War Wagon

by Al Shield

  ‘So you are the slayer of my newly acquired forces?’ he asked, appearing relaxed in his pose even with the spear rifle trained on him.

  ‘Newly acquired?’

  ‘Oh yes. These monks were practically useless until I came along. Praying all day and night. What purpose did that serve? It didn’t stop me taking control. I gave them purpose. I gave them steel in their hearts and a hunger to drive them.’

  ‘It didn’t work. I have slain many of them today.’ Dar'kannag replied.

  ‘Bah, their losses are inconsequential.’ He said nonchalantly. ‘There will always be more troops to join me.’ He leaned forward in his throne. ‘You show great promise. Maybe I should make you my new champion?’

  Dar'kannag just snickered.

  ‘Your army have slain many of my battle brothers on this day. I would join them before I join you.’

  The red creature just smiled.

  ‘I could will it so..’ he reached up to touch the crown ‘It would take just a mom-’ Dar'kannag fired a warning shot that smashed into the throne by the side of his head. The seated creature didn’t even flinch.

  ‘The next one won’t go wide.’ He growled.

  Wisely the creature slowly lowered his hand. He studied the intruder for a few moments.

  ‘A shame really. You show such great drive and strength. However you will not be leaving here with this crown.’

  ‘I’m not here for that.’ he replied.

  Now the creature looked surprised.

  ‘But if you didn’t come for...’ he tilted his head and thought for a moment. ‘Ahh, you came to retrieve the wounded.’

  Dar'kannag nodded. ‘Release the survivors and you can continue to play a god for all I care. I am not here for that pathetic little trinket.’

  ‘And what good would letting you out alive be to me? You would be far better suited as a slave here. Or food.’ He licked his lips at that thought.

  Dar’Kannag thought quickly. If the crown was as powerful as he had heard then the possibility did exist that it could take control of his will without much trouble. He needed to escape before that thought came across the wearers mind.

  ‘And who would warn those who sent me? Who would tell your story? I will take back all who survive with a message of your choosing.’

  ‘Or what?’

  ‘Or I kill you where you sit and find them all anyway.’

  This amused the red creature greatly and he bellowed in laughter. A grating laugh that felt like a sharp razor against Dar'kannag’s nerves. He had never felt such a thing before, wincing in discomfort as soon as he heard it.

  ‘Oh you do amuse me. I do hope that when they send a far greater army to stop me you are part of it.’

  The creature stood up and clapped his hands.

  ‘But what you say does have merit. Yes, go back. Go back and tell them Jorzan the magnificent will conquer all he surveys. I look forward to their reply!’ he laughed his painful laugh again then reached down by the side of the throne and pulled on a length of chain.

  Dar'kannag’s heart skipped a beat as a bruised and battered Ch’ann at the end of the chain stumbled out from the darkness. He looked dazed and confused with many small wounds all over his body but more importantly he was still alive. The red creature threw his end of the chain over the Dar'kannag.

  ‘This one is all that’s left. I have fed the others too many troops. I was saving him for my celebration dinner tonight...but take him and go before I change my mind.’

  With the gun still trained on him, Dar'kannag carefully bent down and retrieved the chain and with Ch’aan by his side, slowly backtracked through the doors.

  ‘Know that your weapon couldn’t harm me.’ The red creature called all as the doors started to close. ‘If you fired at me I would have turned your head into a drinking vessel. Safe travels large one, I’m sure we shall meet again soon enough!’ And with that the doors clanged shut.

  Ch’aan immediately turned to Dar'kannag.

  ‘No time to explain, we need to run! Now!’ he screamed.

  Dar'kannag didn’t ask. He threw the gun to the side and scooped up his injured friend, slinging him over his soldier. He then ran as fast as he could with the additional weight, the walls whispering and praying with his every step. They had just made it through the main doors and were halfway down the steps when there was a massive boom that rocked the entire foundations of the temple. A massive cloud of stone dust and debris spewed out of the entranceway as Dar'kannag bundled Ch’aan into the War Wagon and jumped into the driver's seat. As the vehicle roared off Dar'kannag saw the outer walls of the temple start to collapse into itself, like a giant hole had appeared in the middle of it.

  When there were far away from the now ruined temple, he hit the brakes and brought the wagon to a sudden halt. He turned to Ch’aan in the back.

  ‘What sorcery did I just witness?’

  ‘No sorcery my friend.’ He grinned back. ‘Just a little gift from your lovely Nex. I thought the device she used to get me out of the troop carrier might be useful one day.’ He turned and looked at the scene of the blasted temple.

  ‘It turns out I was completely correct...’

  As expected their commanding officers were furious with the failure of the mission. Now had no crown and only one survivor from their crack unit. What made matters worse was Ch’aan’s decision to use the explosive globe to destroy the relic completely.

  However as the next few hours rolled by and Dar'kannag described his ventures into the temple and his conversation with the creature calling himself Jorzan the magnificent, the officers slowly came to an understanding. Ch’aan’s testimony of the battle and the ferocity of the bloodthirsty cultists added much weight to the story and the powers that be came to realise exactly how dangerous the crown could have been.

  They would still have liked to take ownership of course but now if they couldn’t have it, at least nobody else could either.

  For his valor and courage, Dar'kannag was invited to join another crack unit however he passed on the offer and asked for his release papers instead. He had been fighting for as long as he could remember and after recent events had decided to try another life. Begrudgingly they agreed to his terms, even letting him keep his wagon. After all, he didn’t have a unit that could make use of it anymore.

  The sneaky Ch’aan though made use of the offer extended to his friend and took up a position on another team. He served for another three years in bloody battles and retrieval missions before an accident with another explosive globe eradicated all existence of him one night.

  ‘And now a cultist glove is found here.’ Dar'kannag finished his story to the audience in the great hall, not taking his eyes off the relic on the pillow. His mind was whirling now. If the glove from his world had made it all the way here then maybe they weren’t the only one’s here.

  And maybe, just maybe there was someone else in this terrible place who would know of a way to get back..

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Nameless One and his bodyguard had run off to inform their superiors of their latest findings, leaving Omega and Dar'kannag alone. Well as alone as they could be under the spotlights and surrounded by the exoskeleton wearing soldiers.

  ‘That was the first time I’ve seen you shocked since you’ve been here.’ Omega remarked.

  ‘I didn’t think I would see something like that ever again.’ Dar'kannag admitted. ‘It has been such a long time ago now.’

  And it had. Many decades had past since his time in the temple. He had walked away from the army life and focussed on other pursuits like racing and time with Nex, watching K’Dian grow and evolve and trying to shape the boy in his image.

  K’Dian. While his running away had wounded him more than he cared to admit, he did hope that he was wise enough to keep to the shadows since his escape. The disguising of the body of the soldier was a genius move - he secretly hoped they’d accepted his answer when they asked if his son could change his very being
, right down to whatever this ‘DNA’ thing they raved about was.

  ‘Of course he could you fools! K’Dian is of my loins, he could do anything!’

  He might not ever see him again but as long as he was alive and not contained...well that was something.

  A small hope at least.

  He didn’t think Meat looked too convinced however when they wheeled the body back out. But he was no longer in charge. As far as Dar'kannag was concerned, if the fat worm was convinced then everybody else had no choice but to follow suit.

  ‘So this crown you spoke of...it was a weapon?’

  ‘I don’t know the full extent of it’s powers but it almost convinced me to turn my back and flee, leaving my brothers to their fate. It turned placid monks into reptilian carnivores. You tell me little Meat, does that sound dangerous to you?’

  ‘But it would have been destroyed in the explosion..’

  ‘Perhaps.’ The beast would have shrugged his shoulders if he was able. ‘But powerful relics have the uncanny ability to reappear when you least expect it. I wouldn’t put it past this trinket to survive even the hottest of fires.’

  Just because he hadn’t thought of it since that fateful day didn’t mean it didn’t survive to cause chaos somewhere else.

  ‘But for that gauntlet to be here...’

  ‘Sorcery.’ Dar'kannag grunted. It left a bad taste in his mouth as he said the word. ‘Sorcery trapped us here, sorcery brought that over to your world too.’

  ‘But just the gauntlet you think?’

  ‘Oh course not!’ He snapped. ‘What use it armour if no one wears it? No someone wore or carried that over here. The question is who.’ He smiled like a shark when he spoke next. ‘And I truly look forward to finding out who..’

  THE BUILDING IN FRONT of K’Dian was not dissimilar to the one where they had fought the creatures with the two wheeled vehicles parked out front. In fact there were a few of those very vehicles parked in amongst other wheeled constructs of many sizes and shapes. There were even a pair of oversized vehicles with long containers attached. By the strange sounds filtering outside, he judged that all of the owners were inside the building...doing whatever passed as entertainment on this world.

  He took a deep breath and pushed against the two half doors that swung in the middle of the door frame. As soon as he stepped in the noise grew to a much larger level as he looked around and saw many of the creatures in various activities. Some were drinking what looked to be an amber like liquid out of glass vessels. Others were dancing. There were two holding pole like weapons near a table that had multi-coloured balls on it. Was the table a map and the balls represented forces? He dismissed that idea almost immediately as one of them pushed one ball with a stick, causing the others to scatter from the impact. It must be some kind of sport he mused as the other stick holder voiced his dismay at the new formation of the spheres.

  Strangely, no two were dressed the same. There were beards and long shirts and short or all colours and designs, strange ink like markings on some and bare flesh on others. There were creatures with long hair, short hair, grey hair and in a couple of cases, no hair at all. Some even had what looked to be metal rings pierced through their ears and one even had more through his nose!

  Aside from an odd look at his glasses (were they the wrong style for this dwelling? He would have to find a small collection to blend in better) nobody paid him much attention. So he walked over to the long stand where a few of the creatures were congregating to see what more he could learn.

  ‘What’ll it be?’ an older female asked him from the other side. He must have looked a bit perplexed and she quickly added more to the question.

  ‘Hon, do you want a drink?’

  ‘Oh yes!’ He smiled enthusiastically.

  ‘Well what do you want to drink then?’

  He looked behind her at the row of vast bottles and seeing nothing he recognised, he turned and spied a pair of the male creatures talking and drinking more of the amber liquid.

  ‘What is it in those drinking vessels?’ he enquired.

  She gave him a strange look.

  ‘You’ve never seen beer before?’

  ‘I...I am not from here.’ He said quietly.

  ‘Ahh a foreigner!’ She exclaimed. ‘Well I’m not going to kick you out if your monies good hon. You got some notes or coins in your pocket there?’

  He reached in and retrieved the wallet he’d stolen from earlier. There weren’t any of these notes or coins she spoke off so he pulled out a few of the hard cards and handed them over.

  ‘Will these do?’

  She fished out one to her satisfaction.

  ‘This will do nicely. One cold brew coming up.’

  He watched her as she pulled a lever mounted on metal pipework and the golden liquid swirled into a glass she held. Once that was done she pressed a few buttons on a strange looking box and then tapped his card against a smaller device where it beeped upon contact. Moments later a small slip of paper was generated which she handed over along with his card and the “beer”.

  ‘Here you go hon, enjoy.’ She leaned in closer and motioned for him to do the same so only he could hear. ‘Just between you and me love, I wouldn’t go telling people you’re a foreigner okay? Some of the local boys aren’t that trusting of strangers.’

  ‘I see. What should I tell anyone who asks?’

  ‘Well just tell em...you’re just from down the road. That should keep em happy.’

  He gave her a short nod and she wandered off to serve someone else.

  He picked up the “beer” and gave it a quick sniff. Without Unit M and his chemical analysis report he had no idea what was in this thing but it almost smelt a little like the black grains that grew beyond the Fronds of the Forgotten. Throwing caution to the wind, he took a big gulp.

  The beer washed down his throat almost instantly and he couldn’t believe the complexities in just that one mouthful. There were many unidentifiable but favorable flavours and a hint of sweetness coupled with some bitterness. And that was just in the first taste! He hurried to try it again and in no time had drained the glass completely.

  ‘Well you must have been thirsty?’ the older female spoke as she walked back over. ‘Get you another one?’

  He nodded and retrieved the card she had used before. He didn’t know how things worked but it seemed to be a wonderfully reliable system - tap your card and get this beer. Maybe there was some kind of sorcery in the card which would alert you to when your quota of the drink was up for the day.

  He decided that this was a fantastic place to learn more about these creatures while enjoying this drink, so he grabbed a nearby seat and made himself comfortable.

  It didn’t take him long at all to discover that the drink that the older female had served him was the ultimate key to information and the more he provided, the easier the information would flow.

  His opening line of ‘Hello, I’m from down the road. Would you like a beer?’ worked wonders on complete strangers who were more than happy to answer anything he needed to know provided he kept the supply of beer up. Given how much he was enjoying the drink, that was something he was quite happy to do.

  One female even explained the purpose of the card and he was amazed at the complexity of such a little device. He never mentioned that he had no idea how much of these ‘monies’ were stored on it in case the creatures grew suspicious that it wasn’t his but with the many beers that he had bought his new sources of information, he hadn’t run into any problems yet. The same female after repeatedly trying to get him to remove his dark glasses (until he made something up quickly about having vision problems) showed him that you could also use the card on other things and ordered some strange soft sticks called “cigarettes” for herself (which he came to learn later held crushed up plant similar to the butterweed the older generation of his species enjoyed through a pipe) and a “steak” for him. It wasn’t long before a steaming hunk of some kind of charred meat stuff
with crunchy sections of some kind of vegetable were brought out and he gladly tucked in, first with his hands but then with the strange implements his female companion had insisted he use instead. They were a bit unwieldy to his untrained fingers at first but he quickly came to form and as soon as he finished the first meal, he ordered another just like it. The food and drink of this building were exquisite! He hoped he would find more such dwellings in his travel. What great adventures he was already having!

  He was halfway through his second meal when a creature with a bald head, a big belly and a nasty look wandered over and stood beside him. As he got closer K’Dian noticed many of the ink markings all over him, his arms, his fingers, his neck and even some on his face. Was this a ritual some carried out before battle? If that was the case then this one had seen many wars.

  ‘Where you from pal?’ the man grunted. K’Dian could smell something strong on his breath. It wasn’t beer but possibly one of the other liquids there served here.

  ‘Hello, I’m from down the road. Would you like a beer?’ K’Dian smiled at him.

  The man screwed up his face. A pair of equally sized men suddenly appeared behind the first.

  ‘I saw you before, eating your steak like a fucking monkey.’

  ‘Oh yes?’ He’d never heard the term before.

  ‘Ease up Gunner, this guys okay.’ K’Dian’s female companion said quietly.

  ‘Shut it bitch! I’m talking to this guy!’

  K’Dian noticed she looked wounded from the creatures words. That didn’t seem right after how helpful she’d been. Before he could interject the man grunted again.

  ‘The boys and I think you’re one of those filthy, stinking foreigners here to steal our jobs and our women?’ He gave K’Dian a strong poke in the chest with his stubby stained finger. ‘What have you got to say about that?’