those who took care of the wounded. Put them all in the hospital, and don’t let anyone enter or leave without permission, including yourself. I’ll be there soon to organize the quarantine and the effort to find a cure.”

  Without a word, Valiant ran toward the village. As he faded into the darkness, Thigocia touched Ashley with a wing. “What will you do about monitoring the rescue effort at the radio station?”

  Ashley stared at her. She seemed lost, perplexed. “I … I have to do both. I can’t let them try the rescue without someone monitoring their progress.”

  “You have to help Dr. Conner,” Elam said. “I’ll man the station. Besides, you took care of the wounded. You’re subject to quarantine.”

  “But so are you,” Ashley countered. “We all are.”

  Billy pointed at himself. “Bonnie and I are leaving the village, so we won’t infect anyone.”

  “And I’ll be outside the village at the station,” Elam said. “You need to be with Dr. Conner.”

  Looking at the ground, Ashley furrowed her brow. “It could be that the Second Edeners are the only susceptible ones, anyway. Since they haven’t been exposed to diseases, they don’t have as many immunities.”

  “Perfect,” Billy said. “Then you can probably take care of them safely.”

  �
�And I have a portable receiver,” she added. “I’ll see if I can pick up your broadcasts while I work in the hospital. It’ll help me keep my sanity … what little I have left.”

  Chapter 10

  Behind Enemy Lines

  Billy rode low on Dikaios. With Pegasus almost directly above them and Phoenix rising, ducking into the shade of the overarching trees felt like a good idea. Although the silence gave no hint of any enemy observers, his danger sense told him otherwise. Something lurked close by, something unusual. It didn’t feel like an evil presence; more like a natural danger, the foreboding of a storm. Could it be an animal? Maybe Vacants? Their bestial ways seemed more like instinct than premeditated acts of evil.

  Bonnie leaned forward on Ember, her arms loosely wrapped around the mare’s neck. With her wings folded in tightly, they appeared to be a backpack, though an occasional flutter at the tips ruined the impression.

  The two horses stepped quietly through the last strip of forest between the village and the marsh. The trees here were healthier than in most forests in Second Eden. With evergreens dominating the population, only a few rotting logs lay across the ground.

  The two moons made the landscape look like a jungle on a stormy evening. It was more like dusk than the middle of the night, barely dark enough to veil the horses’ hoofprints in the mud. Fortunately, Billy’s cloak covered most of Dikaios’s shimmering white coat, and, as before, Ember’s coloring blended in with the shadows and the mud below.

  Dikaios stopped at the forest’s edge and whispered. “The marsh begins in about two hundred human paces. There is only grass between here and there, so we will risk exposure until we reach the bulrushes. Now is the time to send our scout.”

  “Got it.” Billy tapped his jaw. The transmitter vibrated with a barely perceptible hum, accentuating the pain from having the device jammed between his teeth. Ashley had told him he would get used to it, but that hadn’t happened yet. Bonnie had offered to wear it, which made more sense. After all, she would be flying reconnaissance alone. But her molars were too close together, forcing them to go with Billy.