by Bob Mayer
Anubis appeared, staff in hand. She brusquely indicated for the ceremony to begin. A wedjat on the floor shoved the first acolyte and directed him to approach the master guardian. The surface of the pyramid emitted a golden glow.
The high wedjat ordered the acolyte to place his hands on the surface. The glow pulsed and encapsulated the man. The reprogramming didn’t take long, less than a minute as the human’s mind was corrupted into slavish devotion to the Airlia by the Guardian.
Still, there were 300 to process. Anubis waited impatiently as the acolytes made contact with the Guardian, one by one. A third of the way through, when Anubis was completely bored and even the wargs, warriors who’d been reprogrammed by the Guardian, were not quite at their keenest, a single acolyte suddenly broke rank. She ran directly to the closest warg, catching him by surprise. She hit him in the chest with both hands. As he fell back, she snatched the spear out of his hands.
She sprinted across the floor of the Great Hall toward Anubis.
The Airlia saw the approaching would-be assassin. She began to lift her staff, but paused. This, at least, was breaking the monotony.
All the wargs broke ranks, chasing the acolyte, their programming subsuming all other considerations. The wedjat also gave chase, including the newly minted ones. The other acolytes were frozen in place, utterly confused by what was occurring.
The dynamics changed, though, when the acolyte pulled her hood down and tossed aside her cloak, revealing leather armor. More importantly, she revealed red, cat-like eyes that only Anubis could see. The Nagil accelerated faster than any human could. Some of the warg threw their spears but they missed as the attacker zig-zagged. She easily outdistanced her pursuers.
Anubis raised her staff and fired a bolt of power from the curved top. The attacker dodged it. The bolt hit the floor, exploding stone into shrapnel, but the attacker was unhurt. Twenty feet from the balcony, she leapt, arm back, spear at the ready, preparing to throw.
A red bolt of power hit her in the side as she released at the height of her jump, on level with the balcony. Just in time as the spear whipped by Anubis, missing her by inches.
The attacker tumbled lifeless to the floor.
Anubis had her staff up in a defensive position, given that the attacker’s trajectory would have landed her in the balcony. She lowered it and turned.
“Thank you, brother, but I would have dealt with it.”
Horus had other priorities. He pointed the power spear at the line of acolytes who had not yet touched the master guardian.
“Kill all of them,” he ordered the wargs. To emphasize the point, he fired the spear at the corpse of the assassin repeatedly, blasting the body into an unrecognizable splatter of muscle and bone and viscera. The head was hit and exploded in fragments.
The warrior-guides reversed direction and charged the stunned acolytes. The floor of the Great Hall ran bright red with blood.
“Is that necessary?” Anubis asked as she observed the massacre. “We need more.”
Horus turned to her. “How did one of the Nagil get in here?” He didn’t expect an answer. “We knew they were in the ridges but considered them like rats on a mothership. A minor nuisance. This, sister, is far from a mild nuisance.” He indicated the Great Hall as the wargs slaughtered the uncorrupted acolytes. “I can sense the unease even among those we’ve converted. They saw her run faster and jump higher than a human. Some may have seen her eyes. In what’s left of their free will, they will wonder. That is not good.”
“The Nagil are not the primary problem at the moment,” Anubis said.
“If she’d have killed you, it would be a problem,” Horus pointed out.
“I told you,” Anubis said with some irritation, “I was prepared to deal with her.”
Horus wasn’t convinced. “Her throw came very close. Who is to say there are not more of these rats sneaking around? How did one get this close?”
“I will investigate and find out,” Anubis said. “The guilty will be executed.”
“What of your spies?” Horus asked. “What do they say of the Nagil? We have not spoken of them in years.”
“They dwell in the old tunnels and caves in the West Ridge. They breed amongst themselves, diluting the blood line, which is a good thing. They have a camp in the Rift.”
“The Rift?” Horus shook his head. “Osiris and Isis failed miserably completing that.”
“Both paid for their failure,” Anubis noted. “We honored her life.”
“This planet is cursed,” Horus said. “I could feel it when we first arrived.”
“Yes, you’ve made that feeling clear many times over the years.” Anubis changed the topic. “According to my spies, this renegade’s army, the so-called Great Alliance, is on the move. Reports indicate they approach along the Lion’s Road. They will soon pass North Stone.”
“We can’t let them get close,” Horus said. “We must send the warrior-guides to repair and defend North Wall. I’ve told you many times it should be rebuilt and Wormehill re-occupied.”
“And I’ve shown you the numbers,” Anubis retorted. “The Tally drains the population. We cannot field a large standing army of wargs and expect to meet the next Tally.”
“We won’t meet the next Tally if we’re dead,” Horus said.
“We’ve got the shield wall,” Anubis said.
“If it gets down to that, the Tally will be the least of our troubles,” Horus said. “You called the warrior-guides, wargs. Are we now speaking like the humans?”
Anubis lightly ran a hand along his cheek. “We can speak any way we want between us, can’t we, brother?”
Horus put his hands on her shoulders, turning her. He kissed her hard, tongue snaking into her mouth, intertwining with hers, then he bit down. Drew blood. It seeped into both their mouths.
Anubis was the one who broke the embrace. “We do not have time for distractions.”
“Are we becoming wargs?” Horus said. “Only able to fight, incapable of passion?”
“I will always have passion for you, my brother. But I agree with you. It is time to fight.”
Horus stood tall. “I am the warrior-leader. We must hold at North Wall. If that army comes within sight of Seventh Wall, it will be very bad for the loyalty of our humans and cause problems. I will personally take command.”
“That is not wise for you to expose yourself,” Anubis argued. “You just want to fight.”
“This duty station is not fit for a warrior,” Horus said. “I am rusty. I need to practice my skills. And you were almost slain here, inside the shield wall. We must take the fight to the humans.”
“You have blood lust,” Anubis said. “What if the humans overwhelm your army?”
“They won’t,” Horus said. “But just in case, you fly the talon for fire support. There is no possibility of us losing with you overhead.”
Anubis shook her head. “We can’t leave the Tower unmanned. This is very unwise”
“We will wake one of the others,” Horus said. “It is Amun’s turn. Which is why we must also deal with the Nagil. Even Amun, slow as he is, will quickly realize how the Nagil came into existence if there are any others lurking about in Atlantis. The penalty for what we did with the humans is death.”
“’We’?” Anubis said. “Do not include me in your perversions. Your passion is not as focused as it should be.”
“Nor yours. Just because your frolicking did not produce off-spring does not make your actions any less illegal.”
“But less noticeable,” Anubis said. “And I’ve always preferred you. You were the one who turned away first.”
Horus waved away the old argument. “We need greater numbers. We must convert as many warriors as possible from the able-bodied in second and third circles. And hire all the Shakur and other humans from the Wilds who fight for coin. We send an element along the west ridge where the Nagil hide. To the Rift. Kill them all. And you didn’t answer me. What do your spies report about the Nagil’s plans? Given
one just tried to kill you.”
“Nothing more than what I told,” Anubis said. “If I had any idea one was so deep into our security, you think it would have gotten as close as it did?”
“You know nothing because they learn nothing about the Nagil or know nothing because no spy comes back from there?”
Anubis looked away. “None have returned from West Ridge in years. The Nagil are stronger, faster and their senses more acute than humans. They don’t tolerate outsiders in their territory. Especially wargs. I’ve sent uncorrupted who were willing to do it for pay. None of those ever returned.”
“The Rift used to be our territory,” Horus said. “The same with Wormehill and North Wall. They will be again.”
“The world used to be our territory,” Anubis murmured.
Horus was focused on action. “We will call on the Hegemony to fulfill their duty and send their army to support us. With those numbers, there is no force this Cetic could raise that we cannot defeat. We are guaranteed victory. What of the Walkers?”
“The MDAC is programmed to fly to Wormehill Tower to meet the raiding party and bring the male’s ka back if they have been successful,” Anubis said, referring to the magnetic drive atmospheric craft, known to the humans as sky-chariots. “Once we have that, we can find the other Walker and their craft. If we eliminate that threat, we can reassert our power over the entire continent. We should have tracked down the Walkers long ago. They have been a nuisance.”
“Do you forget you searched several times?” Horus said. “How many spies have you lost doing that? All your overflights came up with nothing.”
“Their craft must be shielded,” Anubis said.
“And one of the MDACs was lost,” Horus continued. “We still don’t know what happened to it.”
“Most likely the Walkers had something to do with that,” Anubis said. “They have been a pestilence ever since they arrived.”
“I cannot believe humans overwhelmed an outpost and took a mothership,” Horus said.
“It did them little good according to the report,” Anubis said. “The planet was reaped by the Swarm soon afterward. And that was a long time ago. The humans have done little since.”
“There is the other one,” Horus reminded her.
“Who?”
“Don’t be coy. The Archaic. You tried to track that rumor down many times.”
“We used to control the world,” Anubis evaded. “Now we have a tenuous hold on it. This outpost has never been right. There is some force at work. Many of our systems aren’t working correctly, if they function at all. It cannot all be bad luck or faulty equipment. I don’t know whether it is this Archaic, if he exists, or the Walkers or the renegade human leaders who pop up every generation or so. They are all a disease that must be rooted out. Fleet should have never allowed this plan to be implemented. To think that humans can fight the Swarm is naïve.”
“Let us worry about the threats we know, here and now,” Horus suggested. “We must be pro-active.”
The last of the uncorrupted acolytes was dead. Wargs were carrying bodies out. Those acolytes who had been converted had been led out by the high wedjat to take their place in service.
“I’ve sent spies to all quarters of the world,” Anubis said. “They report regularly through my network. What more do you suggest besides annihilating the Nagil and holding at North Wall?” she asked.
“The Empire asks much of us,” Horus said, “without giving much in return. The Tally is coming more often with a higher quota. They can’t expect us to continue without assistance. I am not a fan of numbers, that is the work of clerks, but I know they are not good. To get assistance, we must ask for it. It is time for us to check in, anyway. Osiris has not been up to the task. I’m sure there are Fleet messages spooled.”
“We’ll be seen as weak by Fleet if we ask for help.”
“We are weak,” Horus said. “A hundred years ago we would have wiped out this Great Alliance before it even began. Now we are on the defensive. No longer.”
“What kind of help?” Anubis asked. “We are in the bind of having to maintain the human population for the Tally, yet controlling it. We kill too many it’s negative. We kill too few, they grow bold.”
“Warrior-guides and wedjat have their limitations,” Horus said. “A company of our own warriors with MDACs for transport should be sufficient. They can make selective, surgical strikes. Take out human leadership. Surely the Empire can spare that. Until then, we send wargs to the Rift to deal with the Nagil and defend the North Wall.”
“Fine,” Anubis said. “Do as you think best. I will do the same. I will wake Amun.”
“I will send the messengers out for the assembly of the army. You have the beacons lit to summon the Hegemony.”
After Horus left, Anubis remained where she was, deep in thought. Wedjat were on their hands and knees with buckets and cloth, wiping blood from the floor of the Great Hall. Anubis signaled to a wedjat. He scurried up the stairs to her balcony and prostrated himself.
“Yes, Goddess?”
“I want the six deadliest warrior-guides in the Tower guard brought to me in the sky-chariot chamber.”
LION’S ROAD, NORTH VALLEY, EARTH15
“It is day-shade outside,” Moroi said, her whisper producing a slight echo in the dark tunnel.
Bren could see nothing and had no idea where they were. She sensed movement and knew there were more than just Moroi, Orlock and Arcturus in the tunnel.
“Ready?” Moroi asked.
Voices murmured assent.
A stone door slid back and up. Light blinded Bren, even though it was the dusk of day-shade, when Isis eclipsed the sun.
Moroi, Orlock and four additional Nagil charged forward from the door hidden behind a large boulder, less than thirty feet from the Lion’s Road. More Nagil appeared from a door to left.
Surprise was complete. The two wargs were the first to react, a few seconds late. And those seconds were all it took for the Nagil to close the distance and engage with their short swords. Six of the eighteen Shakur went down before they could ready their swords, bows or spears.
Bren was just outside the doorway, unable to do anything until her eyes adjusted. She could barely see the outlines of figures in battle.
The wargs were back to back, swords slashing, as Orlock and Moroi faced them. Other Nagil were engaging the mercenaries. As the Shakur died all around them, the two wargs appeared to be mounting an effective defense.
The reality was that Orlock and Moroi were toying with them. As the other Nagil cut down the remaining Shakur, their two leaders were inflicting non-fatal cuts on the wargs. Given their imprinting, the wargs barely noticed the wounds but imprinting can’t over-ride the reality of loss of blood and severed ligaments and muscles.
Bren walked forward, sword at the ready, noting that Arcturus was standing to the side, leaning on his staff. By the time she reached the fight, just the wargs were swaying on their feet, facing Orlock and Moroi.
Bren was disconcerted to see that the other Nagil were prostrated over the corpses of the Shakur and appeared to be eating them, teeth clamped to the necks of the corpses.
“What are they—” she began to exclaim, but was startled when Arcturus put a hand on her shoulder.
“They take the blood,” he said. “It is their right.”
“Blood?”
“We prefer ours still pumping,” Orlock said over his shoulder. He moved fast, getting inside the weakening warg’s guard, knocking the sword from his hand and clamping down on the imprinted human’s neck with his teeth.
Moroi was on the other warg, doing the same.
Bren stepped back, stunned. “What is this?”
“Did you not have Nagil on your planet?” Arcturus asked.
Bren shook her head.
“Then your Airlia had more discipline,” Arcturus said. He lowered his voice. “The Nagil are the progeny of the Airlia with human women. Very secretive on their part. Because
it’s illegal for Airlia to consort with human outside of authorized parameters. But it is possible and what is possible will inevitably happen. Especially when one is considered a god. And bored with a duty that stretches millennia. What’s ironic is that this is Horus and Anubis’s watch and they probably think they are the only ones who gave in to temptation. But the Airlia who now sleep, when it was their turn, they did the same. Thus, there are many more Nagil than the Airlia suspect. Secrets can be dangerous things.”
Orlock let go of his warg, which dropped to the ground, pale and lifeless. Orlock’s lips were stained bright red and blood streaked his chin. He smiled. “I prefer when they pump the blood to me, rather than sucking from the dead. I can feel the heartbeat feeding me, slowing, then life ceasing.”
Bren knelt next to the body and patted it down, turning out the pockets, checking the small pack on its back. She ripped open the blood-soaked tunic. Markus’s ka was on a chain around the warg’s neck. She pulled it off and put the chain over her head, tucking the ka inside her shirt. Then she picked up the sword her partner had lost. She took the sheath off the warg’s belt.
Orlock indicated the bodies and asked Arcturus: “Should we leave them for Isengrim?”
Arcturus shook his head. “Foul meat.”
Orlock pointed at one of the Nagil and gestured. The Nagil pulled the bodies off the road, hiding them in the adjacent forest.
Moroi and Orlock joined Arcturus and Bren.
“Arcturus says you are part-Airlia?” Bren asked.
“Yes,” Moroi said. “Orlock and I are halves. As are the rest of the Elders. Most of our people are quarters or less. The Airlia blood thins the further one is removed from an Elder who has an Airlia father, but it is still stronger than the human.”
“How many of you are there?” Bren asked.
Moroi glanced at Arcturus. “Too many and too few,” she said. “Most are killed at birth in the duat under the Citadel-Tower, along with the human mother. But even the corrupted who work in the Tower have difficulty killing babies. We were smuggled out by All-Life mid-wives who handled the birth. Some paid the price for that act on the cross.”